Proof of a Satanic Conspiracy to Substitute a False Gospel in Place of the True Gospel

Edward Hendrie

            A false gospel has been substituted in place of the true gospel of grace. The false gospel, which is based upon the theory that man has a free will, is being preached in churches today. This false gospel is an anti-gospel. This anti-gospel is a dethroning of God and enthroning of man. The anti-grace of that false gospel strips God of his sovereignty. Man is made the sovereign master of his destiny, with God merely a hopeful observer. The anti-gospel rejects the sovereign grace of God in his election of those for salvation. This injection of the Roman Catholic free will theological poison into nominal “Christian” denominations is the result of a satanic conspiracy. This strategy will give rise to an ecumenical movement that will ultimately result in the nominal “Christian” denominations falling under the yoke of the Vatican.

            As we have seen, the free will anti-gospel took root soon after Jesus founded his New Testament church. That anti-gospel has been labeled by theologians as Pelagianism, after a fifth century A.D. theologian named Pelagius. Pelagius preached that man was completely free to do good or evil and that God’s grace only facilitated what man would choose in his own free will. Palagius further taught that man had a free will and could choose his own salvation. Pelagius, in order to remain consistent with his free will view, also taught that man could choose to fall away and lose his salvation by his own free choice. Pelagianism was seen by the Christian community as a false gospel and so it never really took hold.

            Less than a century later, a form of Pelagianism rose from the ashes; it was known as Semi-Pelagianism. Under semi-Pelagianism, man is not free from the bondage of sin and therefore cannot choose to be good. However, man still has the ability of his own free will to believe in Jesus. Man makes the first move toward God in faith and then cooperates with God thereafter, but man must maintain his faith through the exercise of his free will. Semi-Pelagianism allows men to freely choose to reject God’s salvation even after they have previously taken hold of it.

            Under Semi-Pelagianism, man has fallen and his will is hindered by sin, but not totally so. According to Semi-Pelagians, man is not spiritually dead, but only spiritually sick. Semi-Pelagians taught that man could utilize his faith to cooperate with God in facilitating his own salvation. Semi-Pelagians accepted that God was sovereign, but at the same time they promoted the inconsistent view that man had free will in order to choose whether to be saved. Semi-Pelagianism became the generally accepted doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church codified this semi-Pelagian anti-gospel, with accompanying curses, at the Council of Trent (circa 1547).

If anyone saith that, since Adam’s sin, the free will of man is lost and extinguished; or that it is a thing with only a name, yea, a name without reality, a figment, in fine, introduced into the Church by Satan; let him be anathema. COUNCIL OF TRENT, SESSION VI, DECREE ON JUSTIFICATION, Canon V, January 13, 1547.

If anyone saith that man’s free will, moved and excited by God, by assenting to God exciting and calling, no wise cooperates towards disposing and preparing itself for obtaining the grace of justification; that it cannot refuse its consent, if it would, but that, as something inanimate, it does nothing whatever and is merely passive; let him be anathema. COUNCIL OF TRENT, SESSION IV, DECREE ON JUSTIFICATION, Canon IV, January 13, 1547.

If anyone saith that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to the obtaining the grace of justification, and that is not in any way necessary that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema. COUNCIL OF TRENT, SESSION VI, DECREE ON JUSTIFICATION, Canon IX, January 13, 1547.

            Semi-Pelagianism was promoted by a Jesuit priest named Luis de Molina. Molina taught the semi-Pelagian view that God predestined believers to salvation but at the same time man had a free will to choose to be saved. This doctrine became popularly known as Molinism.

            Michael Bunker reveals some of the characters behind the infection of the Protestant churches with the Roman Catholic false gospel of free will:

Here is where our mystery gets increasingly interesting. Back in Amsterdam there was a movement of "counter-reformation" begun supposedly by a rich merchant named Dirck Coornhert. Coornhert was a Dutch humanist who was enamored with the teachings of the Catholic humanist Erasmus and a Spanish Jesuit monk named Luis de Molina. Coornhert disdained the reformation teachings on Grace, and sought to confront them wherever he found them. Coornhert had read with growing affections the teachings of de Molina regarding Free Will and Predestination. The Jesuits had hit on a brilliant way of dismantling the debate, they would preach that BOTH were true, and that a good God who was truly sovereign surely might have given his creations a freedom of the will in order to allow them to choose to be saved. Luis de Molina was creating a doctrine that would eventually be called Media Scientia or "Middle-Knowledge". Eventually this heresy would be called Molinism. In an article on Luis de Molina entitled, Contending for the Faith, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg said of de Molina, "Being a Romanist, he was forced to honor the theology of Thomas Aquinas with its acceptance of divine sovereignty, but at the same time, as a Jesuit, he was committed to defending the papacy against the growing influences of Calvinism. And so de Molina set forth to steer between these by proposing his original and highly influential concept of the media scientia, or “middle- knowledge.” In this he proposed that "between God's knowledge of the cause and effect relations which He had implanted in the universe, and that of divine freedom whereby He remains free at any time to do what He wills, there is an area of middle-knowledge which God provides for man in which man is granted freedom to do whatever he chooses without outside necessity or predetermination of any kind." The Hegelian dialectic was in full force. The Catholic lie on justification had been countered by the true doctrine of Salvation by Grace through faith, so an evil "compromise" was now offered to the reformed churches, and by deceit and subterfuge, the compromise would eventually become the predominant teachings in all the churches of the world.

            The Roman Catholic church knew that Protestant Christians would never adopt Molinism if it were known to have sprung from a Jesuit priest, so they decided to use a front man in order to introduce this anti-gospel into the Protestant churches. They used a man named Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609), who was an admirer of Molina, to popularized the free will doctrine of Molina among Protestants.

            Bunker explains how Molinism was recast as Arminianism:

Back in Geneva, Theodore Beza at this time had reason to suspect that his student Jacobus Arminius was not what he proposed to be. Questions were being asked about comments that Arminius was making to fellow students, and there were still questions about his support from the rich, aristocratic merchants of Holland. Apparently Arminius was able to lie well enough to get past Beza's questioning, a skill that would come in handy years later when he would be looking for a teaching job in Amsterdam. Beza then asked Arminius to answer and refute the teachings of Dirck Coornhert. Although Arminius completed the task, he later claimed to be convinced by Coornhert's arguments, and he became ardently opposed to the teachings of the reformers. In 1586, Arminius was released from Geneva, but instead of heading back to Amsterdam where he was under contract to the City to labor in order to pay back his tuition, he headed to Rome for a "vacation".

Generally, most Calvinists believe that it was during this time in Rome that Arminius was recruited by the Jesuits to their point of view. That allegation cannot be proven, and I believe that there is enough other evidence that Arminius was compromised long before his pilgrimage to Rome. By this time, he had become a private student of the writings of de Molina, and in 1588, the same year in which Arminius was ordained a minister (by the endorsement of Beza), de Molina published his treatise on the will entitled A Reconciliation of Free Choice with the Gifts of Grace, Divine Foreknowledge, Providence, Predestination and Reprobation. What the Jesuits were loathe to admit, was that Molinism was nothing more than a rebirth of the ancient Pelagianism heresy, although it actually more easily likened to "Semi-Pelagianism" which contends that man cannot be saved apart from God's grace; however, fallen man must cooperate and assent to God's grace before he will be saved. The Jesuits recognized that the Protestants would never embrace the teachings of a Catholic Spanish monk, so they capitalized on the growing and open debates taking place within Protestantism. Molinism would be recast as Arminianism, and eventually, it would take over the ecclesiastical world. A famous quote from de Molina eerily fortells of the Jesuit lie that proceeds from the mouths of "evangelical" leaders today: "all human beings are endowed with equal and sufficient divine grace without distinction as to their individual merits, and that salvation depends on the sinner's willingness to receive grace". The Catholics say of Molinism: "Molinism is an influential system within Catholic theology for reconciling human free choice with God's grace, providence, foreknowledge and predestination. Originating within the Society of Jesus in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, it encountered stiff opposition from Bezian Thomists and from the self-styled Augustinian disciples of Michael Baius and Cornelius Jansen." - Alfred J. Freddoso, Catholic Professor at Notre Dame

Upon returning to Amsterdam in 1590, Arminius married the daughter of one of Holland's wealthiest aristocrats. To see how far Jacobus had fallen from his original reformed ideals, we note that in 1591, he was hired by his wealthy benefactors to draw up a church order that would subordinate the church to a place of dependence and obedience to the state. That particular belief is now the most prevalent abuse of both Christians and the scriptures taught in "churches" today. The policy of abusing Romans 13 for the purposes of enslaving Christians to tyrannical civil magistrates had found a hero in Jacobus Arminius. The Catholic church, even today, admires Arminius. Here is what it says about him in the Catholic Encyclopedia: "A leader was sure to rise from the Calvinistic ranks who should point out the baneful corollaries of the Genevan creed, and be listened to. Such a leader was Jacobus Arminius (Jakob Hermanzoon), professor at the University of Leyden." -- Catholic Encyclopedia.

            Some Arminians object to characterizing Arminianism as semi-Pelagianism. They claim that Arminian theology, unlike semi-Pelagianism, acknowledges that man is fallen and cannot be good or believe in Jesus. However, that acknowledgment is rendered moot, by the Arminian doctrine of “prevenient” grace. Arminians claim that God gave a “prevenient” grace to all men that frees their will and enables them to choose whether to believe in Jesus.

            Under Arminianism, those who choose to believe in Jesus can also of their free will choose to reject Jesus and lose the salvation that they had previously grasped. The slight difference of “prevenient grace” under Arminianism is a distinction without a difference from semi-Pelagianism. Despite the objections from Arminians, Arminianism is essentially dressed up semi-Pelagianism.

            As a result of the successful efforts of Arminius and other Jesuit agents, Molinism has since become popularized not as Molinism but as Arminianism. Many view Arminianism as an orthodox Christian view of Scripture, when in fact it is a corruption of the gospel that has been injected into the Protestant denominations by Jacobus Arminius. Arminianism is simply repackaged Roman Catholic, semi-Pelagian doctrine.

            Augustus Toplady, the author of the famous hymn Rock of Ages, concluded that Jacobus Arminius was a secret agent of the Jesuits. Arminius’ purpose was to infect the Christian church with the heathen Catholic doctrine of free will. Toplady wrote:

The Jesuits were moulded into a regular body, towards the middle of the sixteenth century: toward the close of the same century, Arminius began to infest the Protestant churches. It needs therefore no great penetration, to discern from what source he drew his poison. His journey to Rome (though Monsicur Bayle affects to make light of the inferences which were at that very time deduced from it) was not for nothing. If, however, any are disposed to believe, that Arminius imbibed his doctrines from the Socinians in Poland, with whom, it is certain, he was on terms of intimate friendship, I have no objection to splitting the difference: he might import some of his tenets from the Racovian brethren, and yet be indebted, for others, to the disciples of Loyola.

            Toplady’s conclusion was not just based upon circumstantial inference. The Jesuits themselves have revealed that Arminius was their secret agent sent to poison the doctrine of the Protestant churches. William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was working secretly with the Jesuits to infect the Church of England (Anglican Church) with Roman Catholic doctrine, including Arminianism. In 1638 Laud ordered the exclusive use of a “papistical” liturgy upon the Church of Scotland. It became known as “Laud’s Liturgy.” Laud was eventually found out, and in 1645 he was beheaded for treason against England. Toplady explains one of the papers found among Laud’s effects after his death:

When archbishop Laud's papers were examined, a letter was found among them, thus endorsed with that prelate's own hand: "March, 1628. A Jesuit's Letter, sent to the Rector at Bruxels, about the ensuing Parliament." The design of this letter was to give the Superior of the Jesuits, then resident at Brussels, an account of the posture of civil and ecclesiastical affairs in England; an extract from it I shall here subjoin: "Father Rector, let not the damp of astonishment seize upon your ardent and zealous soul, in apprehending the sodaine and unexpected calling of a Parliament. We have now many strings to our bow. We have planted that soveraigne drugge Arminianisme, which we hope will purge the Protestants from their heresie; and it flourisheth and beares fruit in due season. For the better prevention of the Puritanes, the Arminians have already locked up the Duke's (of Buckingham) eares; and we have those of our owne religion, which stand continually at the Duke's chamber, to see who goes in and out: we cannot be too circumspect and carefull in this regard. I am, at this time, transported with joy, to see how happily all instruments and means, as well great as lesser, co-operate unto our purposes. But, to return unto the maine fabricke:--OUR FOUNDATION IS ARMINIANISME. The Arminians and projectors, as it appeares in the premises, affect mutation. This we second and enforce by probable arguments."

            That letter found among Lauds belongings is proof, from a high Jesuit agent reporting to his superior at Brussels, that the very foundation of the effort to bring Protestant England back into the Catholic fold was to infect the Church of England with Catholic doctrine, and that the contagion of that infection was Arminianism. The writer proudly proclaimed virtual victory over Protestant England through the spiritual germ of Arminianism. “We have planted that soveraigne drugge Arminianisme, which we hope will purge the Protestants from their heresie; and it flourisheth and beares fruit in due season.”

            Arminianism springs from Rome and it draws all who adhere to it back to Rome. Toplady explains the significance of the documents found among Laud’s belongings and the effect that the Catholic Arminian attack had on the Church of England:

The "Sovereign drug, Arminianism," which said the Jesuit, "we (i.e. we Papists) have planted" in England, did indeed bid fair "to purge our Protestant Church effectually. How merrily Popery and Arminianism, at that time, danced hand in hand, may be learned from Tindal: "The churches were adorned with paintings, images, altar-pieces, & etc. and, instead of communion tables, alters were set up, and bowings to them and the sacramental elements enjoined. The predestinarian doctrines were forbid, not only to be preached, but to be printed; and the Arminian sense of the Articles was encouraged and propagated." The Jesuit, therefore, did not exult without cause. The "sovereign drug," so lately "planted," did indeed take deep root downward, and bring forth fruit upward, under the cherishing auspices of Charles and Laud. Heylyn, too, acknowledges, that the state of things was truly described by another Jesuit of that age, who wrote: "Protestantism waxeth weary of itself. The doctrine (by the Arminians, who then sat at the helm) is altered in many things, for which their progenitors forsook the Church of Rome: as limbus patrum; prayer for the dead, and possibility of keeping God's commandments; and the accounting of Calvinism to be heresy at least, if not treason."

            August Toplady reveals how Arminius himself acknowledged that his free will Semi-Pelagianism was completely in line with the Roman Catholic doctrine, and the Catholic Church considered predestination by the sovereign will of God as the arch-heresy against those Catholic doctrines. It is interesting that Arminius explains how the liberal branch of the Lutheran Church and the Anabaptists in his day were infected with the Semi-Pelagian heresy that undermined the grace of God; they were of one mind with Rome in their opposition against the gospel of God’s grace. The Arminian free will tradition is still endemic in most Lutheran and Baptist churches today.

Certain it is, that Arminius himself was sensible, how greatly the doctrine of predestination widens the distance between Protestantism and Popery. "There is no point of doctrines (says he) which the Papists, the Anabaptists, and the (new) Lutherans more fiercely oppose, nor by means of which they heap more discredit on the reformed churches, and bring the reformed system itself into more odium; for they (i.e. the Papists, & etc.) assert, that no fouler blasphemy against God can be thought or expressed, than is contained in the doctrine of predestination." For which reason, he advises the reformed world to discard predestination from their creed, in order that they may live on more brotherly terms with the Papists, the Anabaptists, and such like.

For more information on this topic, go to www.antigospel.com or contact Edward Hendrie at edwardhendrie [at] gmail [dot] com.