Journey in Salvation pt 9 Time to move on

"If you believe Christ died for the elect only, there's the door!"

That is what my pastor said from the pulpit to a resounding chorus of Amen's. He had been answering a letter from a church member who was calling for the church to embrace election. We got about 5 minutes of a 'sermon' on how all means all and that's all, all means and 'that's in the Greek. and then the aforementioned statement.

What was I to do? I had been exposed to Calvinism by another staff person at the church. I thought about getting up and leaving simply because his insistence was so arrogant, but I knew it was not the thing to do. I made it over to the other staff member that introduced me to Calvinism and John Piper as soon as he left the building and asked him what we were supposed to do. I don't remember what he said, but he certainly was not ready to die on that hill.

So I began to study more and seek to work out my faith and serve until the Lord showed me what I was to do. It was obvious that God was closing the door on this area of ministry as they were hostile towards what I eventually came to understand as Lordship salvation and the aforementioned election/ Calvinism.

I remember vividly sitting in our trailer asking my wife, "What are we going to do now?" and immediately, the phone rang...