Radio Free Geneva: NIFB Arguments Reviewed, the Ecclesiastical Text Movement Examined

Calvinist Arguments Against Total Depravity

Calvinists because they've chosen to follow John Calvin instead of Jesus Christ. I have a problem with them. They're following men instead of the Word of God. I'm on top of my feet, standing on a stump, and crying out.

He died. Those who were elected were selected.

You absolutely hear people that are Calvinists harp on this.

God Sovereign, God Sovereign, God Sovereign, Sovereign, Sovereign.

They just keep repeating it, and they repeat it so much you start to think it's a biblical truth.

Jesus stands outside the tomb of Lazarus, he says, Lazarus, come out. And Lazarus said, I can't, I'm dead. That's not what he did, Lazarus came out. You mean to tell me a dead person can respond to the command of Christ.

I can talk over your head like that. I know the Hebrew, the Greek, I've done theology, you can tell. I know.

Do you really believe that it parallels the method of exegesis that we utilize to demonstrate those other things?

Um, no. New Calvinists, even pastors, very openly smoke pipes and cigars just as they drink beer and wine.

Jesus cannot override your unbelief. Words like that to him, you know what it would sound like if he were listening to it? It wouldn't make any sense to him. A self-righteous, legalistic, deceived jerk.

You need to realize that he's gone from predeterminism. Now he's speaking of some kind of middle knowledge that God now has to.

I stand, I deny and categorically deny middle knowledge.

Then don't beg the question that would demand me to force you to embrace it. From our underground bunker deep beneath the faculty cafeteria in New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

From all those moderate Calvinists, Dave Hunt fans, and those who have read and re-read George Bryson's book We are Radio Free Geneva Broadcasting the truth about God's freedom to say for his own eternal glory.

Well there you go folks, that's for the people who like the old one and the new one all at the same time. Because I heard a story going, dude, you started the wrong one.

He's like, what? That's not the new theme.

We're going to have people knocking down the doors. And it's like, okay, we'll start over. Okay, welcome to Radio Free Geneva. We've got a lot to get to. If you see a pile of Greek New Testaments next to my right elbow Then you know we've got a lot of stuff to get to today.

On Radio Free Geneva, it's going to be a little different than normal. But the topics should be useful.

Very, very useful.

The first part of the program will be sort of normal. I'll be playing some standard objections to the Reformed faith. Responding to them. And then the second half, we're really going to get into some I think extremely important, much higher level discussion.

And it's not an attack upon the Reformed faith. It is a debate within the Reformed faith that I think is extremely important. And I refer to the issue of ecclesiastical textism. TR-only-ism. The movement amongst Reformed men.

Both Paedo-Baptist and Reformed Baptist men. That I believe is a capitulation of apologetics. I do not believe that those who hold this position Can engage in any meaningful defense of the New Testament.

Outside of the narrow little confines of Oh, let's all get together and talk about Westminster or something. Outside of that, you've got nothing. You can't take on the ermines or the ermine students of the world Can't do anything like that.

And so, anyway We'll get into that at the second half of the program. As we have time to get into it. So, let's start off. Back in November-December I started following the new Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Twitter account.

And.

Yeah, it's painful. But there's a lot of things That I do online That are painful. And that's one of them. And I started seeing It was right on the same time they announced this movie That seemingly has died.

You know, the big movie Exposing me and Jeff Durbin Calvinism, Doctrine of Demons Seemingly Is dead. It's gone.

And.

So Because the people that were doing it The church split And all of a sudden They're lobbying bombs of false prophet And false teacher and stuff at each other.

And.

You know, I'm sorry to see things like that happen. But the fact that it happened within about a week Of the last video they did Making just absurd accusations And slander.

Fitting.

Appropriate.

That something like that would take place.

So.

Anyway But right around the same time This young guy From the Philippines He's evidently an American Missionary pastor In an NIFB Which must be amazing in the Philippines. The Philippines is, wow. You've got Iglesia Ni Cristo And you've got this type of stuff going on.

That's weird. Anyway Starts posting these videos where He doesn't even have anybody to help him He's doing it on his own.

Okay.

Because, you know, it starts off With a blank screen. I mean, I have You have it up. Here's the first. Here's the first screen. This is how the first video We're gonna look at. That's how it starts. So that's how it starts.

He hits the button and runs around in front of the camera And starts talking. So, okay. That's what you got. That's what you got. And he's Refuting Calvinism. And what's useful About it is. These are nice, short Videos.

You can pretty much just play the whole thing In one shot And then respond to it. Is there anything new here?

No.

But after all the years of doing Radio Free Geneva. Is there really anything new? I mean, we'd have to start getting into.

Lesbian, transgendered.

Swahili Feminine Feminist type. Critiques or something to come up with something new. I mean, I'm sure there's something new. Every year at SBL I'm sure SBL comes up with something new. But stuff that you'd really be running into.

Not really, we've pretty much covered it over the years.

We've pretty much.

We've dealt with the good guys. You know, the scholars. Those types of things. And then the more common stuff. This type of stuff. But again, it's the stuff that you're gonna be hearing. It's the stuff that you're gonna be dealing with.

On a regular basis. And so it is important to look at. So, we're gonna look at a few of his videos.

And.

I'd said that I would at some point. In the past, and then it's always easy. Oh, and we'll. There's so.

I.

I cannot imagine.

Well.

I can't imagine what the Sundance Convention is gonna be like. In June of this year, let alone next year.

Um Um.

Think about everything that's happened. Since 2018. That would be relevant to The Sundance Convention. Coming up in this summer, let alone Next year.

Um.

There's so much developing right now I mean, it's It is an intersectional It's an intersectional tsunami In the Sundance Convention right now. And so Given that Living out With Sam Alberry Is doing stuff in Southern Baptist Churches It would be relevant to address The issues that I had.

Um.

With Sam Alberry's presentation Um at RZIM. Last Friday or Saturday I think it was Friday.

Um.

But do so once. A little bit of this dust Has settled on Thursday. Um because there may be Further developments relevant to The SBC, Me Too And stuff like that. Let me just say before we get to the The stuff here I dared.

I haven't seen much pushback yet. Maybe you've gotten pushback and didn't tell me anything about it. But I dared to. I think on Facebook or Twitter I forget which one it was. I think I forgot to do one of the two.

Uh.

I dared to make a link to.

To he who.

Shall not be named. There are so Many dangerous things right now.

Uh.

To he who.

Shall not be named. Which immediately goes.

You're not supposed to know about that. Um.

But for many people Uh the name Douglas Wilson And Voldemort Are pretty much the same thing.

I mean.

For some people.

When they hear Douglas Wilson Their mind hears Voldemort Um and So.

I I.

I actually linked to The article that Doug Wilson wrote On um On Al Mohler's Apology in regards to C .J. Mahaney.

And.

All I'll say right now. We'll talk about it on Thursday. But all I'll say right now is you just need to read.

Look it up.

It's on blogamablog. Try to put aside. Some of you have just.

Some of you.

Are dear friends of mine but you've just got.

You.

Can't listen to the man for love nor money.

And.

If I can give you an example.

I've debated him.

We've debated on the opposite side of an issue. We don't agree about everything. But the fact of the matter is sometimes Doug just cuts through the fog. In a way that nobody else does.

Um.

And so read what he said. Were you asking for something? Well yeah. Okay. I don't really consider The written stuff to be debates. Someone did once kind enough though. Uh to send me. Since I kept saying The publisher never did.

There's our book Douglas Wilson vs. James R. White Debating the text of the word of God. So that's actually relevant. I'm going to leave that out. Um that's actually relevant. To the current topic we're going to be looking at.

But um thank you to whoever sent that to me.

Um.

Yeah we've done Written stuff. And we've always been in disagreement with one another. So the point is.

Um.

Especially these days Christians you have to learn To develop the ability To discerningly Listen to others.

Um.

One of the problems I have You know I was just listening to Jeffrey Riddle. Sounds like a really wonderful nice guy. He's a pastor, reformed baptist church. Great, fine, wonderful. Um but there's just this mindset That basically you know He's basically saying well I can't understand why James White Would um have any problem With conjectural inundation.

Which I what I specifically Said was I don't believe there's any place In the New Testament that requires conjectural inundation. It was pretty obvious what I was saying. But somehow I got misinterpreted.

We'll talk about that a little bit later. But I can't understand how James White would disagree With conjectural inundation. When Metzger Defines it and He just agrees with Modern textual critical theory.

As if everybody who Doesn't hold to some type Of traditional we don't care what the papyri say. We don't care what anything discovered In the past 500 years says. We've got our text that's it. As if we all believe the exact same thing.

And you cannot critically.

Engage with.

With the text itself Here's the Tyndale House, Greek New Testament. There's really cool Stuff that they've done with this And I think it's very very well done. But does that mean I agree with everything?

No, I disagree With its rendering of John 1 18. You have to be able to engage stuff Critically.

And yeah.

Okay, I'm a scholar In this area, I've taught I'm doing doctoral level research In it, fine, but everybody Has to be able to Have the right to Go, I agree with that. But I don't agree with that application there.

Or that application there, things like that. So, in the same way you have to Be able to listen to folks like Doug Wilson.

And.

Be discerning.

I mean.

He doesn't demand that you Fall down before him and go. I will agree with every word you say. Neither did Bruce Metzger. And so It's a matter of discernment. I guess I just got lucky. Lucky, blessed. Didn't realize It was a blessing at the time, but when I Did my First master's degree at Fuller I had to cultivate The skill Of listening to people With whom you have fundamental disagreements Gathering up all the good.

And there is frequently a tremendous Amount of good to be gathered up But not Picking up the stuff that you Recognize to be inconsistent with What you understand to be the truth. Yeah, it's a skill. But I would think it would just be so obvious.

And yet there are so many people If you agree with Metzger on this You agree with him on everything.

No, I don't.

Well, if you agree with Doug Wilson on this. You agree with him on everything.

No.

But I can recognize An absolute wordsmith. I can recognize someone who is just So skilled with words that it's astonishing. And then someone who just simply Especially on this social justice Stuff is slicing Right through all the Fog and sees Right what the issue is And can express it in such incredibly Entertaining fashion, too.

So take time to look at it. That's all I'm going to say today. I shouldn't have taken that time. We're supposed to be doing something else. So let's get to this first one. I forget what it was about. We'll find out soon enough.

It's 2 minutes and 33 seconds long. And.

Here we go.

Matthew Sagan here from Providing you another video on the topic of Calvinism and most specifically total depravity. And one argument that Calvinists Like to use is in John chapter 6 verse 44 Where the Bible reads No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me Draw him and I will raise him up to the last day.

So the Bible says that you cannot come Unless the Father Draws you. And so they'll look at this verse and say well see Some people are drawn and some people Are not drawn and so if you're not drawn You're going to go to hell and if you are drawn you're going to go to heaven No matter what if you're drawn You're going to get saved and believe like Jesus they say.

But if you're not drawn you're going to go to hell. Well let's compare spiritual things with Spiritual and see what it says in John chapter 12. Because it's very clear in John 6 That unless the Father draws you You cannot come.

You're not going to be able to go to heaven unless the Father draws you. Well in John chapter 12 verse 32 and 33 It is what it says. And I if I be lifted up from the earth Will draw All men onto me. This he said signifying what Death he should die.

So Jesus Says that if I be lifted up from the earth I'll draw all men onto me. And so the Bible is very clear that Jesus is going to Draw all men. Now here's where Calvinists don't understand this. And most Christians don't understand this.

And that's that you know what God Draws everybody. But there are certain people where he Stops drawing them at a certain point. So when it says you can't come unless the Father draws you there are people here on Earth that become walking dead men because they Rejected God so long that They become a child of the devil which we talked about In earlier videos but He did die for everyone and he Drew everyone.

It's just that some people can Reach a point on earth where they've lost Their chance to be saved. But it's very clear He's going to draw all men onto him. Jesus died for everybody's sins. He wants everybody to be saved and it's our Choice if we're going to believe on Jesus Christ.

And if we believe on Jesus Christ Then we become a child of God and we're On our way to heaven. So if you compare spiritual Things to spiritual and you look up that word draw. Well it's very clear in John 12 That if he'd be lifted up from the earth Which he was he will draw All men onto him.

Now what Calvinists Will argue is well I mean if he draws All men onto them then why don't they just All go to heaven look. Because he gives Us free will whether or not we're going to accept Him or not it doesn't say that you're Guaranteed you're going to heaven if he draws You or you're forced to go to heaven.

No we have our free will to accept. Yes he draws everyone. And we have our choice if we believe Or not. Thank you and God bless.

Okay so There you have just very very standard Surface level. You know Surface level argumentation very very Common. That's what makes it useful to refute It. We always have new folks Listening and Tuning in and stuff like that.

So it's Good to go over this This type of stuff. And so what did We what did we see there. Well you have Your standard argumentation your standard Lack Of any meaningful exegesis. You went to John 6 44 you did not notice there was No reference to how Verse 44 functions in The entirety of John 6.

When you begin at John 6 35 You can start back at John 6 1 if you want to. But if you begin in John 6 35 You begin after the miracle Of the walking on the water. And you're now in the synagogue at Capernaum.

You start following that Context along. And John 6 44 Already comes after the clear statements Of God's absolute sovereignty in this matter Of the fact that he has a people he gives Unto the son. There's nothing in here About a free will of man.

There's Everything about the free will of God. Man is unable. God is able it's the exact Opposite of the external stuff That he brought in. Never gave a Biblical citation never gave anything From the text.

Just simply assumes. And he can assume that The vast majority people he's gonna be talking to are going To accept the idea of the free will of Man. They're not gonna give you any Bible references to it.

Well you know there's Free will offerings. Well that doesn't exactly Equate the same thing as man having a free will. There's all sorts of statements in scripture About man's will being enslaved. And about man not being able to do certain Things.

And all the rest of stuff is very very Plain very very clear. But Keeping that stuff out if you follow John 6 God the father gives A certain people to the son. The son Raises them all up. They are looking to him only because Of what God the father has first done in Giving them to the son.

Jesus comes down out of heaven Not to do his own will but the will of the father who Sent him. What's that will that he lose. None That are given to him but raise them all up in the last day. Jesus is able to be the Perfect savior.

There's nothing in there about Man's faith actuating. No it's all Of God. And so you get to Verse 44 that people are complaining That you're making yourself the center of all this Stuff. Who do you think.

Who do you say that you are. And what does Jesus say. No One can come. Stop grumbling. No one can come to me Unless the father who sent me draws him. Now if anyone ever When you are dealing with a biblical passage If anyone ever Says well you know and this is People get away with this.

I've seen it happen In our own circles have seen it happen In churches. I've been in over and over again Didn't it strike Anybody as strange that Instead of giving a meaningful Contextual interpretation From John 6 The immediate thing that this Young man does is he jumps out Of John 6.

Six chapters later John chapter 12. And he excuses this. He excuses this complete Abandonment of context complete abandonment Of exegesis. And amongst this group Exegesis is a bad word. They don't like the term exegesis.

Because they don't do exegesis. You can't Meaningfully present the bible as the word of God without doing exegesis. And that's one of the Issues with the new new independent Fundamentalist Baptist movement.

But You didn't strike Anyone as strange that you would think.

That.

Jesus's words would have A meaning to the people he was talking to at that time. But if the only way to interpret It is to bring in something From six chapters later and then Call that comparing spiritual With spiritual that sounds wonderful.

What does it mean. Is comparing spiritual With spiritual a way of getting around Doing the hard work of exegesis Getting around actually Um allowing the word of God to speak for itself because see the NIFB presents so many Doctrines and theologies that are Unknown to the apostles.

That's why they have to mock Exegesis because they have To proof text stuff without Reference to context. And they look Down upon people who are Careful to stop Speaking when God's words stop speaking.

In other words So much of what They think is just absolutely. I mean this guy also has a whole series Attacking repentance. I mean How you can Read the new testament and not see the Absolute centrality of repentance that It's the mark Of the christian life.

It is the beginning. It's the work of the spirit of God. See again they think it all works because they Reject God's sovereignty In salvation. They think we're working this all up Within ourselves. Faith is something we do.

Repentance must be something to do and so it's only faith. They can't see and cannot Develop a balanced biblical understanding. The relationship of faith and repentance. And works because They don't have God as the One who's the source of all these things.

They're synergists so they can't Come up with it and so they end up with this Horrifically stilted and odd and Strange and at times downright heretical Perspective. But they don't get that stuff from exegesis.

This is their traditions. And then they use scripture. You can't do exegesis if you're going to be doing this kind of stuff. So you jump to something later on Call it comparing spiritual to spiritual Which is just simply abandoning context.

And then don't even Bother to note That in that you are reading your own Meaning into john chapter 12. Because when jesus says If i be lifted up i'll draw men unto myself. You're saying every single person In the world is drawn unto jesus By the crucifixion even though the bible Says the cross is foolishness to men.

It's a stumbling block Stone of stumbling A scandal on You don't even hear yourself. That's one of the problems. One of the problems with NIFB and a lot of IFB people is You've got an echo chamber. And all you hear is The same stuff being repeated over and over again.

And there's never any challenging. That's what's good about. I'm very thankful That i have friends Who do not Agree with me On every single point that there is They challenge me to think about things.

I see things from another perspective. When i went to fuller i saw things From another perspective. Now fuller back then was not what fuller is today. I could not ever recommend anybody going there. But back then Most of my teachers i already knew From grand canyon but there were others.

And it was like I never thought about that before. And unlike A lot of people in the Emergent church And stuff like that I didn't just throw everything out. You analyze what it is you've been taught.

And realize.

Here's the core. These are the next things. So on and so forth. And you grow in your understanding Of what's definitional. What's not definitional. What's called the adiaphora. The things that do not make a difference.

And when you encounter anybody Who has no adiaphora. Anybody who has no adiaphora. Run For the hills. This is one of the marks of fundamentalism. Is that there is no adiaphora. Everything is definitional.

You have to believe like me. All the way down. To every little thing. And that makes the trinity.

And.

Whether you go swimming In the same pool of females They're all on the same level. And that's disastrous. That's disastrous. Just look around and see how disastrous it is. We've seen the results of this For a very very long time.

Anyway. So he Jumps off to John 12 Doesn't realize That it means all kinds of men. Because of the context Where the Greeks are seeking after Jesus. So that's what the context of John 12 is. Reads his errant interpretation of that.

Back into John 6 Interrupting the flow of the argument. And calls that good Without ever realizing in the process What Jesus said. No man is able to come to me unless the Father sent me. And I will raise him up on the last day.

By introducing The concept of Synergism, man's free will Man's choice. And cramming it in there before that last phrase You are left with An incoherent statement. Jesus says That if you're drawn by the Father Jesus will raise you up on the last day.

To be raised up on the last day is to be raised to eternal life. That's the context of John 6 .37 and following. So in John 6 .44 It's all of God. Salvation is perfect. It's perfect harmony of the Father and the Son.

Perfectly to the glory Of the triune God. It's beautiful. But once you break that Now you've got a broken mass. And if all that are drawn by the Father To the Son Are raised up by the Son. You've got universalism.

Well no, we've got our free will. Where is that in John 6 .44 again? They can't derive. One of the key elements To be able to recognize meaningful exegesis. Is it derived From the text itself. Cause we can go Back to verse 35.

Follow it through, go on to 45. Go on down. It's a perfect, seamless, beautiful whole. There is no such thing as a perfect, seamless, beautiful whole. Anywhere In NIFB interpretation. It's all proof texting.

It's never derived Just from the text itself. And so that's what you just saw. That's not exegesis. That's not allowing the text To speak for itself. And yet that's what people find To be very, very. If you want To remain comfortable Where you are, that's the way to do it.

That's the way to do it. Just explain it away. And all will be well. And you go from there. Okay Let's see here. Let's do this one. How long is this one? One minute and thirty seconds. That's what I like about these.

These are useful. Because it's a minute and thirty seconds. This must have been done the same day. Because the camera hasn't moved Alright, here we go.

Matthew Suggi here from Verity Vaps Manila. Providing another video on the topic of Unconditional Election. And what I want to do is look at Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 Where the Bible reads. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus Unto good works which God Hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

And so Calvinists love this passage Because it uses the word ordained. Well, here's the thing In Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10. This is right after Ephesians 2 8 and 9 Where the Bible says we're saved By faith Not of works lest any man should boast.

And then right after that. You know what it says. We're His workmanship created in Christ Jesus Unto good works. When we get saved, yes, God has a plan. He has good works that He wants us to do. And God hath before ordained That we should walk in them.

The key in Ephesians 2 10 is He says we should walk in them. Not that you're automatically going to walk in them. Not that it's a guarantee. But that you should. When we get saved, yes, you know what.

God expects us to be a peculiar people. He expects us to obey His rules. He expects us to be honoring to Him. And follow the Bible. And go to church and go sowing and do these things. It says that we should walk in them.

It doesn't say it's going to be automatic. Yes, we're His workmanship. Yes, He's created us unto good works. But we should walk in them. It's not a guarantee It is still our free will whether or not we're going to walk in them.

Whether or not we choose not to. Thank you and God bless.

Okay, it seems that His King James Version of the Bible Is filled with the phrase Free will that no one else can find in theirs. And so You get this constant Refrain of free will, free will, free will.

Being.

Forced into other texts That say absolutely positively nothing About free will. And notice that once again. The idea of going. Well, let's look at this in context. Let's follow the flow of the argument.

Beginning back at verse 8. And he didn't. He didn't even. Look, I understand people I've done it, anybody who speaks for a living You know Messes up in Citing a verse and like that. But he didn't get the verse very well at all In looking at it.

For by grace He said by faith. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And that Not of yourselves is the gift of God. And we've already discussed in the past Many times How everything in the preceding clause Is wrapped up in the secondary clause.

That is all of it. Grace, salvation, and faith Is the gift of God Not the results of your autonomous free will. Saving faith Is different than an empty faith. That's why saving faith endures to the end.

That's why we can believe everything Jesus said. Including when he said He who endures to the end shall be saved. That's where the balance comes from. That's the only way you can maintain Sola Fide. They say they're believing in faith alone.

But it turns into this twisted. No repentance, no lordship, no holiness. Even though the Bible says.

Without holiness we will not see God.

That's just for super Christians. Blah blah blah. Stuff that the apostles would never have believed Never taught. But these folks Sadly, honestly think that the apostles Were running around wearing ties And formal shirts And doing independent fundamentalist baptist things.

And they weren't. That not of yourselves Is a gift of God Not as a result of works So that no one may boast. It's not my works that brought me this gift. It's totally the free grace Of God Not actuated by my free will.

That's the context. For We are His workmanship Instead of emphasizing The fact that the redeemed Are his creation And therefore as his creation.

They.

Rebound Totally to his glory. It's not about us It's all about him. We can't boast over anybody else. Anything that we have Including our faith Came from his hand. We are his workmanship Created exclusively.

They're good on the exclusive part. Frequently without much grace. But they're good on the exclusive part. Created in Christ Jesus. Nowhere else. For good works. The purpose of our being created In Christ Jesus.

Right there.

Is.

Specifically said to be Unto for good works Which in those good works God foreordained God Sovereignly foreordained In order that In them. And he didn't Bring this out Because I don't think he's aware of it.

But.

He emphasized the word Should not would. Now again, this is where. This is where our Forefathers In the faith Understood That if you were going to rightly Handle the word of God. Now I'm not saying that you have to know Biblical languages to rightly handle the word of God.

But if you don't know the biblical languages You should always Be ready to accept correction When your understanding of a translation Runs up against the reality Of the original The reason that we use the word Should in English In translating The Greek.

And for those of you who are Following along If you will look at The last phrase In verse 10 You have a Hinnah clause. Now Hinnah clauses Normally are purpose or result clauses. And therefore They are not in the indicative.