It's all starting to make sense now...

If you have read my post about "1 Point Calvinists", you'll know that the main idea behind the article was how I am shocked and amazed that my friend's pastor likes to misapply the term Hyper-Calvinist to include those who hold to a historical "5 Point Calvinist" position. It simply amazed me that a man who claims to have gone to seminary, would be so ignorant of church history and theological terminology that he would actually stand behind the pulpit and make such wild accusations and bear false witness against true Calvinists in the manner in which he does..

This past weekend the pastor gave my friend a book to try and prove that all of us (that being myself, my friend, Augustine, Spurgeon, Calvin, and others) were indeed Hyper-Calvinists. I had a chance to review the book yesterday and now it is all starting to make sense to me! The reason why this pastor makes those claims is not because he alone made it all up or because he came to this conclusion after years of careful study. No, he got these silly ideas from a man named John R. Rice , the late founder and editor of The Sword of the Lord.

From all I have read, Rice has a great testimony for being an evangelist. However, in his book, Some Serious, Popular False Doctrines Answered From The Scriptures, in his chapter on "Hyper-Calvinism", he shows that he did not have a clear understanding of neither classic Calvinist, nor Hyper-Calvinist theology. He applies the Hyper-Calvinist label to all who are actually classic "5 point Calvinists". Rice seemed to believe he had the sole authority to redefine terminology that had been in use for hundreds of years! This is par for the course with Rice though, as editor of The Sword of The Lord, it has been documented that he also had a dirty little habit of quoting Spurgeon out of context, and even editing Spurgeon's sermons, so that Spurgeon would read like an Arminian when his works were published in The Sword of The Lord.

Because his work is so popular in Independent Fundamental Baptist circles, I am worried there are many other poor ignorant ministers who've been taken up in Rice's error. I am saddened that there appears to be many Independent Fundamental Baptists who have no better theological mentor than John R. Rice. Personally, I think Rice was a semi-pelagian who had an axe to grind with Calvinists. He slandered Calvinism in his book and in doing so, he made himself look foolish because of his ignorance of the topic. Anyone who looks to him as a theological mentor ought to wake up, put his books on the shelf, and go buy some real books written by real -credible- theologians.