Calvinism - The Gospel of Dr Henry Mahan

Doctrine Article - D.0114_01

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"The absurdity of Calvinism is evident by merely listening to those who teach it." (Mike Wright - BRI)

1. There is no shortage of Calvinistic teachers who propagate their false doctrines by way of articles and audio sermons online. Dr. Henry Mahan is but one of many.

2. If Dr. Mahan's sermon, "I Never Knew You" is true, then I, for one, am not part of the elect, and there is no hope for me – regardless of what I decide, or even of what I believe. So, there is no use in my wasting time doing or believing anything, if God has already decided that I'm destined for heaven or for hell - regardless of my faith - as Calvinism teaches.

3. This is one reason why it is puzzling that Dr. Mahan speaks of churches being the greatest mission field (at the 15:55 minute mark). That makes no sense. A mission field is a place where we preach the gospel to people so that they can hear and respond and become saved. But if Dr. Mahan's beliefs are true, then those destined for heaven couldn't stop themselves from being saved even if they tried, and those destined for hell couldn't stop themselves from being damned, even if they tried. So, it is a pretense to call any place/church a 'mission field', it is futile to preach to any of the damned, and it is unnecessary to preach to any of the elect, if one believes that these outcomes are already irreversibly pre-determined by God.

4. As an aside, it is nonsense to argue that a man who has the power to reject God's gift of everlasting life consequently also has the power to successfully reject/resist God's punishment of hell. (I don't recall in which of Dr. Mahan's sermons this was mentioned, as a supposed rebuttal.) God's omnipotence is not compromised by the fact that he has extended a "gift" to all who will freely accept it through faith. The bible is clear that everlasting life is the free "gift" of God, not the sovereign "decree" of God. And the bible is equally clear that death is the "wages" of sin, and is not just "one of the payment options" for it. God's omnipotence and man's free-will are not mutually exclusive.

5. Calvinists ask, "Did he save all those he died for, or are there some who he died for that will perish?" What needs to be understood is that Jesus would have chosen to die – and would have been required to die – if the end result was the salvation of only ONE soul. And at the other extreme, Jesus would have chosen to die – and would have been required to die – if the end result was the salvation of ALL souls. Obviously, the actual reality exists between these two extremes. And therefore, the attempt by Calvinists to limit the payment provided on the cross to a chosen few, and/or to suggest that some of Christ's blood was otherwise "wasted", is a meaningless argument in a futile debate.

6. In fact, Christ made provision for the salvation of all by the shedding of the same amount of blood as if he had only saved one soul. This is clear in I John 2:2. He could not have shed more of his blood than he did the first time, nor did he need to shed his blood a subsequent time for the second, third, fourth… or billionth soul. "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (I John 2:2).

7. It is easy to understand the concept of provision being made for something without benefit being imputed to the person, and without concurrently attributing failure to the provider of the benefit. For brevity, I will mention only three examples:

a. The bible repeatedly says that the LORD's mercy endureth forever. Some people argue that it doesn't, because all of the people who are in hell and/or who will be cast into the lake of fire will never benefit from that mercy. But, that is not relevant to the question of whether the mercy endureth forever or not. The only question is whether or not that everlasting mercy will be imputed to the souls of those certain men and women.

b. God made Hawaii to be a beautiful place with many benefits (warmth, beauty, experience, relaxation among them). If I choose not to visit it, then its benefits are still available but are not imputed to me, and God cannot be condemned as being a failure for my decision not to go there. The benefits are available to anyone who chooses to go.

c. God made Heaven to be a beautiful place with many benefits (eternal life among them). If I choose not to go, then its benefits are still available but are not imputed to me, and God cannot be condemned as being a failure for my decision not to go there. The benefits are available to anyone who chooses to go.

8. Dr. Mahan's gospel is erroneous on many counts. In Eph 2:8,9, for example, and in many similar passages which define and describe the gospel, phrases such as "through faith" modify (or qualify) the verb enacting salvation. In this passage, it means that God's grace will continue to depend upon faith "unto salvation". It does not depend on works. It has nothing to do with works. But there can be no question that grace does depend on faith – "unto salvation" (I Pet 1:5, II Tim 3:15 and Rom 10:10, as other examples).

9. If Dr. Mahan believes that his personal salvation is already an accomplished fact, then he will understandably think that he is 'eternally secure' already when the fact is that he will not be 'eternally secure' until he is actually saved. So, if Henry is mistaken on this 'oversight' too, then he has misunderstood and misapplied grace "through faith", "unto salvation", and he is in great danger.

10. The idea that one must embrace the teachings of Calvinism before one can be assured that those teachings are true, is the epitome of 'begging the question' - where one is asked to accept a premise upfront in support of arguments intended to lead to the very conclusion that the premise was true (circular reasoning). If one adds to this circus the fact that subsequent doubts are judged as being proof that the initial premise was never truly accepted in the first place, and that the conclusion is therefore still valid - having not been disproved, then there is no mechanism within that system of theology for honestly evaluating the veracity of its claims.

11. Those are the markings of a cult; not the characteristics of biblical Christianity.

12. Consequently, those who follow Dr. Mahan and other Calvinists, do so at serious risk to the eternal well-being of their souls.