Tuesday, August 17, 2010

A Few Follow Ups on Charismatics and Calvinists

Steve C. posted my recent article "Five Concerns About the Merging of Charismatic and Calvinistic Doctrine" on the Reformed Baptist Fellowship blog, and I received a number of encouraging emails the past few days in response.

In light of the subject of this article, I found today's post on the "Desiring God" website on "How should miraculous gifts be used in the church in the church?" to be a timely example of this merging.


After watching this video, it might also be helpful to listen to this presentation by Hal Brunson (noted in one of the comments at the RBF blog) on "Charismatic Calvinists."  His opening comments do not mince words:

If ever there were a jewel of gold in a pig’s snout, charismatic Calvinism is it. What should be a humorous and ridiculous oxymoron, “charismatic Calvinist,” is now a nauseating and repugnant reality. Charismatic Calvinists open the door for false teaching in the Calvinist church; they blemish the reputation of orthodox Calvinists; they expect legitimacy, thinking that their claim to be Calvinists insulates them from the charge of heterodoxy; they denigrate the primary work of the Spirit in regeneration and sanctification, ultimately denying the scripture that affirms “of His fulness have we all received”; they inherently and unavoidably align themselves with the most despicable charletains of contemporary fundamentalism; they create a false expectation of sensational spiritual experience for young and naive believers; they are apparently unsatisfied and unsatiated with the primary work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration and sanctification; they have pirated and defamed the phrase “sovereign grace”; and they are an embarrassment and an annoyance.

JTR

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