A Website Called My Favorite Preacher A False Teacher. Is It True?

Because we left our church in May and haven't found another one yet, we've been watching sermons online for "church."  And my go-to preacher has been Tony Evans.  I'm sure there's other great non-Calvinist preachers out there, but since I've found one I like and trust, I've decided to stick with him for now.  I just need to be able to listen to someone I trust for awhile, instead of "testing the waters" again, looking for a new church or preacher, always wondering if they'll eventually spring Calvinism on me or subtly drip it into their sermons.  (Those who escaped from Calvinism are usually quite "on guard" for any whiff of it anywhere.)

Anyway, someone recently asked me if the Tony Evans I watch is the same Tony Evans who is listed as a "false teacher" on a website.  This certain website called him a "false teacher" and basically said that he taught "Pelagianism" (the belief that human's are essentially good, have unhindered free-will, and can attain righteousness through human effort, among other things), "limited theism" (that God is not fully in control), and "inclusivism" (that you don't have to be a Christian to be saved).

I am going to post my response to him, to help others learn to be discerning about websites and about what people say about others.  Just because someone claims someone else is a heretic doesn't mean they are.  Be discerning for yourselves!  In this case, Tony is an example to help us learn to be discerning about a Christian website's potential "lack of discernment."

Here's my response (updated heavily for clarity):

"Yes, it is the same Tony Evans.  But this website that lists him as a "false teacher" is a "reformed" website.  And I do not trust reformed websites.  It's a Calvinist site posing as a Gospel-centered site, thus the reason they call him a Pelagian and say he's for Inclusivism and Limited Theism.  (The instant I saw "reformed" in the website's title and saw the accusation of "Pelagianism," I knew it was a Calvinist site.)

Calvinists like to call those who disagree with them "Pelagians."  They use it as a derogatory insult meant to discredit and disqualify the person who disagrees with them.  I don't know much about Pelagianism other than it involves the idea that man is essentially good and that we have ultimate free-will and can essentially work our way to heaven.  And since Calvinists believe that man is "totally depraved" (that we are so utterly wicked inside and so "spiritually dead" that we can never ever do anything good or think anything good or seek God, unless God causes us to do it) and that we have no free-will (no ability to make any decisions on our own, that God causes us to think and decide everything we do), then it's no wonder they call him a Pelagian.

A person doesn't even have to know what Pelagianism is or agree with all that it entails for Calvinists to label you a "Pelagian."  All you have to do to be labelled that is to disagree with their view that God controls everything we do and has predestined everything that happens (even our sins and unbelief), and disagree with their view that "There is absolutely nothing good in us and so we can't do anything good, even think good thoughts or seek after God and truth, unless God causes us to do it (and Calvi-god will only cause the elect to do this!)."

If you disagree with their view of predestination and their definition of God's sovereignty and their misunderstanding of "depravity" then ... congratulations ... you've just earned yourself the label of "Pelagian."

(To be clear, "depravity" is a biblical concept, as in mankind is fallen now and full of sin and is separated from God, and we can't save ourselves because of our sin and so we need God to make salvation possible.  This is biblical.  But the Calvinist's view of "depravity" is not biblical - that we cannot think anything good or seek God or want God or make any decisions about God unless God causes us to do it, and that Calvi-god will only make the elect seek him and want him, but everyone else will remain the wicked sinner that they are because Calvi-god predestined them for hell.)

While I don't know everything that Pelagianism involves, I would almost consider it an honor to be called that by a Calvinist.  And it would make me instantly trust a preacher more if they called him one.  Because they use this term against those who disagree with their theology.  And goodness gracious, do I disagree with their theology!  

(I am not a Pelagian, nor would I agree with those who are Pelagians.  That is a wrong theology too.  I am just saying that if a Calvinist calls those who disagree with them Pelagians, even when they aren't Pelagians, then it's not necessarily an insult because at least it means you are not on the side of Calvinism.) 

Also, it totally makes sense that they'd accuse him of teaching Limited Theism and Inclusivism.

Tony believes that God interacts with man.  That He has given us real choices and responsibilities, like seeking Him, choosing to have faith in Jesus, choosing obedience over disobedience, and working towards spiritual growth.  Tony believes that these are real choices that God leaves up to us, that He has chosen to exercise His sovereignty NOT by meticulously controlling everything we think and do (as the Calvinist believes) but by giving us real freedom to choose, to a certain degree.  He believes that God has chosen to work with and through mankind, to a degree, to get His Will accomplished, as seen all throughout the Bible.  And that there are real consequences for our choices, consequences we bring on ourselves because God has left the choice up to us.  And so if we sin or reject God, it's because we chose to - not because He predestined us to, as the Calvinist would say.  And because of this, Calvinists accuse Tony of "limiting God's omnipotence."  Of limiting His "God-ness."

But it's they who have a screwed-up view of what omnipotence/sovereignty is and how God exercises it.  Tony bases his view of how God exercises His power by looking at biblical examples of how God has chosen to exercise His power and how He interacts with man.  

Whereas Calvinists have decided for themselves that for God to be truly omnipotent/sovereign, He has to use His power in the way they say He has to - by controlling everything all the time, causing everything that happens, even sin and unbelief and people going to hell.  To them, God cannot be omnipotent and still give people the right to make real choices.  To them, if there's anything God doesn't actively control - any speck of dust He doesn't control, any sin that happens without Him causing it, any thought we have that He didn't plant in our head - then He isn't really God.

But the Bible shows otherwise.  And Tony is basing his views on the Bible, not (as Calvinists do) on man-made ideas of how a sovereign, omnipotent God must act in order to be considered a sovereign and omnipotent God.

And Tony doesn't believe that people are saved apart from Christ, that salvation is found in any other name but Jesus.  This is a wildly unfair accusation based on their wildly inaccurate understanding of what he's saying in the examples they listed.  Unlike Calvinists who believe that only the elect can be and will be saved because Jesus died "only for the elect," Tony believes that Jesus died for everyone and so any man can be saved, even those on remote islands who might never have heard His name before.  (This is why God says in Romans 1:20 that no man has an excuse for not believing in Him.  Because it is possible for all men to seek Him and reach out for Him, based on the revelations of Himself that He gives them, even if it's just in nature.)

(If I remember correctly, my Calvi-ex-pastor believes that people on remote islands who never heard the Gospel cannot be saved.  They are simply part of the non-elected group, predestined for hell, and so it doesn't really matter where and when they lived.  They were never "chosen" by God to begin with.)

Tony, like myself, believes that Jesus's death paid for all sins of all men, even those on remote islands who never heard the Gospel.  And he believes that God gives revelation of Himself to everyone, either through the Word or simply through nature.  That God makes it possible for everyone to see that He's real and to reach out for Him.  And since all men can see proof of God in creation and since God calls to all men to offer them salvation, everyone has a chance to believe in Him.  And if we don't - if we refuse to seek God - then we are responsible for our unbelief.  God does not make us reject Him, as Calvinists believe.  Instead, God gives everyone a chance to find Him and reasons to seek Him, even if it's just because of the evidence they see of Him in nature.

So even those who never heard His name (such as those on a remote island) can still reach out for Him, and God will respond to their heart's cry to reach for Him, even if they don't know Jesus's name because they have no access to the Bible.  This is what Tony (and I) believes.

But as I said, Calvinists believe that Jesus only died for the elect, that salvation is not available for all people, that most people are predestined to hell and there's nothing they can do about it.  It's they - not Tony - who have a messed-up view of what Jesus's death accomplished.  And so it's no wonder that they would call Tony a "false teacher" for teaching that anyone and everyone can come to Christ, that salvation is available for all.    

When we say "Jesus died for all," Calvinists hear us saying "All will be saved" (which leads them to accuse us of universalism), because they are locked in their idea that if Jesus died for you then you will be saved, that Jesus died for only the elect who will definitely be saved because God predestined it.  And so, therefore, since there are unsaved people, then (according to Calvinism) Jesus couldn't have died for all.  But this isn't from the Bible; it's from their own misunderstandings of the Bible.  

Calvinists think that if God loves you and offers you salvation then you will be saved.  (Because in Calvinism, we have no ability to choose to reject Him.)  And so since there are people that aren't saved, Calvinists conclude that it must mean that God didn't really love them or offer them salvation.  They simply cannot understand the idea of God loving all people and offering salvation to all people but letting people choose to accept it or reject it.  

Calvinists are blinded by their own wrong philosophical ideas, their own wrong definitions of biblical concepts/words, their misunderstanding of Bible verses - to the point that it has an almost demonic hold on them and they can't even understand commonsense ideas like "if people reject God, it's because they wanted to, not because they were predestined to."

I have seen websites that have called Tony Evans a heretic before, but it's always by those who are Calvinists, by those who do not agree with his view (the biblical view) that Jesus is for ALL men and that we make real decisions and choices and that God works with and through men, instead of "meticulously controlling all."  So I do not listen to them at all.

To me, Evans comes the closest (of preachers I've listened to) to what I read in the Bible, to accurately presenting truth and the way God truly interacts with people.  (I am not putting Evans up a pedestal.  We are all human and no one ever gets everything right.  But I trust that he's accurately presenting the Gospel, far more than any Calvinist I've ever heard from.)

I hope that I've demonstrated how critical it is to be discerning about where you get your information from, about who's saying what about whom.  So before you are alarmed about a website calling your favorite preacher or author a "false teacher," before you get concerned about some of the "big scary words" they use to describe the "heresies" those people supposedly believe, check into the website first to see if they are Calvinists.  Look at the "About Us" page and read their Statements of Faith.  Do a search on their blog for "predestination" and "election" and "Calvinism" to see what they say about it.  Do not trust their opinion or their accusations against someone until you find out what theological position they hold.  Sadly, nearly everyone's theological position is considered heretical by someone else at some point.  Personally, for me, I will not trust any Calvinist website to accurately discern the truth of the Gospel or the theological position someone else holds.

To me, Calvinism is the pinnacle of "false teaching" in the evangelical church.

(The truly best and really only way to learn to be discerning about what's truth and what's not is to read the Bible for yourself, deeply, thoughtfully, observantly.  Read it from beginning to end.  Then go back and read it again.  Then go back and read it again.  And as you read, pay attention to what God is telling us, how He relates to people, what He expects of us, what He says the Truth is, etc.  The truth is there!  You just have to be deliberate about learning it, taking it to heart, and applying it to life.  And then you'll be able to discern real truth from cleverly-packaged, sugar-coated lies!) 

For additional information, here is something I wrote in previous posts about how to identify and avoid Calvinist websites:

(Excerpt from "How to tell if a church, pastor, or website is Calvinist")

Did you ever wonder about the websites that pop up when you type a religious question into a browser?  Who are they?  Are they reliable?  Is the advice you're getting biblical and accurate?  What is their theological view?

It's too easy to type in a question, find some "biblical" answer on a site, and think it’s the truth.  We, Christians, tend to be a trusting bunch of people, especially when someone uses a lot of Bible verses or when it's a popular website with big name theologians or authors.  And so we will probably not notice the Calvinist-bent that are found on many websites and blogs.

I wonder how many people have been led astray in this way.  Probably a lot, because many of the popular sites - the first ones to pop up when I type in a question - are Calvinist.

Be careful about who you get your theological answers from.  Do not just trust the website because they're "Christian," but research them a bit before putting stock in their answers.

So how can you determine if a website is Calvinistic?  Here are some ideas:

1.  If they have one, look at their statements of faith.  Or look in the "about us" site to see if they identify themselves as "reformed" or "Calvinist."  This won’t always be a dead-give-away because Calvinist theology can be worded in a way that escapes setting off alarm bells.

But it can provide clues, especially if you notice one or more of these kinds of words and phrases: election, predestination, decree, ordains, fore-ordains, sovereignty, sovereign control, "doctrines of grace," covenant theology, reformed theology, man is utterly depraved and totally wicked from birth, man is totally dead and unable to respond to God without the work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit regenerates sinners before they can believe, or God fore-ordained all things since before time began.

The phrase "Before earth was created, God chose to redeem for Himself a group of people" should make you concerned.  Many of us would interpret this as God choosing to take a group of people to heaven with Him, but that we have to decide to be part of that group or not, as in "God decided there would be people in heaven with Him, those who choose to believe in Him."  But it could be that they really mean that God chose who got to be in that group and who didn't, as in "God predestined whom He would take to heaven, and those not chosen can never be part of this group."

(And be aware that many Calvinists know that Calvinism is a hotly-contested and highly-inflammatory subject, so they will do their best to avoid the terms “Calvinism” and “Calvinist.”  Check out this highly Calvinist theology by J.D. Greear, who is attempting to downplay his Calvinism:  "Pastor J.D., Are You A Calvinist?"  And here is an example of what's clearly a Calvinist Statement of Faith.)

Also pay attention to any other "historic confessions" that they believe in, such as the London Baptist Confessions, Westminster Confession, New Hampshire Confession, Abstract Principles, Canons of Dort, Heidelberg Catechism ... (Check out this list and this other list of the historic confessions that are common in reformed churches.  I haven't read these confessions myself; I am just passing on what I've found online.  And apparently, the "Baptist Faith and Message" 2000 seems to have a clear Calvinist-bent, especially given that Albert Mohler is one of the main shapers of that statement.  See point #5 in that link, about the trend towards Calvinism.)

2.  Do a search on their site for posts on "predestination" or "election" or "Calvinism" or "reformed theology" to see what their view on these issues are.

3.  Google the name of the website, along with the words "Calvinist" or "reformed" and see if anyone else has identified them as a Calvinist site.

4.  Find a tab on their site that shows you what resources they recommend or authors they like.  If you see several of these names (learn them, remember them), sit up and take notice:  John Calvin, D.A. Carson, Matt Chandler, Mark Dever, Jonathan Edwards, J.D. Greear, Wayne Grudem, Tim Keller, John MacArthur, Albert Mohler, J.I. Packer, Arthur Pink, John Piper, R.C. Sproul, Charles Spurgeon, Paul Washer, James White.  (Check out this post for some examples of Calvinist theologians and authors and groups and websites:  Is J.D. Greear a Calvinist?.)

5.  Look up Calvinist websites to see which blogs or websites they recommend.  Calvinists tend to stick together.

6.  Google to find lists of reformed/Calvinist sites, such as:

The 10 Best Blogs About Reformed Theology

Top 50 Christian Blogs Dominated by the Reformed

Known Calvinist Sites:

These are the websites (not including video/YouTube websites) that, in my estimation, either definitely are or most likely are Calvinist (based on their statements of faith, the views they present, the Calvinists they promote, etc.)  And just because a website or person denies that they are Calvinist doesn't mean they are not Calvinist.  Look at what they teach and not at what they call themselves.  Many Calvinists will not admit it because it might scare us off or because it exposes what their theology really is by name, allowing us to research it and evaluate it.  They want you to think that what they are teaching is merely "Scripture" so that we let our guard down and trustingly accept what they teach.  (Many of the websites that pop up on the first page of search results in any online theological search are Calvinist.  Be careful!):

The Gospel Coalition

Acts 29

9 Marks

White Horse Inn

Lifeway

Desiring God

Founders

Ligonier

Wayne Grudem

Got Questions

Christianity.com (Found plenty of Calvinist articles and authors here)

Theopedia (as clearly seen in their post on free-will)

gty.org (John MacArthur's Grace To You, a.k.a. "Grace To Few")

Focus on the Family (It's veiled and not emphasized, but I do believe Calvinism is evident on this site, especially in the fact that they refer you to known Calvinist sites about theological matters in their articles.)

Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (I believe their "Standards of Doctrine" totally shows that they are Calvinist, especially their point on regeneration.)

Albert Mohler

Reformation 21

Tim Keller blog

aomin.org (Alpha and Omega Ministries, James White, FYI: Apologia Studios is listed as related to aomin)

Greenbaggins.wordpress blog

Monergism blog

Challies.com (Tim Challies)

Reclaiming the Mind

Ligon Duncan's blog

The Cripplegate

The Resurgence (I found this in a list, not sure what the actual name of the blog is.  The Resurgence Report?)

Pyromaniacs  (Phillip Johnson)

Josh Harris (joshharris.com)

tullian.net (Tullian Tchividian)

Reformed Theology

Ed Stetzer (I'm not sure if he is or not.  Look it up yourself.)

Adrian Warnock (he writes at patheos.com)

Bible.org

dougwils.com (Blog & Mablog, Douglas Wilson)

Crossway.org

carm.org (Matt Slick)

J.D. Greear

Truth for Life (Alistair Begg)

compellingtruth.org

michellelesley.com

Abandoned to Christ (sunnyshell.org)

strivingforeternity.org (Andrew Rappaport)

Grace Online Library

The Aquila Report

biblereasons.com

heidelblog.net

moodymedia.org (Erwin Lutzer)

theocast.org

apuritansmind.com

reasonabletheology.org

str.org (Stand to Reason)

Naomi's Table Bible Studies

enCourage

Women with the Master

Solid Food Resources

The Bible Thumping Wingnut 

The End Time

Sheologians

Relatable

Tulips & Honey

The Verity Fellowship

Women Under Grace

servantsofgrace.org

bloggingtheologically.com

Delivered by Grace

Wretched

Just Thinking

The Publicans

WWUTT/pastorgabe

wordofhisgrace.org

whatchristianswanttoknow.com (After looking up "predestination" and "election" on this site and reading some of the articles, it appears that some are not-too-Calvinist and some are quite Calvinist, but in a "softened" way.  Just my opinion.  I would call it a "soft Calvinist" site.  So be discerning.)

Reformed.org and almost anything else with "reformed" in the title

Almost anything with Calvinist in the title (unless it's a site against Calvinism)

Blogs listed with Calvinist site, The Gospel Coalition:

Between Two Worlds and Evangelical History (Justin Taylor)

Christ is Deeper Still (Ray Ortlund)

DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed (Kevin DeYoung)

Pure Church (Thabiti Anyabwile)

Wit's End (Melissa Kruger)

Kingdom People (Trevin Wax)

Heavenward (Scotty Smith)

The Gospel-Driven Church (Jared C. Wilson)

Ordinary Pastor (Erik Raymond)

For the Love of God (D.A. Carson)

Other Calvinist (or potentially Calvinist) Ministries, Groups, or Conferences:

Anything by The Gospel Coalition, 9Marks, Acts 29, Ligonier Ministries

Kuyper conferences

G3 Conferences for pastors and leaders (some big name Calvinist speakers there like Tim Challies, James White, Paul Washer.  And some Calvinist ministry partners like The Gospel Project, Founders, Grace to You, 9Marks.)

Sovereign Grace Churches (formerly Sovereign Grace Ministries.  I'm not sure if these guys provide programs or resources for churches, but I'll include them anyway because they are a big name. )

Shepherd's Conference (a ministry of Grace Community Church, pastored by John MacArthur)

Weekender Conference (hosted by 9Marks)

Founders Conferences

Cross Conferences

Q conferences

t4g.org  (Together for the Gospel conferences, sponsored by Lifeway and Crossway.  A celebration of all things Calvinist, with dogmatic Calvinist speakers like John Piper, John MacArthur, Ligon Duncan, Albert Mohler, Kevin DeYoung, Matt Chandler, Mark Dever, Thabiti Anyabwile, and more.  Oh my goodness!  It doesn't get more Calvinist than this!  It should be called "Together for Calvinism"!)

The Gospel Project (see this link for more on this, or google "The Gospel Project and Calvinism")

This information should help you start learning to identity Calvinist websites, authors, pastors, and churches.  And this is becoming so important because Calvinism is spreading everywhere!