THE OLDEST LIE
By Rev. Ted Pike
24 Jul 08
The Bible teaches that God’s covenant with
the forefather of the Jews, Abraham, can never be annulled. His promised
blessings, including Jewish ownership and occupation of Palestine,
could be granted today-- if Abraham's descendants obey God
as Abraham did. Tragically, they don’t. Rebellious Jews have
no right to covenant blessings promised only to the obedient. 1
But in contrast to the Bible, most contemporary evangelicals say
Christ-rejecting Jews enjoy unconditional status as “God’s
chosen people.” They believe such Jews can own and occupy Palestine —whether
they obey or not. Jews thus have rights to God's blessings not
because they obey like faithful Abraham but because of their genetics.
Similarly, most evangelicals believe sin in the believer's life
is covered because of a "born-again" covenant they make
with God--a covenant that now gives them unconditional "eternal
security" even as they continue to occassionally sin.
This brief article will examine the ancient lie that God unconditionally
blesses and approves of certain people--a lie that wreaks havoc with
His law.
History of Rebellion
As we retrace the long history of rebellion to God, we notice striking
similarities: rebels think they can sin without losing their security.
Lucifer was first to make this choice.
Described by Scripture as the most exalted and favored angel, Lucifer
thought his place of favor could not be threatened by his rebellion.
He probably felt that if he failed to kill or dethrone God, he
and his followers could occupy one part of heaven and God and His
angels the other. The Almighty showed what He thought of Satan's
notion of "unconditional security:" He threw Lucifer and
the rebellious angels out of heaven. Today, they are demons who infest
and dominate earth.
Like Satan, Adam and Eve thought they had unconditional privileges.
After all, like Lucifer, they were "special" - God's firstborn
humans! Believing rebellion would not deprive them of their place
in the earthly paradise, Eden , they ate the forbidden fruit. God
also cast them out, cursing the earth because of them.
In the 16th century, Reformation leader John Calvin developed an
idea very much like that of Satan and Adam. Calvinism says that if
a person is once soundly converted then he can't be lost, regardless
of subsequent sin. Calvin's 18th and 19th century followers said
that when sinners repent and accept Christ's gift of salvation they
are unconditionally "adopted" as "heirs of God and
fellow heirs with Christ." (Rom. 8:17 ) As “God’s
elect,” they are "eternally secure" no matter what
they do. The
great majority of evangelicals believe this today.
Actually, the New Testament says repeatedly that Christians can
lose their salvation. Just as God expelled Satan from heaven and
Adam and Eve from paradise, so He will expel from His kingdom those
who become His children through faith and then fall away into sin.
2 Peter 2:20-21 says:
For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world by
the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again
entangled in them, and are overcome, the last state has become
worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them
not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it,
to turn away from the holy commandment… 2
Unfortunately, countless Calvinist Christians who deeply love and
trust the Lord believe that some manifestations of their humanity
(irritability, sexual thoughts, seeming lack of Christian love or
good works, etc.) are sin. Such Christians find comfort in Calvinism's
assurance that even if they "sin" their souls are not in
jeopardy.
Yet sin is not just a thought, human instinct, or passing emotion.
It is rebellion to the known, Biblucally defined will of God. James
4:7 says "…to one who knows the right thing
to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin." Sin is a choice to
defy God's authority. Such an act of spiritual lawlessness
is serious enough to confine us to hell forever.
The Bible does teach eternal security. But it's only on
God's terms.
Scripture says we must forsake all known rebellion and daily look
to Christ in simple childlike trust, obeying Him to the best of our
ability. As long as we live by faith, we are eternally secure. Jesus
promised, "The one who comes [in simple trust] to Me I will
certainly not cast out." (John 6:37) Galatians 5:16 says
if you "walk by the Spirit…you will not carry out the
desire of the flesh." When we obediently trust Christ's mercy,
we cannot displease God or be lost. But we must continue in that
obedient faith, or we will lose our salvation. This is the simple
gospel.
For millennia, such authentic Christianity has been largely forgotten
by a church whose theologians have invented other assurances of God's
favor -- assurances people like much more than being told to trust
and obey daily!
Israel Today: No Obedience Required
Evangelicals of the 20th century have been steeped in Calvinist
promises that they don't have to continuously trust God to be saved.
This belief led naturally to unconditional approval of the Zionist
movement and later of Israel . Most evangelicals believe that the
Jews, like themselves, are chosen by God regardless of how they sin.
Most believe the Jews inherited unconditional rights of blessing
and favor from God through the Abrahamic covenant. Nothing Jews do
can abridge those privileges.
But this idea is flatly contradicted by the Old Testament's clearest
warnings that God's covenant promise to bless Israel is strictly
conditioned on obedience. Deuteronomy 7:9,12 says God "keeps
His covenant…with those who love Him and keep His commandments." Verse
12 says that only " because you listen to these judgments and
keep and do them" will "the Lord your God keep with you
His Covenant and His lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers."
Jews who do not obey God are stripped of covenant blessings, as
were Satan, Adam and Eve, and backslidden Christians. Such Jews are
denied national occupation of the land of promise. (The Bible prophesies
a remnant of Jews will repent at Christ's second coming and reoccupy
the land under divine approval.) 3 (See, Bible
Prophecy Made Simple)
Today, the vast majority of evangelicals and Christian Zionists
repeat a primordial lie: that God makes unconditional covenants with
men. This lie says God blesses and rewards certain favored people
even when they openly disobey Him. There is no more diabolical lie
and heresy.
Do you wonder why there are so many hypocrites in evangelical churches? Are
you baffled about why unending discord and terrorism has rent the
Middle East since Jews reoccupied it nearly a century ago?
There is no mystery.
Systems that beget hypocrisy and discord are founded not on the
level solid rock of truth, which brings freedom and peace, but on
the treacherous quicksand of a lie.
Endnotes:
- Scriptures teaching that God's covenant with Israel is accessed
only by obedience include: Gen. 18:1,9; Ex. 19:5; Deut. 7:9-15,
11:13-15, 15:4-5, 19:8-9, 28:1-68, 30:9-20; Josh. 24:19-20; I Sam.
2:30, 12:14-15, 12:20-25; I Chron. 28:9; II Chron 15:2; I Kings
6:12-13, 9:4-9, 11:38; II Kings 21:8; Is. 58:9-14, 65:11-12; Jer.
17:24-25, 18:7-10, 22:4-5, 26:3-6; Zech 3:7.
- Scriptures teaching God’s conditional terms of salvation
include: Rom. 11:20,22; 1 Cor. 6:9,10; 15:1,2; Heb. 6:4-8, 10:26,39;
Gal. 5:21; 6:7; Eph. 5:5; I John 2:29; 3:6; 2 John 1:8, I Tim.
1:19; 4:16; II Tim. 2:11; II Pet. 2:20,21; Rev. 3:5, 11, 21.
- Scriptures teaching God’s requirement of obedience for
Jews to occupy or reoccupy Palestine include: Lev. 26, Num. 32:15,
Deut. 1:37, 28:21, 25, 37,41, 58-64, 29:28; I Sam. 12:20-25; I
Kings 8:46-53; II Kings 18:11,12, 21:8; II Chron. 7:17-22, 30:9;
Neh. 1:8-9; Jer. 4:1-4, 7:5-7, 12:16-17, 13:22, 15:19, 22:4-5,
29:13; Hosea 9:15; Amos 4:1-2; Zech. 7:11-14.
Rev. Ted Pike is director of the National Prayer Network, a Christian/conservative
watchdog organization.
Let the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith teach you how they
have saddled 45 states with hate laws capable of persecuting Christians: http://www.adl.org/99hatecrime/intro.asp.
Learn how ADL took away free speech in Canada and wants to steal
it now in the U.S. Congress. Watch Rev. Ted Pike's Hate
Laws: Making Criminals of Christians at video.google.com. Purchase
this gripping documentary to show at church. Order online at www.truthtellers.org for
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