Exposing and Opposing the Reformed Calvinist Church, Grace Bible Fellowship Pastored by Mike Hovland

(This report has been updated.)

Exposing and opposing for four specific reasons, though there be more: (1) False Calvinist Gospel and Reformed Theology. (2) False, Worldly Worship. (4) False Position on the Bible, Denial of Preservation, and Embracement of the Corrupted Critical Text and Her Offspring. (4) Other False Doctrine and Practice including the False teaching of Ranking Doctrine into Levels of Essentiality.

I'm not Calvinist or Reformed or Protestant, and if I was alive in the the Reformer's day, I would likely have been jailed or drowned or murdered in some other fashion. I’m happy to report that the neo-Reformed Calvinists of our day have not progressed thus far in their allegiance to Calvin and the other reformers. Not yet I say. John Calvin murdered up to a hundred people for opposing his beliefs or daring to challenge him on doctrine (four of those for instance were Anabaptists who disagreed with Calvin on certain doctrine, whom Calvin had murdered and then quartered, each piece strung up around Zurich as a warning to those who would oppose him, see here for further reading). Zwingli would say that the Anabaptist/Baptists like to practice immersion, so let’s immerse them! Nothing separates you from people like 20 feet of water with a large rock tied to your ankle. It also separates you from necessary oxygen to breathe. You get my point there.

Reformed Calvinist love to fight evilly and cowardly, by punching below the belt. They relish in it; by malice, scorn and mockery. Instead of keeping things at a doctrinal and Biblical level, responding civilly and Biblically to criticisms and challenges, they lie, lie and more lie, and then personally attack and more attack, manipulating, deceiving and censoring, but that isn’t any surprise coming from this camp knowing who their heroes are and knowing the teachings of their heroes that they follow. This type of dishonest and detestable behaviour is the absolute norm in the reformed Calvinist camp, with many, many others testifying to the same, where worldwide they manipulatively and maliciously attack anyone that dares oppose their narrative and “theology.” This proud hatred alone proves they are “scorners” and not “wise men” (Pr 9:8). Everything about Gods Word condemns this evil behaviour, speaking harshly of those who despise and reject reproof and rebuke as “brutish” (Pr 12:1), haters (Pr 15:12), shameful (Pr 13:18), ones that despise their own soul (Pr 15:38) and then ultimately recipients of destruction (Pr 29:1) and death (Pr 15:10).

This diabolical conduct is the very opposite of “the wisdom that is from above” which “is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (Jam 3:17). Rather, “This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” (Jam 3:15-16). Why do they have this sort of self-righteous and ungodly demeanour and wisdom? Well that same context tells us why: “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.” (Jam 3:14). Envy and strife which comes out of a proud heart. Jam 3:14-18 by the way is a contrast between the unsaved (vv. 14-16) and the saved (vv. 17-18), and the unbiblical and malicious attacks by this camp very clearly reflects the former.

Grace Bible Fellowship (GBF), pastored by Mike Hovland, is not an exception to this. Some of the men attending there reflect this self-righteous and hypocritical attitude. GBF is a hodge podge of heretical reformed Calvinism and evangelicalism, which is equally heretical. Though elements of the truth are obviously taught, the twisting of Scripture and promotion of heresy (and blatant heretics and apostates such as the “church fathers” and Protestant reformers and majority of the reformed Calvinists of our day such as TGC, John MacArthur, Phil Johnson, Jerry Bridges, John Piper, etc, etc) and confusion over the truth is astounding, especially when we consider how vocal their deceptive but venomous voices are (as reformed Calvinism always attempts to be). Important to understand that the error of many false teacher is subtle and intermixed with the truth, which is how Satan comes (2 Cor 11:12-15), and the truth they do teach doesn’t indicate they are now of the truth but rather the error they teach tells us they’re aren’t. It’s what they teach that doesn’t line up with scripture, unsound doctrine, blown about by all winds of doctrine, perversion of scripture, their response to reproof and rebuke, their living and affections that contradicts holiness, godliness and righteousness, that tells us they are not true teachers and servants of Christ (1 Tim 6:3-5; Rom 16:17-18; Phil 3:17-19; 2 Cor 11:3-4, 12-15;  Ju 1:3-4; etc), That is how the Bible reads everywhere, where churches and teachers are condemned as false or corrupt or wolves or heretics based upon the error they propagate, and not as true teachers because the balance shifts in favour of the truth they teach. Unsaved people don’t get this, only those have the indwelling Spirit of God and know the truth.  I hope you get it.

In the similitude of evangelicalism, the “unclean spirits” (Ac 8:7-10) abound in Reformed Calvinism, readily noted in the acceptance of and capitulation to grievous heresies at Grace Bible Fellowship pastored by Mike Hovland and the Reformer John Calvin posthumous (click on link to read of his false works gospel and appetite for murder, quite a common problem among these heretical reformers and their step children today). Not only in grievous heresies but also in the same cantankerous and ungodly venomous spirit that resided in Calvin and resulted in violent hatred towards his foes and opponents. Practically everything about Reformed Calvinism and Evangelicalism is unBiblical, so their arguments must be wrapped around logical fallacies and personal attacks (ad hominem), and that is essentially what we see.

Fighting and contending against these heretics and their heresies, which is warring “against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph 6:12) residing in these institutions is an ultimate act of love (another unfortunate casualty of their heresy) as noted in the Scriptures repeatedly, both in command and example (such as Christ Himself and the apostles and the prophets). Read here and here on some of the ways they corrupt Biblical love and here and here on a clear exposition of the necessity to fight and “to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph 6:11) by way of Q&A. It really makes no difference whether you like me or my warnings or not, "For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country." (Jn 4:44). God’s Word is truth, not your corrupted feelings or unBiblical opinions. One day you will be judged by every word in the Word of God (Jn 12:48) and you would be wise to actually give heed to it and give your allegiance to the Lord and not man.

Do not be deceived. God doesn’t care about your feelings that buck against His truth. Exposing and opposing the heresies of GBF and Reformed Calvinism in general, much of what resides in evangelical groups such as EBMC and EMC as well (link) as well, is completely and perfectly in line with Scripture.

God’s Word commands and demands the exposure and separation from those who preach false doctrine:

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.” (Rom 16:17)

Why?

“For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” (Rom 16:18)

This is an apt description of this reformed calvinist church, along with practically every evangelical institution, which GBF falls under as well.

Here Paul details their unBiblical spirits even further:

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. . . . Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.” (2 Tim 3:5, 7-9)

“If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.” (1 Tim 6:3-5)

Isn't it rather strange that this generation of so-called believers and so-called preachers has no issue lapping up the praise that is lavished on them, even expecting to be applauded, but are deeply offended when a critic offers reproofs for their creeds and deeds, crying “foul play”? Is it not much more reasonable that they who preach and publish and promote their messages in the modern “agora” must welcome reproofs as well as praise? As Solomon said repeatedly in Proverbs, “Wise men receive reproofs.” Not receiving reproof and criticism and then changing their false doctrine speaks volumes.

And where does the Scripture limit the scope of a preacher’s reproof and warning? The preacher is instructed to preach the word, “reprove, rebuke, exhort,” to “speak, exhort, and rebuke with all authority,” and “to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints” (2 Tim 4:2; Ti 2:15; Ju 1:3; etc). Where does the Bible say that this ministry can only be performed by a pastor of a church and only to his own congregation? Will you continue to wrest and manipulate these verses out of their meaning, knowing what 2 Pet 3:16-17 warns of? Only a severely compromised coward would even fathom protesting someone critiquing a sermon or article that was published on the WWW for the whole world to give accolades to. You love the praise of men but not the critique. Go figure. But you shouldn’t “love the praise of men more than the praise of God” (Jn 12:43). Rather, you should be as one who is truly saved, who has been “circumcis[ed] . . . of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” (Rom 2:29). The Bible is clear that their is a Warpath Against Error and Sin, by the Faithful Soldier of Christ.

Something to ponder over as well: Is Speaking the Truth “Hateful and Evil”? and The False Philosophy of "Judge-Not" and “Don't Reprove.”

Let’s consider now some of the serious errors of reformed institutions such as GBF that require exposure and demand reproof and separation.

1. The False Calvinist Gospel and Reformed Theology.

The theology and soteriology (doctrine of salvation) of the Reformed Calvinist is wrapped up in the false TULIP, in the false sovereignty of God and other reformed theology. This is the reformed theology “gospel,” which is just that and not the Biblical gospel. It’s not the gospel of Jesus Christ, even though they make that claim. Their false soteriology includes false regeneration (monergism) and the TULIP false doctrines of “grace” (i.e. Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints).

Let’s get something very straight. Contrary to what Lauren Dyck says in the podcast “Examining Calvinism: Part 1 Gods Sovereign Decree” (June 16, 2022): “Calvinism and the doctrines of grace [his preferred label] are the same thing” — Calvinism and the doctrines of grace are far from the same thing! They are polar opposites.

There is certainly no doubt whatsoever that pastor Mike Hovland embraces the heretical and blasphemous TULIP, not only because of his recent podcasts where he defends the heresy, but also because he stated to me, “I believe that what the church upheld in the Canons of Dort is what the Scriptures do teach on salvation,” — but even further, he defended the TULIP in that same email. Here is what he wrote:

“In brief the doctrines of Calvinism is. . .

1. Total Depravity. Man in his unregenerate state is effected by sin such that he is unable to respond to the gospel (i.e. turn from his sins) apart from divine grace (Eccl 7:20, 9:3; 1 Cor 2:14; Rom 3:10–16, 23; 8:7–9; Col 1:21; Titus 3:3)

2. Unconditional Election. God chose to save a group of people before the foundation of the world, not based on anything good that they did or would do (we weren’t ever born yet), but foley [sic] based on the good pleasure of his will (i.e. there were no conditions in us that God based this electing chose upon. (Eph 1:4–5; Rom 9:9–24; Titus 3:4–7; 2 Tim 1:9).

3. Limited Atonement. God the Son laid down his life for the group that the Father had chosen as a gift for the Son. These are his sheep and Jesus lays down his life for the sheep. This point is also based on the principle that because God is one, the three Persons of the Trinity always work together for the same purposes (whom the Father chose, the Son made atonement for, and the Spirit regenerates) (you can see this is John 11 and in the High Priestly prayer of John 17; as well as from certain texts that seem to say the opposite on a casual reading like 2 Cor 5:14–15; or 1 John 2:2 where you need to ask ‘what does propitiation mean before you think about who the whole world is in the context. See my Sunday school lesson on this point especially). Sometimes this is called particular atonement. The atonement is effective and procures salvation for the particular group that God chose.

4. Irresistible Grace. This point understands that God’s grace, although resistible by men at times during their lives, is not ultimately resistible by the elect. When God calls a sinner to himself, he saves them. He opens their heart (Acts 16:14), he regenerates them (John 3:1–8; Eph 2:5; 1 Pet 1:3, 23). Another term for this is calling (Eph 4:1; 1 Cor 1:23–25 (note here that the difference between the Jews and Gentiles who scoff and those who receive the same message as the power of God is that the later are ’the called.’). See also Rom 8:29–30).

5. Perseverance of the Saints. Those who are thus chosen, atoned for, and called to salvation by grace are kept by the power of God until the end (1 Pet 1:5; Romans 8:30ff). They may fall into sin for a time, but God will bring them back through discipline or other means and they will endure to the end and be finally saved. No one, not even themselves, will keep the truly born-again and saved from entering the rest that God has designed for them (John 10:27–30).”

Let's contrast what he writes briefly with the Word of God. (For a more detailed exposure of the awful TULIP see Trampling Calvinism’s TULIP

Total Depravity is heresy. Monergism, regeneration, the Calvinist response to Total Depravity, is never taught anywhere in Scripture. In Hovland’s heretical Systematic Theology course, he elaborated on this:

“In the case of the elect God changes our nature in regeneration so that we see the glory of Christ and desire to turn from sin to a wonderful and glorious saviour.” (Ibid., slide 14, pp. 4)

No, that is actually not how it transpires. We are not regenerated prior to salvation, prior to turning from sin (repentance) and turning to the Lord Jesus Christ. Total depravity, or depravity according to Scripture, does not mean totally dead as in unable to respond to God’s conviction and reproof. Regeneration happens at salvation, NOT before. Monergism is heretical to the core but necessary for Calvinism’s TULIP to be true. Men don’t remain unsaved because God hasn’t regenerated them and thus remain unregenerate and unable to respond to Gods conviction, reproof and drawing; No, they remain unsaved because THEY won’t come to Christ. God the Son Himself tells us that, and He of all people would know best:

“And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” (Jn. 5:40)

And this was said to a people that were very enlightened, convicted, reproved, and drawn, much more-so than anyone (cf. Rom 3:1-2; 9:4-5). The essence of coming to Christ means to search for Him and then believe in Him, both, again, human responsibilities, and connected here perfectly:

“And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” (Jn 5:38-39)

Since all men have the capability to come to Christ, all are drawn of the Father (Jn 6:44). Coming to Christ must be genuine though, something not always evident from another persons perspective. There has to be human will or desire to come to Christ, noted in passages such as Jn 7:37,

“If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.”

Read here for more: Does Regeneration (Monergism) Precede Salvation, as Calvinism Teaches? and the tract, Trampling Calvinism’s TULIP.

Unconditional Election is not just heresy but blasphemy. No, God do not “chose to save a group of people before the foundation of the world, not based on anything good that they did or would do (we weren’t ever born yet), but foley [sic] based on the good pleasure of his will (i.e. there were no conditions in us that God based this electing chose upon.”

This would mean God ordained many people, most in fact, to eternal hell fire before they were ever even born, before they ever even had a chance at life and salvation. This is plain and extreme evil. Hovland’s evil Calvinist views on eternal reprobation for those ordained by God was also expressed in his systematic theology course:

“Reprobation is God’s choice to pass by certain individuals refraining from exercising his saving love upon them and determining to punish them for their sins”

Yikes. Not only is there is no place in Scripture that teaches this heresy, the Scriptures teach the very opposite:

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Pet 3:9)

“God our Saviour; . . . will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim 2:3-4).

“The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” (Ps 98:2-3)

Hovland uses “Eph 1:4–5; Rom 9:9–24; Titus 3:4–7; 2 Tim 1:9” to support this heresy but none of these passages actually teach this. He is reading this heresy into those passages, which is the God-dishonouring mythology of eisegesis, the method of Bible interruption utilized by false teachers and false believers. Two words that they have to utterly corrupt to get to their philosophy are foreknowledge and predestination to keep the system breathing, which I expose here: Debunking the Calvinist Error of Foreknowledge = Predetermination.

The Calvinist heresy of election and denial of free will is exposed here: A Rebuttal of an Article on Calvinism's Doctrine of Election and Free Will - Part 1

Limited Atonement is both heresy and perversion of the gospel.

Hovland claims that God the Son only “laid down his life for the group that the Father had chosen as a gift for the Son.”

This is quite contrary to the Bible, which makes abundantly clear that Christ laid down His life for every human being ever born into this world, even the wicked people that crucified Christ (“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” - Lk 23:34). Scripture very plainly states that Christ died and shed His blood for ALL men (1 Jn 2:2; 1 Tim 2:6; 2 Pet 3:9), for the ungodly — which is everyone since all are sinners (Rom 4:5; 5:6, 8), including those who are never born again (Heb 6:4-6), even false teachers (2 Pet 2:1).

He also corrupts the analogy of “sheep” in the Bible. Not only saved people are sheep, but all Israelites are considered sheep. In Matt 15:24 Christ recounts His own calling: “But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” and then in Matt 10:6 he gives an order to His disciples: “But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Twice sheep are called “lost” here, and all this in spite of the fact that very very few would be truly converted, even after He preached to many and miraculously helped their physical needs, and even after He sent out many of His disciples to preach to them and likewise respond to their physical needs. In the end, He was left with a "little flock," which means by far vast majority of the "lost sheep of the house of Israel” remained exactly that. Matter of fact, all lost people, Jew or Gentile, are considered “as sheep” in 1 Pet 2:25, “For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” In Lk 15:6 the lost one that is found is called a “sheep,” while lost.

Hovland is wrong on how the “Father chose,” and on who the “Son made atonement for” and when the “Spirit regenerates.” These are critical areas of soteriology and to be wrong in even just one of these areas constitutes a false gospel. Hovland is wrong in all three areas because of the heretical Calvinist influence of course, and what he is propagating is “another gospel” (2 Cor 11:4) “which is not another, [but a] perverted gospel” (Gal 1:6-9).

Calvinists are absolute masters of perverting the Scriptures, with zero conscience about it as it seems, which reflects a lot about their nature which is mostly unregenerate. Hovland attempts to twist and corrupt the meaning of “the whole world” in 1 Jn 2:2, and “if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all,” in 2 Cor 5:14-15. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know what these phrases mean, only a Calvinist apparently.

Concerning 1 Jn 2:2, Hovland wanted me to think the following over,

“‘what does propitiation mean before you think about who the whole world is in the context . . . Sometimes this is called particular atonement. The atonement is effective and procures salvation for the particular group that God chose.”

This is pure eisegesis, by very definition and human logic versus actual belief in the Scriptures. Christ’s death and blood was indeed “the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world,” for it was His sacrifice for all sins of all mankind forever. He will never be sacrificed again. Though it is efficacious only to those who repent and believe, it is available to all alike and made for all alike.

Irresistible Grace. God’s call apparently to the elect is effectual and cannot be resisted. This is serious perversion of God’s grace. If His grace wasn’t resistible, then God is a dictator and we are all but robots. It changes everything about salvation, God’s gospel and His character. The Bible however teaches the very opposite: the grace of God is resistible, not irresistible (Ac 7:51; Matt 23:37; Pr 1:20-31).That dovetails with God’s nature of love.

In Hovland’s perversion of grace, we also note his perversion of “call” or “called” or “calling.” In another place he says “Calling is a divine action that grants life, and faith, and repentance.” (Church Q&A). The “called” however are simply those who are saved. Its those who God saves. That is all that it means. Why does He save certain ones? Because they repented and believed, the Bible is extremely clear on that, and not because God poured irresistible grace upon them.

This heretical perversion of God’s grace changes the very nature of God and the doctrine of salvation. It is blasphemous to think that God’s atonement through His Son is only limited to some (the Calvinist elect), or that His grace can’t be resisted. They present a different gospel altogether than that found in Scripture and effectually turn God into a dictator.

Perseverance of the Saints. This is the only TULIP point that comes even close to being true, yet it being intertwined with the others, each totally dependent upon another, you pull out one petal and humpty dumpty, the whole thing collapses. The Bible teaches that all true born again believers are eternally secure and are preserved by the power of God from both hell and the domination of sin (Rom 6), so that no regenerate person ever can be eternally lost (Rom 8:28-39) and that all will live in obedience to God’s Word (Jn 14:15-24; 1 Jn 2:3-5) and perservere to the end, since justifying faith will evidence itself in perseverance and continual abiding in Christ (Jn 8:31-32; 15:1-6; 1 Jn 2:14-29; etc). God never stops working in His own, them He indwells, and never leaves them to their own ways (Phil 1:6; 2:10-11), so they will persevere to the end. But this point is reached by the Calvinist, not because of the actual promises of perseverance (as noted just now) and God keeping His children safe in the Word of God but because of how they arrive at the point of salvation (through the TULIP). There is a fear that is attached with Calvinism’s perseverance that one can really never know for absolute certain if they are saved, for tomorrow it could all go sideways. This is not eternal security or perseverance of the saints according to Scripture. It isn’t even salvation but a form of works religion. Most Calvinists live in a continual state of fear, which, of course, is quite the opposite to the sound mind of the truly saved, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim 1:7).

In Hovlands’ series on “Systematic Theology” (source) he claimed,

“There is no salvation apart from perseverance.” (slide #34, p. 16).

This is precisely my point. They are embracing a false gospel of works.

He also appears to believe in the false gospel of “losing salvation”:

“The Definition of Perseverance. This is why we don’t like to call this Eternal Security. Yes, we are secure. But we are never secure if we turn away, run into sin, commit apostasy, etc.” (ibid, slide #34).

The reason of course that this person isn’t secure because they have never been truly born again. That is why they aren’t eternally secure, but that doesn’t appear to be what Hovland is teaching here, but rather a form of losing salvation, where one could be secure but not eternally, because they lost their security through sin or apostasy.

It becomes a bit more understandable as to what Hovland means in that utterly confusing statement, when we understand that no Calvinist can be entirely sure of his salvation since he might actually be predestined to be lost. The Calvinist heretic R.C. Sproul spoke of this in his own life. It isn’t surprising therefore that John Calvin didn’t have any assurance of salvation, thus adherence to his perseverance of the saints point is essential. After all, playing little head games with people would not be wrong for Calvin’s god since Calvin’s god is glorified by creating billions of people solely for the purpose of sending them to Hell for eternity. There is not a person in the world who believes what Calvin taught who should not be terrified concerning the reality of his or her salvation.

Of course all this heresy on the TULIP is very contrary to Scripture and actual “damnable heresy” (2 Pet 2:1).

Mike Hovland is wresting not just one or two words here but many words from their basic and fundamental Biblical meaning: e.g. “grace,” “elect[ion],” “propitiation,” “atonement,” “regeneration,” “depravity,” “world,” “all,” and even “gospel.” There is a serious warning in Scripture towards those who wrest the words of God. As the apostle Peter finishes his final epistle, he gave the following warning about those who wrest the Scriptures, that they are “unlearned and unstable” and “wicked.”

“As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.” (2 Pet 3:16-17)

The sovereignty of God is horribly and blasphemously twisted, completely undermining and denying man’s clear responsibility and reaction in conversion, which I have exposed here: Calvinism’s Sovereignty over God’s Sovereignty.

John Calvin of course is embraced affectionately, even though he was a murderous heretic that embraced a false gospel of works: John Calvin's False Gospel, and Persecution/ Murder of Opponents.

The love affair with the heretical “church fathers” and “reformed fathers” whom they consider heroes of the faith and whose doctrine they have adopted wholeheartedly—though they were heretics—is exposed:

• Here: Rebutting False Teachings on the Church, Promoted in an Article by Mike Hovland

• Here: The Protestant Reformers Were Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

• Here: Can We Judge Someone to be Unsaved? Such as the Reformers or John Wesley?

• And here: Martin Luther - A True Born Again Believer or a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing?

In his email, pastor Hovland claimed that,

“Typically, throughout post-reformation church history, both sides of the calvinism-arminianism debate have recognized that those on the other side can and do preach the true gospel.”

The above points however reveal a corrupted and fatalistic gospel/soteriology and a clear absence of Biblical understanding. The gospel is more than just the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and believing that justification is by faith through Christ alone. There is more such as Gods grace, which is corrupted above; election, which is corrupted above; regeneration, which is corrupted above; reception of the gospel through repentance and faith, which is corrupted above; atonement, which is corrupted above; and more. One cannot pervert God’s gospel in so many ways and expect not to fall under the charge of “accursed” (Gal 1:6-9). For a lot less, Paul would have charged them with preaching a false and perverted gospel and that they were accursed.

The truth is, due to the foundational issue of the false gospel, their justification by faith alone is not really what it appears to be. It implies many things, TULIP including, even such great confusion as regeneration prior to conversion (monogenism, derived from the corrupt TULIP). When many reformers spoke the words “justification by faith alone” they did not necessarily mean what the Bible says and they might not even mean anything more than what the heretical reformers John Calvin or Martin Luther meant, which is a work’s justification (baptismal regeneration and justification that included the keeping of the Lords Table). Their definition of “faith” was obviously altered from what Scripture means and teaches.

Herein we find another major issue with Calvinists/Reformers, the deception and cunning craftiness when it comes to admitting to what they actually believe and cloaking their beliefs in Biblical language, while meaning something different altogether. The TULIP is a good example. They change the meaning and definition of words, or attempt at least. For instance, “world” doesn’t mean everyone in the world and “all” doesn’t actually mean all. They embrace all five TULIP points which produces another gospel and another Jesus, (misnaming them “the doctrines of grace”), but they keep that hidden from the unsuspecting, and rarely does one hear them openly admit their embracement of the TULIP and Calvinism. Only when pushed to the point where they have no choice but to address it, such as a time when I am exposing their heresies or others publicly distribute tracts on them, will you hear them speak about these doctrines, while still attempting to pull the wool over the eyes of people. The just live by faith (Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38-39). By making your own rules you are in complete rebellion to God, which then says what?

Let’s consider an example of how they manipulate people. In the podcast “Examining Calvinism: Part 1 Gods Sovereign Decree” (June 16, 2022), Lauren Dyck is not upfront and honest about his knowledge on the five points of Calvinism in his conversation with a local person some years ago or in how he handles the discussion. The argument he makes is put up as a straw man and plainly dishonest — the guy allegedly didn’t know what the five points were, thus the theory that many people hold to that “Calvinism is bad” is allegedly debunked because someone can’t list the points of the TULIP off. To make matters worse, the guy apparently presented “almost with anger.” Just because someone is angry and doesn’t know precisely what the five points are, doesn’t mean they aren’t bad and unscriptural. And to sidestep the guys question is manipulative and dishonest, considering the plain fact that Lauren very well knows what the five points of Calvinism are (and very well embraces them, while attempting to hide that from people through little manipulative games), and further considering that dozens of people have questioned him about the Calvinist points to which he makes no mention.

Let’s consider another example of manipulation. Apparently every Christian is either an Arminianist or a Calvinist. There is no middle ground, like being a Biblicist, one that actually adheres to the Bible alone and not to the teachings of men. But this is how excessively man-centred they truly are, and no surprise why one of the GBF church members once stated that no man can learn the Bible on his own, non-cooperatively. Mike Hovland in the aforementioned podcast states:

“…Arminianism and Calvinism, which really are the only two things that there are, as far as understanding soteriology, as far as l understand orthodox soteriology. You are either Arminian or Calvinist or you are like in this hazy ground on the middle where you don’t actually know what you think about stuff, that may be a bit harsh but that’s really where it’s at.”

Its not “harsh” but unBiblical and idiotic for a so-called professing Christian to make such a man-centred statement. When the question was asked by Lauren,

“[Mike] whats your view when someone says I’m neither a Calvinist or Arminian, I’m a Biblicist,”

Hovland responded with:

“I’d say you are standing on solid ground in the middle of thin air, [they both chuckle] because there is really no other to explain salvation except by those two methods. Hey if you want to talk about being a man follower which sometimes comes along here, well you are either following Joseph Arminiast or follow John Calvin, there is no middle ground if you rightly understand it…”

Calvinists throw out the logical fallacy that one must be an Arminian when they oppose elements of Calvinism. Logical fallacies are deceitful and dishonest arguments. Its a man-centred argument that fits well into the Calvinism and Reformed Theology mold, a system that is entirely man-made. Just because Calvinists follow the teachings of men, fulfilling what Christ stated in Mk 7:7, “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men," doesn't mean that others do the same. True born again believers actually follow the Word of God, not the word of man. I’m not an Arminian and actually know little about what James Arminius believed. But of what I do know about him, I believe he was much closer to biblical truth than John Calvin and he definitely had a different (non-violent) spirit towards his opponents. He was willing to pursue doctrinal controversy and had a great zeal for the truth, and the mean-spiritedness and petty jealousy that often characterized his opponents did not mar his life. No born again believer ever needs to choose between two fallible men. The only infallible source for faith and practice is the infallible Bible itself, not some fallible man’s systematic interpretation of it. I believe a sound and solid Biblical position opposes both Calvinism and Arminianism. Even though Mike Hovland and Lauren Dyck may smear and ridicule this position, its actually the right and perfect position when you find it in the Scriptures, from whence it derives. Wouldn’t it be? Shouldn’t it be, if we are true Bible believers? One that is actually based upon Scripture and not another man’s philosophy? Indeed.

Let us consider one more example. In the aforementioned podcast, Dyck speaks of “Dr.” James White, a pathological liar and a master of logical fallacies and eisegesis (again, very very common issues in this heretical camp, and they all practice both these serious issues, almost as if they are either indoctrinated by the same people). Dyck makes sure to emphasize the “Doctor” element of White while White’s counterpart is afforded no such title. This reflects the idolatry of scholarly and the man-centredness of these men. It doesn’t matter whether someone has a “degree” but whether what he is saying or doing is Biblically right. And what White has for a doctorate is a sham. It’s a run of the mill degree purchased at Columbia Evangelical Seminary. His “doctoral dissertation” was the terribly shallow and heretical book, The Forgotten Trinity. This book comes nowhere close to the standard of writing that those earning doctorates from accredited schools must exhibit. In other words, James White could not have earned a doctorate at a real school. So when he or one of his loyal followers uses the title “Dr”, they are actually lying, just like when he opens his mouth about many things, including the King James Bible and modern perversions. He has a fake doctorate and that fits his fake faith and profession and testimony towards the Bible. I cover this in further detail here: James White is a Heretic and Liar, and His Book, “The King James only Controversy,” is Fiction.

In his email Hovland indicated that the gospel of Jesus Christ was the only “thing that true believers should be united on” and also the only evidence that shows one is of the truth. Is that what the Bible actually teaches? I trow not, doubly! There are books written such as 1 John, for a reason: Evidence of Salvation in John's Epistle’s. Apparently it doesn’t matter what music one listens to, or how out to lunch the theology is, or how perverted and blasphemous their view is on the Bible. Scripture however condemns false theology, and perverted gospels (Gal 1:6-8; 2 Cor 11:4), and golden calf worship of strange fire and raucous music, i.e. “Christian” Contemporary Music (CCM) (1 Jn 2:15-17; Jam 4:4; cf. Jn 4:23-24), and hateful malice towards the Word of God (the King James Bible) along with promoting perverted and blasphemous versions “translated” from the blasphemous Critical Text (Rev 22:18-19). If the gospel, doctrine, practice and life (obedience to Scripture) don’t align with Scripture, “there is no light in them” Scripture says (Is 8:20).

Neither pastor Hovland or his wife’s professions of faith align with scripture, as orated in their first (or one of the first) sermon at GBF. There is a complete denial of what the Bible describes and defines as Biblical salvation, even going through a period of time where they hated God and decided to forsake the local church for a few years. Yikes, how heretical is that! They deny what God says about getting saved which further speaks to their ongoing embracement of error and false doctrine and a false gospel that is corrupted (Gal 1:6-9).

“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Is 8:20).

2. The False, Worldly Worship.

Hovland’s previous appointment in ministry was at GraceLife “Church” in Edmonton, which maintained a full fledged rock & roll band, at least one out of the four bands they had, but most likely all four, all jamming to the nauseous breathy words that they call “Christian” contemporary. Though they haven’t upgraded to that high level at GBF as of yet, as far as I am aware, though they use their songs/lyrics, the same philosophy absolutely lives in the hearts of the people, with everyone listening to some form of ungodly and worldly music that masquerades as “Christian.”

In his email, he claimed the following to my question about worship and worldly CCM music at his previous church:

“I believe the church is free to use various instruments in the worship of God much like the Psalmists encouraged Israel of their day to use the instruments available at their time for worship. . . . The deeper our theology the higher our worship. Instruments just facilitate the words that lift our thoughts to God as worship him for who he is and what he has done."

Yikes. What a corrupted view of Scripture. We are not free to use instruments of our day that are completely worldly and of the flesh, which is many. In the following report Are All Modern Instruments Permissible in Worship? I cover this issue and how modern instruments such as drum sets, electric and bass amplified guitars, are NOT of God. God, His written words, is the standard for the instrumental music He wants to hear. The following is not how it should work. Man invents instruments for himself, that he likes, in line with his carnal nature. He takes that music into the church and uses it for worship, or chooses a church with that music, because then he likes church more. This keeps man at the center and most of this in history related to revivalism that used music to attract unbelievers. Almost nothing is as perverse as concocting music for man or self and then giving that to God as an offering. And that is precisely what CCM music is. All of it. And it's blasphemous. It’s golden calf worship and a strange fire offering, and God killed people for that, as we see in Scripture.

The Getty’s of course are BFF’s, since they are reformed and calvinist after all. Here is a report exposing them as the unregenerate heretics that they are: The Getty’s Deceptive and Hypocritical Stance Against Modern Worship and Other Heresies.

“Christian” contemporary music (CCM) is false golden calf worship and Calvinist Reformed churches such as GBF are no stranger to it even though Hovland attempted to play dumb when I asked him about it. It’s the calf they boogy to as their speakers play the ear bleeding, head splitting, breathy throaty raucous. But it’s unbiblical and ungodly and its good reflection of the lost carnally minded professor (Rom 8:1-9). Such a person still retains “the spirit of the world” and has not “the spirit which is of God” (1 Cor 2:12). When a person is truly saved he loves the commandments of God and “hates every false way” (Ps 119:127-128) and thus will “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph 5:11). None of that Biblical behaviour is noted in CCM music lovers.

The saved person loved his ungodly flesh and the self-worshiping CCM/“Christian” rock worldly trash before being regenerated, and now hates it and wants nothing to do with it (Eph 2:1-5; 5:5-11). The saved will hate it and reject professing Christians and Churches that compromise and apostatize with it — they will hate what they do and the way they do it; hate the philosophy of ministry that it represents and the way it misrepresents the God of the Bible; hate the way it deceives the people involved in it and what it does to churches and their homes; hate the way that it ruins discernment and perverts a biblical or true understanding of spirituality and love; and hate the way it endorses false worship for churches.

Nothing about CCM is Biblical. Not its lyrics, not its musicians, not its melody, not its attraction, not its flaunting sensual style including the vocal scooping and sliding and breathy tone (see here for instance). CCM has a worldly, non-judgmental, anti-separatist, ecumenical and ungodly philosophy that is entirely contrary to the sound apostolic doctrine of God’s Word (Rom 16:17). This music feeds the lusts of the eyes, lusts of the flesh and pride of life, and is not of the Father but of the world (1 Jn 2:16-17). CCM lovers serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly (Rom 16:18). They are enemies of the cross of Christ (Phil 3:18).

Friendship with it means you’re at enmity with God (Jam 4:4) and are entirely void of the love of the Father because you yet love the world (1 Jn 2:15; Matt 6:24), having never “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Pet 1:4). It fulfils the lusts of the itching fable-loving ears (2 Tim 4:3-4) that gets professing believer that a have a form of godliness (2 Tim 3:5) emotionally addicted to a different strain of the world’s music (2 Tim 3:1-7). And like all addictions of the natural man (Pr 27:20), it is never satisfied and there is a progression into more and more of the world’s sensuality. It reveals seed sown on thorny ground, choked out by the care of this world, and the lusts of other things (Matt 13:22; Mk 4:19; Lk 8:14), which is lost soil, false professing ground, people that have never been converted.

The following reports elaborate on how and why CCM is unBiblical and ungodly:

• Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), Is It Honouring to God?

• Christian Contemporary Music (CCM), the Soundtrack of End-Times Apostasy

• Not Only is the Music Ungodly, so is the False Doctrine of Mark Hall and Casting Crowns

3. The False Position on the Bible, Denial of Preservation, and Embracement of the Corrupted Critical Text and Her Offspring.

They claim that scripture alone is their ultimate authority. Sola Scriptura. What Scripture would I ask? “Scripture” that stems from the severely twisted and corrupted Critical Text of Westcott & Hort, a text based upon two seriously twisted manuscripts Aleph and B, both of which contradict themselves in thousands of places (8% which is massive)? That text is the mother of over 500 English translations today, all of which are majorly perverted, adding, taking away and changing Gods Word, falling under the condemnation of Rev 22:18-19. I find it most amusing that Calvinists/Reformers embrace and tout William Tyndale and the Geneva Bible, neither one of which correspond to the perverted version of ESV (or RSV or NIV, or NKJV, or NLT or NASB, etc, for that matter). You should embraced the KJV which is translated from the true text of Scripture, the Hebrew Masoretic Text and Greek Textus Receptus which has nearly 6,000 manuscripts and is the true inspired and preserved Word of God, from whence Tyndale's Bible and the Geneva Bible.

In an email exchange with Mike Hovland, in response to questions I asked concerning the Bible version issue, the following lies were propagated by him.

Lie # 1. Hovland wrote,

“I think the KJV is a good translation of the manuscripts that is [sic] represents.”

Did he mean from the 5,500+ manuscripts that it represents versus the 2(!) underlying the ESV and all other translations, that the Eclectic Critical Text represents?

Lie # 2. Hovland wrote,

“First, in my opinion the KJV is a bit archaic as far as the English language goes. You need to understand in my saying that it is a bit archaic, I am a lover of the Puritans and their writings. I can handle some of the older English but if I have a choice and for my congregation I prefer to have them looking at language in their Bibles that they (and I) more readily understand.”

This is the hypocrisy of heretics. He admits that he is “a lover of the Puritans and their writings” and he “can handle some of the older English” but God forbid it be in the form of Gods Word. Nauseating hypocrisy and diabolical excuses for denying the very Word of God. This is one of the humanistic and leavened philosophies that neo-Reformed Calvinism thrives on. Another one is that the modern English versions are easier to understand, so that’s why you got to go with them. Instead of pulling out a dictionary (or phone) or Bible Word List (which are cheap) and looking up a word or purchasing The Defined King James Bible published by The Bible For Today Press which has the meanings of all the archaic words footnoted, none of which is difficult at all (though he has no issue reading through volumes of commentaries by man loaded with much more difficult words), he casts out the only accurate translation of Gods Word in English for something else that corrupts, adds, omits and changes the very words of God. “Yea hath God said?” is the hiss of the diabolical serpent and he kowtows to it like a man and his thirty pieces of silver. He is in rebellion against God’s Word and his humanistic reasonings won’t stand up to anything when he stands before God one day. The false philosophies are already presently condemned by the Word of God, and they do reveal a serious heart issue.

Lie # 3. Hovland wrote,

“The NASB, EVS, or (maybe) the CSB are the ones I would most recommend as modern, up-to-date English translations that are faithful to the text.”

It might be true that they are faithful to the text they were translated from but they are actually unfaithful to God’s true text. Thats a big difference. The Critical Text is not the Word of God but the corrupted version authored by the Rome-loving, excessively heretical demon-possessed men known as Westcott and Hort. Read also here, Is the English Standard Version (ESV) the Word of God?

They are most certainly not faithful to the actual text that God inspired and preserved for us throughout all the ages in accordance to His promises (Ps 12:6-7; 33:11; 100:5; 111:7-8; 117:2; 119:89, 152, 160; Pr 30:5-6; Is 40:8; 59:21; Matt 5:18; 24:35; 1 Pe 1:23-25; Rev 22:18-19), the Greek Textus Receptus (TR) and Hebrew Masoretic Text.

Lie # 4. Hovland wrote,

“Erasmus printed his first edition of the Greek New Testament in 1516. At the time he only had approximately 5 or 6 Greek Manuscripts to work from.“

He “only had approximately 5 or 6 Greek Manuscripts to work from” is another one of the standard lies that Critical Text proponents and gainsayers of Gods Word like to propagate. For instance, D.A. Carson:

“Although Erasmus published a fourth and fifth edition, we need say no more about them here. Erasmus’s Greek Testament stands in line behind the King James Version; yet IT RESTS UPON A HALF DOZEN MINUSCULE MANUSCRIPTS, none of which is earlier than the tenth century. ... the textual basis of the TR is a small number of haphazardly and relatively late minuscule manuscripts” (D.A. Carson, The King James Version Debate, 1979, pp. 35-36).

This lie and false charge is exposed here, among many other false charges concerning Erasmus: https://www.wayoflife.org/database/erasmus.html.

Yikes, the hypocrisy is abhorrent. This coming from one who embraces modern perversions that are translated from the corrupt Critical Text put together by two demonic false believers (Westcott and Hort) which was based on TWO MANUSCRIPTS, which contradicted one another in thousands of places and were loaded with blotting out and erasing of words, sentences and entire passages of scriptures, hundreds of times.

Erasmus had way more than five manuscripts, but the most important thing is that they all harmonized perfectly. Read the above link and be enlightened, rather than parroting the lies and falsehoods of reformed/evangelical heretics.

Lie # 5. Hovland wrote,

“The NKJV also uses the Textus Receptus.”

This is not true, a lie parroted by the NKJV translators. Partially it used the Textus Receptus but mostly the Critical Text. I expose that here: How We Know the New King James Version (NKJV) is Not an Updated KJV or a Good Translation

Lie # 6. Hovland wrote,

“Today we have thousands of manuscripts and manuscript fragments that make up the modern Greek and Hebrew manuscripts most commonly used.”

Wow. What. An. Incredible. Lie. His conscience must be seared, because there is actually zero support for this. Those “thousands of manuscripts and manuscript fragments that make up the modern Greek and Hebrew manuscripts” is what actually makes up the Textus Receptus, NOT the Critical Text.

For a translation of the Scriptures to be faithful and accurate, it must have been translated from the words commonly received and generally available to believers in every generation, according to the Biblical doctrine of word-perfect preservation; using a Biblical theology of Scripture, rejecting the worldly wisdom of textual criticism; and by using the method of formal equivalence. In the English language, the KJV meets this standard, while all subsequent modern versions fail in one or more of the above areas due to their corrupt text and methods of translation, and therefore must be utterly rejected.

The Critical Text (aka. Westcott and Hort, Nestle-Aland) is the text behind all modern Bible perversions, including the NASB, EVS, and CSB. This text was produced using ONLY two manuscripts, the Vaticanus and the Sinaiticus. Lets consider how they transgress Rev 22:18-19:

Vaticanus compared to TR in the 4 Gospels alone:

• Omits 2,877 words

• Adds 536 words

• Substitutes 935 words

• Transposes 2,098 words

• Modifies 1,132 words

That is a total 7,578 words changed!

Sinaiticus compared to TR in the 4 Gospels:

• Omits 3,455 words

• Adds 839 words

• Substitutes 1,114 words

• Transpose 2,299 words

• Modifies 1,265 words

That is a total 8,972 words changed!

Lie # 7. Hovland wrote,

“The NASB, ESV, and CSB are based on those critical editions which take all of the manuscripts available to us today and compile them into one version.” [emphasis his]

Again, this is a lie. See above. ALL modern translations are based on the Critical Text, which is also known as the Westcott and Hort, and Nestle-Aland text. Here I answer the question whether the English Standard Version (ESV) is the Word of God?

Lie # 8. Hovland wrote,

“If you would like to do some further research into the KJV and some of what I say above I would recommend The King James Only Controversy: Can You Trust Modern Translations? by James White.”

I spent nearly five years, thousands of hours, studying the Bible version issue, and I continue to as I pursue a Masters in the Bible in seminary. Truthfully, I actually only needed an hour to understand there is only one translation in the English language that honours God and can be called the Word of God, while Satan is the author of all the other 500+ translations, which ALL stem out of the horribly corrupt Critical Text. Its not a complicated issue.

James White is servant of Satan that spreads practically nothing but lies, falsehoods, and heresies. Even his use of “a” and “the” is mostly a lie. I expose this wolf in sheep’s clothing here: James White is a Heretic and Liar, and His Book, “The King James only Controversy,” is Fiction.

So I would to say, his advice, the common parrot from his disillusioned camp, is spawned literally in the pit of hell, the future home of the Antichrist.

English speaking Christians own in the King James Version the greatest translation of the Bible ever produced on earth, in any tongue, and also the greatest literary masterpiece in the English language. It has no rival in the history of literature.

The KJV is based on the Received Text with over 5,500 manuscripts while all other perversions stem from the horribly corrupted Critical Text put together under the guise of deception and secrecy by two quite awful apostate men in the late 19th century, namely B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort.

4. Other False Doctrine and Practice, Including the False Teaching of Ranking Doctrines into Levels of Essentiality

(a) False assurance of salvation.

They claim:

“The more subjective side. So I have the sense inside of myself that I am one of those people. And that’s really what we want to know. Can I know that I am one of those people that’s going to preserve to the end and Christ is going to keep me? The first thing again I would say, I might not know. I might not be sure but truly be saved. We don’t have to have assurance in order to be saved and I think that is helpful. You could be saved and not be sure about it. But God does want us to be sure and we should have assurance and we can have assurance.” (Podcast on Assurance of Salvation)

This is certainly not true to scripture. Of course we must know. And it’s an irrational and illogical question since all truly saved people do know. Those that profess Christ but don’t know they are saved are clearly unsaved. Assurance is not subjective but both subjective and objective. Both must be there. Subjective as far as the “Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God” (Rom 8:16) and Gods chastening in our lives (Heb 12:5-11; 1 Cor 11:31-32) but objective as far as the overwhelming evidence of Gods Word that practically proves the person is saved (such as 1 John, covered here, and James and many many other places).

Hence why fruitless and evidence-less professions of faith are accepted as genuine, even though A Profession of Faith that Doesn't Produce Fruit is False.

They do not appear to understand the difference between Saving Faith versus Non-Saving Faith.

It is unsurprising that one repeatedly notes The Ongoing Hypocrisy of Reformed Calvinists and Evangelicals.

(b) They severely corrupt massive amounts of scripture to keep their reformed and Calvinist system breathing. I address some of those passages in: Romans 9, Election, and Calvinism.

(c) Numerous serious errors on ecclesiology (the church) are peddled in sermons and public writings, such as the unBiblical “universal church” (also corrupting the meaning of the body of Christ), What is the "Body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 12)? and that the church started at pentecost (addressed here When Did Christ's Church Begin? and here Rebutting False Teachings on the Church, Promoted in an Article by Mike Hovland).

We can see in GBF, The Destructive Damage of the “Universal Church” Doctrine.

(d) Ecumenicalism with heretics and apostates is normal practice and plentiful, since man is the centre whereby they philosophize. As mentioned previous, the “church fathers” and reformers are considered heroes and their theology adapted wholeheartedly, even though they were heretics. The Protestant Reformers Were Wolves in Sheep's Clothing and Can We Judge Someone to be Unsaved? Such as the Reformers or John Wesley? Martin Luther is absolutely loved even though he was a ravening wolf in sheep’s clothing: Martin Luther - A True Born Again Believer or a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing? And his 95 thesis were loaded with heresy: Were Martin Luther's 95 Theses's True to Scripture, or Heretical?

Augustine of Hippo is of course huge, a hero indeed of these men, even though he was severely heretical and apostate, one who amalgamated Christianity with Paganism and Gnosticism (based on three pagan deterministic philosophies: Gnosticism, Stoicism and Manicheanism),

Augustine happens to also be the real father of Calvinism, the true father of Calvinist doctrine, more of which you can read about here.

Others include:

“Dr.” James White, who is not only a plain heretic but also a pathological liar and master manipulator and evil slanderer (three evidences of an unregenerate nature), is both affectionally loved and promoted. Again, I expose him here: James White is a Heretic and Liar, and His Book, “The King James only Controversy,” is Fiction. Apparently it was the heresies, lies and corrupted eisegesis of this wolf in sheep’s clothing that led Lauren Dyck to becoming a Reformed Calvinist (of course Lauren wouldn’t see him as such, but rather one that has “consistent and good Hermeneutics and exegeting the scriptures” which is a farce), but that is tragically sad, bouncing from one heresy pile (neo-evangelicalism) to the next (reformed Calvinism, though many elements of neo-evangelicalism still remain) by deception.

John Piper, a reformed calvinist, neo-evangelical wolf in sheep’s clothing is passionately embraced, exposed here: Exposing John Piper: Reformed Calvinist, Neo-Evangelical, False Teacher, Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

R.C. Sproul. The late R.C. Sproul of Ligonier Ministries is deeply loved and promoted, but he was a blasphemer and a serious ravening wolf in sheep’s clothing Exposing R.C. Sproul of Ligonier Ministries; a Blasphemer and Ravening Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.

The Gospel Coalition (TGC). TGC, a reformed Calvinist organization that comes with truck loads of heresy and heretics including wokeness/left deranged evil, and headed by Tim Keller and he is one wolf in sheep’s clothing if there ever was: The Gospel Coalition Leader Tim Keller, Embraces Evolution, is a huge big fav with Calvinists/Reformers such as Mike Hovland and GBF. Here is another report exposing TGC: Expose of The Slanderous Gospel Coalition (TGC) & A Superb Video on the Kyle Rittenhouse Witchhunt.

John MarArthur. There are a lot of serious issues with John MarArthur besides the heretical Reformed Theology and Calvinism, some of which I address in this report: Warning on John MacArthur, but that doesn’t stop man-centred Calvinist heretics like Hovland, and majority of others, from exalting him. MarArthur’s hypocrisy is exposed here: John MacArthur Warns of the Coming Destruction but Fails to See He's Part of the Problem and some typical false arguments and logical fallacies in Calvinism land of bearing false witness: John MacArthur's False Logic to Prove All Are Closet Calvinists.

Holding hands with those committed to error, compromisers, heretics, apostates, and the lost, is disobedience and rebellion to the commands of God and His doctrine of separation (2 Cor 6:14-18; Eph 5:5-11). Sigh, yes I understand, separation is abhorred by evangelicals and Reformed Calvinists alike, but not obeying God's decree in this critical matter is more reflective of an unsaved estate than anything (2 Cor 6:14-18; Ezk. 44:23; Phil. 3:17-19; 1 Tim 6:3-5; Pr 9:6). The Bible doesn’t give permission for ecumenicalism, not even for a “great” and “noble” cause. Obedience to God’s Word, to all the precepts, judgements and words of God is what greatly delights the Lord and in deed a massive evidence of true conversion (e.g. Jn 8:31-32; 14:15-15:14; 1 Jn 2:3-5).

“Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1 Sam. 15:22).

“To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.” (Pr. 21:3).

To love God and His Word is to hate every false way:

“Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.” (Ps 119:127-128)

(e) The pastor and men in that church love to falsely use the labels of “legalism” and “Phariseeism,” which they neither understand nor use Biblically. I expose this heresy that is prevalent in their circles and the rest of evangelicalism: “Legalism” and “Phariseeism” — Evangelicals Convenient Excuses for Sin, False Doctrine and Practice.

(f) Immodesty and Transgenderism is popular as in all evangelical churches including at GBF, something I address here: Immodesty and Transgenderism.

(g) The false belief is embraced that Professing Christians that Commit Suicide Go to Heaven, but that is plain heresy and the fruit of their perverted gospel.

Another evidence of the false gospel of reformed “theology” is that they believe that suicides go to Heaven, a popular teaching amongst practically all reformed Calvinists and evangelicals. On Sept 10, 2019 Dustin Benge tweeted the following after a popular reformed Calvinist committed suicide:

"The blood of Jesus covers every past, present, and future sin of every believer, even suicide."

That day, Lauren Dyck of GBF retweeted it in favour what was said, about two months after his own brother tragically committed suicide. This point alone makes these men heretics and purveyors of a false and perverted gospel warned of in Gal. 1:6-9, which is “another gospel” (2 Cor. 11:4). The blood of Jesus does not cover unrepentant sinners that die in the act of murder, “know[ing] that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.” (1 Jn. 3:15b). One of “the works of the flesh” is “murders . . . of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal. 5:19-21). Its very obvious that such people have never been born again.

(h) Fake and false unity is the only unity truly accepted, the unwritten rule, something I address here: True Biblical Unity, What the Bible Requires Versus Fake Unity, the Most Common Today

(i) Hovland claims “A disciple is a Christian and a Christian is a disciple.” (The Cost of Discipleship). This is most definitely not true. The Bible teaches that every true born again Christian is a disciple (e.g. Jn 8:31-32; 10:1-5, 27-30; 1 Jn 2:3-5; etc) but not every disciple is a true born again Christian (e.g. Jn 2:23-25; 6:60-66; Matt 7:21-23; etc).

(j) Hovland embrace’s psychology and humanism (psychoheresy), hosting Mental Illness Conferences while appointed to ministerial office at his previous employer, GraceLife “Church,” which reveals a spoiling “through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Col. 2:8). Dr John Street who taught this conference is a professor and department chair for the graduate programs in Biblical Counselling at The Master’s University & Seminary in Santa Clarita, John MacArthurs productions, which is flooded with psychology, as are MacArthurs books (point #5). This is human wisdom, catering to the wisdom of the world, and entirely ungodly and unBiblical.

(k) The extreme and heretical false teaching of ranking doctrines into levels of essentiality.

The Calvinist/Reformer says it’s only the “gospel of Jesus Christ that true believers should be united on,” something stated by Hovland in his email, that the gospel of Jesus Christ was the only “thing that true believers should be united on” but the Bible doesn’t explicitly say that, at least not in the King James Bible, the Word of God in the English language. The Bible doesn’t actually even hint or suggest that, but quite the contrary.

They are adding to Scripture. The Bible doesn’t teach ranking doctrines, there is no such thing as “in essentials unity, in non-essentials diversity.” The gospel is not the only doctrine essential for fellowship or unity or of importance and he also doesn’t understand that there is more to the gospel of Jesus Christ than the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The Gospel is More than 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, and Repentance is an Important Component of It.

And this is the whole issue. Undermining and reducing doctrine so they can fellowship with the world and with heretics. Those that embrace this teaching are advocating for a false unity, by reducing the teachings or issues over which you will separate to a manageable number, which is really just one. Scripture on the other hand explicitly says every doctrine is essential. We don’t have even one example in Scripture of something God said being dispensable or something we can discard for “unity” sake or some “noble” cause. We are not given liberty in the Bible to disobey God (uniting with error, compromisers, heretics, apostates, cults, etc) or to believe differently than what Scripture says. Anything that God did say in His Word is primary and fundamental and is what “true believers should be united on.” Even a “minor” issue of not working is presented as reasonable grounds for separation (2 Th 3:10-15). By picking and choosing how you unite, they are saying scripture can be broken, but Jesus Christ says, “Scripture cannot be broken.” (Jn 10:35).

This unBiblical philosophy is also the product of Calvinism —Calvin’s mentor Augustine invented this heresy.

The Biblical version is: “In Biblical issues, unity. In non-Biblical issues, liberty. In all things, love.” If you won’t separate over every teaching of Scripture, then you might as well fellowship with everyone no matter what their beliefs.

When you rank doctrines, you are going to let teachings go like tomatoes falling off the back of a produce truck. The God of the Bible doesn’t approve of any disobedience of Him. In essence, God is left out of this discussion. It’s man-centred “theology,” dovetailing with the rest of the reformed Calvinist system. Ironically, ranking doctrines doesn’t love God. God is loved by keeping all His commandments, words, and sayings (Jn 14:15, 21, 23; 1 Jn 2:3-5). You may claim to love your neighbour or “brother,” but you don’t actually love him or God (1 Jn 5:1-3). We have doctrinal and practical light and then doctrinal and practical darkness with no shades of grey in between. If everything that He says is true, then all of it is important. All of it needs to be followed.

Scripture explicitly says every doctrine is essential. We don’t have even one example in Scripture of something God said being dispensable or something we can discard for “unity” sake or some “noble” cause. We are not given liberty in the Bible to disobey God (uniting with error, compromisers, heretics, apostates, cults, etc) or to believe differently than what Scripture says. Anything that God did say in His Word is primary and fundamental and is what “true believers should be united on.” Even a “minor” issue of men not working is presented as reasonable grounds for separation (2 Th 3:10-15).

We don’t have liberty to sin (Rom 6:1) which then means we don’t have liberty to fellowship with anyone (e.g. 2 Cor 6:14-18; Eph 5:5-11; 2 Jn 1:9-11). Faith keeps God’s Word and faith pleases Him.

This also ties into the gospel, corrupting the true gospel. The non-essential doctrine that plays like its centring on the gospel actually contradicts the gospel. It shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the gospel to include people in a false gospel that doesn't save. Jesus said in Jn 8:31, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.” This is a pivotal gospel statement in the entire teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the means by which Jesus says that true belief is distinguished from false belief. Who are Jesus' true disciples? Who actually believes in Him? They are those who continue in His Word. Faithfully obeying. He is their Lord, they are His servants. They deny themselves to follow Him. How is it someone follows Jesus? He does that by continuing in Jesus' Word. He obeys His commandments (Jn 14:15-24; 1 Jn 2:3-5). Jesus always did those things that pleased the Father (Jn 8:29), so anyone who was following Jesus would be doing always those things that pleased the Father.

What the false and unscriptural and ungodly unity is advocating for is displeasing to the Father and completely contradicts very many passages all over the Bible including throughout John, seen all over John, but never is it more apparent than in the upper room in Jn 14, such as vv. 15, 21, 24 where Jesus said:

“If ye love me, keep my commandments. . . . He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. . . . He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.”

The sort of teaching above isn't incidental or some kind of side teaching. It's all over the gospels and in the epistles. John repeats this type of teaching in his epistles again and again. A test of faith is whether someone will do everything that the Word of God teaches and it will not be burdensome to the one who is born of God (1 Jn 5:1-3). He will love it. Why? Because he loves Christ. Those that don’t obey, don’t love Him, and “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.” (1 Cor 16:22). “Anathema” means “cursed.” “Cursed” means you are not saved. “Maranatha” means, “when He comes.” If someone doesn’t love Jesus Christ, he’s not saved when Jesus Christ comes back.

This division of doctrine into essentials and non-essentials within these Reformed Calvinist churches (and practically all other “evangelical” churches) cheapens the grace of God, who supposedly have the monopoly on the “doctrines of Gods grace.” Actually, it isn't even the grace of God, because the grace of God teaches someone to live righteously, to obey Scripture and to separate. Righteousness isn't reducing the teachings of scripture to essentials and keeping those. That is actually a form of legalism which ties into the rest of the false Calvinist TULIP gospel. When someone in the flesh cannot keep everything God says, he ranks the commands based upon his ability to keep them. He can't keep them all, so he must reduce them to what he says is important, so he triages. And because he is still following his corrupt flesh, he does what he wants when it comes to unity and is unable to discern truth from error. Jesus isn't Lord in that system, and that is the system that these reformed Calvinists advocate for. Though they might argue against what I am saying they are doing because it sounds horrible, it doesn’t change the fact of what they’re doing though. Again, this is not the gospel. It is a false gospel that attempts to hold together coalitions and crowds by diminishing the gospel to something ordered by men and not God.

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said,

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matt 7:21).

Christ ended the Sermon with the account on what material you’ve built your house upon, sand or rock, a contrast of those saved and those lost. The ranking doctrine teaching encourages apostasy. It comforts false profession. It alleviates the distinction between true and false belief. It is building on sand while professing to be on rock. It lends itself toward turning people into twice the children of hell they once were, and all in the name of the gospel.

This heresy of course fits precisely into Calvinism and reformed theology (and evangelicalism) which are filled with false professors who don't bat an eye under this type of heresy.

Read here for further documentation on The False Practice of Ranking Doctrine into “Essentials” and “Non-Essentials”, which is Phariseeism.

(l) They definitely don’t hate every false way, openly embracing heresy and worldliness, which fits into Contemporary Christianity, which Doesn't Hate Every False Way.

(m) This church is largely absent of the Marks of a True Local Church According to the Seven Churches of Revelation.

I believe this church is a cross between Sardis and Laodicea (Rev 3:1-6, 14-19), two churches that were dead, though they had a name that claimed to be alive. I also do not believe the pastor to be qualified for his position according to Scripture considering the massive amounts of error, heresy and false practises he is leading the church by and into. People that teach and promote heresy have no business being in the ministry. They do not teach sound doctrine and by all appearances may have never even been truly born again.

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Cor 13:5).

“I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” (Rev 3:1-3).

“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” (Rev 3:16-19)

Conclusion

This is just the tip of the iceberg but the ship is sinking. No amount of rearranging the chairs on the deck of the ship will stop its plunge. GBF is well on their way on the road of apostasy, making all stops in the Three Main Stops on the Road to Apostasy, while the ensemble hastily performs "Nearer my God to Thee."

It doesn't speak well of you when you associate with such heresy and heretics (Am 3:3).

False Teachers are a Great Enemy to the Soul - the Critical Necessity of Warning and Separating

This church is little different than the apostasy most of these members came out of (they came out not because it was heretical and full of false professors but because it was purging Calvinism doctrine, kudos to them), which is the EBMC denomination, exposed here: Apostasy in the Evangelical Bergthaler Mennonite Conference (EBMC).

Is embracing ungodly worldly music, loving God? God says His love isn’t in you (1 Jn 2:15), and in fact, you’re His enemy (Jam 4:4). You haven’t overcome the world, and the reason is why? (Read 1 Jn 5:4-5). Is embracing a false gospel loving God? God says you're accursed (Gal 1:6-9). Is embracing a perverted text of Scripture that is not the sword of the Spirit while rejecting the true sword of the Spirit, loving God? God says to you shall be added the plagues that are written in this Book and your name taken out of the book of life and the kingdom of God and the blessings of the Bible (Rev 22:18-19), and be destroyed (Pr 13:13). Is corrupting His doctrine by dividing it and then becoming the judge of what is important and what is not, loving God? Jesus says you hate Him because you don’t obey Him (Jn 14:24). You also don’t know Him because you don't keep His Word, which indicates you have never been born again (1 Jn 2:3-5).

Though there be more, these issues provide plenty of proof as to their dangerous and heretical doctrine and practice, which needs to be exposed from the house tops and “manifest unto all men” (2 Tim 3:9). The “faith” they have adapted is false. It is reflected in Paul’s warning in 2 Cor 11:4, of “another gospel” and “another Jesus” and “another spirit.” They should engage the true Bible and true doctrine as the Bible establishes.

God’s Word forbids fellowship with error and those committed to error. The Calvinist game of sugar coating semantics, hiding important information from unsuspecting people, and ear tickling is forbidden in scripture (2 Tim 4:3-4). Furthermore, I have learned that as a rule and general practice, the Calvinist/Reformer is not so much interested in what the Bible says but what John Calvin or Martin Luther or the church fathers say.

Rather, our objective in accordance to scripture must be to “mark them . . . and avoid them” that teach other doctrine, as Paul begged the brethren at Rome (Rom 16:17). I must warn of the great dangers this church and system presents, which very system severely persecuted and violently murdered my Baptist/Anabaptists forefathers which spiritual lineage did not start out of the Protestant reformation but has always existed since Christ established His church.

Gods Word commands such to,

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Cor 13:5).

If Jesus Christ was truly in them, they would obey His Word because they loved Him. Ones love to Him, or hate, is demonstrated by the litmus test of obedience.

“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.” (Jn 14:23-24).

Don’t reject the reproofs of instruction!

“For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:” (Pr 6:23).

“The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.” (Pr 15:31-33).

You might not like me or what I say, but that doesn’t change the truth. Heed the truth of Scripture. Test everything. Obey the Word of God and flee from such heretical institutions and systems. Reformed theology and Calvinism are both heresy and its entirely unacceptable to have anything to do with such teachings.

I've found that I'm about done being concerned about trying to please people who won't listen. It's also an apologetic position. People's problem is mainly rebellion, not knowledge. So I can try to win the argument with knowledge, but that won't solve the problem. I've decided I'll tell the truth and some people will listen and some won't. The change will occur through supernatural intervention, not my manipulation. I can't do anything about the people who won't listen. Their changing will have nothing to do with my attempts to connect with them on their terms. They'll read this report and they'll believe it or they won't. I don't want to spend too much extra time trying to persuade them individually.