"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." -Revelation 22:17
The following quote is taken from the doctrinal
statement of the
Association of Charismatic Reformed Churches:
"We believe that God has unconditionally chosen a company of people, His Elect, out from the fallen sons of Adam. These Elect were given in covenant to the Son, by the Father, before the foundation of the world was laid. God has done everything necessary to bring these Elect to faith in Christ and to secure them eternally unto Himself. This election to salvation is attributed solely to the sovereign Grace of God and not to any merit, good works, or faith on our part, faith itself being the gift of God. (Rom 9:1-24; Eph 1:3-14; 2Tim 1:9; John 6:37; Ps 89:1-5, 15-36; Rom 8:28-39; Eph 2:1-10)"
That is a demonic LIE! There is NOT one Scripture in the entire Bible which even remotely indicates that God CHOOSES who will be saved. Such false doctrine goes against everything taught in the Word of God. Repeatedly, throughout the Bible, we see that men and women acted upon their OWN FREE WILL. When God instructed Noah to build an ark, Noah obeyed; but when God told Jonah to go preach in Nineveh, Jonah fled in disobedience. Clearly, these men acted by their own free will.
Jesus continually tried to convert the unbelieving Pharisees, but they were hard-hearted. In John 8:45 Jesus sated, "And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not." Why would Jesus spend the time and effort trying to save these men (i.e., the Pharisees) if they were not elected to salvation? If election to salvation be true, then the Bible is confusing when it says in Romans 10:13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Thankfully, the Word of God is NOT confusing, because election to salvation is a bogus doctrine. The Word of God is loud and clear that ANYONE can be saved if they'll come as a sinner to the cross of Jesus Christ for forgiveness. It is Jesus' blood that takes our sins away, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ..." (1st peter 1:18-19).
How dare anyone claim that only certain people are chosen to salvation, when the Bible clearly states in 1st John 2:2 that Jesus died for ALL mankind... "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." Who are you going to believe--God's Word, or man? In John 5:40 Jesus stated, "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." Carefully notice that Jesus DIDN'T say "ye cannot come"; but rather, "ye WILL NOT COME." It is our own personal decision, by our own free will, to either reject or accept the Savior.
If you'd like to learn MUCH MORE about this critically important doctrine, then I highly recommend that you read the excellent free online book, NOT CHOSEN TO SALVATION, by Pastor Max D. Younce, D.D.
