Compared with our actually thoughts about Him, our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God (A.W. Tozer).
The basic tenants of Pelagianism in something of a logical form.
(a) Moral character can be predicated only of volitions.
(b) Ability is always the measure of responsibility
(c) Therefore, every man has always the plenary power to do all that it is his duty to do.
(d) Therefore, the human will alone, to the exclusion of the interference of an internal influence from God, must decide human character and destiny.
(e) Therefore, the only divine influence needed by man or consistent with his character as a self-determined agent is an external, providential, and educational one.
The reason for the Tozer quote is an effort to set forth for us once again that our real beliefs may be hidden in the heart under our creedal statements. Our real idea of God and our own real doctrine can be hidden from our own sight by our own religious notions and love of the thoughts of our own orthodoxy. In our modern day which likes to hide the reality of sin and sinful hearts from the probing eyes of God and ourselves, it will take a lot of painful self-probing in order for the Pelagianism that has dug in deeply and hidden under the rubbish of theology and even Reformed theology to be seen for what it is. The proud heart of Pelagianism can be easily hidden underneath the external humility of a religious heart. The proud heart of Pelagianism can be easily hidden underneath a lot of religious activity including evangelism. The proud heart of Pelagianism can be hidden beneath the most orthodox of creeds. The proud heart of Pelagianism can be hidden in pews and behind pulpits. The proud heart of Pelagianism is at war with the true God and rejects His rule in the heart. So it takes refuge in many places. When the proud heart of Pelagianism begins to be exposed by truth, it will fire out words from historical writers who are thought to be orthodox, though they many be used differently in order for the Pelagian heart to hide behind them.
One of the ways that the heart of Pelagianism can be hidden is by using the words “responsibility” and “free agent.” While these may be used in ways that are orthodox, they are also used in an effort to banish God from the human heart. Many get fired up when some attempt to banish God from His creation by asserting a materialistic form of evolution. Others get fired up when some attempt to banish God from schools by not letting people openly pray or speak of Him in speeches. However, it is even viler to attempt to banish God from being sovereign over human hearts as well. Whether a person is Reformed in name or not the heart of the Pelagian wants to ban God from His sovereignty over the human heart. It is worse that the teaching of materialistic evolution and it is worse that not having prayer in schools. The heart is the dwelling place and temple of the living God.
Not only is it denied that God created everything, by personal and direct action, but few believe that He has any immediate concern in regulating the works of His own hands. Everything is supposed to be ordered according to the (impersonal and abstract) “laws of nature.” Thus is the Creator banished from His own creation. Therefore we need not be surprised that man, in their degrading conceptions, exclude Him from the realm of human affairs. Throughout Christendom, with an almost negligible exception, the theory is held that man is “a free agent”, and therefore, lord of his fortunes and determiner of his destiny. That Satan is to be blamed for much of the evil which is in the world, is freely affirmed by those who, though having so much to say about “the responsibility of man”, often deny their own responsibility, by attributing to the Devil what, in fact, proceeds from their own evil hearts (Mark 7:21-23). A.W. Pink
In reality, then, Pelagianism is the attempt of the human heart to rule over its own heart and life rather than bow in submission to the reign and kingdom of Christ over the life and in the heart. Pelagianism depends on the pride of heart to assert free-will and man’s responsibility in ways that deny the sovereign rule of God. It is not only the use of the words “free agent” and “responsibility,” but it is the meanings assigned to them. They banish God from the heart. In every thought, word, and deed God is either working grace in the soul or is turning that soul over to sin. Pelagianism is so deeply rooted in the proud heart that it hides itself with theology and biblical language. When Pelagianism has taken the hearts of a people, even if they have the externals of Reformed theology, the devil has deceived them. They will then use words to hide their own Pelagianism from themselves and deceive themselves into thinking that they are orthodox. Satan is so deceitful in planting his own seed (Pelagianism) and then hiding it with the externals of orthodoxy. It is painful to root out this heresy and idol from our own hearts, but we must do it. We must do it? No, we must fall on our faces in helplessness before God and ask Him to show us our hearts and then for Him to root this awful idol from our hearts and lives so that Christ would be our real life.
God Loves... Himself 
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