The elect are spiritually begotten by the Word of God. We MUST have the Word of God available to us in order to begin our spiritual life, or journey. That’s WHY the Bible speaks of our “being born again…by THE WORD OF GOD” (See I Peter 1:23). “It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching (God’s Word) to save them that believe” (I Corinthians 1:21). The angel told Cornelius to send for Peter, “who shall tell you words (God’s words), whereby you and all your house shall be saved” (Acts 11:14). That’s why the Hittite and the Jebusite, the Inca and the Mayan, etc., COULD NOT be saved at the time and in the places where they lived!! NONE of those living in times and areas without the Word of God were elected, or predestined by God to be called to salvation and fellowship with Him THEN! It would have been pointless. That’s WHY the Roman centurion Cornelius was THE FIRST Gentile to be called to join the body of Christ! Think of all the Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, etc., who lived BEFORE Cornelius’ time! When Pharaoh told Moses: “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go” he was telling the truth. Pharaoh knew absolutely NOTHING about this “God of the Hebrews,” and that’s exactly what Moses and Aaron called THEIR God – the God of the Hebrews as God was not revealing Himself to any but them at that time!!!! (See Exodus 5:2-3). (Read the burning bush encounter one more time. Moses doesn’t even know who this invisible Being is who speaks to him from the midst of the burning bush, as Moses asks this invisible Personage, “When I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, ‘The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say unto me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?’” (See Exodus 3:13). God could have replied, “Tell them Vishnu, or Allah, or Oprah Winfrey has sent you,” and Moses would have registered no surprise or alarm. He, like Pharaoh, honestly didn’t know who this Being was or if He even had a name!!! Was He male, female, neuter, eternal, short-lived, good or evil? Moses didn’t know YET!
Did you know that in 2 A.D., while Jesus Christ was still a little child, China conducted its first census, counting 57,671,400 people as inhabitants of that great, ancient empire? (Check an encyclopedia or the Internet). Over fifty-seven-and-a-half MILLION hurting, loving (and loved by God), curious, beautiful human beings, and not one of them elected to hear and respond to the truth – THEN!!! Their opportunity to inherit eternal life IS FUTURE – so says the holy scriptures. That’s what the overwhelming majority of this world’s “preachers” do not understand. They think whatever percentage of those Chinese reached adulthood and were not drastically mentally deficient are now screaming and twitching in the fires of hell and will be there trillions of years after the last Die-Hard battery goes dead! All those who died in infancy or as little children are now enjoying the splendors of heaven, so they believe. Life is one grand lottery. Die young enough and you’ll enjoy heaven and eternal life. Live past a certain point (a point in time preachers call the age of accountability) and die after that point without “giving your heart to Jesus”, and you’ll burn for eternity. That’s the best “plan of salvation” divine intelligence could devise!!???
The average believer buys hook, line and sinker whatever he is spoon-fed from his local pulpit. If the preacher assures him the Lord could “break through the blue” at any moment and snatch him away to glory, he shouts “Hallelujah” and “Amen” and has no doubt he is hearing a Holy Ghost anointed sermon straight from the throne of God. The possibility that Christ’s return could be a century, or more, away is just not feasible. Little does he know that Christopher Columbus thought the same thing. Read a good biography of Christopher Columbus. He was certain that the Second Coming would occur in his own lifetime,or not too long after his demise.
Do some research, Christian. You will find that believers throughout most every century since our Lord’s time have believed wholeheartedly, if not desperately, that the Lord Jesus Christ would return in their own time period. Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians to correct this erroneous belief that was becoming pervasive even in his own time! As the year 1000 approached multiplied thousands of believers were certain Christ’s return was imminent. You older believers, don’t you remember the prognostications bandied about as the year 2000 approached? Don’t you remember how certain Jack Van Impe was that the Lord Jesus Christ’s return was absolutely imminent? And how about December of 2012?? Weren’t we supposed to see the end of the world then? (Let me suggest you read your Bible a bit more energetically and with a truly open mind).
But doesn’t the Bible say that no one knows the day or the hour of our Lord’s return? It most certainly does. (See Matthew 24:36). NO ONE can pinpoint the exact time of Christ’s return. We know He can’t return tonight, though, as there is much prophecy that must be fulfilled before that event can take place, contrary to the LIE that all necessary prophecies have already been fulfilled. Let’s say a neighbor of mine calls me from Paris, France, where he has been vacationing, asking me to have the air conditioning turned on at his home so that it has cooled down prior to his arrival. Do I need to rush next door and turn on the air conditioning unit as soon as I get off the phone. Of course not. Much has to transpire before my neighbor will appear at his doorstep. He must travel from his hotel to the airport, board an aircraft, fly to the states, change planes, etc., etc., and this will take much time. Although I do not know the day or hour of his arrival. (He didn’t tell me). I DO know when he can’t or won’t arrive. I know he won’t be home for supper. So, too, although we cannot know the exact time of our Lord’s return, we CAN know when He will NOT return – and He will NOT return tonight! (May I suggest you save this article. Put it in a safe place. Take it out and read it ten years from now, even twenty. Pass it on to your son or daughter. Ask them to do the same.)
Friend, Satan is an expert at what he does – deception. Mary Baker Eddy, Joseph Smith and a host of others prove that to be an unarguable FACT, so do thousands and thousands of preachers who preach contradictory and opposing doctrines around the clock, the Presbyterian minister saying one thing, the Lutheran pastor yet something else, and the Baptist still something far different from both of them. And all is confusion. Yet all these preachers are absolutely certain God “called” them to preach and that they are His duly ordained spokesmen!
Our Lord told us “When you shall see ALL THESE THINGS (coming to pass, finding fulfillment), know that it (the end of the age and His return) is near, even at the doors” (See Matthew 24:33). Now read the previous 32 verses in that chapter. Make a list of all the things you see Jesus Christ enumerating in that text. Cross out those that have already occurred. Notice what you have left, then ask yourself, “Could the remainder of these things transpire in the next few days, weeks, months?” Then buy whatever you wish on the installment plan. If you do not die prematurely, you will have time to enjoy your purchase as well as pay for it. Christ said, “Behold, I have told you before” (verse 25, Matthew 24). Why not believe HIM?
A disturbing thing about human nature is that “believers” believe and keep on believing, that is raised a Baptist, you’ll die a Baptist. Raised a Presbyterian, you’ll most likely die a Presbyterian, that is unless you meet and fall madly in love with a Lutheran, then there’s a good chance you’ll become a Lutheran, or else your sweetheart will become a Presbyterian, adopting your belief system as their own. Tragic, isn’t it. Most believe what they do NOT necessarily because it is true, but because they were either reared to believe what they do, or they embraced their beliefs because their marriage partner believed that way! But WHY do they keep on believing as they believe year in and year out until death do they part? Well, primarily because they are instructed in their particular belief system and have verses of scripture and practices pointed out to them that supposedly support their beliefs. The Baptist is 100% confident he can show you FROM THE BIBLE that once saved, always saved is the clear teaching of scripture. He conveniently ignores the fact that there are several other denominations in the Christian faith that are absolutely 100% certain they can show the open-minded Bible student that one can most certainly lose their salvation based upon their conduct and practices. Rarely do they switch sides, the “once saved, always saved” adherent becoming a firm believer in the teaching that one can, indeed, lose their salvation, or vice versa, the believer who thinks one can lose their salvation coming to believe such a thing is an utter impossibility.
And that is the troubling thing about spiritual deception. I have often used the example, parable if you will, that I gleaned from a television commercial of several years ago. A company that produced a product that was designed to eliminate roaches in one’s home was called the roach motel, and their slogan was “the roaches check in, but they don’t check out.” That is the troubling thing about spiritual deception. Once one checks in, they generally do not check out. That is, once a person has accepted a doctrine, a spiritual teaching as true, believing it to be adequately supported by the scriptures, they will most likely continue to hold to and believe that teaching for the rest of their life. Nothing will sway them from that belief. They will not examine the opposite viewpoint. Why do so? They know, and know they know that they are right. Again, that is the troubling thing about spiritual deception, the deceived mind consistently sees the “other guy” as being in the wrong – never themselves! Their erroneous beliefs are further fortified especially if they find they are in the majority, that most “believers” believe exactly as they do in a given matter. And their beliefs are even further undergirded when they find that many highly respected leaders of their particular denomination believe and teach exactly as they do. Their beliefs are then set in concrete when week after week they attend meetings where those beliefs are stated and and re-stated again and again. How could they possibly be wrong??? And that’s exactly how the religious leaders of Jesus’ day and time thought and reasoned. Some rejected Christ BASED ON SCRIPTURE!!! Notice, “Many of the people…said, ‘Of a truth this (Jesus Christ) is the Prophet (spoken of by Moses).’ Others said, ‘This is the Christ.’ But some said, ‘Shall Christ come out of Galilee? HAS NOT THE SCRIPTURE SAID, THAT CHRIST COMES OF THE SEED OF DAVID, AND OUT OF THE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM, WHERE DAVID WAS?’ So there was a division among the people because of Him.” Knowing that Jesus was from Capernaum of Galilee, many rejected Him as they knew scripture declared the Messiah would come out of Bethlehem of Judea. Had they done a little checking they would have discovered that Jesus was indeed born in Bethlehem! (See John 7:40-48).
Friend, I would suggest you do a little checking in the scriptures before rejecting someone as you just might be rejecting a spokesman sent to you by God!!!
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley