2 days ago, I started a guessing game in some facebook groups. I asked the following question: “Where does the following excerpt come from?” (see picture)
Who do you think wrote this?…
Some guesses were: “John Calvin”, “Jonathan Edwards”, “Charles Spurgeon”,…
The above excerpt was not written by the Calvinists this is a part of Manichaean Bema Psalm 239. This is a Psalm written by some unidentified followers of Mani (also known as Manes) [Source available here, I do not recommend you, dear reader, to join this false church]. The followers of Mani were called the Manichaeans. This was a gnostic group (a group of false Christians). It is shocking how the excerpt could easily fit in a Calvinist book. Michael Saia rightfully concluded: “It tells us where a lot of Calvinist doctrine originated”.
To elaborate on Saia’s statement: The fact is that Calvinism is clearly not the original, orthodox position of the Christian Church. A Chronological order could be outlined as follows.
1) Mani (gnostic) debates Archelaeus (orthodox Christian). Mani is verbally crushed in the debate. Archelaeus was a giant who stopped Manes’ infiltration into the orthodox Church.
2) A few centuries later, Augustine leaves the Manichaeans and infiltrates the church. He wins the trust of the Catholic bishops by writing in defence of free-will, against the Manichaeans.
3) Augustine starts to show his true face by defending the Manichaean doctrine against free will against Pelagius.
4) Maarten Luther and John Calvin base their theology on Augustine’s writings, bringing Manichaeism into Protestantism.
Please take the following advice by Leighton Flowers at heart:
Do your own research in the Bible and the early Church fathers! (Check, for example, whether my chronological 4-point list is correct or not)
For more sources on these 4 chronological points, read: “The Acts of The Disputation with Manes“, “Augustine: Gnostic Heretic and Corruptor of The Church“, “The Hidden Will of The Father concerning Predestination“.
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