Disturbing News from My Alma Mater

I discovered a conference at my alma mater, Clear Creek Baptist Bible College, on Founders Ministry website(http://www.founders.org/blog/2008/09/concerns-about-challenge-of-calvinism.html) and sent the following letter to the president in response.

Dear Dr. Donnie Fox,

I am a 2005 graduate of Clear Creek. I became concerned when I recently saw an article in the Western Recorder advertising a conference at Clear Creek entitled: The Challenge of Calvinism. A conference to address the problem of Calvinism.

I have been disturbed since my time at CCBBC at its response to Calvinism. When I came to CCBBC in 2000, I had no idea what Calvinism was, but I was shortly introduced to the beliefs of Calvinism. However, for most of my time at CCBBC, I was not a Calvinist. I was still bothered at how Clear Creek responded to Calvinism (the firing of Dr. Castleton, especially and falsely accusing Calvinist students of proselytizing). My feeling at the time was that rather than attacking Calvinists as the enemy we should embrace them as fellow believers with whom we disagree.

In my experience, the students of CCBBC were ignorant of Calvinism; consequently, the rejection of it was a rejection of the caricature and not the actual theology. Because of the schools response to Calvinism, students remain ignorant of both Calvinism and Arminianism; therefore, they cannot adequately wrestle with the challenges of God’s sovereignty and humanity’s free will. I feel a conference that would facilitate a dialogue between Calvinism and Arminianism would better benefit students. Rather than, a one sided diatribe against Calvinism.

Clear Creek’s reaction is also bothersome because it is denial of its confession of faith: the New Hampshire Confession. According to Lumpkin (this is the book I used for Baptist Doctrine class at CCBBC), “The New Hampshire confession…sought to restate its Calvinism in very moderate tones.”[1] The New Hampshire Confession asserts both monergistic regeneration and unconditional election, which as far as I know no professor at CCBBC affirms even though they sign this statement of faith when hired. In addition, it is my understanding that at least some of the founders of CCBBC were Calvinists.

Why is CCBBC so concerned that some of its students or faculty might embrace the doctrines that brought about the Protestant Reformation? Would CCBBC have a conference to keep these men from being pastors and missionaries: Adoniram Judson, Charles Spurgeon, BH Carroll, John Broadus, James P. Boyce, and WA Criswell all of whom claimed to be Calvinists?

My problem really is not that CCBBC is not Calvinistic as much as its hostility towards those who are. It is a sad day when my alma mater is holding conferences condemning the beliefs I hold dear.

Pastor Jeremy Lee
Twining Baptist Church


[1] Lumpkin, William L. Baptist Confessions of Faith (Judson 1969) pg. 360

Repentance Unto Life

The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them."

Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened: "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air. Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

"I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

"The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’

This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.

"Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’

"As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?"

When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life" (Acts 11:1-18 NIV).

What is repentance unto life?

Contextually, this "repentance to life" is the faith induced by hearing the Good News of God's provision of complete forgiveness in Christ.

The conclusion was forced by undeniable evidence of the Holy Spirit coming to the just-believing Gentiles who did not submit to Jewish regulations in the Law for God's supreme blessing promised to Israel--the Holy Spirit. (They may have supposed that the all flesh portion of the promise meant all flesh which binds itself to keeping God's covenant with Israel.)

It is a summary phrase equivalent to what some today call conversion, accepting Christ, trusting Christ, coming to Christ, et. al.. However, Russian Evangelical Baptists will ask you, "When did you repent?" rather than "When did you accept Christ?"

It describes what God did which brought about the reception of the correct heart attitude (which is repentance). It is the ministry and work of God upon which all preaching relies for effectiveness. So, Paul told Timothy to patiently teach opponents "in the hope that God would grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth that they may escape the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will." Repentance is a desire to embrace God's truth and the perfection of God. It is what was rejected and abandoned in the garden. This is a gift from God which He must grant to people who have been running from His truth trying to escape reason and reach a demonic fantasy.

Thank you, Father, for your supreme gifts. In Christ's great name, Amen!

Pastor Brian Tidd
Big Rock Congregational Church
Atlanta, MI

A Plea for Faithful Ministry 2

The first key for the faithful minister is to embrace the gospel. In addition, he must accept the Bible as the standard of truth.

Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 1:13 NASB).

When sound, which means healthy, is used with doctrine or word, it means correct teaching or doctrine. Some believe that there must exist an authoritative church to maintain pure doctrine. Others hold that Christ is the standard by which all teachings are to be judged. However, Paul is teaching in this text that his teachings are the doctrinal standard for the church. Since Paul's teachings are contained in Scripture, the New Testament Scriptures are the standard of truth for the church. The Apostle Peter also upholds the Scriptures as the authoritative standard: "Remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles" (2 Peter 3:2 NASB). The church should never rule over Scripture, but she should submit to all its teachings and uphold the teachings of the Scripture. Only then is the church and her ministers fulfilling their mission. In addition, one can certainly agree that Christ is the ultimate standard of truth, but this begs the question: how does one know anything about Christ outside of Scripture? Scripture is our only inerrant source of information about Christ; therefore, Scripture, the written Word of God must be the standard of a faithful minister.

When a minister accepts the Bible as the standard of truth, it ought to affect his ministry. He should take diligent care that his teaching matches the teaching of the Bible. This is best accomplished by expository preaching, which enables the pastor to preach"the whole counsel of God." It also enable the pastor to preach authoritatively because he is preaching not the latest fad or opinion poll, but the God inspired, authoritative Word of God.

Men, let us be faithful ministers by embracing the gospel and accepting the Bible as the standard of truth.

Pastor Jeremy Lee
Twining Baptist Church

An Odd Look at Saving Faith

Faith is a term we use daily. We talk about it constantly. We base just about everything in our Christian lives on it. Christian faith is the second most essential thing we can possess (for the most important, see 1 Corinthians 13:13).

The New Testament (KJV) uses the word ‘faith’ a total of 229 times. By contrast, the Old Testament uses the word a mere two times, one of which, Deuteronomy 32:20, is a negative usage.

Let's look at four outrageous statements about faith:

Our faith is our (second) greatest treasure.
It is our faith that keeps us from day to day.
Our faith will bring us salvation and eternal life.
Our faith is the center of our entire life, as a Christian, and everything else in our life is centered around our faith.

Why outrageous? Because every one of those statements is WRONG. They all refer to OUR faith, or we could just as easily substitute MY faith.

The fact is, that faith is not ours. It is not mine. Ephesians 2:8 tells us plainly that the faith that saves us has nothing to do with us. It is the gift of God alone. I thank God that it is His, and not mine. My weaknesses are too great to be entrusted with using my own. That verse demands to be carefully read and fully understood. We are saved by grace – God’s grace, God’s unmerited favor. We are saved by that grace through faith – saving faith, trust, confidence, sure and certain belief. That faith does not originate with us, nor can we attain it by any effort on our part; it is the free gift of God. Verse 9 goes on to say: “Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Faith is substance.
Substance is assurance.
Assurance is a guarantee or pledge.
A guarantee is a promise, beyond simple assurance.
A guarantee is not given by one to oneself.
It is given by a second party; otherwise it is not a guarantee or promise.

Therefore, faith does not originate with man, but is instead given to him by someone else; and the measure of a man’s faith is totally dependent on the generosity of the giver. The one to whom it is given can request more, but he has no control over the quantity given. Consider what Paul says in Romans 12:3: “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

If I were gifted with a mind superior to all the world’s greatest thinkers and scientists (I am not), if I had the wealth of all the knowledge of the ages at my fingertips, I would still be possessed of a fallible, limited, incomplete, human mind. My faith, conversely, is not my own. It is God’s, and therefore infallible. I no longer have to take shelter in what I can see and experience with my limited human senses.

In the old hymn, we sing, “Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.” The power of God is the victory, and faith is only the instrument through which that power works. It is God, through His Son, who saves us, then sanctifies us. It is God who gives us the faith that makes that possible. It is God who then overcomes the world on our behalf, because He is pleased with us, because of that faith. God is the source, God is the middle, God is the end. God does it all, and we have no greater duty than to accept His saving grace, and no greater calling than to praise Him and thank Him for his sovereignty, majesty, glory, power, love, and holiness.

Larry Teal

Teaching Elder, Pigeon River Baptist Church

Vanderbilt, MI

God Works All Things After the Counsel of His Will

Doing some work in the Old Testament book of Esther recently has reminded me of the important--and practical--truth of God providentially working all things according to His ordained will.

Regardless of this compromise with human reasoning that some have come up with in recent years that says that God not only hasn't ordained what will come to pass, He really doesn't know what people will do (how can He, they say, if man is a free creature?)...so God just works things out based on what we do or don't do. If we don't cooperate with His "Plan A", well then He'll come up with "Plan B" and so on. This is called "open theism" and it's blatantly unbiblical! It's purely based on man, in his natural/fleshly thinking, trying to make sense out of man's freedom to do as he pleases and God doing as He pleases.

But the mind of God can only be discerned by the SPIRIT of God, causing us to understand and accept by faith the revealed truth of the WORD of God. And according to the truths and principles of Scripture, God has no "Plan B" and needs no "Plan B." We can know without a doubt that God and His ordained will are at the center of all the events of the book of Esther, as well as all the events of our world today (including all the free choices of man).

Esther records one of the clearest testimonies of God's sovereignty and providence in the Bible. It's one long illustration from Biblical history of the truth of verses like Proverbs 19:21, "Many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand" (NIV, "it is the Lord's purpose that prevails") and Romans 8:28, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" and Ephesians 1:11, "In Him (Christ) also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will." (See also Genesis 50:20.)

C.H. Spurgeon once said, "Every child of God is where God has placed him for some good purpose." And knowing that God has us where we are in His wise and good providence and knowing His promises to deliver His people (as in Esther), we can wait on Him with confidence, trusting Him to order our circumstances and deliver us in His perfect timing.

Pastor Jeff Ryan
Calvary Bible Church
Rogers City, MI