Calvan and Augustine were staunch Catholics and persecutors of Christians in their day. Augustine never left the Catholic church and Calvin based all his writings on Augustine. We need to be careful and prayerful over following the writings of men.
When someone calls themselves by the names of these men they are endorsing what those men believed. Unfortunately most people who are following these men have not studied their theology enough to know that they were the persecutors of the church in their day. Or, they have been spoon fed certain things they like about the men, ignoring their Catholic bent.
It is a sin to say "I follow Calvin or I follow Augustine." We should be saying I follow Christ. Many Calvinists don't realize that when we are "returning" to the teachings of these men we are returning to Catholicism. Those who have never been in the Catholic church think that Augustine and Calvin were "Christian patriarchs." They were not, they were Catholic through and through. Many of their teachings were counter to the gospel in terms of a work oriented, keeping of the sacraments religion.
It is also disturbing to me that the use of the word "sacraments" has been growing within Christendom in the past 40 years. This is an effort on the part of some to meld together all denominations with Catholicism. If Satan can blur the lines between Christianity and the Catholic church we are well on our way to the one world religion.
The papacy has worked hard in the last 60 years to meld all religions of the world. Calvinism is one of the most insidious ways that Satan has used to confuse and deceive believers.
Another tactic used by these two staunch Catholics was to claim that the promises that the Lord made to Israel have been done away with and the church is now recipient of them. This is the silliest of all doctrines. God spent the entire old testament promising things to the Jews that were for no one else but them. Many of these promises have been fulfilled and some are yet to be fulfilled. It makes no sense to me that God would put up with all of us as believers sending His Son to die for us inspite of us and then claim that the Jews were so bad that God would no longer keep His promises to them. God does not break promises because of our unfaithfulness. God is always faithful and He always keeps His promises. Hallelujah!!!
All of Israel will return to Christ during the tribulation, they will be the last vestage of Christianity on the earth and will be the ones from which the witnesses come. God has "loved them with an everlasting love." He said so, I believe Him.
