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

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