The Answer: Without comprehending the Divine Pattern and Path of the soul within the teachings of Messiah/Christ pertaining to the Prodigal Son/Daughter, the level of spiritual maturity of Christians of the simple faith who fail to understand how the wheel of rebirth and reincarnation affects them, can be likened to a fetus in relation to a mature adult. They remain carnal and of a temporal mind, and cannot embrace the fullness of the teachings of TheWay and move on to Spiritual Maturity and dwell in the Kingdom of Origination.
Yeshua/Jesus taught the reality of the pre-existent soul that fulfills the mandate of perfection at Matt 5:48 over the course of many lifetimes. Grace, being saved by the blood of the Lamb, and the resurrection which is a central theme in Christianity today, is not for either the non-believer, cultural quasi-Christians, or those who claim to believe with their lips but are unfaithful in their manner of living -- the resurrection is only for those who pick up their cross and follow the Master of TheWay into the Inner Kingdom (Luke 17:20-21). Thus, those who walk the "narrow path" and enter into Life, are the ones who are saved. Those who walk what Yeshua/Jesus referred to as the "Broad-way" of destruction, return again to reap what they have sown. The domains of what Yeshua/Jesus called the "outer darkness... hell... prison... and the place of judgment", all represent the reality of each one of us inheriting our own works! While this aspect of Yeshua/Jesus' teachings was more clear prior to the fourth-century Church of Constantine's editing of the scriptures, it remains true that once the doctrine of preordination is properly understood, the teaching of reincarnation is the most prevalent in the Bible. Without understanding the process of how the soul evolves to a perfected state as the prodigal son returns to the Kingdom of Origination, it is impossible for the believers of the simple faith to advance past the stage of entry-level people-in-training to be Christians. A Genuine Christian is a Nazirene Disciple of TheWay who is of an Anointed (Messiah/Christ) Mind -- and therefore being Illumed by the Holy Spirit, possesses the Divine Knowledge that is referred to throughout the scriptures as the Mysteries of God.
Do Christians derive their doctrines of belief from the Bible? Many would like to think so -- but under close examination we begin to see that the beliefs of the average Christian is in fact diametrically opposed to what the Bible actually teaches. The problem is that the Bible, as well as the essence of the teachings of TheWay, exist as a paradoxical enigma to modern Christianity -- a paradoxical enigma that causes an uncountable number of conflicting doctrines and sects to continue to arise -- and this paradoxical enigma will continue to envelop the modern Church under a cloud of spiritual ignorance, until which time Christians are prepared to seek the essence and roots of the teachings of Jesus -- a system of revelation that is spiritual, and has little in common with the multitude of doctrines proclaimed by the Church today.
How
can this be? That the teachings of TheWay is paradoxical, is
easily demonstrated in the words of the Rev.
Charles Spurgeon where he confided to his readers in his autobiography: “The
system of truth revealed in the Scriptures is not simply one straight line, but
two; and no man will ever get a right view of the gospel until he knows how to
look at the two lines at once. For
instance, I read in one Book of the Bible, The Spirit and the bride say, Come.
And let him who hears say, Come. And
let him who is athirst, Come. And
whoever will, let him take the water of life freely [Rev. 22:17].
Yet I am taught, in another part of the same inspired Word, that it is
not of he who wills, nor of he who runs, but of God Who shows mercy [Rom 9:16].
I see, in one place, God in providence presiding over all, and yet I see,
and I cannot help seeing, that man acts as he pleases, and that God has left his
actions, in a great measure, to his own free-will.
Now, if I were to declare that man was so free to act that there was no
control of God over his actions, I should be driven very near to atheism; and
if, on the other hand, I should declare that God so over-rules all things that
man is not free enough to be responsible, I should be driven at once into
Antinomianism or fatalism. That God
predestines, and yet that man is responsible, are two facts that few can see
clearly. They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory, but
they are not. The fault is in our
weak judgment. Two truths cannot be
contradictory to each other. If,
then, I find taught in one part of the Bible that everything is fore-ordained,
that is true; and if I find, in another Scripture, that man is responsible for
all his actions, that is true; and it is only my folly that leads me to imagine
that these two truths can ever contradict each other” (Charles H.
Spurgeon, Autobiography Vol. 1: The Early Years. pp. 173, 174).
Do we have free will?
In many places of the scriptures it appears to suggest that we do.
And yet, in many other places the Bible reveals that Divine Providence --
which is the Will of God -- totally rules over every aspect of our lives.
If, therefore, we profess to believe in the Bible, and we desire to
embrace the Light, it is a fatal flaw when we embrace the manmade doctrines of
the Church and accept one of these paradoxical realities while
rejecting the other. If we are to
fulfill the role as a genuine and mature follower of Jesus, we must move beyond
the limited vision of the modern Church that clings to one truth while rejecting
the other -- and we must
instead embrace the premises that both are equally true.
How can we be responsible for what God Preordains? A most important question that Christians today are incapable of answering! In what is perhaps the most difficult concept for the average Christian to understand, is the fact that the Bible clearly teaches that we are responsible for the Divine Will that God exerts in our life. Moreover, from our limited perspective, we have done absolutely nothing to cause God to choose for us the life that we are presently living! And yet, somehow, the Church would have us believe that we are responsible for the choices that God makes for us. In the words of Jesus: “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!” (Matt 18:7 NIV). Why must they come? Because God has willed it. Again we must admit what the Apostle tells us at Romans 11:32 as seen in the commentary Barnes' Notes which writes of the word that we translate concluded, shut up, bound, committed and consigned: “It is properly used in reference to those who are shut up in prison”. Only when we begin to accept the fact that the life we are presently living has been individually designed to meet our personal needs, and it is as if we have been imprisoned by a Higher Spiritual Power to live out the circumstances and events in our life, are we able to get a sense of the purpose of life itself.
Is
Jesus All-Inclusive? In the same way that “Even after Jesus had done all
these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in
him…”, we can progress no further in our own walk in TheWay until we
first understand why these people did not believe in Jesus, as seen in the
words: “For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says
elsewhere: ‘He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can
neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts’” (John
12:37-40 NIV). Contrary to
what we want to believe, it is important for us to realize what the Bible
actually states -- i.e., that the people who did not accept Jesus did not reject
him of their own accord, but because God did not permit them to believe in
Jesus. The problem is that, from a church perspective, when we
acknowledge this very clearly defined biblical fact, we not only undermine the
whole political structure of the church because what the Bible is actually
confirming is that man not only does not possess the freewill that gives him the
ability to choose to come to Jesus, but we further destroy the popular idea that
Jesus was the all-inclusive savior that modern Christianity portrays him to be.
How can Jesus be all-inclusive, when the Bible itself
clearly teaches that only those who were pre-selected will not only believe in
the Son of God, but will inherit the promise of salvation in the scriptures?
Using the Jews as an example: From a biblical perspective, it is of the
utmost importance that we begin to recognize the reason why there was a
pre-existent basis that caused the Hand of God to harden the hearts and minds of
the Jews, and not permit them to believe in Jesus.
Moreover, if what the Bible states is true, and it was the Hand of God
that hardened the hearts and minds of the Jews, then how can the Bible be
correct in its assertion that it was the Jewish people themselves who were
ultimately responsible for the conditions that God brought about in their lives
with respect to the rejection of Christ?
It is important, because these same conditions exist in our own lives as
a paramount truth that we must come to terms with if we are to continue our walk
in The Way. If, therefore,
God forces each of us into a certain role that causes us to either sin or
embrace the Light, we must ask the question as to what was the cause that is/was
responsible for these events?
In answering these profound biblical questions we must
steer clear of the pitfall of traditional church thinking, and insure that we do
not make the mistake of adopting one biblical truth over the other.
In this respect, we must refrain from asking which is true -- and instead
open our minds to the higher understanding that merges the two truths into
harmony. The answer cannot be
found until we realize that we must not choose one truth over the other -- and,
in the words of Spurgeon: “it is only my folly that leads me to imagine
that these two truths can ever contradict each other”.
We must begin the process of embracing the Higher Truth
by taking the words of Spurgeon to heart, and recognize that the fault in our
failure to understand is of our own doing.
What this means is that if we are to find the answer to the dilemma, we
must refrain from questioning which passages of scripture is correct.
Do we have free will? Or,
is the Apostle Paul correct when he states: "For he says to Moses, ‘I
will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have
compassion.’” -- wherein the Apostle then explains that “It does
not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy” (Rom
9:15-16 NIV)?
Truth
can never oppose Truth! I acknowledge that it is a difficult task, but in order
to begin to embrace the Mysteries and Higher Wisdom of God which the scriptures
speak of, we must come to realize that one biblical truth does not negate the
other. Paramount to
understanding the Mysteries of God is the absolute need to further realize that
our present-day doctrine that Jesus was all-inclusive in his revelation of the
Good News, is fundamentally flawed and defective.
Jesus was not all-inclusive! He
taught the multitudes in parables which each hearer interpreted in accordance
with their own understanding! Reserving his instruction of the Mysteries
of God for those who were pre-selected as being worthy of receiving their revelation!
If we, therefore, truly desire to be one of the few who are chosen to
receive the Mysteries of the Gospel, then it is paramount that we first
understand why the multitudes were rejected, and only certain pre-selected
individuals were chosen for this purpose.
In the words of the Rev. Spurgeon, we must open our minds
and learn to grasp the two lines of truth simultaneously. Though we may not initially understand it, we must
begin to recognize that all things are preordained -- and even though our lives
are preordained, we are responsible for not only the result, but also the very
events that the Hand of God has brought about in our daily lives.
Further, we must acknowledge the truth of those biblical verses that
teach that some people do not possess free will at all -- that what appears to
be choices for others are actually foreordained -- and that these people are
also ultimately responsible for what God has brought into their lives.
In order to accomplish this, we are going to have to open our minds to
concepts that far eclipses present-day human comprehension with respect to
everything that we think we know about life.
I understand full well that these spiritual concepts are
not in accordance with our perception of an all-inclusive Gospel that was, and
is, made available for all people to believe and be saved.
While it is true that God is all-inclusive, the paradox to the equation
is that He is not all-inclusive in the manner that we think.
In the same way that our system of public education is all-inclusive --
in that, everyone has an absolute right to access the system -- it is also true
that everyone does not have the right to access the system at any level of
instruction they choose. Thus,
each of us is entitled to access the system only at the appropriate level that
is determined by our own level of maturity and achievement.
We would no sooner permit a kindergarten student to attend college, than
we would provide a graduate level curriculum to an elementary school level of
education.
If we truly desire to move beyond the elementary
teachings about Christ and “go on to maturity” (Heb 6:1 NIV), we must
begin to acknowledge that this is exactly what the Bible states.
The Mysteries and Spiritual Gospel of Christ was only revealed
selectively to a chosen group of people who were predestined to be taught what
was concealed from the eyes and understanding of the majority of people who
listened to Jesus teach. When we begin to acknowledge this biblical fact, only
then can be begin to understand the criteria that was used to select these few
from among the many. Ultimately,
only when we comprehend the criteria which the Lord uses, are we able to move
ourselves in that direction, and become the chosen who is deserving to receive
the Spiritual Gospel of the Light.
Did
the Jews Kill Christ? For nineteen hundred years many Christians have condemned
the Jews for “killing Christ”.
Yet Peter states to the leaders of the Jews regarding Jesus that: “this
Man delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed
to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death” (Acts 2:23
NAS). The word “predetermined”
as used in this instance, should invoke a great many questions in the minds of
Christians. Did the Jews and
Romans crucify Christ? Commenting
on this verse, Barnes' Notes states: “The fact, moreover, that this was
predicted, shows that it was fixed or resolved on. No event can be foretold,
evidently, unless it be certain that it will take place. The event, therefore,
must in some way be fixed or resolved on beforehand”.
Speaking about the Hand of God upon the hearts and minds
of the people, Peter and John said: “Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met
together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire
against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and
will had decided beforehand should happen” (Acts 4:27-28 NIV).
What the two disciples are conveying to the reader is that every event
that took place at the crucifixion was directly brought about by the Hand of God
acting upon the hearts and minds of the people.
Regardless of whether we understand it, in or to begin the journey of
walking in The Way, it is imperative for us to acknowledge the validity of this
biblical statement. Moreover,
if this is true, we must ask ourselves the question: How can man resist the “power
and will” of what God “decided beforehand should happen”? How could the Jews resist the Will of God?
What is clearly conveyed to the reader is that the
biblical teaching regarding the crucifixion was a pre-planned drama that God
brought about by imposing His supernatural and all-pervasive Will upon a group
of people who were little more than puppets on God's stage of life.
Unless Christians are ready to adopt the doctrine that man is more
powerful than the Will of God, then they must be ready to acknowledge the fact
that those who brought about the events which culminated in the crucifixion, had
little to no choice in what transpired.
This biblical fact is seen quite clearly documented in
the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia under the heading of Foreknow,
where it writes: “Thus, in Peter's speeches in Acts the predestination
which finds expression in (Acts 4:28) is practically identified with the term
prognosis in (2:23). Everything which happened to Jesus took place in accordance
with ‘the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,’ so that nothing
happened except that which God had foreordained”.
Who killed Christ?
“God had willed the death of Jesus (John 3:16) and the death of
Judas (Acts 1:16)”, writes Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament,
and then adds: “but that fact did not absolve Judas from his responsibility
and guilt (Luke 22:22)”.
If Judas was one of the instruments by which God carried
out what God Himself predestined -- and the scriptures tell us that both God and
Satan (Lk 22:3) worked in concert by using their supernatural powers to induce
Judas to betray Jesus -- and Judas was predestined for the purpose that he
performed -- it is imperative that we ask the question as to how can Judas be
held responsible for what God brought about?
For over a thousand years of Christian history it was
unlawful to publish or reveal the Bible to the people.
When it eventually was, and the reformers in the Middle Ages were called
upon to explain its paradoxes and inconsistencies, they could not.
Why? Because they did
not possess the same mindset as did the authors of the scriptures.
In reaction to the many paradoxical truths that they were unable to
explain, the doctrine which was adopted by Luther and the reformers is seen
embodied in Luther's words: “Reason, is the greatest enemy that faith has;
it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but - more frequently than not -
struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from
God”. Why?
Because Luther himself was a priest in the Roman Church, and the very
foundation of their system of belief was carnal, and was devoid of the
understanding needed to synthesize and harmonize the paradoxes of the Bible.
While it can be said that they did the best they could under the
conditions of the time in which they lived, that Luther never progressed beyond
a very elementary understanding of the scriptures has continued to plague
believers to this very day.
The great error upon which Luther and the other reformers
founded the Protestant Church can only be seen when we relate the problem that
they saw in the scriptures with respect to man's other areas of life.
When confronted with a difficulty, the solution is not to surrender one's
power of mind -- but rather, to re-examine the manner in which one is thinking.
How can Judas be held accountable for what God brings
about on both His own, and in conjunction with Satan -- and if God and Satan are
eternal opponents, what caused the two opposite powers to act in concert in
order to move Judas to betray Christ?
We could speculate and say that Judas was an evil man who would have
perhaps done this misdeed anyway -- but so long as God's hand was upon him, and
Satan and God acted together to bring about these events, the final choice was
simply not his to make. Moreover,
if we are to even begin to comprehend the powerful supernatural influences that
effect the manner in which we think and live our lives, we must also ask the
question: How did God induce Satan to move in accordance with what was
preordained, unless God also maintains control over Satan?
Without the understanding of these questions, it is impossible for us to
ever begin to comprehend the true spiritual message of the scriptures.
The problem is brought into a more clear focus in the
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia where it is written: “It is
remarkable that Peter in one and the same sentence speaks of the death of Christ
from two quite distinct points of view. (1) From the historical standpoint, it
was a crime perpetrated by men who were morally responsible for their deed
('him… ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay'). (2) From the
standpoint of Divine teleology, it was part of an eternal plan ('by the
determinate,' etc.). No effort is made to demonstrate the logical consistency of
the two ideas”. From
the perception of the carnal mind of man, there can be no consistency of the two
ideas -- but if the believer is to obtain the salvation they desire, it is
absolutely necessary that they are able to merge these two contradictory facts
into one abiding truth.
Once it is realized that generation upon generation of
Gentile believers has, for the most part, skimmed over these many verses without
so much as a question of how these biblical concepts -- the working alliance of
God and Satan, and the preordination and predestination of the events in the
life of man -- effects their own life, it is easy to understand why the masses
of believers never progress beyond the superficial “milk” doctrines
of the Bible. Moreover,
because believers reject the counsel of the Lord, and turn instead to other men
to teach them -- and embrace concepts that their teachers themselves are
incapable of understanding -- the Bible and its may paradoxes will continue to
remain a great enigma. The
result is that the flock of believers are held captive in a pasture of spiritual
stagnation by the very shepherds they look to for guidance.
If man is to even begin to understand both the scriptures
and the life he is presently living, it is absolutely necessary to comprehend
how man can be held responsible for what God has brought about?
Quoting the Adam Clark Commentary: “…neither the Jews nor Romans
had any power here, but what was given to them from above”.
How could the Jews and Romans have killed Christ, if neither “had
any power” over their actions, because the event was brought about by the
power of God? When Peter
said: “Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit
foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who
arrested Jesus” (Acts 1:16 NAS); Peter is stating that all of the people
who were involved were mere pawns in the hand of God -- who had hardened the
hearts of the Jews and Romans in order to fulfill what the Holy Spirit had
predicted in the scriptures.
These “two lines” spoken of by Rev. Spurgeon,
is again seen in the words of Jesus when he warned: “For the Son of Man is
to go, just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man
is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born”
(Mark 14:21 NAS). How can
God, the Higher and Controlling Power, force men to perform a series of events
under His direct control, and then hold the people who God forced into the role
they played on the stage of life be held responsible for what God brought about?
Thus, we must answer the proverbial question which the Bible itself asks:
“Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” (Rom
9:19 NIV). Not one of us is
able to resist His will -- and because we fail to understand this great truth,
and condemn the manifest Will of God that we observe in others, we make
ourselves apostates to the New Covenant -- calling upon the name of the Lord in
vain.
The inability of those we look to as religious
authorities to comprehend these fundamental conditions of life, as well as an
uncountable number of other biblical paradoxes, is further expounded upon in the
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary on Romans 9:22, where it is written with
regard to the Apostle's words Fitted to destruction: “It is well remarked
by Stuart, that the difficulties which such statements involve are not to be
gotten rid of by softening the language of one text, while so many others meet
us which are of the same tenor; and even if we give up the Bible itself, so long
as we acknowledge an omnipotent and omniscient God, we cannot abate in the least
degree from any of the difficulties which such texts make.
Be it observed, however, that if God, as the apostle teaches, expressly
designed to manifest His wrath, and to make His power (in the way of wrath)
known, it could only be by punishing some, while He pardons others; and if the
choice between the two classes was not to be founded, as our apostle also
teaches, on their own doings, but on God's good pleasure, the decision behooved
ultimately to rest with God”.
Do we have free will and choice?
Because it is impossible for our present-day religious authorities to
explain the relationship of these two biblical doctrines, many Christian
preachers and theologians are of the opinion that the biblical concepts of
predestination and Divine Providence should not be taught to the multitude of
believers. Their theology is
that you don’t preach what you do not possess the means to understand.
Yet, the ever looming problem goes far beyond the fact that it is not
only confusing, but instead is based upon the fact that the church itself does
not have an answer that can satisfactorily explain what the church itself cannot
comprehend.
How can modern Christians be comfortable with the idea
that God said of Pharaoh: “For this very purpose I raised you up, to
demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the
whole earth” (Rom 9:17 NAS). The
Bible teaches that even after Pharaoh told Moses to go, God's hand again came
upon Pharaoh and continued to harden Pharaoh's heart.
Why? So God could
persist in bringing plagues upon the Egyptian people.
Further, Pharaoh had already told Moses to take the children of Israel
and go, when God once again continued to harden Pharaoh's heart.
Why? The Bible teaches
that God did not want Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, until God first
demonstrated His power by killing all their first-born sons.
In view of the fact that God raised up Pharaoh for this purpose, and then
hardened his heart so as to make it appear that it was Pharaoh who opposed the
Israelites, it is imperative that we ask: Is this the loving and merciful God
that Christians proclaim?
People of faith are not prepared to gaze into the reality
of the Old Testament. Like
Luther, the people of the simple faith are unable to think along any other line
of thought than they have been instructed by their leaders to follow. It is comforting for them to believe that they have
made wise choices in their life by accepting Jesus as their personal Lord and
Savoir. Yet the Bible teaches
that their status as Christians -- and even believers -- was not of their own
choosing. Few Christians can
find solace in the biblical teaching that they believe, only because God has
permitted them to believe -- while others do not believe, because God does not
want them to believe. They
instead envision an all-inclusive God who desires all people to believe.
Most Christians have a loved one -- a child, spouse, a
family member, or a friend -- that has not come to Christ -- and by their manner
of thinking is not saved. They
would do anything to save this person that is dear to them. Yet, according to Christian doctrine, in the hereafter,
these people will not only be barred from the Kingdom that is to come, but might
possibly be confined to the regions of hell.
Why? According to the
Bible, because God has not chosen to bestow His blessings on these people. Christians,
who want everyone to be saved, cannot perceive the sense of the idea the Apostle
put forth when he wrote: “So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He
hardens whom He desires” (Rom 9:18 NAS).
From a Christian doctrinal perspective, life is like a
sinking ship where all people are equally sinners -- or drowning -- and all
people are in need of being redeemed or saved.
God is there -- He has the power to save all of the people -- but He
chooses not to. Instead of
saving everyone, He selectively chooses from among the drowning people an
exclusive few who are to be saved -- not based upon their works or deeds, or
even their faith -- but as the Apostle states, God chooses indiscriminately, “that
the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him
that calleth” (Rom 9:11 KJV). Some
will of course argue that people are saved by faith -- but the Bible clearly
states that even faith is a gift from God that is not given to all people.
Innately, all of creation desires to be saved.
In the same way that no one wants to drown, neither would anyone choose
to be thrown into the “lake of fire” (Rev 20: 14-15).
Yet, according to the Apostle, because of the sin of Adam and Eve -- a
sin that God Himself ordained and brought about -- all people deserve to be
thrown into the “lake of fire”, and God chooses to save some, while
ignoring others.
Perhaps the finest example of God's indiscriminate
intervention into some people's lives is best demonstrated in the example of the
Apostle Paul himself. Paul --
who was known as Saul prior to his conversion -- was not only a great persecutor
of the first Christians, but Saul/Paul was a leader among those who stoned
Stephen (Acts 7:57-60). So
vehemently did Saul/Paul oppose Christ and the church, that it is written that
“Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus
to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem” (Acts 9:1-2 KJV).
In Saul/Paul we see a man who was a killer and a
persecutor of Christ and the church -- until God directly intervened into his
life, converted him, and supposedly made him an apostle.
Setting aside for the moment the fact that there are many people who,
from a biblical perspective, will be thrown into the lake of fire, even though
they are in no way guilty of the evil of Saul/Paul prior to his conversion, it
could easily be said that the most fervent Atheist and non-believer would be
immediately converted if they were subjected to the same experience as
Saul/Paul, where it is written: “As he neared Damascus on his journey,
suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard
a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? Saul
asked. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, he replied. Now get up and go into
the city, and you will be told what you must do… Saul got up from the ground,
but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing… For three days he was blind,
and did not eat or drink anything” (Acts 9:3-9 NIV).
When we start to delve into these many biblical stories,
we begin to get a better perspective of why Luther condemned the use of reason
among the body of Christian believers.
Does it mean anything that Saul/Paul served Christ after such an
experience? Was Saul/Paul who
called himself a Jew among Jews, and a Pharisee, any different than those who
crucified Christ? If God had
not Himself hardened the hearts of the Jews, and opened their perception and
understanding in the manner that He did to Saul/Paul, wouldn't all the Jews have
been converted? And even
today, would not all of mankind immediately repent, and be faithful to Christ,
if they too were subjected to an experience similar to that experienced by Paul? And does it mean anything that Paul changed his ways
after this rather extreme intervention in his life?
Isn't this in fact the cry of the agnostic who proclaims:
Show me a sign, so that I might believe!
Isn't the agnostic asking for nothing more than the same treatment that
was extended to Saul/Paul? And
are we to believe that the agnostic who has lived a good life -- a person who of
their own conscience had not embraced the evil of a man such as Paul -- that
such a person will be condemned to the lake of fire, while Paul is permitted to
go free?
One of the paramount elements of such words as goodness
and righteousness, is that one conducts themselves in a fair and evenhanded
manner. If the scriptures are
correct in those many places where it states that “The LORD detests
differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him” (Prov 20:23 NIV),
wouldn't the Lord himself treat all men with the same fairness?
Innately, Christians believe that God is fair and impartial -- but from a
biblical perspective, doctrinally they cannot demonstrate the validity of their
beliefs.
One of the fundamental doctrines found throughout almost
every book of the Bible is that the person you are today was predetermined by
God -- not merely at a time before you came into this life -- but at a time
prior to creation and the formation of the earth.
If the person you are today was predetermined by God prior to even the
first act of Creation, you must then ask how much of your own life is of your
own choosing?
For those who believe that they have made wise choices in
their lives, in the Calvinistic and Augustinian doctrine of preordination -- a
doctrine which they are able to demonstrate conclusively by using the Epistles
of Paul -- there is no fundamental difference between those who are doomed and
those who will be saved, with the exception that God so wills their fate.
“The supreme Disposer”, writes Calvin,
“then makes way
for his own predestination, when depriving those whom he has reprobated of the
communication of his light, he leaves them in blindness. Every day furnishes
instances of the latter case, and many of them are set before us in Scripture.
Among a hundred to whom the same discourse is delivered, twenty, perhaps,
receive it with the prompt obedience of faith; the others set no value upon it,
or deride, or spurn, or abominate it. If it is said that this diversity is owing
to the malice and perversity of the latter, the answer is not satisfactory: for
the same wickedness would possess the minds of the former, did not God in his
goodness correct it. And hence we will always be entangled until we call in the
aid of Paul's question, ‘Who maketh thee to differ?' (1 Corinthians 4:7,)
intimating that some excel others, not by their own virtue, but by the mere
favor of God”.
From a biblical perspective of what Calvin wrote, the
true statement that totally escapes his reasoning would be: “…we will
always be entangled until” we come to understand the Will of God with
respect to “who maketh thee to differ?”.
What we see in Calvin's words is the manifestation of a secular, carnal
religion, that bears the name of Christ, rather than a Spiritual Religion that
embodies the Word of Christ. Calvin,
one of the foremost authorities in the founding of the Protestant Church, did
not possess the answers to the biblical paradoxes -- and accepts these mysteries
as unknowable, only because he has embraced a static faith that is spiritually
dead. Yet, many Christians
today continue to embrace his doctrine.
With regard to the assertion of the Apostle that it is
not of our own choosing that we believe in the Gospel, but God's, Barnes' Notes
on this verse states: “Had not GOD interfered and made a difference, all
would have remained alike under sin. The race would have together rejected his
mercy; and it is only by his distinguishing love that ANY are brought to believe
and be saved”. If we
take the time to stop for a moment and think, what is being portrayed in these
words is altogether profound! What
they admit the Apostle’s doctrine of faith ultimately means, is that ALL of
mankind would reject Jesus and the gospel message and drown in the sea of
inequity, if God did not throw a life-preserver to a select few.
In the case of the Apostle Paul -- a murderer and persecutor of the
righteous -- it would appear that sometimes God throws the life preserver to
some of the most sinful and despicable among us, and yet denies this same
opportunity to others who are not near as sinful.
Christian doctrine states:
“God is the foundation of
all good; no man possesses any good but what he has derived from God. If any man
possess that grace which saves him from scandalous enormities, let him consider
that he has received it as a mere free gift from God's mercy” (Adam Clarke
Commentary on 1 Cor 4:7).
If you are a believer -- it is the position of the
Apostle that your belief is the work of God manifest in your life. There is no works that you can do which will earn
salvation -- you did not do anything deserving of God's blessings -- you merely
inherited the promise because God indiscriminately decided that He would throw
you a life preserver. The
problem that arises is in the biblical fact that, if you are a non-believer,
that too is the work of God -- who chooses not to throw you a life preserver.
The one who is saved is no different than the one who is
not -- i.e., quoting Paul: “As it is written: There is no one righteous,
not even one… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
(Rom 3:10;23 NIV). Moreover,
in view of the fact that God's criteria is not based upon either the works, or
the moral attributes of the person -- Paul and many others being an example of
this fact -- from a biblical perspective, the one who is not saved, and destined
to the sufferings of hell, may even exhibit a higher manifestation of virtue and
morality than did the one who is saved.
In the words of Calvin, who uses the Apostle Paul as his source of
doctrine: “God has chosen to deprive the unbeliever of the communication of
his light”, and for no reason other than “He has mercy on whom He
desires, and He hardens whom He desires” (Rom 9:18 NAS), Calvin admits
that “he leaves them in blindness”.
The Bible teaches that if you are a saint, a sinner, a
mass murderer, or even the likes of Hitler, your station in life is not of your
own doing -- but rather, the work of the Hand of God manifest in your life.
If you have not accepted Christ as your savior, it is because God has
withheld His Light from you that would enable you to believe and have faith.
Therefore, regardless of how good you are, or the moral code you exhibit,
or how great your humanity is towards others, from the perspective of the Bible,
you are destined to Hell because God has predetermined and chosen this as your
fate.
In view of the fact that it has been proposed by many
Christians that Hitler was merely doing the will of God by exterminating the
heretic Jews -- and there is speculation that Hitler believed that he had
himself been anointed by God to complete the task that Jesus never did --
Christian doctrine suggests that Hitler could be enjoying eternal bliss in
heaven, while the innocent Jewish children who he tortured and burnt in his
ovens -- children who never did an evil act to anyone -- are now burning in the
torments of hell.
In view of this biblical fact, ask yourself this
question: If you are a Christian, will you then greet Hitler when you go to
glory. Imagine for a moment
you and Hitler -- together in the Kingdom -- talking about how you were saved --
gazing upon the Jewish children who never even had the opportunity to do any
evil as they burn in the lake of fire?
Imagine you and Hitler, together, praising the glory of God in the shadow
of their innocence and agony.
Many Christians today are against abortion -- calling it
infanticide and murder. Yet,
is this any more of an atrocity of justice than the preordination of children to
live lives as “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction” (Rom 9:22)?
Will these same anti-abortion people stand by and applaud the sufferings
of these men, women and children who were predestined to dwell forever in the
lake of fire?
If these things seem outrageous and far fetched, let us
not forget the fact that when the Children of Israel were on their way to the
land of Canaan, God showed his power by bringing about the unmerciful
destruction of innocent people: “But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us
pass through, for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart
obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as it is this day”
(Deut 2:30 NKJ).
Did King Sihon possess free will as many of us believe
today? King Sihon did not
choose to block the path of the Israelites -- God “hardened his spirit”
(king Sihon's) and made him do it. Why?
In what modern civilized man would consider a detestable act of cruel and
senseless barbarism, the God of Israel rejoiced: “And the LORD our God
delivered him over to us; so we defeated him, his sons, and all his people. We
took all his cities at that time, and we utterly destroyed the men, women, and
little ones of every city; we left none remaining” (Deut 2:33-34 NKJ).
Are we supposed to applaud this atrocity -- this example
of injustice and inhumanity? Are
we to praise the Lord and acclaim His righteousness that He permitted the Jews
to slaughter even the “little ones”?
The Children of Israel were ordered to slay everything that moved and
breathed: “However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is
giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.
Completely destroy them -- the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites,
Hivites and Jebusites -- as the LORD your God has commanded you” (Deut
20:16-17 NIV).
The scriptures tell us that when the Children of Israel
crossed the Jordan, the hearts of the inhabitants of the land were hardened by
God: “For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war
against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them
without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses” (Josh 11:20 NIV). The Children of Israel were again ordered to slay every
man, woman and child in the land. In
view of the fact that the people of Heshbon were not believers in God -- only
because God Himself withheld His Light from their understanding -- the
implications are horrific. By
human standards, the actions of God as reported in the Old Testament are even
more diabolical than Hitler’s! The
great question that must be posed: Is this a merciful God who celebrates the
destruction of innocent children without any other reason than he enjoys
watching the carnage?
When it is realized that at any time that God wanted, he
could have unhardened their hearts, and permitted these people to believe, the
moral and humanistic ramifications are truly astounding. Why didn't God want to convert these people?
The biblical answer is because they were not of the seed of Abraham --
the person God chose -- not by works, according to the Apostle Paul, but for no
reason other than “He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He
desires” (Rom 9:18 NAS).
Moreover, if God didn't want the people of the Nations in
the land of Canaan, He could have willed it, and they would have simply migrated
from the land without the loss of one single life.
If God wanted them to worship Him, and only Him, He could have willed it,
and it would have been so.
From our modern perspective there is still another twist
to this biblical episode: In view of the fact that God not only knew that these
same Gentiles would become the chosen people of God when he caused the Jews to
reject Jesus, why did he bring death and destruction to women and children whose
ancestors would one day be called Christian?
If the scriptures are correct, and God has the power to control every
aspect of life, then a Supreme Being of Love and Mercy would have just willed
them to leave, believe, or anything else He desired, and it would have been so.
If there is any doubt from the perspective of Christian
doctrine that we are mere play toys in the hands of God, the proverbial question
that mankind should ask his Creator is already contained in the scriptures:
“You will say to me then, Why does He still find fault? For who
resists His will?” (Rom 9:19).
If evil men are evil, because God, in the words of Calvin, withholds “the
communication of his light”, and good men are good ONLY because God
bestows upon them the “communication of his light”, then are we not
as play people -- mere playthings -- in the hands of God, in much the same
fashion as a child playing with his toys?
The Apostle affirms this when he states in response to
the question of “For who resists His will?” and writes:
“On the
contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not
say to the molder, Why did you make me like this, will it? Or does not the
potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for
honorable use, and another for common use? What if God, although willing to
demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience
vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?” (Rom 9:19-22 NAS).
When the question is asked: “Who resists His
will?” It is important
for us to recognize the fact that the Apostle does not reply in the manner that
our present-day church authorities would, and respond that each of us has
choices to make in our lives. Paul
does not say this! From the
mindset and perspective of the Apostle, it is easily observed that choices are
not even part of the equation -- but rather: “O man, who answers back to
God?” The Apostle then
goes on to explain that, in the manner of a child playing with his toys, it is
God's right to make some people “vessels of wrath prepared for
destruction”, while He makes other people a “vessel for honorable
use”. In other words,
there are some people who were created for the express purpose of destruction --
not because they chose such a fate -- not because they had done anything wrong
-- but because in God's predestination, this fate was chosen for them prior to
even the creation of the world. Therefore,
what the Apostle very clearly conveys to us is that the role in life they lived
was not by their own choice, but was brought about solely by the Hand of God.
Regarding these very controversial verses and the
teaching on predestination, the Apostle writes: “It does not, therefore,
depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy” (Rom 9:16 NIV).
If you desire Christ, it is because God has permitted you to be a
believer, and has ignited within you the desire for Christ.
The Bible affirms the position that the choice was not yours to make.
As an example of this Divine Providence in the life of
the individual, the Apostle gives the example of Jacob and Esau, and writes: “For
though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in
order that God's purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of
works, but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, The older will serve
the younger. Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Rom
9:11-13 NAS).
What the Apostle is very clearly stating is that, before
either of the twins had been born, before either had “done anything good or
bad”, God not only decided their fate in life, but for no apparent reason,
He hated Esau and loved Jacob. Why?
Paul offers no explanation other than God does what he wants to do -- and
man does not have the right to question God's choices in these matters.
This is especially seen in the words: “Does not the potter have
power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another
for dishonor?” (Rom 9:21 NKJ).
In the Epistle to the Romans the Apostle confirms that we
are mere toys in the hands of God -- and like a child playing with his toy
people -- God will have “…mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom
He desires” (Rom 9:18 NAS). Mankind
is subject to this reality without any reason other than the fact that God wants
to create and sit back and observe the dramas of life that we experience -- and
ultimately, have fun with His play toys in any manner that He chooses.
Moreover, it would appear that those who are destined to what has been
described as the eternal sufferings and tortures of Hell, have received such a
fate only because God enjoys watching such carnage and suffering.
As toys, then, the Apostle tells us that we have no
rights -- and this is confirmed in the words of the Paul when he wrote: “On
the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will
not say to the molder, Why did you make me like this, will it?” (Rom 9:20
NAS). Thus, the Apostle
states to the believer that whether we are saved or judged to eternal damnation,
it is not of our own doing -- our fate was decided prior to the creation of the
world -- and we have no right to question the motives of God -- which motives
include the total annihilation of innocent women and children for no other
reason than God desires the carnage to come upon those who have done nothing to
deserve such a fate.
From a modern Christian perspective, the doctrine of
Divine Providence and predestination gets really scary when it is realized that
God chose who would believe and who would disbelieve prior to the creation of
the universe: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to
be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as
his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will”
(Eph 1:4-5 NIV).
What is being stated is that when God was still in the
stages of contemplating Creation -- prior to what we would relate to the events
written in the very first verse of Genesis 1:1 -- God decided that He would make
a certain group of people who would inherit all the good that He could imagine,
and another group would be plunged into eternal suffering.
Why? Because God
wanted all people to know that He was superior to them -- that they were weak
and inferior beings -- and He wanted them to know that there was absolutely
nothing they could do in order to alter their destiny.
Thus, God created Satan -- a supernatural being that He (God) controlled
-- as an instrument to bring about the defilement of Creation in accordance with
God’s plan. Why?
In order that all mankind would equally be drowning in a sea of inequity.
In this way God could choose from among the race of sinful man -- “in
accordance with his pleasure and will” -- those who He would permit to
inherit the good.
In order to demonstrate to mankind God's absolute power
and authority, it is observed that God often chose the most morally degenerate
men to inherit the good. King
David, for example, was a murderer and an adulterer, as demonstrated by The New
Unger's Bible Dictionary in their sighting under David for First Samuel 13:14: “How,
ask some, could a man after God's own heart have murdered Uriah, seduced
Bathsheba, and tortured the Ammonites? An extract from one who is not a
too-indulgent critic of sacred characters expresses at once the common sense and
the religious lesson of the whole matter. ‘David, the Hebrew king, had fallen
into sins enough -- blackest crimes -- there was no want of sin. And, thereupon,
the unbelievers sneer, and ask, ‘Is this your man according to God' s
heart?’” (Carlyle, Heroes and Hero-worship, 1:277; from New Unger's
Bible Dictionary, originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois.
Copyright (C) 1988).
It would appear that God chose David -- a true sinner --
over Saul, because Saul possessed a conscience, and did not unmercifully wipe
out his enemies, as seen where it is written under the heading of Saul: “But
he disobeyed the divine injunction by taking alive Agag, the king, and sparing
all the best of the cattle and all that was valuable, destroying only that which
was despised and worthless. Instead of pursuing the campaign and finishing the
destruction of the fugitives…” (New Unger's Bible Dictionary).
Thus, Saul failed in his mission -- which was to totally wipe out all the
men, women, children, and everything that breathed among the enemies of Israel.
The Bible teaches that we do not choose God, but rather
God chooses those among us who will be saved -- regardless of their moral
standing. Thus, Jesus said to
his disciples: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16
NAS). The Bible goes on to
confirm that no one can come to Jesus unless God permits them: “All that
the Father gives Me shall come to Me” (John 6:37 NAS). On this verse Barnes' Notes writes: “[The Father
giveth me] We here learn that those who come to Christ, and who will be saved,
are given to him by God… All men are sinners, and none have any claim to
mercy, and he may therefore bestow salvation on whom he pleases. All people of
themselves are disposed to reject the gospel, (John 5:40). God enables those who
do believe to do it. He draws them to Him by His Word and Spirit; He opens their
hearts to understand the Scriptures (Acts 16:14); and He grants to them
repentance, (Acts 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25)”.
It is important to recognize the above biblical concept
that “All people of themselves are disposed to reject the gospel”,
and that only those who the Father has permitted to come to Jesus can be saved: “that
to all whom Thou hast given Him, He may give eternal life” (John 17:2
NAS).
The Book of Acts goes on to confirm that the very mind of
mankind is so controlled by the Hand of God, that only those who had been
predestined and previously appointed to be saved are even permitted to believe: “and
as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48 NAS).
Of this word “appointed” or in some translations “ordained”,
Barnes' Notes writes: “The word is NEVER used to denote an internal
disposition or inclination arising from one's own self. It does not mean that
they disposed themselves to embrace eternal life… it has uniformly the notion
of an ordering, disposing, or arranging from without; that is, from some other
source than the individual himself; as of a soldier, who is arranged or
classified according to the will of the proper officer. In relation to these
persons it means, therefore, that they were disposed or inclined to this from
some other source than themselves... They were then inclined by an influence
from without themselves, or so disposed as to embrace eternal life. That this
was done by the influence of the Holy Spirit is clear from all parts of the New
Testament, (Tit. 3:5-6; John 1:13). It was not a disposition or arrangement
originating with themselves, but with God. This implies the doctrine of
election. It was, in fact, that doctrine expressed in an act. It was nothing but
God's disposing them to embrace eternal life. And that he does this according to
a plan in his own mind a plan which is unchangeable as he himself is
unchangeable is clear from the Scriptures. Compare Acts 18:10; Rom. 8:28-30;
9:15-16,21,23; Eph. 1:4-5,11. The meaning may be expressed in few words -- who
were THEN disposed, and in good earnest determined, to embrace eternal life, by
the operation of the grace of God upon their hearts”.
Regardless of what we have been led to believe by those
we look to as religious authorities as they attempt to soften the message of the
scriptures in the endeavor to make it acceptable to a people who appear to
possess more mercy and kindness than does the scriptural portrayal of God, what
the Bible very clearly teaches is that the decision as to who would believe and
be saved was made by God prior to even the first act of creation.
With respect to the beast, the Book of Revelation states that: “all
who dwell on earth will worship it, every one whose name has not been written
before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb” (Rev
13:8 RSV). Thus, all mankind
has been predestined to worship the beast unless their name was written in the
“book of life… before the foundation of the world”.
This is again demonstrated in the words: “The beast that you saw was
and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go to destruction.
And those who dwell on the earth will wonder, whose name has not been written in
the book of life from the foundation of the world” (Rev 17:8 NAS).
According to the scriptures, all people whose name was
not written in the book of life prior to the foundation of the world have
already been assigned to the fires of hell, as seen in the words: “If
anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the
lake of fire” (Rev 20:15 NIV).
With regard to the coming Kingdom it is written that “Nothing impure
will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but
only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life” (Rev 21:27
NIV). What these things mean
is that, prior to the creation of the world, the hand of God was upon all whose
name is written in the book of life, and by virtue of God's Will -- and God's
Will alone -- these chosen individuals will not be “impure”, and will
not do anything that “is shameful or deceitful”.
In accordance with the Will of God, those whose names are not written in
the book of life will do evil, and this evil is often said to be also brought
about by the Will of God. According
to Jude, the brother of Jesus, even the unbelievers in the church were
foreordained by God: “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those
who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who
turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord,
Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:4 NAS).
When the Apostle Paul addressed the men of Athens he said
to them that God “made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the
face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries
of their habitation” (Acts 17:26 NAS).
He did not say that after giving people life He (God) permitted the
people to live in accordance with their own desires.
In fact, it was written in Daniel that: “And all the inhabitants of
the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the
host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His
hand or say to Him, ‘What hast Thou done?’” (Dan 4:35 NAS).
That all events and occurrences in this world was predetermined before
the Creation is confirmed by Isaiah in the words: “I make known the end
from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose
will stand, and I will do all that I please” (Isa 46:10 NIV).
If we pose the question as to what degree life on earth
is predestined? It is at this
point where the biblical teaching of predestination gets really frightening --
as demonstrated in Jesus' own words when he said: “Are not two sparrows
sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your
Father's will” (Matt 10:29 RSV).
If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without the Will of the Father,
then we have no other option than to come to terms with the biblical fact that
everything in this life is directly orchestrated by God?
On this verse the Adam Clark Commentary states: “The providence of
God extends to the minutest things; everything is continually under the
government and care of God, and nothing occurs without his will or
permission”.
In relation to this verse under the heading of Providence
in the Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary it is explained that: “Divine
government is the continued activity of God by which He directs all things to
the ends He has chosen in His eternal plan… He governs insignificant things
(Matt. 10:29-31), apparent accidents (Prov. 16:33), as well as man's good (Phil.
2:13) and evil deeds (Acts 14:16). God acts in accordance with the laws and
principles that He has established in the world. The laws of nature are nothing
more than man's description of how we perceive God at work in the world. They
neither have inherent power nor do they work by themselves. Man is not free to
choose and act independently from God's will and plan; he chooses and acts in
accordance with them. In His sovereignty, God controls man's choices and actions
(Gen. 45:5; Deut. 8:18; Prov. 21:1). God's actions, however, do not violate the
reality of human choice or negate man's responsibility as a moral being”.
This very clearly defined biblical doctrine possesses a
great truth -- the ramifications of which no person who calls themselves a
Christian can oppose: Ultimately, what these passages of scripture convey to us
is that at any time that man judges, imprisons or executes a fellow human being,
man is in essence imposing his judgment upon what could be deemed an innocent
person. What the Bible states
is that all sinners -- all evil people since the dawn of time to the present,
have all been preordained into the life that they lived by God's all pervasive
power over the mind of man. What
the Bible states is that the only difference between a good and moral
God-fearing man, and one who would be deemed a degenerate, is that God chose
that life for each individual person.
While such a biblical concept on the surface will
immediately appear to be unjust, there is yet another dimension to the problem
that few Christians today have ever pondered.
The question that every believer of the Gospel today should ask is this:
How can the modern church lead the people, when they cannot tell you how, if “man
is not free to choose and act independently from God's will and plan”, and
can only choose and act in accordance with God's Will; and “in His
sovereignty, God controls man's choices and actions”; how does this “not
violate the reality of human choice or negate man's responsibility as a moral
being”? The problem is
that our modern churches cannot possibly answer these all-important questions.
Moreover, it is because of the irreconcilable differences of these two
biblical teachings -- teachings that are both fully represented throughout the
scriptures -- that the Rev. Spurgeon admitted that: “…it is only my folly
that leads me to imagine that these two truths can ever contradict each
other”.
Because the modern church cannot explain it, and
admittedly confesses that they do not understand it, most Christians feel they
have no other recourse but to ignore what the Bible teaches with regard to
predestination. Even
Augustine and Calvin -- the very champions of the Christian doctrine on
predestination -- admit that they do not understand why God would seemingly act
in such an irrational way -- as if the world was God's play-toys.
Thus, Calvin writes: “Now, should some Manes or Coelestinus come
forward to arraign Divine Providence, I say with Paul, that no account of it can
be given, because by its magnitude it far surpasses our understanding. Is there
any thing strange or absurd in this? Would we have the power of God so limited
as to be unable to do more than our mind can comprehend? I say with Augustine,
that the Lord has created those who, as he certainly foreknow, were to go to
destruction, and he did so because he so willed. Why he willed it is not ours to
ask, as we cannot comprehend, nor can it become us even to raise a controversy
as to the justice of the divine will. Whenever we speak of it, we are speaking
of the supreme standard of justice. (See August. Ep. 106.)”
As can be seen, two of the most revered Christian minds
-- one Protestant, the other Roman Catholic -- not only confess they do not know
the Will of God, and cannot even begin to explain why God moves in the manner
that He does -- but that they do not have the capacity of mind to understand the
many narratives of scripture that pertains to the subject.
They therefore attempt to predict who will be saved and who will not, and
have faith that their prediction will be correct.
From the perspective of the modern Christian, the key
word here is predict. In view
of the historical evidence contained in the Bible that God brings evil upon
groups of people for no reason, and God admittedly moves in a manner that even
the church cannot understand, what if men such as David and Paul -- sinful men
who persecute and kill innocent people -- are truly the men who hold a special
place in the heart of God? What
if God caused the Gentile Church to violate his covenant so he could deal with
them in the manner that He did the Jews before them, and now show his wrath in
the condemnation of His new chosen people, the Christians?
That the doctrine of predestination is irrational, and
defies all human logic, is affirmed in Calvin's only defense that the Apostle is
correct and man does not have the right to even question God, as seen when he
wrote: “But when justice clearly appears, why should we raise any question
of injustice? Let us not, therefore, be ashamed to stop their mouths after the
example of Paul. Whenever they presume to carp, let us begin to repeat: Who are
ye, miserable men, that bring an accusation against God, and bring it because he
does not adapt the greatness of his works to your meager capacity? As if every
thing must be perverse that is hidden from the flesh. The immensity of the
divine judgments is known to you by clear experience. You know that they are
called 'a great deep', (Psalm 36:6.) Now, look at the narrowness of your own
minds and say whether it can comprehend the decrees of God. Why then should you,
by infatuated inquisitiveness, plunge yourselves into an abyss which reason
itself tells you will prove your destruction? Why are you not deterred, in some
degree at least, by what the Book of Job, as well as the Prophetical books
declare concerning the incomprehensible wisdom and dreadful power of God? If
your mind is troubled, decline not to embrace the counsel of Augustine, 'You a
man expect an answer from me: I also am a man. Wherefore, let us both listen to
him who says, O man, who art thou?' Believing ignorance is better than
presumptuous knowledge. Seek merits; you will find naught but punishment. O the
height! Peter denies, a thief believes. O the height! Do you ask the reason? I
will tremble at the sight. Reason you, I will wonder; dispute you, I will
believe. I see the height; I cannot sound the depth. Paul found rest, because he
found wonder. He calls the judgments of God 'unsearchable;' and have you come to
search them? He says that his ways are 'past finding out,' and do you seek to
find them out?' (August. de Verb. Apost. Serm. 20.) We shall gain nothing by
proceeding farther. For neither will the Lord satisfy the petulance of these
men, nor does he need any other defense than that which he used by his Spirit,
who spoke by the mouth of Paul. We unlearn the art of speaking well when we
cease to speak with God”.
Again, Calvin himself admits the irrationality of the
doctrine that he champions when he writes: “The human mind, when it hears
this doctrine, cannot restrain its petulance, but boils and rages as if aroused
by the sound of a trumpet”. The
question must be asked as to why the “human mind… boil and rage”?
The only answer is that our higher sense of reason cannot accept the
doctrine that, without justifiable cause, a child is born into a life where
their fate is predestined to destruction.
Moreover, the very foundation of the faith-based church that the Middle
Age Reformers created is summed up in the words: “Believing ignorance is
better than presumptuous knowledge. Seek merits; you will find nought but
punishment.” Thus, their faith is based upon un-knowledge --
anti-knowledge or even anti-Gnostic -- in view of the fact that it is their
position that they cannot know why the Hand of God moves in the manner that it
does. In their own words they
recognize that in all things that really matter, they are ignorant. Thus, the church which they created is in fact an
anti-Gnostic organization (without knowledge), based upon blind faith.
Christians may not like it, but Calvin goes on to
demonstrate that this doctrine of irrationality, which by his own assertion
promotes ignorance, is exactly what is contained in the scriptures when he
writes: “But were I to concede that by the different forms of expression
Paul softens the harshness of the former clause, it by no means follows, that he
transfers the preparation for destruction to any other cause than the secret
counsel of God. This, indeed, is asserted in the preceding context, where God is
said to have raised up Pharaoh, and to harden whom he will. Hence it follows,
that the hidden counsel of God is the cause of hardening. I at least hold with
Augustine that when God makes sheep out of wolves, he forms them again by the
powerful influence of grace, that their hardness may thus be subdued, and that
he does not convert the obstinate, because he does not exert that more powerful
grace, a grace which he has at command, if he were disposed to use it, (August.
de Praedest. Sanct., Lib. 1, c. 2.)”.
If you are good, then you are good because, prior to the
founding of the world. What
this means is that before there was even an earth, sun, moon and stars as
foretold in the events of creation in Genesis, God wrote your name in the book
of life and decided that you would be good -- and it was so.
If you are evil, mediocre, or even an average person who is just trying
to live their life the best they can -- then in like manner, you are the person
you are because prior to the time of creation, God decided that you would be
created as a “vessel of wrath prepared for destruction?” (Rom 9:19-22
NAS). This determination was
made at a time when you “were not yet born, and had not done anything good
or bad, in order that God's purpose according to His choice might stand”
(Rom 9:11).
If you are wise, it is because God has made you wise: “and
in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom” (Exod 31:6
KJV). If the scriptures make
no sense to you, or to whatever degree you are permitted to understand them,
this also is of the Lord: “Then opened he their understanding, that they
might understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45 KJV).
Whatever leader you are following has been decided
beforehand by the Lord: “And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and there went
with him a band of men, whose hearts God had touched” (1 Sam 10:26 KJV).
If you are following the wrong leader, and listening to the wrong
teaching, this too is of the Lord: “And Absalom and all the men of Israel
said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of
Ahithophel. For the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel,
so that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom” (2 Sam 17:14 RSV).
Thus, the Lord hardened the hearts of the men of Israel from
following the good counsel, and moved them to follow the counsel of Hushai that
eventually led to their destruction -- a destruction brought about by the Hand
of God.
The scriptures state that God can even control whether a
man's wife is unfaithful: “Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil
against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your
eyes, and give them to your companion, and he shall lie with your wives…”
(2 Sam 12:11 NAS). Moreover,
if, as Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament suggests, it is the Hand
of God which brought about these events, and this “fact did not
absolve…” the people from their personal “responsibility and
guilt”, that means the wives who God forced to be unfaithful are guilty of
adultery -- even though it was the Hand of God that forced them to be
unfaithful. When these rather
astounding statements in the Bible were presented to the Middle-age reformers,
the only answer they could provide was that man’s exercise of reason was
detrimental to his salvation.
In our examination of the scriptures we must pose the
question as to who is the author of evil?
There are those who suggest the fallen Angel Satin is the author of evil.
The doctrine of Original Sin states that all mankind are sinners because
they share in the sin of Adam and Eve who fell from grace in the Garden of Eden.
Yet the Bible also clearly teaches that all these events were predestined
by God prior to even the first act of Creation.
Further, the Bible not only teaches that God created what we call evil,
but that all evil is under His direct control. Thus the question is posed in scripture: “Does
evil befall a city, unless the LORD has done it?” (Amos 3:6 RSV).
And what does the scriptures state is the source of darkness and evil?
“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create
evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isa 45:7 KJV).
On the phrase, “I form the light, and create
darkness”, Barnes' Notes writes: “Light, in the Bible, is the emblem
of knowledge, innocence, pure religion, and of prosperity in general; and
darkness is the emblem of the opposite. Light here seems to be the emblem of
peace and prosperity, and darkness the emblem of adversity; and the sentiment of
the verse is, that all things prosperous and adverse are under the providential
control and direction of God. Of light, it is literally true that God made it;
and emblematically true that he is the source of knowledge, prosperity,
happiness, and pure religion. Of darkness, it is literally true also that the
night is formed by him; that he withdraws the light of the sun, and leaves the
earth enveloped in gloomy shades. It is emblematically true also that calamity,
ignorance, disappointment, and want of success are ordered by him; and not less
true that all the moral darkness, or evil, that prevails on earth, is under the
direction and ordering of his Providence”.
Ultimately, it is clear that the Bible teaches that God
is the All-Pervading Power that controls every aspect of Creation -- i.e., the
author of all things -- light and dark, good and bad -- and most importantly,
that there is a Divine Plan as expressed in the words: “The LORD of hosts
hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I
have purposed, so shall it stand” (Isa 14:24 KJV).
Based upon this very clear biblical fact, we must question when our
church authorities ignore what the Bible itself proclaims, and state that a man
has freewill -- that each man has the power to choose good or evil -- or even
that he exerts control over his own life, when the scriptures themselves pose
the question: “A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone
understand his own way?” (Prov 20:24 NIV).
In our modern day the Evangelical Christians condemn the
doctrines of the Jehovah’s Witnesses -- and each of these sects condemn the
doctrines of the mainline liberal churches.
While Christian’s are forever finding fault in the system of beliefs
that have been adopted by other sects, it is important for the disciple in
search of truth to as the question as to what is the source of these many
doctrines of belief? The
Bible teaches that even the doctrines of error, and the very limited theories of
science are the result of the Lord's doing -- as it is written: “And if the
prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that
prophet” (Ezek 14:9 KJV). The
Bible teaches that in many instances, spiritual powers beyond the perception of
man are at work behind the scenes that are responsible for what we would call
the error and misconceptions of the world -- as it is written: “And the
LORD said, Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his
death there? One suggested this, and another that. Finally, a spirit came
forward, stood before the LORD and said, I will entice him. By what means? the
LORD asked. I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his
prophets, he said. You will succeed in enticing him, said the LORD. Go and do
it. So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets
of yours. The LORD has decreed disaster for you” (1 King 22:20-23 NIV).
These evil spirits sent from God are well documented in
the scriptures: “The LORD has mingled within her a spirit of confusion; and
they have made Egypt stagger in all her doings as a drunken man staggers in his
vomit” (Isa 19:14 RSV); “Then God sent an evil spirit between
Abimelech and the men of Shechem” (Judg 9:23 KJV); “And it came to
pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he
prophesied in the midst of the house” (1 Sam 18:10 KJV); “And the
evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with javelin in
his hand” (1 Sam 19:9 KJV) -- a javelin that, under the influence of the
evil spirit of the Lord, Saul threw at David in an attempt to kill him.
Christians are often seen finding fault with leaders and
governments because they are under the control of satanic forces.
Yet, they condemn these often barbaric leaders of government even though
the scriptures state that this too is the work of God: “For God has put it
into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their
power to rule, until God's words are fulfilled” (Rev 17:17 NIV).
Regarding the satanic control over the hearts of the leaders of world
government which the Lord Himself has ordained and brought about, the Matthew
Henry's Commentary writes: “By the powerful influence which God hereby
showed he had over the minds of great men. Their hearts were in his hand, and he
turned them as he pleased; for, (1.) It was of God, and to fulfill his will,
that these kings agreed to give their kingdom unto the beast; they were
judicially blinded and hardened to do so. And, (2.) It was of God that
afterwards their hearts were turned against the whore, to hate her, and to make
her desolate and naked, and to eat her flesh, and burn her with fire”.
How, then, can fault be found with these leaders of government and their
people, and be judged by the church when they were “judicially blinded and
hardened” to do the Will of God by giving their kingdoms over to the
control of the beast?
That man does not perceive and understand the forces that
work upon him is clearly foretold in the scriptures: “I also will choose
their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them” (Isa 66:4 KJV).
That man cannot live in accordance with the higher spiritual precepts of
God that have been put forth in the scriptures is also of the Lord's doing: “O
LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from
thy fear?” (Isa 63:17 KJV). That
man does not see and hear the true teachings of God is written in the words: “They
have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot
see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand” (Isa 44:18 KJV).
Christians claim that Jesus came to make all things plain
and clear to the people that they might know the Divine Plan of God.
Yet, they ignore the fact that even the New Testament warns the reader
that what Jesus taught will not be clear to the multitudes, and they can never
understand the true meaning of his words: “With them indeed is fulfilled
the prophecy of Isaiah which says: You shall indeed hear but never understand,
and you shall indeed see but never perceive” (Matt 13:14 RSV).
Therefore, the doctrines published by the church -- that Jesus came to
save all people -- are easily seen to be defective.
What the Bible states is that Jesus came to save a chosen few at the
expense of the larger body of Jewish believers -- a people that God promised
never to abandon.
Both Calvin and Augustine recognized that Paul saw it as
a grievous sin for man to even question God's determination towards mankind in
the words: “But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the
thing formed say to him who formed it, Why have you made me like this? Does not
the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for
honor and another for dishonor?” (Rom 9:20-21 NKJ).
Calvin went as far as to write that those people who even
question the biblical teaching of Divine Providence and predestination are
sinning: “Therefore as those are in error who make the power of election
dependent on the faith by which we perceive that we are elected, so we shall
follow the best order, if, in seeking the certainty of our election, we cleave
to those posterior signs which are sure attestations to it”.
What this means is that, if you have a loved one who is
destined to be thrown into the lake of fire, that you should simply accept their
suffering and demise -- and even celebrate the manifestation of their destiny as
an exercise of God “in accordance with his pleasure and will” (Eph
1:4-5 NIV). As a believer,
you recognize the biblical assertion that your loved ones are not saved because
God has chosen before the foundation of the world those who would be permitted
to come to Jesus: “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and
ordained you” (John 15:16 KJV).
As believers, you understand that those who come to Jesus have been
directed into the church by the Father: “It is written in the prophets, And
they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath
learned of the Father, cometh unto me” (John 6:45 KJV).
And only those who have been predestined will be raised up: “And
this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has
given me, but raise them up at the last day” (John 6:39 NIV).
As a believer church doctrine suggests that you do not have the right to question the suffering and