The Day I Met A Dead Man and His Religion

The Day I Met a Dead Man and His Religion: Hello John Calvin
“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is NOT another; but there be some that trouble you, and would PERVERT the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be ACCURSED. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:6-8, 10-12
It was in August of 2012, a preacher and I got into a discussion on the subject of children and salvation. The discussion came about because a small child wanted to give her heart to Jesus. I was asked my opinion. I said to him “I believe a child is safe in the arms of Jesus until reaching an age of accountability”. I never imagined, what my answer to his question, would lead to. He was quick to let me know that the bible does not mention an age of accountability. I knew it didn’t mention a specific age of accountability, but it does mention God holding one accountable. I told him that Jesus said “Suffer not the children to come unto me, for such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Luke 18:16) Then I asked him, “If a five year old dies are you saying that he will go to hell?” He never really answered that question, but he certainly was trying to show me I was wrong about an age of accountability. I was caught off guard. How could he not believe in an age of accountability? At this time, he had no children, but I am a mother to four boys; two being my biological. I had never been put in a position to defend my interpretation of scripture on children. I was so shocked! I thought we shared a lot of the same beliefs, but we absolutely did not! The conversation ended with me being very upset because he was a preacher and I couldn’t understand where he was coming from but I was soon to find out.
The next day I sent him a text message. I told him what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:11 (KJV) “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man I put away childish things.” He replied back with this:
“I sure do not want you troubled nor does God, I lean more towards babies going to heaven, because of 2 Samuel 12. But I’m still not clear because of John 3:3, Psalms 51:5 58:3, Galatians 1:15, Revelations 20:12. In reference to Paul putting away childish things is referring to the Church putting away the gifts of the spirit when they get to heaven.” Then he proceeds to give me theology talk and what scholars say about the subject of accountability. He also proceeded with these words and beliefs, “reformation era and great awaking era” and that most were Calvinists. He said Calvinist believed that God elected who would be saved and who would not and that the elect wouldn’t die until saved. He said he was not trying to argue, that it wasn’t beneficial to argue the scripture.
First, he clearly missed the point of the scripture. Paul was speaking to the church about the gifts of the spirit and the maturity of those using the gifts. Paul’s comparison between a child and man was referencing to a baby in Christ and a man in Christ. He was saying” church it is time to grow up.” This is just a small part in the scriptures that clearly shows a difference in a man and a child, in terms of maturity. I had never heard of reformation era, great awaking era or Calvinist but I have read the bible and heard from God. I have never lived by any religious belief. I have always read the Word and that is why I recognize false teaching and know when a religious belief isn’t lining up with the Word of God.
Second, notice the part that the elect won’t die until saved, yet there wasn’t any scripture given to back up this belief. I was still confused because I had no idea where he was coming from and I certainly was lost with all the theological words. The most disturbing part of the text was about the children and whether they go to heaven or not.
After this text message, I went home and lay on my bed, watching my son Caden, who was six years old at the time, playing and jumping around like spider-man. I ask the Lord, “If he dies tonight he won’t go to heaven?” I had never been so tormented over anything in my life. I fear God and I do not want to be wrong with interpreting the bible. I tried to forget the conversation and the text message but I couldn’t. I later received another text message from the preacher saying “There may be an age of accountability, I just don’t know.”
I can read between the lines of the Bible and know that there is an age to which we are held accountable though I believe that age is different for each person. I believe you need to know for yourself that moment you were born-again. The bible clearly shows a child is safe with the Lord, until an age of knowing good and evil or right from wrong.
I had to find out why anyone would want to believe that God would send a child to hell. So I get on the computer and on Google search I asked the question “Do children go to heaven when they die?” I noticed the word Calvinist or Calvinism but at the time I didn’t really research it. It wasn’t until I was talking to my friend Carolyn, that I knew it was time to dig deeper. I had received a call from her one day and I asked her if she had ever heard of Calvinism? She replied “Yes, I have and you had better stay away from it!” She proceeded to tell me she had an uncle that had left preaching the true gospel for Calvinism. I knew then that I was going to find out all I could about Calvinism.
First, I learned Calvinism was causing division in a lot of the Baptist churches and there was some wanting it taught while others didn’t. In this part of Alabama, Calvinism isn’t very popular, but I had learned it was coming here, full throttle! Time Magazine had an article ‘10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now, one of those 10 changes was “The New Calvinism” written by David Van Biema, March 12, 2009. In the last days false teaching is coming and it is going to deceive many! I knew when I had seen this article that we are certainly in the last days. They will believe a lie and be damned instead of believing Gods Truth! Preachers, who have attended Calvinist seminary schools, are bringing Calvinism to your church and brainwashing you and your family. A teaching that didn’t come from God’s Word, it came from a theologian……Hello, John Calvin.
Calvin is the founder of Calvinism. Some have said a great theologian but I am not impressed with theologians, unless I know they were truly born-again. I am impressed with born-again, spirit filled, men and women of God. I now know who and what I am dealing with. It didn’t take long reading up on John to figure out his
character and I am sorry if it offends, but I didn’t find the love of Jesus nor His character in my research on Calvin. Calvin was a hopeless man with a hopeless gospel! The reason I say hopeless is because his religion offers no hope to mankind. His religion says that God had already picked who He wants and there is no hope for the leftovers. Calvin had to have been a miserable man and so is anyone who wants to follow his teachings.