Adrian Rogers - Pseudo Trinitarian

While it may appear that I am making personal attacks at Adrian Rogers, I am not, I am attacking his theology. He was a prince among preachers and lived a life worthy of that title.

He professed a belief in trinitarianism but followed a continuing legacy of Arminianism that was rooted in the Pelagianism (semi-Pelagianism) of Charles Finney.

Pelagianism breeds Unitarianism simply because it doesn't need the persons of the trinity. The Jehovah Witnesses are Unitarian with a belief in Arianism. They focus on Jehovah as the uncreated entity of deity. Christ is a created spirit being subordinate to the Father.

United Pentecostalism is Unitarian focusing on Christ as the fullness of deity. The Father and Spirit are modes of God's manifestations. They are commonly referred to as "Jesus Only". The theological term for their belief system is called Modalistic Monarchianism.

Finney's Pelagianism continued in D.L. Moody and Billy Sunday's Semi-Pelagianism.
Billy Graham, Jimmy Swaggart, Keith Green and many para Church groups such as Youth With A Mission are products of Finney's legacy.

Semi-Pelagianism professes Trinitarianism but takes on a "functional Unitarianism". While they are not Unitarian they have characteristics of Modalistic Monarchianism. That is they exalt the second person of the Godhead at the expense of the other two. They are traditional Trinitarians
but not functional Trinitarians.

A scholarly Calvinist professes a strong belief in a trinitarian salvific formula. He believes that All three persons are equally involved in the plan of salvation from beginning to end. However experiential Calvinism is one who is possessed by a triune God and has familiarity with each person in personal faith, not Son only, not Father only nor Holy Spirit only but all three in one.

When Adrian Rogers stood before 5000 people he mastered the art of altar invitations and utilized practical time-tested methods of bringing folks forward. The hints of Modalistic Monarchianism were there in his well used phrase "come to Jesus". At his memorial service at Bellevue the uppermost phrase for his tribute was "come to Jesus".

At the conclusion of every sermon he would step from the pulpit and stage and stand at the front of the pulpit. "Come to Jesus" as though there was not a need of the Father to choose or elect and a Holy Spirit to move according to the will of the Father. It was just "come to Jesus". It seemed, if not so, that the draw of his charisma was sufficient to bring sinners forward. He was Father and Spirit saying "come to Jesus".

added May 27: Calvinistic teaching of limited/particular atonement has its roots in the desire to recognise salvation as a work of the whole Trinity acting in unity. Perhaps a reason that many anti-Calvinist, those who deny limited atonement and irresistible grace, gravitate toward a dysfunctional trinitarianism. Or else they gravitate in the broader historical sense from trinitarian orthodoxy to a dysfunctional salvific orthodoxy and if they remain so will eventually end at Unitarianism. They cannot hold a steady course between the two for long. American evangelicalism swings like a pendulum between Christian orthodoxy and Unitarianism.