This People Honors Me With Their Lips But Their Heart is Far From Me (Compilation)
Since the Christian church is supposed to be the salt and light of the world (we know Jesus said that), then it is logical to conclude that the wicked and pathetic moral state of America is rooted in the corruption of Christianity (the corruption what passes as Christianity); and the pathetic impact and poor witness of that which goes under the label of Christian in America.
A very popular polling/research group found that 6% of the US actually has a Biblical Worldview. With that said, we believe that’s inflated still, meaning they are not obedient to God in all areas.
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2 Timothy 3:1: Times that are savage and hard to bear in terms of departing from iniquity and being faithful to the Lord. The train of thought from 2:19 has never been abandoned. Paul has only made some important comments in relation to that in between then and here.
3:2: Proud= Loving to be preeminent and conspicuous; pretentious; haughty; treating others with contempt.
Blasphemers: That would include those who use the Lord’s name in vain.
Unthankful: Not just towards God, but also towards others who do them good. All those with an entitlement mentality, along with all who directly or implicitly say the world owes them a favor, are included here.
3:3: Without natural affection: That certainly includes those who think that anyone has a right to end the life of a child in its mother’s womb. Even animals typically have affection for their offspring and seek to care for them rather than destroy them.
Trucebreakers are those who don’t hold up their end of agreements; those who are untrustworthy; those who are unwilling to submit to accountability (and that goes for church leaders as well who refuse to submit to reasonable Biblical accountability, as well as those who’d refuse Biblical accountability if they had an opportunity to be part of a faithful Christian church).
False accusers: Literally “diabolos” in the Greek text.
Incontinent= without self control. That would include alcoholics and other substance addicts. It would also include entertainment addicts, social media addicts, etc.
Fierce: Don’t condemn Jesus cleansing the Temple here. He was contending with real wickedness, and He acted in utter self-control within the boundaries of God’s Law in cleansing the Temple.
Despisers of those that are good: Hostile to virtue and those who practice it.
3:4: Traitors: Compromising preachers who cave into pressure to adopt unbiblical moral stances, and who cave into pressure to show partiality in other ways, would definitely be included here.
Heady= Reckless; rash.
Highminded: Inflated with conceit; know-it-alls who are rendered stupid through the blindness which their own conceit has brought upon them. This describes many Bible college and seminary graduates. They go to school for 4 years and get filled with information and think highly of themselves for all the things they’ve learned. Yet often the information they learn is bad, and there is a lot they haven’t learned that they ought to know. But they went to the Bible college- and of course those who haven’t been to Bible college couldn’t know important things which they don’t know (that last sentence was sarcasm). The men who wrote the Bible learned a lot and taught a lot. But not many of them, perhaps none but Paul, went to anything that remotely resembles a modern Bible college or seminary. And even Paul had to unlearn and readjust a lot of what he had learned from his Jewish teachers.
Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God: They love pleasures to a greater degree than they love God. Though this certainly includes fornicators, pornography users, and those who resort to other illicit means to obtain pleasure, it also applies to all who put innocent pleasures ahead of Christian duties.
3:5: Or, a shape of godliness. The word in the Greek text is “morphosis.”
They have a semblance of Christianity though they don’t depart from iniquity and rather display ungodly character and do evil deeds. When those like this are numerous and are almost everywhere, false Christianity seems to be normal Christianity.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Isaiah 64:6 is a favorite verse in many circles of professing Christianity. Isaiah 64:6 reads: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
Not only is this usually quoted horribly out of context when it is quoted, it is also not even usually quoted in totality, with the second half of the verse omitted. Yet, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” is very well known. This partial verse is typically used to try to say that all men, even the righteous, live in sin constantly and will never cease doing so in this life. This twisting of Scripture is a great lie from the pit of hell which justifies all manner of sin and uncleanness as allegedly being compatible with genuine Christianity. However, nothing could be further from the truth. This will be proved from Scripture in this message. Those who take heed will wonder, within a very short time, whether those who twist Isaiah 64:6 have ever actually even read through the Book of Isaiah.
Those who actually read through the Book of Isaiah will know from the very opening verses that the entire message of the book is a rebuke to Israel for having corrupted itself. God testifies right at the beginning of the book that Israel was at one time a righteous nation which He regarded as pure and faithful. This was not so by Isaiah’s time. God states from the beginning of the book, right through to the end, that He will go to extreme measures to purify Jerusalem and the remnant of Israel in order to bring them back to being a nation where righteousness and purity prevail. You will also notice in Isaiah chapter one that Israel was yet a ceremonially religious people in spite of the fact that they were morally wicked. They valued ceremonial adherence over actual righteous, godly living. They lived wickedly and did not walk in God’s ways, yet they were still trying to offer sacrifices, incense, and keep religious feasts and religious holidays! In that context, all their righteousnesses were indeed as filthy rags. The wicked were the ones justifying sin and overall ungodly living, thinking their ceremonial adherence compensated for this somehow. God states His verdict about this wicked foolishness right off the bat in the Book of Isaiah.
Isaiah 1:10-28: “Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.”
To be ceremonially zealous while committed to moral uncleanness is a mockery of God.
Proverbs 21:3: “To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”
The rich man in Luke chapter 16 who went to hell found this out the hard way.
Proverbs 15:8-9: “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight. The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.”
Jesus Christ’s enemies in the Gospels were of the spiritual ilk who justify all manner of sin and uncleanness while practicing an outwardly scrupulous religion. Such is often a convenient mixture of Biblically prescribed ceremony, superstition, and shallow morality which allows its adherents to continue in carnality and remain alienated from God in their hearts. Jesus’ severe rebukes to His opposition were given precisely because they were committed to sin in their hearts yet blessed God with their lips. Such rebukes would be unnecessary, and have no authority nor power, if all men had no choice but to remain unclean and could not possibly do anything that was pleasing to God.
Matthew 15:7-9: “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias (Isaiah) prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
Isaiah 64:6 is likewise a verse directed at religious hypocrites. It is not directed at righteous men. The righteous are not as an unclean thing in God’s eyes and their righteousnesses are not as filthy rags.
Isaiah 64:6 is in itself a lamentation of the wicked state of Israel. It is spoken in regard to how there were virtually no righteous people in Israel at the time. That did not have to be the case. It is a similar situation to when Elijah lamented before God that he was left alone of the faithful. God told Elijah that there were 7,000 in Israel who had not worshiped Baal.
Those who claim Isaiah 64:6 to justify their sin and uncleanness, and those who’d try to use any justification for their sin and uncleanness, already have the verdict regarding their claim written on the gates of God’s eternal kingdom.
Revelation 21:27: “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
The Bible actually defines a sinner as one with a rebellious, disobedient attitude towards God’s authority (John 9:31, Psalm 1, Psalm 26:8-11, Psalm 66:18, etc).
Saying that “we are all sinners and we all sin” nullifies the Word of God’s judgments about the distinction in God’s eyes between the righteous and the wicked.
It makes Abel sound like he is no different from Cain.
It makes Noah and those with him on the Ark seem no different than the rest of the world which God destroyed by the flood.
It makes the inhabitants of Sodom seem no worse than most other people, when God deemed their sins to warrant swift, terrifying destruction.
It makes Moses seem no different than those who worshiped the Golden Calf and those who wickedly opposed his God-ordained authority (like Dathan, Korah, and Abiram).
It makes Phinehas seem no different than the wicked whom God commended him for righteously judging and smiting for their fornication.
It makes King David’s genuine repentance (displayed in Psalm 51) out to be no different than King Saul’s shallow, insufficient repentance which couldn’t deliver him from being God’s enemy.
It makes the holy prophets like Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel to seem no different than their hateful enemies who sought to slay them for their righteous testimony.
It makes the righteous testimony of the prophets itself out to be a misleading lie. Jeremiah 18:11: “Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.”
It justifies the wicked Jews who were destroyed by the Babylonians, as if there was no way they could have prevented that and as if their genuine repentance was impossible.
It makes those who wouldn’t heed God’s testimony given through His holy prophets seem more honest than the holy prophets themselves! 2 Kings 17:13-14: “Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God.”
It justifies Herod for slaying John the Baptist for calling Israel to flee from the wrath to come and to bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance like he indeed called for.
Saying that “we are all sinners and we all sin” makes Zaccheus’ repentance and restitution to seem inconsequential and no victory at all. It nullifies Jesus’ verdict about the possibility of genuine repentance and its saving outcome. Luke 19:5-10: “And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Saying that “we’re all sinners and we all sin” tells sinners that they are okay as they are and that they do not need to really repent and seek the Great Physician to save them from their sins.
It justifies the false accusation of Jesus’ enemies who claimed that He was “a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners” (see Matthew 11:19), as if those He ate with who had been sinners remained sinners as they ate with Him or weren’t at least being challenged and exhorted to forsake their sinful ways as they ate with Him.
It condemns Jesus Christ for constantly reiterating that He sets His true disciples free from sin; and that the wicked who are His enemies are those who work lawlessness. John 8:34-36: “Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Matthew 13:39-43: “As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
Saying that “we’re all sinners and we all sin” negates the Apostles of Christ’s descriptions of the nature and the effects of true Christian conversion and true Christian adherence. 2 Peter 1:3-4: “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
It also contends with, and negates, God’s own commendations of righteous people of genuine faith in Scripture, such as Hebrews 11:24-26: “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.”
It also contends with the Apostle’s own instruction about the clear distinction between the children of God and the children of the devil. 1 John 3:7-12: “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.”
Saying that “we’re all sinners and we all sin” justifies those involved in the crucifixion of Jesus, as if they could not have done any better than they did and as if they didn’t need to repent afterwards of their wicked attitude and love of darkness which led to that.
It also justifies the lies of every hypocrite who claims to know Jesus Christ yet walks in darkness and refuses to die to sin and self in order to follow Him and keep His Word in truth. 1 John 2:1-6: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”
When people say things like “we’re all sinners and “we all sin” in the manner that they usually do, a manner which encourages people to remain sinners and not rather to flee from their sins to obtain refuge in Jesus Christ’s righteous, saving reign- you can now be assured of the dark origin.
(From a study of the Book of James)
James 1:27: We need to have this! Widows and orphans represent any in true need. And keeping oneself unspotted from the world is multi-faceted. Going to live out in the wilderness of Alaska will not do. We’re about to get into an example which I think few would consider when they hear that term.
James 2:1-4: Though James is using the example of preferring the rich over the poor because that is obviously a common sin people commit, we cannot be respecters of persons at all!
James 2:5: This is not saying that all poor people will be saved and it’s not saying that only poor people can be saved. However, these have the greatest capacity for genuine faith. Since we must be poor in spirit to be saved, there is a sense in which any who would be saved and enter God’s kingdom must relate to Him as a poor person.
Remember: Proverbs 18:10-11: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit.”
Also consider, in relation to man with God, Proverbs 22:7: “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”
And we saw back in 1:27 how exercising pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father means visiting the needy in their affliction. You can’t really do that without identifying with such.
James 2:6-7: Blaspheming His name can be done through professing to love Jesus while serving money. The rich, especially the ultra-rich, tend to be obsessed with money, power, and the pleasures and cares of life while practically denying the true God- even if they profess to love Him. James is exhorting the Christians not to regard these as above other people. The exhortation is no less applicable now.
2:8-10: Consider the context. James is indeed saying we need to keep God’s law- as a guide to a living, authentic faith in Christ- not as a means of earning God’s favor or of atoning for our sins. Those who seek to use the Law in such a manner will find wrath and damnation. When Paul spoke of justification by faith he made it clear that we establish the law by faith, not make it void (Romans 3:31). Paul never used the term “justified by faith alone”; that is a Protestant heresy which is no more able to save than the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox sacramental systems (or any sacramental system). Biblical justification by faith is something else, and James is explaining it here.
2:11: Isaiah 1:28: “And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.”
Revelation 22:14-15: “Blessed are they that do his commandments (that is, relating to God as their ultimate authority whom they are indebted to and who need of Christ’s blood to atone for their sins while living in subjection to His commandments as a guide to walking before Him by faith- since we must receive Jesus for all that He is since the Passover Lamb had to be eaten in its entirety) that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”
1 John 1:6-7: “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
James 2:12-13: Not loving one’s neighbor as themselves through respecting persons, or for whatever reason, is not showing mercy in the way God requires.
Micah 6:8: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
James 2:14-17: Don’t think helping the needy is optional for you- as an individual- with your own money and possessions- not lobbying to enlist the Government to use other people’s money for that.
James 2:18: Only works that show you’ve embraced Christ’s Gospel and Christianity as a package which molds your mind and your conduct. James’ emphasis here doesn’t negate the other aspects of Christianity.
James 2:19: Those who defend their unchristian character and behavior with “Hey, I believe in God” or “Hey, I believe in Jesus Christ” are being rebuked.
James 2:20: Again, works demonstrating one embraces Christ and the package of Christian doctrine with their whole being. Not works which one throws together in a self-made package and thinks God should accept it (like Cain did).
James 2:21-23: Abraham’s faith was tested. Having faith previously didn’t guarantee he’d pass this test. He had to endure in faith; and to do this he had to do something very difficult. Abraham demonstrated his faith by his works, and there were many, many tests- offering up Isaac is just the most notable one.
James 2:24: We should look carefully then and pay particularly close attention to these principles.
James 2:25: I’ve heard it suggested that this word translated as harlot would have been better translated as innkeeper. Regardless, Rahab surely didn’t remain a harlot if she had indeed been one.
James 2:26: That is a very clear and plain illustration to take to heart.
(End of portion of the study of the Book of James in this compilation)
If someone is told before a test that they will be given a passing grade even if they fail, then why would it be a surprise if they don’t really study and end up failing the test?
If someone is told that they will be paid for work even if they don’t do it well, and even if they didn’t show up, then it is no wonder that they would do poor work or not even show up at all.
And when people are told that they will reap the benefits of Christian salvation even when they don’t live like faithful Christians, then don’t be surprised that they don’t live like faithful Christians (unless they are wise and analyze the truth and accuracy of that claim like they ought to and reject the claim).
Do ridiculous things like this really happen often among evangelical Christians in evangelical churches? All of the time. It is actually the norm (and I went very much into the practical aspects of how that happens in our recent message “Isms Which Corrupt the Realm of Evangelical Christianity”).
It is common knowledge that there are plenty of people who spent their childhoods in evangelical Christian homes who turn on the good that they were taught and openly, flagrantly abandon Christianity. Yet at the core of their flagrant denial of Christ and their manifold sins which they flagrantly commit, there has been an emboldening towards those things which came in the name of Jesus Christ, and concepts that they were fed which were allegedly gospel truth right from the Bible. And that can all be summed up for now in that they were taught they would be saved forever if they said the prayer to accept Jesus or said yes to a few questions in relation to sin and Jesus. They were implicitly told (and maybe told explicitly), and they heard it reiterated thousands of times afterwards, that Jesus would save them even if they lived like heathens. So, many of these confused evangelical offspring continue to profess Jesus Christ while living like heathens, many profess to be heathens eventually while living like heathens, and many straddle the fence about what they profess while living like heathens (and by the way: no one who professes to be a heathen lives like a Christian- that’s impossible).
It has become common in evangelical churches to emphasize the grace of God in a way in which the Biblical context in which God offers grace to mankind has been neglected or rejected. This has resulted in a spiritual and moral situation which is remarkably similar to that of the Jewish nation under God’s wrath in Bible times (and to this very day really). As is the case with a multitude of the offspring of modern evangelical Christians, and even though religious Judaism is corrupted to accommodate Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ, a multitude of ethnic Jews are irreligious altogether, forsaking Judaism as well as rejecting Christianity. But in spite of this, these openly godless Jewish people will, though they also typically won’t admit to it, and though they will often even deny the existence of God, they will still be offended at the thought that their ethnic Jewishness won’t deliver them from God’s wrath. Their Jewish upbringing has trained them to think they are immune from God’s judgment because of their natural heritage in spite of the vast multitude of warnings right from the Hebrew Scriptures that this is not the case.
Likewise, those raised up in evangelical Christianity, even if they’ve forsaken their evangelical upbringing and perhaps even deny God’s existence, still commonly consider themselves immune from God’s judgment because of a presumptuous trust and hope in Jesus Christ- a trust and hope which are unwarranted due to their disregard of Jesus Christ’s rightful Lordship over them in terms of how they actually think and live. They retain this presumptuous trust and hope in Jesus Christ in spite of the vast multitude of warnings right from both the Old and the New Testaments (which are perfectly united and consistent when all the evidence is duly examined), that judgment begins at the house of God and no one can dwell in the house of the Lord forever who does not actually follow His righteous ways unto death to self and suffering for His sake.
The chief lesson that Israel largely failed to learn is the chief lesson that Christendom (the realm of professing Christianity) largely has not learned either. The same devil who offered Eve the forbidden fruit, promising her no death would come to her by eating from it, has repackaged the lie in a multitude of ways to mankind. Some of the devil’s greatest masterpieces in advancing the mystery of lawlessness have come in relation to where God has most directly worked.
The call to wholeheartedly worship and serve God by submitting to Jesus Christ’s Lordship, and diligently following all that His Word actually commands, is the call of authentic Christianity. The Bible doesn’t contradict itself. There are different angles to examine the Gospel from, different aspects of the Gospel to emphasize at different times and in different circumstances, yet never does the true Gospel of Christ let anyone off the hook from taking up their own cross daily in order to follow Jesus Christ in doing what is right before God according to His Word while denying all sin and ungodliness.
Not unrelated to what has been said hitherto, addressing Calvinism (which is basically Reformation theology): Calvinism sounds appealing to the person who craves unconditional acceptance and security. At its core Calvinism is something intrinsically linked with something called Monergism- the concept that spiritual regeneration (and spiritual maintenance and growth too) is exclusively the work of God. Does that sound spiritual and holy? It is not true; and no Calvinist really believes in it anyways. It is a rabbit hole that leads into dark, dark places where, if logically traveled to, God is made out to be the author of sin and would essentially be the one to blame for all spiritual failures. If every right response of faith is 100 percent the work of God then logically God must be blamed for all spiritual failures. But even as the Calvinist attacks you for glorifying man (allegedly) and hurls other accusations he has learned to try to protect his evil doctrine when it is exposed, he is even then betraying his own theology. For, taken logically, no one could believe in Calvinism unless God essentially forced them to. And opposition then to Calvinism would be happening by God’s own design too. Label Calvinism then for what it essentially concludes: It makes God out to be the author of evil, it absolves man of responsibility, it justifies both the devil and mankind in their sins (and makes God out to be a villain by sending them to hell), it makes God out to be a respecter of persons (unconditionally choosing to save some but not others), and it appeals to people who want to believe they are special to God above others.
Calvinism actually vastly underestimates God’s power and exalts man too highly- the very things that it claims to do the opposite of! A sovereign king does not control the actions of everyone in his realm nor do the people in his realm necessarily do everything he says. A sovereign king is one who is powerful enough to make just laws for his kingdom and to deal with his citizens in accordance with their deeds and attitude towards those laws (and by extension, towards himself). God is powerful enough to allow man’s free will to take course- and yet still be fully in control. Calvinism basically teaches that God’s sovereignty means everything happens by His decree. And that falsely limits God’s actual power and is also the most man-exalting doctrine that could be conceived- because it gives every sinner an excuse to blame their sin on God. Calvinists will often deny this, but their doctrine logically leads to this conclusion when it’s logically followed.
God’s justification does indeed have terms, as the many “if”s in the Bible in relation to man’s response to the Gospel of Christ prove. If God worked to irresistibly overpower some to faith and salvation and yet not in others (like Calvinism blatantly teaches), then God would be a respecter of persons. The Bible says over and over though that God is no respecter of persons.
Ask the Calvinist who pushes Calvinism to you if you have free will to believe in Calvinism; and why he/she is so frustrated that you won’t receive it. Watch how they evaluate you and expect you to respond positively to what they’re saying- the very thing they deny that man is able to do with God’s Truth! God’s Word is true; Calvinism is not.
Calvinists also love to say how man is nothing- and yet if you call one of their prized, revered teachers (like Charles Spurgeon, Augustine, John Calvin especially) anything negative they often take great offense. It is a system filled with false assumptions, faulty logic, gaping holes, bad Bible scholarship, and subtle or blatant hypocrisy.
The Bible has answers which make God the author of salvation; and also yet leave man with responsibility to cooperate with God’s grace- grace which man did not earn, cannot replicate, and cannot please God without. This grace necessarily tests and tries man to come into line with his Creator, the One whom heeding and aligning with composes the essence of righteousness. This heeding and alignment are, when exercised, proper reception of the great moves He has already made to reconcile man to Himself. There is a Biblical solution that leaves all men with a valid, realistic opportunity to partake of God’s grace which none did earn; and which simultaneously leaves the blame fully upon those who do not enter into this grace, and remain in this grace, by virtue of the fact that they really could have done so. God made the same offer to them and strove with them to bring to cooperate with Him to obtain His grace like He did with those who obtained His grace and remained in it. If this were not the case, then God Himself would be a partial respecter of persons who showed favoritism. Anyone who ended up condemned to hell on Judgment Day could then call Him out with the just charge that, if He had only done for them what He had done for the saved, then they would not be receiving condemnation to an everlasting lake of fire.
Calvinism essentially makes God not only the primary obstacle, but in reality the only obstacle, to man getting right with Him and attaining righteousness. No logical person who fears Him should be comfortable meeting Him on Judgment Day holding to such a dark doctrine which paints the Righteous Judge of all the earth in such a morally ugly, unfavorable way. And by morally ugly and unfavorable, that is not a reference to the world’s corrupt definition of these things. If Calvinism were true, then God’s ways would be morally ugly and unfavorable by the definition of His own Law in the Bible! We know that the devil wants to slander and portray God as a hypocrite, we know that Satan is subtle, and there is thus no doubt where such insinuations come from.
Calvinists also must face the fact that their theology essentially originated from a Roman Catholic (Augustine, whom John Calvin basically got his theology from). Augustine was not shy in making known his belief that there is no salvation outside the Roman Catholic Church. That means that if Calvinism came from a man led by God’s Spirit in his theological judgments, most Calvinists would be going to hell anyways.
Yet since Calvinism is not true, I exhort everyone to not abuse the capability which you have and are responsible to use correctly, to walk in the light of God’s Word. Bow to Jesus Christ and get the sin out of your life completely. Jesus became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him, as Hebrews 5:9 says. These are the true elect. If you don’t get in the Christian faith authentically, and endure to the end therein, you won’t be able to blame a divine lottery that didn’t go in your favor like Calvinism would logically say you should do. Those who are condemned to hell on Judgment Day will be condemned because they didn’t make use of the grace of God in Christ like they indeed should have and could have.
The ninth of Av is commonly recognized by religious Jews as the saddest day of the year. They often fast on this day and observe other rituals related to mourning such as not washing and not bathing. This is the day on the Hebrew calendar in which both Israel’s First and Second Temples were destroyed (by the Babylonians in 586 BC and by the Romans in AD 70). This is also commonly regarded as the date where the Romans crushed the false messiah Simon Bar Kohkba’s revolt in AD 135 and destroyed the city of Betar. Betar had basically been the last major stronghold of resistance for the Jews in their war against the Romans. The Romans afterwards plowed the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Many other calamities have come upon the Jews on, or very near, this date throughout history. The Jewish people thus continue in traditions not derived from the inspired writers of Scripture and continue in subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) allowances for sin which their corrupt leaders have taught them (the blind leading the blind).
The ninth of Av on the Hebrew calendar, and its multiple calamities, remains an elephant in the room proving that the Jewish people remain under God’s judgment and that God has honored the request of their ancestors regarding their Messiah who was sent to bless and save them. That request is recorded in Matthew 27:25 as the Jews insisted to Pilate that He be crucified, “His blood be on us, and on our children.”
The ninth of Av is also a rebuke to Zionist professing Christians who advocate that Jews are entitled to a homeland in the land of Canaan- despite the many warnings right in the Jewish Scriptures which state that they are not unconditionally promised the land and that God will cast them out if they are not obedient to Him. Whereas they were rooted out of the land by God’s judgment, what right do they have to re-enter in mass and dwell there again? I’m not talking about the individual Jews who purchased land there at market value, I am talking about the mass theft and murder of the Arabs who had acquired the land and dwelt there peacefully until they were violently driven away and displaced by the Jews as a group (as the Jews proved that they are indeed unrepentant and not properly humbled by God’s judgment upon them).
Consider somebody who has been evicted from a house for not paying rent, and they then come back many years later and retake the house by violently robbing, killing, and/or driving away whoever had come to subsequently inhabit the house (whether they came to own it themselves or were renting from someone else who had come to own the house). Don’t think that God will leave this robbery and murder of the Arabs by the Jews unrequited! And don’t be surprised if further events on, or around, the ninth of Av (that should happen) play a significant role in this requital.
It is reasonable to believe, with all the evidence available, that God has chosen to frequently use the ninth of Av as a day of reckoning and as a preview of Judgment Day. Such judgments upon the Jewish people are warned about right in the Bible and also serve as proof that God will not suffer His name to be taken in vain. Those who profess to belong to Him must be obedient to Him and bring forth the fruit of righteousness before Him. Jesus told a parable illustrating and proving this in Matthew chapter 21. He concluded that parable by telling the Jewish leaders in Matthew 21:42-43: “Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” This is talking about fruits that are consistent with, and worthy of, God’s kingdom.
As the ninth of Av then serves as a reminder that Jews that reject Jesus Christ are not in God’s favor, it is also then a rebuke to Zionist professing Christians who have fallen for the delusion that siding with God means supporting modern Jews and modern Israel. This is a great delusion. It is obviously no more proper to bless the nation of Israel now than it was in AD 70 when Jerusalem was being destroyed by the Romans through God’s own judgment. If you dispute that, then please cite the great repentance and reception of Jesus Christ which modern Israel as a whole has had. If such actually existed, they would not be oppressing the Arabs like they are and they would be offering restitution, great restitution, for their violence and theft against them. God is no respecter of persons. And if you think that one group of people has a right to steal from another group then you’re an enemy of God, and don’t be surprised when you get the same condemnation as the thieves which you are supporting and hence justifying.
Proverbs 28:4: “They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.”
Jews around the world mourn on the ninth of Av for the calamities which have happened to their people on, or very near, this day on their calendar. Yet mourning in itself accomplishes nothing. It’s useless to cry over God’s judgment if you don’t acknowledge, turn from, and make restitution for the sins which warrant judgment.
Proverbs 28:9: “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”
Proverbs 28:13: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
And don’t think that you will be spared from God’s judgment any more than the Jewish people if you continue in sin and aren’t obedient to Jesus Christ yourself. There is truly no respect of persons with God.
You say that you believe in Jesus. If you don’t obey Him, you are God’s enemy like the disobedient Jews are.
1 Corinthians 10:5-11: “But with many of them (speaking of the Israelites whom God brought out of Egypt by Moses) God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
Let the ninth of Av with its destruction of the two temples, and the many other judgments upon the Jews that are associated with it, drive the truth into the depths of your heart like a stake that Jesus Christ is truly the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His truth will surely prevail in the end, those whom He deems faithful will rejoice, and His enemies will be put to shame and everlasting contempt.
1 Timothy 6:15-16: “Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate (the only who is all-powerful), the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.”
Aaron’s email is: [email protected]
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