10 Things A Consistent Calvinist Can NEVER Say – Refuting Calvinism | Kerrigan Skelly

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Kerrigan Skelly

In the last 8 years or so of dealing with Calvinists and Calvinism, I’ve found that many Calvinists are not very consistent with their theology. Of course there are some who are consistent with their theology, but they are few and far between. As I’ve debated with and attempted to reason with Calvinists, I’ve meditated upon things that they would say to me. There are many things that they really shouldn’t say, if they were consistent were their theology. Here’s a list of things that I don’t think a Consistent Calvinist should say:

1) “Jesus died for you” – They believe in the doctrine of “Limited/Definite Atonement” (the “L” of T.U.L.I.P.). This means that they believe that Jesus ONLY died for the “elect” – those that God chose for salvation, before He even began to create the Universe. Calvinists will also say that they don’t know who the elect are. If they don’t know who the elect are and Jesus only died for the elect, then they couldn’t possibly say this to ANYONE.

2) “God loves you” – Calvinists constantly cite Romans 9:13, in the hopes of proving “Unconditional Election” (the “U” of T.U.L.I.P.) – as I said above, this is the idea that God chose very few people for salvation and that He did this before He even began to create the Universe. Of course they twist this verse and commit eisegesis, since they are looking at Romans 9 through their “Calvinist eye glasses”. Yet, if the “U” of T.U.L.I.P. is correct and their interpretation of Romans 9:13 is correct, then there’s no possible way that they could say this to ANYONE.

Continue reading →

Calvinism, Free Will & God’s Expectations | Kerrigan Skelly

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Kerrigan Skelly

Isaiah 5:1-4 (NKJV) says, “Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. ²He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; so He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. ³And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. ⁴What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?”

Calvinism teaches that God predestines/ordains/decrees/causes all things that come to pass (whether sin or righteousness) and that God did this in eternity past. If this is true, then no one and nothing has “free will”, by any definition of that word. And no, I don’t need to add the term “libertarian” before “free will” to explain what I mean by “free will”. In fact, I refuse to. To do so, would be to give in to the Calvinist’s redefining of the term “free will”. I won’t put up with the linguistic revision of Calvinism. In fact, I have a series of videos that seeks to expose this facet of Calvinism, that is called, “Calvinist CONFUSION“.

The above passage simply can’t fit into a system that says that God has caused all things to happen, in eternity past. Passages like the one above, won’t fit with Calvinism, no matter how much you twist it. How could the “god” of Calvinism possibly have “expectations” that are contrary to what He ordained to happen, in eternity past? How could the “god” of Calvinism possibly be “disappointed”, when things don’t go differently than he decreed them to be? If the “god” of Calvinism predestined the house of Israel to be like this, how could he be upset with them and punish them for such actions (read on to Isaiah 5:5-6)?

Continue reading →

What Is “Works Salvation”? | Refuting Calvinists, Antinomians & Judaizers | Kerrigan Skelly

Posted on August 15, 2014 by Kerrigan Skelly

Quite often, I get accused of believing in “works salvation”. This is not to be unexpected, in this age of apostasy. False doctrine and false teachers are abounding all around us. Much of this is happening under the guise of being “true Christianity”. Because of all of this, many people don’t even understand what the writers of the Scripture mean, when they use the term, “works salvation”. Usually, people believe one of the following four definitions, for “works salvation”:

1) “Works salvation” is saying that you have any part in your salvation at all. In other words, if you believe in free will, then you believe in “works salvation”. If you believe that YOU did the repenting and YOU did the trusting in Jesus Christ, then that is “works salvation”. If you believe in “synergism”, then you believe in “works salvation”. This is the position of the Monergist or the Calvinist (at least, most of the ones that I have talked to). They’ll often quote John 6, Romans 9 & Ephesians 1, giving their Calvinistic interpretation of them.

2) “Works salvation” is saying that you must repent of your sins, in order to be saved. All you need to do to be saved, is “believe in Jesus” (they’ll quote Romans 10:14-15 for you). Saying that you must turn from your sins to be saved, is “works salvation”, even though they believe that you must turn from at least one sin (unbelief), in order to be saved. This is the position of antinomian or typically the King James Only Fundamental Independent Baptist (I have absolutely nothing against the KJV Bible).

3) “Works salvation” is saying that you are responsible for “maintaining your salvation” or “staying saved”. In other words, if you say that you can “lose your salvation”, “depart from the faith”, “be cut off”, etc., then you believe in “works salvation”. If you believe that you must live a holy life to be a true Christian, then you believe in “works salvation”. This is the position of anyone who believes in any form of unconditional eternal security, once saved always saved or perseverance of the saints. Some Calvinists may say that you “need to live holy” to be a Christian, but that is just double talk, since they say that we “all sin everyday, in though, word and deed”.

4) “Works salvation” is saying that committing sin can cause you to “lose your salvation”. Only “completely rejecting Jesus” can cause you to “lose your salvation”, but “sin” can’t. This is the position of SOME people who call themselves Arminians (NOT all of them).

Continue reading →

Were the “Early Church Fathers” Calvinistic, In Their Soteriology? Part 1 (Conditional Security)

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Kerrigan Skelly

As I have dealt with Calvinists and Calvinism over the past 7-8 years, they always seem to want to present their soteriology (doctrine of salvation) as “The Historical Christian Faith”. When a Calvinist says such a thing, it makes me laugh (at least on the inside). It shows that they are either ignorant of what the Early Church Fathers believed and are just parroting what their favorite “theologian” has said or they are just outright lying.

Either way, such a statement couldn’t be further from the truth. And just to be clear, when I say, “Early Church Fathers” (ECF’s) I am referring to the Ante-Nicene Fathers. In other words, I am referring to the Church leaders who wrote extensively, prior to the Council of Nicea (325 A.D.).

With all of that in mind, I want to give you some quotes from the ECF’s regarding one tenant of Calvinism – “Perseverance of the Saints”. This is also know as the “P” from the acronym “T.U.L.I.P.”, which is used to represent the Calvinistic doctrine of soteriology. “Perseverance” of the Saints is more rightly called “Preservation of the Saints” or “Unconditional Eternal Security”, since God “preserves them” and since there is nothing they can do to “lose their salvation”.

No matter what you choose to call it, it was not what the Early Church believed in. The only group of people who believed such doctrines during this period of time, were the Gnostics, who were heretics. Jude 3 says, “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” If this verse it to have any meaning at all, we should be able to see some form of Calvinistic soteriology in the Early Church Father’s writings. Unfortunately, for the Calvinists, we don’t.

Continue reading →

Good Bible Colleges & Seminaries – Kerrigan Skelly

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Kerrigan Skelly

A person recently asked me this on a YouTube video of mine:

“Kerrigan, what’re your thoughts on college, particularly Bible colleges? Should one attend such places?”

Here was my response to him:

“I don’t know of one that will help you to stay in prayer, interpret the Bible properly, lead you to the streets to evangelize or that won’t leave you worse off spiritually, then you were when you got there. There may be one out there, but I’m not aware of one. The most Biblical way to study God’s Word is to be in a Godly Church with Godly leadership that will teach you sound doctrine, disciple you and model the Christian life for you. There’s no replacement for this, including “Bible colleges”.”

Continue reading →