Calvinist Flyswatter

Burleson, a Hybrid?

IS WADE BURLESON A
HYBRID CALVINIST?

In Pastor Wade Burleson's ongoing efforts to reproach Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and President Paige Patterson in the eyes of "Calvinists," he has now focused upon one of the primary elements of Pedobaptist Reformed Hybrid Calvinism.

On his Thursday, February 5, 2009 blog, Wade says:

[Quote:] A Calvinist will not tell just "anybody" that "Christ died for your sins." He will, however, look anybody in the eye and say, "Christ died for sinners. Do you know yourself to be a sinner and in need of a Savior? If so, Christ died for you." Again, a five point Calvinist will never look just "anybody" in the eye and say "Christ died for you." . . . . He will not say "Christ died for you" because he doesn't know if Christ did or not. [End of quote]

This is the very same predicament that Hybrid Calvinist Tom Ascol of the Flounders [aka Founders Ministries] demonstrated about a year ago. See this link:

CAN ASCOL TELL ANY SINNERS IN FLORIDA,"JESUS DIED FOR YOU"?

Wade Burleson evidently has, in essence, the same type of gospel that Tom Ascol has -- neither one can preach the Gospel to "every creature." They only have a "generic" message.

Wade can't tell "every creature" or "anybody" in the State of Oklahoma that "Christ died for you," for Wade does not REALLY KNOW if the person qualifies.

Furthermore, since Wade does not even know FOR SURE that any member in his own church is REALLY SAVED, he can't even tell a member of his own church that "Christ died for you."

The fact is, Wade cannot tell anyone in the whole world that Christ died for you!

Yet Christ commissioned His disciples to preach the Gospel to "every creature." Evidently, Wade Burleson cannot preach the Gospel to any creature, for he "does not know" for sure that Christ died for that individual person!

It's a sad day in the Southern Baptist Convention when there are pastors such as Wade Burleson who want to tell Baptists how the Convention and its Seminaries ought to be run, yet these same pastors can't preach the Gospel to "every creature" because they don't know for sure for whom Christ died!

Both Burleson and Ascol seem to be infected with "preparationism." They have turned "limited atonement" into a limited gospel. They dare not preach it to every man, but only to those who are somehow qualified to have it preached to them -- yet, they do not know who the qualified persons are, so how can they preach it to any one in particular?

C. H. Spurgeon versus Burleson and Ascol:

Here's a quote from Spurgeon's sermon, "Immeasurable Love," which clearly shows that Spurgeon had no problem with urging "a" sinner to believe "Jesus died for you." Spurgeon:

See, then, the love of God in putting it in so plainly—so easy a way. Oh, you broken, crushed and despairing sinner, you cannot work, but can you not believe that which is true? You cannot sigh, you can not cry. You cannot melt your stony heart, but can you not believe that Jesus died for you and that He can change that heart of yours and make you a new creature? If you can believe this, then trust in Jesus to do so and you are saved, for he that believes in Him is justified! “He that believes in Him has everlasting life.” He is a saved man! His sins are forgiven! Let him go his way in peace and sin no more! -- Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Volume 31, Year 1885, pages 391, 392

C. H. Spurgeon:

Jesus Christ said, “Go you into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believes not shall be damned.”

If we had to look for some price in the hands of the creature, or some fitness in the mind of the creature, or some excellence in the life of the creature, we could not preach mercy to every creature—we should have to preach it to prepared creatures—and then that preparation would be the money and the price.

I am sorry that some of my Brothers entertain the idea that the Gospel is to be preached only to certain characters. They dare not preach the Gospel to everybody—they try to preach it only to the elect. Surely, if the Lord meant them to make the selection He would have set a mark upon His chosen. As I do not know the elect and have no command to confine my preaching to them, but am bid to preach the Gospel to every creature, I am thankful that the Gospel is put in such a way—that no creature can be too poor, too wicked, or too vile to receive it—for it is “without money and without price.” That is going to the very bottom!
Surely, that takes in the most degraded, debased and despised of our race—whoever they may be!

If before I preach the Gospel I have to look for a measure of fitness in a man, then I cannot preach the Gospel to any but those whom I believe to have the fitness. But if the Gospel is to be preached freely, with no conditions or demands for preparations or prerequisites—if this is the Gospel, that “whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned”—then may I go to the most degraded Bushmen, or savage Ashantees, or untameable Modocs and tell them the Good News! We may speak of mercy to harlots and thieves—and we may carry the gladsome message into the Guilt Garden and Hangman’s Alley! We may penetrate the jungles of crime and cry with the same entreaty from Heaven—“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him turn unto the Lord, for He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”

The fact that the mercy of God is “without money and without price” enables us, by His Grace, to preach it to every man, woman and child of woman born! -- Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Volume 20, Year 1874, Sermon #1161, pages 140, 141.

This is such an Atonement made by Christ upon the Cross that it presents a warrant for every sinner born of woman to come to God and say, “Lord, forgive me, for Christ has died.” When we preach the Gospel it is in no stinted terms, looking about and thinking that perhaps there might be half a dozen in the building to whom the Gospel might honestly be spoken. But looking every man and woman in the face, we preach reconciliation by Jesus Christ to them and point them to the atoning blood. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.” -- Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Volume 19, Year 1873, Sermon #1124, pages 427, 428.

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posted by Bob L. Ross @ 12:23 PM