“Monergism,” or “Don’t Hold Me Responsible For Killing You”

We sent out this mailer:

The following paper will be of interest and pertinence to you for possibly several reasons among many. It has been our great honor to discern and identify the error and spirit of John Calvin, whose rule is yet propagated in the hearts of men with evil consequences for all. The Lord Jesus Christ has visited us with the Light of His countenance to put an end to this evil, justifying His servants whom Calvin murdered, and His Name in the sight of all.

The Fruit of Cain Multiplied: The Murderer John Calvin

Show me whom you follow, and I will know what manner of person you are or will become. If you do not know whom you are following, don’t you think it is time to find out how and where you are being led? Do you think you will altogether escape the consequences because ignorant? Think again. You already suffer them.

John Calvin was one of the most vicious of wolves ever to pose as a lamb of God. His supremely self-righteous spirit lives on in those who lionize and follow him, even unbeknownst to themselves. Truly, “that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”

We received this response from John Hendryx of Monergism.com:

Paul

Does this mean that you will become a murderer if you follow King David who ruthlessly murdered a man so he could have his wife? It appears, dear sir, that you do not even know the very beginnings of the gospel and are still trusting in your own self-righteousness to save you. And for the record. No one here follows John Calvin.

John

Paul’s reply:

John,

There is a big difference between an unrepentant murderer and a repentant one. Witness Paul the apostle. God also testifies this of David:

“Great salvation does He give to His king; He has mercy on the king of His selection, David, and on his seed for ever” (Psalms 18:50 BBE).

But God testified against Calvin, by the lips of those he murdered or sought to murder.

Your argument is foolish, and, worse yet, dishonest, vile and wicked. You may confess with your lips that you have no righteousness outside of Christ, but you have none of His so your confession is carnal and deceitful, just like Calvin’s.

You may not call yourself a Calvinist, but you keep his company. Will you deny that too, liar?

You certainly do not follow the words of this repentant murderer, do you?

“But now I write to you not to associate with anyone named a brother, who is a fornicator, or covetous person, or an idolater, or abusive person, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a person” (1 Corinthians 5:11 EMTV).

You misspelled the name of your site “Monergism”: It should be “Mongrelism,” as in:

“Blessed are they who do His commandments, that their authority will be over the Tree of Life, and they may enter in by the gates into the city. But outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and makes a lie” (Revelation 22:14-15 MKJV).

Thankful that the time of blood lusting murderers is over,

Paul

John’s reply:

Paul

The association we have with Calvin is that we both believe that salvation is by grace alone in Christ alone. Your argument against me is about as conclusive as saying you must be Roman Catholic because you believe in the Trinity. Which we both know is a ridiculous argument. If you are going to debate with other people it is better to debate the Scripture itself rather than fling your ad hominem arguments. People are not going to change their mind about grace because you hurl insults at them. They will change their mind if they are persuaded by the Scripture.

If you have something intelligent to say with regard to the Scriptures then do so. But since your faith is focused in on your tradition and you reject God’s revelation to us in the Scripture, it is obvious these won’t be forthcoming. Your attack from all appearances is a last ditch desperate act of one who knows they have ZERO scriptural basis for what they believe. Correct? Since you obviously reject that salvation is by grace alone, prove it from Scripture. Otherwise please do not write back here again. Abusing others is not very persuasive.

Shalom
John

Paul’s reply:

John, what ever gave you the idea that we reject salvation by grace? How can we, when we have been saved by the grace of God? It has been His choosing and doing. For us this is not just a theory, as it is for you, but the reality we presently experience and live in.

Here is how we have entered into His rest:

“So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God Who is working in you, both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13 EMTV).

So what debate are you talking about? All that has been laid down are those things we have written in the paper and your one single argument against the multitudinous witnesses of truth we have set forth, which my consequent reply destroyed, proving it groundless. Your current response tacitly admits the same, as you avoid the subject altogether. You retreat into a petulant defensive posture, puffing up like a toad with inane arguments and oozing poisonous lies about being defamed unfairly. All that has been said about you is verifiably true.

Do you deny that you do not support and publish the thoughts of a murderer, as though he has something to teach us about Christ? You are a liar.

You say that you do not find abuse to be very persuasive. You do count murder as abuse, don’t you? Your murderous father, Calvin, certainly did not persuade Servetus and Castellion by his religion, did he? But he did complain about being abused by the Truth they spoke. That, after all, was the essence of his actions against them - a complaint against their refusal and rebuttal of his errors. He could not stand to hear the Truth that condemned him.

Why did the Truth condemn Calvin? Because he loved himself and his lies rather than the Truth, the Lord Jesus Christ, so he could not confess his sins and repent. You are just like him. Like father, like son. Of such the apostle writes:

“If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. The Lord comes!” (1 Corinthians 16:22 MKJV)

All the evidence speaks plainly against you. Read the case made in the Scriptures against your damnable religion in The True Marks of a Cult.

Shall we believe a dweller in darkness and liar? You are the very spitting image of Calvin in spirit. You worship at the foot of your intellectual doctrines, just as he did. These idols have no bearing at all on reality. They are all impotent gods, incurring the wrath of the true God. Yes, walk away, vanquished one. You are exposed to yourself as a fraud and will not escape Reality no matter how far into your hole you retreat.

“But the wicked are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked” (Isaiah 57:20-21 MKJV).

By the way, read the paper I sent you in the first place. We do not believe in the trinity abomination, as you, Calvin, and your fellow idolaters do. And, yes, you are a Catholic too, as Calvin and Luther were. They never really left; they only tried to reform the unreformable.

Paul

John’s response:

Paul

Thank you for your email.

With respect Paul, please consider seriously taking a closer look at the history of this. At the time of the Reformation it was the law of the land in most states, that teaching blasphemy was punishable by death. People considered it as a worse sin than murder because you were leading astray the eternal souls of the person. I assume you reject the death penalty or you would not have such anger toward this incident. Servetus rejected the Trinity and openly taught against it and so was put on trial in Geneva. Calvin spent many months in his prison cell trying to persuade him otherwise. But Servetus did not repent of it. Calvin merely testified to the Geneva council that he did not repent so they put him to death. Calvin did not pick up a knife to murder him. This was the ruling of the civil magistrate. Calvin even came to Servetus defense that he not be put to death by fire, but rather, some other way, but they prevailed over him. Now, I am a person who believes strongly in liberty of conscience so I do not believe in putting people to death for their beliefs (yet of course God will judge them for the same thing someday). I don’t even personally like the death penalty but the law of the land at that time was death for leading people into false religion because it endangered the eternal souls of persons. John Calvin was certainly not mean spirited about it, as you want to paint him, but did this before God because he believed the Old Testament laws for blasphemy were still intact. I disagree with him about this aspect of his theology, but he believed this in good conscience and thought that such high treason against God was worse than any human form of sin, like murder, adultery etc, which it is actually. Idolatry is a breaking of the first commandment. Although I don’t agree with such a close marriage of church and state, but these people in Geneva and elsewhere did this in the thought they were obeying God -- God commanded death in the Old Testament for such offenses and Geneva and many places believed this OT law was never rescinded. I am not inclined to agree but this hardly makes Calvin a blasphemous murderer. If you disagree that is fine, but no need to hurl insults. We have many of Calvin’s works on our site because he communicated the grace of God in Christ better than most. If you have issue with the our theology then lets discuss it, but your argument about

How sinless does a person have to be before their writing should be read? Do you love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength right now? This is the first and most important command and yet you and I both miserably fall short of obeying this perfectly. So should I abandon reading all writers since all men fall short here every minute. That is why we need Christ as a Savior who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He changes us and stirs a new affection for Christ in us, but He saves us from first to last. Any good thought we have about Him or anything good is a pure gift of His grace.

>>>> John, what ever gave you the idea that we reject salvation by grace?

I did not say you reject salvation by grace ... rather, it appears that that you reject salvation by grace ALONE in Christ alone. You may believe in the necessity of grace but to all appearances, it seems that grace must accompany human effort in your view. In other words, in your religion, what Christ accomplished was insufficient but still partially needs your merit. This would make yours a religion of moralism rather than one of sheer mercy in Christ. Christianity teaches that we have no hope in ourselves and all justly deserve the wrath of God, save in the mercy of Christ alone. Since you clearly reject this and believe you must attain and maintain your own justification before God, it is my belief that you may not know the gospel or the Savior at all. The verse you point to in Philippians 2 is written to those who are already Christian of whom the Spirit is working through ... an unregenerate man cannot muster the strength to do this. No one says ‘Christ is Lord’ apart from the Holy Spirit. We love God because He first loved us. “...if anyone makes the assistance of grace depend on the humility or obedience of man and does not agree that it is a gift of grace itself that we are obedient and humble, he contradicts the Apostle who says, “What have you that you did not receive?” (1 Cor. 4:7), and, “But by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor. 15:10). All glory goes to Christ for any good that comes out of our thoughts and deeds, even our faith itself. Can you thank God for your faith or is it something you came up with on your own? Yet you seem to think Christ is not enough but needs your merit to complete it. ”Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3)

If you reject the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as God (as you claim in your letter) then you do not know Christ to begin with for all the passages in the Old Testament ascribed to God are likewise ascribed to Jesus Christ in the new. You then reject the clear witness of Scripture that Jesus Christ is God incarnate and so, unless you repent, you will experience the winepress, the just wrath of the Lord God Almighty when He comes with His armies. I do not need to put you to death for your blasphemy but your rebellion against God and his clear revelation is storing up the wrath of God for you on that Day, unless you believe the gospel. God owes us nothing, but saves us by His sheer grace in Christ. I do not deserve the God’s favor yet He has given it to me in Christ.

Paul, consider why one man believe the gospel and not another. Is it the grace of Jesus Christ alone or Christ plus something else like your good will? Can a person have a good will apart from grace? Isn’t it grace itself that we have a good will and obey the gospel? In working out our salvation, can any glory be ascribed to ourself? Or do we work out our salvation because of Christ Himself, who preserves, sanctifies and grows us? Paul, only God causes the growth. All good gifts are from above including the will and desire to believe and obey (Rom 9:16; John 6:63-65).

May the Lord open the eyes of your heart to know Him.
John

Paul’s reply:

John, how faithfully you walk in the way of your fathers, Calvin and the Pharisees, straining at gnats and swallowing camels! You even have to conjure up the gnats, lying about what I have said and what it means.

I did not say I rejected the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as God. I said I rejected - because it is a damnable lie - the trinity, which is a trio of gods that are totally heathen in conception, but now applied to our Lord and Savior by idolaters like you and Calvin.

The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. There is only one God. He took Himself a body, called Christ, the Messiah. That was the Father. That was the Holy Spirit. He came again in the Spirit to bring Christ to live within us. We are part of His body, which you deny. Therefore:

“Everyone denying the Son does not have the Father. The one confessing the Son also has the Father” (1 John 2:23 LITV)

You do not have the Father. You are not part of His body. You are antiChrist because you do not confess Jesus Christ coming in the flesh, our flesh.

“We are of God. He that knows God hears us; he that is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6 EMTV).

All you have are doctrines, many of them false, just like your father Calvin. You talk about Servetus as though he was a heretic. Servetus is a Christian! His fruits tell us! His doctrine is true! Calvin was the heretic; his fruits also tell. Only heretics murder men for what they believe, no matter the culture, times or seasons. Only heretics keep men in dungeons, locked in chains, because of what they confess. Only heretics confiscate the goods of those they persecute. Only heretics continue to rage about those they have murdered, condemned by their dastardly deeds for which they are entirely unrepentant.

You tell me to familiarize myself with the history of these events. What are you talking about? Read the paper, man! It is you who is unfamiliar, and willingly so. You say that Calvin spent months trying to convince Servetus in jail. That is a lie. You either don’t know what you are talking about or you are deliberately lying. It is not such a big point in itself, but it goes to show you have chosen to salve your conscience of the blood you are trying to conceal with stories that bolster your sense of self-righteous decency.

You say Calvin was not mean spirited? Are you seriously believing the crap you come up with? Years in advance (premeditated), he threatened to have Servetus killed after being unable to answer him in their correspondences about spiritual matters, and then had him arrested upon seeing him in Geneva, making sure that death was enacted upon him. Afterwards Calvin continued to rail on Servetus with the vilest of invectives, still providing no evidence of sin, and you call this “not mean spirited”?

With decency like Calvin’s, God keep us from such pious protectors! Shepherds of God are supposed to protect the flock, not hand them over to the heathen to be roasted alive over doctrinal disagreement! Jesus Christ died for sinners, but Calvin burns His saints. And you call him a better communicator of God’s grace than most! Do not fruits speak louder than words? Did not Jesus tell us to judge by fruits? If what Calvin demonstrated is grace, what is unrighteous wrath? How utterly darkened you are in your Calvinistic cave of dead doctrines. Yes, you have been predestined to this state:

“For certain persons have crept in unnoticed--men spoken of in ancient writings as pre-destined to this condemnation--ungodly men, who pervert the grace of our God into an excuse for immorality, and disown Jesus Christ, our only Sovereign and Lord” (Jude 1:4 WNT).

What is this nonsense about murdering saints being the fashion at the time and using that as an excuse for Calvin’s sins? Has this not always been the fashion of the world? What do you think happened to the prophets and apostles of the Lord in ancient times? Is it not written that the whole world lies in wickedness? Here is what Stephen said to such as conducted themselves in their righteousness as do you:

“Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of Whom you have now been the betrayers and murderers; who received the Law through disposition of angels, and did not keep it” (Acts 7:52-53 MKJV).

Were culture and law of their fathers’ times to be their excuse, as you excuse Calvin, your father?

All you do is confess that you and your heroes continue in the tradition of your fathers, the murderers of the children of God and their Lord. You are the worst part of this wicked world because you pose as angels of light, drawing near to God with your lips while your hearts are far from Him.

How can you hypocrites escape the damnation of Hell?

Another of your lies is that I said my salvation required or was accomplished by the works of my unregenerate flesh. You have a very clever way of lying by insinuation. You treat me as tried and condemned, as though your accusation is based on fact, yet you do not commit yourself to any definitive establishment of the facts, using language such as this (I have added emphasis and different color to indicate your prevarication):

“...it appears that that you reject salvation by grace ALONE in Christ alone. You may believe in the necessity of grace but to all appearances, it seems that grace must accompany human effort in your view. In other words, in your religion, what Christ accomplished was insufficient but still partially needs your merit. This would make yours a religion of moralism rather than one of sheer mercy in Christ.”

In other words, you leave yourself wiggle room to deny what you say, while going on to build a case against me on sheer speculation. It is all bullshit, John, trying to justify your wicked stance. It is disgustingly cowardly and abhorrent to God and man. It is precisely the manner of Calvin, that pious snake, who yet charms men while murdering saints. You say we sound mad. I will tell you Who is angry. God is angry, and you and your kind will know it if you do not already.

You say that Servetus did not repent of denying the abominable trinity doctrine. It is you who needs to repent of believing on false gods and proclaiming such confusion. It is you who needs to stop justifying yourself while proclaiming the virtues of sinners. It is you who needs to repent of murdering heretics, how much more the saints of God.

How sinless does a person need to be? They need to be cleansed by the Lord, which you and your companions have never been. You have never experienced the divine grace, and though you produce reams of writings proclaiming His virtues, all of it is intellectual hogwash. The pigs are still unclean, John. They are still pigs.

Either you assume you have never been unclean because predestinated (which is contrary to the Word), or you have been taught that pigs can be deemed clean by virtue of carnal faith, of theory and theology alone, coupled with your own declaration of faith. The fact is that there must be a radical nature change, and, at time of true faith, there surely is – an unquestionable one.

Is it that you and yours have assumed that you cannot be changed in nature in this life, that one must depend solely upon believing in the grace of God by way of correct doctrine? While it is true that salvation is by grace alone, you fall short of experiencing and being made new. If you believe you are changed, it is not at all the change that occurs in true saving faith. The true grace of God is real, efficacious and much more evident than the faith you presume to have.

If you had experienced that change, you would agree with and know the words of the apostle John to be true:

“He who practices sin is of the Devil, for the Devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed, that He might undo the works of the Devil. Everyone who has been born of God does not commit sin, because His seed remains in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the Devil: everyone not practicing righteousness is not of God, also he who does not love his brother” (1 John 3:8-10 MKJV).

You think you have favor with God because you believe in grace alone, but you are as the one who has heard of a destination and believe it is there, and therefore assume you are as good as there. Not so. We report to you that we have arrived at that destination. In your uncleanness, you cannot help but scoff. While you “know,” we have a Knowing you “know not of.”

Though you presume some kind of change for the better, at least in thinking, you are the same old man of sin, even if you, as the Pharisees, have right doctrine, which you do not.

Paul

John’s response:

I am certainly not a better man than you Paul. No doubt about it. It is by the grace of God alone in Christ that I have or do anything good, especially my standing before Him. Christ alone is my righteousness and sanctification, not anything I do now or have done. The Father looks upon the blood of Christ and “remembers” not to treat me as my sins justly deserve. Were it not for Christ’s mercy alone I would, indeed, as you say, justly deserve hell. But thanks be to God it is Christ who has redeemed me, who now intercedes for me and preserves me. Not what my hands have done. I pray you would also know this - may God be merciful to you as well. If you find this offensive, then so be it. Further conversation of this nature would not be profitable. But I pray the Lord bless you and that the eyes of your heart would be opened to know Christ Jesus.

John

Paul’s reply:

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it...” (2 Timothy 3:5 MKJV).

John, your “theology” has no connection to Reality. You asked me for the appropriate Scriptures to correct it, which we have been giving you. Here are more.

Regarding the blood of Christ, it does not cover your sins but exposes them. As the title of the writing I sent to you declares, you are in the way of Cain, who also offered a sacrifice to God that was not accepted. For this cause he murdered his brother, and God said to him:

“What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to Me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10 MKJV).

The Word of God, as follows, describes Calvin and all the religious organizations before and after him, of which you are partaker and proponent, carrying on in his idolatrous, murderous ways:

“I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement” (Revelation 17:6 EMTV).

The blood of the saints is the blood of Christ. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute ME?”

You do not partake of His blood lawfully, as one under it, but as one setting yourself up over Him, taking it as a murderer and thief. There is much blood on your hands:

“And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth” (Revelation 18:24 KJV).

The reward of being a shedder of blood now comes on your head:

“After this, I heard what sounded like a lot of voices in Heaven, and they were shouting, ‘Praise the Lord! To our God belongs the glorious power to save, because His judgments are honest and fair. That filthy prostitute ruined the earth with shameful deeds. But God has judged her and made her pay the price for murdering His servants.’ Then the crowd shouted, ‘Praise the Lord! Smoke will never stop rising from her burning body’” (Revelation 19:1-3 CEV).

God has given you blood to drink, not to justify you, but as His righteous judgment in the plagues He sends you:

“For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink; for they are worthy” (Revelation 16:6 KJV).

The blood of Christ is not there for you because you claim it is freely given to you. Only those who wash their robes in Christ’s blood are saved. Acknowledging He shed it for mankind means nothing (you don’t even do that, but only acknowledge it for the sake of your miserable, sin-filled, “predestined” soul - the rest can and do go to eternal Hell fire, some atonement!).

Go ahead, charge me with preaching works and depending on my own righteousness. The Word of God says you are a liar:

“So he said to me, ‘These are those who come out of the Great Tribulation, and have washed their robes and they made them white in the blood of the Lamb’” (Revelation 7:14 EMTV).

Do you also, with Luther, throw out the Scriptures in the form of James’ letter? If not admitting it, you are certainly doing it.

Speaking of the white robes of the saints, God has made it known that those like Servetus who shed their blood for their testimony are given such robes while awaiting the vengeance of God that has been reserved for their persecutors, and is now here:

“And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?’ Then a long white robe was given to them, and it was said to them that they should rest yet a while, until also their fellow servants and their brothers, who were about to be killed as also they were, should complete their course” (Revelation 6:10-11 EMTV).

These Scriptures debunk your “theology,” while describing your relationship to the blood of Christ and His saints, His body on earth. They explain why you depart from us, having no answers other than, “I am in the traditions of men, which are right because we are many and ancient.”

John, you have no part whatsoever in the blood of Christ in holiness, no matter how vehemently you declare your unworthiness and piously profess faith in His grace:

“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7 MKJV).

You walk with the unregenerate murderers of the saints because you are one. That is why you are an apologist for their works, the paths of the destroyer. Those who are sanctified by His blood are those who leave you and your kind behind, being willing to bear the shame of ostracism for His Name’s sake:

“For of the animals, whose blood is brought in into the Holies by the high priest concerning sin, the bodies of these animals are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, so that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go out to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Hebrews 13:11-13 EMTV).

As those with Him outside the camp, what we bind on earth has been bound in Heaven. Instead of interceding for you, Christ has now come to judge you as one guilty of His blood, rejecting His rule through His Word spoken by His servants who bear His Name:

“Nevertheless bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want Me to reign over them, and slay them before Me” (Luke 19:27 EMTV).

“But He answered and said to them, Well has Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me’ (Mark 7:6 MKJV).

Like Joab, who thought to escape judgment by holding on to the horns of the altar, you seek refuge in the doctrine of Christ’s holy atonement, only to find that the blood now shed is yours, which God requires for the murders to which you have assented and yet stain your hands.

Paul

P.S. Are you aware that Michael Servetus’ book, the one they burned with him at the stake, of which three copies survived, was finally translated into English and made available in 2007?! It is titled The Restoration of Christianity. My library here in Helena had it sent to me by interlibrary loan. I am now on page 70, and I think you ought to read it before dismissing the man Calvin murdered as a heretic. I have no doubt that just as Calvin was not able you will not be able to prove his heresy. In fact, he will prove yours.

Also, what do you make of this prayer of Augustine’s?

“Blessed Virgin Mary, who can worthily repay you with praise and thanksgiving for having rescued a fallen world by your generous consent? What songs of praise can our weak human nature offer in your honor, since it was through you that it has found the way to salvation? Accept then such poor thanks as we have to offer, unequal though they be to your merits. Receive our gratitude and obtain by your prayers the pardon of our sins. Take our prayers into the sanctuary of heaven and enable them to bring about our peace with God.

May the sins we penitently bring before Almighty God through you be pardoned. May what we beg with confidence be granted through you. Take our offerings and grant our request; obtain pardon for what we fear, for you are the only hope of sinners. We hope to obtain the forgiveness of our sins through you. Blessed Lady, in you is our hope of reward.

Holy Mary, help the miserable, strengthen the discouraged, comfort the sorrowful, pray for your people, plead for the clergy, intercede for all women consecrated to God. May all who venerate you, feel now your help and protection. Be ready to help us when we pray, and bring back to us the answers to our prayers. Make it your continual care to pray for the People of God, for you were blessed by God and were made worthy to bear the Redeemer of the world, Who lives and reigns forever.”

John’s response:

Hi Paul

In all honesty there is something really quite off about the spirit of your letters. The entire case you are attempting to lay out against me, and the Christ I believe, appears to come down to your quote of the Text “you shall know them by their fruits.” But if I am to take your advice and apply it to what you have shown me of your religion, so far it only has revealed an angry, bitter, cursing and resentful man rather than a broken, contrite and thankful man who boasts only in Christ and desires to help others with gentleness and respect. The saints, Jesus says, are those who are poor in spirit, that is, recognize they are spiritually bankrupt and saved by His mercy alone. Yet you have written me without knowing me at all, attack me because I associate with sinners and by way of comparison boast that you and your leaders are more moral. Given that you are more moral Paul, that is not what makes a Christian. A Christian is not someone who compares their morality with others because he knows he is no better than anyone. But you have made your superior morality the very basis of your argument. Do you really believe that you deserve heaven more than others? Do you really want to stand before God at the end clothed in your own filthy rags? As long as you compare your saints with mine and boast of your morality that is exactly what you are doing. That is the message you are proclaiming to us and it is not the good news of the gospel. But is an empty man-made religion. The heart of true saints are revealed in that they glory in what Christ has done for them, while all of your letters have centered around moralism and what you have done to earn God’s favor and then have compared yourself favorably with others. But “The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord...” (Psalm 37:39) A Christian is first humble, broken and contrite and leads other beggars to bread and does not think more highly of themselves than anyone. If he sees someone in sin he gently helps because he himself is no better and can easily fall into the same sin. But you have not done this Paul. Rather, fro the start you have arrogantly written us in your self-righteous imagination, just like the Pharisee.

Know them by their fruits?: The beatitudes begin with “blessed are the poor in spirit...” Are you? Thinking that you are better and more moral you come off, rather, as the Pharisee standing in the temple thanking God that you are not like other men because of your piety and what you do. and you come off as the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son who resents that Christ lets sinners into his kingdom, thinking yourself worthy of God’s honor because he has worked for him all his life. So you do not exhibit the humility and fruit of the Spirit that are the very beginnings and foundation of what it is to be a Christian. On the contrary, your moralistic and graceless religion goes exactly contrary to everything in Scripture.

A Christian from his heart, will stand in awe of the fact he is saved, knowing well he does not deserve it, that is is all mercy. And Paul Cohen, you have showed none of this spirit in your letters but only boasted about how deserving you are and how unworthy and undeserving we are of salvation. Indeed I am not only undeserving but ill-deserving. You really show none of the fruit of the spirit but only anger, victimization and hostility. Your quote of Scripture, therefore, only condemns yourself since you yourself claim to have achieved some higher morality where God owes you. You put God in your debt but a true Christian is in debt to God. Do you really think you are better? That you have obeyed God’s commands? Any of them? Have you gone even a day, an hour without breaking one of them - even the most important matters of the Law? If you have then I guess you don’t need a savior and can stand on your own terms before God at the end. As long as you send me emails showing how evil we are and how moral you are, I can only answer, indeed that is why I need a savior and if you are so good it appears from all accounts that you do not need Christ - that your morality is sufficient to please God.

Worse than all of this, and worse than Calvin’s participation in the execution of Servetus, you are in rebellion as you break the first and second commandments by calling abominable the Tri-Une God, that is, that God is three persons, one essence. If Servetus was a saint then so was Mohammed. In the book of Deuteronomy God plainly commanded that such blasphemies and idolatry as you have uttered be punishable with death. And you will face the righteous judge one day and will have to answer for your folly for calling the only true God an abomination. But He is merciful Paul and offers you pardon in advance of His just invasion and should you receive the pardon and ally yourself with Him now before He invades, when he comes you will be considered His ally and He will raise you up. The alternative is to be under the wrath of the king. Will you heed the command? Jesus is Savior Lord, repent and believe the good news.

Jesus Christ is the only Savior and Lord. Calvin and all the Reformers were sinners, like me, whose only hope was in Christ’s mercy, So let the name of John Calvin, Martin Luther and let my name perish -- and may Christ alone be glorified.

John

Victor and Paul’s reply:

John, the Christ you believe is a false one. That is why you cannot distinguish good fruits from bad. That is why you are put off by our Spirit. You are at enmity with God. You are still in your sins and darkness. You even admit it. Theology and your idols have not been able to deliver you.

Yes, you and your spiritual heroes’ names are blotted out, according to the prophecy of David:

“Let his posterity be cut off; in the generation following let their name be blotted out” (Psalms 109:13 JPS).

But for those who are His:

“And those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the sky; and those who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3 MKJV).

How foolish you are in your contradictions! If those who recognize they are spiritually bankrupt are saved, how can they still be bankrupt after they have received Christ? Is Christ a pauper? Is His supreme power over death and hell inert in us? We know it is not, and plainly say so, which you call moral posturing and boasting. What a corrupt mouth you have, attached as it is to a deceitful and wicked heart!

Just because you are still bankrupt and not saved you ought not to hate and kill your brother, who is, by God’s grace, saved. That is what Cain your father did, and as Calvin your namesake, whom it becomes clearer all the time you resemble in your spirit. Do you not hear God calling you through us to repent? Now you admit you would also have us put to death and tormented in hell because we do not believe in your four-part abomination.

Have you red Servetus yet? He rightly points out that your trinity is a foursome, because there are three plus an essence, which makes four, whereas nothing about anything like this is proclaimed in Scripture! We only know one God manifest in Christ by His Spirit.

And what about Augustine, the Maryolater whom you and Calvin praise?

Don’t think that even those unfamiliar with these issues will not notice that you give no substance for your many false accusations. How much more does God scoff and hold your opinions in contempt.

Paul

John, Victor Hafichuk here,

You are completely off the mark with your judgments of Paul, calling him angry, bitter, cursing and resentful. I know the man and Whom he serves, and I do know that whatever anger resides in him is God’s anger with such as you, even as Jesus was angry with the Pharisees and Sadducees. However, Paul is not bitter, he is not cursing you (or anyone else) and he is not resentful toward any, quite the contrary. Neither does he claim higher moral ground or compare his morality to that of others.

You foolishly accuse, as a blind man throwing stones at unfamiliar sounds about him, hoping he will ward off perceived threats, not realizing he resists true friends and very salvation. The Truth Paul speaks by the Spirit of God condemns you (yes, it does, and only because of you, and not because It or the speaker is at fault), and so you think the Truth to be a curse, and, in that way, no doubt it is. Devils cringe at the thought of the light of Truth shining on their works.

John, you are, quite frankly, even stupid intellectually to say the things you say (not that intellect will win the day; it won’t). Your self-righteousness and doctrine make a blithering fool of you (no, I am not calling a brother a fool). Surely these words say it all:

“The scripture says, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and set aside the understanding of the scholars’” (1 Corinthians 1:19 GNB).

You ask Paul: “Do you really believe that you deserve heaven more than others?”

The answer is “No.”

You ask him: “Do you really want to stand before God at the end clothed in your own filthy rags?”

He once did, but no longer, as declared by Zechariah. He now stands before His Lord and in His service, in white linen garments. In Christ, we see your filthy garments, and so we speak.

You say: “A Christian is first humble, broken and contrite and leads other beggars to bread and does not think more highly of themselves than anyone.”

Are you humble, broken and contrite then, John? We think you are a beggar who thinks himself a very wealthy man, a legend in his own imaginations:

“Because you say, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (Revelation 3:17 MKJV).

Those words are for believers, His people, no less (call them condemnation as they come forth from our mouths to you). How much more do they apply to those such as you, who do not believe?

With every word you speak, you expose yourself to all but those in darkness, like you. Those in Christ are not spiritually bankrupt at all. As Jesus Himself said to His faithful:

“I know your works and tribulation and poverty (but you are rich)….”

The Lord continues with words applicable to you in your present state and circumstance:

“…and I know the blasphemy of those saying themselves to be Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan” (Revelation 2:9 MKJV).

You are not a Jew, John, but a stiff-necked, uncircumcised Gentile, removed altogether from Christ. If your heart was circumcised, your mouth would display no foreskin - uncircumcised words.

Let me ask you the question you ask Paul: “The beatitudes begin with ‘blessed are the poor in spirit...’ Are you?”

You go on to say: “So you do not exhibit the humility and fruit of the Spirit that are the very beginnings and foundation of what it is to be a Christian.”

Do you exhibit these, John? And are you not aware that fruit comes when the tree has grown and matured? Even nature teaches so. How then can it be “the very beginnings and foundation of what it is to be a Christian”? You don’t know what you’re talking about, and you have no capacity to judge fruit or any spiritual matters.

You ask Paul, “Do you really think you are better?”

The answer is, “No, he does not.”

You ask him, “That you have obeyed God’s commands? Any of them?”

The answer is, “No, not in his flesh and power, ever.” But now He has Christ doing so in him, which you do not, and that is why you ask and speak as you do. You are still under condemnation because you do not believe.

You ask Paul, “Have you gone even a day, an hour without breaking one of them - even the most important matters of the Law?”

He knows, and I know, that in his flesh “dwells no good thing.” But that is not all he has, because he has Christ in him, the hope of glory. He has that glory now, in him. As it is written, and as we have experienced:

“Everyone who has been born of God does not commit sin, because His seed remains in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:9 MKJV).

He need no longer hope for Him as some hope, because Christ has delivered, as He promised. It is known as the promise of the Father:

“And having met with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father which you heard from Me” (Acts 1:4 MKJV).

“Then Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the Name of Jesus Christ to remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all those afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:38-39 MKJV).

That is not your case, John, and that is why you argue and reason without substance. You have never known that blessedness and so you call Paul a hateful liar and heretic. He only holds up a mirror to you; he is not you; your image is you. You do not have the Spirit of God, yet you speak presumptuously, piously and pretentiously, not knowing that you vex God and all of Heaven with your ways.

You say, “If you have then I guess you don’t need a savior and can stand on your own terms before God at the end.”

Few men on earth know the absolute need of the One and Only Savior of all mankind, as Paul does, because that need has been met in him. As a result, he speaks out of Christ’s righteousness, while you continue to speak out of yours. You speak out of need and not out of fulfillment. That is true Calvinism, having nothing to do with the One Whom you, Calvin, and all Calvinists profess to worship.

Concerning the pagan doctrine of the trinity, you say, “In the book of Deuteronomy God plainly commanded that such blasphemies and idolatry as you have uttered be punishable with death. And you will face the righteous judge one day and will have to answer for your folly for calling the only true God an abomination.”

Here is what it says in Deuteronomy concerning the trinity:

“Give ear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4 BBE).

But you say there are three, presuming to support such heresy with Scripture when there is no support whatsoever to be found, easily proven so.

As carnal Israel heeded and honored the false prophets while stoning the true, so do you. Wouldn’t you just love to be able to stone or torch Paul, me and all those who are of One Body (are there three, John?), who worship the One Lord (are there three?) in spirit and in truth (how many truths, John?), in one faith (how many, John, three?), and one baptism (one, two, or three, John?) in one hope (not three, John?):

“There is one Body and one Spirit, even as you have been marked out by God in the one hope of his purpose for you; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, Who is over all, and through all, and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6 BBE).

You have red nothing of what we have sent you. Why? Because you are not as humble and knowledgeable as you think yourself to be. Isn’t that true, John? You would rather burn our writings at our feet as Calvin did with Servetus, years after threatening (on record) that he would do so if he ever had the opportunity. You are a murderer, John, as is your namesake of whom you are so proud. It has nothing to do with the customs, laws and times of the secular, as you wickedly declare. The Bible you presume to believe says so:

“O stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so you do. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of Whom you have now been the betrayers and murderers” (Acts 7:51-52 MKJV).

And:

“Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly you bear witness that you consent to the deeds of your fathers. For they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore the wisdom of God also said, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute, so that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the temple. Truly I say to you, It shall be required of this generation”
(Luke 11:47-51 MKJV).

You say, “But He is merciful Paul and offers you pardon in advance of His just invasion and should you receive the pardon and ally yourself with Him now before He invades, when he comes you will be considered His ally and He will raise you up.”

Paul has received Christ’s mercy and pardon personally. You have not. To you it is merely theory - an intellectual, doctrinal concept that a cunning devil has introduced to deceive and take you captive, and that is where you are now. Now Paul speaks to you and the evil one that holds you in darkness and bondage at will, that one day the Word seed spoken by Paul might bear fruit. But what poor soil! Yet, no soil is above and beyond the supernatural power of God to redeem, not even yours.

Paul is now “His ally,” he is now raised up, and he now speaks as His ally to you in your grave. You too will be raised up. Right now, you are being raised up to condemnation and for the fires of purification, for your ultimate good, according to His wonderful will and purpose for every human being.

Read our papers, John, and quit speaking out of ignorance and stubbornness. Our testimonies alone will declare that we know God, that He knows us, that He loves us, that you do not know Him and that He does not know you.

Your preaching to Paul in the latter part of your letter, as with all of it, is you performing your evangelical duty, as you see it, out of your own righteousness, through which we see plainly. Your show of piety is hypocrisy.

You think that intellectually knowing one’s need of Jesus Christ as Savior is all there is to it, not having had that need met, except in theological theory, as with Calvin. The Pharisees also claimed God for their Father, but Jesus well knew who their father was, and was not reticent to tell them. They would have called it bitterness, hatred, cursing, hostility and condemnation, as do you. But Jesus knew with whom He was dealing and so do we. We herein deal with the children of those with whom He dealt, and they killed Him for it, which was the predetermined counsel and foreknowledge of God. So use your faggots on us, child of Satan, if God permits, but you do not deceive us any more than Calvin deceived Servetus, who was faithful to the bitter end. Condemning Servetus, you have condemned the Lord Jesus Christ. Condemning us, you condemn Him. We know you, your spirit, and your deeds well.

Without a spirit of condemnation, without desire or delight in condemning, without effort, we could take practically every statement you make and point out your error. Is there time? Is it necessary? I highly doubt it. Mostly, there is no heart for it with you. You are the wise one, who thinks himself too righteous for that, while cloaking himself in false humility to demonstrate his glory before the world, using Christ’s Name to do so. Yes, John, you are of the synagogue of the counterfeit, the liar, thief and murderer. We say so, and you will know it in due time.

Now who casts whom into prison? Is it the saints that do so to heretics, or is it heretics that do so to saints, as Calvin with Servetus and others? Jesus tells us that as well:

“Do not at all fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the Devil will cast some of you into prison, so that you may be tried. And you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10 MKJV).

Victor