A Predestinarian Manifesto!

[Brandan Kraft]

Read Brandan's book as he writes it.

[Brandan Kraft]

About this Book

I’ve decided to write a book. It’s something that I’ve thought a lot about before, and it’s even something that I’ve even started. But after looking over what I have written and thinking about it for awhile, I’ve decided to scrap most of it and start anew.

This book was intended to originally be called, “Modified Covenant Theology: A New Systematic,” but I have since decided that this doesn’t sound all that appealing, nor does it describe exactly my intentions in publishing my first book. Basically, the title simply doesn’t describe my beliefs very well. After all, there are thousands and thousands of people who would claim to agree with basic covenant theology, and maybe even use the term “modified” to describe their understanding of it. But I have my doubts that many would necessarily categorize their systematic as predestinarian to the core.

This is not necessarily another systematic theology book where we will go over the basic tenants of Calvinism. There are dozens of excellent books that very capably deal with total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints. Arthur Pink’s “The Sovereignty of God” is an excellent example of such material and it is a book that I recommend the audience first investigate before tackling the material found in this manifesto.

A manifesto! That is exactly what this book is intended to be. The principles to be found in this book are intended to help men and women discard the theological garbage that has plagued predestinarians for centuries and lead them into a new way of thinking. It is my opinion that most sovereign grace believers haven’t approached all biblical doctrine with a high predestinarian mindset, and that is something I would like to see changed.

The doctrine outlined in the pages that follow this introduction is unabashedly predestinarian and unapologetically non-conformist in nature. I claim no affiliations with any denomination, church, or institution and care only to declare what I believe is the truth.

I will deal with topics such as the origin of evil, the fall of Adam, and justification in Christ from eternity. Errors such as modern day evangelism, infralapsarianism, common grace theology, carpenterism, paradox theology, and conditionalism will be exposed. It is my hope that God’s elect will begin to wade through that fog that has concealed much of the truth for so long.

[Brandan Kraft]

Where to Begin?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard phrases by church members such as, “God wants me to move to Indiana to spread the Gospel.” Does that sound pious to you? Not to me! I would say that sounds rather stupid. Think about it! If God wanted someone to move to Indiana, well, they’d move to Indiana, wouldn’t they? If I ever find myself to be in Indiana preaching the Gospel, then I’d know that is what God wanted to occur. But until that time, I have no business declaring what God wants because He hasn’t yet revealed to me, or anyone else for that matter, all the details of His decree.

There are some things that I know that God wants. For example, I know that God wants all of His elect come to know the truth in time. I also know that He wants to usher in a new earth for His people to inhabit. These things have been revealed to us in Scripture. I also know that He wanted me to start writing this book. How do I know this? Well, I’m writing it, aren’t I? Seems rather simple, doesn’t it? Why then do people make idiotic statements such as the one above? Well, quite simply, it’s because they don’t know who God is, or what He wants. They have made up a god of their own imagination.

The common belief amongst evangelicals is that God is simply this deity that doesn’t always get what He wants! This is true for most evangelicals as well as self-professing calvinists. Most simply do not understand that God is going to get and indeed already has everything that He wants because they do not understand God’s power, His immutability, or His omniscience. Most people believe in a god who like them is changed or affected by what happens in time.

So it is my intention that before we begin to delve into high grace theology that we first review exactly who God is, where God is, and what God has done. Please make no mistake; this is the most crucial aspect and fundamental understanding of predestinarian doctrine. We simply cannot discuss important topics such as justification unless we first understand who exactly does the justifying! To do so would be a waste of time.

Who is God?

Just about all men will claim to believe in a higher power than themselves or most institutions and government powers. Turn on the television, and you will see sitcoms such as Touched by an Angel where a belief in some form of deity is a major theme of the show. Open your wallet and you will find slogans on American currency such as “In God We Trust.” But what God do most people claim to trust? And what do they trust Him to do? Most people simply cannot answer. And those that do will probably claim that they trust God to honor their belief or good works and grant them entrance into heaven. This sort of thinking is not to be found in scripture.

There is only One God, and He is the Creator of all things. This can be found in nearly every so-called Christian theology book. It is the clear doctrine of Scripture. Strange as it may seem though, most people who confess this doctrine don’t believe it. For example, men will say that God created all things, but won’t acknowledge that God created evil and sin. Well then logically we can conclude that they believe that God created only some things. When they use the phrase, “all things”, they limit it only to things they think He made.

All true predestinarians believe that God created all things. And when we use the phrase, “all things”, we mean everything! God created the heavens and the earth. He created Satan and the demons. He created angels and different kinds of men. The actions of these things can be thought of as things too. For example, a thought is a thing as well as an action. Well who am I to limit God? I can only assume that God created all thoughts also. After all, thoughts are things! Principles are rooted in thought, so I can assume that this teaching encompasses these as well. All thoughts, principles, actions, and events have been created or predetermined by God. This is who God is. He can be thought of as the one who has created everything. Disagreement on this point is not optional! If one were to make any exceptions to this very basic and simple definition, then there can be no doctrinal unity between us on any point.

[Brandan Kraft]

Where is God?

There is not a place we can go, nor a moment in time that men can escape God’s presence. God is simply everywhere and everytime, and it would be futile to try and dodge His presence. But this is not the understanding of many evangelicals. For example, it has been taught by men for centuries now that God is not at all present in Hell. It is thought that God has turned His back on the inhabitants of hell, and He will forever regret that they were not “saved” while they still had the “opportunity.” This teaching is a flat out denial of God, for it denies His omniscience and omnipresence. Believe me, God is active in all things and will take great pleasure in the eternal damnation of the wicked in hell.

Those that would be offended at my understanding of God’s reign over hell should probably put this book down and move on to something a bit more flowery and romantic. Surely a book by Charles Spurgeon or John Piper would satisfy the offended reader! But to those who are not offended, please continue to keep reading. We’re just getting started, and we have a lot still to cover. My writing style is not meant to offend, I simply believe in being plain spoken. Theology should not be hard to understand because quite simply, it isn’t.

The omniscience of God is immediately tied to His immutability. If God is everywhere, then it means He’s not moving from one moment to the next because, well, He’s already there. There’s no need for Him to move or wait for something to happen. Is this a difficult concept? Surely a young child could comprehend this. Yet many men stumble all over themselves in their feeble attempts to explain away the sovereignty of God. Later, their pathetic babblings will be further exposed.

What Has God Done?

Surely by now, everyone reading this book should know my position. What Has God done? Well, quite frankly, everything. From beginning to end, the Lord has done it all. And well, everything means everything. Everything does not mean some things. Neither does everything mean all things except some things. Everything means everything.

And that’s it! This is the entire basis of predestinarian thought and practice. Those that would inquire to understand how a predestinarian thinks can forever turn to this introduction and find the basis for all of our arguments. We simply believe in an all powerful, omnipresent, omniscient, immutable Creator who is not surprised by anything. With God, there are no such things as “accidents” or “happenstance.” Every event has been purposed and determined in His Sovereign will, and God not only gets everything He desires, but He already has it as He has no need to wait for anything.

I have no doubt that many upon reading this book who have had many years of religious training have not thought of God in such simple terms. The majority of theological grids that exist today are complicated because men have made too many exceptions in their definitions of the above concepts. It is said that theology is too complicated for the average person to understand without a seminary education, but this is a ridiculous notion because the above paragraphs declare more about God than what is taught in most “sunday schools,” and is something that even a young child should easily be able to comprehend. Men simply stumble all over the simplicity of theology and make it much more difficult than it should be! Of course, as predestinarians, we believe this to be all part of God’s wise plan and are continually amazed at the web of deception that He has caused men to spin in order to blind the masses to the truth.

[Brandan Kraft]

Think like a nerd.

I’m a nerd. I’m a BIG nerd. And I do nerdy things like writing books that very few people will ever read! When I think of all the nerdy people I’ve met, I tend to think of myself as being nerdier than all of them. That’s not a bad or even a good thing. It’s just me. And being a nerd, I tend to think – and think a lot. It’s good for a person to think, but unfortunately it’s something that doesn’t seem to be practiced by most people in this world. It’s because people haven’t been taught to think, or they just don’t like thinking (and that’s probably because they haven’t been taught to think). This book is designed to teach the reader to think like a nerd – to think like one of the biggest nerds of all – to think like me!

All of my life I’ve been thinking. I have memories of my earliest thoughts from my childhood through my teen years through early adulthood. And being wired the way that I am, (that is nerdy), I have this insatiable desire to know how stuff works and why things are the way they are. This wiring led me to learn how to program computers as a young lad and spend my university years extensively studying the computer sciences, math, and logic. It also led me to always question everything including theological topics.

Why are we here? Why did God create me? Did God create me? Well if God created everything, who created God? These are the exact questions that I had as a very young child, and they were which led me down the path to where I am today. I did not acquire all of my theological understanding overnight. It was as much a process for me just as it is for anyone. I was born completely ignorant of the truth, and in time I came to know more and more of it. To this day my theological system continues to be refined, and I know more about the truth each and every year. But the process that God used for me to learn the truth started with very basic questions, questions that we all should ask ourselves when studying the bible and when discussing certain topics.

Theology is simple and easy to understand when we start with simple questions. It becomes complicated when we start with a confession or creed as the basis for our understanding. A lot of reformed parents catechize their children and I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. The catechism however doesn’t teach someone to think; and neither will reading a systematic theology book for that matter.

So how do we think like a nerd? Well we begin with very basic questions. One of the most basic questions I have is why do things happen? Why did I decide to write this book? Why am I breathing? Why was I born? Why do birds fly south for the winter? These are very basic questions, and they all have a number of answers that lead to more questions and answers that all lead to one question that led me on a lifelong quest to find the ultimate answer.

Those that have any experience with young children should know what I’m talking about!

“Mommy, why does the sun come out in the morning?”

“Billy, because the earth is spinning in front of the sun every day.”


“But why Mommy?”

“Because.”

“Why?”

“Because God does it.”

“But why?”

Well, we get the picture! These are the very basic questions that a young child has, and it seems that most of us lose this desire at some point in our lives. Maybe we think we have it figured all out, or maybe we don’t care. Maybe and even probably it’s because we gave up trying to comprehend these things. I’m convinced there are billions of people walking around that simply don’t care and are content to live in ignorance.

The answer to these questions is found in the collection of writings which is often referred to as “the bible.” These answers to these very basic questions we had as children, and maybe still carried around in the back of our minds through adulthood have been sitting underneath our noses this entire time. And the answer is as plain as the nose on my face. It’s very simple and easy to understand. However, it’s not the answer most people want to hear.

Why does anything happen? Because God does it. But why? Because it pleases Him! Gasp! This is the root answer to every question, and it’s much better than the old favorite, “because, that’s why!” Why does the Sun rise in the morning? Ultimately it’s because God determined it to rise in the morning according to His pleasure. Why is it His pleasure? Well that’s His prerogative. It’s His pleasure because that’s what He determined to be His pleasure. This is a satisfactory answer for me, and should be for anyone else, including incessantly whiney three year olds!

Now most people who claim the name of “christian” for themselves have no problem with this answer as long as it is restricted. For example, they don’t have a problem with making the claim that God wanted them to have good fortune, “be saved”, or live a long and prosperous life. But most shriek in horror at the very notion that God has decretively caused all things, including evil things. But before we get all emotional about this, let’s apply some nerdy style thinking to the alternatives of God absolutely predestinating everything and every event.

If God only predestinated the “good” things in this world, then this logically means there are some things in this world that He did not predestinate. Well this is where most theologians begin to complicate things because according to them God has some things happening that He did not determine. So let’s ask some questions of this scenario that most theologians, pastors, and preachers have painted.

In the above scenario, we could easily conclude that the things that were predestinated in some sense or another interact with the things that were not predestinated. For example, if God predestinated that Johnny was to live to be ninety-five years old, then He would also have to determine to protect Johnny from the bad things that could take his life before that time. God had to consider that the world trade center in New York City was going to be attacked by terrorists (where Johnny worked) and make sure that He also predestinated that Johnny would miss work that day. Maybe Johnny was determined to miss work that day because he was out sick to be sick with the flu. But wait, that’s another thing that God could not predestine, isn’t it? As we can see, it becomes quite complicated trying to sort out all the events that are predestinated and those that aren’t. Also, could we not conclude that if God considered non-predestined events before they happened, then He indeed predestined them?

Also, if God did not determine for evil things to happen, but considered them when predestinating the “good things”, then we can conclude that God saw all this evil and sin that He did not predestine yet predestined nothing to stop it! Oh, I feel sorry for this god. This god wants all these good things to happen, but is powerless to stop evil. This god is obviously not getting what he wants.

If there are some things that aren’t predestinated such as evil and sin, then that means none of us have any hope. For if God did not determine for evil and sin to enter into the world, but it did anyway, well then what hope do any of us have for it not happening in the new earth when all of this bad stuff is supposed be eradicated? If God did not predestine all things, then this means quite literally that He was surprised by some things. This not only does not sound like the God portrayed by Scripture, but it doesn’t make any sense. If God did not predestine all things, then this means that some things happen by random “chance.” But where did this randomness come from? Is there a phantom random generator out there producing all this chaos that God has no control over? No wonder three year olds eventually give up asking “why!” The grown ups don’t know the answers, and the answers the young child is given doesn’t make any sense. Basically nothing makes sense to hardly anyone, and everyone goes on living and dying yet giving no regard to the Creator who has made and caused all things.