I’m not sure why, but some folks have been either sending us, or inquiring about, Tim LaHaye’s endorsement of Dave Hunt’s What Love is This? recently. Maybe they are just running into it, I don’t know. There’s nothing new about it. The list of endorsers, and their comments, is rather educational, to be honest. You should check it out. In any case, in light of the major problems (mythical Hebrew texts, disappearing Bible verses) with the second edition, one should check to see if the endorsement was included in the first edition before raising questions of any of the endorsers. I’d like to think that if at least some of them were aware of the shananigans Hunt has pulled with the second edition that they would be uncomfortable with their endorsements. Of course, I do not expect that any of them are aware of such things. Anyway, here’s LaHaye’s endorsement:

To suggest that the merciful, longsuffering, gracious and loving God of the Bible would invent a dreadful doctrine like Calvinism, which would have us believe it is an act of ‘grace’ to select only certain people for heaven and, by exclusion, others for hell, comes perilously close to blasphemy. And that is why I congratulate Dave Hunt for writing this excellent clarification of the doctrine that has its roots more in Greek humanism, from where it originated, than it does in Scripture. This book could well be the most important book written in the twenty-first century for all evangelical Christians to read. It will help you know and love the real God of the Bible who clearly says of Himself, ‘It is not My will that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.’ The God of Calvinism is a far cry from the God of the Bible who loves mankind so much that He sent His only Son to save whosoever calls on Him for mercy in the name of His resurrected Son, Jesus Christ. Every evangelical minister should read this book. If they did, we would see a mighty revival of soul-winning passion that would turn this world upside down as multitudes saw the real God of the Bible, not the false God of Augustinianism and Calvinism.

Now, few have ever made the mistake of identifying LaHaye as a theologian or historian, and this kind of rhetoric is not going to go far in making that a possibility in the future, but there really isn’t anything “new” here. It’s the same old tired, worn-out Armininian line that we’ve heard for generations. We all know this kind of thing couldn’t last five minutes in a meaningful conversation, which is why these folks are so intent upon making sure the conversation doesn’t take place from the start (more on that element of things on Tuesday’s DL where I’ll be playing exerpts from a sermon against Calvinism by a Florida Baptist pastor). I’d love to see LaHaye step up and defend his outrageous statements in public debate, of course (hey, include the DVD in the 147th installment of Left Behind!), but the chances of that are about as good as getting Dave Hunt to publicly debate and answer direct questions about Acts 13:48 or John 6.

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