 |
Welcome to the First Calvinist Church U.S.A.
of the Non-Elect
Our Doctrine & Teaching:
What the Calvinist Church of the Non-Elect in America Teaches:
-
The Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, the only infallible source of truth and practice.
-
There is only one God, eternal and self-existing in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) who are to be equally loved, honored, and adored.
-
All mankind participated in Adam's fall from his original sinless state and is thus lost in sin and totally helpless.
-
The Sovereign God, for no other reason than His own unfathomable love and mercy, has chosen, some but not all, lost sinners from every nation to be redeemed by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit and through the atoning death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.
-
Those sinners whom the Spirit first quickens (regenerates), receive His special "gift of faith", irresistibly come to believe in Christ as Savior by the Word of God, are spiritually born again, becoming sons of God, and will persevere to the end.
-
Those sinners whom the Spirit does not quicken (regenerate), may recognize that Christ is truly the Sovereign Lord but that knowledge in and of itself does not alter the Sovereignty of God in whom He selects for His purposes.
-
God Almighty is "the potter" and has the absolute right to leave some vessels of His creation as objects of His just and holy wrath while demonstrating His amazing and matchless grace and mercy to others of His sovereign choosing.
-
Justification for the Elect is by His choice alone and through it the undeserving Elected sinner is clothed with the very righteousness of God.
-
Those of us who not elected, although we may be called by the ministry of the Word, and may experience some common operations of the Spirit, yet because we are not effectually drawn by the Father, we will not and cannot truly come to Christ and therefore cannot be eternally saved. Therefore we remain justly under His wrath and righteous judgment awaiting a sure destruction, all to His glory.
-
Much less can men who do not even embrace some form of the Christian religion be saved, however diligent they may be to frame their lives according to the light of nature and the requirements of the religion they profess so adamantly demonstate by their "good works" to believe.
-
The goal of God's salvation in the life of the Christian is holiness, good works, and service for the glory of God.
-
The goal of God's Non-election of others is simply to provide a testimony to His Sovereignty, Justice, all to the praise of His glory. Some, but certainly not all, of us that recognize we are among the Non-Elect seek also to live and die in our flesh in such a way that our Sovereign God is still glorified, even as we serve as vessels of wrath for Him to eventually destroy for His glory.
-
At death the Christian's soul passes immediately into the presence of God and the unelected soul is eternally separated from God unto condemnation.
-
At death the Non-Elect soul passes immediately into conscious torment away from the presence of God and His holiness demonstrating the just wrath of our Sovereign Righteous God.
-
Jesus Christ will return to earth, visibly and boldly, at a time when He is not expected, to consummate history and the eternal plan of our Sovereign God.
-
The Gospel of God's salvation in Jesus Christ shall be published to all the world as a witness before Jesus Christ returns.
-
The publication of this Good News (Gospel) is being accomplished by both the Elect and the Non-Elect as determined and allowed by the absolute sovereign will of our God, Jehovah, the great eternal "I AM".
-
While those of us who recognize we are Non-Elect have little to no hope or confidence of ever entering into the sinless, holy presence of Jehovah God Almighty, are not deterred from acknowledging Him, glorifying Him, and standing in awe of His Infinite Worth and Supreme Sovereignty over all His creation, including us.
-
In conformity, therefore,to Calvin's clear teachings, we assert, that by an eternal and immutable counsel, God has once for all determined, both whom He would admit to salvation [the Elect], and whom He would condemn to destruction [those of us who are Non-Elect].
-
We affirm that this counsel, as far as concerns the Elect, is founded on His gratuitous mercy, totally irrespective of human merit; and...
-
We affirm that this counsel, as far as concerns those of that are of the Non-Elect, is founded on His Divine Sovereignty and Justice. To those of us whom He devotes to condemnation, the gate of life has been and is forever closed by our just and irreprehensible, but incomprehensible, Sovereign God.
-
In the Elect, we consider His calling as an evidence of election, and justification as another token of its manifestation, till they arrive in glory, which constitutes its completion.
In the Non-Elect, we consider His "passing over us" leaving us to serve for eternity as testimony to His sovereign justice and holiness for all Creation to observe and fear.
-
As God seals His Elect by vocation and justification, so by excluding those of us that are Non-Elect from the redemptive value of our Lord's limited sacrifice and the sanctification of His Spirit, He affords us as His Non-Elect an indication of the judgment that awaits us, as His vessels of wrath, yet even this is to His Glory, for which we are humbly thankful.
( Psalm 103:19)
To Him Alone, be all praise, honor, and glory! Forever and Forever, "So Be It!"
(Isaiah 42:12; Jeremiah 33:9)
Understanding Calvinism
CalvinistChurch@bornagain.com
Updated: February 26, 2000
© 2004 First Calvinist Church U.S.A.
|
