ON THE REFORMED HERESY

Speaking allegorically of Christians as ‘sheep,’ Jesus said, “Even so, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish” (Mat 18:14). He indicated that even if one of the one-hundred sheep is lost, that one is as valuable as the ninety-nine that are not lost!

Lost, in the Christian vernacular, is endangered to the extent that one might perish. It is going astray from the safety of the herd and its shepherd.

Of course, another allegory is that Jesus is the ‘Good Shepherd.’ Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. (John 10:11)…”I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.” (John 10:140.

Indeed, Jesus did give His life for all the ‘sheep,’ even the one lost ‘sheep’ beside Him on the Cross. Dismus, the malefactor on the Cross, was saved before any of those in the fold. Although Jesus died for everyone on the Cross, the first to be found was the thief!

The ‘herd’ there that day was everyone. They included the apostles, Mary his mother, many of His disciples, Pilate, the centurions, and even those who hated Him… even the chief priests. They were the ‘sheep’ and Jesus the ‘Good Shepherd.’ His death watched over them. Among them were those who were safely in His fold and the many that were lost and would perish.

It should be obvious that Jesus died for them all, so that they all could gather under the protective Spirit of God and be safe in a trying world.

Note that Satan also suffered death that same day. Satan had entered Judas as Judas had gone astray. Both Judas and Satan perished the day that Jesus died. Judas literally died, but Satan lost his power. He was as dead because the death of Christ defeated Satan. Judas was one lost sheep the Jesus shepherded that would soon perish, and Jesus even died for Him!

Compare sheep to the other beasts. They are docile, abiding together in peace under the protection of their master. Their nature is much different than wolves and the wilder beasts from whom they must be protected.

Sinners are those of the Wicked One and his will they will do (John 8:44). They are the ‘beasts’ that will attack Jesus’s sheep, and their natures are not like sheep, but more so like wolves. Wolves tackle and eat defenseless sheep without any shame.

You get the idea; Jesus died for everyone. He made that plain: 

That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life, (John 3:15-16)

 The key word in both of those verses is “whosoever” — “individually: each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, all things, everything; collectively: some of all types” (Strong 2006).

Included in that concern is not just the Jews but every individual. Jesus is personal about it; it includes you! Although Jews are special, God is inclusive; whosoever includes both Jew and Gentile. Conversion changes both who the individual is and who the Jews are!

A Christian is a Jew inwardly (Rom 2:29), so conversion allegorically changes wolves into domesticated sheep.

Judas was the ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ (Mat 7:15), and Jesus died for him as well. He died to cast Satan — the proverbial ‘beast’ — from Judas, but Judas took it on himself to do what only Jesus could do. Judas perished because he did not wait on the Good Shepherd to die to save him.

It should be clear that albeit the Jews were God’s chosen and peculiar people (Deut 14:2), they were only chosen to be first among many! However, they would also need to depend on the Good Shepherd. Their fate was up to them; whether as safe people, they would wait on the Good Shepherd to find them. (That is the gist of the Abrahamic Covenant.)

Hence, both individually and collectively, even though many are selected, only some look for Jesus. As it turns out, Christians are made Jewish: speaking of Christians that Jesus had found, He said, “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9). Not only were the Jews “chosen” but so were whosoever praises the One that calls them.

Preservation is not some type of an ‘election,’ but an individual’s choice, and when many make the same choice, the nature of the collective body changes as well. Face it, you may be a Christian because your forebears are Christians. That does not mean that you, as an individual, was selected, but God put you in a spiritual economy that made it more likely that you would go with the herd.

Since “whosoever” is now understood (hopefully), consider “election:” 

He that lacks these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things, you shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Pet 1:9-11)

 The subjects therein are “calling” and “election.” The intent is to make them for certain. How is that accomplished? “If you do these things.” Those things are old sins from which you were at one time purged. If you do not sin, then you have entry to heaven. Therefore, your entry unto the Kingdom of God in the end is based on what you do with your election and calling, is it not?

Do you know without a ‘shadow of a doubt’ that you are saved? That depends on what you do after you are first purged from sin!

As an individual and one of the ‘lost sheep,’ your safety depends on you. As a ‘sheep’ you are already purged of sin and under the protection of Jesus. He calls for you, but you must follow Him all the Way, to not only safety, but salvation in the end. Jesus calls the sheep, but they must follow Him.

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mat 16:24).

Disciples are those who follow Jesus — the so called, ‘sheep’ who trusts their master. Jesus called to the disciples… He said unto them.  

The contingency was on them to pick up their cross; to do something with their calling. Jesus said, “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Mat 22:14). In fact, whosoever is called; both individuals and collectively — both the one lost sheep and all the herd.

That passage corresponds with the calling and election (2 Pet 1:10 above). Therefore, since all are called and few are chosen, election is not an election at all, but a process of choosing. The word ‘calling’ in that passage is figurative; it is literally an ‘invitation’ as in an invitation of the ‘bride’ (the Church) to the wedding of the ‘Bridegroom’ (Mat 25).

Therefore, all are invited to become a Christian, but few are chosen. As it turns out, the Greek word, “eklektos” pertains to them both; chosen is election, not in a political sense at all, but as the root word means, “selected” (ibid).

An election is democratic; the majority, choose from among the candidates, and vote for the one that they think is most qualified. It is essentially a personality contest where the one who promises the most may win the race.

Divine election is true democracy wherein even the worst of the worst have the opportunity. There is not only one who has a chance of winning but many. God desires that all run the race, but to run, as scripture says, the race must be entered.

Paul was an Olympiad aficionado. He said, “They which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain” (1 Cor 1:24). Of course, the ‘prize’ is eternal life in heaven, but Paul was speaking figuratively. The race is all inclusive, and it seems that only one wins.

The point is that you run the race without looking at others as if you are the only runner. Everyone that enters the race perceives themselves as viable runners. It is an individual race, but the hope is all will be winners who enter the race, in sort of a modern fashion wherein all who enter are winners!

That passage is the ‘calling,’ or invitation, to enter the race. It is a race, not an election at all. There will be some that enter who do not finish, let alone win the prize because there are many hurdles in the race (tribulations). You can run but fall (apostasy; Heb 6:6), or you can just get lazy and never endure to the end (Mat 10:22).

As you can see, ‘election’ is not who is picked to go to heaven or not, but who is diligent enough to see the prize at the end so intensely that they are certain of their win. By grace, there is not just one that wins, but many, and that depends on the diligence of those who God has invited to run.

At first, only the Hebrews were invited to the race, but as you can see, next the Romans were invited, and subsequently the Divine Olympiad became global! We are all invited to run the Divine Race to the finish line, and like any Olympiad, only a few will win the games.

However, the Way to the finish line is not a game nor is it strictly for those who run for sport, nor to make a name for themselves. It is for the diligent who endure the course, and the obstacles in between.

Now to be somewhat critical; and that I hate to do.

The doctrine of ‘divine election’ is mean- spirited.  It makes God not only gracious but malevolent. Some will live forever only because it is  the Will of God. He wants that they endure to the end — only those who He chose in the beginning of time; that “He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Ephes 1:4). With that said, in the doctrine of election, the Will of God is that most perish. It might be you, in that doctrine, for whom His Plan and future for you is torments in Hell. That does not describe a gracious God!

So, where is it that we should go to find the chosen? Sometime before the foundation of the world. It is obvious when the ‘election’ took place!

“The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen 2:7). That was during the foundation of the world. However, God used the ‘soul’ that was already made in the first process — “God created man in his own Image” (Gen 1:27). That Image was ‘Selem’ in the Hebrew — a “Shadow’ or ‘Phantom’ (ibid).

The ‘soul’ is the innermost being of a person. It is not visible but only an inner “Shadow” of the outward man or woman.

God created many kinds of beings, did He not? — living beings such as fish and four-footed beasts. Only one living being was selected to have dominion (Gen 1:26) and that was mankind.

Thus, ‘election’ was a selection process of who would be dominant — “to prevail” (ibid) over the other kinds.

Thusly, all mankind, both Adam and his woman, were selected to be preserved with a living soul. Not just the two, but their kind for they were both Adam-kind.

Note that none of the other creatures were chosen to prevail over the others. God desired to preserve mankind, not the other kinds. That is why the study of the Creation is so imperative to understand God’s Plan for us, and our future, according to Jeremiah the prophet. God had no plans that He stated for the animal kingdom; only for his chosen kind that He named ‘Adamah.’ We were elected; all of us! That is the mystery of God of which Paul spoke.

The doctrine of election is somewhat arrogant and irrational as well! Christians who believe that, believe that only they are the chosen few, neglecting all the rest of mankind. For them alone, God had irresistible grace and to Hell with the rest of the delusional beings. He was even more graceful in that doctrine to the animals, because most of humans would go to Hell, but the animals would even be protected from the Devil and Hell.

A doctrine such as that is a form of Gnosticism wherein there are both a gracious and malevolent God — a Good God and an evil God in one! The doctrine of election is not one of grace as reformers say, but one of malevolency; that God is both good and evil, and rather than the ‘Tree of Life,’ the reformist God is the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.’ In other words, reformed theology, Calvinism, is heretical.

 Reformers did both good and evil. They reformed the transubstantiation of Romanism but then created an elitist version of Christianity, even more elite than the Catholics that they repudiated.

Ironically, it is only them — those of the reformed churches — that were elected. How convenient that it is only them who are saved by grace, and to Hell with all the others who never had the grace of God to resist or not!