What I Would Like To Hear from Calvinists in Evangelism

I recently watched a video of what evangelism would be like for Mormons if in fact they told their hearers just what Mormons believe about Jesus Christ, the plurality of gods, exaltation to godhood, etc.

Yet this got me thinking about my Calvinist friends who go out evangelizing.  Granted, we both share a passion for the lost.  I rejoice in that.  I praise God for my Calvinist brethren who are out on the streets preaching the gospel to the lost.  I rejoice in Calvinist ministries that are devoted to world missions or to church planting or to preaching to the lost.  That blesses me.

However, what if Calvinist were honest about their theology in their preaching.  I am not saying that Calvinists lie when they share the gospel.  They don’t.  They preach what I preach and other Arminians before me.  They preach the truth that Jesus shed His blood that we might be saved by grace through faith.  Yet they will avoid certain sayings such as “Jesus shed His blood for you” because they just don’t know that.  They won’t tell a person that God loves them because its possible God does not love them and in fact it is possible (and highly likely) that God created them for the very purpose of destroying them in hell for His glory (Romans 9:22-23 according to Calvin).  I have never heard a Calvinist evangelist preach to sinners passing by that they cannot hear him unless they are the elect (John 10:27-29).  I have never heard a Calvinist evangelist preach limited atonement publicly before (the teaching that Christ died only for the elect).  I have never heard a Calvinist exhorting sinners that they are totally unable to come to Christ and repent of their sins apart from God regenerating them first.  I have yet to hear a Calvinist evangelist preaching “have faith now that you have been born again” yet Calvinism teaches that regeneration precedes faith.

In fact, Calvinists preach like Arminians.  They call sinners to repent (though Calvinism teaches that one can never be free from sin).  They call sinners to faith in Christ (a gift from God given only to His elect though they don’t tell sinners that).  They call sinners to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ while leaving out that it is likely Jesus did not die for them.  They preach that sinners will go to hell for their own sins though they fail to tell them that God predestined them before time began even before they had a chance to even do anything evil and it was God’s own sovereign choice to condemn them to hell.  They fail to preach that God ordains whatsoever comes to pass including all sins so that sinners are doing what God wills for them to do by their sinning.

Don’t get me wrong, I have labored with Calvinists for souls before.  Again, I rejoice that Calvinists are often wonderfully inconsistent in their evangelism.  They will even use Arminian phrases.  For example, I heard one Calvinist street preaching and telling the crowd that Jesus loved them by shedding His blood for them.  That is not Calvinism!  That is Arminianism!  If I preach that Jesus shed His blood for sinners, I am preaching my own theology (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)!  When I exhort sinners to repent of their sins, I am preaching my theology because I believe the Holy Spirit works through the gospel to draw sinners to the Savior but He allows the sinner to respond out of their freed will (Acts 2:37-38, 41; 17:30-31; 2 Corinthians 5:18-6:2).  When I preach that Christ is sufficient for sinners to be saved, I am preaching the unlimited atonement of Christ that Scripture clearly teaches (1 Timothy 2:3-6; 4:10; Titus 2:11-12; 1 John 2:1-2).  When I preach the universal love of God for the world by the cross (John 3:16-18; Romans 5:8-9; 1 John 4:9-10, 14), I am preaching my own theology.  When I tell sinners that God will judge them for their own sins, I am preaching the truths of my own theology (Ezekiel 18:4, 31; Romans 2:6; 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:9-10; Hebrews 9:27-28; Revelation 20:15; 21:7-8).

I don’t want to discourage Calvinists from preaching the gospel.  I do want them to preach their theology to the lost.  I want to hear the doctrine of unconditional election preached to the lost.  I want to hear divine determinism preached to the lost.  I want to hear limited atonement preached to the lost.  One Calvinist blogger wrote that Jesus did preach Calvinism in John 6 to the lost.  I have yet to hear a Calvinist evangelist end his preaching to the lost by saying, “Only those who repent are truly the elect of God” (a point I would agree with).  They simply end by pleading with the lost to come to faith in Christ and be saved when in fact they should be preaching, “Those of you who are regenerated, come to faith in Christ as proof of your divine election.”

Thank God that Arminianism preaches well.