Dear Mom,

Every so often, the world is shaken when a well-known leader suddenly falls — sometimes through scandal, sometimes through tragedy, sometimes through death itself. Crowds who once cheered are left disillusioned, wondering what to do without the voice they trusted. It’s a sobering reminder of how fragile it is to build faith on any man.

You’ve told me before, “I don’t follow a man like you Calvinists do, I just follow Jesus.” I understand why you would say that. It sounds noble, like you’re clinging to the Bible alone, while I’ve chained myself to someone else’s system. But let’s slow down and look closer.

Let me introduce a name you may not know: John Nelson Darby. He lived in the 1800s and was the first man in church history to teach a secret rapture of the church before a seven-year tribulation. Before Darby, no church father, no medieval theologian, no Reformer, no Puritan ever read the Bible that way. His teaching was entirely new.

So when you say, “I don’t follow a man,” are you sure about that? Without realizing it, you’re following Darby’s system more tightly than I am following Calvin. I read Calvin as a faithful guide to the Bible, but I don’t hang my whole theology on his name. But the rapture and dispensational system you hold didn’t exist until one man introduced it less than 200 years ago. Doesn’t that make you question things even in the slightest? After all, Christ promised His Spirit would guide His people into truth (John 16:13) and that His Word is light, not hidden (Ps. 119:105).

The truth is, Calvin didn’t invent the doctrines that bear his name. He stood in a long stream of teaching that ran through Augustine, Luther, Zwingli, Bucer, and ultimately back to the apostles. His writings gathered and clarified truths the church had already confessed and defended. The label “Calvinism” wasn’t chosen by him or his followers—it was forced on them by opponents. Calvin himself said he wanted nothing more than to be faithful to Scripture.

Mom, I don’t say this to accuse, but to open the door for conversation. If what you believe rests so heavily on one man’s novel ideas, wouldn’t it be wise to ask whether his system stands up against the plain teaching of Scripture and the testimony of God’s people across the centuries?

With love,
Your son

Passages to read together:

• Acts 17:11 (Bereans tested teachings)
• Ephesians 4:11–16 (teachers given, but Christ is the head)
• 1 Corinthians 1:11–13 (Paul warns against following men)
• Jude 3 (faith once for all delivered)