Calling Upon the Name of the Lord

“Then men began to call on the name of the Lord” (Gen. 4:26).

How can the CoC ever reconcile Genesis 4:26 with its “new terms” of salvation (baptismal regeneration)? Even in Romans 10:13, Apostle Paul quoted Joel 2:32 to reveal that God’s people have been calling upon the name of the Lord in prayer since the get-go.

But sadly, the CoC’s unbiblical principles inevitably lead to abandoning prayer, for prayer requires one to appeal to God for divine intervention, which the CoC refuses to acknowledge a need for, as long as it just has the written Word (Logos).

The CoC makes, “calling upon the name of the Lord” synonymous with being baptized, which makes Acts 22:16 contradict Acts 2:21; 10:2; 22:8, 10 and 26:15, where it’s clearly shown that prayer comes BEFORE baptism!!

As I revealed in my first book, false CoC interpretations make prayer a vain, empty duty, void of any spiritual meaning whatsoever. This is the natural consequence of its false notions of the indwelling of the Spirit being synonymous with the Word being memorized.

By convincing people that they already have all the divine intervention they need by possessing the written Word, they are not led to pray for the Spirit… Who is promised only to those who ask (Lk. 11:13).

God heard Saul BEFORE he was ever baptized. Yet CoC’s pretend one cannot even pray unless they’ve been baptized first. That is NOT biblical.

The CoC falsely claims Apostle Paul was still in his sins and unsaved until Ananias water baptized him. Moreover, it claims that one can only initially call upon the name of the Lord by being water baptized. It makes water baptism out to be everything!!

But in reality, when Ananias told Paul to call upon the name of the Lord, he was actually directing Paul to always seek from Christ, in prayer, all that was represented to him figuratively in baptism. Because any act that is not performed in faith with a single eye to Jesus, is sinful (Rom. 14:23).

No wonder Ananias clearly directed Paul away from trust in the outward sign, to trust in Jesus, the very substance of his faith, and the very substance of what water baptism represents (Heb. 11:1).

Jesus had already made a disciple out of Paul and had already told Ananias that Paul was a “chosen vessel” to bear His name, BEFORE Ananias ever fulfilled Jesus’ commission to baptize him. According to the great commission, one must first be made a disciple before being water baptized as a pledge of that discipleship. Just as circumcision was a pledge in the O.T…. NOT a means of pardon!

And ironically, although the CoC claims that the doctrine of unconditional election is unbiblical, we find in Acts 22:14 that Ananias said the God of their fathers had chosen him (Paul) to know His will.

Ananias was actually AFFIRMING God’s sovereignty in salvation and the fact that his salvation was NOT acquired by Paul’s own activity (Rom. 11:5-6)!!

God’s Word makes it abundantly clear that every element of a Christian’s salvation is a fact of eternity, even before it takes place in time (i.e., Rom. 8:28-30).  

Yet, the CoC claims the exact opposite of what Scripture reveals!

So, if anyone insists on still promoting the CoC’s heresies, then they will have a lot of explaining to do. Because, if there is no such thing as God’s sovereignty in salvation, as CoC’s claim, then according to them Paul would have had to “do” something BEFORE Jesus ever chose him. And he would’ve had to “do” something BEFORE Ananias ever made his proclamation over him!!

Which would ironically contradict the CoC’s false baptismal regeneration interpretation of Paul’s conversion! Because he wasn’t baptized until AFTER those proclamations!!!!

So, it seems that the CoC, and its shady operatives, are in a double-bind.

If God’s love was conditional, it would not be perfect redeeming love. But thankfully, His love is unconditional. All because Jesus fulfilled the conditions that we never could.

If we were left to ourselves in a fallen state, then absolutely EVERYTHING we did would impact whether we went to Heaven or Hell. We would be held accountable for everything we have ever done (Mt. 12:36, Jas. 2:10). From birth to death, if we were as perfect as Jesus Christ, then we would go to heaven. From birth to death, if we offended God in only one point, then we would go to hell.

We were all born under a covenant of works that had already been violated and broken in our representative head, Adam. But thankfully, God made a way for salvation to be by His grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone, to the glory of God alone.

But the CoC blasphemously presents Jesus as a groom who will accept a bride that He never knew and never chose, which is NOT an accurate portrayal of God’s love! The CoC falsely claims God chooses people based on their “freewill” actions. But Scripture is clear that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34, Mt. 22:16). For He chooses His own apart from such earthly distinctions.

Therefore, the CoC will have to answer to God for laying false guilt trips on God’s people who trust in Christ ALONE for their salvation. Surely, only a worker of iniquity would deceptively labor to instill such legalistic fear, by repeatedly hammering it into people that they will go to Hell if they don’t renounce faith in Christ alone and believe in the CoC’s Pharisaical formula for salvation that requires the external availability of water, a CoC mediator and a denial of God’s terms of salvation in Christ ALONE.

The Bible makes it clear that the person going through the ordinances must know and believe beyond all shadow of a doubt that their salvation has been by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone….NOT Christ plus other things, which would be idolatry.

So, once again, how can the CoC ever reconcile its “new terms” of salvation (baptismal regeneration) with the whole of Scripture? Even in Romans 10:13, Apostle Paul quoted Joel 2:32 to reveal that God’s people, like Paul in Acts 22:16, have been calling upon the name of the Lord IN PRAYER since the get-go (e.g., Psa. 66:18-19, Prov. 15:8, 29, Isa. 59:1-2, Jn. 9:31).

Acts 7:55-59 and Galatians 4:6-11 also makes it clear that calling upon the name of the Lord is a gift of the Holy Spirit indwelling one’s heart! So that they may call God their Father. For they’ve been adopted by Him, apart from their so-called “works of obedience” (2 Tim. 1:9).

Does Romans 10:10-14 even once say that a person cannot have true faith and call upon the name of the Lord without the availability of water? No, it does not. And yet, the CoC is teaching the exact of opposite of God’s Word in order to promote its “new requirements” for salvation.

Copyright ©2024 by Lee Anne Ferguson.