Journal: Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society
Volume: JOTGES 16:1 (Spring 2003)
Article: A Critique Of The Potter’s Freedom By James White
Author: Laurence M. Vance

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JOTGES 16:1 (Spring 03) p. 29

A Critique Of The Potter’s Freedom By James White

Laurence M. Vance

Vance Publications
Pensacola, Florida

I. Introduction

One thing Calvinists can never be accused of is failing to present their views. Of all the books written by Calvinists during the past ten years, James White’s book The Potter’s Freedom1 is perhaps the most polemical. And because it is so illustrative of the Calvinists’ continual rehash of their errors, it merits further attention because of its prominent place in the current round of what I call the TULIP Wars.

James White is the director of Alpha and Omega Ministries,2 an apologetics ministry he co-founded in 1983. In addition to his crusades against the King James Bible,3 he has debated assorted atheists, Catholics, and cultists. He has also authored a number of good books, such as his recent work on justification.4 White’s theological position should have been apparent even before he wrote his book on Calvinism since he is a member of the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church. A Reformed Baptist Church, although it is inherently Calvinistic, is not just a polite term for a Calvinistic Baptist Church. Many Calvinistic Baptists would never describe themselves as Reformed because they would shun, and rightly so, the immediate identification with Reformed Theology—a system of theology that rejects dispensationalism and premillennialism. A Reformed Baptist is therefore not much more than a Reformed Christian who baptizes adults only and by immersion only.

JOTGES 16:1 (Spring 03) p. 30

Article III of the constitution of the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church5 states: “We do hereby adopt as a reasonable expression of our faith the 1689 London Confession of Faith as republished in 1974 under the title A Faith to Confess.” As any student of church history knows, the 1689 London Confession of Faith is nothing more than a “baptized” Westminster Confession of Faith, put out by the Presbyterians in 1646. This 1689 Baptist confession made its way to America in 1742, and with the addition of two new articles, became the Philadelphia Confession of Faith. Neither the Westminster Confession of Faith nor either of the Baptist confessions are the slightest bit dispensational or premillennial. The statement of faith on the Alpha and Omega Ministries website simply says: “We believe that Christ is coming again to judge the living and the dead. This promise is found throughout the insp...

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