Hi, my name is Josh and I'm a former Semi-Pelagianist.
I used to believe in free will. I thought that irrisistable grace meant that God would drag you to heaven kicking and screaming even if you didn't want to go. I thought that this was a serious afront to the will of man.
I thought that faith arose from within me and did not know that it was God's grace that gave it to me. I thought I was sick in my sin, not dead. I thought I was like the swimmer in the ocean who got leg cramps and had to call out for help to the life guard in order to be rescued. I didn't realize that I had already been at the bottom of the ocean for days, already dead, unable to breath, unable to cry out for help.
But then God showed me some dreadful, yet wonderful and glorious truths. Man has an enslaved will and not a free will. I was dead in sin, not sick. I would not call out to God apart from His enabling grace and regeneration. Oh, how I needed His grace for I would nor could ever come to Him willingly.
2 Timothy 2:24-26 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
2 Peter 2:19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
2 Peter 2:1 Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
It couldn't be any more clear. Man does not have free will but is enslaved to Satan and sin. Last time I checked, neither Satan or sin are in the habit of telling people to obey the gospel. Apart from God's grace, we are captive and obedient to these cruel taskmasters unless the Lord liberates us and sets us free. It's only then that we can yield ourselves to God as slaves of righteousness. God has freed us from the slavery of Satan and sin and made us obedient servants of Christ. We have been freed to serve Christ.
I have received faith and thus the righteousness of Christ. I've obtained both by Divine alottment. Both are precious gifts to me. Nothing in my salvation is the result of anything I have done. Salvation is a monergistic work not a synergistic one. The Roman Catholic Church and many professing Christians have errored. They've tried to mix Sovereign Grace and Pelagianism and have compromised themselves as Semi-Pelagians.
Fellow Christians and pastors, know your church history and you'll see that from the very beginning faithful men of God have always fought against the heresies of Pelagius, Erasmus and Arminius. Many of you, as I once was, are so far removed from church history that you actually think the teachings of Calvin, Augustine, Luther, Spurgeon and the Puritans are heretical. If you do not believe them to be heretical then you affirm that they are preaching the true Word of God, so why not join them? Go to history and you'll slowly begin to see that modern day evangelicalism has more in common with Rome, Pelagius, Erasmus and Arminius than historical and Biblical christianity. Flee this heresy and no longer be apostates of the one true gospel of grace.
I pray for this. And I pray for the salvation of men knowing that it's God's grace that is effectual as His Word is delivered to them--wherever they may be.
I used to believe in free will. I thought that irrisistable grace meant that God would drag you to heaven kicking and screaming even if you didn't want to go. I thought that this was a serious afront to the will of man.
I thought that faith arose from within me and did not know that it was God's grace that gave it to me. I thought I was sick in my sin, not dead. I thought I was like the swimmer in the ocean who got leg cramps and had to call out for help to the life guard in order to be rescued. I didn't realize that I had already been at the bottom of the ocean for days, already dead, unable to breath, unable to cry out for help.
But then God showed me some dreadful, yet wonderful and glorious truths. Man has an enslaved will and not a free will. I was dead in sin, not sick. I would not call out to God apart from His enabling grace and regeneration. Oh, how I needed His grace for I would nor could ever come to Him willingly.
2 Timothy 2:24-26 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
2 Peter 2:19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
2 Peter 2:1 Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
It couldn't be any more clear. Man does not have free will but is enslaved to Satan and sin. Last time I checked, neither Satan or sin are in the habit of telling people to obey the gospel. Apart from God's grace, we are captive and obedient to these cruel taskmasters unless the Lord liberates us and sets us free. It's only then that we can yield ourselves to God as slaves of righteousness. God has freed us from the slavery of Satan and sin and made us obedient servants of Christ. We have been freed to serve Christ.
I have received faith and thus the righteousness of Christ. I've obtained both by Divine alottment. Both are precious gifts to me. Nothing in my salvation is the result of anything I have done. Salvation is a monergistic work not a synergistic one. The Roman Catholic Church and many professing Christians have errored. They've tried to mix Sovereign Grace and Pelagianism and have compromised themselves as Semi-Pelagians.
Fellow Christians and pastors, know your church history and you'll see that from the very beginning faithful men of God have always fought against the heresies of Pelagius, Erasmus and Arminius. Many of you, as I once was, are so far removed from church history that you actually think the teachings of Calvin, Augustine, Luther, Spurgeon and the Puritans are heretical. If you do not believe them to be heretical then you affirm that they are preaching the true Word of God, so why not join them? Go to history and you'll slowly begin to see that modern day evangelicalism has more in common with Rome, Pelagius, Erasmus and Arminius than historical and Biblical christianity. Flee this heresy and no longer be apostates of the one true gospel of grace.
I pray for this. And I pray for the salvation of men knowing that it's God's grace that is effectual as His Word is delivered to them--wherever they may be.
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