Matthew Lyon

Matthew L. Lyon is not a Calvinist. Even in the clip given on the left, he described it as a "false doctrine" and in this (IMO) he is wrong. Totally wrong. However, a quick look round his blog shows that he has the capacity to accurately state the Calvinist position. He even calls out those men like John R Rice and Curtis Hutson for their inability to do so.  A while ago I called out Bob Gray in Texas for his shoddy work in this matter. Who else could write a chapter supposedly exposing Calvinism and put in the words "If Calvin meant..."? When you take upon yourself to write a book, you are meant to do your homework first. It helps justifies the price you are charging your expectant customers. Research of the simplest kind will soon reveal what Calvin meant i.e. that God graciously enables the saints to persevere unto the end.

Mr Lyon's short article on the difference between Calvinism and Hyper Calvinism, explaining the doctrinal differences between the two camps, concludes with the observation: 

"The practical result is that a Calvinist will preach the Gospel to all men equally, while a Hyper-Calvinist will not."

He references his article from John R Rice's misleading work (Predestined to Hell? Wheaton: Sword of the Lord, 1958.) where the author ran amok with his descriptions and also from Calvinist, Andrew's Fuller's work: (The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation, and Defense of the “Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation.” Sprinkle Publications, 1988.) Mr Lyon has obviously done his homework.  Too many critics of Calvinism, especially in the shouting, roaring and spitting end of the Fundamentalist school, either simply don't bother or (IMO more likely) lack the basic ability to do so.

I have bookmarked the above site and look forward to reading more articles. Although somewhat different in its thrust, it reminds me a little of the series of articles which Ryan Hayden (an ex Calvinist) wrote concerning things which  IFB pastors could learn from the Calvinists. Here was another case of  journalistic honesty and therefore another bookmarked site. You can follow Matthew Lyon on Twitter here where, in the last few tweets, he has positively quoted both Machen and Spurgeon and alerted us to his purchase of a book describing Whitefield as America's spiritual founding father.

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