Spurgeon's, "A Defense of Calvinism"

I am writing this piece in response to a comment posted on one of my messages posted on YouTube[1]. In the message I make mention of Spurgeon being considered "the prince of preachers". Interestingly my remark in this particular message is not necessarily a positive one, but meant to make a comparison to a more modern preacher. Anyway, someone took exception and left a comment that Spurgeon was a Calvinist, that he had written a book entitled "A Defense of Calvinism" and that Spurgeon was the "prince of Devils". 

I see absolutely no purpose for the spirit of a remark like that. The heart of some people is filled with such vitriol that it is no wonder many in the world dislike Christians. Some Christians make it a point to be dislikeable. 

I am no Calvinist. I am thoroughly convinced that Christ's death on the Cross was sufficient for salvation of every human being in the world for all of the time of the world. God would have all men to be saved. Christ's work is able to save all who come to Him. The conviction of the Holy Spirit extends to all men. 

I am no Calvinist. I am as opposed to the reformers doctrine as to the papal traditions. I do not question their sincerity, but sincerity is not the target. Truth is the mark we are going for. That is a mark the Protestants of every stripe fell far short of. Had they desired the truth they could have come out of Catholicism and united with the Anabaptists that were all around them. They did not for two very telling reasons:

The Anabaptist faith was much too strict for them. They could not see how a church could survive with such high standards for its people.

The Anabaptist conviction of separation of church and state was incomprehensible to them. They could not envision a church surviving without the aide of the government.

I am no Calvinist.

But neither am I an opponent of a man like Spurgeon. 

Since the person commenting on my message brought up Spurgeon's book, "A Defense of Calvinism" I looked it up and read it.[2] 

First, it is not a book, but a very short piece. I can't imagine this person could have even skimmed it and still called it a book.

Second, it is hardly a defense of Calvinism. Spurgeon does clearly call himself a Calvinist, but he calls Calvinism a nickname. He does not see himself in a Calvinist movement and does not align himself with the Protestant Calvin. Spurgeon does identify himself as a Baptist in the piece but, like most Baptists in England in that era, saw Calvinism as a doctrinal position and not a Protestant movement.

Thirdly, Spurgeon does not, in this piece, connect himself with the egregious doctrines of Calvinism but very clearly planned the piece to defend only one doctrine associated with Calvinism, that of eternal security. Only the most ardent Arminian would have any objection to that.

·      There is no mention of total depravity

·      There is no mention of unconditional election

·      There is no mention of limited atonement

·      There is no mention of irresistible grace

He does speak of the doctrine of election but there is nothing of choosing some for hell. Spurgeon defines Calvinism as, "… one who says, Salvation of the Lord." If this were all that is Calvinism today, I would have little objection to the doctrine and only object to its association to a man rather than the Bible.

I confess it once again. I am no Calvinist. But neither do I see Spurgeon as a devil

Marvin McKenzie

In the Fields

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[1] www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsTp3lSr2RU&list=UULxzDGVFHvCIubQoIrZCjsA

[2] www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/A%20Defense%20of%20Calvinism%20by%20Spurgeon.pdf, Accessed 11-4-14

Knowledge, Academics and Leadership

I listened to a man today make the statement that we have plenty of knowledge in the pastorate today, but we have a dearth of leadership. The statement makes some sense when a person realizes where this, now pastor, comes from. The man has no formal Bible training but does have an extensive and successful background in fast food restaurant management. Having managed a large number of McDonalds restaurants as well as Cinnabon stores, both throughout the United States and internationally - he considers himself a successful leader. Having witnessed many years of church planting conferences and hearing the stories of men who more or less thought of themselves as a failure in the ministry, this man, a leader in the corporate world, concluded that their failure was due to a lack of corporate leadership skills. These skills he now believes he can and should pass down to future independent Baptist pastors.

First, I do not fault his passion for both reaching lost people and helping preachers do well. It is heartbreaking at times to hear men express their desperation for the resources to care for themselves and their families as they attempt to serve the Lord. How can we ever give enough money to fully alleviate the needs of so many families do without so much?

Secondly, I recognize that some of my dispute with this manager/pastor could be labelled by some as mere semantics. I certainly do not discount the necessity of leadership in the ministry and I would be the first to decry to idolatry of academia in the pulpit. We are on the same page Brother!

However, I contend that there is more than semantics at work here; there is a rudimentary difference in the philosophy of ministry:

• The one making the ministry a mere product of man.
• The other recognizing that the ministry is about the calling and gifting of God

If all the pastorate needs is to learn how to manage a McDonalds in order to be a successful pastor, is the church a work of God or a mere marketing outlet? What is the difference between the philosophy so criticized in independent Baptist circles, of Bill Hybels' seeker friendly churches and this pastor’s “have it led way” Baptist churches?

I agree; we don’t really need more academics. Whether a preacher can define homiletics and hermeneutics is irrelevant. But knowledge, true wisdom, is an entirely different matter altogether. 2 Peter 3:18 KJV does say,

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
This knowledge is different than academics. This is the intimate knowledge of God. It is developed not through leadership but through true theology, the study of and the getting to know our God. 

We have helped no one if all we have done is assemble a congregation and make them feel well cared for and like they fit in to the community of the church (and I suggest that is a reasonable definition of the function of leadership). No sir! The preacher’s job; the pastor’s duty, is to lead the flock of God to still waters and green pastures where they may be satisfied in Christ. No shepherd can do that unless he knows where those green pastures and pools of fresh water are found and he cannot know that unless he has, himself, been refreshed there.

  

The Death of a Celebrity

Like many my age we well remember the immensely popular Mork and Mindy show. I was a very young adult, just graduated from High School, just beginning life on my own, not yet a Christian, when the show was on the air. When I became a Christian I admittedly struggled for a time missing Mork and Mindy to attend the Wednesday night prayer service at the little church I had recently been baptized into. Upon surrendering to preach I headed to Bible College and, thrilled, became a member of a local Baptist Church in none other than Boulder, CO. I couldn't wait to see all the sights that were a part of the Mork and Mindy program. (The real news about Boulder while I lived there was the murder of JonBenet Ramsey.)

Television and the entertainment industry soon became a fading interest to me as I grew in my studies of the Word of God and interest in the ministry. I have seen very few of Williams' works after Mork and Mindy. Still, he holds a fascination for me because of that piece of influence in my life so many years ago. That a man who seemed that successful, that happy and that energetic would be so depressed as to take his own life is, it seems to me, a warning to us all.

There have been and I am sure will continue to be much published on the subjects of depression and suicide in the wake of his death. (It hasn't even yet been officially ruled a suicide.) Some of what I have seen has emphasized that depression is a disease and that his suicide was the result of the disease. Others have emphatically called it a choice. Some of focused on the pain he must have endured to come to the place that he would do this thing. Others have focused on the selfishness of this act and the pain he has now inflicted on those who loved him. Some have speculated - sometimes insisting to know the answer - as to whether he is presently in heaven or in hell. Some have highlighted the spiritual implications of this act while others have denied there are spiritual implications. Some have declared that they have the answer (Jesus Christ) for the depressed person. Others have pointed out that Williams was himself a professing Christian, a member of the Episcopalian denomination. I record here my own thoughts on the subjects of depression and suicide:

1. Depression is not a choice but rather the default position of any human being.

• We are born at odds with God
• We are corrupted and thus never do anything as well as we would like
• We are the object of God's love and therefore the object of Satan's hatred

Everyone goes through some form of depression at some time in their life. Some people suffer from it more than others. 

2. Life choices may both compound the frequency of depression and intensify the sense of failure.

Lifestyle choices involving drugs, alcohol and promiscuity only compound the sense of corruption that we have all been born with.

3. Life choices also leave us more vulnerable to Satanic attacks. 

We are told in the Bible to be sober and vigilant against our adversary the devil. To choose to ignore that instruction is to put ourselves at risk.

4. Satan's objective for each human being is our destruction.

Depression is gateway to that destruction. It robs us of hope and opens the door to the possibility of ending the despair through the ending of life.

5. A Christian profession is not the cure of depression and suicide.

Christianity frequently makes the problem worse by simply telling you that it is a Christian sin to be depressed and to finalize depression through suicide.

6. Christian faith is the antidote for both depression and suicide.

Not however the profession of faith, but the practice of faith. Faith is an exercise much like that of losing and controlling one's weight. Making the decision to lose weight doesn't necessarily mean you will do it, and even if you do what is necessary to lose the weight, it will not come off suddenly. It is a process involving changes of lifestyle choices. In order to lose weight we must stop putting some things in our life and we must begin adding other things to our life. Christian joy and hope are much the same. In order to maintain that hope and joy, in order to protect those things from the snares of Satan some things have to be removed from our lives and other things must be added. Once joy and hope are obtained, they must then be guarded or else they will be lost just as some people lose weight only to regain it again once they have stopped doing what they did to lose it.

The debates and conversations will continue as to whether Robin Williams' was a victim of depression or the result of a selfish choice. I believe there was a choice made, or rather, choices; but they were made long before the final act was accomplished. 

The Destructive Catch in the Church

There is a destructive catch that occurs in most churches. On the one hand, the members of a church need their pastor to give them quality, substantive, "meaty" messages. The majority of the members would acknowledge that to be the case. On the other hand these same church members also wish their pastor to be a physical and material support for them.

• They want him to listen to their problems
• They want him to encourage their children
• They want him to attend their functions
• They want him to be there for them to lean upon

This is where the catch arises. The same man is not capable of doing both duties. If he performs the "pastoral care" function to the best of his abilities, he will certainly lessen the quality of his pulpit work. This lesser pulpit work will render the congregation that much more needy if his "pastoral care". But if he focuses on the pulpit work the congregation is likely to respond by either moving to a more pastoral church or else they will be critical of their pastor and refuse him the impact in their lives he ought to have.

Some churches have overcome this destructive catch by assigning a pulpit pastor and a pastoral staff for the personal ministries. The Bible's answer is the office of the deacon. While the preacher dedicates himself to prayer and the ministry of the Word, the deacons serve for the support and, if I may, "pastoral care" functions of the ministry.

But this is a difficult stage for a church to attain. The congregation often sees this care ministry as such a prime feature of the pastor that they expect his presence and participation even with a fully functioning deacon ministry. Further, those chosen as deacons are often not compelled toward or gifted in the ministry of care as they ought to be. The result is a crippled church longing to be effective but having created its own hobbles to prevent it.

Marvin McKenzie

In the field

Always Sick

• Some people are always "sick"(psychosomatic)
• Some people use illness as their excuse to stay away from God
• Some people are more prone to illness because they are seldom exposed to germs
  
  

Very few employers could afford to have their employees stay home every time they get sick. Families would suffer incredibly if every bread winner stayed home every time they got sick. Satan will help you get sick if that will keep you from the house of God.

For years I woke up sick every Sunday. It was the pressure of the ministry I was about to have to do. It was Satan's way of trying to prevent me from preaching. One Sunday I woke up complaining about not feeling well. Anita told me that I was sick every Sunday. She was right; I had just not put it together in my brain. From that day on I began rebuking the feelings of illness on Sunday and ignoring them. Eventually I stopped feeling sick on Sundays.

I beg God that people get spiritually tough enough to come to church instead of letting illness keep them home.[1]

Marvin McKenzie

In the field

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[1] Of course I make an exception for those contagious diseases that are more dangerous

Islam and Christianity are not Equal Faiths

Islam should not be given equal standing with Christianity in free lands such as America because Islam and Christianity are not equal faiths. 

By far the larger number of the world's population are Muslims but that is not because the faith of Islam is more spiritually compelling. It is because the Islamic religion gives no options for those who live in Islamic dominated countries. 

Over a millennia of experience with Islam has demonstrated that it is a faith that usurps control over governments and that, in those places where it controls the government, it forces itself upon its citizens. It is not a developing religion but a degenerating one. It has not led to the greater good of its followers but the greater sorrow. On the other hand, though Christian history has its own black mark with attempts to own governments and force itself on people:

• There was always a branch of Christians[1] who held that forced religion is opposed to the teaching of our Bible
• The influence of the Bible in places such as England and especially America, led to the Protestant conclusion of liberty of conscience[2] 

Christianity and Islam are not equal religions because Christianity provides that a man is free to disbelieve and so practice no faith if he chooses. Islam provides no such liberty. 

Christianity and Islam are not equal because Christianity insists the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We advance our faith only with the Word of God, prayer and the help of God's Holy Spirit. Islam, to this very day, does not hesitate to use any carnal weapon it can get its hands upon:

• Guns
• Bombs
• Rocket launchers
• Mortars and even
• Jet airliners

to advance its religion upon the masses. 

Christianity and Islam are not equal and should therefore not be given equal standing among free people.

Marvin McKenzie

In the field

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[1] The Anabaptists and later Baptists.

[2] A position the Baptists had held all along and were finally successful in convincing the fathers of this land concerning.

Cultivating Body Soul and Spirit

Luke 2:52 KJV

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

Several years ago now I accepted this passage as a challenge from God's Word concerning the areas I ought to grow. Using the tri part nature of man: body, soul and spirit, as identified in Luke 2:52, I began consciously cultivating my personal life in these three areas:

I. BODY

The body is that part of our being that responds to our world and its surroundings. It is the only one of the three parts of the saved man that has not been redeemed as of yet. It awaits its redemption at the resurrection. My spirit is in constant strife with my flesh. The following are those areas I have targeted for personal growth.

A. Humility

     Meekness of Moses

     Exercising contemplation when we are humbled or humiliated by someone or something. Allowing that event to be a learning opportunity in our life.

 

B. Confession

     Awareness of sin

     Acknowledge that before God

C. Discipline

     In what is eaten

     In exercise

     In work

II. SOUL

I identified this as that part of man which responds to others. Based on that assumption I put together these areas to target for personal growth.

A. Education 

  Rhetoric

     The art of communication in a convincing manner. 

  Logic

     The ability to see an event, hear a verbal communication or read a paper and come to accurate conclusions is a skill that must be developed

  Language

     Learning the rules of our language well is essential in communication. 

B. Accountability

  Manners

     This speaks to how others perceive you.

   Attitude

     This speaks to how you perceive the events of life

  Personal Growth and development

     This speaks to commitment to your relationships with others

C. Generosity

     Ministry to others

          Whether it is spiritual or by meeting a real need of another soul

     Concern for others

          Thoughtfulness. Being aware of another's place in life; their feelings, their preferences, their background, their special days such as birthdays and anniversaries, their strengths and their weaknesses

     Communication with others

          More than awareness, communication reaches out. If it is a birthday, an expression given toward them. If it is the anniversary of the passing of a loved one, a condolence. etc

III. SPIRIT

This is the part of man that communes with God. It is dead prior to salvation but is quickened at the moment of salvation. While my targets here might seem smaller than the other two, this in fact is the most critical of my personal growth plan.

A. Prayer

     Journal

     List and log of requests and answers

B. Bible comprehension and practice 

     Daily reading

     Daily study

     Daily meditation

C. Church

     Faithfulness in attendance

     Participation and interaction with the people and the flow of the services

     Service purposeful ministry within the church

     Outreach planned efforts to take the gospel message to others outside of the church through visitation, tract distribution, personal invitations, door to door ministry

While I cannot say that I have attained even a modest degree of perfection in any of these areas, I can testify to faithfully working toward these growth targets and to being blessed by the doing of it.

Marvin McKenzie

In the field