Saturday, February 9, 2019

The Valley of Indecision

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

valley of indecision Most likely you're familiar with the story of David and Goliath:

"Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. A champion went out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span [9 feet, 6 inches]. He had a helmet of brass on his head, and he was clad with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. He had brass shin armor on his legs, and a javelin of brass between his shoulders. The staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and his shield bearer went before him.

"He stood and shouted to the armies of Israel, and said to them, 'Why have you come out to set your battle in array? Aren't I a Philistine, and aren't you servants of Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants, and serve us. The Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, so that we may fight together.' When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid. Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons. The man was an elderly old man in the days of Saul" (1 Samuel 17:2-12).

There the two armies stood, facing each other overlooking the "Valley of Indecision." To the Israelite army, it looked like insurmountable odds: Goliath, a giant over nine feet tall, against any one of their soldiers! Have you ever faced such a challenge, such an overwhelming evil force, where it seems like there's absolutely no way you could ever come out alive? Then along comes David, who seems like a smart-aleck teenager to his older brothers as he brags - "I can do it! Let me at him!" And he did it. With a slingshot and five smooth stones, David overcame Goliath's coat of armor, brass helmet, spear and javelin by sending a stone straight into Goliath's forehead, killing him instantly, snatching victory out of the jaws of defeat! Then he cut off Goliath's head with the giant's own sword.

Think of the terrible odds that Noah faced: "God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make an ark of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ark, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch" (Genesis 6:12-14). Put yourself in Noah's shoes: "How on earth am I ever going to build this Ark? It's HUGE and I've only got three sons, everyone else is totally evil and against me!" But he did it anyway!

Remember the story of Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal? "Elijah came near to all the people, and said, How long will you waver between two opinions? if the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him. The people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah to the people, I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred fifty men" (1 Kings 18:21-22). There the people stood in the "Valley of Indecision." Which side would they choose? One against 450 might seem like pretty lousy odds... but one believer plus the Lord is a majority!

John the Baptist preached to the multitudes - "'Every valley will be filled. Every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth. All flesh will see God's salvation.' He said therefore to the multitudes who went out to be baptized by him, 'You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and don't begin to say among yourselves, "We have Abraham for our father"; for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones! Even now the axe also lies at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doesn't bring forth good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.' The multitudes asked him, 'What then must we do?' He answered them, 'He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise.'" (Luke 3:5-11).

Some of the people responded, they repented and were baptized, then they brought forth fruits worthy of repentance - good works. Others held back, resting on the laurels of their ancestor's faith, Abraham's obedience flowing from his faith. That's the easiest excuse: "My parents raised me right, I went to Sunday School and church every week!" - they say as they sit on the couch, watching TV until midnight on Saturday and then sleep in on Sunday morning.

St. Paul wrote to the Hebrews - "Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today if you will hear His voice, don't harden your hearts, as in the provocation, like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me by proving Me, and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was displeased with that generation, and said, "They always err in their heart, But they didn't know My ways"; As I swore in My wrath, "They will not enter into My rest."' Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called 'today'; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews 3:7-12).

The Apostle is referring to the time when the Israelites, having been freed from slavery in Egypt, grumbled and rebelled against Moses time and again for forty years. Even though they had been set free externally, they were still slaves internally, in their hearts and thoughts. They had fallen away from the living God. To them, it was simply the natural, normal thing to do: complain and be uncooperative if things weren't just right. "Why cooperate with this guy Moses? Look what a poor leader he is! See what a mess he's gotten us into!" But none of those do-nothing complainers made it into the Promised Land, not a single one of them.

Cicero, the Roman statesman and philosopher who lived just before Christ's birth, once said - "More is lost by indecision than by wrong decision." It's easy to complain, to sit back and do nothing, to waste our time watching TV or doodling on Facebook when there are more useful and important and even urgent things that we could and should be doing. Many people are afraid to take positive action because they fear they might fail, but the biggest failure is the failure to step up to the challenge and act. "Not to decide is to decide not to." Not making the decision to take action is actually making the decision to do nothing!

David took a big risk when he faced Goliath. Noah stepped up to the plate and took the challenge to build the Ark when it seemed an impossible task. Elijah staked his life on facing down the prophets of Baal. What is the challenge that God has given you? Are you going to decide to accept the risk of trying, or are you afraid of failure or making a fool of yourself? The biggest fool was that unfaithful servant who buried his talent in the ground, risked nothing... and lost everything!

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 9 Feb. 2019.)

To keep our websites free,
please Support Agape Restoration Society: click on the "DONATE" button there.
Also, please Share Our Vision with your family & friends.
And shop at our Amazon.com Store too: when you purchase an item
using our link, a few percents are credited to our affiliate account.

Sunday, January 13, 2019

Works of the Law vs. Antinomianism

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

legalism vs. antinomianism This illustration provides a fairly good definition of "Works of the Law" or legalism vs. disregarding all laws and norms or "Antinomianism." In my previous essay "Works of the Law vs. Good Works" I emphasized the idea that the incorrect reaction against Works of the Law, that is, scrupulously observing the ritual Law of Moses, is to disregard the necessity for Christians to do good works: caring for the poor, widows and orphans, etc. Yet, there are some people who claim to be Christians but who label such good works as "the social Gospel" and instead focus only on winning souls for Christ, studying the Bible, etc.

But there is an even more extreme and incorrect reaction against Works of the Law, which is called "Antinomianism" - a fancy theological term that means being against all norms and laws. These people consider that our freedom in Christ means being free to disobey civil authorities at will. They take parts of verses such as "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29b) and "For you are not under law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14b) to be licenses to disregard all human norms, laws and regulations such as speed limits and other traffic laws, import and export tariffs and other taxes, copyright laws, etc. I've known some who claim to be Christians but they commit fornication, smuggle electronic equipment across borders for their own personal use, they cheat on their income taxes, regularly violate speed limits and run red lights, reproduce copyrighted Christian literature without permission and many other sins and crimes.

What do the Scriptures tell us about this? Here's what St. Paul wrote in Romans 6:1-4 -

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism to death, that just like Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life."

It's an enticing argument: "If I sin, God will extend His grace and forgive me, so the more I sin the more grace will abound." Paul's response is - "God forbid!" (in the King James Version). We were baptized into Christ's death, so we should be dead to sin! But temptation is strong and we humans sometimes prove to be too weak to resist. Today, however, we have the expressions - "If it feels good, do it!" and "Whatever turns you on!" St. John wrote in Revelation 2:19-22 what the Angel of God said to the church in Thyatira -

"I know your works, your love, faith, service, patient endurance, and that your last works are more than the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate your woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. She teaches and seduces my servants to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great oppression, unless they repent of her works."

Yes, it is possible to even do "good works" such as service to the poor, helping widows and orphans, etc. but at the same time yield to sexual temptation, led into sin by women preachers and politicians who speak fancy words that seduce people into sexual immorality. The modern mantra is - "What you do in private doesn't matter, it's only what you do for society that's important!" - as if fornication, adultery, abortion, and homosexual acts have no effect on society. How foolish! When we have broken families with poverty-stricken and/or messed-up children, fatherless boys who grow up with no self-worth or any idea of how to become a man, tens of millions of dead babies, and worldwide plagues of HIV-AIDS and Ebola... yes, it does matter what people do in private!

Greed: Modern capitalism is based on the distorted idea that accumulating wealth is the most important thing in life, so that it becomes for many people a fixation or a compulsive-addictive behavior - an addiction - "greed is good." A fancier, more "theological-sounding" word for greed is covetousness. In Luke 12:15-21 we read how Jesus gave us the parable of the rich man -

"Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man's life doesn't consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses." He spoke a parable to them, saying, "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth abundantly. He reasoned within himself, saying, 'What will I do, because I don't have room to store my crops?' He said, 'This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. I will tell my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry."' "But God said to him, 'You fool! Tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared -- whose will they be?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

Envy: This is greed turned inside-out. Instead of simply striving for more and more fame, success, money and things for myself ("He who dies with the most toys wins" - how foolish!), envy looks at what other people have and, while secretly wishing to grab those things for myself, I outwardly condemn "the rich" for having so much wealth and not sharing it with "the poor" (that is, with me). This makes me appear very righteous and selfless, but it's actually a mirror-image of greed. If greed is the main sin of capitalism, envy is the main sin of socialism: Dorothy Sayers says it well - "Envy is the great leveler: if it cannot level things up, it will level them down... rather than have anyone happier than itself, it will see us all miserable together."

Gluttony: - Quoting from chapter 11 in my book The Ministry Driven Church, pages 79-80 -

Deut. 21:20-21 places the death sentence on drunkards and gluttons, and Prov. 23:20-21 tells us drunkenness and gluttony lead to laziness and poverty. In the New Testament we read: "But give attention to yourselves, for fear that your hearts become over-full of the pleasures of food and wine, and the cares of this life, and that day may come on you suddenly, and take you as in a net" (Lk. 21:34); "For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries" (1 Pet. 4:3); "Let us walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy" (Rom. 13:13); and "Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: … envyings, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God" (Gal. 5:19a and 21). Here we see that gluttony ("orgies," "carousings" or "reveling") is on the same level as drunkenness, and the last passage cited tells us, "those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God."

Time does not permit me to quote the Scriptures about Noah and the depraved nations that brought the Lord to despair of all humanity; of Lot and the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, then Lot's incest with his daughters; Abraham looking for a wife for Isaac but not from the surrounding immoral pagan nations - Genesis 24:7-8; Isaac looking for a wife for Jacob but not from the surrounding immoral pagan nations - Genesis 28:1-2; but the prophet Hosea being commanded to take a prostitute as a wife for a parable of Israel's whoring after other gods and committing sexual immorality - Hosea 4:6-14. All of these things and more in the Old Testament are given to us as negative examples of what we should not do as Christians - "Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted" (1 Corinthians 10:6).

When Jesus sent out His Apostles to preach, He told them - "Whoever will not receive you nor hear you, as you depart from there, shake off the dust that is under your feet for a testimony against them. Assuredly, I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!" (Mark 6:11). Even worse than the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah is rejecting the Gospel of Christ, the Good News of salvation and sanctification from all sin.

The meaning and purpose of life is not to do "whatever feels good or turns you on" - that is slavery to sin, to compulsive-addictive behaviors that will maim and kill you. The true purpose of this life is to prepare for the next, to strive for theosis, becoming partakers of the divine nature: "Pursue peace with everyone and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14).

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 13 Jan. 2019.)

Saturday, December 29, 2018

Works of the Law vs. Good Works

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

Works of the Law vs. Good Works "...knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law" (Galatians 2:16). It would seem clear from this verse that St. Paul is writing about "the works of the law" - that is, circumcision, following the dietary laws and observing the religious holidays spelled out in the Law of Moses; especially so when we consider these texts in Galatians:

"...when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles [the uncircumcised], and they to the circumcision" (ch. 2:9), and "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith that works through love" ((ch. 5:6).

And yet, many fundamentalist preachers will insist - "Good works cannot save you!" - by which they actually teach you shouldn't do any good works because that might mean you're trying to save yourself by works, not by faith. They will quote Ephesians 2:8-9 - "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast." But they conveniently ignore the very next verse - "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them."

Such people (including Martin Luther) have big problems with the writings of St. James, brother of our Lord and first Bishop of Jerusalem - "But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected" (James 2:20-22). Faith that does not produce good works is dead faith, not living and saving faith.

These "anti-works" advocates deliberately ignore St. Paul's writings to Titus - "in all things showing yourself an example of good works" (ch. 2:7a), and "our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good works" (ch. 2:13b-14), also "being justified by His grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This saying is faithful, and concerning these things I desire that you affirm confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.... Let our people also learn to maintain good works to provide what is necessary, that they may not be unfruitful" (ch. 3:7-8, 14).

Martin Luther's strong reaction against the selling of indulgences to buy one's way out of purgatory led him to insist on salvation by faith alone ("sola fide"), not by works. But the only Scripture text mentioning "faith alone" is James 2:24 - "You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone." No wonder Luther wanted to exclude the Epistle of James from his Bible! Luther hung his hat on Romans 1:17 - "For in it is revealed God's righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, 'But the just shall live by faith.'" This last phrase is quoted from Habakkuk 2:4 in the Old Testament and is one of the most quoted phrases in the New Testament. Faith is more than merely a mental assent to the facts that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for our sins and rose on the third day: faith is a way of life, it is righteous living!

And in ch. 2:6-7 we read - "[God} 'will repay to everyone according to his works': to those who by patience in doing good seek for glory and honor and incorruptibility, eternal life." God gives eternal life to those who do good works! How could Luther have missed these verses? Remember that Luther was formerly an Augustinian monk: It was because of the Augustinian misinterpretation of Romans 5:12 - "Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, for in him [Adam] all sinned." (The correct translation is - "...death passed to all men, in that all sinned.") From his misunderstanding of this verse, Augustine deduced that all mankind is guilty of Adam's sin and therefore all mankind is totally depraved and incapable of doing any truly good works, unless and until being justified by God's grace. But this flies in the face of our experience that even non-Christians are capable of doing good deeds for altruistic reasons, not for hidden, devious or evil motives.

So we see here two problems. First, that people have confused "works of the Law" with "good works" - they have conflated these two different ideas to make them mean the same thing; actually, though, they are quite different and almost opposites. Second, fundamentalist preachers would say that St. Paul didn't really mean that people could inherit eternal life by doing good works because that would be impossible due to all people being guilty of original sin and thus are totally depraved and incapable of doing any good works. In reality, our human nature has been weakened by our ancestors' sin and thus we are prone to sin but still capable of doing good works.

The idea that Jews could be righteous by being circumcised, or tithing of all their possessions including their garden spices like mint and cummin, or not walking over the prescribed number of paces on the Sabbath, etc. is very much like the idea that Christians can be pardoned by saying 100 Hail Marys or 40 Lord have Mercys or fasting from four-legged meat on Wednesdays and Fridays. All these things might be valid spiritual disciplines to train us to be led by the Spirit and not by the flesh, but they shouldn't become laws, which if we break them we will be damned. The real laws are to love God with all our being and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 29 Dec. 2018.)

Saturday, December 15, 2018

Transformed Into His Likeness

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

(description of photo) "The Word became flesh, and dwelled among us. We beheld His glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Right at the beginning of his Gospel, the Apostle John describes the glory of Jesus Christ. A bit farther in this chapter, John tells us how that glory was revealed: "I saw the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on Him. ...I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God" (verses 32 & 34). This is the first "Epiphany" (revelation) of Jesus as the Son of God in His glory.

In Luke 9:28–36 we read of the Transfiguration of Christ - "As He was praying, the appearance of His face was altered, and His clothing became white and dazzling." This transfiguration is very likely what John was referring to in John 1:14, when Peter, James and John beheld His glory. St. Peter testifies of the Transfiguration - "For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, 'This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased'" (2 Peter 1:17).

And Christ intends to share His glory with us - "Seeing that His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and virtue; by which he has granted to us his exceedingly great and precious promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust" (verses 3-4). This is St. Peter's testimony on participating in Christ's glory.

Next, St. Paul also testifies on the topic of transformation - "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2). The Greek word here for "transformed" is metamorphousthe, the same word used for "transfigured" in Luke 9. So it is the same process, the same action of God's Spirit both in Christ and in us.

After Moses received the Ten Commandments from God, he came down from Mt. Sinai and, having been in the presence of God, his face was shining with glory so much that he had to put a veil on his face because the Israelites couldn't bear to look at the brightness (Exodus 34:35). As St. Paul writes, however, in 1 Corinthians 3:16 & 18 - "But whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ...But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit." Christ's glory in us is far greater than the glory that shone on the face of Moses!

As a side note, I should explain that the Church Fathers make a distinction between God's image in all mankind and His likeness in Christ's followers. Here's an analogy: the image is similar to the blueprint or plan or design, but the likeness is the way that a specific house or car follows the blueprint or plan or design. For example, a new Mercedes car is in the Mercedes image, but if it gets in a bad wreck it may no longer be in the Mercedes likeness. Similarly, all people are in the image of God... but if they wreck their lives, they may no longer reflect God's likeness. Christ came, however, to restore or transform us back into the divine likeness.

We can't know exactly what this will be like because it is beyond our earthly experience, but St. John tells us - "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet revealed what we will be. But we know that, when He is revealed, we will be like Him; for we will see Him just as He is" (1 John 3:2). And St. Paul tells us - "For whom He [God] foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers" (Romans 8:29).

Paul also wrote - "For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; Who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself" (Philippians 3:20-21). And also - "For in Him [Christ] all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and you have this fullness in him, who is the head of all principality and power" (Colossians 3:9-10).

In conclusion, this should be our goal: "Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself up for it; that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that He might present the Church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:25b-27).

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!

Sunday, December 2, 2018

Contra Conditionalism, Purgatory and Universalism

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

(← click) When you click on this thumbnail photo, you'll see the three basic views regarding punishment (or not) in eternity: the Traditional or Biblical view, the Conditional view and the Universal view.

* Traditionalism teaches that everyone lives forever, the saved experience eternal bliss and the unsaved suffer eternal torment.
* Universalism teaches that everyone lives forever, the unsaved are refined and are ultimately saved to experience eternal bliss.
* Conditionalism teaches that the saved experience eternal bliss and the unsaved may suffer torment for a while and then are annihilated.

Universalism is based on a mistranslation of Acts 3:21 that would state - "whom heaven must receive until the times of universal restoration, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets" instead of "the restoration of all things" as in traditional translations, from the Greek words "apokatastaseos panton". The New RSV Translation (1989) contains the words "universal restoration." The Roman Catholic Church and many mainline denominations accept this translation, but it is rejected by some traditional Christian confessions including Eastern Orthodoxy. Universalism is thus also linked to the idea of Purgatory, that some people must undergo a temporary period of "purging" or "refining by fire" before they go to heaven and experience eternal bliss.

Conditionalism is based on the idea that man's soul is by nature mortal and dies when the body dies, but the gift of God is eternal life (Ephesians 2:9), the condition on which one receives it is by faith in Christ. Martin Luther rejected the doctrine of eternal punishment because it was linked to the Roman Catholic Church's sale of indulgences to escape purgatory: see https://www.truthaccordingtoscripture.com/documents/death/froom/luther-conditionalism.php.

Now I would like to set forth the traditional view, which has been the main teaching of Eastern Orthodoxy since the first century although it has been disputed. Origen, one of the Early Church Fathers, taught "apokatastaseos panton" or universalism, but after his death, later Church Councils found this idea to be contrary to the main teaching of Scripture and declared it to be heretical. Origen himself, however, is not considered to be a heretic because he was never confronted with the error of this teaching and thus did not have an opportunity to reconsider and repent.

Let us also take into consideration the plain fact that we mortals are bound by time and space, so it is outside of our experience to understand fully teachings about what is "beyond" time and space. Is eternity simply a very, very long time, or is it outside of time? Are heaven and hell places, locations in the cosmos somewhere? Or is the idea of "place" simply not fit to describe something "beyond" time and space? Indeed, "beyond" is not fit to describe non-space!

So now let's consider some of the main Scripture texts that tell of the afterlife. In Daniel 12:2-3 & 10b we read - "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the expanse; and those who turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. ...Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but those who are wise shall understand." This is one passage where the universalists might take the words "purify" and "refined" to imply a time of purging after death, but they deliberately disregard the words "everlasting contempt" which clearly state that punishment of the wicked will be everlasting. Also, this passage does not say that the purifying and refining occur for the wicked after death: the purifying and refining is for the saints and must begin in this life.

We could find more on this topic in the Old Testament, but now let's turn to the New Testament: in Matthew 22:13-14 we read - "Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness; there is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.' For many are called, but few chosen." God's call may refer to election, but those called may choose to not answer the call. As for how long they will be thrown into outer darkness, we read in Matthew 25:41 & 46 - "Then he will say also to those on the left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels. ...These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." which clearly says that the punishment by fire will be eternal.

In the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus we read - "Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that none may cross over from there to us" (Luke 16:26). Here we see that there is no going from Hades to Paradise, thus no Purgatory; the gulf between them is fixed and unpassable. This parable also teaches that those in Hades are conscious, not in some sort of "deep sleep" or simply dead and gone, annihilated.

Concerning Christ's teaching about when the Kingdom of God will come (Luke 17:20), He said -

"As it happened in the days of Noah, even so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise, even as it happened in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky, and destroyed them all. It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed" (Luke 17:26-30).

Here we see the analogy of flood and fire that "destroys them all." When compared with Christ's teaching about the Last Days in Matthew 25:41 & 46 above, we see that "destroy" does not mean "annihilate" but rather refers to the eternality of the fire and punishment.

In John 5:28-29 we read - "Don't marvel at this, for the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment." Here we see that the evil people are not simply dead and gone, annihilated; rather, they will be resurrected for judgment. But the purpose of His teachings are not just to "scare the hell out of us"; instead, "I say these things that you may be saved" (v. 39b).

A key passage about human sinfulness is Romans 3:23 - "for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God." Luther's translation of the Bible is beautiful: he puts it this way - "...fall short of the glory that we ought to have with God." God's eternal plan is for us to partake of His glory, to be transformed into the likeness of Christ starting in this life and on into eternity: "being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (v. 24).

But we read in Romans 5:12 - "Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, in that all sinned." This verse has caused much confusion because of Jerome's mistranslation in the Latin Vulgate - "...for in him [Adam] all sinned. St. Augustine took this verse and ran with it to develop his doctrine of all humanity's total depravity, the inheritance not only of Adam's sinful nature but of our being guilty of Adam's sin.

In the original Greek text, this idea is impossible because it uses the neutral pronoun "in that" - not the masculine "in him [Adam]" - death passed to all because we have sinned, not because Adam sinned. But even though newer Roman Catholic translations of this verse have been corrected, their doctrines of total depravity and all being guilty of Adam's sin have held fast. These doctrines led Augustine to teach that God sovereignly predestined before all creation that some will be saved (the "elect") and others will be damned (the "unelect"), and from this sprang the teaching of Purgatory and selling indulgences to escape Purgatory.

The Fall resulted in universal death, not in universal guilt; however, let's not focus on the negative: "But the free gift isn't like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many" (Romans 5:15). God is merciful and has provided in Christ the Way for "the many" of mankind to avoid eternal death.

We read in 2 Peter 3:7 & 9 - "But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same Word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. ...The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." The material universe will be destroyed and replaced with a spiritual universe. Ungodly mankind will exist as spirits that are conscious of their rejection of God's love and mercy. God does not wish for any to perish, but some will reject His call and not come to repentance. God is willing to save all humanity, but not all humans are willing to answer His call.

As society around us becomes more neo-pagan, rejecting traditional Christian teachings about morality, eternal life and eternal punishment, we must hold fast to the true traditions that have been passed down to us: "For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm to the end" (Hebrews 3:14). Notice the interesting verb tenses - "we have become" (past tense) "if we hold fast... to the end" (implied future tense). We have received the heavenly gift of eternal life, we have become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), referring to God's electing us from eternity past to save us by His grace ...but we must hold fast, our response to His calling us is not just a one-time event in the past, it is a life-long commitment to follow Christ and be gradually transformed into His likeness.

Hebrews 3:18 asks - "To whom did he swear that they wouldn't enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient?" And the answer is in the next verse - "We see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief." So disobedience = unbelief; therefore, belief = obedience. If you believe, you will obey His commandments. And this thought continues in the next chapter - "For we who have believed do enter into that rest, even as he has said, 'As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest;' although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. ...Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience" (verses 2 & 11).

St. Paul continues his teaching on the need for the saints to hold fast and persevere in their faith - "For concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and put him to open shame" (Hebrews 6:4-6). This destroys the notion of "once saved, always saved" - that once you "say the sinner's prayer" and believe in Jesus as your Savior, you're saved for all eternity. The idea of eternal security flows from Augustine's doctrine of eternal predestination, that God predestines the elect and nothing they do or don't do can change that. To the contrary, we must follow Christ's commands to love God and our neighbor, to not commit fornication, to not lie and steal, etc., and to repent of our sins daily.

In Revelation 14:9-12 we read - "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." There's no annihilation of the sinners here, no Purgatory here, only eternal punishment of the wicked and eternal bliss of the saints who obey and hold to the faith.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 2 Dec. 2018.)

Sunday, November 18, 2018

The Devil Made Me Do It

"The Devil Made Me Do It!"

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

You have doubtless heard the expression "The Devil Made Me Do It!" It's a convenient way to project guilt on someone or something else rather than accepting blame for one's own actions. This guilt-projection is as old as the human race: when Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit, Adam told God - "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." By this, he was casting blame on Eve... and on God. Then Eve told God - "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." So there it is: "The Devil Made Me Do It!"

Today we're not much more sophisticated: we say - "That's the way God made me!" or simply - "I was born that way!" But you must be careful to use the expression "Born That Way" to only refer to one of the protected species of victims in the LGBTQRSTUVWXYZ alphabet soup, or else you'll be found guilty of hate speech. When asked how you identify your gender, you must not say - "I'm male (or female), I was born that way," or the thought police might arrest you!

By using these expressions in this way, post-moderns are not only projecting blame on God or nature, they are also switching the old value system for their new value system: a "transvaluation of values" by which evil becomes good, left becomes right, red becomes blue, darkness becomes light, and wrong becomes right. This is what Isaiah prophesied (5:20-21) - "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!"

This twisted trait in human nature manifests itself in people's refusal to repent and change their ways: when a morbidly obese person or a nicotine-addicted chain smoker is told by a health professional that they need to change their harmful habits, they will often say - "I can just look at food and I gain weight!" or "I can stop smoking any time, I'm just not ready yet!" Such is the power of compulsive-addictive behaviors over people, that they simply can't stop. So they will turn to one of these lame excuses instead... until they're dead.

This death is not always physical death, it is what the Bible describes as being "dead in your trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). Spiritual death is being unresponsive to God's Holy Spirit, being unwilling to repent and change our ways. "But God, being rich in mercy, for His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ" (Eph. 2:4-5). It takes a miracle from God, a movement of God's grace in our hearts, to become able to repent and change our ways.

Do you remember the vision that the prophet Ezekiel had about the valley full of dry bones? Here it is:

"The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. He caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, behold, they were very dry. He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? I answered, Lord God, you know. Again he said to me, Prophesy over these bones, and tell them, you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and, behold, an earthquake; and the bones came together, bone to its bone" (Ezekiel 37:1-7).

I believe we can apply this text to the condition of being spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins. We say to ourselves - "I can't do anything about it, that's just the way God made me!" Or we say - "I was born fat, I was a fat little kid, I was always fat and I'll always be fat." Similar excuses pop up for smoking, alcohol addiction, sexual addiction, and on and on.

"But God, being rich in mercy" can break down our excuses and change our thought patterns. The Lord can speak to our "dead bones" and cause a fresh breath to enter into us, and we shall live. God's grace is the saving and transforming energies of God that, like the rays of the sun, can radiate into our dead, dry bones and, like warm spring sunlight striking shriveled-up seeds, can cause them to come alive again.

When Jesus began His ministry, He went into a synagogue, took up the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and read - "The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because Ne has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:18-19).

Are you brokenhearted, discouraged and depressed, unable to do anything to change your lifestyle? Jesus proclaims release to the captives and deliverance to the crushed. Are you ready now to change, that is, to be changed? He is ready, willing and able to change you, if you are ready and willing to change!

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!

To keep our websites free,
please Support Agape Restoration Society: click on the "DONATE" buttons there.
Also, please Share Our Vision with your family & friends.
And shop at our Amazon.com Store too: when you purchase an item
using our link, a few percents are credited to our affiliate account.

Saturday, November 3, 2018

Too Hot, Too Cold, or Just Right?

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

No doubt you remember the nursery story "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" about the bears' porridge Goldilocks tasted. Well, I'd like to tell you the revised story of "Too Hot, Too Cold, or Just Right?" Ready?

Once upon a time there were different bunches of people who fought and had heated arguments with each other over which is the best way to imagine the Unimaginable, to comprehend the Incomprehensible. Some would insist that the Incomprehensible is so utterly, absolutely sovereign that anything and everything He decides is automatically what will happen: if He chooses for me to go to heaven when I die, there's nothing I have to do about it - indeed, there's nothing I can do about it: I've been chosen and elected even against my will to spend all eternity walking the streets of gold. But if the Incomprehensible in His sovereign will chooses to throw you into the burning garbage heap of Gehenna for all eternity, that's just your tough luck: it's awfully hot down there. Sorry! Well, actually, I'm not sorry because that's simply the way things are predestined to be so there's no use feeling sorry, we must simply accept our fate, our predestined destiny.

Other people replied that such an Incomprehensible Being is just too, too... well, incomprehensible. They would rather imagine the Unimaginable to be all love, love, love... no harsh, hard, rough edges, no judgmental attitudes, just all mercy and kindness and fluffy niceness. The Incomprehensible wants everybody to go to heaven. You know the saying, "All dogs go to heaven"? Well, that applies to people too. In the Final Judgment, all bad thoughts, mean feelings and nasty actions will be purged away by a refining fire. That's all hell/Gehenna is, just a purging, refining fire for a short while - no eternal lake of fire, please. Let's be reasonable and rational about this; after all, the Incomprehensible must fit into our rational minds; we must be sensible, tolerant and inclusive, you know.

What's the problem with each of these scenarios? In the first, such an Absolute, such a totally sovereign Being leaves no room for human freedom to choose between right and wrong, good and evil. If there is no real freedom, no choice, then there is no basis for morality. Those who are chosen and elect will go to heaven no matter what they do, so they can do whatever they want: "A little drunkenness, a string of homosexual acts, how about embezzling that widow's savings? It's all OK - I'm chosen! Nothing can stop me from getting into heaven!" And those who aren't among the chosen and elect can also do whatever their passions and lusts dictate because doing good wouldn't do them any good - they're damned anyway, so they might as well have a good time while they can.

In the second scenario, there are no unelect, no damned. Everyone gets a green card, all go to heaven. There's no Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates; in fact, there are no gates at all - it's Open Borders, folks! Come one, come all! You were "Born That Way"? Doesn't matter, come on in! You peddled heroin and fentanyl to grade schoolers? Here's your free pass to heaven! You see, the second scenario is simply the first part of the first scenario but applied to all: God chooses everybody, His love extends to all. But again, it leaves no room for real freedom and no moral responsibility. This is called "hard universalism."

A fundamental problem with hard universalism is that it offers mankind a false hope, a "whitewash" - "Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have spoken falsehood and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, says the Lord God. My hand shall be against the prophets who see false visions, and who prophesy lies: they shall not be in the council of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord God. Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there is no peace; and when one builds up a wall, behold, they daub it with whitewash... Because with lies you have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not repent from his wicked way, and be saved alive" (Ezekiel 13:8-10 & 22).

But perhaps the most important failure of both viewpoints is that it renders meaningless all of the commands in Scripture to evangelize and make disciples of all nations: why preach the Gospel of salvation if everyone will be saved anyway? The first scenario is too hot, the second scenario is too cold. What's just right?

In January 2016, I wrote "DOES GOD GIVE US A SECOND CHANCE?" It explores the Biblical idea of Christ descending into hell and preaching to the departed. These Scriptural texts are neglected and not very well understood in western theology. But in Eastern Orthodoxy, these passages form the basis for a "soft universalism" that leaves room for our human freedom and moral responsibility for our choices. Good and evil, right and wrong still exist; people are rewarded for good acts and punished for evil acts. It still makes sense to preach the Gospel of forgiveness. When Christ descended into hell and preached to those who lived before He came to earth and to those who died later without ever hearing a clear presentation of the Gospel, they all had or will have the opportunity to choose whether to accept the grace of God, salvation through faith in Christ, or not.

But even with the clearest presentation of the Gospel from the lips of Christ Himself, some simply will not repent:

"The rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they would not worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk. They did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their sexual immorality, nor of their thefts" (Revelation 9:20-21).

Also, "People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They did not repent and give Him glory. The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They did not repent of their works" (Revelation 16:9-11).

The Incomprehensible God is not limited to what we humans can comprehend by our finite rational ability: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither 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" (Isaiah 55:8-9). God is infinite and absolute, we're not. Our little brains are like an old Commodore 64 computer with a cassette tape for storage compared to His racks upon racks of multi-threaded, multi-core processors and terabytes of solid-state drives. If you think you can comprehend God with your puny rationality, you either have a very small god, or a very big head.

What must we do? "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:6-7). If you have heard the Gospel during your lifetime on this earth and rejected it or simply procrastinated: "Not now, I'm too busy with my career making money, or fooling around having fun; no time to repent right now," you won't get a second chance in the afterlife. Do you think you can tell God on Judgment Day that you never had an opportunity to really hear the Gospel? Now that you've heard, you can't use that excuse. Don't even begin to think you can "work the system" and outsmart God! He's way smarter than you!

This is your "Goldilocks moment" when things are "Just Right." Don't put it off 'til tomorrow, for tomorrow may never come.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 3 Nov. 2018.)