A minister once visited a seasoned old

farmer in a mountain community.

Very soon the conversation turned to spir-
itual things. The wiry farmer surprised the
minister with his knowledge of the Bible.
“I take it you’re a Christian?” queried the
minister.
“Nope,” retorted the farmer. “God ain’t
saved me yit. He might save me when I’m
plowin’ in the field or when I’m sleepin’ in
bed. He won’t save me until He gits good’n
ready.”
In another community a man and wife
were very faithful church members. They
wouldn’t miss a service if they could possibly
help it. The man held a responsible office in his
church for many years.
A family member suddenly became seri-
ously ill. This man and his wife spent weeks
taking care of the invalid. They took pre-
scribed medicine to keep awake during those
trying days. Both became addicted to the med-
icine. When the prescription could no longer
be filled, the husband contacted drug pushers
in a nearby city. His wife turned to alcohol in
an attempt to satisfy her craving.
Later a concerned friend visited them and
asked about their relationship with the Lord.
He was surprised to find both of them “prais-
ing the Lord” and claiming victory in their
Christian experience!
He cautiously inquired how they could be
under drugs and alcohol and still be right with
God.
The immediate response was, “I still re-
member the day I was saved way back in 1949.
I know God saved me, and what God does, He
can’t undo. Once you’re saved you’re always
saved.”
Both of these incidents actually took place.
They could have been told about hundreds of
other people in hundreds of other communi-
ties. Their religious beliefs are commonly ac-
cepted by many well-meaning people. Most of
them do not realize how un-Scriptural and
how dangerous these beliefs really are.
These examples illustrate two beliefs that
are part of a system of Bible interpretation
called Calvinism.

What is Calvinism?
John Calvin, a Swiss reformer, first set
down these ideas in a detailed way. Other men
before him had taught the same ideas.
Calvin and his followers have held to five
main ideas about salvation in Christ. These are
the crux of Calvinistic teaching:
1) Total Depravity. Calvinists teach that
man can, in himself, do nothing to respond to
God or to come to Him. According to this idea,
faith is all on God’s part—not on man’s part.
The Calvinist will tell you, “God does it all.”
2) Unconditional Election. Calvinists believe
that God decided before the world began who
will be saved and who will be lost. According
to unconditional election, your eternal desti-
nation has been decided. Nothing you may do
will change that destiny!
3) Limited Atonement. Calvin taught that
Christ’s blood was shed for the elect only—
those God planned to save or “elect” to salva-
tion.
4) Irresistible Grace. If God has decided to
save you, He will do it regardless of what you
do. You can’t resist the plan and power of
God. His saving grace overpowers the free
will of the elect.
5) Perseverance of the Saints. Anyone who
is saved or “elected” by God can never fall
away from or lose that salvation—once you’re
saved you’re always saved.
You’ll immediately notice that the farmer
in the first example above believed strongly in
these five points, especially the first four. The
other man and his wife were taken up by the
fifth point.
Many Calvinists today seem to avoid at
least Points 2 and 3 of Calvinism. One Calvin-
istic minister, when questioned about his be-
lief in the five points of Calvinism admitted,
“We believe them all, but we don’t talk about
those two.”
Like most other modern Calvinists, his
main emphasis is on the fifth point.

Security or Permissiveness?
Though Calvinists cite certain “proof”
verses from the Bible that supposedly teach
unconditional election and limited atonement,
the testimony of the rest of the Scriptures is so
strongly against them that they don’t say
much about these points. They “run up
against it” when they read such Scriptures as,
“Whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely” (Revelation 22:17), and God is “not
willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
We know that the Scriptures do mention the
“elect” or the “chosen” of God. From the Bible
we learn that these chosen sheep of God are
those who “hear” His voice and who “follow
him” (John 10:27-29). Only those who accept
Christ as Lord and Saviour are chosen by God
to receive that “power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16).
Many modern Calvinists are embarrassed
by several points of their dogma, but they
tenaciously cling to the fifth point: the “once
saved, always saved” idea. This point is often
called “eternal security.”
As with the other points of Calvinism, real
problems arise for the supporter of uncondi-
tional eternal security. The teaching can be
quite dangerous, for it directly influences the
way Christians live.
The case of the faithful church member
turned dope addict aptly illustrates one of the
dangers of this teaching. The man had a false
feeling of security while living a very wicked
life. Some eternal security people will argue
that such a person was never saved to start
with. Simple answer. Or is it?
If every sincere believer who turns again to
sin was never saved in the beginning, the
Scriptures would contradict themselves! The
implication of such teaching is that a true
Christian cannot go back into sin. This is sin-
less perfection on earth, which even Calvinists
teach emphatically against. Then too, what
about the many warnings to Christians from
the Bible about “falling away” and disobeying
the truth? Why are there such warnings if
there is no possibility of falling away?
Consider this: even if we assume for a mo-
ment that the unfaithful church member just
mentioned were never saved to start with, this
teaching got him to the place he would not
admit his sinful condition. This “once saved,
always saved” doctrine kept this man from
ever making the first step toward salvation—
to admit that he was a sinner. Whether he was
ever saved to start with is not really the issue.
His disobedience to God is the issue!
Many advocates of eternal security insist
that their teaching will not lead to unfaithful-
ness to God. They may teach very strongly
that good works are important for the Chris-
tian—and they’re right! But if you pay careful
attention to their sermons, the “musts” of the
Gospel get watered down to “it would be bet-
ter if you would.”
According to this Calvinistic “security”
teaching, “good works” for the Christian are
not absolutely necessary for his continued se-
curity in Christ. The Christian who quits
“working” only loses some, or perhaps all, of
his reward in Heaven. He still gets to Heaven
(supposedly) by the “skin of his teeth.”
 An old man once pronounced a telling
commentary on this “skin of your teeth” reli-
gion: “I don’t want no rewards,” he quipped,
“jest so I git to Heaven, that’s all I want.”
Perhaps the hardest question eternal secu-
rity advocates have to answer is, “What will
this teaching lead to?” You can press them on
the point, and will usually get them to admit
that they believe it’s possible for a person to
live a life of sin and still get to Heaven.
Maybe you’ve heard such statements as,
“Smoking is a filthy habit no Christian should
have. But some people just can’t break the
habit. Surely cigarettes won’t keep a person
out of Heaven. After all, you’re saved by
grace, not by what you do or don’t do.” Or
maybe you’ve heard, “It doesn’t matter what a
Christian wears as long as his heart’s right. It’s
what’s on the inside that counts. Dress doesn’t
have anything to do with your salvation.”
If a person thinks that once he is saved
he is always saved—that nothing he can do
will separate him from God—he could quite
easily write off every command of the Gospel
with, “Surely that wouldn’t keep you from
Heaven” or “You aren’t saved by what you
do.”
Friends, we are saved from sin, not in sin!
Misplaced Emphasis
The whole system of eternal security has
been built on a faulty understanding of the
Bible and of what God expects of the Chris-
tian. Eternal security teachers emphasize the
passages of encouragement to the Christian.
They very obviously ignore or downplay the
passages of warning and the conditions the
Scripture constantly sets forth for discipleship.
Eternal security teachers magnify the
promise in John 10 that no man will be able to
“pluck” us out of the Father’s hand, but seem
to ignore the conditions given for sheep just
before—hearing His voice and following Him.
They emphasize “eternal life” in John 3:16
while ignoring the condition—“whosoever be-
lieveth.”

The Alternative
We are convinced that Calvinism, with its
current emphasis on eternal security, is a false
teaching. There are serious implications and
obvious dangers in taking that position.
Let’s look at what the Scripture teaches
about salvation in relation to the five points of
Calvinism.
1) God created man with a free will so that
he may choose to accept or reject God. “[God]
will have all men to be saved, and to come
unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy
2:4). “Give diligence to make your calling and
election sure” (2 Peter 1:10).
2) Christ died for all men. He was not will-
ing that any should perish. He will save any
repenting sinner who comes to Him through
faith in His finished work at Calvary. “Whoso-
ever will, let him take the water of life freely”
(Revelation 22:17).
3) Man can and must respond to Christ’s
call to salvation before he can be saved. He
must do these things:
• HEAR God’s call—“Faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of
God” (Romans 10:17).
• BELIEVE in Christ—“Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”
(Acts 16:31).
• SEEK—“Seek ye the LORD while he may
be found” (Isaiah 55:6).
• CALL—“Call ye upon him while he is
near” (Isaiah 55:6).
• REPENT—“Repent ye therefore, and be
converted, that your sins may be blotted
out” (Acts 3:19).
• CONFESS—“If thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus . . . thou shalt
be saved” (Romans 10:9).
 4) We can never earn salvation by any
works we can do.
Salvation by God’s grace is a free gift, but
man chooses to accept it or reject it. “The
goodness of God leadeth [not forceth] thee to
repentance” (Romans 2:4).
Satan planned the fall of man, but he
needed man’s help to do it. He did not force
Adam to sin; Adam fell because he chose to sin.
God plans and provides for man’s salvation,
but He must have man’s will and cooperation
to carry it out.
5) We are secure as long as we remain in
Christ. A life of obedience to the teaching of
God’s Word—a life of “good works”—is nec-
essary for the Christian to grow spiritually and
to remain in the grace of God. “He became the
author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey him” (Hebrews 5:9).
The Scriptures teach a day by day walk
with Christ and emphasize the necessity of a
life of holiness (right living) in obedience to
Christ.
Hans Denck, an Anabaptist reformer,
summed up this life of obedience to Christ like
this: “He who would know Christ truly must
follow Him daily in life.”
Satan still tries to deceive men by making
them feel secure in their sins. He tells people
today, as he told Eve, “Ye shall not surely die.”
God’s plain warning still stands: “If ye live
after the flesh, ye shall die” (Romans 8:13).
God, who cannot tolerate sin before salvation,
certainly will not tolerate it after a person be-
comes saved.
“IF YE CONTINUE IN MY WORD,
THEN ARE YE MY DISCIPLES INDEED”
(John 8:31).
—Roger L. Berry

Christian Light Publications, Inc. Harrisonburg, VA 22802

Phone (540) 434-0768. Printed in U.S.A.
10-09