IMHO: In the case of Calvinists, it has nothing at all to do with doctrine and everything to do with their desire to grab their piece of the “Christian” pie. If Calvinism dies on the vine, that would produce empirical evidence that God is not promoting them, and all of their Pharisaical claims would be worthless. In order to keep this from happening they must utilize every Rick Warren, Annas, Caiaphas and Pontius-pilate available. Yes they have an image to protect and polish (i.e. John Calvin). But increasing the power-base is the top priority.
For all who are “of the earth earthy” the mode of operation will always be “end justifies the means”.
When Goliath shows up, you simply baptize him, use him to slaughter your enemy and then claim God’s sovereignty was on your side.

Well said Anon. Warren has no boundaries, but is all encompassing but at the same time he claims to embrace fundamental Christian beliefs. He is a true chameleon.

One’s heart has to go out to Warren and his family with the recent tragedy of the suicidal death of his young son. But one has to wonder how the Calvinists handle situations like this. Would they not say that their sovereign “god” ordained it? That the young man was destined to take his own life? I suppose they will dance around and find some sort of convoluted answer. But the truth is that they teach a lie and distort the true God of the Bible.

I would disagree with you on one point. I do believe that the convictions to their TULIP that Calvinists adhere mostly comes from a deluded mindset and is quite sincere apart from monetary gain or power. That may be true in some cases, but as with any false belief, it is driven mostly by an sincere and blind conviction from a false spirit.

For all who are “of the earth earthy” the mode of operation will always be “end justifies the means”.
When Goliath shows up, you simply baptize him, use him to slaughter your enemy and then claim God’s sovereignty was on your side.

The worst thing is how Mahaney blackmailed the cofounder of their group Larry Tomczak and that Mahaney hid this sin for 13 years.

A few blogs to look at are:

http://www.sgmsurvivors.com
http://www.sgmrefuge.com
http://www.thewartburgwatch.com

Hope this helps.

I would add one thing. If we think about the Mother of Harlots of Revelation 17, it would be wise to define just what is a daughter?

Jesus is the only “begotten” son of God, which means that He is the only natural son of God, who is God by nature. In other words a son is like his father. He is made of the same “stuff” as his father. In the same sense a daughter is made of the same “stuff” as her mother. My wife is a woman, just like her mother. A daughter is a woman who comes out of a woman.

So, if the mother in question is a church, we should expect her daughters will also be churches. If the Roman Catholic church is the “Mother of Harlots”, we should expect the churches who came out of her to have some of her characteristics as well. They are her daughters.

Do you remember how when Rachel and Leah left their father’s household, they took some of his idols with them? (Gen. 31:19) In the same sense, the daughters of the Harlot have stolen away with things that did not belong to them.

Every doctrine of Rome is suspect. Calvinism comes from Augustine, the Arch-heretic, founder of Roman Catholicism.

It is pretty easy to find Romish errors in Lutheran, Anglican, and Presbyterian churches, but you can find Rome’s errors in Baptist and Plymouth Brethren churches as well.

To the extent that any church preaches the truth, we ought to check out the scriptures ourselves, and if it matches a consistent literal biblical interpretation, then by all means hang on to it. On the other hand, if “Christian traditions” are not found in scripture we ought to look at them with suspicion. If they didn’t come from the Word of God, someone else slipped them in and has a motive for doing so. I don’t trust those motives and neither should you.

Someone once said “eat the meat and spit out the bones”. I tend to agree. There is no perfect church on this planet. They are all made of sinners just like you and me. Hang on to the truth and reject the errors. Above all hang on to Jesus, He is the only one who can save you. Be attuned to the Holy Spirit, and leave when He directs you.

II Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Yeah, some of the things taught by Christian churches will one day cause us to be ashamed.

Thanks Lydia

Right now in the ‘discernment world and end times ministries’ men have risen who appear to be kosher but I am slowly but surely finding out that they are not. They have been very good at hiding their ‘secret identities’ by preaching the truth on a certain subject like emergent Christianity but at the same time having contact with unsound preachers and taking the stage with them. The problem is the ‘wolf’ seems to be appearing more like the ‘sheep’ than every before, in other words it’s becoming very difficult to spot the baddie – UNLESS you start adhering to ALL of the Word of God. The last couple of days for me has been a tough one, because I have been deceived by these men… granted I didn’t fixate myself on them like other people do with other preachers, but I did look up to them… and now…now I am angry. But a righteous anger for I sit here contemplating how I am going to write about these 2 men and possibly others. I know that the backlash I will receive will be tremendous because these men are so dearly loved – but someones gotta do it and stand up for what is right and true.