Calvin and the TULIP

Tulips are beautiful flowers. I settled on this picture when searching them out but I am not sure that any one photo really does this plant justice. Originating from Southern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Northwest China, it is a perenious bulbous plant with showy flowers in the genus Tulipa.

Originating from the lily family (Lilacea), tulips overall are composed of 109 species of plant. Although naturally indigenous to mountainous areas with long, cool springs and naturally dry summers, they have subsequently been introduced as annuals in every continent on the globe.

Unfortunately, these are not the tulips we are going to speak of today. Instead, we are going to talk about a Tulip that has done more to impede the flow of life in the Body of Christ than just about anything I can think of. During the wealthiest days of the Ottoman Empire (1299 to 1923) the tulip became a symbol of abundant indulgence. And so much so that the high point of the Ottoman Era was referred to as the Tulip Era.

Isn't it ironic that so much of the church in America today has become just that,... abundantly indulgent in in it's own self-will? And much of that indulgence in American Institutionalized Christianity (AIC) has been driven by none other than TULIP doctrine. TULIP is an acronym that represents the fundamental doctrinal tenants of what we know today to be Calvinism. Many people believe that the 5 basic tenants of Calvinism where formally drawn up at the Synod of Dort in Dordrecht, Holland in 1619. Are you bored yet?

When I started writing this post about a week ago I, like everyone else, assumed that the conclusions of the Synod of Dort, the formation of TULIP and its accreditation being given to John Calvin was true. After all, the Presbyterians are the largest formal advocates of Calvinism and from what I understand they believe that John Calvin authored the basic tenants of Calvinism (TULIP). I thought that to. A devout Presbyterian gave me a book on the subject stating as much in 1996. But now I am not so sure that is the case.

Who was John Calvin, what is Calvinism, and was Calvin a Calvinist? Or was Calvinism unfairly ascribed to his name roughly 60 years after he died? And what does Calvinism have to do with you and me and the body of Christ as a whole today? How does all of this apply to our lives today? Let's answer some of these questions.


John Calvin

John Calvin was a 16th century French pastor and theologian who formally broke away from the Roman Catholic church around 1530. At that time the Protestant Reformation was well under way, having been spearheaded by the German Monk, Martin Luther. When Calvin was only 8 years old Luther nailed his famous Ninety-Five Theses to the front door of the Castle Church, thereby letting Rome know that the fight was on. In many ways Calvin's support of Luther, his support of the Reformation and his formal break from Rome's heresies were steps in righteousness. The Protestant Reformation was arguably, in it's first couple of steps, a necessary response to all of the heretical doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structures of the ever increasingly corrupt Roman Catholic Church (RCC).

But while researching this out one of the things I came to understand was that certain parts of the Protestant Reformation (PR), specifically some of the heart motives of it's leaders along with some of the doctrinal outworkings of the movement in various parts of Europe were huge mistakes. Let me explain. Out of the Protestant Reformation came what we know today as Protestantism . Protestantism ultimately branched out into two groups: The Magisterial Reformation and the Radical Reformation. Look at the following chart...

The Magisterial Reformation (MR) had three branches: Anglicans, Lutherans, and Calvinist Reformists. The Anglicans emerged in England, the Lutherans in Germany and Scandinavia while the Calvinists primarily took root in Switzerland, France and later in Scotland. The one thing that all three branches of the MR had in common was just that.....they had the backings of the magistrates, i.e. secular authorities. This meant that at times these three branches of MR Protestantism would turn to local kings, princes, city councils and magistrates to enforce their religious will and agenda. The Roman Catholic church was already doing this in countries in Southern Europe. The men who were spearheading the reformation in these three branches of the MR were walking in the same footsteps as their Roman Catholic predecessors, albeit on various levels. And from what I can tell, based on my research, John Calvin at times took it to the extreme. For further reading on MR click here.

Just so you know, I am not against God having root in government institutions. I am for that and believe that at one time much of the actions of America's founders were expressed through faith in the formation and functioning of our government institutions on all levels. I don't believe in the separation of church and state except where the state is by majority and through practice inevitably corrupt. In that respect we need to "...touch no unclean thing" so that we are received by the Lord. In that case we need to "...come out from the state and be separate" (2 Corinthians 6).

But what these men were willing to do and ultimately did in many instances was different. The men who spearheaded and maintained the three branches of MR were, according to some historical records, having dissidents murdered, burned at the stake, imprisoned and punished when it was politically expedient. Sometimes their victims were women and children, not just men. They were allowing secular authorities to institute physical, mental and emotional torture and/or death among the citizenry and also in the church in order to squelch anything they deemed as heresy. These were horrible practices when it comes to matters of church discipline and doctrine.

As an example of this, John Calvin supported the findings of the Protestant Geneva Council in Switzerland when they decided that Michael Servetus, a Spanish theologian and physician, be put to death for his views on the Non-Trinitarianism and non-Infant Baptism. While I disagree with Servetus on his views of the Trinity, scriptures make it clear you don't kill people that disagree with your understanding of scripture.

"And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will." 2 Timothy 2:24-26

The scriptures are clear on how to handle open practices of carnality, divisiveness amongst brethren, unruly children and people who are false teachers. 

"When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord." 1 Corinthians 5:4,5

"Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that have nothing to do with him." Titus 3:10

"Blows and wounds cleanse away evil and beatings purge the inmost being." Proverbs 20:30

"As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer..." 1 Timothy 1:3

You hand the rebellious and unrepentant over to the Enemy. You put out of the church those that don't respond to repeated warnings of divisiveness. You spank your kids. You command others not to teach falsely when operating in a position of authority. But you don't burn people at the stake or enlist the help of government agencies to push your doctrinal positions, at least not in the manner that John Calvin did. Calvin openly endorsed the execution of Servetus. Historical records seem to support this.

Now at this point I thought it was going to be a slam dunk to tie in some of Calvin's actions with the TULIP doctrine and all of it's deficiencies. When I researched all of this out I was assuming this was an easy conclusion. After all, doctrines and heart motives are clearly tied together. Scriptures are clear on it.

"Watch your life and doctrines closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers as well." 1 Timothy 4:16

"If any man will do his (God's) will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." John 7:17

I quickly came to the conclusion that because Calvin was involved with some of the things previously mentioned that it would be easy to tie it into the TULIP Calvinism that is ascribed to his name. But then I read this (Click Here). Dr. Richard Muller, Professor of Historical Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary states that Calvin never directly or openly advocated two of the five points of TULIP.

Therefore the point of this post will not be to try and track down the source of TULIP. It's irrelevant at this point. God will judge the source. The point is to evaluate TULIP which has become foundational doctrine in many churches today. Some say TULIP came from John Calvin. Some say it came from the Synod at Dort as influenced by Calvin's ministry. And some are claiming that TULIP was created after Dort. I don't want to take the time to find out.

So at this point I am going to break off from focusing directly on John Calvin and the Synod of Dort. We are going to focus on the TULIP itself because, regardless of the source, it does exist and is taught in every Presbyterian church on earth, many Baptist churches, non-denominational Bible Churches, and even indirectly from the pulpit in many Charismatic churches.... whether many of the Charismatics and Independent Bible Churches recognize it or not.

TULIP stands for the following:

Total Depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saints

Broken down a little further into layman's terms, this is what Calvinism teaches. Click Here and Here to read it for yourself.

Total Depravity - Man is totally sinful apart from God. Man's heart is evil and he is a slave to sin. (Agree)
Unconditional Election - God chooses some people to be saved and others to not be saved, not based on anything he sees in them, but solely based on his Sovereignty which is unexplainable. (Do not Agree)
Limited Atonement - Jesus died only for the elect. (???)
Irresistible Grace - When God saves a man there is nothing the man can do to reject salvation. You can't resist the Holy Spirit. He saves you and there is nothing you can do to reject God's election. He has saved you whether you like it or not. (Click Here for my response to that one. )
Perseverance of the Saints - You can't lose your salvation. Once Saved, Always Saved. Same as Irresistible Grace. (Sin Away Saints!!!!)

OK. As I stated from the beginning, the Tulip Era in the Ottoman Empire was symbolized by indulgence. In the next post or two I am going to show how adherence to TULIP in 4 of it's 5 facets promotes arrogance, undermines the Fear of the Lord, drowns out the voice of God, makes believers unproductive in the Work of God and gives some believers a false sense of security about what it really means to be saved. Like the Tulip Era of the Ottomans, I am going to show you how 80% of TULIP doctrine makes people indulgent in their own self-will and self-desires. Stay Tuned!!!

Blessings,
JEB
http://www.miraclesinmerida.blogspot.com/.

Nick, Cecil and Calvin

In October of last year I started to suffer from some form of chronic fatigue and I wasn't sure what was causing it. Everyday around the early afternoon it was all I could do to fight the urge to lay down and take a nap. Since we moved down to Merida I have been able to start getting up very early in the mornings to pray and write so I figured maybe my body was simply adjusting to a new schedule.

But there was one other physical symptom I was having that was causing me to question if my immune system was fighting something off that it had never before. I noticed that every time I took a hot shower I would get these tingling sensations all up and down my forearms and lower legs. It literally felt like I had ants crawling all over my limbs. When I would get out of the shower and dry off the tingling sensations would slowly disappear. I thought maybe I was having a blood circulation issue with my body along with the fatigue. I didn't know overall what was wrong with me.

Finally, one day I spoke with an American lady who has lived here in Mexico with her family as a Christian missionary for 13 years. She told me that she had been through the same experience when they had moved to Merida (minus the tingling arms and legs) and that through the course of time had learned that she had parasites in her body from some external source like bad food, city water, poor sanitary environments, handling cash money....something. She advised us to take Vermox. This product is sold in every pharmacy, Wal Mart, Costco and grocery store chain in Mexico.

Although I did not realize it at the time, I had been exposed to parasites through some source like those mentioned before. They had developed so badly in my system that when I put my skin under hot water the parasites and amoeba would start moving around inside my arms and legs. It was so bad that I could barely make it through the afternoon without sleeping. They were literally robbing my body of nutrients and causing me to "gas out" way before I normally would in the normal course of my day. Once we took the Vermox we started to feel a noticeable difference within the hour. But for me personally, because my case was so far advanced compared to Christine and the boys, it took me about a week to slowly recover from the lingering affects of the damage that the parasites had done to my body internally. It was as though I has experienced some tissue damage on some level and my body needed some time to repair itself.

It seems as though I am seeing this in Christians everywhere I go. Most believers today, spiritually speaking, are infected with one or more of three bad doctrines that, like internal parasites, are robbing them of wisdom and power to keep them from the full measure of God's purpose in their lives. Everyone gets them at one time or another. It's just that people often don't realize what they have when they have it. And they become accustomed to low levels of energy without understanding that this is not God's purpose for their lives.

The Parasites I am referring to are Nicolatinism, Cessationsim and Calvinism. And they are affecting most main-line Christians denominations today. Charismatics, Pentecostals, Baptists, Presbyterians, Non-Denominational Bible churches, Lutherans, ......you name it. These three parasites  of Nick, Calvin and Cecil are getting after all of the main line Protestant Christian denominations in one form or another. Some have all three in their internal systems. Some have only two. All have at least one. And they are all sucking life right out of the church to such a degree that at times the church is hardly recognizable when held up to the light of scripture.

Now before we dive into these three doctrines, I want you to know that I am not trying to throw anyone under the bus. I know that many churches are effective in God in one form or another. But in my years with the Lord I have come to understand that the Body of Christ functions in three ways:

• As a Family
• As a Body
• As an Army

Family, Body, Army. God's people are to come together and function in all three roles at various times and in various ways. But it has been my observation that due to the three aforementioned doctrines, most congregations barely make it past the first stage of being a family. And those that get stuck in this stage and never function as both a body and an army end up becoming a dysfunctional family. Being a family is just that, caring for each others personal needs.

"Carry each others burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." Gal 6:2

We have experienced that through our church here in Merida over the past year. God has given us a family. People have made themselves available to us on a personal level and visa versa. We have spent time with others, eaten dinner together, walked through malls together after lunch at Chili's, given each other rides to the store and other places, offered to babysit others kids, played at the park together, helped each other financially......but that is about as far as it has gone. This stage of the church's life is about bearing the burdens of others, mostly physical. We have seen it and are grateful for it as God has given it to us. But it is not the fullness of what we are called to as Christians. There is more. Much more.

We are to go from being families to being a Body. Body life is about functioning within the realm of God ordained, God governed giftings.

"Each one should use whatever gift he has received, faithfully adminstering God's grace in it's various forms." 1 Peter 4:10

Prophecy, counsel, tongues and interpretation of tongues, healings, signs, wonders, miracles, apostolic teaching, the Spirit baptism, prayer and intercession for others, hearing God in dreams and visions.........This is what I refer to hear: The Charisma anointing that carries us into the supernatural. This is what we are talking of here. Not just water baptism and the doctrine of repentance and the pastor preaching against fornication.

We have experienced some of the prayer part with others and we have been able to share some brief testimony with others here and there. But all in all this is where the parasite Doctrines mentioned above really begin to do their work. This is where we see Cessationism, Calvinism and even Nicolationism starting to kick in. This is where the problems start in most churches, either in what they believe in or what they will allow to be apart of the lives of their members.

Because of this cutting off at the knees at the Body life stage, most of the time the church never really has any comprehension of what it means to function as an Army. I say army because at some point in time, as God's people are called to be raised up, we should be contending with demonic principalities. You can't contend with demons and take ground from the enemy praying only ten, twenty or thirty minutes a day. You just can't. You can't take ground from the enemy unless you are mature enough through spending sufficient time in Body Life like the things just mentioned.

We are ultimately called to make known to rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms the manifold wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:10)  and destroy the works of the devil.

"The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work." 1 John 3:8

All things were created by Christ and for Christ and in him all things hold together. In Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in Bodily form and thus, we have been given fullness in Christ who is the head over every demonic power and authority. Jesus has disarmed all powers and authorities, triumphing over them by the cross. Now, as we are in Christ through Relational Faith, we tread on snakes and scorpions, both individually and corporately. Read Colossians 1:15-18 and Colossians 2:9,10,15. That's exactly what it says.  These verses, along with Ephesians 3:10 basically form a declaration of War by God against Satan's kingdom.

"The Kingdom of God suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." Matthew 11:12

What this means is that God wants to bring his people to a corporate degree of maturity and strength so that we hear him on an advanced level, ripping down demonic principalities ruling over people groups, neighborhoods, and even cities. That means we need to hear God on an advanced level. But is that happening? Rarely. And most people read what I am saying here and they have no idea what I am talking about. But that lack of understanding in and of itself proves that the parasites of Cessatinionism and Nicolationism are alive and well in the Bride of Christ today. Most churches today are engaged in ZERO warfare. Why? Nicolatinism, Calvinism, Cessationism. Parasite infestation.

Just a note to the reader: As I have gotten older in the Lord I have noticed that if you point out things that are out of order you are labeled by others as being critical or bitter. That is not my intention here. I hope I am not coming across that way. It's just that when you see the same symptoms over and over again in God's people it gets to the point where you realize that these things have turned into an epedimic. It's like a major disease has broken out and there seems to have been nothing done to stop it. That in an of itself should be shocking to us and warrants that the overall conditions of things needs to be exposed.

"Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body." Ephesians 4:25

In the next three posts I am going to break down all three doctrines and the motives behind them and show you, if you want to see it, how these three man-made belief structures are literally sucking life out of God's people and making them ineffective and unproductive in the calling of God. Strap in and buckle up. I am going to show you things that I gaurantee you are in your church today, whether one or all three parasites. The church in its present form and state is not fully functioning today. And it's not just America. It's Mexico to. I see it down here just as much as I ever saw it in America. The parasites are alive and well in Mexico, Canada, the U.S., ....anywhere and in any country where there is not a sufficient amount of affliction to drive it out with fire on an ongoing basis. These parasites seem to keep growing back in countries where there is no consistent persecution, hardship and suffering of some form. I am going to prove it to you.

Stay Tuned!!!! We are going to peel back the skin and look under the microsope!!!

Blessings,
JEB
www.miraclesinmerida.blogspot.com.