Why Do Modern Christians Reject The Doctrine Of

The Pre-existent Soul That Evolves To Perfection

Over The Course Of Many Lifetimes?

Ebionite Restoration  - Christian Renewal

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death"
(Prov 14:12 NKJ)

The Biblical Foundational Mindset

  That is Lacking Among Christians Today 

At the time the New Testament was written, the doctrine of the pre-existent soul that evolves to perfection over the course of many lifetimes was a core belief among the Jews in the time of Yeshua/Jesus.   The result is that because the core foundational mindset is totally opposite from that environment in which the scriptures were composed, modern Christians perceive an entirely different message.   Then, to further complicate the problem, the New Testament underwent numerous re-writes over the first three centuries in order to make it acceptable to the Gentile-heathen mindset -- and it further went through a major editing in the fourth century in order to make it support the doctrines of the Church of the Emperor Constantine and Pagan Rome (see Bible Corruption).   Which means that the more important and profound teachings have been long removed over the course of the last two thousand years.   But the purpose of this writing is not to make you believe in the doctrine of reincarnation -- because what is commonly believed by the Hindus and New Age today has very little in common with the teachings of the pre-existent soul that was taught by Yeshua and embraced by not only his Ebionite disciples, but the more spiritual of the Gentile Christian converts until the teaching was condemned in the fifth century by the Emperor Justiniam.   Since the teachings of Yeshua and his Ebionite Disciples would in many respects reject what is embraced by the New Age today, it is of the utmost importance to open your mind to a higher reality that you have never before envisioned or contemplated -- of which the reality of our true self -- i.e., the soul-self that dwells in an inner dimension of consciousness that is both independent of the person we are in this world, as well as intimately connected -- becomes the primary focus of our search to first Know Thyself -- where we are able to overcome our divided natures that span a multitude of realms and dimensions of mind and being -- and having overcome the division within our own House, we are then able to come to Know God.

The Biblical Foundational Mindset: And this is seen in the question asked by the disciples: "Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?'" (John 9:1-2 NKJ).   What prompted the disciples of Yeshua/Jesus to ask this question? Turning to the historian, this ultra important element to this equation of life is made reference to by Edward Gibbon in the footnote regarding the question of the disciples at John 9:2: "The disciples of Jesus were persuaded that a man might have sinned before he was born, (John, ix. 2,) and the Pharisees held the transmigration [reincarnation] of virtuous souls, (Joseph. de Bell. Judaico, l. ii. c. 7;) and a modern Rabbi is modestly assured, that Hermes, Pythagoras, Plato, etc., derived their metaphysics from his illustrious countrymen" (Gibbon; Decline & Fall) -- metaphysics that embraced the concept of the pre-existence and transmigration of the soul.

Again let me pose the question as to what this statement means to us from a modern day perspective? The mindset and thinking with respect to the events of life from the perception of the disciples is explored in the Wycliffe Commentary where it is written: "The question of the disciples (v. 2) was grounded in the belief that bodily infirmity or suffering was due to sin, whether of parents (Exo 20:5) or of the man himself, presumably on the basis of the soul’s pre-existence, which some Jews held". Is this some Jewish fable that the disciples of Christ conjured up themselves? Or is this belief a foundational element of the Gospel that Jesus taught to them?

On the question itself -- Master, who did sin? -- the commentary Barnes’ Notes writes that: "It was a universal opinion among the Jews that calamities of all kinds were the effects of sin. The case, however, of this man was that of one that was blind from his birth, and it was a question which the disciples could not determine whether it was his fault or that of his parents. Many of the Jews, as it appears from their writings (see Lightfoot), believed in the doctrine of the transmigration of souls; or that the soul of a man, in consequence of sin, might be compelled to pass into other bodies, and be punished there. They also believed that an infant might sin before it was born (see Lightfoot), and that consequently this blindness might have come upon the child as a consequence of that".

On the question of who did sin, this man, or his parents, and the pre-existence and reincarnation of the soul, the Adam Clarke Commentary tells us: "The doctrine of the transmigration of souls appears to have been an article in the creed of the Pharisees, and it was pretty general both among the Greeks and the Asiatics. The Pythagoreans believed the souls of men were sent into other bodies for the punishment of some sin which they had committed in a pre-existent state. This seems to have been the foundation of the disciples’ question to our Lord. Did this man sin in a pre-existent state, that he is punished in this body with blindness? Or, did his parents commit some sin, for which they are thus plagued in their offspring!... The Jewish rabbis have had the same belief from the very remotest antiquity. Origen cites an apocryphal book of the Hebrews, in which the patriarch Jacob is made to speak thus: I am an angel of God; one of the first order of spirits. Men call me Jacob, but my true name, which God has given me, is Israel: Orat. Joseph. apud ORIG. Many of the Jewish doctors have believed that the souls of Adam, Abraham, and Phineas, have successively animated the great men of their nation. Philo says that the air is full of spirits, and that some, through their natural propensity, join themselves to bodies; and that others have an aversion from such a union. See several other things relative to this point in his treatises, De Plant. Noe-- De Gigantibus-- De Confus. Ling.-- De Somniis, etc.; and see Calmet, where he is pretty largely quoted".

It is important in our assessment of genuine biblical foundations of thought to recognize the fact that the pre-existence and reincarnation of the soul was a universally accepted belief among the people who Jesus taught the Gospel and Mysteries of God. Once this fact is acknowledged, then we are forced to conclude that if this belief about the nature of life was in error, and reincarnation is not a viable part of the teachings of Jesus, then Jesus would have had to condemn it -- or, we must recognize that it was removed by the later Gentile Church.

That the Pharisees understood that a man is born blind from the misdeeds of a previous life is seen in their words to the man: "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" (Jn 9:34 NAS). Moreover, it is well documented that the Essenes -- who with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls are now understood to be the foundation of New Covenant teachings -- also believed in the pre-existence and transmigration of the soul.   In his Antiquity of the Jews, the Jewish historian Josephus, who had lived among the Essenes, and was a contemporary of the man Jesus, stated that the Essenes: “…resigned up their souls with great alacrity, as expecting to receive them again.  For their doctrine is this, that bodies are corruptible, and that the matter they are made of is not permanent; but that the souls are immortal, and continue for ever; and that they came out of the most subtle air, and are united to their bodies as to prisons, into which they are drawn by a certain natural enticement; but that when they are set free from the bonds of flesh, they then, as released from a long bondage, rejoice and mount upward...”.  

Modern Christians fail to realize that their religion evolved out of Judaism, and Spiritual Jews have always founded their system of beliefs upon the concept of the pre-existent soul that evolves to perfection over the course of many lifetimes.   The following quotation is taken from The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, under the heading of Souls, Transmigration of: “The doctrine of transmigration of souls, which was especially accepted by the Karaites… is generally attacked by Jewish philosophers, but is defended by Isaac Abravanel and Manasseh ben Israel.  It appears often in Cabala; it is found in organized form in the Zohar, it is further developed in the teachings of Isaac Luria (1534-1572), and in Hasidism it becomes a universal belief.   According to these teachings, all human souls have a common origin in the spiritual unity of the primordial man, sparks of which form the individual souls... The sin of Adam brought higher and lower souls into confusion; as a result, every soul has to pass through a series of incarnations... The soul itself has no sex, which is determined by the body and may vary from incarnation to incarnation”.  

In the Zohar, the foundational doctrine of Jewish Mysticism, it is written that: “All souls are subject to the trials of transmigration; and men do not know the designs of the Most High with regard to them… The souls must re-enter the absolute substance whence they have emerged.  But to accomplish this end they must develop all the perfections, the germ of which is planted in them; and if they have not fulfilled this condition during one life, they must commence another, a third, and so forth, until they have acquired the condition which fits them for reunion with God”.   This reunion with God is the rebirth that was spoken of by Jesus to the Pharisee Nicodemus, “a ruler of the Jews”.  

While Christians attempt to interpret the parable of the Prodigal Son in fragmented piecemeal, when taken as a whole, and understood as a universal reality common to all of mankind in the manner it was intended to be understood, it is recognized to be in total conflict to modern Christian doctrine.    Once it is understood that each of us is the Prodigal Son/Daughter of our Heavenly Father, then it must also be recognized that each of us at one time dwelled in the Kingdom prior to journeying out into this, the "far country".    Thus, we see this parallel concept in the above quotation from the Zohar where it states that each of us, like the Prodigal Son that we are, must return to our Source -- i.e.,  "The souls must re-enter the absolute substance whence they have emerged...."

In the parable of the Wedding Feast, those who come to TheCall, must have put on the required Wedding Garment -- and thus, we see the parallel concept in the Zohar in the words with respect to the required perfection of each soul: "But to accomplish this end they must develop all the perfections, the germ of which is planted in them..."   To the degree that Yeshua stated in the Sermon on the Mount at Matthew 5:48 that each soul must be as perfect as their Heavenly Father -- i.e., again parallel to the Zohar: "...and if they have not fulfilled this condition during one life, they must commence another, a third, and so forth, until they have acquired the condition which fits them for reunion with God”.

To even begin to comprehend this higher reality of the perfection of the soul over the course of many lifetimes, the person must understand the cycle of the Prodigal Son/Daughter as presented in the words: "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.  For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it" (Isa 55:8-11 NKJ).   God cannot fail -- and nothing in Creation can be void -- and as the Prodigal Sons of the Most High, each of us emanated from the Edenic Kingdom of Origination -- and each us us must fulfill the requirement of perfection as presented at Matt 5:48 -- and if this required perfection is "...not fulfilled this condition during one life, [we] must commence another, a third, and so forth, until [our souls] have acquired the condition which fits them for reunion with God”
And as the Prodigal Sons/Daughters of the Most High, each of us was forced to leave the Kingdom and venture out into this world which is portrayed in the parable as the "far country" -- not by our own choosing, but by the Will of God who brought this world which is a realm where each of us is able to grow and evolve to perfection -- i.e., “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Rom 8:20-22 NIV).   What the Apostle states in the above quotation is that it was the Creator God that subjected mankind to the frustration of what we perceive as the fall of man, in order that “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage” through the process of the soul-evolution in this world which is God's Spiritual University that perfects and brings about our eventual spiritual rebirth into the Kingdom -- i.e., “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time”.

Christian Denial of Reality: Christians maintain that if the doctrine of the pre-existent soul were true, that it would be taught in their Bibles.   Yet, they are in absolute denial with respect to the reality that the Bible was edited and corrupted in order to support the doctrines of the fourth century Church of Constantine.   Absolute proof of this is overwhelmingly documented in the article on Biblical Corruption (see Bible Corruption), but the Christian world continues to remain in denial of the facts.   Modern day Christian doctrine rests upon the premise that God preserved the Bible in an absolute infallible and pure state, in order that all men should know the (historical) truth and believe in the Son of God. Their doctrinal position is that if God permitted the Bible to have been altered, then the present day church could not be genuine. Based upon this dogmatic presumption that the Christian Church must be maintained in order for man to be saved, they reason that God would not allow the written word of the scriptures to be corrupted. The Truth is that if the Bible had not been corrupted, it would never have been adopted by the Greeks and Romans -- so just the opposite is true with respect to what Christians believe.   Thus, modern Christians cling to this doctrine of biblical purity -- ignoring overwhelming evidence to the contrary -- evidence that demonstrates conclusively that our Bible has been severely altered and edited -- because they fail to grasp the very foundational principles of the New Covenant itself -- principles that are not historical, but spiritual. It is not until we understand that the Bible is a road-map that leads us to the Gate of the Kingdom, and the Word that is written in our hearts -- rather than a final revelation from God to man -- that we are able to even begin to come to terms with the Spiritual Gospel of Messiah/Christ that can never be corrupted.

What Christians fail to understand is the fact that the most important and spiritual scriptures were never even given into the hands of the Gentiles who were both too heathen to comprehend the spiritual essence of the teachings of Yeshua and TheWay, and the fact that even as early as the first century the Gentiles were editing their scriptures to make them conform to the doctrines of belief that they already embraced.   An important truth is contained in the Epistle of Peter to James where it is stated:  "Hear me, brethren and fellow-servants. If we should give the books to all indiscriminately, and they should be corrupted by any daring men, or be perverted by interpretations, as you have heard that some have already done, it will remain even for those who really seek the truth, always to wander in error.   Wherefore it is better that they should be with us, and that we should  communicate them with all the fore-mentioned care to those who wish to live piously, and to save others."

Those outside of the original Ebionite/Nazirene core of disciples and followers of Yeshua/Jesus, were quick to corrupt all the copies of the scriptures that were given to them.   And this fact is confirmed to us  by Dr. F. H. Scrivener where he writes that: "In the second century we have seen too many instances of attempts to tamper with the text of Scripture, some merely injudicious, others positively dishonest". Scrivener states that "it is no less true to fact than paradoxical in sound, that the worst corruptions to which the New Testament has ever been subjected, originated within 100 years after it was composed: and that Irenaeus and the African Fathers, and the whole Western, with a portion of the Syrian Church" used inferior manuscripts (F.H.Scrivener, Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament).    Dean Burgon quotes Gaius (AD175-200) who speaks of the source of corruptions that survive in the early papyri: "The Divine Scriptures these heretics have audaciously corrupted. Laying violent hands upon them, under pretense of correcting them." (Burgon, The Revision Revised, p. 323).   Eusebius (Eccleastical History), citing the second century Church Father Clement of Alexandria: "The worst corruptions to which the New Testament has ever been subjected originated within one hundred years after it was composed."   In the words of Colwell (What is the Best New Testament Text?, p.119)  "The first two centuries witnessed the creations of the large number of variations known to scholars today.  In the manuscripts of the New Testament most variations, I believe, were made deliberately."   G.D. Kilpatrick (Atticism and the Text of the Greek New Testament, pp 125-131):  "Deliberate changes in all text types appear to antedate A.D. 200..as distinct from errors... all categories of deliberate alteration...  are present in both groups. Tatian is the last author to make deliberate changes. The vast majority of deliberate changes were older then A.D. 200.  They came into being in the period A.D. 50-200."

It can be easily understood why the Ebionite/Nazirene disciples of Yeshua not only did not give the Greek converts who edited and corrupted the text of their scriptures, but withheld the most spiritual and important to be preserved in their care.   Thus, Peter writes to James: "Knowing, my brother, your eager desire after that which is for the advantage of us all, I beg and beseech you not to communicate to any one of the Gentiles the books of my preachings which I sent to you, nor to any one of our own tribe before trial; but if any one has been proved and found worthy, then to commit them to him, after the manner in which Moses delivered his books to the Seventy who succeeded to his chair.  Wherefore also the fruit of that caution appears even till now. For his countrymen keep the same rule of monarchy and polity everywhere, being unable in any way to think otherwise, or to be led out of the way of the much-indicating Scriptures. For, according to the rule delivered to them, they endeavor to correct the discordances of the Scriptures, if any one, haply not knowing the traditions, is confounded at the various utterances of the prophets. Wherefore they charge no one to teach, unless he has first learned how the Scriptures must be used. And thus they have amongst them one God, one law, one hope."

The Gentiles not only severely corrupted the copies of the scriptures that they were given, but more importantly what Peter states is true with respect to their ignorance of the "traditions" within which the whole framework of the scriptures are composed, and like the Sadducees and Pharisees before them who Yeshua condemned for throwing away the Key of Knowledge, they did not know the manner in which "...the Scriptures must be used" -- and this remains true even in our present day. 

In the case of the Gospel of the Nazirenes which was reportedly hidden away from the corrupters in a monastery (see Intro To The Gospel Of The Nazirenes), we can see an important concept that was removed from the text of John 9:1 when the disciples asked if the man's blindness was caused by the sins he committed in a previous life prior to being born: "And at another time as Yeshua passed by, he saw a man who was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?  Yeshua answered, To what importance is it whether this man or his parents sinned? The rewards of our actions return again to us so that the works of the Lord are made manifest. I must work the works of the Lord while in this season. As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world."   And this is exactly the same as stating: "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap" (Gal 6:7 NKJ).  

The Walking Dead: In the Revelation we find the phrase "go out no more" -- as seen in the words: "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more" (Rev 3:12 NKJ).   What does it mean that the person who overcomes -- i.e., overcomes what -- will go out no more?   I have never seen a Christian Bible commentary even mention this important verse.   Why?   Because if what is being said is true, and we go in and out (of our inner spiritual soul-reality) until which time we overcome, then this reality does not support modern Christian doctrine.   Yet, in other scriptures such as the Gospel of the Nazirenes that were not edited by the Church of Rome, this going in and out is made very clear: "As Yeshua sat by the west of the temple with his disciples, behold there passed some carrying one that was dead, to burial, and a certain one said to Him, Master, if a man die, shall he live again?  He answered and said, I am the resurrection and the life, I am the good, the beautiful, the true; if a man believe in me he shall not die, but live eternally. As in Adam all are bound to cycles of rebirth, so in the Messiah shall all be made alive. Blessed are the dead who die in me, and are made perfect in my image and likeness, for they rest from their labors and their works do follow them. They have overcome evil, and are made pillars in the temple of my God, and they go out no more, for they rest in the eternal.  For them that persist in evil there is no rest, but they go out and in, and suffer correction for ages, till they are made perfect. But for them that have done good and attained to perfection, there is endless rest and they go into life everlasting. They rest in the eternal.  Over them the repeated death and birth have no power, for them the wheel of the eternal revolves no more, for they have attained to the center, where is eternal rest, and the center of all things is God. And one of the disciples asked him, How shall a man enter into the Kingdom?" And he answered and said, If you don't make below as the above, and the left as the right, and the behind as the before, entering into the center and passing into the spirit, you will not enter into the kingdom of God."

When we pose the question that is presented to us in the Revelation: If the man who does not “overcometh... shall [again] go out”, then it is reasonable for us to ask what kind of life does he go out into?   It is in fact this very question that each of us should ask ourselves which the Church Father Origen, who was a renowned biblical scholar prior to the rewrite of the scriptures in the fourth century under the Roman Emperor Constantine, Origen explained about the process of going in and out when he wrote that “Every soul... comes into this world strengthened by the victories or weakened by the defeats of its previous life” (Origen, De Principiis).  

The Great Christian Quagmire

After Removing The Teachings On Reincarnation

What Is Left In the Scriptures

Makes God Into An Irrational Monster!!!

  Christians Are The Author Of Their Own Ignorance 

One of the paramount aspects of righteousness and good, is that one conducts themselves in a fair and evenhanded manner.   If the scriptures are correct in the 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 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 if the very essence of 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, not only do many Christians today continue to embrace his doctrine, but those who reject what he writes, also reject a major biblical doctrine.   Why?   Because even Yeshua confirmed that all things are predetermined by the Father -- to the degree, that not even a sparrow can fall to the ground apart from the Will of God -- i.e., "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will" (Matt 10:29 NKJ)

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”.   What they are saying is that ALL of mankind would 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 it would appear that he 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 because they never accepted Christ into their lives.   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.   And while you are there you can greet Paul -- a man who killed and persecuted the earliest followers of Jesus.   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 disciple 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.   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 stating here 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 as an instrument to bring about the defilement of Creation.   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 who 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 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 scriptures 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 an innocent person.   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 is a degenerate, is that God chose that life for each individual person.  

The Two Lines Of Biblical Truth

The Folly Of The Christians Who Attempt To Ignore One, And Embrace The Other in UnTruth

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”?   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” -- as seen in his acknowledgement of what the Bible actually states.    Thus, in his autobiography he confesses: “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.   What that means is that we have the illusion of freewill -- and we are permitted to think that we made a choice, when it was really God offering and making that choice for us.   If, therefore, we profess to believe in the Bible, and we desire to embrace the Light, we must not accept one of these paradoxical realities, while rejecting the other.   We must instead embrace the premises that while both are equally true -- that even the option to choose is by the predetermined Will of God.

Perhaps even more difficult to understand is the fact that the Bible clearly teaches that we are responsible for the Divine Will that God exerts in our life.   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.

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 The Way, 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 that the people who did not accept Jesus, did not necessarily reject him of their own accord -- but as the Bible itself states, they rejected Jesus for no other reason than because God did not permit them to believe in Jesus.   It is important that we begin to recognize the reasons why there was a pre-existent reason that God did not permit them to believe -- and that the people themselves were ultimately responsible for the conditions that God brought about.   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, and 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)?

If we are to even begin to understand what other Christians do not, then we must embrace the honest appraisal of the scriptures by the Rev. Charles Spurgeon when he wrote: “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.... Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other... 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).    Like modern Christians today, Rev. Spurgeon could not bring the two lines of Gospel Truth together -- speaking of them as his “folly” to even imagine that two of God's teachings could contradict each other.   Yet, Rev. Spurgeon makes an astute and honest observation that, to their own demise, few Christians throughout history have been willing to admit.    It is absolutely necessary for us to come to terms with the fact that truth is not only paradoxical, but that in our natural-carnal state, we are unable to bring these paradoxes together.   In fact, this wide-eyed perception of reality is so important, that we can never progress beyond the very limited point we are presently at, until we realize this great truth.   Why?   Because it is in the realization of what Spurgeon calls his ”folly” that we begin to open our minds to the reality that exists beyond the physical barrier of this world.

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 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 -- 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, that the fact 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.  

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.   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 them 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 -- is 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 you are aware that you do not have the right to question the suffering and demise of your loved ones who are not saved.   Will you celebrate in heaven when you and the Apostle Paul -- a man who was a killer and persecutor of the followers of Christ -- look down into the lake of fire and gaze upon the suffering of your loved ones who were by human standards saints in comparison to Paul?   Will you rejoice with St. Constantine the Great -- another despot and diabolical sinner -- that God chose to indiscriminately save some of the most evil men the world has ever known, while your loved one who tried to live a good life, but did not come to Christ, has been confined to the torments of hell f-o-r-e-v-e-r!

If Augustine and Calvin are correct in their interpretation of the scriptures, then your mere questioning as to why your loved ones were not saved, could in fact cause you to suffer their fate, even though you affirmed your belief in Christ.   In analysis of the scriptures, Calvin states that those who question Divine Providence and the Will of God in relation to the predestination of God's chosen people, or even seek knowledge in order to understand why God chooses one and not another, are themselves doomed: “Among the temptations with which Satan assaults believers, none is greater or more perilous, than when disquieting them with doubts as to their election, he at the same time stimulates them with a depraved desire of inquiring after it out of the proper way. (See Luther in Genes. cap. 26.) By inquiring out of the proper way, I mean when puny man endeavors to penetrate to the hidden recesses of the divine wisdom, and goes back even to the remotest eternity, in order that he may understand what final determination God has made with regard to him. In this way he plunges headlong into an immense abyss, involves himself in numberless inextricable snares, and buries himself in the thickest darkness. For it is right that the stupidity of the human mind should be punished with fearful destruction, whenever it attempts to rise in its own strength to the height of divine wisdom. And this temptation is the more fatal, that it is the temptation to which of all others almost all of us are most prone. For there is scarcely a mind in which the thought does not sometimes rise, Whence your salvation but from the election of God? But what proof have you of your election? When once this thought has taken possession of any individual, it keeps him perpetually miserable, subjects him to dire torment, or throws him into a state of complete stupor. I cannot wish a stronger proof of the depraved ideas, which men of this description form of predestination, than experience itself furnishes, since the mind cannot be infected by a more pestilential error than that which disturbs the conscience, and deprives it of peace and tranquility in regard to God. Therefore, as we dread shipwreck, we must avoid this rock, which is fatal to every one who strikes upon it. And though the discussion of predestination is regarded as a perilous sea, yet in sailing over it the navigation is calm and safe, nay pleasant, provided we do not voluntarily court danger. For as a fatal abyss engulfs those who, to be assured of their election, pry into the eternal