Propaganda

I met my #Separated friend a few days ago on Twitter. He RT's quite a bit of the #BaptistHeritage stuff that appears regularly on Twitter i.e. where those who think (and tweet) that Calvinist is heresy, go and visit and pay their respects at the various sites related to Calvinistic Baptists. (And in my other friend #NRT's case - a 5 POINT Calvinist, child sprinkling, Anglican.) 

I mention #Separated here because he provides the classic case of someone who believes their own propaganda. He is evidently an admirer of CH Spurgeon (aren't we all?)  but obviously struggles greatly in the hole he has managed to dig for himself. How can you admire a man whose theology you brand as "that false doctrine" and who possibly did more to promote it during his life time than anyone else? 

ANSWER: You downgrade his commitment to it (Apparently Spurgeon "did lean that way") and then state (categorically) that "in no way" did Spurgeon believe in 3/5 points and leave him denying the doctrines of Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement (Particular Redemption) and Effectual Calling (Irresistible grace). #WithoutBlinking

As said above, this is the classic case of one who believes their own propaganda. In saying that, I am assuming that our friend knows no better. I would be loathe (at this stage) to ascribe anything more sinister to him. 

The homework has been done for you. Feel free to make use of it to set the record straight. 

* 12 Proofs CHS held to the Calvinist doctrine of Total Depravity   
* 12 Proofs CHS held to the Calvinist doctrine of Unconditional Election    
* 12 Proofs CHS held to the Calvinist doctrine of Particular Redemption   
* 12 Proofs CHS held to the Calvinist doctrine of Irresistible Grace  
* 12 Proofs CHS held to the Calvinist doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints

Separatist's false claims re: CHS's Calvinism ............................................	CH Spurgeon's Confession of Calvinism .....................................................................................................
"Spurgeon did lean that way..."	"And let me say a word to those of you who, like myself, are strong Calvinists. No class of persons are more maligned than we."  (Vol 2#102)
"He, in no way, believed in Unconditional election"	"But," say others, "God elected them on the foresight of their faith." Now, God gives faith, therefore he could not have elected them on account of faith, which he foresaw. There shall be twenty beggars in the street, and I determine to give one of them a shilling; but will any one say that I determined to give that one a shilling, that I elected him to have the shilling, because I foresaw that he would have it? That would be talking nonsense. In like manner to say that God elected men because he foresaw they would have faith, which is salvation in the germ, would be too absurd for us to listen to for a moment. Faith is the gift of God. Every virtue comes from him. Therefore it cannot have caused him to elect men, because it is his gift. (Vol 1 #41-42)
"He, in no way, believed in Limited Atonement"	"There are others of us who hold what is called the doctrine of particular redemption. We conceive that the blood of Christ was of an infinite value, but that the intention of the death of Christ never was the salvation of all men; for if Christ had designed the salvation of all men, we hold that all men would have been saved." (Vol4#204) "Once again, if it were Christ’s intention to save all men, how deplorably has he been disappointed! for we have his own evidence that there is a lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, and into that pit must be cast some of the very persons, who according to that theory, were bought with his blood. That seems to me a thousand times more frightful than any of those horrors, which are said to be associated with the Calvinistic and Christian doctrine of particular redemption."  (Vol4 #204)
"He, in no way, believed in Irresistible grace"	"Oh!" say some, "if the man wont have God, then, of course, God cannot get him;" and we have heard it preached, and we read it frequently that salvation entirely depends upon man’s will — that if man stands out and resists God’s Holy Spirit, the creature can be the conqueror of the Creator, and finite power can overcome the infinite. Frequently I take up a book and I read "Oh! sinner, be willing, for unless thou art, God cannot save thee;" and sometimes we are asked, "How is it that such an one is not saved?" And the answer is "He is not willing to be; God strove with him, but he would not be saved." Aye but suppose he had striven with him, as he did with those who are saved, would he have been saved then? "No, he would have resisted." Nay, we answer, it is not in man’s will, it is not of the will of the flesh, nor of blood, but of the power of God; and we never can entertain such an absurd idea as, that man can conquer Omnipotence, that the might of man is greater than the might of God. We believe indeed that certain usual influences of the Holy Spirit may be overcome; we believe that there are general operations of the Spirit in many men’s hearts which are resisted and rejected, but the effectual working of the Holy Ghost with the determination to save, could not be resisted, unless you suppose God overcome by his creatures, and the purpose of Deity frustrated by the will of man, which were to suppose something akin to blasphemy." (Vol 2 #93)

Don't rely on my words. Go back to the original sources and read Spurgeon's sermons for yourself, where he affirms each of the 5 points of Calvinism as his own belief.

TOTAL DEPRAVITY

* SPURGEON'S SERMON: HUMAN INABILITY
* SPURGEON'S SERMON: UNWILLINGNESS TO COME TO CHRIST
* SPURGEON'S SERMON: FREE WILL A SLAVE

UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION

* SPURGEON'S SERMON: JACOB AND ESAU
* SPURGEON'S  SERMON: ELECTION 

LIMITED ATONEMENT (PARTICULAR REDEMPTION)  

  

* SPURGEON'S SERMON: PARTICULAR REDEMPTION  
* SPURGEON'S SERMON: THE MISSION OF THE SON OF MAN 

IRRESISTIBLE GRACE (EFFECTUAL CALLING) 

* SPURGEON'S SERMON: "EFFECTUAL CALLING" 

PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS

* SPURGEON'S SERMON: THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
* SPURGEON'S SERMON: THE SECURITY/BELIEVERS OR SHEEP WHO WILL NEVER PERISH  
 

Click picture to enlarge

Back to our friend #Separated's comment that Spurgeon is not the Bible. With this, I freely concur and entirely agree. Calvinists do not believe these doctrines because Calvin or Spurgeon taught them but because we believe they are Biblical doctrine. I admire some other men outside the Calvinist camp greatly, yet I am not an Arminian because |John Wesley was, nor am I a Dispensationalist because HA Ironside was. (I reject these teachings). The point of the wider correspondence (if you want to wade back through the rushes) was to draw attention to my friend's tweets because they generally gave helpful pointers to the old Calvinist preachers among the early Baptists. This since grew into a putting right (as above) of the clear nonsense that Spurgeon was anything less than a 5 point Calvinist. 

Thank you for your time. 

* CALVINIST INDEX
* PROTESTANT INDEX
* CH SPURGEON INDEX
* EVANGELISM INDEX
* HERE AND THERE INDEX
* YOUTUBE VIDEO INDEX
* 3 MINUTE AUDIOBOO INDEX