Letters | thebereancall.org

Various

Dear TBC,

It seems that many of those who have spent years at seminary studying man’s thoughts about God’s Word are the majority of those that climb aboard the Calvinist bandwagon. Dave Hunt, who has studied the Bible since his childhood, was not steeped in man’s interpretation of what they have decided God said in His Word. The Word that is to make us wise unto salvation, and that without a seminary or academic degree. I was first introduced to Calvinism, when I returned to college after a career changing injury, by a professor who was renting a room from me.

He was highly intellectual, but I found more Godly wisdom in the one that led me to Jesus, who knew his Bible well though he lacked man’s “higher” education, than I ever saw in this Ph.D. The same universities and seminaries where Higher Criticism caught on, which denied much of the Bible’s Divine inspiration, are the sources of the push for Calvinism. Calvin himself was a product of this “higher” education, where he focused initially on philosophy, then as a lawyer with a heavy humanist persuasion and at Catholic institutions. His awe of Augustine has its roots in this education in Catholic institutions. Many of Calvin’s actions in Geneva demonstrate the “fruit” of man’s ideas towards what they believe God really intended. It’s my belief that the Holy Spirit is fully capable of showing me what God’s will is and how to understand what’s written in his Word. Thank you for this book, Dave, giving words to the belief that I’ve had since God made me a new creation. I look forward to meeting you when God brings me into His presence. CH (email)

Dear TBC,

I was pleased to see a sound explanation of the pre-tribulation rapture of the church to finally put all these growing false teachings to rest. That being said, I can see how easy it is to misunderstand the Scriptures in this area, and I thank Dave Hunt and you for clarifying it for myself as well. I worry about the majority, though, because it is a fast-growing heresy and it will cause many to “Sin today and repent tomorrow,” thinking they will have to go all the way through some or all of the tribulation before being caught up (raptured). I believe this trend against the rapture is causing such fear in people that it opens them up to many other false and new-age teachings…. For too long, the church has not been the fellowship of the body of believers but a public place for sinners under the roof of profit because no one has been instructed well and they simply think they can bring persons into a service to let the teacher “convert” them.

This is not correct. Not only has the enemy been let in, but they are running things! Here I speak of enemies of Christ, not those who seek Him. Surely, we are close to seeing the Lord, and my heart is heavy for those who are deceived by every wind of false doctrine that abounds today. I am thankful for your work, and my prayer is that it will continue unhindered through the protection of the Lord at all times. KE (email)

Dear TBC,

It’s a sad statement about our society that those who have problems have to pay someone exorbitant amounts just to get them to listen to their problems. These are the kind of issues that people used to talk over with their best friends and find themselves feeling better after “getting it off their chests.” Unfortunately, today most folks don’t have a friend that they consider trustworthy enough to discuss their problems with and so they have to pay these so-called “experts.”

Pastors—stick to the Bible, as it contains all that’s necessary to solve any problem man may have. Anything else is man’s poor substitute for the wisdom of God’s Word—or did God leave Christians hanging for 1800 years without any help until godless men could come up with psychology and psychiatry? When I first became a Christian over 44 years ago, I thought Dobson had some good ideas, but now that I’ve spent enough time in the Bible to see how man-centered his ideas are, I realize that despite his Christian camouflage he’s just a slightly less objectionable charlatan pushing the faux science of psychology with a candy coating of Christian terminology. CH (email)