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Christianity Drives People from God’s Righteousness
Scripture tells us how Satan deceives. In short, the Adversary becomes the very thing the masses believe he opposes. Most people think that this wily serpent opposes Christianity and that is exactly why he became Christianity.
13 For such are false apostles, fraudulent workers, being transfigured into apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel, for Satan himself is being transfigured into a messenger of light.
15 It is no great thing, then, if his servants also are being transfigured as dispensers of righteousness — whose consummation shall be according to their acts. – 2 Corinthians 11: 13-15In the above verses, Paul says that Satan is transfigured into a messenger of light. His minions are described as being apostles of Christ and dispensers of righteousness. Now, everyone would claim that they are not and some other group is the false apostles of Christ. Some, I’m sure, would accuse me of talking falsely about Jesus. However, the proof is in the pudding. In this case, the proof is in what they are dispensing…righteousness!
Obviously, Satan and these false apostles are not dispensing the righteousness of God that comes through Christ’s faith (Romans 3:22). Indeed they are dispensing a righteousness though, while claiming to be apostles of Christ. So, what is the righteousness they are dispensing?
Here it is! This is why Satan became Christianity. Satan became Christianity to claim the name of Christ and tell lies about Him. Satan became Christianity to take the name of Christ, the righteousness of God and turn it into human righteousness. All the while, getting people to believe that it is Christ.
How does Satan do this? He does it by making the righteousness of God achieved by Christ contingent upon the human being. Put another way, salvation accomplished by Christ alone is now made effective or ineffective by human action, therefore the righteous act of humanity. Christ’s death for sin, His entombment, and His resurrection accomplished salvation for all mankind. However, Satan shifts the focus of the cross to only apply to those that righteously fight their own sin. Instead of letting grace through the accomplished work of Christ be our motivation, Satan makes salvation an attainment of human righteousness.
This is the righteousness that false apostles of Christ are dispensing!
You see, Christians always claim to have oil in their lamps (self righteousness). They claim to be rapture ready (self righteousness). They claim to overcome their sin (self righteousness). They also claim to make a faith decision independent of God for salvation (self righteousness).
If only Christians knew that this self righteousness is the false righteousness dispensed by Satan and his fakers. If only Christians knew that God’s righteousness comes in our unworthiness, our UN-readiness, and independent of any human act…and the only sin that keeps a person from aionion (not eternal) life is this:
The belief that a human can do anything independent of God to earn God’s righteousness.
God’s righteousness is only achieved through Christ alone. It is not achieved through Christ and human contribution. Everyone in the universe eventually comes to this realization and the timing of that realization is the order in which they will be saved.
Jesus Christ says that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws him (John 6:44) and then says that He will draw ALL to Himself (John 12:32). This means that God will bring all men to Christ. However Satan, through Christianity, says that no man will come to Christ unless that man makes the right decision.
Romans 5: 18-19 says that the same all that are condemned in Adam are justified by Christ. However Satan, through Christianity, says that Adam condemned all mankind but Christ can only justify those that live justly through righteous behavior. Adam’s act was so powerful that it spread to all humanity, but Christ is limited to justify only those who exemplify great human achievement. Thus, making Adam greater than Christ as Christ’s work is based on human righteousness and Adam’s is based on nothing from the human.
1 Corinthians 15:28 says that God will be All in all. However Satan, through Christianity, says that God will only be All in some. The ‘some’ achieve this status and allow God to fill them because of their rightous decision, their good works, their overcoming of sin, and on and on. In essence, the believer achieves salvation through their own rightousness, not that of Christ.
Colossians 1:20 says that All will be reconciled to God through the blood of the cross. However Satan, through Christianity, says that the cross reconciles no one without human contribution.
2 Corinthians 5: 19 says that God was in Christ conciliating the world to Himself, not reckoning their offenses to them. However Satan, through Christianity, says that God IS reckoning the world’s offenses to them and no one is conciliated unless the human acts righteously and accepts the offer.
1 Timothy 4:10 says that God is the Savior of all mankind, especially of believers. However Satan, through Christianity, says that God is exlclusively the Savior of only those that righteously excercised their free will to believe. Thus, salvation is based on human decision, not Christ.
Isaiah 45:7 says that God created evil. However Satan, through Christianity, convinces people that they have to choose good over evil in order to be saved. Therefore, its the humans ability to overcome evil that saves them, not Christ. So according to Christianity, evil is not a part of God’s plan that evenuates in good but is something created by Satan that human righteousness must overcome so that God can save them. Again, human righteousness is the deciding factor of salvation.
2 Timothy 1:9 says that God calls believers into grace before time began and that it is not in accord with human acts. However Satan, through Christianity, says it is all of human acts, human righteousness. In fact, Christianity says that God doesn’t make this decision before time began but humans make the decision long after they are born. Satan denies that human decision is a result of God’s, and in doing so, makes the human act of decision making the rightousness that provides salvation.
Romans chapter 9 says that God forms the wills of men and determines every detail of life before they are born. In fact, He is the Potter and we are the clay. However Satan, through Christianity, convinces people that man forms his own will and the clay makes itself into vessels of dishonor. The Potter, God, can only react to the righteous behavior of His clay.
Romans 11:32 says that God locks up all in stubborness, that He should be merciful to all. However Satan, through Christianity, says that God locks up all in stubborness that He should only be merciful to those that have overcome their stubborness. Again, God’s mercy is dependent upon man’s righteous act of overcoming his own stubborness.
Christ came to save sinners and He died for us while we are still sinners, while we are enemies (Romans 5: 8-11). However Satan, through Christianity, says that Christ only died for those that can stop sinning long enough to make a righteous decision. So, even though Christ conciliated us while we are enemies (Romans 5:10), we must stop being enemies in order for His death to apply to us. Again, salvation based on human ability and not the death of Christ.
Scripture says that Christ killed the old humanity of sin and death. However Satan, through Christianity, drags the old humanity out of death in order for the righteous Christian to kill it themselves.
I can go on and on…
My point is that God accomplished salvation for mankind through Christ Jesus. It is God that gives man belief and it is God that witholds belief. Eventually, each and every person ever created will come to the realization of God’s righteousness completed through and only through Christ Jesus. This realization will determine the order in which a human will be saved, however, everyone is saved by Christ’s work, not their own. Our work is a result of God, not the other way around.
Satan has taken the name Christ, the One that saves, and makes it about self. He makes God’s rightousness in Christ a result of a human act. Therefore, the salvation that is all of God can only happen through human righteousness. This is how Satan’s minions dispense righteousness. They appear to be righteous as they promote human rightousness, not the righteousous of God that is achieved apart from human contribution. These false apostles of Christ deny God’s true righteousness achieved by Christ alone.
As a result, Christianity makes everything about self. They love their decision, they love their worship, they love their love, and they reject the One true God in doing so. Religious people claim to love but this love is faked in order to prove that they are worthy of God. How do we know this? Because their fake love, like the love of their fake god, runs out and they condemn people to hell for not joining them is self worship.
Go to any church service and listen to the beautiful music that makes people mistake worship for emotional diversion. They claim to worship a God that saved them only if they were smart enough, sinless enough, and self righteous enough to save themselves. Why don’t they sing to themselves if its their decision that sends them to heaven?
Long story short, to late I know, but Satan has made billions of people think they are serving Christ. But, the truth is that these Christians put themselves in front of Christ. How do we know this? Because everything they claim they have from Christ, including salvation, is not theirs or can be lost if THEY don’t do the right thing. False righteousness.
The true righteousness of God comes through Christ’s faith, His death for sin, His entombment, and His resurrection. Each come to a realization of this in God’s timing and order. God gives faith, God gives repentance, God gives everything.
We as humans need to stop crediting ourselves with doing the things that only God can do. This is the very false righteousness dispensed by religious folk talked about by our apostle in 2 Corinthians 11:15.
Grace, peace, and God’s righteousness to you all.
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Man’s Righteousness minimizes God’s
Those that seek to establish their own righteousness, miss the righteousness of God
Let’s imagine that every argument goes something like this: One side is always maximizing Christ’s accomplishment and minimizing man’s righteousness, while the other side is always minimizing Christ’s accomplishment and maximizing man’s righteousness. Which side would you like to be on?
I am going to briefly go over a few arguments. Its important to note that anyone believing in human free-will and eternal torment do so at the expense of the Cross in favor of human righteousness.
As I stated in my previous article, God’s ultimate goal is to be All in all. God will not become All in a creature until all ‘self-rightousness’ in that creature is gone. So any attempt for man to claim salvation by any act independent of God is indeed, self rightousness.
In fact, whatever a person claims he or she did to be saved that someone else did not do…directly takes away rigthousness from Christ and puts it on them. Let me demostrate this point with a few examples:
If a man claims to be saved by his ‘free will’ choice, then Christ’s righteousness for salvation only goes as far as man’s choice. Therefore, man is made righteous by his choice, not Christ’s act.
If a woman claims to be saved by not committing certain sins, then her ability to ‘not commit’ sins is what makes her righteous. Therefore, Christ’s death for all sin is limited to the ability of the woman not to perform these sins. Again, the woman can claim righteousness by not sinning.
Self righteousness is only extinquished in a person when they come to realization that All if of God, including salvation. The whole process from start to finish. Therefore, if you have faith, it was given to you by God. If you repent, its God that gave you repentance. If you do good works, its God that created the good works for you to walk in. The result of knowing that all is of God is the complete elimination of human self rightousness.
Again, every argument against Christ saving all mankind and favoring eternal torment is based on adding righteousness to human behavior and taking away the completed rigtheousness of Christ on the cross.
Here are just a few examples:
Human free-will vs. God’s complete Sovereignty:
Human free-will believes that despite Christ’s death for sin, His entombment, and His resurrection…its man’s decision that determines the effectiveness of Christ’s work. In fact, Christ’s work does nothing unless man makes the right decision. This glorifies man’s righteous decision.
God Sovereignty believes that God is the Potter and humans are the clay. Its God that forms the wills and decisions of man leading to an eventual end in which Christ saves every single person so that God will be All in all. Even vessels of dishonor will be reached by the power of the cross. Man’s decision is a result of God’s plan and serves a purpose of glorifying God and giving creatures experiences that will serve to multiply their future joy with God. This glorifies God and Christ and makes man’s decision a result of God. There goes man’s righteous decision.
Eternal Separation vs. the salvation of all:
The belief of eternal hell or annihilation teaches that God’s creatures cannot be reached by the cross. God either stops loving them, His hands are tied because of free-will, they are just too evil, or any other multitude of reasons. The bottom line in this argument is that Jesus came to die for sin and yet failed. God’s love and Christ’s death are no match for man or creature.
However, the salvation of all taught in scripture, teaches that Christ’s cross is more powerful than sin and God’s love eventually wins the heart and mind of every creature ever created. Human choice and action are no match for the Sovereign God and Jesus Christ accomplished salvation on the cross, without the need for a human to add their accomplishment in order to be saved. This truth glorifies God and the cross as being more powerful than the sin of man.
Jesus made it possible for you to be righteous and not sin:
Many people believe that Jesus made it possible ‘for you’ to now live righteously and without sin. So, Jesus did His work, now He passes the baton to the human so that they can live as He did. Therefore, this belief argues that Jesus made it possible for the human to perform for God and live righteously. The Son of God gave us the ability to live righteously but it is up to us to do so. Ultimately, again, Jesus saved no one and it is up the human to pick up that baton and save himself.
However, in truth, we are saved by dying with Christ and being resurrected with Christ. We are saved by His act. We are saved by Christ’s faith, His death for sin, His entombment, and His resurrection. Humans participate with Christ in what He accomplished. Christ did not set an example that we must now complete in order to save ourselves. Just like we get death from Adam, we get salvation from Christ…by no action or choice of our own. This magnifies the glory, power, and love of God for all creation. This is the only way that proves Christ is greater than Adam.
Saved by works vs. Saved by grace:
Those that believe it is ‘their’ faith or ‘their’ faith and works that saves, ultimately deny Christ’s work. Faith is a gift from God to bring us to a realization of Christ’s accomplishment for our salvation. We only have faith if God gives it to us. So, the belief that we independently provide this faith to God actually glorifies man. Same with works. If Christ’s cross needs our faith and works to be effective, then it is these ‘faith and works’ that actually save us, not Christ. This glorifies man’s work over Christ.
However, the truth is Christ’s act on the cross saved all humanity. God gives faith to some to realize this now and will provide judgement for the rest to come to this understanding. We have faith and we do works BECAUSE we are saved, not in order to be saved. This is all of God. He provides the salvation. He provides the faith. He provides the work. Salvation is all of God, not man.
Satan as creator of evil vs. God as Creator of evil
The belief that Satan created evil simply takes God off His throne. According to this thought, an outside presence created evil and exacted it on God’s creation when God did not want it there. Because of this evil and man’s free-will, God cannot do and get everything He wants. Therefore, He is not the Placer and Subjector as scripture says, but instead the reactor to Satan’s evil and man’s choice. This glorifies Satan and man over God.
However, the truth is that God created evil for a purpose. Evil will be used to bring every creature to a greater understand of God’s love and power that would not have been possible without it. Evil will also give each creature a greater capacity of joy having experienced the opposite. This means that God is in control of all evil and uses it for the ultimate good for every creature. Thus, glorifying God over all creation, not the creation over God.
The following arguments also put limits on the reach of Christ’s cross and the treasures available because of faith.
Preterism:
Preterism replaces what God will actually do for the whole universe to see and experience, with a figurative, whimsical, already accomplished ‘in a corner that nobody can see’ non-accomplishment. I’ve heard some people in this camp argue that Jesus has already returned and God is already All in all. This view promotes the secrecy of Christ’s accomplishment and denies the reality of it.
However, the truth is that God will actually deliver His creation from this ‘body of death.’ How can God be All in a person that still has ‘sin and death’ operating in him? How can God be all in His creation when ‘sin and death’ still exist? Everyone that dies in Adam will be made immortal by Christ. The apostle Paul says God becomes All in all when creation is made immortal. That means that God becomes All in all when ‘sin and death’ no longer exist. Preterism denies the outright victory of God through Christ.
Israel only and Acts 28:28 arguments
These arguments focus on Paul’s message being for Jews only or only some of his letters applicable to us today. There is a fatal flaw that disproves both of these beliefs. FAITH!
Sin and death are the issue that is dealt with in scripture. God, through Christ, dealt with sin and death. As human beings, we still have sin and death operating in us. Therefore, how can Paul’s letters that deal with sin and death, which is our issue, not apply to us? It’s as illogical as saying that Jesus dealt with ‘sin and death’ and Paul explains this in detail, yet it doesn’t apply to us even though ‘sin and death’ does. Either way, this limits Christ full accomplishment for all mankind and all that believe.
For both of these arguments, it is faith that disproves them because that is the method by which we have these promises. For instance, Paul says that becoming a son of God is THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS. It only matters if you put on Christ, not if you are a Jew or not. Paul also talks about promises that apply to all mankind, while highlighting special promises to those of the faith.
Those in the Jews only and Acts 28:28 camps put limits on the riches of Christ saying that the promises given strictly by faith are limited to a small, exclusive group based on nationality and/or the era in which they lived. How can anyone say that only Jews or only early members of the Body of Christ have specific promises that God says are for those that have FAITH? God does not close the full operation of faith and make it useless if you were not born in a certain era…or born a Jew.
These views limit the riches of Christ and His cross. However, the view that these riches and promises presented in Paul’s letters are for all humanity and on all that believe shows that Christ’s promises transcend the time and nationality limits put upon Him based on these arguments.
Oh, that we might stop putting limits on Christ’s cross. Let us understand Paul’s words in the beginning of Romans 10. Anything that a human claims to do that earns them salvation, when another person does not do this thing and loses salvation…is an act of human self-rightousness. Any act a human claims to make independent of God is human self-righteousness. Any creature that claims to give to God first, seeks to establish their own rightousness.
We must reject this need to be righteous in ourselves in order to fully embrace the righteousness of God, which comes by way of Christ, not us.
Grace and peace.
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Everything serves this goal: God All in all
Do we have a ‘free-will’ when God is our All?
When presented with undeniable scripture that proves Jesus Christ saves all creation through the blood of the cross…Why do Christians think this would cause people to sin more?
What do I mean? Well, our goal is to walk worthily of the calling. The problem with most Christians is that ‘walking worthily’ means performing for God to earn salvation. Therefore, if you do or don’t do certain things, you are not worthy of salvation.
On the other hand, those that have come to a realization of the cross ‘walk worthily’ because Christ saved them, something they could never be worthy of. So, why does Christ saving all mankind and every creature cause Christians to say that this causes people to sin more? Especially when the apostle says that this grace is the reason why believers ‘behave themselves’ in the world (2 Corinthians 1: 12-13).
As if the only motivation God could use for us to walk worthily is the threat of not being saved if you don’t. As if God couldn’t use love and thanksgiving and the assurance of salvation to motivate His creatures to walk worthily.
So, the reason Christians believe that Christ saving all will cause people to sin is because the only reason they behave themselves is to earn salvation. The motivation, for them, cannot be out of appreciation and thanksgiving for Christ’s accomplishment because if they don’t ‘walk worthily’ then salvation is NOT accomplished. It is always up to them, not Christ.
The tragic flaw in the Christian walk is that they reject grace and replace it with an ultimatum. Paul says that where sin increases, grace superexceeds (Romans 5: 20). The Christian says that where sin increases, you are not worthy. However, our worthiness, according to scripture, is based on Christ’s accomplishment for us and not our worthiness to get or maintain that accomplishment. REALIZATION that its Christ’s accomplished work on the cross that saves and not our reaction to it is what separates the believer from the unbeliever.
So, here is my point that sets up the purpose of this article: The order of salvation occurs through the process of God replacing ‘self worthiness’ in an individual to ‘Christ worthiness’ in that individual. God replaces the idea of walking worthily to earn salvation with the fact that salvation was accomplished by Christ alone. Then, walking worthily is done out of a grateful and pure heart, not out of fear and ‘self’ accomplishment.
This is part of the process in how God replaces ‘self’ with Himself. So, now on to the All in all…
God states His end-game goal in scripture. He has a target and a plan to get there. Everything that happens in creation leads to this goal being accomplished at the end of the ages.
This goal is God being All in all. The Almighty God being All to every single one of the creatures that He created. Sin, evil, death, goodness, joy, and every detail of experience and creation serve this purpose and nothing can stop God from accomplishing it.
In the past, I’ve focused on the fact that the second ‘all’ in All in all is every creature ever created, which it is. However, in this article, I am going to focus on the first ‘All.’ What does it mean for God to be All in a person?
Well, we need to look no further than Jesus Christ to see what God being all looks like. While engaging in His earthly ministry, Jesus said that He can only do what He sees the Father doing.
19 Jesus, then, answers and said to them, “Verily, verily, I am saying to you, The Son can not be doing anything of Himself if it is not what He should be observing the Father doing, for whatever He may be doing, this the Son also is doing likewise.
20 For the Father is fond of the Son and is showing Him all that He is doing. “And greater works than these shall He be showing Him, that you may be marveling. -John 5: 18-19This gives us an idea that when God fills us up, we, as well, will only do the things we see the Father doing. However, this is just a preview because Jesus, when HE uttered these words, had not yet gone through death and resurrection to become the Firstborn of a new creation. Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God and His name is above every name in creation. We will be conformed to the image of the Son. First believers, then the rest of creation will become children of God.
So, when Christ perfects us, what will it be like for God to be our All? First, will we have a free will to do anything outside of what we see the Father doing? If God is everything to us, then every experience we have is divine. We can only act according to God’s good pleasure when He is our All. We have no free will but only God’s will. In fact, because of vivification, we are delivered from our bodies of death so that we will be ‘free’ to live as the Creator intended.
The reason so many people believe in false doctrines such as ‘human free will and eternal conscious torment’ is because they do not understand God’s end goal. Once a person truly understands God’s plan and purpose, they will realize that everything serves the accomplishment of God’s desire. Christians put judgement, death, sin, and separation from God as the end. However, these things are not the end but a means to the end of God being All in all.
Alright, back to the free-will issue. Our future bliss is only as secure as the One that promises and provides it. Therefore, when God is All in His creature then we can know that creature’s future is secure because God is everything. As A.E. Knoch states regarding God being All in all: “
He will be everything to us. There will be nothing in our experience that will not be divine. Every occurrence, each incident, large or small, important or trivial, will come to us consciously as a gratuity given by God, and it will bring a constant response of adoring worship.”So again, I ask all free-willers out there: Do we have a free-will to go against God when He is our All? Could Jesus do anything He didn’t see the Father doing? The answer, I believe, is obvious.
Then, why do so many have a problem with not having a free-will in God’s process of getting us to the All in all? Its okay for God to force Himself on us in the All in all, but not okay in the creative process of our life here on earth? Our earthly life is a necessary experience of evil that shapes the contrast and glory of the All in all. Our lives and every decision we make sets up the All in all.
My objectors would say that God only fills those who have accepted Christ in their lifetime or followed certain rules. However, this is self-salvation in believing that you made a decision or action, apart from God, that someone else didn’t do or make in order for God to save you and not them.
The problem with this thinking is ‘self.’ The All in all results from God disposing of all self-righteousness in order for Him to be All in us. How can God be All in a creature that relies on ‘self’ for anything? He cannot. Therefore, how can God leave it to ‘self’ in a creature to achieve the All in all? He doesn’t. Christians want to say that God will be All in them and yet the accomplishment of this great feat is all up to a ‘self’ decision.
No way! God completes the All in us by cleaning out ‘self righteousness’ and replacing it with Him. That is the reason God is All in the believer first, because they realized God’s righteousness in Christ Jesus and His completed work. The rest will answer for ‘self righteousness’ through judgement which will eventually lead to God being their All.
So, God will be All in His creation. However, each in their own order or class. First, Christ, then believers, and last…everybody else. The beauty of this process is that God uses those that He fills to reach those that are not yet filled with God.
Christ is filled first. God is All in Jesus Christ. Jesus can do nothing He doesn’t see the Father doing. The Son of God is the perfect image of the Father and represents the Father in every way. Through Christ, God fills the rest of creation.
First, believers are filled with God’s righteousness at Christ’s appearing. Therefore, God fills them and becomes All in each and every believer. Now, believers have a special salvation (1 Timothy 4:10) in that they are filled by God first and become the COMPLEMENT of the One completing the All in all (Ephesians 1:23).
Okay, now let’s follow this logic. As Ephesians 1:23 says, believers are Christ’s Complement in completing the All in all. Therefore, believers are working with Christ in order to complete the All in all. Since believers are already included with Christ as complements, the completion of the All in all could only be God becoming All in unbelievers. Of course at this time judgement has occurred and the all will be subjected to Christ so all will believe.
Salvation is all of God and it is a glorious process. First, God becomes Christ’s All. Then, through Christ, God becomes All in believers. Then, through Christ and believers (complements), God becomes all in everyone else. All saved and subjected to Christ that God will be All in all (1 Corinthians 15:28).
Grace and peace.
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All Saved? What about those that Reject Christ?
God actually means ‘all’ when He says ‘all’ —
Question from viewer: Again I very much appreciate your response. I read many of the verses you posted as referring to those who receive Christ, but I see it as not including those who reject Him. Yes, all mankind will be redeemed, those who call on Jesus’ name. Those who reject Him are not included in this “all”. This is why I want you to address the devil and if you believe he will be redeemed. If all really means all, you must also believe the devil will be saved. Yet if the devil is not saved, then neither will those who follow after his lawlessness.
My Response: How can you think that the ‘all’ in 1 Corinthians 15: 21-28 is not ‘all?’ The context of chapter 15 is that Paul was speaking to people that didn’t believe in the resurrection and he says “for even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus also, In Christ, shall all be vivified (1 Cor. 15:22). Do we not all die in Adam? Is the first part of this verse referring to all humanity, since all humanity dies in Adam? Then, the second part of the verse applies to same ‘all’ as in the first. Notice this verse does not say that ‘all’ in Christ will be vivified, but it says In Christ, ‘all’ will be vivified. The same exact ‘all’ that die in Adam.
Not only does Paul talk about all that die in Adam will be made immortal in Christ, but he talks about all sovereignty, all authority, power and every enemy. This includes Satan and his minions. Paul says that ‘all’ these beings will be subjected to Christ and the only Being in all the universe not subjected to Christ is God Himself. That is the ‘all’ in question. That is the ‘all’ that God will be All in all in. This includes every creature ever created.
So my point is that this vivification that Christ gives is immortality. The second death cannot touch those that are given immortality and have put on God’s righteousness. This is everyone as proven in 1 Corinthians 15: 21-28.
You hit the nail on the head in your last sentence. Those that believe Satan is the creator of evil feel justified in separating this evil and the Adversary from God. Therefore, the natural conclusion is that those that choose evil will also be apart from God for eternity.
However, it is my view, as Isaiah 45:7 declares that God is the Creator of evil and its God that gives man an experience of evil, not Satan (Ecclesiastes 1:13). God, the only Creator, subjects His creation to vanity, not Satan, so that God can free creation from this bondage into children of God.
God is not evil and is not a sinner in doing this because He uses the evil for an eventual, good outcome (Genesis 50:20, Acts 4: 27-28). Evil was a part of the tree in the beginning and is part of God’s plan throughout the ages to show contrast. We experience evil, sin, and death so that we have a greater understanding and joy when we have goodness, righteousness, and immortality.
As far as the second death goes, any choice to be separate from God is a sin. Sin is an enemy and all enemies are abolished through the work of the cross, eventually. I could get into more detail but for time sake I’ll just say that Christ abolishing death only so the ‘2nd death’ will remain doesn’t make any sense.
As far as those that reject Christ, Paul brings all humanity back to Adam on many occasions. For instance, Romans 18-19 says that all mankind is condemned in Adam and justification through Christ is for the same ‘all mankind.’ The phrase ‘thus also’ refers to the ‘all mankind’ and the ‘manner’ in which they get justification. We did not accept the death of Adam to receive it, we inherited it. We did not accept the justification of Christ, we inherited it. Of course, those given belief will have salvation before everyone else.
1 Timothy 4:10 says that God is the Savior of all mankind, especially of believers. This qualifies unbelievers or those that reject Christ as being saved. If believers have a special salvation, then this verse says that non-believers have a salvation. Unlike believers that come in early through faith, unbelievers come in later through judgement.
How about the apostle Paul? Talk about a man that rejected Christ. He was breathing murderous thoughts and arresting Christians. He outright rejected Christ and did not make a choice to follow Him. Jesus told “what you MUST be doing” and this is a pattern of how believers come in. Paul was chosen by God first, then Paul made his decisions as a result (Acts 9: 6 and 15).
God delighted in severing Paul from his mother’s womb to unveil Christ Jesus (Galatians 1:15-16). If God chose Paul for his ministry from his mother’s womb, then Saul’s rejection was part of God’s purpose. So, what does God do to those that reject Christ? Well, Paul is the pattern (1 Timothy 1: 16).
15 Now, when it delights God, Who severs me from my mother’s womb and calls me through His grace,
16 to unveil His Son in me that I may be evangelizing Him among the nations, I did not immediately submit it to flesh and blood -Galatians 1: 15-1615 Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all welcome, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, foremost of whom am I.
16 But therefore was I shown mercy, that in me, the foremost, Jesus Christ should be displaying all His patience, for a pattern of those who are about to be believing on Him for life eonian. -1 Timothy 1: 15-16Jesus Christ died for our sins. You stated that Jesus was punished for us breaking the law? No sir. That is for Israel, the law NEVER came to us. Apart from law, we are saved by Jesus Christ’s faith and this is on all that believe and it is for everyone that doesn’t believe, just not yet (Romans 3: 21-23).
Again, Christ died for our sin. He did this while we were sinners and enemies, not when we became believers or accepted His message. Would you agree that those that reject Christ would be considered sinners and enemies? Well, these people are conciliated to God meaning that God is at peace with them.
8 yet God is commending this love of His to us, seeing that, while we are still sinners, Christ died for our sakes.
9 Much rather, then, being now justified in His blood, we shall be saved from indignation, through Him.
10 For if, being enemies, we were conciliated to God through the death of His Son, much rather, being conciliated, we shall be saved in His life. -Romans 5: 8-10See, Christ Jesus saves us because of His death for sin, His entombment, and His resurrection. Faith is just a realization of what Christ has done given to those God chooses, so that then and only then can they accept Christ. The rest (unbelievers) learn about Christ (Isaiah 26:9) through judgement. Nothing changes on how we get salvation, it just matters whether God reveals the completed work of Christ by faith or by judgement. The accomplishment of Christ never changes based on our acceptance or rejection.
Let me end with this…How can a man choose freely to accept or reject Christ when it was determined by God before time began whether he would do so or not?
2 Timothy 1: 9-11 makes it clear that it not up to our acts but the grace is given to us in Christ BEFORE TIMES EONIAN. God chooses who will believe and then works out the circumstances of their life so that they believe. Those God has not chosen will not believe. However, they will in the fullness of time. For God is the Savior of all mankind, especially of believers (1 Timothy 4:10)
9 Who saves us and calls us with a holy calling, not in accord with our acts, but in accord with His own purpose and the grace which is given to us in Christ Jesus before times eonian – 2 Timothy 1:9
Jesus Christ was rejected and nailed to a tree. Through this rejection came the salvation of the entire universe of God’s creation. If Christ was accepted by Israel, then how would He have gone to the cross? How would anyone be saved?
The truth is that Jesus could have called on His Father and the armies of heaven, but He did not. The truth is that no one took Christ’s life, but He laid it down (John 10:18). Christ died at the hands of those that rejected Him and in fact, He forgave them while they were doing it.
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” -Luke 23:34
Jesus died for and forgave those that rejected Him. He died for us ‘while we are enemies’ and ‘while we are sinners.’ Yet, Christianity wants to say that Christ died and forgave those that rejected Him only to torture them later, after He gets off the cross?
No way. Christ saves all of His enemies by reconciling them through the very cross that rejected Him.
In Genesis 2:7 it says that God blew the breath of life into Adam and he became a living soul. God is Spirit and it is His Spirit that animates all life. That is why death is a return as mentioned in Genesis 3:19. Our bodies return to the soil and our spirit returns to God. All life is alive because of God’s spirit, so how can any life ever be separate from the eternal God. It can’t, because every life has God’s spirit and God’s spirit cannot die. Resurrection is the return of God’s spirit into a new body. God’s spirit cannot go anywhere else. The ‘all’ has to be all creation.
Grace and peace.
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Will Satan be saved?
The Cross is more powerful than we can possibly imagine
Mainstream Christianity believes that God has given up His sovereignty by giving each one of His creatures a free-will. Now, God has to re-act and bow to man’s will. Is this true?
First, God created Lucifer to be a perfect angel and that failed. Somehow, this perfect angel turned himself into the adversary by creating evil and rebellion from within. How Satan did this when he is not the Creator, no one knows.
OR
God gave Lucifer, a name not ever mentioned in properly translated scripture, a free-will choice to serve Him or rebel. Again, nobody has an answer for how rebellion was even an option for Satan if God did not put it there.
Second, God created Adam and Eve to be perfect, but again, that failed.
Third, God had originally created many sons of elohim. However, they rebelled, left their habitation and mated with human woman that produced evil offspring, the nephilim.
Fourth, the nephilim were so evil and drove humanity to an evil so great that God wiped out His entire creation, save eight people in a worldwide flood.
Fifth, God gave a law to Moses for Israel to follow and yet, not one person could follow this law, save Christ.
How’s God doing so far?
Christians insist that this evil happened apart from God’s intention or that God gave His creatures free-will to make all of this happen. Yet, these same people claim that future events and promises will happen exactly as God plans them. How can this be if God’s track record shows the dysfunction of His creation either by God’s failure or the creature’s free-will? However, if the dysfunction of creation serves God’s purpose of completion, then the dysfunction is a means to an end and is planned by God.
Either way, the Christian argument falls flat on its face. Satan could not have created the rebellion and evil within himself because he is not the Creator. On the other hand, God could not have given Satan a free-will unless He provided an alternative choice of good, which is evil. Boom! There goes the view that God didn’t create evil.
You can’t have it both ways. You cannot say that God gave the mighty angel a free will without providing the evil and you also cannot say that the Adversary created the evil himself and then credit God with giving him a free-will. Makes no sense.
The truth, according to scripture, opposes the popular view of Christianity. God is the Creator of evil (Isaiah 45:7) and God created the adversary to be exactly what he is (Job 26:13). God is sovereign over all evil and over every enemy. The Almighty uses evil to bring creation to a greater glory that otherwise would have been possible without this experience.
So, the question I am answering in this article is this:
Will the devil also be redeemed along with all the fallen angels and demons?
Yes. Ephesians 6:12 states: 12 for it is not ours to wrestle with blood and flesh, but with the sovereignties, with the authorities, with the world-mights of this darkness, with the spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials.
This would include the Adversary, fallen angels, and demons considering they are the spiritual forces of WICKEDNESS among the celestials. Okay, so Colossians 1: 16 states: 16 for in Him is all created, that in the heavens and that on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or sovereignties, or authorities, all is created through Him and for Him, 17 and He is before all, and all has its cohesion in Him.
Notice the bold-type of these verses contain the exact same words describing the exact same beings. The wicked sovereignties, authorities, world-mights (thrones and lordships) are not excluded from the all created in Him. This is the exact same ALL that is reconciled to God through the blood of the cross (Colossians 1:20). Why would Paul take the time to describe all of creation, wicked included, as well as all visible and invisible? Then, not include them in the ALL that is reconciled?
Paul purposely defines all creation in verses 16 and 17 so that we will know the ALL that is included in verse 20. 20 and through Him to reconcile all to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross), through Him, whether those on the earth or those in the heavens.
This is why every celestial being will bow and confess Christ as Lord to the Glory of God, the Father. 10 that in the name of Jesus every knee should be bowing, celestial and terrestrial and subterranean, 11 and every tongue should be acclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord, for the glory of God, the Father (Philippians 2: 10-11).
Also, these sovereignties, authorities, and powers are mentioned again in 1 Corinthians 15: 21-28 as being put under Christ’s feet. These are the same ‘All’ that are part of the All in all in verse 28. Notice that Paul says ‘all sovereignty, all authority, and power will be subject to Christ so that God will be All in this all. Do you think this doesn’t include Satan and his minions when these terms clearly describe them?
24 thereafter the consummation, whenever He may be giving up the kingdom to His God and Father, whenever He should be nullifying all sovereignty and all authority and power.
25 For He must be reigning until He should be placing all His enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy is being abolished: death.
27 For He subjects all under His feet. Now whenever He may be saying that all is subject, it is evident that it is outside of Him Who subjects all to Him.
28 Now, whenever all may be subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also shall be subjected to Him Who subjects all to Him, that God may be All in all.) – 1 Corinthians 15: 24-28Follow the bold type in the above scriptures and you will see that the same all authority, all sovereignty, and all power that include wicked celestials are the same all that will be All in all.
In closing, it is important to remember that Satan, though evil beyond our imagination, can do nothing that God has not planned for him to do. Satan had to approach the throne of God and get permission to inflict evil upon Job. So, every time the objection arises that God would not be the ultimate author of such evil, I encourage my reader to look at the result.
-Joseph was sold into slavery by his brother and the result was salvation of all Israel (Genesis 50:20).
-Herod, Pilate, the Jews, and the gentiles murdered Jesus and the result was God’s greatest act of love in saving unworthy creatures (all humanity and all creation (Acts 4: 27-28).
-Sin entered the world and the result was the appearance of Christ.
-Death entered the world and the result was Christ abolishing death and giving all immortality.
-Satan exacts evil on the world and the result is God showing His multifarious love and wisdom to every one.
The greater the evil, the more power and love our Creator reveals to us in overcoming it. Satan and evil are a tool in God’s Hand to produce His desired outcome of a perfect universe in which He is All in all. Satan can do nothing but perform his duties to contribute to God’s end game. Yes, the Adversary will be judged and tormented for ages in the lake of fire, but as every enemy is abolished in the end…so is the evil that God put in Satan. The difference between Christian thought and truth is that Satan is not tormented or destroyed forever, but evil is abolished by making Satan a friend through the blood of Christ’s cross. Yes! The cross is that powerful and God IS that Sovereign!
Let’s allow the apostle Paul to speak through his experience of the splinter in the flesh.
As 2 Corinthians 12: 7-9 states, Paul’s splinter in the flesh was a MESSENGER of SATAN buffeting him. Paul asked the Lord three times to take away this Satanic influence. Yet, what was the response?
The Lord said, “Sufficient for you is My grace, for My power in infirmity is being perfected.”
So, let’s get to the point: Paul was given a messenger of Satan so that the Lord’s power would be perfected in his infirmity. This is the way God operates. Without Satan, the power of God would not be necessary. Without Satan, we would not see the extent of God’s power and love.
God is the author of both Satan and his evil.
God will accomplish all of His will and He will use Satan to get there. God’s will is to save all mankind (1 Timothy 4:10) and be All to every creature ever created (1 Corinthians 15:28). Satan can do NOT one thing to prevent this from happening in any ONE of God’s creatures. In fact, everything Satan does can only serve this very purpose.
Grace and peace.
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God’s Justice IS His Love
God’s judgements bring us to the foot of the cross
Common objection: It is God’s will that all men be saved. However, it is also His will justice be done. Therefore, God is love and wants to save everyone but because He is just, He cannot.
God’s will that all men be saved and His justice are the same thing. Why are we continually trying to separate God’s love from His justice? Justice is a part of God’s love and they are never polar opposites that are dueling with one another. That is why Isaiah 26:9 says that God’s judgements cause humanity to learn righteousness. God will judge unbelievers, I get that, but scripture does not say that this judgement is eternal. God’s judgement on unbelievers will bring them to Christ’s cross and ultimately God’s perfection. That is how justice serves God’s love and nothing can be separate from God’s love because that is what He is.
Most of Israel save a few followers of Christ, rejected their Messiah. Christians say that Jesus Christ damns these people to hell forever. However, once judgement comes and jealousy runs its course…ALL OF ISRAEL IS SAVED (Romans 11:26). God bringing in the fullness of the gentiles provokes Israel to the point of accepting their Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Christians teach that these Messiah rejectors are in hell forever when scripture says that they will be saved. Understanding that Jesus was speaking on the 1000 year kingdom and not eternity is vital to knowing God’s operation. Let us not condemn for eternity those that God plans to save.
See, Israel rejects their Messiah.
God’s Justice: Judges Israel and provokes them to jealousy.
God’s mercy: This judgement and jealousy leads to All Israel being saved.
God’s judgements lead to His mercy as God is love. Every aspect of separation from God leads to reconciliation with God. Judgement is never an end in itself but a means to God’s mercy and love. God wants us to know His love and mercy and therefore, we must be locked in stubbornness first.
Judgement will not be pleasant and we seek to avoid it, however it is not eternal and even our choices of rejection are part of God’s plan to eventually show us His love through the power of Christ’s cross. Salvation is all of God.
32 For God locks up all together in stubbornness, that He should be merciful to all. -Romans 11:32
God’s love is eternal as He is eternal. His justice is just a means to acquaint the creature with His love. For some it will take longer than for others. Here is what I, Christians, the religious, everyone must understand: GOD MAKES EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL IN ITS TIME (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Who cares if we can’t see the beauty yet. Does that mean that God is not at work? How arrogant are we to apply to eternity those things that will only last for a season in order to bring us all to God’s perfect completion.
But, this inability for us to see God’s work and His end game comes as no surprise. It comes as no surprise that we would say God is finished at separation when this separation is only a means for His creature to understand love and reconciliation. Its no surprise because God says in scripture that He has put obscurity in our hearts so that we CANNOT see the Almighty’s work from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Well, Mr. Christian, Mr. Religion, myself, and everyone must understand that God is not done with any creature until it is made beautiful through the blood of the cross.
I see the experience that Elohim gives to the sons of HUMANITY to humble them by it. He has made EVERYTHING beautiful in its season; however, He has put obscurity in their heart so that the man MAY NOT FIND out His work, that which the One, Elohim, does from beginning to the END. -Ecclesiastes 3: 10-11
In closing, I find it very fitting that the word ‘olam,’ Strong’s word 5769 is used in the above verse to describe what God put in the heart of man. Again, ‘olam’ is the word used to mean ‘eternity’ in many bibles. However, if we are to believe that this word means ‘eternity’ then we have to say God put ‘eternity’ in man’s heart so that he does not know God’s beginning to the end, the opposite of eternity. If ‘olam’ meant eternity than man would know the beginning to the end, not the opposite.
Just another proof that the word ‘eternity’ does not describe punishment, separation, fire or anything else in scripture.
A few questions for the religious:
- How can judgement be eternal punishment if God’s judgement causes people to learn righteousness (Isaiah 26:9)?
- How can judgement be eternal if God is the Savior of all mankind, especially (not exclusively) of believers (1 Timothy 4:10)?
- How can judgement be eternal if all creation is reconciled to God through the blood of the cross (Colossians 1: 15-20)?
- How can judgement be eternal if God is All in all of His creation (1 Corinthians 15: 28)?
- How can judgement be eternal if the same all that die in Adam are the same all made immortal by Christ (1 Corinthians 15:22)?
- How can judgement be eternal if Adam’s act condemned all mankind and Christ’s act JUSTIFIED all mankind (Romans 5:18)?
- How can judgement be eternal if God is love and He commands us to love our enemies while His love runs out on His?
- How can judgement be eternal if every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord for the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2: 10-11)?
- How can judgement be eternal if God wills all men saved (1 Tim 2:4) and works all according to the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11)?
- How can judgement be eternal if God is love and love never fails? Please, don’t give me this nonsense that man’s will is stronger than God’s love.
Grace and peace.
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What’s the Problem with Eternal Separation?
My response to a You-tube question
The following are some questions and comments I received from a person based on one of my previous videos. I appreciate the comment because I think it brings out some wonderful truths from scripture.
Question from viewer to me:
Why do you have a problem with the idea of eternal separation? Who are we to clap back at God and say He can’t do that? As you said, God does what He wills. Now when I read near the end of Revelation, I don’t see where everyone will come to God at the end. I see folks who are thrown into the lake of fire, and the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever.
God did love His enemies, and they could care less. So their punishment is just. Free will is simply the choice between life and death. Moses told the people to choose life. Yet if we decide not to, God gave us that right. The punishment of those who reject God’s offer of life will be the result. We don’t have free will concerning the results. Just like seedtime and harvest. If you don’t plant, you shouldn’t expect a harvest. You can’t get mad that there’s no harvest when you didn’t plant the seeds. The results are in the choice we make, and the results aren’t free will.
My response to viewer:
Why do you have a problem with the idea of eternal separation?
I have a problem with the idea of eternal separation for so many reasons. For one, it limits the power of the cross and makes Jesus Christ a failure. Jesus came to ‘save sinners’ and died on the cross for the sin of the world. Yet, eternal separation states that people will be separate from God for all eternity because of SIN, the very thing Christ died for. It makes God and the cross of Christ subservient to man’s choice.
Not to mention that God is Spirit and in Him we live and move and exist (Acts 17:28). How could we ever be separate from Him?
However, first and foremost, scripture denies it. Colossians 1: 15-20 says that all of God’s creation will be reconciled through the blood of the cross. 1 Corinthians 15: 21-28 says that the same ‘all’ that die in Adam will be made alive in Christ so that God will be ALL in the all that die in Adam.
Here is a summary of just a few reasons why I have a problem with eternal separation:
- We are alive because of God’s spirit and in Him we live and move and are. Eternal separation says that God will be separate from His own spirit.
- Eternal separation says that God is not the savior of all mankind, especially of believers. 1 Timothy 4:10 says that He is.
- Eternal separation says that Christ doesn’t vivify all that die in Adam. 1 Corinthians 15: 21-22 says He does.
- Eternal separation? God will be All in all (1 Corinthians 15:28)?
- Eternal separation? God reconciles all creation to Himself through the blood of the cross (Colossians 1: 15-20).
- Eternal separation? If Jesus came to save sinners, which He did, and these sinners are not saved…then this would make Jesus a failure and would not bring God glory. Yet, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, FOR THE GLORY OF GOD, the Father.
- How can eternal separation be true if all creation is delivered from slavery into the glorious freedom of children of God (Romans 8: 21-22)?
Who are we to clap back at God and say He can’t do that? As you said, God does what He wills.
You make this statement like you think God is sovereign. You quoted me as saying “God does what He wills.” This seems like you are agreeing with God’s sovereignty? You believe God does what He wills?
Well, God wills to save all mankind and for them to come to a knowledge of truth (1 Timothy 2:4). So, you are saying God can’t do what He wills because of man’s choice. So according to you, because God is at the mercy of man’s choice, He cannot do what He wills.
Now when I read near the end of Revelation, I don’t see where everyone will come to God at the end. I see folks who are thrown into the lake of fire, and the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever.
You are certainly right that not all people are saved in the book of Revelation.
However, why do you think the book of Revelation is the end? Its a common and serious mistake to think that because Revelation is the last book in the bible, that it goes to the furthest period of time into the future.
In revelation, Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning for the 1000 years and the ‘new heavens and the new earth’ age. These are the last two periods of the aionion times. Paul received a revelation of a time that goes beyond the book of Revelation into a deeper future. In 1 Corinthians 15: 25-28, Paul says that Jesus Christ’s reign comes to end.
25 For He must be reigning until He should be placing all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy is being abolished: death. – 1 Corinthians 15: 25
The word ‘until’ means that when this event happens, Christ’s reign ends. Therefore, when all enemies are abolished, the last one being death…Christ’s rule ends. Remember, Christ is still ruling all throughout Revelation. So, Paul here is speaking of a time after Revelation. What happens after Revelation? All are saved.
You need further evidence of Christ’s rule coming to an end? Well, the next three verses in Paul’s letter talks about Christ being subjected to God. All that die in Adam and all creation are subjected to Christ. The only One not subjected to Christ is God Himself. All creation is subjected to Christ so that God will be All in all.
27 For He subjects all under His feet. Now whenever He may be saying that all is subject, it is evident that it is outside of Him Who subjects all to Him.
28 Now, whenever all may be subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also shall be subjected to Him Who subjects all to Him, that God may be All in all. – 1 Corinthians 15: 27-28You see, my dear friend, Christ gives up His rule because there is no need to rule anymore. Christ has perfected all of God’s creation by subjecting it to the cross, so that God will be their all. Christ rules so perfectly that eventually, after Revelation, there is no need for rule. 1 Corinthians 15: 21-28 talks about a time AFTER Revelation.
In many bibles, Revelation 11:15 is translated to say that Jesus will reign forever and ever. How can Jesus reign forever and ever if His reign comes to an end? He cannot. The Greek word used in this verse ‘aion’ Strong’s 165 means ‘age.’ How can Jesus rule forever and ever, are there two eternities? NO, Christ rules and reigns for the ages of the ages, the last two glorious ages.
So it is with your reference to Revelation 14:11. The Greek word ‘aion’ is used again to denote ‘age’ not eternity. Again, there are not two eternities, but two ‘ages’ in play during the book of Revelation. These verses should be translated ‘ages of the ages’ not ‘forever and ever.’ A word search in how these words are used in scripture will prove their meaning.
The Lake of fire:
As I’m sure you know, the lake of fire is referred to as the second death (Revelation 20:15). Remember, 1 Corinthians 15: 27 says that ‘death,’ the last ‘enemy’ will be abolished. So, my question to you: What happens to those in death (Lake of fire) when death is abolished?
They are made alive!
The only way to abolish death is to put on the immortality of Christ and that is exactly what happens to all creation, each in their own order of course. First Christ, then believers, then those at the consummation which is after the 1000 years, after judgement, after the new heavens and new earth age and yes, after the lake of fire.
You end God’s operation too early. Yes, many people are not saved in Revelation. But, this is not the end. You have to let the fullness of the ages pass in order for the cross to reach every single creature as scripture declares:
15 Who is the Image of the invisible God, Firstborn of every creature,
16 for in Him is all created, that in the heavens and that on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or sovereignties, or authorities, all is created through Him and for Him,
17 and He is before all, and all has its cohesion in Him.
18 And He is the Head of the body, the ecclesia, Who is Sovereign, Firstborn from among the dead, that in all He may be becoming first,
19 for in Him the entire complement delights to dwell,
20 and through Him to reconcile all to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross), through Him, whether those on the earth or those in the heavens. – Colossians 1: 15-20God did love His enemies, and they could care less. So their punishment is just.
You used ‘did’ in the past tense when referring to God’s love…as if God’s love runs out or has limits? Love is God’s essence, God is love and He cannot be anything else. To suggest that God did love His enemies but doesn’t anymore is saying that God ceases to be God.
This is why you think eternal punishment is just I assume. You fail to recognize that God’s action towards every single creature that He created is one of love…all the time. Any punishment, judgement, separation is ultimately done for the good of the creature experiencing it. Judgement is correction as Isaiah 26:9 says and it always done with the good of the one being judged in mind. God is not a vindictive tyrant.
When your judgements come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness. -Isaiah 26:9
Free will is simply the choice between life and death. Moses told the people to choose life. Yet if we decide not to, God gave us that right.
The video you are responding to is one on Romans, chapter 9. I’m wondering why you did not address any of the scripture verses in this chapter when explaining that God gives us the right to choose life or death? Is it because Romans 9 completely disproves your theory?
Again, God says that He determined EVERYTHING Jacob and Esau would do, good or bad, before they were even born. This means that every decision made was determined by God beforehand so that all would know it is Him that chooses and it is not out of human acts (Romans 9:11-13).
God sums it up in Romans 9:16:
16 Consequently, then, it is not of him who is willing, nor of him who is racing, but of God, the Merciful.
You think it is of the person who is willing to make the right choice, when God says that He is the one that determines how a man chooses. If God gave man the right to choose without first determining the choice man would make, then how could God plan every decision in Jacob and Esau’s life?
If God gave everyone the right to choose, then how can you explain that He hardens hearts (Romans 9:18)?
All of this is explained in Romans 9:19-25. Yes, Moses and many in scripture ask people to choose. However, nobody can go against God’s intention of making the decision that God has planned for them to make. This is why the analogy of the Potter and the clay is used. God forms us and creates the circumstances of life to cause us to make the choices that He has planned for us to make. He is God.
You, my friend, believe in a limited god that is not God at all. Our choices are part of God’s plan and they come from Him. Our choices are not god’s of themselves that create a circumstance in which God has to react.
Got plants the seeds and the harvest, God creates us and the circumstances that cause us to make the choices He has planned since before we were born, God makes the lemons and the lemonade.
Grace and peace.
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Christ ‘makes alive’
How can Christ ‘make us alive’ from death if death is life somewhere else?
This is another you-tube response from someone thinking that Jesus didn’t actually die and that the ‘immortality of the soul’ is a true doctrine. Again, I use these comments in order to bring out specific truths.
I will begin with my detractor’s comment and then my response. I also include an email response from my friend and brother in Christ, Matt Fisher, regarding this topic.
First, my detractor insists that Jesus and the thief went to heaven before resurrection. The reference is Luke 23:43. Well, John 20:17, as pointed out by my friend and fellow Hoosier Greg Davis, makes that impossible: How can Jesus of been in heaven while He was entombed when He says to Mary that He hasn’t yet ascended to His Father. Is His Father not in heaven?
17 “Rabboni!” which is the term for “Teacher.” Jesus is saying to her, “Do not touch Me, for not as yet have I ascended to My Father. Now go to My brethren, and say to them that I said, ‘Lo! I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” -John 20:17
…and another thing. Jesus said on the cross, “Father, into Thy hands am I committing My spirit.” Now, saying this, He expires. -Luke 23:46
So, what do we know? We know that Jesus did not ascend to his father because He tells Miriam that word for word in John 20:17. However, before His death, Jesus commits His spirit to God. So at death, Christ’s spirit does go to God. How could this be if He didn’t ascend to the father at this time (John 20:17)?
You see, Christ’s spirit did go to God at His death but at the same time HE DID NOT ascend to the Father. This is because His body died, His spirit went to God as God is Spirit…and His soul went to the unseen, ceased to exist. Jesus Christ was dead and had no conscious experience in His death while God held His spirit until resurrection.
This is perfectly consistent with how death is described in scripture and explains how Jesus did not ascend to His Father and yet His spirit did. These verses make it impossible for Jesus to have been conscious in heaven in any form whatsoever.
Also, since Jesus committed His Spirit to God at death, this disproves the myth that He spoke to spirits in prison while dead in Peter’s epistle. Christ went to these spirits after the resurrection, after He was vivified.
What FAITH this took for our Lord and Savior! He had perfect faith to trust His God and Father to raise Him from the dead. Jesus Christ’s spirit was in God and He knew that if God did not raise Him, then He would be dead forever. This was our fate, Jesus went into it. God Delivered.
Every way you look at it, Jesus was dead and had no conscious existence while in the tomb for three days.
Now, when God raises Jesus from the dead the doors of immortality are blown open for all humanity. The greatest event in human history!
My detractor’s comment:
I don’t think your comment that the Bible nowhere mentions the immortality of the soul is completely accurate. Immortality is mentioned in a few scriptures (Romans 2:7, 1 Corinthians 15:53-54, 2 Timothy 1:10). But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. (Hebrews 10:39). The phrase “immortality of the soul” isn’t written verbatim in the Bible, but the implication is there in Hebrews 10:39. A soul is saved, so has eternal life, and by necessary implication will never die.
My response:
The ‘immortality of the soul’ is a Christian doctrine that teaches the soul never dies. Paul speaks of the immortality and incorruption that we put on in Christ, but he does not teach that man never dies. In Romans 2:7, in fact, in Romans chapter 1 through 3, Paul is explaining the effects of law and operation of law which is replaced by Christ’s faith, apart from law. Either way, Paul does not say that the incorruption and life eonian in Romans 2:7 comes without a person experiencing death.
1 Corinthians 15:53:54 actually proves that man will die, unless snatched away. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 states:
For since, in fact, through a man came death (not life somewhere else), through a man, also, comes the resurrection of the dead. For even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus also, in Christ, shall all be vivified.
Through Adam comes death, however, through Christ, all shall be vivified. The Greek word used in this verse is ‘zoopoieo,’ Strong’s word 2227. This word has a literal definition of ‘to make alive.’ How can Christ ‘make alive’ someone who is living in some other place and is not dead? This is the immortality that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 15: 53-54 and he says we must put on this immortality. He does not say that we never die. In fact, Paul says that by putting on this immortality is how death is swallowed up in victory. Death is swallowed up in victory because Christ has ‘made alive’ the dead. You want to make immortality a transference from one life to another, where Paul teaches that immortality is being ‘made alive’ from death. We have immortality, but just like Christ, it is through death.
In 2 Timothy 1:10 Paul is speaking of the grace given to us in Christ before times aionion, before time began. Were we immortal before time began? Before we were created? Of course not. God chose who would believe before they were born, so that they will have aionion life. This does not mean that they have an immortal soul.
These verses simply do not say what you want them to say. Again, Hebrews 10:39 does not mean that we procure our soul and never die. What do you think resurrection is for? You think people are in heaven now and will be whisked out of heaven to their bodies at resurrection?
God chooses some to believe and receive the grace to have a special salvation before the rest. These people are ‘saved’ and will have immortality during the 1000 years, the new heaven and new earth age, where others will not. This is the glory of the resurrection from death, to be ‘made alive’ beyond the possibility of ever dying again. It is not life transferred from another life.
Let’s all think of what Christ had to do to get this immortality for us. Yet, the ‘immortality of the soul’ believers think that immortality comes without Christ’s work.
Matthew Fisher:
The following is an email response from Matt Fisher debunking the teaching of the ‘immortality of the soul.’
“Please remove me from the prayer chain. I think that you should strongly consider removing the phrase “for repose of soul”. In addition revisit what death actually means. You die. God takes back your spirit your body returns to the soil and your soul returns to the unseen. In Hebrew the unseen is Shoel and in Greek it is Hades. Think of it as a status of nonexistence rather than a place. Unfortunately early on the Bible translators chose to call Shoel, Hades, Purgatory, Gehenna, Tartarus all hell. So no matter where specifically scripture was sending you the translators were sending you to hell. The prayers for “repose of a soul” is wrong. It is an old idea that is not biblically correct. Souls do not go to hell or purgatory. Souls do not wander the earth. Souls do not go to heaven. Souls are not judged.
Souls are not tormented. Souls are not immortal.
Resurrection is what we are waiting for while repose. When we are resurrected We will have our spirit given back to join our body and our soul will be seen. The body we get will be celestial and immortal. It is consoling to know that the dead in Christ shall be rising first then the living shall be snatched away with them to meet the Lord Christ in the air. Vivified, celestial, we will be. At the end of the eons death will be abolished, Christ abdicates to the father and God will be All in All.”
Grace and peace to you all.
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Did Christ or Did a ‘corpse’ die for our sins?
A response of how Christ was dead and entombed, not just His body
It’s been awhile since ‘the immortality of the soul’ doctrine has come up. The following is a brief you-tube correspondence with a person that firmly believes that immortality is inherent in all people and Christ’s death was not necessary for it. In fact, Christ never died. His body died.
This person believes that Jesus Christ was in heaven while His dead, entombed body was doing the saving.
This is based on a video I created called ‘The Immortality of the Soul Cheapens Christ’s work.’ I will start with my detractor’s statement, then my response as I believe many good things can come out of this conversation.
Detractor:
Your assumption that Christ was not conscious when He was dead is completely false. You stated twice that when Christ was dead, “he didn’t go anywhere”. That’s not what the Bible teaches. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43) Jesus told this to one of the malefactors that was also crucified that day, and said that both Himself and the malefactor would be in paradise that day. Obviously their spirits and souls went to paradise, only their dead bodies remained buried. Further, your teaching that there is no consciousness after death is nonsense. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? (Revelation 6:9-10). At the opening of the fifth seal, the apostle John saw the souls of those who were killed for their testimony talking to God. When you reference the scripture that the dead know not anything, you fail to accurately explain the context, which is “under the sun”, stated 29 TIMES throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, clearly referring to physical existence, which would include physically dead bodies.
My response:
The thief is immortal, has immortality…is that what you are saying? How can the thief have immortality when in 1 Timothy 6:16 Paul says that CHRIST ALONE has immortality? Paul wrote his letter to Timothy long after Jesus said those words on the cross. Your interpretation of Luke 23:43 does not fit what scripture clearly teaches on death.
The ancient manuscripts did not use commas so the addition of the comma in Luke 23:43 is based on interpretation of the translator based on preconceived theological preferences. In fact, the Codex Vaticanus, one of the most important Greek manuscripts, actually places the comma after the Greek word semeron (today). Therefore, the verse reads “Verily, to you am I saying today, with Me shall you be in paradise. This is the way it is translated in the concordant literal translation, which is a far better translation. Again, perfectly consistent with the fact that the thief could not be immortal because Paul says many years later, that Christ alone has immortality.
So, its obvious to you that Christ’s spirit and soul went to paradise and only His dead body was in the tomb. The very gospel that Paul preaches is “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was entombed, and that He has been roused the third day according to the scriptures…(1 Corinthians 15: 3-5). You say only Christ’s body died. So, according to you, Christ did not save us. Christ was bouncing around in paradise, spirit and soul, while the part that saves us from sin, the dead body was in the tomb. If dying for sin is what saves us and you separate Christ from that death and entombment, then you are saying that Christ is separate from that which saves. That is exactly what you are saying when you say Christ was in heaven but His body was dead. We are not saved by a corpse, we are saved by Christ.
The truth is that Christ’s body died, His spirit went to God (unconscious), and His soul went to the unseen. He didn’t have conscious existence for three days. Why do you think we are saved by the faith of Christ (Galatians 2: 15-17)? Why do you think Jesus went through what he went through in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating blood and all?
So that He would be in paradise the next day? No, because Christ knew He was entering death and that He would remain dead if God did not resurrect Him. How dare you take that away from Him. You reduce Christ’s work and His faith to a vacation in heaven when He went to death for all humanity.
God pronounced to Adam that to die you shall be dying. Yet, Satan says that ‘you will not surely die.” Which one are we to believe? Death is explained in Genesis as a return to soil and to what we were. We did not exist before we were born, so we could not return to anywhere consciously. Yet, you believe Satan’s lie that the dead are living? How many times does Paul refer to death as repose, sleep? Its not repose or sleep if the dead are living life somewhere else. Job 14:14 asks that if a man dies will he live again? You say don’t worry, it’s just his body. The man is alive. Not true. That man, all men, would remain dead if Christ didn’t enter death, all of Him, for all humanity.
Revelation 6: 9-10 is what John perceived when he saw this vision. His vision was personified so that he could understand it. The dead were not actually speaking, but were resting in death. Its like Genesis 4:10 where God says that Abel’s blood is crying to Him from the ground. God is illustrating a point to Cain, its not that Abel’s blood was literally speaking. You really think that all these martyrs were under an alter? Well, you probably think that Lazarus was actually in Abraham’s chest as well, along with thousands of other believers. No, this is personifying death in order to teach a literal truth.
Death is death my friend and it is not life somewhere else. You minimize Christ’s work and what He had to do to give us immortality by making the false claim that we already have immortality WITHOUT Christ’s death for sin, His entombment, and His resurrection.
Revelation 20: 5…The rest of the dead DO NOT LIVE until the 1000 years should be finished.
We, as humans, do not have immortality without Christ. This immortality for us and all creation was given through Jesus Christ’s death for sin, His entombment, and His resurrection. Amen!
Grace and peace.
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God told us about EVIL
There is purpose in everything God does…
This is a quick message to anyone who feels overwhelmed by evil. Whether it be evil that comes from the outside or your own evil that comes from within. There is hope and it is this:
1 Corinthians 15:28 says that God will eventually be All in all in every one of His creatures. This means that you and every loved one of yours will be perfected by Christ’s death for sin, His entombment, and His resurrection. All evil that we experience plays a part is shaping us to that perfection of being children of God. So, every single experience of pain, horror, and evil that you and yours experience are vital parts of God’s plan to bring the greatest possible joy and understanding to His creatures. We can’t understand this now, but we will when we are perfected and evil is abolished forever.
In fact, without our own personal experience of evil, we would not reach our full potential of joy and understanding of the goodness of God. That is the way the Almighty has designed it.
Before I get started, I just want to say that I do not claim to understand why such horrible things happen in this world. However, I trust that as scripture declares, all things are under the complete and total control of Almighty God. Not one thing in God’s universe can happen without God writing it into existence.
As a result, every experience we have whether good or evil, comes from God. The evil done to us and the evil that we do to others cannot thwart God’s plan. Instead, all evil is part of the experience that God has given humanity in order to create man in Christ Jesus.
It is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it. – Ecclesiastes 1:13
Notice that the above verse is found in the bible and it does not say that Satan gives the sons of humanity an experience of evil. It does not say that human choice or human sin gives man an experience of evil. No. This verse says that Almighty God gives the experience of evil to us.
Evil did not come into existence apart from God’s plan and now He must do the best He can to limit its impact. Its God that created the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, with evil in it. Not to mention, the Almighty called this tree ‘good.’
And Elohim saw all that He had made; and behold, it was very good. -Genesis 1:31
Why would God call a tree with evil in it, good? Because an experience of evil is necessary to understand good. Evil serves a purpose in shaping God’s creatures to become greater in understanding and joy.
Why can most people not understand the fact that God created evil when scripture clearly teaches it?
It’s because they cannot see the long-game purpose of evil which will produce greater joy and love of God in the creatures that experienced it. They think that if God created evil then He must be evil. However, this is not the case if the evil created was purposed for good…which it is.
You devised evil against me, yet Elohim, He devised it for good in order to accomplish, as at this day, to preserve many people alive. -Genesis 50:20
Does God take pleasure in evil? Of course not. However, evil is a necessary part of creating perfect children of God. Like the scaffolding on the mighty skyscraper, evil supports the creation and foundation of the building. Then, when complete, the evil scaffolding is done away with forever, leaving the magnificent skyline.
So it is with the experience of evil God has given us. It is necessary to know evil in order to truly understand and enjoy good. We must experience evil, sin and death in order to fully understand and enjoy God’s goodness, sinlessness and immortality. Once it serves it purpose…evil, sin and death will be abolished forever, existing nowhere in God’s creation.
Why did God say this after Adam sinned in the garden?
Then Yahweh Elohim said: Behold, man has become like one of Us in knowing good and evil. – Genesis 3:22
There is a reason God put good and evil in the same tree. Knowing evil is a vital step in becoming like God and being created in His image. Without evil, there is no understanding of good. Without evil, there is no understanding of God. This is what we are experiencing here on earth. The evil we experience, no matter how bad, is a prelude and necessary contrast to experience the fullness of joy and of God. God Himself fills each one of us through Christ’s death for sin, His entombment, and His resurrection, the guarantee that all evil will end.
Evil is a creation of God. We, as humans, seek to do good and not evil. When we do evil, its evil and we will be held accountable for that evil. This means that God will show us ‘this evil’ and through it bring us to a greater knowledge of good and of God because we experienced it…whether we committed the evil or it was done to us. God is so much higher than humans in that He can use evil for a long game, good purpose.
So, let’s stop treating God like He is a mere human when it comes to evil. Just because God created evil, it does not mean that He is evil. Why? Because from the absolute perspective God will use all evil to produce good.
For my designs are not your designs, And your ways are not My ways, averring is Yahweh. For as the heavens are loftier than the earth, So are my ways loftier than your ways, And My designs than your designs. -Isaiah 55: 8-9
Adam and Eve sinned. God did this in order to reveal His love for the world by sending His Son to die for unworthy creatures. God would not have been able to do this if Adam and Eve did not sin. Are we going to credit Adam and Eve for Christ’s coming or God?
Herod, Pilate, the Jews, and the Gentiles conspired to murder Jesus by the counsel of God’s will. This was evil on their part. However, God planned this in order to save humanity and in fact, all creation. Are we going to credit Herod, Pilate, the Jews, and the Gentiles with salvation or are we going to credit God?
Many people try to get God off the hook in the creation of evil, but in doing so they take Him off His throne. They unwittingly rob God of His Placer and Subjector status by making the Almighty react to an outside source. As if anything can be created apart from the creator.
Christians and religious people will say that God can work with evil and turn it into good, but only if we allow Him. However, this is human thinking and the whole argument that if evil gives God lemons, then He can make lemonade.
Noooooo! Don’t you know that God makes the lemons too. He makes and ultimately does everything. So many verses prove this but here are just a few that show the Creator of evil:
Former of light and Creator of darkness, Maker of good and CREATOR OF EVIL, I, Yahweh, make all these things. -Isaiah 45:7
Indeed should we receive good from the One, Elohim, and should we not receive evil? -Job 2:10
Okay, so let’s call it what it is. If you deny that God created evil than you are denying scripture. Period.
I want to end with the Apostle Paul discussing the evil of sin and how this leads to an understanding of God. In Romans chapter 7, Paul discusses how he cannot do what he wants and that he does what he does not want to do (Romans 7: 15-20). The struggle Paul describes is the Sin making its home in him.
What does Paul say the answer to this evil, this Sin is?
Grace!
What will rescue me out of this body of death? Grace! I thank God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. -Romans 7:25
You see, Sin has brought the apostle Paul to the realization of God’s grace. He comes to a point of thankfulness, trust, and love for God, through Jesus Christ that would not have been there without the presence of Sin. We would not know God’s grace if it were not for sin and evil. We would not know His love, through Christ’s sacrifice, without being sinners. Yet, so many people want to say that God has nothing to do with the necessary evil that is a backdrop for His love and grace.
Remember that God does not hide the fact that this life is an experience of evil (Ecclesiastes 1:13). He says it plainly. I believe He tells us this so that we can know that all is under the Almighty’s control and every single horror, heartbreak, disappointment, and sin that you experience…has a purpose in Him. God will bring you to a greater experience of joy and understanding of Him because of these experiences.
Now, whenever all may be subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also shall be subjected to Him Who subjects all to Him, that God may be All in all. -1 Corinthians 15:28
God will one day be All in all. He will be this in every person that dies in Adam and every creature ever created. Each in their own order. When God is your All, you will look back on every experience you had, both good and evil, as being necessary to bring you here to completion.
You will say things like, “I hear from you everyday Father, there was a time when I didn’t hear from you at all.”
The apparent separation from God, the evil, the sin and the death will bring us to a deeper understanding of God, righteousness, goodness and immortality. Boy! The joy will be real. This is the end-game of evil.
Grace and peace to you all.
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