More from Jack Graham:
(I finally found an internet connection!!)
“So I believe and reject these aberrant theologies because of the character of God and because of the cross of Christ that Jesus died for all men and he will therefore bring unto himself all who will be saved. He said, if I will be lifted up I will draw all men unto myself. Now when he draws all men some will come in faith and some will come in unbelief. Remember when Jesus was facing the cross and he prayed over the city of Jerusalem and as he looked over the city and the lostness of people there, he wept over with copious tears, sobs and heaves are described in the Scripture when it says that Jesus wept over that city. And he cried out, ‘O jerusalem jerusalem, how I would have gathered you to myself as a hen gathers her chicks. But you would not.’ Not you ‘could not’ but you ‘would not.'”
My comments:
John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” Not “will come” but “can come.” Of course it is also true that they will not come, but this verse (and others like it, notably Romans 8:7-8).
“Unbelievers can believe or they can not believe. They can receive the gospel and be saved or they can reject the gospel and be condemned.”
“Somebody says but wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, doesn’t God have to give us even the faith to believe? You will hear this often. Because we are so dead and depraved in sin God has to give us even the faith to believe. He has to regenerate us before we can even believe in Him. Now thats a little backwards, isn’t it?… But that is the way this logic–or illogic–goes. God has to regenerate you before you can ever say, I receive Christ. No the Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. You say but doesn’t God have to give us faith to be saved. Didn’t you say salvation is of the Lord? Absolutely. Even our faith comes from God. And guess what? Romans 12:3 says that God has given to every man, to all men a measure of faith. Every person has been given by God this faculty this opportunity to believe.”
My comments:
Really? Rom. 12:3 says, “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” Try to put Graham’s understanding into the actual words of this verse: “I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has [start Graham’s interpretation} given to every man, to all men a measure of faith. Every person has been given by God this faculty this opportunity to believe.”
If Graham’s understanding of this verse is correct, here is Paul’s argument: Since God has given every person the the faculty to believe, since He has given to everyone a measure of faith, do not think more highly of yourself than you ought. In other words, Christians (to whom Paul is writing in this letter of Romans) are to think soberly of themselves because God has given every person the faculty to believe. Somehow, the logic of this escapes me.
“In 19th century England, 18th century England because this kind of theology was spread through the congregation[s] there, there was no mission programs there was no evangelism going on.”
“While there are rare exceptions–and I acknowledge exceptions to what I am about to say–in great part this kind of hyper theology of Calvinism is the death sentence to missions and evangelism.”
My comments:
Well, I for one would like to know of one exception. I cannot think of a single person in history who has believed what Jack Graham has described who did not also completely reject evangelism and missions. But, then again, I cannot think of anyone in history who actually believed what Jack Graham has described. Just who does he think is an exception? Unless of course, as seems obvious, he is simply misrepresenting Calvinism by constructing a straw man and then destroying it.
This kind of display of theological ignorance is very sad. Jack Graham titled his sermon, “The Truth about Grace.” At best, this is false advertising.
