This is the next chapter of the book, The Foundations Under Attack: The Roots of Apostasy – By Michael de Semlyen
Foreword about this chapter.
I wondered if I should post this chapter or not because I don’t wholly agree with everything the author is teaching from his Calvinist viewpoint. He says,
“Arminianism is soul damning. It assumes that the human heart is a fit place for Christ to dwell and it takes for granted that the human person initiates salvation. We often hear appeals or invitations such as: “accept Jesus into your heart, as He Himself asks you in His Word;” and ‘behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.’” (Revelation 3:20) The misuse of this text to imply that salvation does in fact begin in the human heart is a serious deception.”
My opinion:
I have never ever in all my 53 years of following the Lord Jesus Christ heard or read this doctrine before! If there is no free will involved, why would Jesus even say such a thing? “If any man hear my voice, and open the door…” That sure sounds like free will to me. Jesus is asking people to make a choice either for Him or against Him. If there is no free will, why does the Bible even tell us to “choose“?
Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; …
Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
It’s “free grace through Christ alone” that the Catholic Church especially doesn’t like. They want us to be bound to their institutionalized religion and receive the Catholic sacraments which they claim gives us grace. And even then when we die unless we come up to the Catholic standard of sainthood, we still don’t have enough grace and we will suffer years in purgatory for our sins! They say mere belief in Jesus Christ is not sufficient. And the ironic thing about it all is a great majority of Catholic priests are probably far more sinful than the average Catholic! Some of them engage in Black satanic masses.
I like what most of what the author, Michael de Semlyen, has to say about how Protestantism was derailed by the Jesuits, but I don’t understand why he would write anything at all if we don’t have a free will to choose good over evil! What’s the point in writing anything if as Calvinists say, “I’m dammed if I do and dammed if I don’t.” I’m posting articles to reveal truth based on my knowledge and understanding of the Bible. What good does it do when people have no free will to choose to believe it or not?
Anyway, that’s my opinion for what it’s worth. I don’t follow Calvin. Mr. de Semlyen at the end of this chapter says to give Charles Spurgeon the last word. I don’t think so. I don’t follow him either. I only know what the Bible tells me about soteriology, the doctrine of salvation. It says in Acts 16:31,
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
That’s a command. It’s a command from God to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you can choose to disobey a command, that means you have a free will to do so. May the reader decide which is right.
Chapter 15
The Abandoning of the Protestant Reformed Religion
Apparently careless of all that has gone before, leading evangelicals have chosen to ignore the lessons of the past and the testimonies of the saints and martyrs of Jesus. Seduced by the wiles of the devil in compromising their once sound doctrine, they have bowed to the “modernising” pressures of the world, abandoning their Protestant identity, embracing ecumenism and accepting individual Roman Catholics as brothers and sisters in Christ. The first and second National Evangelical Anglican Conferences that met at Keele and Nottingham in England in l967 and 1977, respectively, launched and furthered the new policy of Anglicans towards the fast growing ecumenical movement. There was a new desire on the part of the new evangelicals to be united with ritualistic Anglicans, essentially Roman Catholics in belief and practice; and also to liberals who believed in a fallible Bible. But, as the Prophet Amos inquired: “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Amos 3:3
Well-respected English evangelicals such as John Stott and J.I. Packer, whose writings have been held in high esteem by conservatives for many years, endorsed the statements from these Conferences, and in so doing set aside Gospel truth in favour of accepting fellow Anglicans as true brothers and sisters in Christ.
John Stott, author of Basic Christianity, who chaired the first “NEAC” at Keele, gave that Conference a warning that “evangelicals had acquired a reputation for narrow partisanship and obstructionism and that they needed to repent and change.” He made clear that the Conference was accepting not only Anglo-Catholics and liberals as fellow Christians but Roman Catholics too:
Dr. Jim Packer, author of Knowing God, who just a few years before in 1961 had described the doctrine of justification by faith alone, sola fide, as “…like Atlas, it bears a world on its shoulders, the entire evangelical knowledge of saving grace,” changed his position in the early 1960s on this defining doctrine and signed up to Keele. Much later, in 1994, he demonstrated his revised, new evangelical view by also signing Evangelicals and Catholics Together, the document that has rocked American evangelicalism. In an article “Why I Signed It”, Professor Packer refers to Sola Fide as “small print.” He asked the question: “May ECT realistically claim, as in effect it does, that its evangelical and Catholic drafters agree on the gospel of salvation?”…“Answer – Yes and No.” “No”, Professor Packer says, “with respect to the small print.” Thus Sola Fide, a burning issue for Reformation martyrs, and for Professor Packer an issue that once bore a world on its shoulders, is relegated to “small print.”
Evangelicals and Catholics Together
What many Christians believe to have been the most significant event in almost five hundred years of church history took place on March 29, 1994. On that day twenty leading evangelicals and twenty leading Roman Catholics signed the joint declaration, Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium. Ten years later, on May 30, 2004, The New York Times reported on this alliance between Catholics and Evangelicals that is redefining Christianity in America.
The Evangelical and Catholics Together document, which overturns the Reformation and does devastating damage to the cause of Christ, was actually begun as a specific task in September 1992. Larry Lewis of the Southern Baptist Convention, Jesse Miranda of Assemblies of God, John White of the Geneva College of the National Association of Evangelicals, and others, including two Jesuits, Avery Dulles and Juan Diaz-Vilar, joined Colson and Neuhaus in the writing process. All of this was under the watchful eye of Jesuit Cardinal Idris Cassidy, the Head of Rome’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said by Neuhaus to have given “very active support throughout the process.” The document urges “Catholics and Evangelicals…to stop aggressive proselytisation of each other’s flocks,” which is code for, “Evangelicals must not preach the True Gospel to Catholics.” It further states, “Leading Catholics and Evangelicals are asking their flocks for a remarkable leap of faith: to finally accept each other as Christians.”
As former Roman Catholic priest and author, Richard Bennett laments in his excellent book Catholicism: East of Eden,
Hence, the Counter Reformation objectives of the Council of Trent have almost been accomplished. The distinctive doctrines of the Reformation, which separated Evangelicals from the Arminianism of Popery, are set at nought by our own “Protestant” leaders.
True and False Ecumenism
True ecumenical unity is clearly defined in the Scriptures. In the words of the Apostle Paul, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all. and in you all.” (Eph. 4:4-6) Thus followers of Christ who place their faith solely in the one triune God and His written Word, as did the Lord and the Apostles after Him (Sola Scriptura), are one in body, in Spirit, and in truth. They are saved before the all-Holy God by grace alone (Sola Gratia), through faith alone (Sola Fide), and in Christ alone (Solo Christo), and all glory and praise is to God alone (Soli Deo Gloria). Through the centuries, these five biblical principles or “solas” have helped the persecuted church hold fast to the simplicity of the Gospel. True ecumenism is fellowship or working together in adherence to these “solas” which maintain the foundation of true unity in the Lord. To the degree to which these key basic biblical standards are embraced, true unity will be evident.
On the other hand, false ecumenism, typically institutionalised, joins together professing Christian groups in common causes and activities, with one or more of the parties involved unconverted. While purporting to confess the Lord Jesus Christ according to the Scriptures, for the most part the five biblical principles, the “solas” that display the basis of true unity in the Lord are compromised. The extent to which these principles are not upheld usually indicates the degree of submission of the particular church or organisation to Rome.
The World Council of Churches is such an institution. Those organisations participating within it have no agreement on any of the five principles demonstrating the foundation of true unity solely in the Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise the Pope and his Church, in apostasy from the true Gospel, are without any of the five biblical standards. Counterfeiting the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are intent on finding successful ways to bind all to the visible, active and attractive pontifical throne.
Let us recall the Jesuit statement in the notorious letter found in Archbishop Laud’s study: “Our foundation is Arminianism.” What was written in the letter has proven to be prophetic: “It flourisheth and beareth fruit in due season” and “we hope (it) will purge the Protestants from their heresy”. Yes, it does flourish in our day; and the majority of Protestants have been purged from their faith of Free arid Sovereign Grace. This faith, the one and only true Gospel which the Papacy set out to overturn with its Counter-Reformation launched at the Council of Trent (1545-1563), is often now derided even by professing Protestants as “Hyper-Calvinism”. The Jesuits and Arminians would seem to have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
And the prophet saith: “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” (Isaiah 59:19) Friends, this is a solemn matter. The end result of Arminianism is this: “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.” (Prov. 30:12) Is it not to the Arminian that the LORD saith: “He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his sold nor say, is there not a lie in my right hand?” (Isaiah 44:20) Woe Arminians! “.. .because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad.” (Ezekiel 13:22)
From his pulpit at the Metropolitan Tabernacle C. H. Spurgeon was forthright in his declarations of the doctrines that he believed comprised the revealed truth of God:
To lay aside the regeneration of the divine Person of the Holy Spirit and to replace this by faith and confidence in a man-centered message is fatal. In such teaching instead of a divine Person being the sole efficient cause of being “born again”, an individual’s thoughts and affections remain on himself. This is religion substituting for a real relationship with the living God. Indeed, sinful man likes to have it so; he wishes to have all aspects of life under his own control. In this respect, Catholicism and Arminianism serve him well, they both appeal to his pride. The great problem with all of this is the inner emptiness and unregenerated lifestyle that goes with such teachings.
Contrasting with this, the real Christian hope is that the Spirit of God will beget a man to new life in Christ. Those who are begotten to a new and spiritual life are quickened to a new and lively hope. In the words of the Apostle Peter, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3)
Where there is true faith and love of the Lord, there is in the midst of all things “a joy unspeakable and full of glory.” (1 Peter 1:8) In Arminianism however, this foundation of deep inner fellowship with the Lord is missing. The belief that salvation begins by Christ first coming into the sinful heart of a man is unscriptural. The dead and ungodly person can be made acceptable to God only by being “in Christ”, as the New Testament makes very clear: “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6) Compared to this, Arminianism is soul damning. It assumes that the human heart is a fit place for Christ to dwell and it takes for granted that the human person initiates salvation. We often hear appeals or invitations such as: “accept Jesus into your heart, as He Himself asks you in His Word;” and ‘behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.’” (Revelation 3:20) The misuse of this text to imply that salvation does in fact begin in the human heart is a serious deception.
The invitation expressed in Revelation 3:20-21 is given after the Lord had rebuked the Laodiceans with a list of reprehensible sins, and then commanded them to repent, “… I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” (Revelation 3:19) Fellowship with the Lord is not without repentance and faith. The misuse of this text without this vital foundation is destructive to all Christian living. A person’s only hope lies outside himself and in Christ Jesus by His worth and power. Christ Jesus Himself proclaimed the spiritual deadness and wickedness of the human heart: … “that which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” (Mark 7:20-23) In the Scripture, salvation is seen consistently to be in Christ.
Editor’s note: I don’t agree with Michael de Semylen’s views about this. Why would Jesus ask us to open the door if we have not the free will to do so? Why would Jesus even say such a thing if we have no free will to choose Him? When we say, “Jesus, come into my heart” it means to me Jesus is the One most loved in the seat of our emotions, the One who loved us so much to die for us. And we likewise would die for Him if called to do so some day. It doesn’t mean we are seeking salvation within ourselves.
God’s holiness is the distinguishing factor among all of His essential characteristics. We need to be in right standing before the All Holy Sovereign God on the terms He prescribes. God’s Word determines that one cannot be right before God and remain true to Arminian teaching. As we have seen, it contradicts and opposes the truth of the Bible on the defining matter of how any person enters into a relationship with Him. You may cling to such teachings and traditions to your own eternal peril, or you may do what so many men and women have done before you.17 Turn to the Sovereign God in faith alone for the salvation that He alone gives, by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, based on Christ’s death and resurrection for His own elect, and believe on Him alone, “to the praise of the glory of his grace.” (Ephesians 1:6)
We quote Spurgeon again and let him have the final word on this crucial matter:
“Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.” Jeremiah 6:16
Continued in Notes from a former Charismatic to Christians in the Charismatic Movement.
All chapters of The Foundations Under Attack: The Roots of Apostasy
- The Foundations Under Attack: The Roots of Apostasy – By Michael de Semlyen
- The Historical View of Prophecy and Antichrist
- Futurism – Leapfrogging History – The Wiles of the Devil
- The Counter-Reformation – The Source of the Futurist View of Prophecy
- Futurism Devised across the Centuries by the Jesuits
- Historicist Expositors of the Nineteenth Century
- Islam in Prophecy
- The Proliferation of Modern “Bibles”
- The Modern Versions – Origins and Influences
- The Textual Controversy
- Bible Verse Comparisons
- The Origins of Arminianism
- Catholicism and Arminianism in England and France During the Sixteenth and Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
- “New Revivalism” Charles Finney, D.L.Moody, and a Man-Centered Gospel
- The Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements
- The Abandoning of the Protestant Reformed Religion
- Notes from a former Charismatic to Christians in the Charismatic Movement
- Papal Rome and the EU
- The Foundations Under Attack The Roots of Apostasy
- The British Monarchy In Peril
It must be viewed in context, knowing of course that the epistles were letters:
” I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
” For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
Kings and government officials, much like today, were viewed as oppressors, and Paul is instructing believers to have a proper attitude towards them, knowing that our battle is spiritual in nature. It was easy to have a wrong attitude towards those that are in authority, who often abuse their power. Therefore, in my opinion, Paul is stating that even those that many may view as an enemy should be prayed for, being that even they can be saved. Only God knows who the elect are, we don’t. The Roman Centurion is certainly one example. This also is beneficial to believers because it instills the correct, humble attitude that we should have towards all people, including “Kings” and those in “authority,” which often are the instruments of oppression. Similarly, Paul himself was the ultimate oppressor before the Lord Jesus Christ sovereignly met him on the road to Damascus. While Paul’s fellow travelers saw the light, they did not hear the Lord’s voice. Why? Because the message was only meant for Paul. Had Jesus wanted them to be saved as well, hearing His message to Paul certainly would have had a powerful effect.
If 1 Timothy 2:4 is teaching that God desires the salvation of each individual, then why didn’t Jesus pray for the entire world to be saved? Nowhere in Scripture is such a prayer recorded. Instead, Jesus prayed “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” – John 17:9
When teaching parables, was it due to what is typically stated, which is, in order to teach valuable spiritual lessons in a manner that people could understand and relate to, or was it according to what Jesus stated?
After declaring the parable of the Sower and the Seed to the multitude, Jesus said this to His disciples:
10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.
11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?
Jesus then went on to explain in detail the meaning of the parable, an explanation which was withheld from the multitude!
We need to keep in mind that the entire human race was put on trial in the Garden with Adam. Adam was our representative. He was created without the sin nature, yet he willfully sinned, and when he did, he died spiritually. (“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” – Genesis 2:17)
All of us have inherited that dead spiritual nature, and without a sovereign, merciful act of God, we would be left spiritually dead, with a ‘free will’ that is totally bound to our sinful nature when it comes to the spiritual things of God.
All of the so-called Arminian verses in the Bible need to be viewed within the context of where they appear, and they must be diligently compared to other passages of the Bible that further declares the Sovereignty of God.
James stated:
“I have never ever in all my 53 years of following the Lord Jesus Christ heard or read this doctrine before! If there is no free will involved, why would Jesus even say such a thing? “If any man hear my voice, and open the door…” That sure sounds like free will to me. Jesus is asking people to make a choice either for Him or against Him. If there is no free will, why does the Bible even tell us to “choose“?”
Fallen mankind does have a free will, but, in its natural state, that will is bound to its sin nature and cannot understand the things of the Spirit in such a way that there is a SPIRITUALLY (i.e., new birth) believing response. Just a few verses to consider:
1 Corinthians 2:14
“But the NATURAL MAN RECEIVETH NOT THE THINGS OF GOD: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (The new birth is required first in order to believe)
Can fallen man ‘decide’ to come to a faith in Jesus Christ? “No man” encompasses EVERYONE. Without the sovereign act by God the Father, NO ONE will come to Christ:
John 6:44
“NO MAN CAN COME TO ME, except the Father which hath sent me DRAW HIM: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Is saving ‘faith’ something that we personally decide upon, or, is it a solely a gift from God? (The following is a verse that is often quoted, however, if you point out that FAITH is a gift from God, they typically appear perplexed!)
Ephesians 2:8
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that NOT OF YOURSELVES: it is the GIFT of God:”
(Block lettering added for emphasis)
Many years ago, I read the Catholic humanist Erasmus’s treatise entitled “Free Will,” followed by Luther’s answer to Erasmus’s treatise entitled “The Bondage of the Will.” While reading Erasmus, I had the overwhelming sense that he was declaring essentially the common, modern day evangelical position on what I refer to as decisional regeneration, which is of course based upon free will. On the other hand, Luther used the Scriptures as the foundation to state his case, which is that because of the Fall, mankind is not only wounded spiritually, he is DEAD, and possesses a ‘free will’ that cannot respond, in an effective manner, without a sovereign act of God.
Incidentally, Luther himself complimented Erasmus for understanding the true issue upon which the Reformers based their position upon; the depravity of mankind, due to the fall, which led to a will that was naturally against the things of God, and the Catholic position, which was based upon the agency of mankind’s free will.
In my opinion, ‘free will’ is the main foundation upon which the false ecumenical movement is based upon.
How do you get around the Scripture? “Who will have ALL men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” -1 Timothy 2:4
James I agree with your comments.
Thank you, Terri, for your encouragement!