Jan 04, 2026 Used with kind permission
I truly believe Calvinism is a doctrine of demons.
Before you get your knickers in a knot, remember this. Scripture says that even something as seemingly benign as forbidding people to marry or commanding them to abstain from certain foods qualifies as a doctrine of demons. The bar is not high. Anything that fundamentally distorts the character of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ, definitely belongs in that category.
I grew up in Australia and had never even heard of John Calvin, Reformed theology, or Calvinism. Not once. It simply wasn’t on my radar. About fifteen years ago, my family and I attended a Reformed church to help out with the worship, and that was my first real exposure. Almost immediately I was told I needed to read certain books to get properly grounded.
One of those books was Chosen by God by R.C. Sproul. That book didn’t ground me. It unsettled me. And it forced me to slow down and examine what I was being asked to accept.
Before I get too far into this, I want to be clear that I’m not writing this to win arguments or tear people apart. I’m writing this carefully, deliberately, and in love.
Now, for those who genuinely don’t know what Calvinism teaches, here it is in plain terms. Calvinism teaches that God has already determined, before anyone is born, who will be saved and who will be damned, not based on faith, repentance, or response, but solely on His hidden will. It teaches that Christ did not die for all people, but only for a preselected group. It teaches that grace cannot be resisted by those chosen and is never available to those not chosen. In practical terms, this removes any meaningful human agency (free will). People do not genuinely respond to God. They act out what has already been decreed. Repentance, faith, and even rejection are not real choices but inevitable outcomes. Human beings are reduced to participants in a script they did not write and cannot alter.
That system is then marketed to the Church as “the doctrines of grace.”
Now here is where everything shifted for me. It was not digging into these doctrines that first convinced me something was deeply wrong. It was examining the fruit of the life of the man who systematized them.
When I began to understand what kind of man John Calvin actually was, everything shifted. In plain and simple terms, he was a murderer. He was not merely a theologian. He approved, enabled, and oversaw the execution of those who opposed his theology, wielding both religious and civil power in Geneva. His authority extended beyond the pulpit into the machinery of the state. To oppose his teaching was not simply to disagree. It was to put your life at risk.
Can you imagine Jesus doing that? Can you imagine Christ ordering the arrest and execution of those who challenged His teaching? Can you imagine Peter, John, or Paul after his conversion burning detractors alive to preserve doctrinal purity?
Of course you can’t. And that alone should tell us something.
Michael Servetus was once known to Calvin. They worked together for a time and stood together in opposing Catholicism. They were not strangers. They corresponded a lot, and Calvin even sent Servetus a copy of his book, eager for his review.
Servetus was not impressed. There were serious theological disagreements. He sharply criticized Calvin’s doctrine and filled the margins of Calvin’s Institutes with rebuttals and sent it back to him. Calvin did not take this lightly. He was furious. From the pulpit, he warned that anyone who persisted in opposing his teaching would face severe consequences.
When Servetus later passed through Geneva, he showed up at church one Sunday morning. While preaching, Calvin spotted him. Servetus was arrested, tried for heresy, and burned alive in 1553. Calvin approved the prosecution and later defended the execution.
Calvin tried to lessen the blow by saying he convinced the executioners not to use green wood, which burns more slowly and prolongs death.
Awww… what a nice friend.
At this point people begin arguing numbers. They debate how many people Calvin had arrested, condemned, or put to death (murdered), as if the body count somehow determines the moral weight of the actions. Whether it was one or many is irrelevant. A man who claims to follow Christ and yet uses the power of church and state to destroy those who disagree with him has already disqualified himself as a spiritual authority.
Once that becomes clear, Calvin’s theology can no longer be approached as neutral or trustworthy. That does not mean every sentence he wrote is automatically false. Truth must always be weighed against the whole counsel of God’s Word. But it does mean Calvin himself carries no authority. His teachings must be handled with suspicion, tested rigorously, and never shielded from moral scrutiny.
And when you read Calvinism through that lens, it fits. A theology that strips people of real choice, redefines love, and portrays God as withholding grace from multitudes while still condemning them eternally did not arise from a heart shaped by Christ. It arose from a worldview comfortable with control, coercion, and force in the name of righteousness.
If you want to examine this subject further, Dave Hunt is a helpful place to start. He explains Calvinism clearly, without theatrics, and compares its claims honestly with Scripture. He is not the final authority. Scripture is. But he is a clear and accessible teacher for those willing to look closely. Check out his video on YouTube called, “What Love Is This?”.
Please hear my heart. I am not writing this to create division. I am writing this to show how easy it is to become deceived, even when you genuinely love the Lord. Sincerity does not protect you from error. Neither does intelligence, education, or tradition.
So stay alert.
Be cautious of institutional dogma that demands loyalty before truth. Be a Berean and search the Scriptures for yourself. Trust the Holy Spirit within you to guide you as you submit to the Word. Do not be impressed by titles, platforms, eloquence, or credentials. These carry no spiritual weight.
Most of all, learn to connect what a man teaches with who a man is. Jesus told us how to discern. A good tree produces good fruit. When someone claims to teach truth but walks in arrogance, contempt, pride, or a lack of love, take heed. You may hear things that sound right, but do not entrust your understanding of God to someone whose life does not resemble the character of Christ.
That is why John Calvin’s life matters. That is why his actions matter. And that is why his theology must be examined, not protected.
If this unsettles you, sit with it. Truth can handle scrutiny. And love for God must always come before loyalty to systems, men, or movements.
Endnotes by Brother John: I want to thank the author Brother Mark, for allowing me to freely use his well written thesis on this subject which is close to my heart. I have a great love for my Calvinist friends, yet disdain the way they see God’s character, and misappropriations of His Word. Though they will claim the moral high ground of orthodoxy, it is found wanting and heterodoxy when compared to the ante-Nicean writings of the early disciples: Polycarp, Justin Martyr, and multitudes of others.
The next time Servetus attended Calvin’s Sunday preaching service on a visit, Calvin had him arrested and charged with heresy. The 38 official charges included rejection of the Trinity and infant baptism. The city magistrates condemned him to death. Calvin pleaded for Servetus to be beheaded instead of the more brutal method of burning at the stake, but to no avail. Some people see Calvin’s compassion in pursuing a more humane method of death, but ultimately he supported killing Servetus and all such heretics.
Dr. Paul Penley (left) holding a 1575 print of Calvin’s Institutes at a Seminary library in Cluj, Romania. Thanks Istvan!
The following is a historical contradiction to one of Mark’s points in his article. I had to include it as I have seen Calvinists change Wikipedia articles, mess with autobiographies, etc. They even claim that Leonard Ravenhill was a Calvinist! Preposterous!
On October 27, 1553, green wood was used for the fire so Servetus would be slowly baked alive from the feet upward. For 30 minutes he screamed for mercy and prayed to Jesus as the fire worked its way up his body to burn the theology book strapped to his chest as a symbol of his heresy. Calvin summarized the execution this way:
“Servetus . . . suffered the penalty due to his heresies, but was it by my will? Certainly his arrogance destroyed him not less than his impiety. And what crime was it of mine if our Council, at my exhortation, indeed, but in conformity with the opinion of several Churches, took vengeance on his execrable blasphemies?” – Calvin
How could such torture be condoned? In November 1552 the Geneva Council declared Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion to be a “holy doctrine which no man might speak against.” Disagreeing with Calvin’s view of God was a violation warranting the death penalty according to the way John Calvin interpreted Leviticus 24:16. The Geneva city council records describe one verdict where a man who publicly protested against John Calvin’s doctrine of predestination was flogged at all the city’s main intersections and then expelled (“The Minutes Book of the Geneva City Council, 1541-59,” translated by Stefan Zweig, Erasmus: The Right to Heresy). You did not get to disagree with Calvin in this town.
Bad Bible Interpretation Can Kill People