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There is a false teaching that has nearly taken over the church. It is a teaching that directly attacks the traditional doctrines of grace (TULIP) of the Reformation. It was the intent of those who first began to spread it, the most well known being Charles Finney, to do so and it was an attack fed by Satan and I suspect he laughed all the while. And the reason it was so successful was because it is the very thing the serpent fed our first parents. "You will know----you will be like God." In other words they would be free of him and have no need of him, and according to the serpent, God was a jealous liar anyway. After all, the fruit looked good, probably tasted good, how could it be bad? It appealed to itching ears. A salvation that requires nothing of them but to answer an altar call and say a prayer inviting Jesus to come into their life. Then they can be saved from hell, and live however they please in some cases. In all cases, free of learning the deep doctrinal foundations of the faith they profess.
For with the entry of this teaching, traditional Protestant doctrine came to be seen as a hindrance and unnecessary. A door was opened for any teaching and any false teacher to come into the church and teach whatever pleased him. There was no grounding of the flock. The world and culture came in instead and the inability to discern right from wrong. It is the sheep who suffer because of this, for truly some are his sheep. It brings to my mind Ez 34, which should be a dire warning. And here be butt right up against another false teaching that came through the same door as the first, that would ignore that prophecy because it is seen as only applying to Israel, when in fact it is the very heart of an unchanging God.
The teaching I speak of here is that God would never choose who to save and leave the rest to destruction. It is seen as unfair, and a just God would never be unfair, therefore he gave us a will free to choose whether to believe in Christ or not. It does not undo his sovereignty it is said, because he sovereignly chose to do that. Which is a ludicrous, illogical statement, but I digress. It does not matter in this system or to those caught up in it, that the Bible no where teaches any such thing. They make it say that by pointing out that God asks them to choose between obeying or disobeying the Sinai Covenant stipulations. Or every time the command to repent is given or when it says "all those who believe". But of course they infer the word "choose" into those passages, and fail to recognize that choosing between two options is not the same thing as choosing to believe in Christ.
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that most likely those who insist that God must let them make a choice of whether or not to be saved, otherwise they are not responsible for their unbelief, do not see that it is the same lie that Adam and Eve fell for. More than that, it is because of the "old creature" still lurking inside of us and at war with our spirit. Certainly when this is pointed out, it is denied. But it is denied on principle and because of never having been grounded in sound doctrine: Not from the pulpit, the media, the written material that comes from the same school of thought. And not having done it themselves.
The flesh fights above all else to maintain at least some supposed autonomy, bred into us and our nature, so to speak, from the very transgression in the Garden of Eden. And this teaching of a will that is "free" to make up our own mind whether or not to accept Jesus as our Savior, satisfies that desire. Even if the person who has fallen for the lie does not in any way recognize that, it is still the case. We have grown adept at hiding from ourselves, but we cannot hide from God.
If the Bible is parsed from its whole to try and defend that position, tooth and nail, when the assertions are proved clearly and definitive from Scripture to be a gross misuse of Scripture that creates contradiction in God's word all over the place, it can only be done by a stubborn refusal to back down. Our flesh puts up a fierce battle in this regard, that requires us to deliberately shut our eyes and stop up our ears to what we are being shown. And we hide that from ourselves too.
But the really sad thing, the devastating thing to one's Christian walk, is what is missing. And that is growing in the true knowledge of God, communing with him as he is. Being truly submitted to the Lordship of Christ. Of learning who he is, more and more, and basking in his glory, gaining spiritual strength, growing instead of standing still.
Ask him to show you the truth of the matter, instead of telling him the truth of the matter. Ask him to give you a desire to know his truth above all else, no matter what it is, or whether or not you like it. Put him first. Ask him to tear down the strongholds that have been established against his truth.
The other option is to be complacently satisfied with what one has, believing there is nothing more, and needing nothing more.
For with the entry of this teaching, traditional Protestant doctrine came to be seen as a hindrance and unnecessary. A door was opened for any teaching and any false teacher to come into the church and teach whatever pleased him. There was no grounding of the flock. The world and culture came in instead and the inability to discern right from wrong. It is the sheep who suffer because of this, for truly some are his sheep. It brings to my mind Ez 34, which should be a dire warning. And here be butt right up against another false teaching that came through the same door as the first, that would ignore that prophecy because it is seen as only applying to Israel, when in fact it is the very heart of an unchanging God.
The teaching I speak of here is that God would never choose who to save and leave the rest to destruction. It is seen as unfair, and a just God would never be unfair, therefore he gave us a will free to choose whether to believe in Christ or not. It does not undo his sovereignty it is said, because he sovereignly chose to do that. Which is a ludicrous, illogical statement, but I digress. It does not matter in this system or to those caught up in it, that the Bible no where teaches any such thing. They make it say that by pointing out that God asks them to choose between obeying or disobeying the Sinai Covenant stipulations. Or every time the command to repent is given or when it says "all those who believe". But of course they infer the word "choose" into those passages, and fail to recognize that choosing between two options is not the same thing as choosing to believe in Christ.
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that most likely those who insist that God must let them make a choice of whether or not to be saved, otherwise they are not responsible for their unbelief, do not see that it is the same lie that Adam and Eve fell for. More than that, it is because of the "old creature" still lurking inside of us and at war with our spirit. Certainly when this is pointed out, it is denied. But it is denied on principle and because of never having been grounded in sound doctrine: Not from the pulpit, the media, the written material that comes from the same school of thought. And not having done it themselves.
The flesh fights above all else to maintain at least some supposed autonomy, bred into us and our nature, so to speak, from the very transgression in the Garden of Eden. And this teaching of a will that is "free" to make up our own mind whether or not to accept Jesus as our Savior, satisfies that desire. Even if the person who has fallen for the lie does not in any way recognize that, it is still the case. We have grown adept at hiding from ourselves, but we cannot hide from God.
If the Bible is parsed from its whole to try and defend that position, tooth and nail, when the assertions are proved clearly and definitive from Scripture to be a gross misuse of Scripture that creates contradiction in God's word all over the place, it can only be done by a stubborn refusal to back down. Our flesh puts up a fierce battle in this regard, that requires us to deliberately shut our eyes and stop up our ears to what we are being shown. And we hide that from ourselves too.
But the really sad thing, the devastating thing to one's Christian walk, is what is missing. And that is growing in the true knowledge of God, communing with him as he is. Being truly submitted to the Lordship of Christ. Of learning who he is, more and more, and basking in his glory, gaining spiritual strength, growing instead of standing still.
Ask him to show you the truth of the matter, instead of telling him the truth of the matter. Ask him to give you a desire to know his truth above all else, no matter what it is, or whether or not you like it. Put him first. Ask him to tear down the strongholds that have been established against his truth.
The other option is to be complacently satisfied with what one has, believing there is nothing more, and needing nothing more.
