Author Archives: osheadavis

The Pinnacle of a Spiritual Life

Evil is when you talk against what God has said. Do not agree with wrong words. Cut off negative words quickly, say “all is well.”
 
Every obstacle in your life is now an opportunity. Faith filled words are the highest form of spiritual life.
 
Bill Winston. Twitter. July/04/2021
 
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“For to us God has revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man that is in him? Thus also no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, in order that we may know the things freely given to us by God, things which we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. But the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. Now the spiritual person discerns all things.” (1 Corinthians 2:10-15 LEB)
 
“Is anyone among you suffering misfortune? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the elders of the church and they should pray over him, anointing him with olive oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins he will be forgiven” (James 5:13-15 LEB)
 
Bill is correct here. Faith filled word’s are truly the pinnacle of a “spiritual life.” Whether he realizes it or not, this is the high intellectualism that bible teaches. Being “spiritual” is being intellectual. As Paul teaches in 1 Corn. 2, to be spiritual is having the Spirit of God (who alone knows God) reveal to you, the premises that God knows and understands to you, so that you have these premises and that you intellectually understand them and agree with them. But there is more to it. Paul specifically focus on the premises that deal with all the free goodies God is giving to us in Christ. To know these premises of freely given goodies, understand them and agree with God that He has indeed given them to you here and now in Christ, is according to Paul, the height of being intellectual, spiritual, so that such a person has the “Mind of Christ.”
 
This is why obstacles are food for the elect to be victorious over.
And why, since epistemology is the starting point, the beginnings of evil starts there, before it gets into behavior. As James says, if you are suffering misfortune, then ask for prayer, and agree your misfortune will go away. To intellectually agree and speak that your “misfortune” is who you are, that it will persist, is to think and speak evil. James says to speak in faith, and make it go away. This is goodness, this is intellectual; this is spiritual.
James says the same with with sickness and sinning. You are not to intellectually agree and speak that your sickness, is who you are, and that it will persist and defeat you. That is evil, this is anti-intellectualism; it is unspiritual. James says faith “WILL” make the sick healed. This is good; this is spiritual. The same with sin. You are not to intellectually agree and speak that sin, is who you are, and that it will persist and defeat you. That is evil, this is anti-intellectualism; it is unspiritual. You are to pray in faith and intellectually agree that in Christ you are forgiven and will mature in your behavior. This is goodness, this is intellectual; this is spiritual.

Jesus became Our Poverty, We become His Prosperity Today

Christian academic cattle: “Ignore context and manipulate categories as if you are God, so even if the category and context is about giving money transform it to be about invisible spiritual things. Moralize the text to oblivion and back, so the direct meaning is lost. Ok., Just pretend you are God, and make it say whatever you want.”

LOL !!! Don’t get me wrong, I like a nice fairytale or anime like the next guy, but do you have no fear of God that you invalidate God’s commandments by your tradition? The categories and context is about financial giving. Paul says Jesus took on our poverty ((Jesus was poor His life relative to heaven, but not poor relative to others around him; His true monetary poverty came at the cross when he was penniless and naked)) so that by taking our poverty on Himself, we take on His riches. It was an atonement of substation! Jesus as a substitute atonement for our poverty, means we get His prosperity. The same is for our healing, as said in Isaiah 53:4-5 (Jesus as a substitute atonement for our sickness, means we are healed). Our poverty became His, and His riches becomes ours. Paul says this is for the church today, and not merely in heaven.

Paul says something similar a few chapters earlier, therefore context is huge here.  Jesus as a substitute atonement for our sin, means we get His righteousness. If we apply the principle of first mentions, then this becomes even a stronger hermeneutic. But alas, Christian academic cattle simply get to make things up and moralize ever text into only spiritual things. Jesus took on our sin, so that we become His righteousness. He became our sin, we become His righteousness. Paul says this is for the church today, and not merely for heaven.

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“He made the one who did not know sin to be sin on our behalf, in order that we could become the righteousness of God in him,”
( 2 Corin. 5:21 LEB).

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, for your sake he became poor, in order that you, by his poverty, may become rich…

So now also complete [your financial giving] of it, in order that just as you have the eagerness to want to do it, thus also you may complete [your financial giving] from what you have,”
( 2 Corin. 8:8-9,11 LEB)

“And God is able to cause all grace to abound to you, so that in everything at all times, because you have enough of everything, you may overflow in every good work [your financial giving].
Just as it is written, “He scattered widely, he gave to the poor; his righteousness remains forever,”
( 2 Corin. 9:8 LEB)

Christian Intelligence Is the Only Intelligence

Intelligence is not measured by what some boil down to an IQ test. For this to be proven, empiricism as an epistemology must be proven and induction must yield necessary conclusions. When has this happened? Or can one show in formal validity that the bible teaches an IQ test, or a mere narrow applied skill is how the Bible defines intelligence? Where is this proof?

If a Christian presupposes empiricism, like a spiritual adulteress, to understand what intelligence is, we are to rebuke and dismiss such a person. We know where they presuppose knowledge from. It is not God; it is not from the scripture. No. Their starting point for knowledge is human and sensual; it is from below; it is not from above. They are the pinnacle of what it means to be man-centered. They are spiritual perverts.

Below are a few quotes from Vincent Cheung, from his Systematic Theology. See actual reference for more Scriptural quotations.[1]

On the other hand, Scripture teaches, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding” (Psalm 111:10). Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Thus Christians have wisdom and understanding. They are intelligent people. But since the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and the Bible acknowledges only the Christian God, this means that non-Christians have not even started to have wisdom. They do not have even a little of it. They are completely unintelligent and uneducated.

The biblical assessment of non-Christians is that they are both stupid and sinful. They are intellectually and ethically inferior. They demonstrate their lack of intellectual aptitude in failing to agree with the Christian faith. And in denying the Christian faith despite the innate knowledge that God has placed in their minds and despite the irrefutable arguments of biblical apologetics, they show that they are not only intellectual ostriches but that they actively suppress the truth about God….[2]

Supralapsarianism is the biblical and rational order. Infralapsarianism confuses logical conception with historical execution, so that not only is it contrary to fact, but it makes nonsense of some of the divine decrees. For any given decree, it leaves the purpose of the decree unspecified until the next decree. But then there is no reason for the present one, so that it becomes arbitrary. Thus infralapsarianism is blasphemous by implication, since it insults God’s intelligence and denies his rationality…[3]

The mind of man, his intelligence or rationality, is the image of God. It is impossible to deny this, but some people attempt to add other elements to it, such as morality and dominion. This is, in fact, consistent the biblical position (Ephesians 4:24); however, rationality remains the basic element in the definition of the image of God. Man’s moral nature distinguishes him from the animals, and so it seems that it is a part of the image of God. But what is the basis of this moral nature, and how does it operate? Even animals “obey” God’s commands, but instead of doing so on the basis of understanding and volition, they are compelled by instinct. On the other hand, man receives and understands a divine command, and then decides to obey it or defy it. He can comprehend the concepts of good and evil, and he can discuss them by the use of language. This means that man is moral precisely because he is rational. Morality is a function of intelligence or rationality. Therefore, although to have a moral nature is part of what it means to be a human person, it is not necessary to include it as part of the basic definition for the image of God…[4]

For more insight into this, Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, will give us some more knowledge.

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the intelligence of the intelligent I will confound.”

 Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. For indeed, Jews ask for sign miracles and Greeks seek wisdom,  but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a cause for stumbling, but to the Gentiles foolishness,  but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
(1 Corinthians 1:18-24 LEB

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I decided not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  And I came to you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling, and my speech and my preaching were not with the persuasiveness of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and power, in order that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but wisdom not of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing, but we speak the hidden wisdom of God in a mystery, which God predestined before the ages for our glory).
(1 Corinthians 2:1-7 LEB)

Paul is contrasting “HUMAN” wisdom and intelligence with “GOD’s” wisdom and intelligence. Depending on the translation you have, wisdom, understanding and intelligence being used. All are appropriate, because we get them defined in context of this passage.

Starting with the foundation, God’s “wisdom” is defined in His perfect understanding of Himself, and also His logical ordering of decrees. God’s Spirit knows Himself. Also, we are dealing with God’s predestination, which is a logical ordering of the world, from purpose to execution. This is God’s wisdom and understanding. God has an infinite amount of propositions and an infinite amount of connections between these propositions. When God thinks a specific thought about reality, it is a deduction (Rational) thought, because it is an application of His total knowledge.[5] That is, it is not an addition of information (outside of God’s mind) into the conclusion (i.e. application); rather, the specific knowledge in the conclusion is only pinpointing out knowledge already contained in God’s total knowledge. The order of the decrees is rational, because it goes from God’s purpose/goal to execution. This is God’s understanding and intelligence.

This is contrasted to HUMAN wisdom. Human wisdom and intelligence start with man’s observations, man’s feelings and man’s sensations. From this starting point, man irrationally formulates categorial and universal premises for reality. For the Greeks this was the Socratic method, and today a modified version of this is called Scientific Experimentation.

Paul specifically attacks two points of their human wisdom. First is the empty flowery sounding rhetoric, “persuasiveness of wisdom.” Paul did not rely on a super eloquent sounding speech to convince the Corinthians. The second is attacking how humans try to make “demonstrations” without God’s revelation. Paul attacks by a positive. He does this by saying his logical proof, using God as a foundation means the Corinthians faith is in God, not man. Paul uses philosophy words to further the contrast of human wisdom vs God, and to show were the presuppositional issue is.[6]

Aristotle is famous for defining a “sound” argument in two ways. First, universal truth premises come from human starting points, observations and induction. It has similarity to the Socratic method and scientific experimentation. Second, once this is established then we are to use deduction to apply these truths in specific applications/conclusions. Since the Bible presupposes and uses deductive logic almost nonstop, we also will use deduction.  However, the issue is how do you get your initial truth claims about reality. Paul, is starting with God’s revelation. Man starts with man’s observations (along with induction) to formulate them.

The LEB says “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the intelligence of the intelligent I will confound.” Thus, the intelligence of the Greeks was according to Paul’s own use of the term “moron” in this passage, were well, morons. That is, despite the fact some of the Greeks tried to used deduction (or tried to be rational, or tried to make “SOUND” arguments “demonstrations”), they ended up un-intelligent and morons. How is that that case? Because they started with a HUMAN starting point for knowledge rather than God’s revelation.

Paul is defining the Christian’s wisdom and intelligence as two things. One, starting with God’s revealed truth about reality. Then secondly from there, making rational or deductive applications of these truths. Aristotle and the Greeks were unintelligent morons, because the so-called truth premises about the world, were nothing more than human delusions and speculations.  No amount of deductions afterwards can compensate for this. In fact, to keep making deductions from false premises is how to be insane and delusional.

Example: “All humans do not exist. I am a human. Thus. I do not Exist.”

Or “All humans are clouds. You are a human. Thus, You are a cloud.”

So try jumping off a cliff next time you see one, because you will float like a cloud.

The logical application here is indeed deductive, but it is not sound. It is NOT intelligent to attempt to be rational while using make-believe delusions for your premises. Insane people are right at home with this: “All humans are dogs. I am a human. Thus, I am a dog. Ruff, Ruff, Ruff.”

This is how the Scripture would define intelligence and non-intelligence. The Scripture would define a person with a so-called high IQ or particular skill, but does not use correct premises to know the world as it truly is, as unintelligent and moronic. Because of the pragmatic usefulness of science, people are often blinded by the fact that its premises about reality are produced by induction and speculations. Thus, to use science to produce true conclusions about reality is just as insane and moronic as the above syllogisms. “ruff, ruff!”

Some do not like this, just as they do not like the rest of Scripture and God, but their rebellion will be fruitless. I can say, for sake of argument, “let us only consider intelligence in regard to understanding math, or and IQ test, or how much computer code one can apply without mistakes,” but that is the issue. The “for sake of argument” here is to pretend the rest of reality out of the equation. Life and reality does not work that way. God does not work that way. You cannot pretend the majority of God out. Or you cannot pretend major presuppositions out of the consideration and argument and still sanely think you have a “good” definition of something.  I can say, “for sake of argument if addition and subtraction did not exist,” then proceed to talk about math, but I am only pretending. It is a delusion, that has no application for truth. Let us leave pretending and delusions behind and reach for the truth.

Paul put an emphasis on how God has made us wise and intelligent, though His Spirit, by revealing the things that are freely given to us.

“(1) All those saved by Jesus are those with Abraham’s blessing. (2) Oshea is saved by Jesus. (3) Thus, Oshea has Abraham’s blessing.” When we define what Abraham’s blessing means, by the definition of Paul gives in Galatians, such as the “Spirit and miracles,” then we can conclude, “Oshea gets the blessing of the Spirit and miracles”. Or “(1) All righteous persons are those whose prayers avails much. (2) All Christians are righteous persons. (3) Oshea is a Christian. (4) Thus, Oshea is a person whose prayers avails much.” Let us use Jesus’ modus ponens argument in John 15. “(P) (1) If My words abide in you and you abide in Me, (Q)then YOU will ask whatever YOU want and YOU will get it. (2) Christ’s words do abide in YOU and YOU abide in Him. (3) Thus YOU ask for whatever YOU wish and get it.” (Etc.).

Wait? Your experience does not line up with this? Who is the liar here, Jesus or what you humanly conclude off your experience in prayer? You must choose. Jesus has drawn a line in the sand. Will you pick intelligence or insanity? You pick a side. You must decide if you will choose a HUMAN OR GOD’s starting point for knowledge. You will be judged if you truly take your stand on God’s revelation and make a biblical and sound application of it for your life, or if you are a spiritual pervert and begin knowledge with your sensations and superstitions.

This is how the Spirit defines wisdom and intelligence, anything else is moronic, insanity and unintelligent. In Jesus we truly have the “Mind of Christ.” The Biblical worldview only defines Christians as intelligent, or as least those with the ability to be intelligent to some degree. The Christian is so superior and privileged by God as their Father, that only they are intelligent, wise and full of understanding. The rest of the world, no matter how accomplished they are, are nothing more than morons. They are nothing more than an insane person in an insane asylum, who bark at doors, eat their own poop, try to eat their mom because they think she is fish, think they are clouds (etc) and who have accomplished the skill of stacking 2 blocks on top of each other. Such people are to be mocked and dismissed.

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END NOTES

[1] Even those I will quote Vincent much below (because he as help me on these topics), I am not affiliated with him in any way.

[2] Vincent Cheung. Systematic Theology. 2010. Pg. 50-51.

[3] Vincent Cheung. Systematic Theology. 2010. Pg.116

[4][4] Vincent Cheung. Systematic Theology. 2010. Pg. 120

[5] The deductive nature of God’s thinking about reality was pointed out to me by Vincent Cheung in a email correspondence about the essay, “Inductive Bible Study.” Once you consider it, it is rather obvious.

“I added that statement because someone said that I was wrong, since God does not perform deduction, but only direct intuition. In other contexts, I myself have taught that God knows all things directly but the focus here is induction vs. deduction in the context of theology. The person nitpicked at me because he wanted to sound clever and throw himself into the discussion. You know how people are. But it showed that he really didn’t know what deduction is. Would he say the same thing about a discussion on the order of the eternal decrees? When we talk about that, we sometimes qualify it by reminding people that the order is a logical order, not a chronological one, since there is no process of reasoning in God, as if he does not have in mind premise #3 when he is still on premise #1. No, he is directly aware of all premises at the same time, but it remains that he is aware of them, and of the logical relationships between premises. But whether we remind people of this or not, it is always assumed. This person did not understand deduction so he thought he had room to show off his knowledge. So I added this in case other people failed to assume the obvious. I was surprised, in fact, since it was so basic.

Deduction always produces correct conclusions, because the conclusions never produce information not already in the premises. Deduction is more like an application of knowledge, unlike induction, which is a fallacious attempt at arriving at more knowledge. So when applied to God in this context, deduction is the same as his intuition. Using the same example, when we talk about the eternal decrees, we are talking about God’s deduction. But if we, like the person who complained, cannot even talk about God in terms of deduction, then we cannot even discuss the topic of the eternal decrees, because it would all be just one “thing.” Take it to the extreme, we cannot even talk about God thinking, speaking, acting, or anything about God. Everything would just be one eternal “thing” in God’s mind. But of course we can talk about God’s deduction, thinking, speaking, acting, his before and after, and all that, just like the way he talks about himself. Several times I have pointed out that some Christians, after learning a little, makes what little they know the whole thing, and then try to police everyone else with it, including their expressions. Many Calvinists are like that. They become trapped in their own personal terminologies. It happens when they talk about justification, predestination, and many other things. This is a sign of ignorance, not knowledge or orthodoxy.”

[6] Vincent helped me immensely to understand this passage. To see his argument, Vincent Cheung, “Proof of the Spirit,” which is found the book, “Commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians.” 1 THESSALONIANS 1:5b. 2008. Pg 24-27.

“Paul deliberately slips into philosophical terms in verse 4, asserting that his preaching was shown true, not by speculative and fallacious arguments, but by the “demonstration” of the Spirit. The word indicates a logical proof, as in philosophy and geometry. The English translation is appropriate, since “demonstration” denotes a “logical proof in which a certain conclusion is shown to follow from certain premises.”

His point is that he insisted on presenting a message that was based on divine revelation instead of one that was based on human speculation.

Bullinger writes, “Here, it denotes the powerful gift of divine wisdom, in contrast with the weakness of human wisdom.” This is the issue at hand. Paul’s preaching differs from the orators both in method and content, but his arguments are nevertheless logical and persuasive. Unlike the fallacious “proof” of the sophists, the apostle provides sound “proof” for his message that is powerful to effect conversion in his hearers…” pg. 26

Wielding Eschatology Power

“Since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you.  For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.”
2 Corinthians 13:3-4 NKJV

“I will give you all the proof you want that Christ speaks through me. Christ is not weak when he deals with you; he is powerful among you.  Although he was crucified in weakness, he now lives by the power of God. We, too, are weak, just as Christ was, but when we deal with you we will be alive with him and will have God’s power.”
2 Corinthians 13:3-4 NLT

We wield God’s power as our own. This is statement should not be a surprise to anyone, for God said this to Joshua. It is again said to us, when the N.T. quotes this passage to be moralized for our particular situations. Likewise, Paul says for us to put on God’s power as our own in Ephesians 6.

What is being said here is not directly about eschatology power, but it is so indirectly. Paul ministered to the Corinthians in weakness. However, due to the spiritual immaturity, the Corinthians are now taking in false apostles, because the false apostles are boasting about their power. Paul is now telling the Corinthians that when he comes he will not be “weak” but powerful, in order to correct them. If they respond to power, then Paull will give powerful correction and rebuke, in order to keep them from sinning.

The question is this, “where does this power that Paul will use come from”? Paul says that “AS” Jesus was weak, so are they. They are weak in how they freely give up their lives, and even rights, so that they might save as many as they can. Think of Colossians 1:24, “I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church.” However, there is more to it. It is by God’s “power” that Paul is able to be weak and suffer for the gospel. And again, this is only one side it. Paul able to wield God’s power for the sake of being powerful, as well. Since being weak backfired for Paul, he will be powerful and strong, in order to help the Corinthians stop their disobedience.

Now we get to the aspect of eschatology power. Paul says in the past tense as Jesus was weak, “they” (Paul and this ministry team, Timothy and Titus) emulate this as well in their ministry. They do it willingly, for the sake of the church. But then this idea of “as Christ is so are we” continues in the present future tense. Jesus is no longer dead, no longer weak. Jesus is at the right hand of God. He was raised by the endless power of life, by the Father (Eph. 1, Acts 2, Heb.10 (etc.)) and put above all powers and names. Paul says that we are now (present tense) seated with Christ (Eph. 2. Colo.3).  John in 1 John 4:17 says “as He is, so are we.”

What Paul is presupposing and saying here is this. He has accesses to the very power that God used to raise Christ from the grave and seated Him at His right hand in all power and authority. Paul is implying that he is able to grab the exalted Christ’s, right-hand-of-God, “Power,” anytime he so wishes. The argument is that in Christ, he (and we ) are already created in and part of Jesus Christ, who is reigning at God’s right hand, right now!  Illustration: consider God’s power like Zeus’ thunder bolt. Because God identifies us with Christ, who is reigning in power, by right and the will of God, God therefore considers us as the same with Christ. Paul is able to march to the throne of God, in front of God, in front of Jesus, in front of the angels and other powers, and walk to God’s thunder bolt leaning against His throne, and simply pick it up, as if it is Paul’s and walk back down to earth and use it as his discretion. Would Zeus ever allow this? I will not answer this for you. But in Christ, the Father as given us this right, authority and child of God privilege.

Something similar happened in Acts 4: 25-31, when the Apostles asked, in context of Jesus sitting at God’s right hand, for Psalm 2 to be moralized for them in the uses of healings and judgment miracles against the government. God gave them His thunder bolt and approved of their wanting eschatology power to rain down from Christ’s throne power.

This is Paul’s eschatology. It is being able to use God’s power as our own, for our joy  and the advancement of the Kingdom of God upon the earth. God wants you to know this. He wants you to yield your pride and false humanity and feelings, and to start to believe who you really are in Christ Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Power. We are already in Him. God wants you to know that He identifies you with Jesus. He wants you to know that He is happy for you to march into heaven and grab His power and wield it as a true child of God. He wants you to know that He wants this so much for you, that He did not spare His Son from horrific death in order to give you this authority and power. Yield to the only starting point for knowledge; yield to God’s Word and believe.

God promises to be a GOOD FATHER

“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
(Jeremiah 31:33-34 NLT)

“And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me. “
(Jeremiah 32:40 NLT)

God says He will not stop from doing “good to us”, on the foundation of the New Contract, made active in the bloodshed of Jesus Christ.

Pay close attention to the word “Good.”

How does God define this for Himself, and how do religious cattle and fanboys define it? No-faith people usually find ways to neuter this word, so that it only means invisible spiritual “good” things. It is good things for the next life, for another time; it is not now and not here. Martha tried this fallacy with Jesus, regarding the resurrection. She put it in a different place and time. Jesus rebuked her and said, resurrection is here and now, because He is here and now with us. Jesus presupposes that if God is here with you, He is able and will help. Thus, even resurrection, which seems like such a spiritual thing for the next life, Jesus says it for now. God is able, and God will help. And the last thing is this, in Jesus, God is here now with us. He is the defining difference, not man and his limitations.

Matthew 7:7-11 NLT

Effective Prayer

7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.

God defines His goodness as always answering your prays with the exact thing you as from Him. The only exception is if you ask for sin (God give me strength to murder, steal and commit adultery), which means you are not even God’s friend but His enemy. But since I am talking to people who claim to be God’s friends, I will move one. This is the infallible testimony of Scripture about God and goodness. Because religious cattle do not believe the Scripture is the infallible word of God, nor the only source of knowledge, they therefore, do not accept this testimony from God. Because they dislike this aspect of God, they dislike goodness itself. The goodness from demons and pagan eastern religious teach that if you ask, then the gods might or might not give you what you ask for, and even if they do, it might come as a cost in another area of your life. Religious cattle are fodder for Satan.

By not believing this testimony from God you rob Him of His glory of “goodness.” That is, God will, is to display His goodness by your faith in prayers to get the very thing you ask for. If you do not obey this, then you cheat God of His value; you steal from Him of one of the chief ways He displays His definition of “goodness” to the world and principalities.

The encouragement is found in the promise. God promises to never remember our sins against us in the new contract. Hallelujah! You do right to believe this and stand on this promise. But do not stop there. God promises to never stop from doing “good” to you. He promises therefore, to never stop from answering your prayers with yes, and give you what you ask for (and even more). Do not be fodder for devils; rather, let your life to be the displaying of God’s goodness in your life by answered prayers.

Enemies of person Vs Enemies of the Gospel Ministry

Was asked a question, and I decided to post it here. Even without context, the positive doctrine explains itself.

“Vincent Cheung explains that according to the Bible the greatest love and hate is an intellectual love and hate.

Most Christians do not understand in what sense we are to love non-Christians and in what sense we are to hate them. But now it is clear that we love the non-Christians in the restricted sense of natural benevolence, but we hate them in the broad sense, that we are hostile to everything about them. The “love” that God and Christians show toward nonChristians is limited to natural and temporal kindness, but on the spiritual and ideological level, God and Christians are completely opposed to the non-Christians. Of course, Christians can pray that the non-Christians be converted. But it remains that as long as they are non-Christians, it is impossible to show brotherly love toward them, since they are not brothers. Rather, the only “love” that God and Christians can show them is the kind that we show to animals – we feed them, house them, and clean up after them.

Complete hostility to another person’s thoughts and actions, including his beliefs, desires, ambitions, preferences, values, lifestyles, habits, and so on, which is the same as hating the person himself, is hatred at the deepest level. This hatred is much deeper than the kind that would strip him of his natural welfare. By this definition, God and Christians hate nonChristians at the deepest level possible, and likewise, non-Christians hate God and Christians at the deepest level possible.[1]

This has foundational importance. If someone disagrees with our Christian worldview, then there is no greater hate they can show us. Likewise, by affirming their worldview is false, we hate them in the greatest possible way.

Recall how people are often mistaken about attributing particular human moral attributes to God; for example, like not decreeing evil. However, if there is an attribute God is He is jealous about, and wants men constantly attributing to Him, apart from His sovereignty, it is His truth, or faithfulness. Hebrews says it is impossible for God to lie. There is not even the possibility for God to lie. None. Jesus’ sermon on the mountain, stresses that men are to emulate this by letting their, Yes be Yes, and No be No.

When men worship an idol or do not believe the Scripture, they are testifying in the public world that “God is a liar.” There is no greater way to hate God than this. To humble yourself, by rejecting what you see and observe, and accept what God has said is true, testifies that God is true. This is the greatest way to love Him. When asked what does God want from men, (John 6) Jesus says it is to believe in Him. Of course, the Spirit causes us to do this.

We must start with what is the greatest hate and love. The reprobate and unbeliever hate us in the greatest possible way, even if they do not see it that way; this is God’s world and how He has defined it. There is nothing they can do, (no physical harm) that is a greater hate than not believing the Bible with us. This where we start on this subject.

The bible does seem to show a distinction between “personal” persecution and persecution done directly to hinder the gospel ministry. If someone is personally annoying, then I would still seek their good, pray for their blessing, unless they got to a point of vexing my soul.

But gospel hindrance is a different thing. Remember how the church asked (Acts 5) God to apply Psalm 2 in the form of healings and miracles “TO” the government oppressing them. Some of these miracles open government owned prisons (with property damage), blinded reprobates and etc. Paul prayed for the harm which the coppersmith did to Paul, (and the context is the harm done in hindering the ministry of the Word of God), would be repaid back to the coppersmith. This is a vindictive Psalm prayer 101.

So at the very least, in cases of persecution and harm that directly effects gospel ministry, hate is prayed to be applied back to the reprobates, even in judgment miracles. The Church needs faith for both healings, and judgment miracles. Without this, the church is weak and vulnerable. In most cases in your lives, this not the case; rather, you do your best, in the pragmatic application, to live at peace and even help the unbelievers, who hate you with the greatest hate possible. This love will either save them or heap coals upon their heads. This love will either lead to an aroma of death or life for them.

[1] Vincent Cheung. Systematic Theology. 2010. Pg. 79

Live by Faith, Not Atheism

“…as you have believed, so let it be done for you...,” (Matthew 8:13).

“Live by faith, not by sight,” (2 Corin 5:7).
The woman with the defective “flow of blood,” (Luke 8:48) first believed then received. She lived by faith, not sight. Think about it? She had a 100% failure rate. If she was going by experience, then she had no reason believe to be healed. Even if she sought Yahweh before in the temple, she was not healed, and so, had a 100% pragmatic reason to believe it was not God’s Will to heal her. God told Jacob to let Him go. Thus, that was God’s will, right? God gave the Canaanite woman a, ‘no’ answer, and He went has far to give a correct (redemptive historical) theological reason for the no. Thus, it was God’s will not to heal her daughter, right? Elijah’s prayer for rain failed 6 times, thus, God said no 6 times. thus, it was God’s will not to answer Elijah’s prayer, right? God told Moses He was going to wipe Israel off the face of the earth; thus, it was God’s Will, right?
Again, she first believed then received from God. It was not first received then believed later. Hebrews says, that you must believe God is. Good for you if you do this, I bet even the demons believe that God “exists.” But do the demons believe God will reward them with salvation and resurrection, and healing and victory over their enemies and riches and lands and all sorts of goodies?
Hebrews 11:6 also says, AND believe God rewards, FAITH. James 5:15 says, if you have faith, you will be healed, and that you will be forgiven of your sins. Here, God is rewarding faith with healing and forgiveness. Do you believe God is a rewarder and giver to faith? God rewards faith for both natural and spiritual realities. It is a certainty. Both those promises are made certain, for both are ratified in the blood oath of God in Jesus’ blood. Did you take time to see what God rewarded faith in Hebrews 11?
Some disobedient persons live by sight. They will say, “Well, I don’t see this this when I pray. I don’t see it in history. I don’t see it in others.” Yet, this is empiricism, which is the starting point for atheism. It is the starting axiom for all human philosophy. It is Satan’s axiom. Such people outdo the Pope for being a dual epistemology with Scripture. They make the Pope look good in regards to respecting the Scripture. LOL. HAHAHAH. They need to come out of the closet and just say, “Sola empiricism”, and “To David Hume be all the glory.” They might actually believe God exists. But, who cares? In order to “please God” they must yield and submit to God’s description of reality; they must believe He rewards faith. But since this is not yielding to empiricism, their true master, they will not do it.

The Incorruptible Seed

1 Peter 1:3–5 (NKJV)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

1 Peter 1:23 (NKJV)
“ [You have] been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”

In our struggle with sin, people can sometimes hesitate over the doctrine of besetting sins. Does not 1 John say if you practice sin you are not born of God’s Spirit? But then in Hebrews it acknowledges that we have besetting sins and encourages us to get victory over them by looking to Jesus who is the perfecter of our faith.

As in all things God is the foundation in theology. God is the foundation in epistemology; He is the foundation for all metaphysics, not man. Salvation, and by extension sanctification is an subcategory of metaphysics and ontology. The doctrine of Salvation describes how God is using His absolute power and control toward the two groups of people in the earth, which are the Elect and reprobate. The foundational issue about a besetting sin and the outcome is not the person, but God. The deciding factor rests on whether God has used His power to give new-birth through the Holy Spirit. If so, then a besetting is an annoyance, whether short or long, that is overcome. If not, the besetting sin will overcome the person.

This is foundation. The consequence is seen in how a person deals with it in their faith or lack thereof.

1 John 5:16-17 LEB
If anyone should see his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, he should ask, and he will grant life to him, to those who sin not leading to death. (There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should ask about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.)

Hebrews 10:35,36,39 LEB
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has great reward.  For you have need of endurance, in order that after you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
But we are not among those who shrink back to destruction, but among those who have faith to the preservation of our souls.

Hebrews 12:1,12-13
Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, putting aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, let us run with patient endurance the race that has been set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the originator and perfecter of faith….

….Therefore strengthen your slackened hands and your weakened knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame will not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

The born-again Christian does not stop enduring; they do not shrink back. Again, the foundation is that God has recreated a Christian with HIS very own Spirit to empower them. Peter calls this the “incorruptible seed.” Remember Jesus’ prayer in John 17? He prays that we are made “one with Him” and “Him in us”! Why did Paul accuse Peter making Jesus a minister of sin, if the law justifies? IF what the gospel says is true, then consequences are real not imaginary. If I was remade into a cloud, then I would float. This is so simple a child can grasp it. If God says His Spirit is an unstoppable force that is part of the very DNA, as an inseparable part of the Christian soul, and an incorruptible seed, then IF you become corrupted, it infers God would be corruptible. The change from sinner and spiritual-death, to being recreated in the Spirit is a radical new creation. It is as if God made sons of Abraham from stones, no, even greater.

In Hebrews 12 verse 1, it says we have sins we repeatedly struggle with. Later in verse 12-13 is says to heal our broken hands. This is a spiritual metaphor. You are a new Spiritual creation, with an incorruptible seed. For a true Christian a besetting sin, is not a corruption of the incorruptible spiritual man, but a brokenness of his spiritual hand or foot. It is like having a dislocated hand, the rest of my body is fine. God is able to heal both physical and spiritual brokenness. The encouraging thing is that the passage teaches us, we can unshackle ourselves form the sin that so easily entangles us. The curial points to remember are two things. We have the power to do this, in the same sense as Jesus often says, “Your faith has healed you.” Or in the sense when James says that by resisting the devil, “YOU” make him flee from you. Our responsibility is our faith. Now, this brings us to the other crucial aspect, which has already been addressed, knowing God is the foundation for this endurance and victory. We are told to keep our eyes on Jesus, who is the perfecter of our faith. We just discussed our faith is our part, and then preacher says, you strengthen this, not by focusing on yourself, but on Jesus who will help your faith. That is, for every thought of your sin, you should have 10 thoughts of Jesus’ power, promise, love and faithfulness to help today, in the land of the living. You focus is on how pathetic Satan attempt is destroy us. No matter how hard the devil tries, he cannot win. We do. We are the overcomers in Christ our lord. The new testament writers often say something to the effect, “God is able, He will do it.” God will keep you. He will empower you. He will help you. He will deliver you. NOT YOU do it. God will do it, because He is able.

And so, there is a repeating sin that does lead to death, and one the does not. Sometimes, it is hard to tell the difference. Jude referring to this says, grab (like you do, by grabbing an animal by their neck) and toss them over the finish line.  For those born-again, they might lose out on some extra rewards in heaven, but they will not be overcome. The reprobate, even the smallest besetting will always spell out their doom. The weeds of life, make God’s truth stop growing, and makes their little besetting sin become a redwood giant.

Do not judge one part of your Christian life (a besetting sin) and forget whole of your Christianity that is growing and maturing. Like with the sower, the weeds of life choke out the seed planted. What this means is two things: not only are the weeds growing, but God’s seed “stops.” This stopping of God’s seed growing, is the most crucial part here. Besetting sins for the Christian is having a few weeds, but God’s seed is still growing and still larger. The reprobate, their weeds are many, and God’s seed is small, and finally stops growing.

Like with the parable of the sower, only the seed dropped on the good ground (i.e. born-again) produced a harvest. I will not deal with the aspect that we can know our election is sure here, but know that many times the New Testament writes spoke of the certainty of people’s election. This confidence was not based on visions from heaven, but on evidence based on the scripture; evidence we have today.  For those who know they are saved, know God has already won. You are already incorruptible. With besetting sins, the devil will chain your leg, and then whisper in your ear, “Ha., look! You are now corrupted.”  We are aware of his lies. We are those who fight. We are those who do not stop repenting and fighting. We do not shrink back. We are those who break our spiritual shackles. We are those who triumph over the world. We are those who resist and make the devil flee and screech.

God does not know how to lose. He wins and wins. Satan, loses and loses. Satan does not know how to win. The born-again Christian has been recreated with God in them, and part of their DNA. They also, do not know how to lose. They overcome the world. Sometimes the battle is long and sometimes the devil can deceive and cause years of stunted growth. Yet, the Christian will overcome. No weapon formed against them will prosper. Their faith is unstoppable. Their faith is as unstoppable as the one who empowers their faith, God. God is their foundation. And wow, what a foundation it is!

The Love and Hate of God:

One might be prone to ask, why did you not start with “creation” in a section about God’s sovereignty over all reality. God’s power/ability is first, an intellectual ability. Creation or the material comes later as a consequence. Not only does creation come later, but in the ordering of reality, the decree of creation comes last in God’s ordered decisions. The intellectual infinite power of God is seen in His own mastery of His mind and in the relationship of the Trinity.

The supremacy of creation is Jesus Christ, as Paul says in Colossians 1. But right beneath, even included with Jesus as part of His body, are the elect sons of God. In this since, the world was made for man. The sabbath was made for man. This is why Paul says that “all things are yours,” to the elect Corinthians. It is also why Paul says that corrupted creation will be liberated into the valuable liberty of the sons of God, rather than just saying “God.”

As will be explained more in the section on the decrees, this means the elect would be the second decree for reality. The reprobate and then all other created things come after and to support these first 2 decrees. This shows that the love and hatred of God did not come after God created but was before. It was at the very beginning of His decrees.

The LOVE of God is a top-level order or policy,
and thus, it effects the rest of the decrees that follow.

Because God’s ordering of the decrees has a rule or policy of “LOVE” at the top level, it is important to talk about what the love and hatred of God is, before moving to other aspects of how God “uses” His sovereign power.

“[Love and hate] are policies of [God’s] thought and action. Since God is impassable, and his mind cannot be disturbed, it means that divine love is not a disturbance of the mind, but an intellectual disposition of favor and mercy. And hate is a disposition of disfavor and judgment.”[1]

Since God love’s Himself the most, His policy of thought favors Him above all others. He has exalted His Word and Name above all creation, not someone else’s. “For You have exalted above all else Your name and Your word and You have magnified Your word above all Your name,” (Psalm 138:2 AMP). “As the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord,”” ( 2 Corin.10:17 NLT). “Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord: I am bringing you back, but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name, on which you brought shame while you were scattered among the nations,” (Ezekiel 36:22 NLT).

In other words, I do not save you because I value you, but because I value my own Name above all things. The crucial point that saves the elect is that God has grafted them into His Name, by making them joint-heirs with Christ, by making them His very righteousness. God who knows in perfection how infinitely awesome He is, has rightly made a policy of thought the values Himself above all others. This is similar to a broad definition for what “righteousness” means, which is to “think and act that values God above all others.” The commands and precepts of God to man, define how man is to accomplish this.

The love and hatred of God to man is first an intellectual policy of thought about this group and the other group, it is not emotional. In Christ, God took His intellectual policy of thought of love to His elect and publicly revealed it in a blood oath contract, in the New Covenant.

God’s love as “a policy of thought and action,” to act “favorably to this group,” is similar to a contract, but with oneself, rather than between two parties.  Vincent Cheung describes God’s “Contract”[2] in the N.T. as having the quality that the two groups know how the other will always act under the stipulated conditions. Earlier Vincent said, “God’s mind is so integrated that He only does what He wills,” because of His lack of emotions and perfect knowledge and mastery of His Mind.  In this light, God’s contract with the elect is the public expression/revelation of His “eternal policy of thought about them.”  The new contract is a stipulated policy of thought and action to this group, that is made public. God is letting the elect know that He only does what He wills, and the eternal/immutable policy for the elect, has been revealed in the New Contract.  In the eternal Mind of God it is a “policy of thought and action,” in the public revelation it is a “contract of promise,” made in the blood oath of Jesus’ atonement.

One way to view this, would be to consider me as a person who extraordinarily likes chocolate. Chocolate is my favorite by a tremendous amount. Thus, every time there is a choice given me about what candy, or desert, I always, and I mean always, chose my favorite, which is chocolate. God is immutable, so that even with a chocolate lover like myself, there is always the chance I could change, even if slight, but not God.  God does not experience fluctuations. Thus, He is not changed by emotions. God only does what He wills to do. He has willed to love the Elect. He has willed to make you in Christ, His favorite. Every time there is a choice between the elect, reprobate, angels, or other created things, He always picks His favorite to favor them, which is you.

The application for this doctrine is for Elect to gain inner power and ability by renewing their mind on how great God’s love is to them.

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (Ephesians 3:16-19 NLT)

Paul says you grow stronger by understanding and having faith in God’s limitless love for you.

As in most things a “policy” might have a highest or lowest threshold that triggers the policy. Like a computer program, you might have thresholds that trigger a particular program to execute. However, the Scripture defines God’s policy of thought and action of favor for His elect as not having something, to small or to high that would escape His favor from being triggered and applied.

The death of God’s own Son, did not negate God’s policy of thought and action to give favor to His elect, to trigger and engage.

 “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners,” (Romans 5:8 NLT).

Paul argues from this that if God’s policy of favor triggers for such a huge thing, then how much more for the little things.

“Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else,” (Romans 8:32 NLT)”

Jesus also affirms this truth.

Thus, even the smallest things, like counting the your hairs, or giving you your daily bread, is not too small to trigger God’s policy of thought and action of favor to His elect.

“What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin[k]? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows,” Math 10:30-31)

Thus, no matter what trouble of life today you find yourself in, if you cry out in faith to God, it triggers God’s policy of thought and action of favor. You realize you do not deserve such love? Great! It is unmerited. Your faith qualifies you. Your faith gives you direct access to heaven, to trigger God’s favor for you.

This comment about God’s grace, or spelled out in a phrase “unmerited favor,” is another point to see how God’s policy/disposition of favor triggered, even when God needed to give us this favor without us working or earning it. Also, we talked about God’s love policy triggering at the highest and lowest thresholds, however, Paul says something a little different when He says in Ephesians 1:6. Paul say the Father has put us into His “beloved,” or His beloved son. This is like saying, “highly loved.” The Father loves His only begotten Son, with the highest type of favor, or His greatest favorite. This was like the example of me saying chocolate was by far my greatest favorite.

This gives us three ways to define God’s love for us, so that we know how awesome it is.  God’s love is toward us:

First, God’s favor is an immutable thought policy; the threshold of this favof triggers at the lowest thing, and it triggers the greatest thing.

Secondly, this favor is an unmerited favor (grace).

And lastly, when this loyal favor triggers, the amount of favor that it triggers is not small or even medium, but a super abundant favor; yes, as much as God favor triggers when considering His Beloved Son. We have been part of His body. We are His righteousness. We are co-heirs with Him. We are made One with Him, and Jesus One with us (John 17). In fact, we are even called, “Christ-ians.”

A quick note about logic. The positive always comes first, not the negative. In logic this is said as, a negation; and this can only happen if there is a positive first. Take for example justice and injustice. Injustice has no intellectual understanding without the positive understanding of Justice first. Something can only be negated, or a negative form given, if the positive is first. Therefore James says that mercy triumphs over judgment. God’s love is first, not hatred. God has always loved Himself, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit for all eternity. There was no hatred there. The definition is all positive. A negation is not intellectual without knowing what it is negating. You must love first, then the negation, which is hate.

This will give some broad insight why the “end” or original intention of God’s decrees is positive, not negative. Love (to Jesus and the elect) is a higher top level decree compared to hate, (to the reprobate),( Romans 9:21-23).

This will also give us a quick/broad scope critique against such worldviews, where hating is the end result, or a higher top level ontology over love, (a world where hateful demons are hurting and hating everything). When one begins to examine how a situation ended up like that, it will be seen as saying a negation came first. However, saying the negation came first, is logically and metaphysically impossible. Its like saying “blue fives are faster than clouds predicates swimming panda seven’s.” Just because you can say something with your physical mouth, does not make it true, or intellectual. A story in anime or TV that makes such a premise is talking about something that is delusional and impossible.

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that?” Matthew 5:43-46.

“But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” Luke 6:35

A quick note about other uses of the word “love” in the bible. Jesus says to “love” your neighbor and even your enemy, by doing them “good and blessing” them. Jesus is obviously not talking about the type of eternal, electing and saving love that is given to the Elect. Only God can do that. The love in this context is a pragmatic, practical or natural benevolence. God’s eternal, electing, and saving love is the fuller definition and scope for what love means. This definition of love in our present passages is about a narrow use of this bigger love. It is a smaller subset definition of what love is. It is about practical actions to another person that helps them, and blesses them with good things. In essence it is referring to the definition of good and evil, when it is about harm or blessing a person.

God is the foundation for defining value and definitions, not something else. If God wants to have a fuller definition of what love is within the Trinity, and extended to the Elect, and another narrower use of it, then that is His choice. He is the foundation, and there is no other beside Him. This narrow use of love is also more focused on the “here and now.” The fuller definition of love is about past, present and future; it is eternal love. The context will determine which definition of love we are talking about.

Jesus says to love, and then defines it as “good,” “blessing,” and “kindness.” This is how Jesus defines a narrow love given here and now to people. God then says, He shows this SAME TYPE of love, when He is “good” and “kind” to evil reprobates, by giving them rain, sunlight and many natural goodies. Jesus again reaffirms this love by the story of the good Samaritan. The question is what does it mean to “love” your neighbor. The Samaritan helps and gives blessings/gifts, such as paying for the medical and housing of the injured man. Jesus defines this as “love.” When God sends rain to the crops of a reprobate, and this rain helps the parched crops so that they produce, God helped and gave a gift/blessing by paying for the producing of the reprobate’s crops. God loved them. And yet, they were unthankful for it. God loved Judas, by washing his feet. Think about God Himself, washing your feet. His hands touching your feet and cleaning the dirt off. It was not an illusion. Jesus loved Judas, and Judas repaid that love with hate. After this example, Jesus again says, for the disciples to “love” each other, by the example He gave them.  The gospel says that Jesus “loved” the rich young ruler by telling an infallible truth concerning how the man can truly find salvation. Many businesspeople pay high dollar to receive special insight into the business world. Jesus gave this man insight, that is true and powerful. Jesus gave it free of charge. It was love and kindness. The young ruler returned this love, by rejecting it.

 

God’s HATRED is the reverse, it is a policy of thought to ALWAYS act in an unfavorable way, particularly in regards to eternity. It is an eternal hate. This love and hatred is always God’s policy to these groups. Take for example when Paul says in Romans 8 “He works all things for our good.” God plans for a big good, and so He gives temporary evil for the Elect to overcome, and then by this receive this big good. This can be seen in the story of Joseph. The same is for those who He hates. “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous,” (Matthew 5:45 NIV). Jesus is referring to good benefits in the common sense, in basic pragmatic things like rain (etc.) and not spiritual or an intelligent working of all things for their good. And so, even when God is presently giving reprobates (love) natural blessings like rain or other circumstances, God is working out that they be fattened for the day of slaughter (Psalm 73).[3]

God is working all things for their destruction and suffering.  Their receiving the common pragmatic good of God, is God’s policy of thought of loathing to set them up for death. Their receiving of God’s pragmatic, common love, is designed to work all things for their bad and destruction. It is the reverse for the Elect children of God. God defines this pragmatic kindness as “love,” thus, their rejection of it, leads to their eternal damnation and hate. Even though this is the narrower definition of love, because God defines it as love, it is real and not imaginary. The eternal definition of love does not negate this presently applied pragmatic love; rather, it establishes it. Presently applied love is a subset or subcategory from the parent of eternal love. The reprobates receive this temporary love, use it, benefit from it, and then they discard it, ignoring the God who gave it to them. Paul says in Romans 2 that the goodness and kindness of God, (Jesus defines this as love) should lead you to repentance. The reprobates in addition to ignoring giving thanks to God for His love, ignore His command to repent and be blessed.

The gospel message, because it is God’s truth is valuable and good to pursue in and of itself. It is wrong to say, “we only study God’s Word to be better people.” This blasphemy tramples on God’s Word as if it does not have infinite intrinsic worth. God and the Bible are interchangeable. To diminish the Word, in any way, is to diminish God. To study the Bible is an infinitely valuable pursuit, in and of itself. Even though reprobates reject the gospel message, to give them God’s Word, is giving them something that is INFINITE VALUE in and of itself. Jesus defines neighbor and enemy love as “blessing them.” That is, blessing someone with gifts and things of value. To give a cup of cold water to your enemy, even if he later rejects it, is still a good gift. It is love. Their rejection of it does not negate the act as love. Giving a reprobate the message of Jesus is to gift them something of infinite value, their rejection does not negate the act as love. Their rejection of this gift, is designed for their destruction and hate. Even if you love your enemy so that God might later rain down coals of fire on them later, your love given in the present is still love, because Jesus defines it that way. The end result does not negate Jesus’ infallible definition of love given to your neighbor and enemy.

“Or does the potter not have authority over the clay, to make from the same lump a vessel that is for honorable use and one that is for ordinary use[pee pot]? And what if God, wanting to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And he did so in order that he could make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory.”
(Romans 9:21-23, LEB []-by author)

As Paul says about the twins, “before they were born,” and then to clinch the nail on the other side, to stop any possible rabbit trails of excuses Paul says, “before they had done good or evil,” “I loved Jacob and hated Esau.” Paul then repeats this doctrine by saying “from the same lump,” God then molded the clay forms of the elect and reprobate. A lump is about being neutral; it is like saying, “before they were born or had done any good or evil.” God did not start with a bad “chamber pot,” to then form some for honorable and non-honorable use. No. God started with a formless lump. This means God had an idea what He wanted them to be, before they were formed, and then molded them into that form.

This is talking about man, before Adam’s fall and all man were born evil. To consider a man as sinful, is not to consider them as neutral clay lump, but as already a chamber pot. However, Paul teaches God is deciding the outcome of men, when they are still an unformed lump. A lump is not already good or evil, righteous, or sinful. The next sentence deals with how God treats the chamber pots and vase’s after considering them in light of Adams fall. Because He already decided to make the Elect into a vases, He saves them in mercy. This mercy is used to show them how much He loves them. God demonstrates that His eternal, immutable love, is exactly that. Not even sin Satan and death and stop it. Likewise, the chamber pots left in their sinful state and are hardened even more to fatten them up for damnation; they are used to support His plan to make the Elect into beautiful vases.  

Some will want to resist this. However, if I wanted to express the doctrine that God is in absolute control and man’s choice is not free, I would say, “God decided to love this person and hate this other guy, before they made their own choices of good and bad.” Thus, the objection to say Paul meant something different is a smoke screen, because it makes what Paul says, which is the opposite of their (free-will) position, mean its opposite. For example, if I was against the idea that Johnny’s favorite food is a banana, and Johnny says, “Bananas are my favorite food,” and then I respond, this means Johnny’s favorite food is not bananas, it shows that I am intellectually broken and bearing false witness.  If you see your opponent making both the affirmation and negation of a doctrine mean the same thing, then you know they just exposed how rebellious, disobedient and stupid they are.

As with man, it first started as love toward the Elect, as those who were always with Christ. “Even before he made the world, God LOVED us and chose us in Christ,” (Eph 1:4 NLT).[4] Because man has no ultimate self-causality, God choosing them in Christ in love, is the foundation of their being and existence. It is their antecedent, and so the consequent for them means that love is always affirmed for them in all outcomes. Therefore, for this chosen group in Christ, even after the fall and sin, because love is their beginning and policy from God, mercy triumphs in them, and not the negative of hate and condemnation.

The reprobate group were created to give a backdrop for God to teach the Elect about His love to them, in Christ. The reprobate are the extras in the TV show to showcase God’s main actors, His beloved children. The reprobate are like a filler section in an anime/tv series to give the Elect a place to have character growth. The reprobates are the cannon fodder to provide a context for the elect to practice their kingdom power against; to practice their sword and magic skills. Just as Goliath was the context for God to showcase His love to David, by empowering David with faith to destroy the monster. Not all monsters are the giant type, for Paul says that our weapons are used to tear down arguments from the devil. But the devil uses the reprobates to propagate his arguments. The Elect use this in context, to tear them down by the Spirit and truth; by this they level up in Spiritual maturity and gain new spiritual skills and even temporary material treasures. By seeking His righteousness first, God promises to give the Elect, the material treasures and things that the pagans seek after; the pagans seek more than the bottom minimum. They conveniently store up material treasures for God’s children to unlock at the end of each boss fight, when they seek God’s spiritual treasure first. Furthermore, Acts 10:38 says the devil oppresses and victimizes by sickness and broken bodies. Jesus started the War by healing all those oppressed by the devil. After His departure He has now endowed the Elect with the baptism of the Spirit. They are to pick up Thor’s Hammer where Jesus left it, and now they are to start destroying the works of Satan. The reprobates are thus, the monsters in a video game that give opportunity for the Elect to level up in Spiritual strength, by demolishing the works of the devil, which manifest in the reprobate, who are his fodder spawn. God’s policy of thought and action of favor to His children, is seen in God making them victorious over the devil and the reprobates. By this God’s chosen ones, are made ready for the main story, which is heaven. Thus, the reprobate are first conceived in hate and created in hate by God, to help the Elect to see how great His love is for them.  

…Paul explains in Romans 9, “What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath – prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory…?” (v. 22-23). In other words, God keeps non-Christians alive and functional so that they can provide an environment for Christians to interact with, to learn and practice the word of God, and to witness God’s wrath against these people that refuse to believe in Jesus Christ.

Suppose a man wishes to preserve some beer bottles to use as targets when he plays with his rifle, and to show off his marksmanship to his children. He would collect these bottles, clean them, and preserve them in a safe place. He offers to these bottles a natural benevolence, but he has no personal concern for them as he does his children. And when the time comes he will line them up and shoot them to a thousand pieces without any remorse, while his children praise him and rejoice with him.

Does this mean that non-Christians are preserved and cared for by divine providence, just so they can be used and discarded? This is precisely what Paul 88says in his letter to the Romans. And he adds that God has “the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use” (v. 21). In those days, “common” vessels include receptacles for trash and feces. This is God’s estimation of non-Christians. It also offers a basis to illustrate God’s great mercy toward those of us who believe in Jesus Christ – it is as if we have been changed from toilets where people dump their excrements into spectacular vases through which God displays the beauty of his wisdom, power, and glory…[5]

———EndNote———–

[1] Vincent Cheung. Systematic Theology. 2010. 78

I find Vincent’s definition of God’s love and hate is to be correct, and so I will use it. However, I am not claiming that I am using this definition just like him.

[2] Paraphrased from Vincent Cheung, “Our Contract with God.” See the book, Contract, 2020.

[3] “Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction. In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors.”

[4] Philippians 4:3 NLT, “… They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.”

Revelation 13:8 LEB , “And all those who live on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name is not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered.”

[5] Vincent Cheung. Systematic Theology, 2010. Pg. 72-73

Word of Faith Confession.

One of the things I would tell my younger self, would be to do more devotional material and do weekly, if not daily word of faith confessions over God’s promises. To do them and never stop.  Below, is a WOF confession I do regularly.  I would encourage you to do this, if you are not already in the practice. The “I will” list is largely from a list I saw the Vincent Cheung Ministry Team post on their blog. I have expounded on this with things that I know I need to confess for my specific areas of building faith. You should make a list with both general promises and ones you specifically need.

Definition: God’s Love is His policy of thought and action of favor to His Elect.[1]

“Just as sin [dominated you] in death, so also [unmerited favor] will [dominate you] through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 5:21 (HCSB)

“I pray that from God’s valuable, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts, as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s (policy of thought and action of favor to you), and (this will) keep you strong. And may you have the (ability) to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep is His (policy of thought and action of favor to you) is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand (in its infinity). Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life, and powerful ability that comes from God.” (Ephesians 3:16–19, NLT)

Father, You have given me Your limitless supply of unmerited love and put in me Your powerful ability. By Your Will You have made me holy by Your Son’s body, and because You are able, You have already made the New Contract active for me. The Same power you used in endless power of life to put Christ above all powers at your right hand, now works in me. You love me beyond measure. Your Son died to atone for my sins, in Love. You gave me the gift righteousness, out of love. Unmerited favor rules over all my life. Yes, you love me so much as to call me a child of God!

You say in a blood oath Contract that,

I will never remember yours sins against you,
I will write my laws upon your heart so that you will not depart but Love Me,
I will Be your God, and you my People,
I will be with you to heal and favor you,
I Will never stop from doing Good to you.

And you even say,

I AM your righteousness,
I AM your unmerited favor,
I AM your throne of grace and power that you have direct access through My Son.

“I believed, and so I have spoken.”

Therefore, Father I say with love and confidence back to You, as I look to You for more maturity in these things. You made the worlds. You alone define reality with your Word, for there is none beside You. You have defined me as a son of God in Christ, as one in Him and He in me, as an heir of God.

I am what I am,
I am the righteousness of God,
by the unmerited favor of Christ,

Because You are able and will do it,  Father I will:

…walk in Christ and not without him,
…walk in faith and not unbelief,
…walk in hope and not fear,
…walk in your peace and not anxiety,
…walk in your joy and not depression,
…walk in your freedom  and not bondage of sin,
…walk in your abundant supply and not lack,
…walk in your health and not sickness,
…walk in your power and not my own strength,
…walk in your unmerited favor
& not self-righteousness,
…walk in confidence before you and not condemnation,
…walk in submission to your will and not to men’s
…walk in obedience to you and not rebellion,
…walk in your love and not bitterness,
…walk in your forgiveness and not resentment,
…walk in your healing and not infirmity.
…walk in your abundant prosperity, and not reliance on human effort,
…walk under the shadow of you wings and not be afraid of terrors,
…walk directly to the throne of grace and receive what I ask for,
and not act like I don’t have a Contract with God.
…walk in the fullness of Christ and not my own sufficiency,
…walk in the spirit and not the flesh,
…walk in your truth, and not the devil’s lies,
…walk in your friendship, & not enmity against you,
…walk in the law of the Spirit of life and not sin and death,
…walk in purity of mind, and not the cares of this world,
…walk in your unfailing mercy, and not mere human kindness,
…walk in storing up treasures for heaven with Christ & not the things of this world
…walk in my “beloved” identity in Christ & not as a mere mortal
…walk as a king in this life through Christ
and not as a slave to sin,
…walk in spiritual revelation, and not spiritual dullness,
…walk in your presence and not self-assurance,
…walk in your light and not in darkness,
…walk with you and not alone.[2]

Father this is your definition of the world and of me. I speak your definition back to you, for You are more than able, oh Father of unstoppable Power!

————–Endnotes————

[1]  I got the basic idea of this definition from reading Vincent Cheung, Systematic Theology. 2010. 78

[2] In fellowship to the Father, listen to His words of love and promise to you. Then in faith, speak back to Him your love and promise to Him, knowing He is able to strengthen you in all areas of life.

There are reasons to do a word of faith confession. (1) You already believe and so you speak it. (2). You admit you faith is weak, and you admit your mind needs to be renewed, and so, you speak God’s word and speak God’s promises, in order to renew you mind and to strengthen your faith. (3) You enjoy fellowship with God. You enjoy reading His word, and enjoy speaking in faith back to your beloved Father.