The Docrine of Predestination

I am writing this in order to clarify some of my earlier posts and some of the Calvinistic views of scripture, and to try to explain the doctrine of predestination to a friend. All men are sinful by nature. (see my post "The Glory of God is made perfect in weakness" for details) God damns men to 'the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth' (aka hell) because of their sin. (He is just in doing so because all men have sinned and the wages of sin is death). This does not imply that man is able to do anything but sin, indeed he is unable. (Man is a slave to sin, in it's total control). Then Christ comes to the world (compromised of all men), not just the Jews, and dies so that whoever believes will not die. This does not mean that we can choose to believe, indeed the Father draws us to belief and to the Son (John 6). This is predestination.

The reason most people don't believe in the Calvinistic view of predestination is because they are at heart prideful. They somehow believe that God owes them something, like the choice to go to heaven. They believe that they have 'Free Will' a doctrine I have not yet found within scripture. They take 'free will' from passages such as 'choose you today who you shall serve' (Joshua 24:15) to mean that they can choose God. This is plainly not so. They say, "no just God could punish a man for something he cannot help but to do (speaking about sinning)' but the truth of the matter is that unrepentant man 'chooses' sin because he is by nature (aka by design aka by predestination) sinful. (Romans 7:5 sets forth flesh and the sinful nature to be synonymous). "The sinful mind is hostile to God" -Romans 8:7

Point blank: God does predestine people to salvation or damnation. Heretics will say all sorts of thing to attack this doctrine such as "John Calvin came up with it, and since it is man made it is not true". They will also claim that the Apostle Paul made it up. The truth of the matter is that God made it up. John 6:44 "No man can come to me, except that the Father which hath sent me draws him.". This is predestination which is taught by the Apostle Paul, and echoed through John Calvin.

Again, many find this hard to swallow and turn their backs on it, leaving Christ and his teachings behind (John 6). These people should read Romans 9:20-21 "But who are you, Oh man, to talk back to God? 'Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'why did you make me like this'?'. Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?". Also read Daniel 4:5 "All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: 'What have you done?'". Daniel especially addresses this. The peoples of the earth are worthless. God owes you nothing. He can and does do as he pleases and it is not for us to say, 'that is not fair', or 'this is unjust'. To do so is heresy, this is why predestination should be taught as a fundamental principal of the Christian faith. I will write more in the future on how ignoring such doctrinal truths as set forth in the TULIP lead to bad fruits. Until then I hope I have explained predestination to you all in a way that you can understand and use to glorify God.

Soli Deo Gloria

Christ - Savior of all men

"Christ is the savior of all men, especially those who believe in Him." - 1 Timothy 4:10. I, as usual, have been watching 'youtube preaching' and I have heard this verse come up quite a bit, and I thought that it is high time it is explained. So what does this verse mean? If it means that all men are saved, what is this 'especially those who believe' part about? Is he any more a savior to them? No! This verse is not a statement of causality, but the declaration of a title. Christ the savior of all men is a title being applied here. We also again not confuse that this means all men are saved. Instead this means that he is the only savior; God's unique son, through whom is the only way to the Father. Why then include 'all men'? Because God is not God of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles too - Romans 3:29. This verse is not a foundation for the heresy of universalism (the belief that all men are saved and will go to heaven), but instead the condemnation of it! This is reaffirming what Christ said when he spoke of the narrow way and the narrow gate (Matthew 7:14). Christ is not only the mediator for all men, He is the ONLY mediator for all men. Not all religions lead to the Father.

Now you may ask, 'Matthew, why do you say this?' to which I will reply; 'to speak the truth, wholly and un-abashedly to the Glory of God'. Indeed, to use this verse, or any other, to say that all men are saved is contrary to many scriptures. Take for example Matthew 7:21, "Not all who say unto me Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven"; clearly, there will be some, who even confess the Lord with their mouths, that shall not enter heaven, and thus are not saved.

Now you shall surely be confused, you must surely say, 'but Matthew, look at Romans 10:9 (If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you shall be saved)'. I would have to answer you to look closer: "And believe in your heart". There are those who lie, and who falsely 'confess' Jesus to be Lord. How is this possible? The answer is very simple, yet vitally important to understand: Faith is a gift from God, not something which we must obtain, or strive for, or exercise to keep. Faith, as a GIFT, saves because it is by faith that we confess and believe! Faith as a gift from a worthy sacrifice saves us, and does not let us go. This is what the great fathers of the reformation meant when they said 'faith alone'!

Not all are saved. Not all will be saved. It is a ploy of Satan to say 'How could a loving God condemn someone to Hell?' But this is an improper translation. Let me put it aright for you; 'Why would a perfect, holy God bear a single sinner who has rightfully earned his death, to enter into eternal life?' The answer isn't because he feels guilty. The answer isn't because he needs to, or has to. The answer is because he wants to. Why? FOR HIS GLORY!!!!

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

The Gospel vs The Message

Let's first look at Matthew 7:21. In the NIV; "Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Now from the Message; "Knowing the correct password - saying 'Master, Master' for instance - isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience - doing what my Father wills." Where does Mr. Peterson get the concept of a 'password'? And what about the kingdom of heaven? Also, note that the in the NIV, we can take the point that not all who say that Christ is Lord are saved. This truth is lost in the Message.

Now for the Lord's Prayer as found in Matthew 6. Read from the NIV it says, "Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one." Now to hear from the Message; "Our Father in heaven, reveal who you are. Set the world right; Do what's best - as above so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You're in charge! You can do anything you want! You're ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes." Why does the Message lose 'hallowed by your name'? Also, "set the world right" is kinda ambiguous as to the meaning. It could vary from person to person, however, 'thy will be done' is absolute to the will of God. I'm not going to go into great detail as to the "as above so below". I will say that it is inherintly linked to magic, it is 100% pagan in origin and has nothing to do with submitting to the will of God. Also, when fleeing Egypt, they had manna and quail for quite a while; nowhere near three square meals, so why does Mr. Peterson feel the need to ask for what he does not need? Why does Mr. Peterson see fit to add 'from ourselves'? Also, where did the part "You're in charge...Yes. Yes. Yes." come from? Why does NO other translation contain this? Indeed this breaks significantly in the fact that he is now praising in prayer which is not set forth in the Lord's Prayer, and could indeed classify as "babbling on like the Pagans." Also, God cannot do anything he wants. Period. God cannot destroy the earth by water again because he swore not to and God does not lie. And what is this 'Yes. Yes. Yes' nonsense anyways?

One final passage for this post: Romans 3:29-30. Read in the NIV; "Is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through the same faith." Now for the Message; "And where does that leave our proud Jewish claim of having a corner on God? Also canceled. God is the God of outsider non-Jews as well as insider Jews. How could it be otherwise since there is only one God? God sets all who welcome his action and enter into it, both those who follow our religion and those who have never heard of our religion." Ignoring that Mr. Peterson just made faith into a work which we "welcome" and "enter", how does he get off saying that God welcomes those who have never heard of our religion? This sounds as if he is propagating the heresy that there are many ways to the Father. At best this is a poorly phrased reference to the Old Testament and the religion of the Jews, but then who, having not heard the Law, and therefore not suffered the condemnation of the Law, could recieve the gift of Christ? Again the Message has botched a passage.

For these reasons and for many many more, my dear Brothers and Sisters, I urge you to be vigilant against this insidious poison and let it spread no further.

Soli Deo Gloria

The Glory of God is made perfect in weakness

I want to take a second and address a topic which causes people to tense up and turn off; Original Sin. I have been watching many people on youtube speak on the subject and I have found a lack of understanding along with a lack of desire to understand. Original sin is biblical when taken on in the right manner. Consider this "When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned." -Romans 5:12. This is not contradictory to the word of God in Ezekiel "the son will not share the guilt of the father, nor the father the guilt of the son." -18:20. What Ezekiel is saying is that if my father goes out and kills a man, I will not be punished for the murder. What Romans is saying is that Adam's desire to sin is imparted to every man ever born. It's NOT saying that I will be punished for Adam's rebellion, it's saying that I myself will commit sin for which I will die.

It's that simple. That is the doctrine of original sin, put plainly, in love that all who read might understand. Original sin is right. It is established within the bible, and in more places than these...I do not however wish to go into all of them at this time, but press on and ask, how sinful are we?

Let's look at Genesis 8:21 "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood." Genesis says "every inclination", meaning there is no good within them, in their flesh...aka...Romans 7:18. Look also to Micah 7:4 "the best of them is like a briar, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge." Even the best that we have, the most righteous that we can be, even following the laws perfectly, we are worse than thorns.

Now many will probably ask why I say this since it is divisive, not winsome or at face particularly useful for teaching, rebuking...etc etc...the reason is this: 2 Corinthians 12:9 "my power is made perfect in weakness". This glorifies God! This is the reason that man is so totally wicked, that God, seated on high, may be glorified!! "Christ demonstrates his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8

Soli Deo Gloria!

Permanence of salvation

I was at Joel Helm's house last night for the first summer bible study 2010, and before it was underway we spoke briefly on my favorite topic, theology. Joel asked me what specifically I saw wrong with the Catholic theology that was 'dangerous' and should not merely be written off as cultural differences. I realized that one of the most outstanding views of the Catholic Church which I would stomp out is the idea that they can lose their salvation. Allow me to explain...

While Bob Gullo and I were doing the roots team, we managed to get two Catholics to answer our questions in a row, one indeed was an acquaintance, and we were able to speak at some length. One of the confessing beliefs of the Navigators ministry (and of MANY others) is that "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" Romans 10:9 Now Bob, I call on you to witness to this, at this point she stopped and said, 'well, I kinda believe that'. Being bewildered I asked her to explain. She said that she believed that she could be saved, but had to confess and repent (in the Catholic style specifically) and be sinless. I asked her to explain. She gave me more useless speech and eventually said that she had to go to confession (with a priest in the Catholic style) and be forgiven by the priest. She then explained that if on the way from the cathedral, if she were to stub her toe and swear, then immediately get hit by a bus and die, she would burn in Hell for all eternity. I felt really sad for her at that moment, but now I want to itterate this with less sympathy for the speaker, and more emphasis on the belief behind it.

This idea that she could fall from grace is completely un-biblical. One who is saved by God will not be lost. If you are unsure of this, look in the gospel of John 10:29 "for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father's hand." What the girl did not understand (what she was no taught in a wicked and evil 'church') was that nothing can separate her from God's love. There is nothing she could do to jeopardize her salvation.

Indeed, no one reading this, who is 'held in the Father's hand' can be plucked from it. That is not to say that all reading this are in the Father's hand, but I digress...When I said thus to Joel he responded, "well Matthew you have two ways to change that: become a Catholic priest and attempt to change doctrine within the church or to help those Catholics you meet grow with Jesus." I did not respond then, but I wish to now. Yes, you're right Joel, but I'm not going to use cliches. I'm not going to be hip, popular or even all that nice. They need, let me emphasize NEED to hear this word of God. Sure they'll read the bible and 'grow with Jesus'...I did quite a bit of that for my freshman year...but will the spirit convict them? Will their eyes be opened? By standing and addressing the matter in a straightforward way E.G. "You're wrong" they have no choice but to consider the subject at hand. No, I will not suffer to write that off as a cultural difference. It is a doctrine contrary to the Holy Scriptures and is given to us by a Holy, Righteous and Loving God.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Great Lies

It's been a while since my last post, and I need to be studying, so of course I'm writing a blog post...

So I was cruising youtube watching clips of evangelists trying to discern how evangelism should be done and I found some videos by one Monica Dennington and found myself very distressed. The videos I have watched have been about denying fellowship to Calvinists because they are divisive. That alone should raise some eyebrows. Is the Gospel, when dutifully preached, divisive? What about Christ specifically telling us not to worry when we are rejected because the world first rejected him? Are we called to live in peace with the world? Are we called to agree with the world, and everyone of it? NO! Yet Mrs. Dennington preaches (a separate issue unto itself) a half and half Armenian and Calvinistic view all the while twisting the Holy word of God to support her belief that anyone who vocalizes disagreement should be put out of fellowship. Sound Catholic much? Please, if you have heard her on youtube, give no credence to her. She says to "read your bible and do what it says" as if to say that she is doing so, but all the while she denies exegetical teachings and examining context. (until she reaches the part about a woman not being above a man...queue the 'exegesis' and 'context' then...)

I do wish to now address some of the lies I have heard from her unto themselves. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that who-so-ever believes in him shall have eternal life". Many people use this as some kind of justification that anyone whom confesses a belief in Christ is saved. This is one of the greatest lies in Christendom. All those who believe are saved, however not all those who confess Christ are believers in the sense that this verse puts forward. She exhorts her viewers to not listen to Calvinists because we supposedly place trust in the flesh because we read religious books other than the bible, and because we listen to the teachings of Calvinists. She accuses us of placing faith in flesh and refusing to bow at the feet of Christ! Calvanists have done nothing BUT denounce the flesh and bow to Christ! The biggest lie that she has told is this mindset that Calvinists are dividing the body. She (and many others) think that being divisive is bad. (Ignoring the side rant that the gospel IS divisive.) There is this mentality that a person can divide the body of Christ. This is not so! The body of Christ, the true church and communion of true believers cannot be divided because Christ does not lose any that are given to him. Any who are divided away from the body of Christ never were part of the body. In the same fashion, she can't divide Calvinists from the body of Christ, she can (and by this I mean the Holy Spirit working through her) and only separate herself from the body of Christ.

I leave you now with the exhortation to be wary of false teachers and to cling to God, the rock from which you were cut.

Soli Deo Gloria

My Testimony

Everyone is influenced by someone. Everyone that you meet holds the potential to be the tools of the Lord to change you, but only some are used as such. This blog post is being written to acknowledge the people in my life who have been influential to my growth in Christ. Firstly I wish to acknowledge St. Mark's Lutheran Church; my home congregation, and all the people therein. I also wish to acknowledge the 2009 decision in the ELCA which I have blogged on before. That singular event more than any other made me realize that complacency is the greatest evil a man can have.

The Navigators ministry on campus has also been a huge influence to my growth. When I came to campus JP and Alfred came into my dorm room and invited me to come have pizza and a bible study. Naturally I went for pizza, and having some interest in religion, signed up for a bible study. Alfred and Tyler Bennett led the bible study through John of which I was the only student. Still, Tyler met with me once a week for breakfast and a quiet time, and sporadically throughout the week to talk about religion, patiently listen to my questions (sometimes arguments) and share with me the gospel truth, on top of the weekly bible study. Because of that, I would consider Tyler a huge reason of why I am here today. The Lord used him mightily in my life. During this time I realized my need for God and began to force myself to read the bible more and more. As time progressed I realized my need for obedience and began to force myself to uphold the basic laws and expectations Christians should be living up to. The Navigator ministry as a whole was very good to me in the fact that they believe the bible to be the authoritative word of God. I was want to say that 'the bible is written by man and falliable' and the navigators would not tolerate such. Tyler himself was forced to hear this complaint repeatedly and yet never lost his patience in telling me that I was wrong.

The next major step in my journey was that of Joel Iliff. I met him at a Nav event and my first impression was that he was hopelessly weird. I still hold this view (just kidding Joel)...but what really got me about him was that he believed the bible, not just a 'yeah I guess so', but a whole hearted unapologetic belief that bordered on insanity. He specifically defended the doctrine of predestination which at the time I hated with a passion. Don't bother to tell me any arguments against it, I have spoken them all, I have believed them all. Joel was used by the Holy Spirit to subdue me unto the will of God. Joel knows this, that he could have never swayed my mind, as stubborn as I was, yet the Holy Spirit would not tolerate my disbelief, and thus God changed not only my mind, but my heart. Joel did not have the un-anger-able patience of Tyler, but none-the-less he stated the gospel truthfully and refused to give in to my arguments to the contrary, God be praised! Thus I truly began to want to read my bible, I began to want to please God.

So for a couple months I strove with all my might to be good enough for God. I gave 100% of me to being the perfect image of the Christian, to being a good navigator, to attaining my salvation. Then, on the MLK 2010 retreat with the Navigators, a friend (whom shall remain nameless because I don't have their express consent to write about them) confessed a lack of belief, a lack of trust. It hit me right then that I was so guilty of the same thing. In that moment I truly realized that I was saved, not by my works or belief or obedience but by the saving Grace of God alone by faith alone. Thus I laid my disbelief down at God's feet and swore to dwell on it no more. I then truly felt the Grace of God in my life, and since then, great change has occurred in my life.

Not only that the Spirit has been at work, but that I have been blessed to live with Joel this year who is always willing to talk about deep spiritual matters, and like Tyler tolerate my dumbest questions which reveal my ignorance in patience so that I might be ignorant no longer. Joel, knowing how to translate Greek from the original writings into English on his own has been a great help in understanding how to interpret many passages. In addition to this I have been blessed with Joel and Alek's patience with my impatience. The two of them have been listening to what I say and how I say it and have been careful to point out when I'm not being as loving as I should be. Between Tyler, Joel, Alek, and the Holy Spirit of God, I am now set on fire with a desire for Holiness, for Truth, for Grace. I am Matthew Shealy, and that is my testimony.