The Jacobus Arminius Heresy

I certify, at the outset of this post, that the gospel that I teach on this blog is not from man. Because I neither received it from any man, neither was I taught it by any man; but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Arminianism, or, the "Arminian gospel,"as I say (in order to specify that I am referring to his gospel, and not to any of the other numerous doctrines he taught), is the gospel as first prominently promoted by Jacobus Arminius. This is the gospel, dear Christian reader, that you know and believe, unless you are a Calvinist. The Arminian gospel is the gospel taught by essentially every Christian denomination. Interestingly, it is also not substantively different from the gospel as taught by the Catholic Church. The central point of Arminianism is that human beings are not justified/saved/redeemed/born again until and unless they accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. This is not correct (as clearly demonstrated by Paul in Romans 2.14-16, and John 3.3-8), and I am exercising restraint in simply saying that it is not correct. So let me be more clear about the matter. The Arminian gospel is blasphemous heresy. The Arminian gospel claims that one cannot bear good fruit or shine a light in the world without accepting Christ. This is clearly not true, and not consistent with the everlasting gospel. Arminianism is not the everlasting gospel. Notice that, logically, Arminianism makes man into his own Savior. This is unavoidable no matter how hard you want to try, as the only difference between one man and another, within the Arminian viewpoint, has to do with choices and actions taken by the man. This means that man saves himself by agreeing with the good advice and taking action on it. He can then boast about himself as compared to those who have not heard, understood, and acted on the good advice. Arminianism is what the SDA church currently teaches, and it is what pretty much all of Christendom teaches. It is NOT the true and everlasting gospel. The Arminian gospel is not good news, it’s good advice. While if one takes a very gracious view of Arminianism, one can indeed say that it is very very good advice, nevertheless, it is not good news. The everlasting gospel is without question good news! The good news is that all of humanity has been redeemed! This is what Romans 5.18 is speaking of very clearly. This is given to all men, the light that lighted all men (John1.9). Redemption is not different for those who don’t know Christ as compared to those who eventually do come to know Christ. All human beings have the new birth/quickening/redemption as a birthright delivered to them, without their knowledge or consent, and before they even have use of reason.

I will close by pointing out that my emphasis in everything I have said previously in this post about the gospel, is on elucidating the everlasting gospel, and is not on elucidating the process of sanctification which involves ever-increasing compliance with the law of God. The startling liberality of the true everlasting gospel should not lead anyone to fears regarding increased sinning so that grace might abound, as such ideas are diametrically opposed to the very core of the gospel, which is that redemption is given for the purpose of eventual entire restoration (Eph 4.13). The everlasting gospel is a doctrine distinct from the doctrine of the law and sanctification. Of course these two dontrines inextricably and beautifully intertwined. But they should not be spoken of as if they were one and the same thing. The good news is the good news, not the good advice. Keeping the law is good advice. Indeed keeping the law is very good advice. But when we are attempting to clarify the one and only true everlasting gospel, which has never before been taught in modern times, we should be very careful to distinguish it from the fulfillment of the law in us. The fulfillment of the law in us is a beautiful and necessary thing, but it is not the gospel. In fact, without the understanding of the true everlasting gospel, the fulfillment of the law in us becomes a very questionable affair.

In The Kingdom of God Embassy, September 13, 2023 - with apologies to Thomas Jefferson, et. al.!

The Unanimous Declaration of the members of the Kingdom of God Embassy, 

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the religious bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the ecclesias of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Jehovah entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that God is One being, and that His name is Jehovah. That He is not a mystical illogical self-contradicting three in one monstrosity, but is simply One Being, and there is none beside Him! That Jesus Christ is a man, and not a second god (though he has now been glorified and set at the right hand of the Father's Throne!). That Jesus is God's son precisely because Jehovah miraculously brought about his conception and birth. That Jesus being fully and only human is absolutely the only way in which his perfect life, sufferings, death, and resurrection is of any usefulness to the rest of humanity and to Jehovah in His Supreme Court of the Universe. That the Holy Spirit is the spirit of Jehovah, and is not a separate god. That it is also a reference to the spirit of Christ, and that the context of the passage will clarify whose spirit is being referred to. That the Law of Jehovah is the eternal manifestation of His Person, and that Christ has perfectly fulfilled His Law and is therefore our perfect personification of The Law of God. That by allowing Jehovah and Jesus to transform our spirits so that we are in perfect harmony with the mind of Christ, we can thereby perfectly fulfill God's Law in our own lives. That all followers of Jehovah and of His son will themselves keep, and will teach others to keep all of His Commandments, not just the ones that are convenient for them. That the Everlasting Gospel includes the fact that Christ, the second Adam, has redeemed all mankind, without their foreknowledge or consent, and has thereby overruled the condemnation they received, without their foreknowledge or consent, from the first Adam. That the Everlasting Gospel also includes, as a central emphasis, the soon coming of Jehovah, with Christ at His right hand, to establish His Kingdom among men forevermore! 

That all men are sovereign over their own consciences, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are liberty and the pursuit of God in the manner in which their conscience constrains them. That to secure these rights, ecclesias are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the Word of Jehovah.  That whenever any ecclesia becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, or leave it, and to institute a new ecclesia, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. That this Foundation can be nothing other than the Word of Jehovah. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that ecclesias long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that christians are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of doctrinal and ecclesiastical errors, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such a ecclesia, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these present ambassadors of the kingdom of God; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of ecclesia. 

We, therefore, the Representatives of the Kingdom of God Embassy, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by authority Jehovah has granted to us, as to every man, solemnly publish and declare, that the Kingdom of God Embassy is, and of right ought to be a free and independent ecclesia. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to Jehovah our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

Adam, or Jesus Christ, who is ruling in your life?

Today I want to talk about a Bible verse, and a truth, that is seldom addressed. I want you to think about this: in your mind/heart, who is more powerful, Adam, or Jesus Christ? You see, we haven't thought about it like this, but what we have been taught is that Adam is more powerful than Christ. You say, "well I don't believe that, even if I have been taught that in some way; and I don't think I have been taught that!" Well, you have been taught that Adam's sin resulted in your condemnation, before you were even born from your mother, and without you yourself consciously committing sin, and entirely without your knowledge or consent. You were taught this, and you accepted that you were learning about it after the fact, after it had already happened. You came to know that it is a reality despite you not being aware of it. All this is certainly biblical truth, as clarified in Romans 5.12-14, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." Notice that death passed upon all men, even on those who had not sinned like Adam sinned. And death passed upon them because they sinned "in him." Notice that God did not impute sin on them, but they died anyway. Why? Because they were in Adam when he sinned, and they therefore received their guilt in him/from him. Now this is not the part that most Christians, and most Christian teachers, have a problem with. Most of us are not foolish enough to think that we were somehow born perfect and righteous, and only became sinful when we ourselves committed conscious sin. We understand and agree with King David, who said, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Psalm 51.5. 

None of the above is false. It is all Bible truth. The problem is that because the masters in Israel have not rightly taught us the better Truth, we have/are living our lives with Adam ruling over us! Now today, I want us to carefully consider these things and begin from this day forward recognizing that Christ is more powerful than Adam, and that from now on we will live the Truth that Christ is the One ruling in our lives! Let's stop letting Adam rule over us!!! Let's have Christ rule over us!!!

Here is the Bible truth we need, which will clarify this for us, and help us rightly understand where our inheritance comes from!

"Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Romans 5.18

Notice that the free gift comes "even so" as the judgement came. The judgement unto condemnation came because of one act of one man; and it came to all, without their knowledge or consent. It is in this same way that our redemption/justification came upon us!!! Redemption came upon the whole human race, by the act of one Man; and it came upon all men without their knowledge or consent!!!

Unless you think Adam is more powerful than Christ! Do you think that while you did not have to help Adam in order for his act to result in your condemnation, you DO have to help Jesus Christ in order for His act to result in your justification? Well, let's see; do you think, have you been taught, that you are not justified/redeemed unless and until YOU accept Christ as your saviour? If you believe that, then you are saying that Adam is more powerful than Christ, and you are also making yourself your own saviour (if the only reason you are saved, as compared to those who are not saved, is that YOU did something, then you are your own saviour). That is not what the Bible teaches! The Bible plainly states that your justification/redemption came to you by the act of One; not by One and with your help!

Stop making Christ out to be weaker than Adam!!!

"But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 5.20-21

 

The Law of Life - Part 4

In this short post, we will consider an analogy to help us understand the truth about God's Law. First, let's restate the simple truth of the matter; Christ is the Law of God. If that seems difficult to understand, that's probably simply because we have been thoroughly indoctrinated to think of the Law in basically one way only. But the understanding of God's Law that is present truth (that His Law is a man), is not as foreign to your mind as you may think. It's just that this truth has been somewhat hidden until know. Consider the following analogy:

The setting is the American West, sometime in the late 1800s, in a small town out on the frontier. Your in the Mercantile and there's a disagreement between two men. They begin to argue, and can be heard from outside the store. I man wearing a silver star on his vest, hears them and steps into the store. He says, "excuse me, what seems to be the matter here?" One of the men turns and angrily says, "Who are you, it's none of your business." The man with the silver star responds, "I'm the law around here, so it is my business." When a sheriff on the American frontier announced that "he is the law," everyone who heard him, and everyone who has heard that statement when watching a Western movie, knows exactly what he means. He means that his wishes, desires, requirements, etc., are what will be followed. In other words, the sheriff determined what the law was. His mind was the source of the law in the area he had jurisdiction over. 

If we can understand that the man described above was himself the law, How much more clear should it be to us that the man, Jesus Christ, is himself the Law?

Here's another analogy: 

Have any of you heard your father or your mother say to you and your siblings, "I am the law in this house," or "My word is the law in this home," or some similar phrase? Was that hard for you to understand? No, not at all! 

Why then should it be hard to understand that the "word" of God is His in this universe?

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14.6

The Law of Life - Part 3

In this post I am sharing an excerpt from an article written by E. J. Waggoner, a man inspired by Jehovah to bring a "most precious message" to His "little flock." Sadly, the message was rejected by the "masters in Israel," and it has not been taught among God's people since. The following is part of that message. I have been saying, in previous posts, that The Law of God is a person, namely, Jesus Christ. Consider the following from Brother Waggoner, then consider the answers to the questions I present at the end of the post, each in relation to the numbered bold text.  

 

Letter and Spirit
E. J. Waggoner

"UNLIKE HUMAN LAW
The common opinion in regard to the letter and the spirit of the law, is most erroneous. The error arises from supposing that the law of God is similar to human laws. It is quite common to speak of the spirit of a law made by man, when all that is meant is the intent of the law. Thus: No human law is perfect; its framers can not possibly foresee all the circumstances that may arise to be judged by it. Then, too, the language of the law may be obscure. So the judge often finds it necessary to decide what was the intent of the lawmakers. A man might be technically or literally a violator of a law, while still acting fully in harmony with the intent of its framers. This is what is meant by the mistaken use of the term "letter and spirit," as applied to human laws.
Now the great difference between the nature of human laws and the divine law is that there is no spirit to the former, while the latter is wholly spiritual. Spirit is life; but there is no life in human laws. They can not give life. No man can get anything more out of a human law than he puts into it. If men ignore any human law, then it is said to be "a dead letter." But it has no more life in itself when it is obeyed than when it is disregarded; the life is in the people, who make their acts conform to the words of the law.
The law of God is wholly different. It is alive (1) whether people regard it or not. It is alive because it is spiritual. The man who serves in "the oldness of the letter" does not really serve at all, because, no matter how good his purpose, or how strong his endeavors, to keep the law, he is simply reproducing himself, and not the law. In trying to do what the law tells him to do, he is merely doing what his own nature allows him to do. While in a carnal state, he is "not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8:7.

"THE LAW IS LIFE"
But "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (2)(Rom. 8:2) gives freedom from this bondage, so that "the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us." The real law is the life of God in Christ, and that gives life (3). What is termed "the letter" of the law of God is the verbal statement of the law. This is not the law itself, but only the form of it, as the apostle said the Jews had "the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law." Rom. 2:20. The verbal statement of the law bears the same relation to the law itself that the photograph of a man has to the man himself. It is but the shadow. A shadow is the exact image of the substance. The words of the divine law, being "the form of knowledge and of the truth," might be compared to a statue, rather than to a photograph. It has the form and features, and differs from the reality only in having no life. So when we speak of the spirit of God's law, we mean the law itself, and not merely the intent of the law. The intent of the law may be learned from the words, since God is not subject to human limitations, but knows what is needed, and can say just what he means. From the words of the law of God we may know exactly what we should do, for it is a perfect form. But it is only in Christ that we find the living substance. The law in Christ is not only living, but it gives life. It performs itself in those who submit to it, because it is God's own life. It is not less than the letter; it is not something different from the letter; but it is simply the living thing which the letter perfectly describes."(4)

Questions:

1. If God's Law is alive, then can it be anything other than a Being, or being? Which Being, or beings?

2. If the Law of God is the "Spirit of Life in Christ," then is God's Law anything other than the Spirit of God in Christ, the spirit of Christ himself, who said "I am the Life?"

3. Again, if the real law of God is the life of God in Christ, then is it correct to say that the Law of God is Christ, who said of himself, "I am the Life?"

4. What, or Who, is the living Thing which the letter of God's Law perfectly describes? 

Answer: JESUS CHRIST!

 

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Romans 8.2

Internal Consistency

Internal consistency is indispensable for a teacher. Without it, the student will be left either deceived, confused, or ignorantly trapped in errors they are not aware of. Unfortunately, the gospel taught by almost all the churches today is not internally consistent. Consider the following:

Preachers say that the gospel is that salvation is by grace alone, and not by work. 

Preachers also say that in order to receive salvation you have to ask for it, or believe, or accept it. 

Some rather brazen pastors will go even further and say that in order to be saved one must first repent, then ask for/believe/receive/have faith in Christ. But here I want to just focus on the inconsistency in saying the following two things:

1) Salvation is by grace alone. 

2) In order to be saved, you must accept it/believe on/ask for it.

Notice that if you have to ask for/accept/believe in order to receive salvation, then you have to do something in order to be saved, and if you have to do something/anything in order to be saved, then you are saved by work! 

The false gospel taught by most churches today, is not internally consistent, be cause on the one hand it teaches the truth that salvation is by grace alone. But on the other hand it teaches the lie that you have to do work in order to be saved. You may search the Bible from the first page to the last, and you will not find one instance of it saying that you must do anything in order to receive salvation. But you will find that it clearly says that salvation is by grace alone, so that no man can boast (Ephesians 2.8-9). Which means that there is absolutely nothing you can do in order to receive salvation in return. You have it, not because of anything you did, but because of what Christ did (Ephesians 2.5-6)! You received it as a birthright. Indeed, every human is born saved, because what Christ did overrules what Adam did (Romans 5.18)!

That's the True, Everlasting, and Internally Consistent Gospel!

New Birth - Part 3

 Let's talk about the idea that you can/could have anything to do with your new birth, your being born again. Let's start off with an illustration. Suppose you are swimming in a pool at a family gathering. As you are swimming, your big brother, not seeing you, jumps in the pool and his knee hits the back of your head and knocks you out. You begin to sink and water enters your lungs. You are not breathing, and your heartbeat is weakening. Thankfully, you have two big brothers, and the second Big Brother (who is a certified Lifeguard) saw what happened and immediately dove in to assist you. He lifts you up out of the water and rolls you onto the pool deck. You are not breathing and your heart continues slowing down, then stops! Your Big Brother, always careful to respect your free will/free moral agency, asks you if you would like Him to begin CPR and use the automated external defibrillator (AED). Sadly, you are unconscious, and cannot hear His questions, nor can you reply to questions you cannot hear. And so, with tears in his eyes, but always respecting your free will, He refrains from applying CPR or using the AED. However, He does pray over you as your spirit goes back to its Maker. 

Insert here the sound of an LP record being scratched. 😉

The above illustration sounds absurd, doesn't it? But if you will think about it honestly, that is how the story would have to go if what pastors are telling us is true. Have you heard a preacher claim that God does not force salvation on you because He respects your free will so much that He won't give you salvation without you asking for it. What those teachers forget to tell you is that because of what Adam did, and without the Spirit of Christ in your heart, you are spiritually dead (And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Ephesians 2.1), and God cannot ask a spiritually dead person if he wants to be resurrected from the dead, because spiritually dead people cannot be attracted to God or the things of God, nor can they ask for anything from Him (Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Romans 8.7). Most Bible teachers will teach one of these truths or the other (that God respects our free will, and that man inherits the condition of spiritual death from Adam), but will not teach both of them and make them harmonize as relating to how man is saved. Consequently, what they teach regarding free will (while ignoring the condition of man without Christ) results in the following when carried to its logical conclusion: When we received death because of what Adam did, our Big Brother would have had to simply leave us dead in order to respect our freedom of choice (never mind that we did not have any choice in what Adam did and how it affected us). 

OK, so lets see if we can harmonize all these points, using Scripture to support our teaching. We'll first retell the story in a way that is reasonable given all the known elements. We'll pick up the story where your Big Brother, who is a certified Lifeguard, has got you out of the pool and is kneeling beside you. As soon as He verifies that you are not breathing and your heart is not beating, He begins administering CPR, asks others nearby to call 911, and calls for the AED. Its been less than a minute since you stopped breathing, and only a few seconds since your heart stopped beating, so He is confident that He will be successful in reviving you! After He performs a few chest compressions, your heart starts beating again and you begin to cough up water. He rolls you onto your left side, as you blink your eyes and cough! NOW you have free will!!! And that's because the Lifesaver did something without regard to your free will. You did not ask to be made alive; you couldn't ask. He made you alive because of His will, not because of yours (Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1.13). Notice that, just like the person who has drowned, you being made spiritually alive (i.e., born again) has NOTHING to do with your free will!

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:" Ephesians 2.4-6