Author and Pastor Ron Craig
In the historical event known as the Reformation, wars were fought between Roman Catholics and Protestants for many decades—vicious, bloody wars! The problems were major doctrinal differences, and the age-old practice of saving face—no one on either side being willing to admit they just could be wrong about anything. And, of course, nobody on either side being willing to change, in order to iron out any differences.
Most of all, although the reformers claimed they were getting back to the Bible message in its purity, that happened in only a few instances. Roman Catholics, for one thousand (1000) years, had run into the ditch on one side of the Bible road, but many reformers ran off the road into an even deeper ditch on the other side. Martin Luther was the first connected to the Reformation Movement, but John Calvin soon overshadowed Martin Luther in his reputation and has influenced the church more in the past five hundred (500) years than any other man. Contrary to the claims of a multitude of church members, John Calvin’s influence within the church has been negative—grossly and viciously negative all of that time. Although Roman Catholics still believed to some degree in miracles, they had over time grossly perverted their beliefs and practices regarding the miraculous, until by the 1500s the scriptural pattern that Jesus Christ had established for the church was no longer recognizable. So John Calvin, rather than studying the Bible, in order to discover those Bible patterns of miracle-ministry, and leading the church back to those early powerful beliefs and practices, he just scrapped the whole thing and denied miracles altogether. And sadly, and irrationally, his theology stuck in the Protestant version of the church until this day. Of course, Calvinism consists of many gross errors. More on that later, but now let me focus on one of his worst errors—Cessationism.
Cessationism is the heretical teaching that God purposely stopped working miracles in people’s lives early in church history. That heresy is John Calvin’s primary contribution to the church at large, and the large majority of churches and denominations have fallen for it, and still push it with a religious passion. John Calvin never even attempted to provide one Scripture passage to prove his point. He foolishly and carelessly assumed that his doctrine was true, and much of the church has foolishly followed suit. So, the church may not be altogether responsible for all the problems existing in the world today, but it is definitely responsible for having so little spiritual power to solve any of them!
(If you are not a committed member of some other Christian fellowship, you are invited to visit Living Way Fellowship at 2041 County Road 73, in Killen area. From Killen, going north on US 43, turn right on County Road 73 and go 2 and 1/2 miles. We are on the right. You can’t miss the sign out front—Living Way Fellowship. Sunday 10:00 A.M., Wednesday 7:00 P.M. Ron Craig is the pastor, teacher and Christian book author. Contact us at ronwritercraig@gmail.com, or log onto our church website at www.livingwayfellowshiponline.org.)
