Would God Save Through a Lie? - Part I

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Part I
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Is Arminianism a false gospel? Consequently, is man's determinate will the decisive act in salvation?

That's a question I started asking about 6 years ago as a result of meeting other youth ministry leaders in the East Bay Area. Hearing them focus so much on getting the youth to make a choice to live for Christ, caused me to search the scriptures on this topic only to realize the undeniable, biblical truth that God is entirely sovereign over all things including (and especially) the will of man.

Rather than enumerate here what I learned through the years on this topic, I offer the following instead...

A few weeks ago, my wife found a message preached by Pastor John Piper on this very topic called How to Distinguish Between the Gospel and False Gospels. I've been blessed by it and I hope that you are too.

Pastor Piper has very clearly shown from the Scriptures that Arminianism (and any teaching that denies the complete sovereign work of God alone in salvation) is a false gospel.

I wondered what might have prompted Piper to speak on this topic. I remembered that in September of 2007, Pastor Piper was invited to be the sole preacher at a weekend conference in Sacramento hosted by a large and growing Ukrainian church (). During one of his messages, he touched on the biblical teaching of election. The church, being Armenian, apparently (secondhand knowledge) preached a "rebuttal" message the following Sunday after Pastor Piper had left. Coincidentally, the message above was preached just a few months later.

This is quickly becoming a battleground of truth for the Christian church and warrants careful thought and search of the scriptures.

I'm sure this is difficult for some who either themselves or have family members under this false teaching. I fall in that category as I have a sister who is in such a church.

Does it discourage me?

On the contrary! It makes me even more vigilant about finding opportunities to share with her and her family the truth of Christ in the Scriptures. May it also spur you on to do the same.