Chapter 17 - Hardshell Busters (Second Cracking)

Second Cracking

151. Is it “casting pearls before swine” to preach to the gospel to all men?
152. Did Jesus or his apostles preach the gospel to any whom they knew were unregenerate?
153. Does the wrath of God abide on everyone who rejects Christ and his gospel?
154. Are all Biblical imperatives to be taken as indicatives?
155. Does the will of the regenerate man stay liberated?
156. Do all the elect persevere?
157. Must one persevere and endure to the end to be saved?
158. Does preservation include perseverance?
159. Do you agree with what the London Confession said on perseverance?
160. Where is the Bible verse that speaks of unconscious faith and repentance?
161. Where is the Bible verse that speaks of unconsciously knowing and believing in Christ?
162. Was Elder J. M. Thompson right when he said that the “bones” and “death” in Ezekiel (37) “represented living children of God”?
162. Is Conversion (Time Salvation) God’s “gift”?
163. Is Conversion God’s “work”?
164. Where is there a case of regeneration in the Bible without conversion?
165. Are all theists and monotheists saved?
166. What is the difference between the faith of devils and the faith of God’s elect?
167. Is “penitence” a part of the “new heart” God gives in regeneration?
168. Can one be loaded down with burden and care and not be regenerated?
169. Is all human burden and care a result of sin?
170. Can a wicked unregenerate man suffer famine and thirst of soul due to his sins?
171. Do gospel commands imply ability?
172. Do legal commands imply ability?
173. Do you encourage infants to come to Christ?
174. Is the “conversion” of “little children” of Matthew 18:3 “regeneration?”
175. Are these “little children” newborns or toddlers who are old enough to come to Christ?
176. Where in the context of Eph. 1 & 2 is there indication that the faith or salvation is unconnected with the gospel?
177. Does being “quickened” (Eph. 2:1) change a man’s “course”?
178. Does being “quickened” (Eph. 2:1) change a man’s behavior from ungodliness to godliness?
179. Does being “quickened” (Eph. 2:1) stop one from any longer walking “according to the prince of the power of the air”?
180. Does being “quickened” (Eph. 2:1) stop one from “fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind”?
181. Does being “quickened” (Eph. 2:1) change the “walk” of a person?
182. How is one “regenerated through faith” (Eph. 2:8,9)?
183. What percentage of the term “saved”, in the New Testament, is talking about “eternal” salvation? What part about “time” salvation?
184. Which is the predominant usage?
185. From what is a child of God being “kept” from in his “preservation”?
186. Is it possible for one who is “dead to sin” to “live any longer therein”?
187. Are the good works of Christians their own works or the works of God in them?
188. If God has “worked all our works in us” (Isa. 26:28), then how we say that our works are our own and not the work of God?
189. How many New Testament passages are talking about the new birth or regeneration? More than 12?
190. How many New Testament passages talk about “eternal” destruction and perishing?
191. How many New Testament passages talk about only a “temporal” destruction and perishing, unrelated to eternity?
192. How many proof texts do you have to prove eternal punishment?
193. If every child of God is regenerated “the exact same way,” then why are not all regenerated in infancy?
194. Is the “salvation” of Isaiah 49:6, Acts 13:47 & Acts 26:17,18 eternal salvation?
195. Are the preachers of the gospel in the above verses not ordained means of bringing that salvation?
196. Did those who were washed in regeneration (Titus 3:5) continue to live as they did in verse 3?
197. Does the salvation and regeneration of this verse indicate that they were saved from the things mentioned in verse 3?
198. To be saved from the things mentioned in verse 3, would one not need to be converted?
199. What is it that is regenerated and renewed? Is the mind and understanding excluded?
200. What is the effect of having the Spirit of God “shed on us abundantly” in regeneration?
201. Can a man have the Holy Spirit shed on him in this manner and not know it?
202. What is the “whereunto” of II Thess. 2:14 referring to?
203. Is a “belief of the truth” part of the salvation we are elected to obtain?
204. Does the “whereunto” not refer to the salvation that is in or through the belief of the truth?
205. Does this gospel calling not pertain to eternal salvation?
206. What is there in the context of this passage that indicates a temporal salvation only?
207. Do all the elect hear the “words” and “voice” of Christ?
208. When the Spirit convicts a regenerated person and tells them they are condemned, is the Spirit telling them a falsehood?
209. Where are the passages in the Bible that show that “faith” is not cognitive and lacks belief of truth?
210. If a man worships a false deity, is this evidence of regeneration?
211. If a heathen feels like he is a worthless wretch, is that evidence of salvation?
212. Are all who confess that they are ungodly sinners, regenerated?
213. Seeing that conviction of sin is a post regenerative experience, is it experienced apart from knowledge of word of God?
214. What is the difference between the convicting experience of one who knows not the word of God and one who does?
215. Is there any “cognition” at all in regeneration?
216. Where are the examples in the Bible of regeneration without cognition?
217. What is learned in regeneration and conviction, without the word, that the natural man is not able also to accept and understand?
218. What is learned in regeneration and conviction, without the word, that the devils do not know and believe?
219. If a belief in God’s existence is known by natural men, then how can it be an evidence of regeneration?
220. Seeing that conversion is such a life transforming experience, why would God not devise a method whereby all the regenerated could experience it?
221. Is it just for God to damn the heathen for not believing the gospel even when they never heard it (as Cayce argued)?
222. Are all men obligated to “seek God”?
223. If all men are obligated to “seek God,” would this not also mean seeking the truth of the gospel? If not, why not?
224. Could part of “seeking God” include the obligation to act as the magi and go to where is the gospel, to seek out Christ in the world?
225. Can God then not condemn the heathen for not seeking out the true religion in the world?
226. Is all the obligation on the missionaries to take saving truth TO the heathen or is not also an obligation upon the heathen to SEEK OUT the missionaries of truth?
227. Would it not then be just for God to condemn the heathen for not knowing the truth?
228. Would that not make Cayce’s argumentation wrong?
229. Has God ever told the dead to rise?
230. Does he say this in and through the gospel and word of God?
231. Has any prophet or messenger of God told, on behalf of God, the spiritually dead to rise from spiritual death?
232. Is any post regenerative experience irresistible?
233. Can some post regenerative experiences be through means and yet be irresistible?
234. Does the use of means exclude irresistibility?
235. Can something be based upon an act of the creature and still be based upon grace?
236. What is the condemnation for the unbeliever of Mark 16:16?
237. What is the “end” of those who obey not the gospel?
238. Is becoming the “epistle of Christ” (II Cor. 3:3) the work of regeneration?
239. Are the ministers of Christ not the instruments of the ink used in II Cor. 3:3?
240. The heart table upon which Christ writes, is it a hard heart or a soft heart?
241. What laws or words does God write upon the heart in regeneration?
242. Does God’s use of Paul in regeneration prove the sufficiency is of Paul?
243. Does a minister not minister the Spirit in regeneration?
244. Since a minister ministers the Spirit to sinners and that Spirit gives life, then does the minister not function as a means?
245. Is the “ministration of condemnation” by the letter of the law, eternal?
246. Is the “ministration of the Spirit and of righteousness” to eternal justification?
247. Since where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberation (II Cor. 3:17), and since the Spirit is present in the word preached, is there not liberation through the word?
248. How are God’s words and laws written upon the heart in regeneration different from the laws written upon the nature of all men?
249. Where in Matthew, Mark & Luke is regeneration discussed?
250. Where is regeneration discussed in the epistles?
251. Is it possible for a “good tree” to not bear “good fruit”?
252. Can a tree be “good” without any good fruit?
253. When Jesus told the unregenerate hypocrites to “first clean the inside,” was this a reference to regeneration?
254. If not, to what then does it refer?
255. Does this command to clean the inside imply ability to do so?
256. Was the “inside” of these people clean by regeneration?
257. Was the Pharisee in Luke 18:11,12 a regenerated man?
258. Was he a “justified” or a “condemned” man?
259. Did the publican receive justification by his contrition, repentance, & confession?
260. If the condemnation of the Pharisee is eternal, why is not the justification of the publican not eternal?
261. What is it that the “believer” of Rom. 1:16 & I Cor. 1:18 believe?
262. Is there any part of the Bible addressed to every man?
263. Does the Devil damn more than God saves?
264. If yes, does this mean the Devil has more effective means of damnation that God has in salvation?
265. Does the Devil degenerate more than God regenerates?
266. Must God save more than the Devil damns for God to be successful?
267. If the Devil damns more than God saves, does that mean Satan is more powerful?
268. If more people believe error than truth, is error more powerful than truth?
269. What was the error of those who believed in the “hollow log” doctrine?
270. Where is “embryonic faith” taught in Scripture?
271. Was Paul regenerated before his conversion on Damascus Road?
272. If Paul was both regenerated and converted at the same time, and he is a “pattern,” and “all are regenerated exactly alike,” would not all experience regeneration and conversion at the same time as did Paul?
273. Are the phrases “forgiveness (remission) of sins” chiefly talking about time or eternal forgiveness?
274. Does the word “heart” exclude the man’s mind and thoughts?
275. What filth is on the soul of one in the womb that needs cleansing?
276. Is the cleansing of Eph. 5:26, which is “by the word,” an experience peculiar to all the members of the church?
277. What is the “word” in the above passage?
278. Is the “church” in the above passage the body of all the elect?
279. If the word of God is able to cleanse post regenerative sin in the believer, why can it not do the same in an unbeliever?
280. If “good seed” is sown into “good ground,” will it always produce fruit? If not, why not?
281. Can a man be wicked in his regular thoughts and have a “good heart”?
282. What does it mean to have the “mind of Christ”?
283. Do all the elect have this “mind” by regeneration?
284. Can the mind be anti Christ and still be the “mind of Christ”?
285. If those “in the flesh” “mind earthly things,” do not the spiritual minds “mind spiritual things”?
286. Does the spiritual man reject the gospel and spiritual things?
287. Does Romans 14:46 not say that perception creates reality?
288. Is the will active in coming to Christ?
289. Can regeneration be both passive and active?
290. What does a man have after regeneration that he did not have before?
291. What is the nature of the “ability” God “gives in regeneration”?
292. If “life and immortality” is only evidenced by the gospel (II Tim. 1:10), then can those who know not the gospel be said to show evidence of life and immortality?
293. If regeneration (life & immortality) is manifest in the heathen, how is it only “brought to light” only “BY the gospel”?
294. Can “life and immortality” be manifest in people apart from the gospel?
295. Does not Paul say that “life and immortality” is only manifested in and by the gospel?
296. Is it not obvious that it is the subjects of “life” and “immortality” that are revealed by the gospel rather than simply revealing who is the elect or “regenerated”?
297. Do those who “know not the gospel” know anything about “life and immortality”?
298. Who is the oldest Hardshell forefather to preach modern Hardshell views on II Tim. 1:10?
299. The “following” of Christ’s “voice” (John 10), to what does this refer? To regeneration only or to the entire life of the sheep?
300. Does a sheep continue to hear the “voice” of Christ after regeneration?
301. If so, is that “voice” any less effectual AFTER regeneration as it is IN regeneration?
302. If that voice is continuously heard by the sheep throughout their lives, what is that voice continually saying?
303. Can anyone who does not eat the “bread of life” be saved and have eternal life?
304. How does one “eat” the bread of life?
305. How does one “eat” the flesh of Christ and drink his blood?
306. Does “coming” precede reaching Christ for life?
307. Is the person “coming” dead till he comes fully (reaches) Christ?
308. What does it mean to “die in your sins”?
309. Will those who deny that Christ is the “I AM” (or in the Messiah) “die in sins”?
310. What Biblical evidence is there that “coming to Christ” is on the sub-conscious level?
311. Of what does the “nature” of a thing consist?
312. The presence of the “divine nature,” in what does it consist?
313. What are the constituent parts of the “soul”?
314. Is only part of the soul regenerated? If so, what part?
315. Must a “natural man” act in accordance with his nature?
316. Must a “spiritual man” act in accordance with his “divine nature”?
317. If a man with a depraved nature “cannot cease from sin” (II Peter 2:14), why is it not true that a man with a divine nature “cannot cease from righteousness”?
318. Was John Gill right on his views on John 5:25?
319. Who argued in favor of the view that many heathen were regenerated, prior to the rise of the Hardshells among the Baptists?
320. Does the London Confession allow for the salvation of those who have not the gospel?
321. Who, prior to the rise of the Hardshells, advocated “embryonic faith” and “non-cognitive faith” and “unconscious regeneration”?
322. Is anyone other than “Primitive Baptists” “converted” and “saved in time”?
323. The “conversions” of Hardshells under the “Missionaries” and “Arminians,” were they “of” God or “of” men?
324. Was the “gospel” preached to the antediluvian peoples who perished in the flood?
325. Did those antediluvian peoples who rejected the gospel and perished in the flood, go to hell?
326. If Noah could preach the gospel to the unregenerate in his day, why is wrong to do so today?
327. Do you “warn the wicked”?
328. If so, what is it of which you warn him?
329. If you warn the wicked, do you also point a way of escape for the danger?
330. Do you attempt to “persuade” all men “to become Christians”?
331. If it can be said that the Sodomites “would have repented” had they had the means of seeing Christ perform miracles, why is it wrong to say, “the Heathen would have been saved had they had the gospel preached to them”?
332. Is it Bible “faith” that does not have the true God as its object?
333. Can one have “faith” in the Father and reject faith in the Son?
334. Where is the Bible evidence for the “faith of God’s elect” to not have Christ as the object of the faith?
335. Where is the Biblical evidence to show that “coming to Christ” means something other than “believing on him”?
336. What does Christ say to the heart of a man in regeneration? What words? Are the words always the same to every person?
337. Was there ever a person to whom Christ “spoke” but who was unaware of Christ speaking to him?
338. When a “convicted sinner” ask you “what must I do to be saved,” what do you answer?
339. Why are repentance & remission of sins joined together by Christ? (Luke 24:47)
340. Why are repentance and conversion joined together? (Acts 3:19)
341. How are the sheep “gathered” and “brought”? (John 10) When does that happen in the lives of the elect?
342. Has anyone, in the New Testament, “brought” people to Christ?
343. Were any of these people regenerated by their being brought to Christ by others?
344. Is it impossible that this “gathering” and “bringing” be done by human means?
345. What is it that the “evil heart” does not believe? (Heb. 3:12)
346. What is it that a “good heart” believes? (Heb. 3:12)
347. Is there any other kind of “faith” in the Bible except that which is “TOWARD our Lord Jesus Christ”? (Acts 20:21)
348. In being “called” in regeneration, what is it that one is called from and to?
349. Is there any evidence in the New Testament of someone being “called” and not knowing it?
350. What does it mean when Peter spoke of God “taking out from among the Gentiles a people for his name”? (Acts 15:14)
351. Was this “taking out” by the means of the ministers of the gospel (per the context)?
352. Do you preach and say the same things to unregenerate men as did Christ and the ministers in the New Testament?
353. Is the gospel addressed to the elect only or to all men?
354. Is it right for every child of God to say, “Here am I Lord, send me?”
355. Does not John 17:18 show that all the elect are “sent out” by Christ?