John Hamblin, The Sword of the Lord, and Calvinism
In 2013, the Sword of the Lord published a booklet written by Dr. John Hamblin entitled Seven Public Enemies of Fundamentalism . [1] In the booklet, Dr. Hamblin identifies what he perceives as the “enemies” of fundamentalism: Calvinism, Pragmatism, Formalism, Professionalism, Racism, Narcissism, and Intellectualism. This article is a review and critique of Dr. Hamblin’s treatment of Calvinism within the booklet. However, let us first acknowledge the elephant in the room. In Seven Public Enemies of Fundamentalism , Hamblin refers to Calvinism as “an enemy of God,” an “enemy of truth,” a “perversion of the gospel of Christ,” a “heresy...hatched in the charred halls of hell,” a “false doctrine...born in the bottomless pit,” a “blatant, bold-faced lie of the Devil,” and an “enemy of Christianity” which has “shipwrecked” many a young preacher. Elsewhere, Dr. Hamblin has noted in another Sword of the Lord publication, “true fundamentalists never recommend books written by Calvinists.” [2]