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[Job 33:19-25 KJV] 19 He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong [pain]: 20 So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat. 21 His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones [that] were not seen stick out. 22 Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers. 23 If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness: 24 Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a RANSOM. 25 His flesh shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth:(Job 33.19-25). [1Ti 2:5-6 KJV] 5 For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. [Dan 10:18-19 KJV] 18 Then there came again and touched me [one] like the appearance of a man [Jesus Christ], and he strengthened me, 19 And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace [be] unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.

"Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD'S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel" (Zeph. 1.7,8).

John said, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life [Jesus]; That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship [is] with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us" (1 John 1.1,3,7-8,10).

Do you trust in and believe Jesus Christ the Son of God is the living Word, God in "likeness of flesh" (Rom. 8.3) and was raised from the dead on the third day? He died the perfect sacrifice to atone for your sins (substitution), the sins of the world, and you died with Him (co-death identification, Gal. 2.20, Rom. 6.6) on the eternal cross and were raised with Him in resurrection life for you to bear your cross daily, deny self and walk by the Spirit received in your spirit? Is there only this one way to be saved? "Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2.9). We are "justified by faith in Christ, and not by works: for by works shall no flesh be justified" (Gal. 2.16). "He said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee" (Luke 7.50, 18.42). "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2.8). "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among people, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4.12). Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14.16). "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil" (Matt. 5.17). "I am the Lord, and there is no other Savior" (Is. 43.11). "I alone am the one who blots out your sins for my own sake" (v.25). When Jesus saw their faith, he said "friend, your sins are forgiven" (Luke 5.20). "They began thinking, 'Who is this man who speaks blasphemy?' Only God can forgive sins" (Luke 5.21). "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5.22.24). Who do you think Jesus thinks He is if not God (2nd Person in the Godhead)? If all judgment at the end of history has been given to Jesus, then He must be God.

The high priest Caiaphas asked Jesus under oath: "Are you the Messiah, the Son of God?" Jesus said, "Yes, I am. You will see the Son of Man"--Daniel 7--"sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One"--Psalm 110--"and coming on the clouds of heaven"--back to Daniel 7. Caiaphas understood what he meant. He was outraged! "You're going to sit next to God on his chariot throne? Blasphemy," he said. "We have no need of further witness. You've heard it yourselves. What do you say? He's worthy of death." Jesus was not claiming to be anointed by God as some messenger of some sort. The call to execution had to do with him claiming to be God's Son. It was blasphemous to say, "I will sit on God's throne." (Matt. 26.57-68; Luke 14.53-65)

"Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53.4-5). "Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases" (Ps. 103.3).

"Wickedness is atoned for by loyalty and faithfulness, and one turns from evil by the fear of the LORD" (Prov. 16.6).

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever" (Heb. 13.8). The only One who is the same yesterday, today and forever is the uncreated Creator. Therefore Jesus is the 2nd Person of the Trinity.

"But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8.11). The Spirit of who? The Father and the Son. Christ lives in the believer by the Holy Spirit. "Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, cured the boy, and gave him back to his father. And they were all astonished at the greatness of God" (Luke 9.42,43). This is as close as you can get to saying Jesus is God without saying "Jesus is God."

Modalism is wrong. "I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you" (Ps. 2.7). "Begotten indicates a definite point in time-the point at which conception takes place. By definition the begetter (Father) always must come before the begotten (Offspring). There must be a time when the begetter exists and the begotten is not yet in existence...", "So the words begotten and Son each contradict the word eternal as applied to the Son of God." Quoting the phrase from Heb.1.5-6 in reference to time, "The Son was begotten on a specific day in time; there was a time when the Son did not exist;" If this is so then there was a time when the Father did not exist either, because to be called a Father means one has a Son.

"Yea, his soul draweth near unto the pit, And his life to the destroyers. If there be with him an angel, An interpreter, one among a thousand, To show unto man what is right for him; Then [God] is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child's; He returneth to the days of his youth" (Job 33.22-25). God the Father has found the ransom in Jesus. Jesus is the mediator, an angel in the OT (not incarnated yet), extremely rare and correctly interprets the Scriptures. Is. 53 is the most quoted and interpreted passage in the NT. The vigor of youth is the work of the Holy Spirit to renew.

"All sorts of people are fond of repeating the Christian statement that 'God is love.' But they seem not to notice that the words 'God is love' has no real meaning unless God contains at least two Persons. Love is one thing a person has for another person. If God was a single person, then before the world was made, He was not love." C.S. Lewis

"This letter is from Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I have been sent to strengthen the faith of those God has chosen and to teach them to know the truth that shows them how to live godly lives ... This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life [now] ... which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began" (Ti. 1.1,2 NLT, HSCB). God existed alone before time and space.

"His origin is from antiquity from eternity" (Mic. 5.2). "Are You not from eternity, Yahweh my God? My Holy One" (Hab. 1.12). "You are from eternity" (Ps. 93.2). "Before the mountains were born, before You gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity, You are God" (Ps. 90.2). "May You be praised, LORD God of our father Israel, from eternity to eternity" (1 Ch. 29.10). "But from eternity to eternity the LORD's faithful love is toward those who fear Him" (Ps. 103.17).

God is speaking on Hos. 11.7, "My people are bent on turning from Me. Thou they call to Him on high, He will not exalt them at all." It seems to me God is referring to someone else in this passage. Could it be that the 2nd Person Jesus is speaking of the 1st Person His Father when He says, "call to Him on high..."? And verse 10 reads, "They will follow the LORD. He will roar like a lion...." And "Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor. He found him at Bethel, and there He spoke with him. Yahweh is the God of Hosts; Yahweh is His name" (Hos. 12.4,5). This Angel was the pre-incarnate Christ or was he God the Father? It seems to me these verses point to the Trinity as there are multiple persons involved thus leading to the revelation of the 3 Persons of the Godhead, One Being, each Person co-equal, distinct, but not separate before time and space.

"That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love" (Eph. 3.16,17). "his Spirit" is His not another being. Christ dwells in the heart of a believer by "his Spirit". "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14.26). The only way the Holy Spirit can bring all things into remembrance what Jesus said is if the Holy Spirit is co-equal with the Son. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. 28.19). Baptize in all that is God not some other being or beings, lesser beings, etc. "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied" (1 Pet. 1.2). Elect are according to all that is God. "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb. .14). "through the eternal Spirit" by the blood of Christ. Only God can offer perfect sacrifice. None else can qualify. "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3.16,17). This is the God the Father, the Spirit and Jesus all working together not multiple beings gang banging each other. "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one" (1 John 5.7). "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen" (2 Cor. 3.14). It's not just the love of God the Father, but the grace of the Lord Jesus and the communion of the Spirit as one being.

"That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love" (Eph. 3.16,17).
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name [Jesus], he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14.26).
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. 28.19).
"Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied" (1 Pet. 1.2).
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb. 9.14)
"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3.16,17).
"For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one." (1 John 5.7)
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all" (2 Cor. 13.14).

"1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him [Jesus Christ v.17]; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1.1-5)

10 Reasons Why Jesus is God

The Apostle Thomas called Jesus "God"
"27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust [it] into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God." (John 20.27,28)

The Apostle Peter called Jesus "God"
"Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 1.1).

The Apostle Paul called Jesus "God"
"12 ... we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.) (Tit. 2.12b-14)

The Apostle John called Jesus "God"
"1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him [Jesus Christ v.17]; and without him was not any thing made that was made." (John 1.1-3) We can confirm the word of Jesus because verse 14 says, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

Isaiah the Prophet said the Messiah would be "God"
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (Is. 9.6)

The Jews who Crucified Jesus understood Him to be Saying that He was Equal with God
"Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God." (John 5.18)

"The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God" (John 10.33).

Jesus Gives Eternal Life and Forgives Sins
Jesus said, "27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand." (John 10.27,28)

"5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. 6 But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts. Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?" (Mark 2.5-7).

Jesus' Blood is Called God's Blood
"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20.28)

Jesus called Himself "I AM" and "the Alpha and the Omega"
"Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." (John 8.58)

"12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. 13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last" (Rev. 22.12,13).

"17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18 I [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." (Rev. 1.17,18)

God the Father Called Jesus "God"
"8 But unto the Son [he saith], Thy throne, O God, [is] for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness [is] the sceptre of thy kingdom." (Heb. 1.8)

In Is. 41.4 we reads "I, the LORD, am the first and with the last - I am He." Jesus is also called the first and the last: "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death" (Rev. 1.17,18). Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected. Therefore, since Jesus is the first and the last as is God the Father, Jesus must be the 2nd Person of the Trinity.

What a clear passage of the Triune God in the OT: "Approach Me and listen to this. From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time anything existed, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent me and His Spirit" (Is. 48.16). "Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee" (Is. 49.7). Who is the Holy One of God the Father? Jesus. Men despise Jesus even had Him killed. Who is there who is a Christian leader who runs a nation? God has chosen His only begotten son to pay for sins to save people. The only begotten is the One whom is co-equal. So in Is. 42.8 when it says "I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, or My praise to idols" when the Father exalted Jesus above all men and angels, such glory must have been given because Jesus is co-equal with the Father.

More Old Testament proof Jesus is in the Triune Godhead. "1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, [in whom] my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. 2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. 4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. 5 Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: 6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; 7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, [and] them that sit in darkness out of the prison house" (Is. 42.1-7).

"The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand" (John 3.35). In eternity past God has predetermined to establish a house over which the second person in the Godhead, the Son, shall rule. He has given all things to the Son as His inheritance. All things are of the Son, through the Son, and to the Son. The Father plans, the Son inherits whatever the Father has planned, and the Holy Spirit accomplishes all that the Father has planned. The Father is the Planner, the Son is the Heir, and the Holy Spirit is the Executor. The love of the Father towards the Son commences in eternity past. He is the Beloved of the Father. Even in eternity the Father has loved the Son. When the Son comes to the world the Father still declares, “This is my beloved Son” (Matt. 3.17). The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hands.

John the Baptist said of Jesus, "He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. I am of the earth, and my understanding is limited to the things of earth, but he has come from heaven" (John 3.31). Jesus said, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not. That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I say I am, you will die in your sins" (John 8.23,24). "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8.58). Jesus said, "When the world hates you, remember it hated me before it hated you. The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don't. I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you" (John 15.18,19). To "come out of the world" is from where one use to belong. Whereas Jesus is "from above." You are "from below." Jesus never had to come out of the world, because "he has come from heaven."

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again, and receive you unto myself. I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. I am in the Father, and the Father in me. Believe me for the very works. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do. If ye love me, keep MY [Ten] commandments. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you...[by] the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name. The Father gave me commandment, even so I do" (John 14.1,2,3,6,7,9,10,11,13,14,15, 18,26,31).

Jesus	Knew	Didn't Know
Wasn't God	Liar	Lunatic
Was God	Lord	X

Do you believe firstly that Jesus is God (deity)? "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Is. 9.6). Father here does not refer to God the Father, but that Jesus is the head, founder, originator, producer, protector, honored, ruler, chief.

(a) God is Triune (Gen. 1.1,26; 3.22)-the Trinity of God the Father [paterology], God the Son [Christology] and God the Holy Spirit [pneumatology]. "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me" (John 15.26). "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever" (John 14.16). "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one" (1 John 5.7). "Who is like Me?" (Is. 40.25) He is holy, righteous, uncreated (aseity), called theology proper. And see Matt. 3.16-17; Mark 1.9-11; Luke 3.21-22; John 3.34,35; 16.13-15; Rom. 14.17-18; 15.30; 1 Cor. 6.11, 17-19; 12.4-6; 2 Cor. 3.4-6; 13.14; Gal. 4.6-7; Eph. 2.18; 4.4-6; 5.18-20; Col. 1.6-8; 1 Thess. 5.18-19; Tit. 3.4-6; Heb. 9.14; 1 Pet. 1.2; 1 John 3.23-24; 4.13-14; Jude 20-21. A test of someon's salvation is if they accept the Trinity. Incarnation, omniscience and omnipresent are not in the Bible but are proven. Church fathers used the word Trinity: Clement of Rome AD 96, Ignatius AD 90, Justin Martyr AD 155, Theophilus AD 168, Irenaeus AD 180, Tertullian AD 197. In the OT, "The LORD said unto my Lord" (Ps. 110.1) referring to God the Father and God the Son. "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre" (Ps. 45.6) referring to Jesus. "Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows (v.7). God the Son is mentioned first and following, thy God the Father is mentioned. "If ye had known me, YE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN MY FATHER ALSO: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? HE THAT HATH SEEN ME HATH SEEN THE FATHER; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" (John 14.7-9);

(b) the Persons of the Godhead are co-equal, co-inherent and uncreated One Being as Jesus said, "I and the Father are one" being (John 10.30), "one Lord" (Deut.6.4) "from everlasting to everlasting" (Ps. 41.13, 90.2, 93.2, 103.17, 106.48, Hab. 1.12), "for ever and ever" (1 Chron. 16.36, 29.10, Neh. 9.5). "Believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him" (John 10.38). "I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. Is there a God beside me? yea, [there is] no God; I know not [any]" (Is. 43.10, 44.8). It is God "who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. No one has seen the Father except the one [Jesus] who is from God; only he has seen the Father" (1 Tim. 6.16, John 1.18). I like John 8.16,29 "It is not I alone," declared Jesus, "but I and he who sent me... And He who sent me is with me." That's co-equality. In Isaiah 9.6 the Son is the "everlasting father," the author of our existence. Isaiah 40.28 says "The Lord is the everlasting God" and in Habakkuk 1.12, the rhetorical question is asked, "O Lord, are you not from everlasting?" In Colossians 1.16 we are told that "All things were created by him [Jesus]" who is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (Rev. 22.13,16). "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist" (Col. 1.16,17). "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1.1). Jesus is the Word who was with God the Father in the beginning, and Jesus is God, thus, co-equal with the Father as "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made" (v.3).

(c) the Father is not the Son, nor is the Spirit the Father and nor is the Son the Spirit--"No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known" (John 1.18). "Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is HIS SON'S NAME, if thou canst tell? Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar" (Ps. 30.4-6);

(d) in the agreement of the council of the Godhead before the foundations of the world and universe, the Father spoke, the Son created and the Spirit renews creation ("By His Spirit He adorned the heavens" Job 26.13). "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8.31-32). Who is this man who is claiming that we should follow His word if not God? The Jews tried to stone Jesus to death for what reason other than He was claiming He could forgive sins which only God could do for eternal forgiveness;
(e) when we pray to God we pray to the Father through the Son by the Spirit;
(f) the life of the Father and the Son is the Spirit;
(g) the Son emptied Himself of His independent attributes to enter into creation, "existing in the form of God" (Phil. 2.5) as a man (1 John 4.2), the promised "seed" (Gen. 3.15), in which His own spirit when He became a man was not the Holy Spirit;
(h) Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, is the fullness of the Godhead bodily for "Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God" (Rom. 9.5);
(i) our Lord Jesus has one will, not two wills, since Jesus is one Person (John 5.30);
(j) He is fully God, and fully man when in creation having the body of a man and though He died, He wears this garb of a resurrected body forever;
(k) He was upon His death "made alive in the spirit" (1 Pet. 3.18);
(l) He "became a life-giving spirit (and Spirit)" (1 Cor. 15.45) because after His resurrection, He lives in Christians by the Spirit for this latter Person to communicate the reality of Christ to us;
(m) now raised in His physically spiritual body, Christ Jesus is at the right hand of the Father; and
(n) when He returns, He will return with the same body He had when He was taken up (Zech. 14.4, Acts 1.11, Rev. 1.7).

"What is His name, and what is the name of His Son -- if you know?" (Prov. 30.4). Isaiah 48-53 is constantly talking about Jesus in the Trinity. For example, "From the time anything existed, I was there. And now the Lord God sent Me and His Spirit" (Is. 48.16). Jesus was despised on the cross. "To the one who was despised, to the one abhorred by people, to a servant or rulers" (49.7). The servant brings salvation. "The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of those who are instructed to know how to sustain the weary with the word" (50.4). "I gave my back to those who beat me" (v.6). "Who among you fears the LORD, listening to the voice of His servant.... This is what you'll get from My hand: you will lie down in a place of torment" (v.10). The hand of Jesus is most authoritative. Especially read all of chapters 52 & 53.

Jesus said, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come" (John 16.12-13). Jesus treats the Holy Spirit as another Person in the Trinity. "When he...", "he will guide you...", "he will not speak on his own", "he will speak on what he hears" and "he will tell you what is...."

Same "substance" simply refers to One Being in 3 Persons. We have had to introduce this term because various cults like Mormons teach that God is not one substance as one being, but separate beings. Christians say the 3 Persons are one substance, distinct but not separate. Whereas Mormons say the beings in their God are not of one substance, but distinct and seperate. Furthermor, Modalists are not Christians either, for they teach that the Father is the Son and the Spirit is the Son all as One Person (no Trinity). Only Jesus died on the cross and came in the flesh, not the Father nor the Spirit, so the Godhead is one substance as one being, but not modalistic in any way shape of form. Ergo, the Godhead is 1/3+1/3+1/3=1, not 1x1x1=1.

"And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of US, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever" (Gen. 3.22). "Who hath believed OUR report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?" (Is. 53.1). "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (Gen. 5.24). "Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech" (Gen. 11.7). "And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw [them], he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord" (Gen. 18.1-3). "Let them bring them forth, and shew US what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that WE may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare US things for to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that WE may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that WE may be dismayed, and behold it together" (Is. 41.22,23).

Do you believe the Godhead is One Being (of one substance) in three Persons, each having their own distinct will? Do you believe Jesus is one with the Father though having His Own personal will (John 6.38, Luke 22.42)? The Triune God is not a Person nor one of the three Persons only. "God" is not gods or beings. You are not God, part of God or God in life or nature or a god in any way, though you have God's life and nature. Do you truly believe you will never be divine, for only God is divine deity? Once saved (born-again, new birth), what is revealed intuitively first in the spirit then communicated to the soul's understanding is that God's three Persons are distinct, but not separate? There is no requirement you need to believe in the Father or the Son first, but salvation does require you accept the Trinity of God, otherwise you worship not the Triune God but something else. Read all of John 14-16, especially chapter 15: “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me" (v.26). In one verse, the Father is mentioned twice, the Son mentioned twice, and the Holy Spirit is mentioned three times. Is that distinct?

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. 28.19). "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high" (Luke 24.49). "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if not, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake...And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever...Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him...But the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14.1-11,23,26). "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me" (15.26). "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you" (16.7). These verses testify to the distict personages of the Trinity have their roots in the teachings of Jesus Himself.

"For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (2 Pet. 1.17). "Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?" (Acts 5.9). "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1.1). "The LORD our God is one LORD" (Deut. 6.4). Somehow the 3 Persons each being God are One God, One Being of One Substance, Co-equal, and Co-eternal, distinct, but not separate. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. 28.19). "The name...the name...the name" have to mean distinct Persons according to the Granville Sharpe Rule of Greek Grammar. There are no exceptions. These are not created names, but always existing Persons from before time began. "For I am the LORD, I change not" (Mal. 3.6). "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Is. 9.6). Father in "Father of eternity" is referring to the "originator and source of all things, a term of respect or honor, ruler or chief" of eternity. He is not His own Father. Satan is the Father of lies, not God the Father. Jesus is a child born, not the Father of Himself. He is begotten of God the Father. Who originated the universe? The 3 Persons of the Godhead from everlasting to everlasting. "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him" (Col. 1.16). Isaiah 9.6 makes sense.

"I the LORD [Jehovah] that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself" (Is. 44.24). There are not 3 separate Jehovah's, but One Jehovah in 3 Persons: Jehovah the Father (2 Pet. 1.17), Jehovah the Son (John 1.1; 8.58 Jesus identifies Himself as "I AM" from Ex. 3.13-15), and Jehovah the Spirit (Acts 5.3). "I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son" (Heb. 1.5) indicates there was the preincarnate Person of Jesus with the Father before becoming the Son. Did Jesus exist with the Father before the creation? "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world" (John 17.5,18).

"And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me" (John 8.16-18). "Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name" (Phil. 2.6-9). God the Father exalted Jesus. 2 Persons. Jesus took upon Himself the form of a servant before entering creation then came in the likeness of men. Jesus is equal with God because He is co-equal from before time began, therefore He is not God the Father, but God the Son; there is no way you can claim the Father became the Son.

"Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and his Spirit" (Is. 48.16). 3 Persons are mentioned here in the Old Testament. Not solitary unity, but composite unity, a plurality in the Godhead. While Christians are able to deal with both the plurality and the singularity of God in the OT and NT, Modalists only know how to take in the verses of God's singularity. Elohim (God) is a plural noun in Genesis 1.1. "God said [in 3 Persons], Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Gen. 1.26). There is no plurality of majesty; such a concept came when kings would link themselves to God in later centuries from the well established plurality in Genesis. From the 13th century, men transpose plurality of majesty back to a period of 2000 BC lacks credibility as do Jews who add in this new interpretation as well in response to Christian Trinitarianism. Barnabas, a direct disciple of the Apostles, in his epistle, chapter 6, wrote, "the scriptures concerning us, while He [the Father] speaks to the Son, let us make man after our image and after our likeness, and let them have dominion...these things were spoken to the Son" (AD 100 latest). John A. T. Robinson dates this epistle at about 75 AD.

"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of compassion and supplication, so that, when they look on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a first-born" (Zech. 12.10). The "I" is God the Father and "him whom they have pierced...shall mourn for him" is God the Son. "Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god" (Is. 44.6). "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last" (Rev. 1.7-8,17). "I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he" (Is. 44.4); "I am he; I am the first, I also am the last" (Is. 48.12). No creature could claim this divine title as Jesus did. He was deity from the beginning to never ending.

As conversation within the Trinity, "let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech" (Gen. 11.17). "Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" (Is. 6.8). "I and my Father are one" (John 10.30), 2 Persons as "we are in union." This is a devastating passages for modalists. "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son" (1 John 2.22). "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever" (John 14.16).

"The King of Israel, the LORD, is among you" (Zeph. 3.15). "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Rev. 21.3).

"And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean" (Rev. 19.14). Those that return with Jesus receive the reward of reigning over the nations for 1000 years. Not all Christians and OT Saints receive this reward.

When Jesus returns "the LORD alone will be exalted on that day" (Is. 2.11). When Jesus returns, "They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made [each one] for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth" (Is. 2.19-21). Live video streaming will take place all over the earth: "In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. All nations will stream to it" (Is. 2.2). "And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (v.4). "The Lord alone will be exalted on that day, for a day belonging to the LORD of Hosts is coming against all the proud and lofty against all that is lifted up--it will be humbled" (Is. 1.11,12).

During the millennial kingdom, "Every morning I [Jesus] will destroy all the wicked of the land, eliminating all evil doers from the LORD's city" (Ps. 101.8). "No one who acts deceitfully will live in my palace; no one who tells lies will remain in my presence" (v.7). Ps. 101 is prophetic of the reign of Christ. It indicates there will be people punished during His reign, suggesting this is the messianic reign which will in the end deliver up the Father. "But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet" (1 Cor. 15.23-25). "The end" is when there is no more sin in the New City and New Earth. In the millennial kingdom there is still sin but greatly subdued.

"And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1.31-33). Was Mary thinking that Jesus would rule over the Gentiles? No. She was referring to Israel. Therefore, Israel is the nation that will be preserved from where Christ will reign on earth for 1000 years. The same is true of Matt. 24.30: "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

Will Jesus execute judgment in the New Earth? Of course not, for there is no more sin. "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth" (Jer. 23.5). "In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this [is] his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (v.6). Since when has Israel ever dwelt safely? "They will live in their own land" (v.8); "they shall dwell safely all of them" (Ez. 38.8,11,14). "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which [is] before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, [and there shall be] a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south" (Zech. 14.4). "And it shall be in that day, [that] living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be" (v.8). Verse 8 follows verse 4 in which these events happen on earth, not in a New Earth. "And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one" (v.9). The earth! Not the New Earth. The contour of the land will change in Israel. "All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and [from] the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses" (v.10). It goes on to say how Jesus will judge the nations that don't come up to worship in Israel regularly. Is that a depiction of the New City? None of this has ever happened in history.

"No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit" (Is. 65.20,21). If this is the New Heaven, New City and New Earth without any sin then how does a child die at 100 years old? This could be the single most powerful passage to prove amillennialism a great heresy. Furthermore, "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the LORD." There are no animals in the New Earth, but there is in the millennial kingdom.

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet. 5.8). "We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the evil one" (1 John 5.19). Does that sound like Satan is in the pit now for 1000 years? "I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season" (Rev. 20.1-3).

Who is promised the land? Israel or Christians? Obviously Israel. So Israel will be the center of all nations during the millennial kingdom, but such is not the case afterward in the New City and New Earth. Nobody in the first two centuries taught amillennialism, postmillennialism, preterism or partial preterism, or pantrib . It was all premillennialism, otherwise known as chiliasm.

Do you believe the Son of Man, Christ Jesus, will return in Person to reign with an "iron rod" with His overcomer believers (Rev. 2.27, 12.5, 19.15) "over the nations" (2.26) for the last 1000 years (or a great length of period) on earth in the time of recompense (Rev. 20.4) and regeneration of the world (Matt. 19.28) before the new city on the new earth commences? Do you believe Christ is not reigning with an iron rod today? Do you believe the nations won't be deceived (Rev. 20.3) during the 1000 years, because they will not war as they do now? Do you believe the kingdom of God is a deeper inner knowing inside the believer that abides in Christ, for “the kingdom of God is righteous and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14.17)? Can you sense the outward appearance of the kingdom of heaven with its boundaries in greater Christendom that exists today of believers and those who appear to be saved but are not? Is the conduct of Matt. 5-7 the conduct of the kingdom that is to be kept unto rewards (see the 5 wise virgins, Matt. 25.1-12 and parable of the talents, Luke 19.11-27)?

"And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations..they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (Rev. 2.26, 20.4). Do you agree not all Christians meet this condition? "The Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints [holy ones or myriads]. To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard [speeches] which ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude 14,15).

In Luke 2 the angel of the Lord said, "I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David" (vv. 10,11). Who was Jesus born for? "all people". Jesus would die for the sins of the whole world. "Glory to God in the highest heavens, and peace on earth to people He favors" (v.14). Who does God favor? Those who accept His only begotten Son. Peace on earth good will to people; peace on earth to men of good will. Who has good will? Those, again, who accept the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed "sovereign".

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Is. 53.6). All at the start of the sentence and the end of the sentence is a rhetorical device for emphasis of "all."

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Rom. 10.13). It does not say "whosoever is irresistibly made to call upon..."

"He said, If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you" (Ex. 15.26). Seems like God is given them an option. Why does the Calvinist god irresistibly make them comply and others not? Isn't that sadistic to tell someone to do what is right when they are not able in the cult of Calvinism?

"God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.... We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life" (Acts 11.17,18). "I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike—the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus" (Acts 2.21).

"But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name" (John 20.31). I don't think it says "having received life, that ye may believe." That would be weird if there was two lives: a life before repenting and believing and a life after repenting and believing. Two kinds of eternal life? That's hard to believe.

"Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too" (1 John 5.1). I don't think it says "having become a child of God, you believe that Jesus is the Christ." "The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him" (Ps. 37.23) in "repentance that leads to salvation" (2 Cor. 7.10). Doe it say salvation leads to repentance? Does it say one who delights in Him was made firm the steps of?

"All sorts of people are fond of repeating the Christian statement that 'God is love.' But they seem not to notice that the words 'God is love' has no real meaning unless God contains at least two Persons. Love is one thing a person has for another person. If God was a single person, then before the world was made, He was not love" (C.S. Lewis). God necessarily is love the highest kind of love. God is the one who brings creatures into the world, and He creates them to love Himself. If He determines their actions then He is really only determining Himself to be loved by Himself. So there is no real love God is receiving.

The footnote in my Life Application Study Bible for John 15.16 says, "Jesus made the first choice-to love and to die for us, to invite us to live with Him forever. We make the next choice-to accept or reject His offer. Without His choice, we would have no choice to make." "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou SHALT BE SAVED" (Rom. 10.9).

"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (John 11.25). Calvinists say man is dead so he can't choose life, but Jesus said even though man is dead, you can believe in Him and shall live (regenerate). "But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased" (Ps. 115.3). "The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men" (v.16). If earth has been given to men how can it be that God determines everything? "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (Matt. 23.12). If the Calvinist waits for God to humble you, he will be too late. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word" (Is. 66.2). "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time" (1 Pet. 5.5,6). The Calvinist says you can't humble yourself.

[Mat 7:7-12 KJV] "7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? 12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." What's the point of asking for salvation if you are irresistibly selected anyway? Would God give you a stone (preterition) if a son asks for bread of life? How can a Calvinist ever say you can't respond to God's command to believe in Him when verse 11 says even being evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children? If you can do this surely you can accept the gospel of salvation freely. If it is wrong for us not to help others, how is it wrong for God in reaching out to us with prevenient grace?

"But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ" (Gal. 3.22 NLT). It does not say "we receive God's promise of freedom so that we can be believe." It says "by believing" in Jesus Christ "we receive God's promise of freedom."

"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10.13). Common to humanity -- common grace; way of escape -- prevenient grace.

Jesus said He "will draw all men unto me" (John 12.32), but the Calvinist say He doesn't draw all men to Himself. John 1.9 says, "That was the true Light, which lighteth EVERY MAN that cometh into the world." Rom. 1.19 says "that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them [all men]." And by observing nature everyone knows God exists (v.20) so nobody is without excuse (common grace). Rom. 2.11-16 indicates that sinners are drawn through their conscience, even when they have not heard the word of God. So in the end people go to Hell, not because of any alleged inability to come to Christ, but because they will not come to Christ -- "You will not come to me, that you might have life" (John 5.40). Calvinists will not come to Christ. The teaching that men, women and children are totally unable to come to Christ to trust Him as Saviour is not a Scriptural teaching. The language itself is not Scriptural reflecting the dead spirit of a Calvinist.

"Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts" (Mal. 3.7). You know how some people say they didn't choose God, but God chose them. Well, I like this verse which says God returns to those who return to Him, very similar to God chooses those who choose Him. "This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand, and it is not beyond your reach" (Deut. 30.11).

"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!" (Mark 1.15) If you could not repent, Jesus would not say it. So repentance can't be irresistibly imposed as Calvinists teach." "So he answered me, This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by strength or by might, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of Hosts" (Zech. 4.6). You can't be saved by your strength and might by declaring yourself irresistibly selected and priding yourself over others you claim were not.

"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction" (2 Pet. 2.1). Jesus bought people for salvation, yet they reject it. How can limited atonement be true if they were bought yet perish? It's because limited atonement is false. Jesus, thus, died for everyone. He bought everyone, but most reject His love and saving grace. "This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth" (1 Tim. 2.3,4). If God wants everyone to be saved and not everyone is saved then it must be for reasons other than God, a person's own decision. What's keeping them from being saved is themselves. "And you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life" (John 5.40). Jesus is blaming the person, putting on the person's shoulder to come to Him so therefore the person has free will and the full ability to accept the Lord Jesus as Savior so he is without excuse. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me" (Matt. 23.27). The onus is on the person. It says "you would not" not "you could not." "For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough" (2 Cor. 11.4). "Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead [seared]" (1 Tim. 4.1-2). "Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own" (John 7.17). Calvinism is Christianity without Jesus because Jesus is left out of the equation. They read their own theology into passages inserting into the text that which is not there. Evil!

"11 Say unto them, [As] I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 12 Son of man, give your people this message: The righteous behavior of righteous people will not save them if they turn to sin, nor will the wicked behavior of wicked people destroy them if they repent and turn from their sins" (Ez. 33.11,12). If a person couldn't respond by their free will then these verses would make God look like a sadistic bastard! Fortunately, Total depravity is a heresy, Calvinism is a cult, and Calvinists are going to Hell.

"Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’ Let the one who listens, listen, and let the one who refuses, refuse — for they are a rebellious house" (Ez. 3.27). Sounds like free choice, not irresistibly imposed. Therefore, to say someone's spirit is dead is not Total depravity, but "disassociation from life" and "cessation of communication from environment" -- in this case, cessation of communication with God. The entire chapter of Ez. 18 is talking about free will. "Throw off all transgressions you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.... This is the declaration of the Lord GOD. So repent and live" (Ez. 18.31,32). My Apologetics Study Bible notes make note of verse 23, "Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? This the declaration of the Lord GOD." The ASB states, "The implied answer is, No. God does not create some individuals for the specific purpose of meting out His judgment, as some claim." People are not born for Hell, but they choose Hell. Calvinists choose Hell. "Instead, don't I take pleasure when he turns from his ways and lives?" (v.24)

Does this seem like free will to you? "Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the LORD. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven" (Lam. 3.40,41). "In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one" (Eph. 6.16). "Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4.7). "Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet. 5.8). If we did not have free choice these verses would not make much sense.

The phrase in Romans 2.9 translated today as "every human being who does evil" is given in the original as "every soul of man who works evil." Hence, to warn the soul of a man who works evil is to warn an evil man. "To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God" (Rom. 2.7-11).

How else is the Bible to express free will? "I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive [broken] in spirit, and trembles at My word. One slaughters an ox, one kills a man; one sacrifices a lamb, one breaks a dog’s neck; one offers a grain offering, one offers pig’s blood; one offers incense, one praises an idol — all these have chosen their ways and delight in their detestable practices" (Is. 66.2b,3). "I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt - you have rebelled..." (Jer. 3.12,13). Sounds like free will to me.

"If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it]" (Is. 1.19,20). "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Is. 55.6,7). It wouldn't make much sense God imploring you to accept Him if you didn't have the grace to the free choice to do so. "I tell you...unless you repent you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13.3). "Because of his sinful greed I was angry, so I struck him; I was angry and hid; but he went on turning back to the desires of his heart" (Is. 57.17).

“I love all who love me. Those who search will surely find me. For he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD" (Prov. 8.17,35). If you are totally unable to search out God and love Him then why does this passage implore us to search God out to find Him? Calvinism is Satanic. "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no plans to satisfy the fleshly desires" (Rom. 13.14). "If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all" (Is. 7.9). Sounds like free will to me.

God "declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus" (Rom. 3.26). Who? Not regenerated people but sinners. "And they came...every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD'S offering" (Ex. 35.21). Who made whose spirit willing? It doesn't say God did it. It says the person did it whom made his own spirit willing. "If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from myself" (John 7.17). "If only My people would listen to Me and Israel would follow My ways" (Ps. 81.13). "To will is present with me" (Rom. 7.18). If you can will something then you are not Totally depraved.

"God does not just sweep life away [preterition]; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him" (2 Sam. 14.14). This speaks of God's sufficient grace for all to have the free choice. "And she [Rahab of Jericho] said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you" (Joshua 2.9). "And they [the two men who spied out Jericho when they returned] said unto Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us" (v.26).

"If ye offer a sacrifice...unto the LORD, ye shall offer it at your own will" (Lev. 19.5). "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it" (Isaiah 1.19-20). If a person couldn't offer would not God have said so? That is sort of an important point to leave out. See Lev. 22.18; 23.38; Numb. 15.3; Deut. 12.6; 2 Chron. 31.14; Ps. 119.108. "Whosoever is of a willing heart" (Ex. 35.5); "who his spirt made willing" (v.21); "as many as were willing hearted" (v.22); "a heart with a willing mind" (1 Chron. 28.9; "who then is willing to consecrate his" (29.5); "offered willingly" (v.9); "I have willingly offered all these things" (v.17); "willingly offered himself unto the LORD" (2 Chron. 17.16); "princes gave willingly unto the people" (35.8). The NT contains many similar phrases: "The spirit indeed is willing" (Matt. 26.41); "Pilate [was] willing (Luke 23.20); "Ye were willing" (John 5.35); "The centurian [was] willing" (Acts 27.43); "They were willing of themselves" (2 Cor. 8.3); "a willing mind" (v.12); "not by constraint, but willingly" (1 Pet. 5.2). Are we to believe that that these Scriptures actually mean either man has no will or God causes him to be willing? Calvinism treats man as a puppet that God makes willing, yet the Bible gives man credit for having a willing heart as though the willingness were his own. The judgment seat of Christ, His promised rewards, the Great White Throne judgment, and the lake of fire are meaningless if all is of God and nothing is from the heart of man. The many statements about the person being willing from his heart become nonsensical.

There is a soulish as well as a spiritual wisdom. The first springs from man’s mind while the second is supplied to the spirit by God. Education may remedy any lack of understanding and wisdom in a natural man, but it cannot alter his natural endowment. Spiritual wisdom, though, may be realized through believing prayer (James 1.5). One thing which we ought to keep in mind is, that in redemption “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10.34). He places all sinners, wise or foolish, on the same footing, and confers upon them the same salvation. As the entire being of the wise is totally corrupted so is that of the foolish. In God’s sight the mind of the wise is as nonefficacious as that of the foolish. Both need the regeneration of the spirit; and after that it is no easier for the wise man than for the foolish to know the words of God. Now of course it is quite difficult for a very foolish person to know God; but is it less difficult for the wisest among men? Not at all, because God must be known in the spirit by everyone. Their minds may be unalike, yet both their spirits are dead and hence equally foolish and deficient in divine matters. Man’s natural cleverness does not help him to know God and God’s truth. No doubt the wise one is easier to reason with and is quicker in understanding, but it is altogether limited to the mental realm, utterly contrary to intuitive knowledge. We can conclude, therefore, since God is no respecter of persons and shows no partiality that He provides sufficient grace to all to give us all the choice whether through common grace or special grace of the gospel, for if a person had received God they would surely accept His only begotten Son if introduced to Him.

"That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5.45). This verse speaks to me of God's grace that is sufficient for us all to be children of God whosoever is willing (prevenient grace).

Why is it that not everyone who says they trust in Christ are saved? Would it not be because they, in fact, worship a false Christ? They take on a Jesus who is not Jesus at all. It is not that you have to do more, but simply not worship a false Christ where there was no repentance, for God's way of salvation is with John the Baptist then faith unto Jesus to be regenerated. I think Christians can sense that exalted pride in the Calvinist which is very unattractive. They have erected an idol that prevents them from giving their lives Christ by rejecting the ample grace of God to us all to have the free-choice. Their God is not just unwilling but unable to. God is so much bigger than their god; actually, their god is downright evil, for think about it: if we behaved the way the Calvinist god does, we would be sinning horribly. How can God's standards be less than our own?

Jesus said, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not. That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I say I am, you will die in your sins" (John 8.23,24). Only God can atone for sins. Only the God who provides sufficient grace to all to have the choice can truly atone for sins. Unless you believe in this God you will go to Hell! "Repent ye therefore, and be converted [regenerated], that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3.19). Who is to do this? You. "Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live!" (Deut. 30.19) "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men" (Tit. 2.11)--speaks of the sufficient grace given to all men to have the free-choice. His grace is sufficient for all men Who came upon all men to be saved whosoever is willing. Now "the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3.9). "Our Lord's patience gives people time to be saved" (v.16). Since God is longsuffering, doing all He can to save each and every soul, we all have the sufficient grace of God to have the free-choice. Thus, God is right in pleading with all to come to repentance.

"That he might have mercy upon all" (Rom. 11.32) speaks of the sufficient grace given to us all. God's enabling grace that is sufficient for us all is seen in 2 Cor. 8: "For they gave...beyond their means, of their own free will,...first gave their own selves to the Lord...by the will of God" (vv. 3,5). God seeks men because none seek after Him (Rom. 3.11-12); the Son came to seek and save that which is lost (Luke 19.10). Such grace is given to us all to have the "free will" by the "will of God." Who is to give a free will offering? "YOU...with a free will offering that YOU give" from the sufficient grace of God has given you (Deut. 16.10). Only in Calvinism is free will not free will.

Calvinists say the spiritually dead can't do "what is pleasing in God's sight." Surely keeping the Passover was "pleasing in God's sight," and millions of spiritually dead Jews have kept it. Pagans told Isaac, "We have done unto thee nothing but good" (Gen. 26.29). Jesus said that sinners "do good" (Luke 6.33). A Calvinist will say man "is free to turn to Christ but not able." That's like saying man is free to travel to another galaxy, then judging them because they fail to do so. "We persuade men" (2 Cor. 5.11). What's the point of persuading if people don't have a choice? "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found" (Is. 55.6). Calvinists accuse Christians of "boasting," but how is a beggar boasting in accepting food?

Calvinism limits God to a "sovereignty" that can't handle free will. "I have set before you life and death.... Choose life.... Love the LORD thy God" (Deut. 30.19-20). "If the LORD be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him" (1 Kings 18.21). "Look unto me [or turn to me], and be saved, all the ends of the earth" (Is. 45.22). "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jer. 29.13).

When a Calvinist tries to bring up Romans 9 just quote verse 22: "to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering"; enduring and longsuffering is sufficient grace to all. God foreknew the free-choice of Isaac and Esau.

God wants His own to exercise their wills actively to cooperate with Him. This is what is implied in such Scriptures verses as: "if any man’s will is to do his will, he shall know. . : " (John 7.17) and "ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you" (John 15.7). God never disregards our volition. "The Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him" (Acts 5.32). Obey how? Repent and believe unto regeneration to receive eternal life for the Holy Spirit to indwell.

No problem exists about who God wants to save or whom He will let perish. He wants to save everyone and He doesn't want any to perish. God wishes no one to "perish but all should reach repentance" because He "desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Pet. 3.9; 1 Tim. 2.4). Therefore, those who perish do so because though they have been given sufficient grace to respond, they prefer to be Calvinists or Atheists or any number of others who refuse to have the right attitude and genuineness in receiving what Jesus did on the cross. They are inclined to their religion. But those who receive Him receive everything. "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God" (John 1.12). What must they do? They must "believe on his name" (v.12). Who? The One who is "longsuffering to us" (2 Pet. 3.9) "who [in His sufficient grace] is the Saviour of all men" (1 Tim. 4.10). "How often would I have gathered your children...but ye would not" (Matt. 23.37), "you were not willing" (Luke 13.34).

We are saved not by the "will of man" (John 1.13) which is a selfish will or "will-worship" (Col. 2.23 ASV). In order to be saved, "let him who desires to take of the water of life freely" (Rev. 22.17) and not "refuse to come to me that you may have life" (John 5.40).

If people commence the search for salvation by assuming they are irresistibly selected and accepting any old spirit that comes over them, they are yet perishing. Various founders of religions belong to this category including in Christendom.

But if man is willing to accept what God offers to him, he shall be saved. In one case, man originates; in the other, he receives (whosoever is willing). One does the willing himself while the other accepts God's will.

John 1 speaks of man willing, whereas John 5 and Rev. 22 refer to man's accepting God's will. God wanted to save us who are saved and not those who self-profess they were irresistibly selected. God brings us to Himself as well as grants us new life. God bringing man to His will takes a lifetime in all its facets, but even at the outset God commences working to that end. The initial salvation is a salvation of the will to desire to take of the water of life freely, but this desire is contingent on sufficient grace given to everyone made in His image-every soul that ever existed.

In order for a Calvinist to be saved because he is presently not saved, unlike for others who are not religious, he will have to not only give his life to the Christ of sufficient grace whom he presently now rejects, but also deny Satan, self and the world. As yet he has been unwilling to do so. But our prayers go out to them that they do so now.

If we are really united with God in will, we shall cease at once every activity which emerges from ourselves. Hereafter there can be no independent action. We are dead to self but alive to God. No longer do we act for Him under our impulse and according to our way. We act solely after we are moved by God. We are set free from every motion of self. Such union, in other words, is a change of center, a new beginning. In the past all activities focused on self and began with it; today everything is of God. He does not ask the nature of whatever we start; He simply inquires who started it. God discounts every element not yet freed from self, no matter how good it may appear to be. It is not what the fallen man intends to do for God but how He Himself wishes man to do for Him that really counts in God's eyes.

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh" (John 6.51).

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that thou mayest live" (Deut. 30.19). "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Luke 9.11-13).

When John first announced Christ as the Lamb of God, he added: "which taketh away the sin of the world" (1.29), thus emphasizing His redeeming work for all; otherwise, he would have said, "which taken away the sin of the world for some made to believe." "Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended by me" (Luke 7.23). It does not say, "blessed is he, whoever is made to not be offended by me." "For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men" (Tit. 2.11). "While the promise of entering His rest remains, let us fear lest any of you be judged to have failed to reach it. For the good news came...but the message which they heard did not benefit them, because it did not meet with faith in the hearers. For only we who have believed enter that rest" (Heb. 4.1-3). Jesus "became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him" (Heb. 5.9) not "so all will obey him" or "some will be made to obey him."

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1.16). This verse does not say "the power of God for faith to every one who has been saved." Only the sinners who "received him...them that believe on his name" (John 1.12) become "born again...by the word of God...which by the gospel is preached" (1 Pet. 1.23,25). Indeed, "faith cometh by hearing...the word of God" (Rom. 10.17) in showing human participation. There is not one verse that says faith comes by regeneration. Do we dare turn "that believing ye might have life through his name" (John 20.31) into "that having life through his name, ye believed," or "believe...and though shalt be saved" (Acts 16.31) into "be saved and though shalt believe," or "come unto me...and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11.28) into "all who are given rest come to me," or "he that believeth is not condemned" (John 3.18) into "he that is not condemned believeth," or "he that believeth...shall never die" (John 11.25-26) into "he that shall never die believeth"? The Bible is too clear to corrupt.

Man is not regenerated by doing something special but by believing the Lord Jesus as his Savior: "to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave the power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1.12-13). First you must be willing to "receive him" then you may "become children of God" NOT the other way around. There is not some regeneration before salvation, for salvation is regeneration. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Tit. 3.5). "Saved us" here is "washing of regeneration". To be regenerated/saved one must do what? "Believe in his name"; NOT assume pridefully you were irresistibly regenerated and without prior having had to believe on Him. For that is a selfish salvation.

God is the "Savior of all men, specially those who believe" (1 Tim. 4.10) NOT "Savior of all men [to sustain men but not from Hell], specially those who believe." The "specially those who believe" are included in as a subset of the "Savior of all men," yet some men included in "Savior of all men" are not saved from Hell. Do you see the contradiction? It's impossible to claim God is the Savior of all men yet not from Hell when "specially those who believe" will never go to Hell. What Paul is actually saying here is that God offers salvation to everyone through Jesus as the Savior of all men, specially those who believe, because they are the ones who responded to His sufficient grace for all. Neither is God the "Savior of all men [from each class or place], specially those who believe" for that is redundantly nonsensical. Obviously those who believe are those who would believe in each class or place.

Your spirit is your innermost man."The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord" (Prov. 20.27). "The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets" (1 Cor. 14.32). "Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit" (Ezek. 13.3). Man's spirit can go wild; hence a "haughty spirit" (Prov. 16.18) like that of Calvinists. Only a yielding spirit can fulfill the thought of the divine Spirit: "and every one whom his spirit made willing..." (Ex 35.21). "Do not quench the Spirit" (1 Thess. 5.19) with a hardened spirit. All of these verses indicate our volition has the choice what we wish to do with your spirit.

"Jesus told him, 'If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me'" (Matt. 19.21). Calvinists are too selfish to do this with their idol of Total depravity that says they can't, so they don't. He didn't say, I will let you know if you are saved or not by irresistibly regenerating you so that you can follow me, or when you get to Hell you will realize I passed over you. No. The selling is repentance, so you need to repent, believe, follow and receive. Thus, He said "come, follow me." "Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee" (Matt. 19.27). Who followed thee? Peter and the disciples. God provides sufficient grace to be able to do so: "Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible" (Matt. 19.26) which speaks of His sufficient grace given to us all to have the choice.

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit (Phm. 1.25). "You always resist the Holy Spirit" (Acts 7.51). "The bread...is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6.51). "I came...to save the world" (John 12.47). Of the brass serpent lifted up on the pole it was promised, "everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live" (Num. 21.8). "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3.14-15). He was lifted up for only the elect? Leviticus presents an entire system of offerings and sacrifices for sin, and not one is compatible with the particular redemption of Calvinism. If the Levitical offerings were for all of Israel who would believe and obey God's Word, so the cross of Christ to which the sacrifices pointed must be to all of Israel, and thus to all the world. All of Christ's blood had to be shed and the full penalty of sin paid to save even one sinner.

Since God provides sufficient grace to all of us then how can we be Totally depraved? Therefore, Total depravity is false, a legalism, an idol to erect that keeps one eternally separated from God which says you can't repent, so you don't, and that is selfish. You want an easy-believism in a selfish salvation, accepting any old spirit that simulates God's saving grace as a facsimile of God's design. You worship a false Christ, because you are unwilling to repent and believe in Christ to be regenerated (new birth, initial salvation, born-again, eternal life). That's why you are going to Hell which makes me very sad for you (speaking to the Calvinist).

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3.16). "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved" (John 3.17). "Who desires all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time" (1 Tim. 2.4-6). "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3.9). "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2.2). "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Rev. 3.20).

"I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. As you make your requests, plead for God's mercy upon them, and give thanks" (1 Tim. 4.1). Would God withhold His mercy upon people not allowing them sufficient grace to have the choice after we are told to plead for God's mercy for all? "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17.31). How can God command anyone unless He provides that person sufficient grace to be able to respond in repentance? Is God vain, superficial and playing charades? "...because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead" (v.31). All men are assured which is sufficient grace upon all men so none are without excuse. God's grace comes to all men to give us all the choice to be saved by grace through faith; that is, to be able to repent and believe in Christ to be regenerated. Amen.

Grace is not sufficient if it is not sufficient for the whole world. If God did not provide ample grace to even only person, then it would not be sufficient. In Calvinism it is not sufficient for all, not even their irresistibly elect, since they had no choice. So the blood of the Christ of Calvinism pales in comparison to the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus can save everyone if everyone was willing, but the blood of the Jesus of Calvinism cannot, because only those made to will be. Whereas, the blood of the true Jesus is sufficient for all: "Who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe" (1 Tim. 4:10), "not wishing that any should perish" (2 Pet. 3:9). You are "without excuse" (Rom 1.20). How can you be without excuse if grace is not provided to all? And doesn't "specially those that believe" indicate that as "Savior of all men" there are some men that don't believe even though they received sufficient grace?

You can't divide up the blood of Christ to segment a portion for each person as you try to do in Calvinism. This is very legalistic. That's not how the blood works. The blood is for eternal forgiveness by an infinite God, so the blood is never wasted when God is perfectly righteous in His administering the blood to whomever is willing to receive it out of the whole world. "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2.2). "The whole world lieth in wickedness" (1 John 5.19). So "faith is spoken of throughout the whole world" (Rom. 1.8).

"According to the good pleasure of His will" (Eph. 1.5) the Father "himself is righteous, and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3.26). Only those who have "received him...[and] believe on his name" become the sons of God (John 1.12-13). Jesus is offering Himself in John 6 not to an elect but to the entire unbelieving multitude, showing the gospel is for all. Pleading with you, Jesus says "My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.... I am the bread of life" (vv. 32,35). The offer is to everyone, but the partaking is willingly from the heart. God pleading with Israel and mankind to repent are nonsensical if there are those from whom He withholds the grace to repent and the faith to believe. "If ye be willing and obedient" (Is. 1.19). God predestinates by foreknowing our willingness and obedience.

What is the point of, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve" (Joshua 24.15) if you could not receive the sufficient grace of God for all? If Christ imposes faith upon the elect without their choosing, why does He say to the woman, "Great is thy faith" (Matt. 15.28), or to the centurion, "I have not found so great faith" (Luke 7.9), or to two blind men, "According to your faith be it unto you" (Matt. 9.29)? What is the purpose of judgment, either for the saved or the damned, if everything is God's doing? How much clearer must God be to convince the Calvinist to receive Christ? To be able to accept salvation by faith or reject it no more gives any credit to the believer than accepting a gift of a million dollars gives to the recipient credit for earning the money. Never think because a person refuses the drawing of God when they "draw back unto perdition" (Heb. 10.39) that God is a failure. He does all He can do righteously, and if the person still refuses, that is their choice.

"He that cometh to me...that believeth on me" (John 6.35); "Every one who seeth the Son, and believe on Him" (v.40); "Every man...that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me" (v.45); "He that believeth on me" (v.47); "If any man eat...my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (v.51); "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life" (v.54); "The words that I speak...are spirit, and they are life" (v.63). These preceding passages explain the condition so that "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (v.37), and "the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day" (v.39). "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost THAT COME UNTO God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Heb. 7.25). "That come unto God by him" speaks of the sufficiency of God's grace for anyone that wants to come to God by Him.

"Not wishing that any should perish" (2 Pet. 3.9). I'm aware some might try to say this only applies to the elect, but the unassuming position should be to both the elect and non-elect. Besides, the elect can never perish. That God would want a person to perish, and from birth given no grace whatsoever to have the opportunity to be saved, makes the god of Calvinism an evil tyrant and sadistic. What love is this?

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you" (1 Pet. 1.23,25). You are born-again (regenerated) through believing the gospel upon it being preached unto you; not regenerated then it is preached unto you to believe.

"As many as were ordained to eternal life believed" (Acts 13.48). How were they ordained to believe? By God foreknowing their free-choice, He approves or ordains into His design. "Seeing YOU put the gospel form you...we turn to the Gentiles" (v.46). "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate (Rom. 8.29)...elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" (1 Pet. 1.2). "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1.12). Who gets to be a son of God? What precedes becoming a son of God? Those who receive Him, even those who believe on His name; not by the will of the flesh (passion) or the will of man (planning) (v.13). First you must believe so "whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5.1). "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1.13). When is a person sealed (regenerated)? After trusting and hearing and believing. How does this election take place? "Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate (Rom. 8.29)...elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" (1 Pet. 1.2). By foreknowing our free-choice! Salvation is promised to all ("Repent, and be baptized every one of you" [Acts 2.38]), contingent upon individual faith ("Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" [Acts 16.31]).

"They that hear shall live" (John 5.25). "Ye will not come to me, that ye may have life" (John 5.40). "Every one who seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life" (John 6.40). "Believing ye may have life" (John 20.31). "Believe...and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16.31). If you are Totally unable, then why would God plead with you to hear, come, see and believe? And if you could not respond to the gospel because of an alleged Total depravity (Total inability), then God is being cruel and unjust even abusive by blaming those for not receiving Him when they were born into sin and are not responsible for the sins of their fathers. The Calvinist accuses the OSAS Arminian of a "works-oriented system" despite the fact that faith is contrasted to and the opposite of works and that the requirement of salvation is sola fide (faith alone). What glorifies God, and who is really claiming, "because I was better than those who did not believe"? Those with repentance and faith agree, "Boasting...is excluded by the law of faith" (Rom. 3.27). But those without any prior repentance and faith assumed pridefully, "I have peace with God because God in eternity past chose this undeserving sinner and placed His grace and love upon me irresistibly"? Which do you think is true grace, peace and love? Make your choice.

"Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel'" (Mark 1.15). "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3.19). Conversion (salvation, new birth, regeneration, born-again) follows repentance and belief in Christ. "Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live!" (Deut. 30.19) "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men" (Tit. 2.11). "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3.9).

"As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die?" (Ez. 33.11) If God says to turn from their wicked ways, but they cannot because they are Totally depraved then what does that make God? (Read all of Ezekiel 33) "But I know! I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve" (Jer. 17.10). God's actions depend on what we do even in response to our faith and does not take away from God's sovereignty but actually makes it bigger! For who can do this except God Almighty? God doesn't want to be a sovereign dictator, but He wants a personal and synergistic relationship with us. All our choices are contingent on God providing them, but so is His response dependent as He designed it to respond righteously to our free choices. God is, thus, relational.

"For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5.17). "For all who receive it" does not say "For all who irresistibly received it." Is God just going around telling people some are irresistibly selected and others are not? What's the point of that? Who can even say irresistibly receiving something is truly receiving it? That which is forced upon you cannot be construed as freely receiving it with God's prevenient grace, sufficient grace, for all to have the free choice. "Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life" (Rom. 5.18). "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2.4). All men can be saved "whosoever believeth" (John 3.16) "to the knowledge of truth" and "unto justification of life." The same "all men" in parallel!

Does God offer us salvation when He says "come unto me" (Matt. 11.28) because we have free-will: "whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev. 22.17)? "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him" (Heb. 7.25). Are faith and works contrasted as opposites? "By grace are ye saved, through faith;...not of works" (Eph. 2.8-9); "But to him that worketh not, but believeth..." (Rom. 4.5). Christ repeatedly gave such invitations as "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11.28), and "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink" (John 7.37).

Do you believe Jesus died for the sins of all? "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1.29); "we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world" (John 4.42); "we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world" (1 John 4.14); "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world" (1 John 2.2); "He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone" (Heb. 2.9); "Since we believe that Christ died for everyone, we also believe that we [Christians] have all died to the old life we used to live" (2 Cor. 5.14) having believed in Him; "...we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe" (1 Tim. 4.10); "For God so loved the world...that the world through him might be saved" (John 3.16,17). "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" (Matt. 23.37b) describes for all the sufficiency of God's grace.

"What must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved" (Acts 16.30-31). "We have also obtained access by faith into this grace" (Rom. 5.2), "for by grace are ye saved through faith" (Eph. 2.8). Faith comes before salvation (regeneration). Paul repeatedly says, the sinner is "justified by faith" (Rom. 5.1) not by regeneration since faith precedes regeneration. Anyone can access or obtain this faith as a gift from God. Conditional election exists for all souls (unlimited atonement) since every person is made in the image of God (Gen. 1.26,27) and God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10.34). God predestinates the "Elect according to the foreknowledge" (1 Pet. 1.2) by foreknowing (Rom. 8.29) our free-choice as in Abel's free-will offering. To be drawn by God is His part in convincing (and convicting) a person of salvation who would be called only if he did not "draw back to perdition" (Heb. 10.39) as he approaches the door of salvation. God can draw or lead a horse to water, but can't make him drink. "Willingly offered" is found five times, such as "the people willingly offered themselves" (Judges 5.2); "willingly offered a freewill offering unto the Lord" (Ezra 3.5). The offer of salvation to Nicodemus, "whosoever believeth" (John 3.16) would not be given if he could not actually receive the cross by faith as a helpless sinner. Can people choose the cross, giving glory to God, without having to save (or regenerate) them first? Would it be unrighteous for someone to be saved (or disallowed salvation) without regard first for their choice? Can the spiritually dead repent of their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior? "Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.... Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Is. 55.1,7). If that is not sufficient grace and free choice I don't know what is!

Do you agree there are no verses in the Bible for Total depravity? In all cases propensity to sin and willfulness are in view, not Total inability nor necessity of being unable. Is it a contradiction to claim man who is dead in sins can be regenerated without first repentantly believing in hearing the gospel of salvation? "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live" (John 5.24-25). Though man is spiritually dead, do we find he is incapable of making right choices, doing good and receiving the gospel of salvation? Jesus says, "...you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children" (Luke 11.13). If people were as evil as they could possibly be, they would not desire to give good things to their children, but Jesus still says that they are evil. Evil people still give good gifts and do kind things. If "spiritually dead" meant man were 'Totally depraved' 'moral corpses,' how can man make any moral choices and do any good? That they can, though, is undeniable. Yet the spiritually "dead" person, even though able to do some good, is unable to seek God and believe in the Gospel? That distinction is never made in Scripture. "He [Jesus] said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16.15). It would be irrational for God to send His servants to suffer and die in preaching the gospel to those who were incapable of understanding and believing it. In all the Calvinist writings there is not one verse from Scripture cited that clearly states the doctrine, "Only when the Holy Spirit regenerates man and makes him alive spiritually can man have faith in Christ and be saved." It's only because of TULIP, invented by man, used by Satan, such demands are placed to convince your flesh not to be saved God's way.

It is clear from many passages the the unsaved, spiritually dead-dead in trespasses and in sins-can be reasoned with and can understand and believe the gospel unto salvation such as the following: "Knowing...the terror of the Lord, we persuade [unsaved] men" (2 Cor. 5.11); "and he reasoned in the synagogue [with unregenerated men]...and persuaded the [unregenerated] Jews and Greeks [to believe]" (Acts 18.4); "he mightily convinced the [unregenerated] Jews...shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ" (Acts 18.28).

Do you agree that even though no one in their flesh will choose life, we can yet come to the cross or continue to resist His saving grace, for we were given this ability when we were created in response to His abundant grace? Otherwise, the cross would be of no effect because it could not be availed. God is the provider of all things including our ability to have faith and be justified by faith, that is not in question; but, do you believe God desires your choice first since Jesus died for the sins of the whole world as Savior of all men? Would it be evil for God to not be willing to change the hearts of some, disallowing them any recourse to be saved and blaming them for that which is not their fault? How would that be sufficient grace for all? Surely then it is also evil to save some against their own free will who reject God by not giving them the option, otherwise, it is coercion which is not love. Therefore, we believe in conditional election and resistible grace, that which the god of Calvinism cannot provide.

Would Jesus draw "all men" to Himself (John 12.32)? God is love and ever merciful to all and wants all to come to the knowledge of the truth so surely He draws us all. Should all who are Christ's true followers accept gratefully and joyfully that this good news would be proclaimed to the whole world as Christ commanded? Therefore, let us rejoice and not be like Calvinists who pompously pronounce their irresistible selection like Hitler's Aryan race over their preteritioned Jews to the gas chambers. What love is that?

Consider Christ's words: "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me" (John 6.37) does not say that "all that the Father draws shall come to me." Nor does "No man can come to me, except the Father...draw him" say that all that the Father draws come to Christ. And surely "I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6.40,44,54) refers to those who actually come to Christ, and not all who are drawn-certainly not those who are drawn and then "draw back unto perdition" (Heb. 10.39). All that the Father giveth shall come and were drawn, but not all that are drawn are given. Let us accept what Christ actually says.

"Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?" (Ez. 18.23). "For I have no pleasure in the death of any one, says the Lord GOD; so turn, and live" (Ez. 18.31). "Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?" (Ez. 33.11). God literally pleads with people; but no, the Calvinist says, God is using His prescriptive or proscriptive will (outward) here, not His decretive or secret will. But I ask, how can God's will conflict with itself unless he is Satan? Surely, He is not confused. The Calvinist must be confused. How do you know God has a secret will that conflicts with His outward will? It's a secret. Now "the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3.9). This sounds like sufficient grace to us all and is why He pleads with us all, because we have the choice to be saved by grace through faith. "Who would have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2.4). That would be quite strange if God didn't want all men to be saved but only some without giving them the sufficient ability to have the choice.

As a matter of Molinism I would like to say this. God being all loving implies that in any world He creates, He desires and strives for the salvation of every person in that world. But people who would freely reject His every effort to save them should not be allowed to dictate to God what worlds He would be free to create such as Calvinists who have created a false Christ to worship who can't even do what God can do. Why should the joy and the blessedness of those who would freely accept God's salvation be precluded by a false notion of Total depravity of those who would stubbornly and freely reject His prevenient grace for all?

"The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments [were] before me: and [as for] his statutes, I did not depart from them. I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore the LORD hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight" (2 Sam. 22.21-25). If God is irresistibly making David do these things then why is David speaking in terms of "my righteousness," "I have kept the ways of the LORD," "I did not depart," "I have kept myself from mine iniquity," and "the LORD hath recompensed me according to my righteousness"? How can God reward someone for their righteousness if such righteousness is irresistibly given to a person, thus, given no free choice in the matter? It would no longer be a reward then.

Do you believe God desires to walk with believers fully matured, presently, with Christ in them by the Holy Spirit? "The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14.17) which is an inner condition and deeper knowing. The kingdom of heaven speaks of actual overt behavior in Matt. 5-7 which stresses spiritual conduct. Then He appears in Person after the Tribulation for the millennial reign followed by the physical New City (see proof) and New Earth in the New Heaven in which "God and of the Lamb shall be in it" (Rev. 22.3) at the center of the New City?

"For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I KNOW whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day" (1 Tim. 1.12).

"Those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified" (Rom. 8.30). Since I am called, justified and glorified, how can I ever lose salvation? "In all these things we are more than victorious through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!" (Rom 8.37-39) Nothing will have the power to separate us from Christ Jesus, not you, not me, nor any other created thing; not now, nor in the future. We in Christ are victorious already -- a victory that could never be lost. That's power!

"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory" (Eph. 1.13,14).

"And it is this Good News that saves you if you firmly believe it [the born-again "shall never perish" John 10.28]--unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place [a person could lose salvation]" (1 Cor. 15.2). There is not a single person who received initial salvation in the Bible that ended up losing it. The question put to all non-OSASers is this: "And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (John 11.26). It does not say "whosoever...keepest on believing me shall never die...." which speaks of self strength. How foolish!

Do you believe that when you are saved (born again, new birth) right there and then you have received eternal life which is eternal and can never be taken away (preservation of the saints), because once what God gives to be His Own uncreated eternal life by the Holy Spirit with His infinite foreknowledge (omniscience), it shall last forever for the Holy Spirit to indwell? Was your choice to receive Christ a condition fulfilled required by God without the option to get out later? "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand" (John 10.27-29).

When our assurance of salvation is based at all on our works, we can never have absolute assurance...! But does Scripture discourage giving objective assurance of salvation? Hardly! On the contrary, the Lord Jesus (John 5.24), Paul (Romans 8.38-39), and John (1 John 5.11-13) have no qualms about offering absolute, objective assurance of salvation. Furthermore, works are never included as a requirement of assurance. Whoever believes on Him shall be judged no more, because he "hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5.24). How can this happen more than once? It is a one-time, once-for-all transaction. In eternity He has formed a will which wills to save us that none of us should be lost: "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day" (John 6.39). How then can we be saved and later be unsaved? Our salvation is forever secured in the unchangeable will of God.

Christ guarantees, "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6.37). I came to Him by faith in His Word so I can never be lost. My assurance is in His promise and keeping power, not in my efforts or performance. He said, "I give unto them [my sheep] eternal life; and they shall never perish" (John 10.28). "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Pet. 1.3-5).

"For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day" (2 Tim. 1.12). "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete [perfect] it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1.6). "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8.38-39). "For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable" (Rom. 11.29).

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God...ye have received the Spirit of adoption.... The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8.14-17). "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself" (2 Tim. 2.13). "But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God" (John 1.12). "These things I write to you, who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal life" (1 John 5.13). How could a man know he had eternal life, passed out of death into life, if he had not been justified by faith permanently? He couldn't. In Roman Catholicism, allegedly you believe in Christ and work like a beaver, and if you don't, at best its purgatory and at worse eternal damnation in Hell. You can tell this is forced and not of God. Does God want you to work so hard and so rushed in the backdrop of eternity? What's the rush? Wait on the Lord and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. An unsaved person's views seem to take on the particular predisposition of his own flesh. The holder of the non-OSAS view naturally tends to be strong-willed, but the Bible says not by the will of man nor the will of the flesh is one saved. "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1.13).

"But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us; who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (2 Cor. 1.21-22). "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (Eph. 4.30). The use of the word "grieve" here and not "anger" reveals the Holy Spirit's love. "Grieve" it says and not "cause to depart," for "he dwells with you and will be with you" (John 14.17). While every born-again believer does have the Holy Spirit permanently residing in him, nevertheless the plight of the indwelling Spirit may not be the same in all saints-He may be either grieved or gladdened. "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever" (John 14.16). Forever is forever!

In the OT the Holy Spirit came upon men, but never indwelt them. For example, Saul had the Holy Spirit upon him for a time, but then left. If he had the Holy Spirit within him then He would never have left (1 Sam. 28.15). The same happened to Samson (Judges 16.20). So the warning that the Holy Spirit can leave a person under the OT period is given in Ps. 51.11. The Holy Spirit is a gift (Acts 2.38, 10.45) and a seal on their hearts, a guarantee of eternal life (2 Cor. 1.22), "sealed with that holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1.13). There is no place in the NT someone who has received the indwelling Holy Spirit ever lost Him.

Do you believe there is the matured or spiritual Christian and the fleshly or carnal Christian (Rom. 7.14,19; 1 Cor. 3.1); and that the larger portion of all believers though all saved do not "overcometh" (Rev. 2.7,11,17,26; 3.5,12,26) in Christ before leaving their bodies of flesh and blood? "Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly kindness, and brotherly kindness with love" (2 Pet. 1.5-7). "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spriit dwells in you?" (1 Cor. 3.16) "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not do the things that ye would" (Gal. 5.17).

A PERSON WHOSE SPIRIT is regenerated and within whom the Holy Spirit abides can still be fleshly for his spirit may yet be under the oppression of his soul or body. Some very definite actions are required if he is to become spiritual.

Generally speaking we will encounter at least two great perils in our life but are enabled to overcome not only the first but the second of them as well. These two perils with their corresponding triumphs are: that of remaining a perishing sinner or becoming a saved believer and that of continuing as a fleshly believer or developing into a spiritual one. As sinner-turned-believer is demonstrably realizable, so carnal-turned-spiritual is likewise attainable. The God Who can change a sinner into a Christian by giving him His life can equally transform the fleshly Christian into a spiritual one by giving him His life more abundantly. Faith in Christ makes one a regenerated believer; obedience to the Holy Spirit makes him a spiritual believer. Just as the right relationship with Christ generates a Christian, so the proper relationship with the Holy Spirit breeds a spiritual man.

The Spirit alone can render believers spiritual. It is His work to bring men into spirituality. In the arrangement of God’s redemptive design the cross performs the negative work of destroying all which comes from Adam while the Holy Spirit executes the positive work of building all which comes from Christ. The cross makes spirituality possible to believers; but it is the Holy Spirit Who renders them spiritual. The meaning of being spiritual is to belong to the Holy Spirit. He strengthens with might the human spirit so as to govern the entire man. In our pursuit of spirituality, therefore, we must never forget the Holy Spirit. Yet we must not set aside the cross either, because the cross and the Spirit work hand in hand. The cross always guides men to the Holy Spirit, while the Latter without fail conducts men to the cross. These two never operate independently of each other. A spiritual Christian must experimentally know the Holy Spirit in his spirit. He must pass through several spiritual experiences. For the sake of clarity we shall discuss them in a somewhat sequential fashion, although in actual practice they frequently occur simultaneously.

Quite a few remarks will be made concerning how to be spiritual, but let us not forget what we have learned heretofore. We should realize by now that what hinders one from being spiritual is the flesh. So if a person maintains a proper attitude towards it he shall encounter no difficulty in making progress. It is surprisingly true that the more spiritual one becomes the more he knows the flesh, because he increasingly discovers it. Had he not known it, how could he be spiritual? Hence we cannot neglect what has been discussed earlier concerning the flesh, since it serves as the basis for seeking spirituality. Unless there is this fundamental dealing with the flesh, whatever progress one may make shall inevitably be superficial, shallow, and unreal. But if one knows how to resist his flesh in all things—denying its activity, power, and opinion—he may be regarded as already spiritual. Nevertheless we would still like to cite some positive measures which are related directly to the spirit.

Do you believe God created perfectly out of Himself (Gen. 1.1), and the universe is at least 13.7 billion years old which is the time it took for our bodies to form from "dust" (2.7, 3.19)? Was the first Adamic man, "male and female created he them" (Gen. 1.26,27; 5.1,2), made in God's image with a spirit of God-consciousness about 6000 years ago when God breathed into the body the breath of life directly creating man's spirit, and when the spirit made contact with the body man became a living soul (2.7)? Do you believe the six days of creation are literal summary days of the period of restoration after God made the earth desolate and waste in Gen. 1.2 due to the sin of the inhabitants of earth's earliest ages?

When God said look at the mountains and the stars to know He did it was this by intelligent design? When God said, "before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me" (Is. 43.10) is it clear to you, He is uncreated? Do you believe there has not been an eternity of the past of cause and effects for we would not still be sinning or exhibiting selfishness by now due to the exponential progression of conscience, therefore everything in nature and the cosmos must have had an initial cause? Since nothing in nature happens all by itself, would you agree the only possibility is the Uncreated created, and Jesus said, "I am he" (Is. 48.12, John 8.24)? "For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, 'even' his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse" (Rom 1.20).

None can compare to the love of Christ who is the first and the last for it all begins and ends with Him, and all things are summed up in Christ. Jesus “whose goings forth have been...from everlasting” (Micah 5.2), "the same was in the beginning with God” (John 1.2) and "all things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made" (v.3). "Making himself equal with God” (John 5.18), Jesus said, “O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (John 17.5). Is “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Heb. 13.8)?

God of the Bible says the most important proof of His existence is by observing nature. Specifically, he is saying since nothing in nature happens all by itself, the universe can't cause itself. There are trillions of things with causes in nature but not even the remote possibility of something happening all by itself. It would take a very arrogant and pompous purpose to deny this. Be "well-favored, and skilful in all wisdom, and endued with knowledge, and understanding science" (Dan. 1.4). The atheist is denying this scientific fact we observe in nature. The Bible strictly warns to "avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called" (1 Tim. 6.20). In other words, many people profess to be teaching science, but it is not science at all. God's Word loves science, for God uses science to prove His existence. It is pseudo-science to claim something in quantum mechanics, for example, could happen all by itself.

Do you believe God has infinite foreknowledge and is all-knowing of the eternity of the future, and the past? God “knows all things” (1 John 3:20). That includes all who enter the new creation (being saved) through new birth with the promise of receiving newly clothed resurrected spiritual physical bodies and raised up to Judgment Seat (for believers only, see Rom. 14.10, 2 Cor. 5.10) before the millennium. Those raised up after the millennium arrive at the Great White Throne (for new believers during the millennium, and all non-believers, see Rev. 20.11). And God sees into all of eternity future even after the New City and New Earth. "Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite" (Ps. 147.5). "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!" (Rom. 11.33) "Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Luke 12.7). "Only I can tell you what is going to happen even before it happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish" (Is. 46.10).

Do you believe men and women are tripartite? That we have a spirit of God-consciousness (with the main functions of intuition, communion and conscience), a soul of self-consciousness (comprising the mind, will and emotion in which the soul life is in the blood-Gen. 9.4-6; Lev. 17.10-16; 19.26; Deut. 12.23; Acts 15.29), and a body of world-consciousness (with physical sensings we make contact the world with)? Hence, do you seek after the dividing of your spirit, soul and body (Heb. 4.12, 1 Thess. 5.23) to distinguish what is of the spirit and what is of the soul as well as following the former, walking after the spirit and like Jesus pouring His soul life to death (Is. 53.12) but committed His spirit to God (Luke 23.46)? The blood belongs to the Lord and must be poured out on the altar or the ground as a sign of it being returned to the Him (Lev. 3.2, Deut. 12.24).

The initial work of consecration is constraining oneself for the Holy Spirit to freely work unconditionally by the light according to what I have so far. The discipline of the Holy Spirit goes further and is the negative or destructive work of your outward original man weakened by outside things and the strengthening of your inward man by the Holy Spirit, that is, light according to the Holy Spirit by the things we encounter daily to purify us, getting rid of mixture. Only then through revelation and enlightenment will the inward man and outward man be divided to be harmonious and united.

All prayer ought To be spiritual. Unspiritual prayers are not genuine and can produce no positive result. What abundant spiritual success there would be were every prayer offered by believers on earth in fact spiritual! But sad to say, fleshly prayers are far too numerous. Self-will found therein deprives them of spiritual fruitfulness. Nowadays Christians appear to treat prayer as a means to accomplish their aims and ideas. If they possessed just a little deeper understanding, they would recognize that prayer is but man uttering to God what is God’s will. The flesh, no matter where displayed, must be crucified; it is not permitted even in prayer. No mixing of man’s will in God’s work is possible, for He rejects the best of human intentions and man’s most profitable prospects. God does not will He should follow what man has initiated. Other than following God’s direction, we have no right to direct Him. We have no ability to offer save to obey God’s guidance. God will do no work which originates with man, no matter how much man may pray. He condemns such praying as fleshly.

"[Jesus] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.... He will gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn up with a fire that never goes out" (Luke 3.16,17). "I will show you the One to fear: Fear Him who has authority to throw people into Hell [Gehenna] after death. Yes, I say to you, this is the One to fear!" (Luke 12.5). Jesus was speaking of Himself who has this authority and the Father also I am sure.

Jesus said, "43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 44 Other ancient authorities insert verse 44, [where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. 46 Other ancient authorities insert verse 46, [where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. 49 For every one will be salted with fire [and every sacrifice salted with salt]. 50 Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its saltness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another" (Mark 9.38-50). Three times Jesus said the worm never dies to show the person who goes to Hell will remain there forever, conscious of their wrong choice. The fiery judgment never goes out. "And they shall go forth and look on the dead bodies of the men that have rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh" (Is. 66.24). "29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell" (Matt. 5.29,30). In Hell the figurative salt loses its flavor permanently. There is no way to get it back and to get out of Hell once there. The Dead Sea provided rock salt to much of Palestine, but it was often inferior quality, being mixed with other minerals, particularly gypsum. When the salt leeched out of the mixture, the result was a weak product (The Greek historian Pliny [Nat. History. 3, 31, 34] attests to this feature of the Dead Sea salt.) "And the priest shall burn as its memorial portion part of the crushed grain and of the oil with all of its frankincense; it is an offering by fire to the LORD" (Lev. 2.16). "You shall present them before the LORD, and the priests shall sprinkle salt upon them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the LORD" (Ez. 43.24). The burnt offering typifies our co-death on the cross with Christ. Once you lose access to the atonement of Jesus you lose out forever. There is no way to recover the saltiness of the salt. Jesus' saying was hyperbolic, showing the uselessness and lack of positive witness among His followers if they were not totally committed to Him.

Jesus said of Himself, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire" (Mark 25.41).

Some people say only demons and fallen angels go to Hell. But Matt. 25.41 says "Depart from Me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!" Yes, it is prepared for the Devil and his angels, but also those on His left are going to Hell also. They reject Jesus Christ. That's all you need to go to Hell. Others respond by saying people who go to Hell will simply cease to exist. But verse 46 says, "And they will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." If you were annihilated there is no punishment endured for eternity in that. You can't feel any punishment if you simply cease to exist.

"Your whole body to be thrown into Hell" (Matt. 5.29) and repeated in v.30. "Thrown into the eternal fire" (Matt. 18.8). "You make others twice as fit for Hell as you are!" (Matt. 23.15) "My friends, don't fear those who kill the body, and after that they can do nothing more. But I have shown you the One to fear: Fear Him who has authority to throw people into Hell after death" (Matt. 12.4-5). Jesus has authority to throw you into Hell. Jesus is God. He said to the Pharisees, "How can you escape being condemned to Hell?" (Matt. 23.33) Jesus said they are "condemned already" (John 3.18).

"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death" (Rev. 21.8). "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men" (2 Pet. 3.7). Once a man dies it is too late for him to repent (Matt. 25.35-46, Luke 16.19-31).

"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Dan. 12.2). "For our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12.29). "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power" (2 Thess. 1.8,9). An annihilationist doesn't value life only the quality of life, whereas God values the sanctity-of-life which is the traditional view. Life to the annihilationist is not inherently valuable. The ground for annihilation is the low quality-of-life in Hell, but since God values life, making man in His image, the solution is quarantine. Thus, the sanctity-of-life is morally superior to the quality-of-life position. Some complain the short time on earth does not justify eternity in Hell, but they don't realize that the severity of a sin is not correlated to the time one engages in that sin on earth; therefore, eternity in Hell is most apt to the severity of sin. The greatest sin of all is the sin of rejecting God Almighty.

"These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is RESERVED FOR EVER. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness..." (2 Pet. 2.17,18). "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. You refuse to come to me that you may have life. I know that you have not the love of God within you. Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; it is Moses who accuses you. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me" (John 5.22,24,29,40,42,45,46).

Some take Jer. 51.39,57 to teach annihilationism (that there is no resurrection). "When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith Jehovah.... And I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts" (Jer. 51.39,57). However, permanent sleep is just a metaphor or euphemism for physical death as in Ps. 76: "Our boldest enemies have been plundered. They lie before us in the sleep of death. No warrior could lift a hand against us" (v.5). This verse does not teach about what happens after death; that is taught in passages such as Is. 66.24: "And they shall go forth, and look upon the dead bodies of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." The worm can never die because what they feed on never dies. "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9.27). If we are appointed once to die, we can never die again after judgment. Judgment comes to those who are alive.

The unsaved "shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Rev. 20.10), "and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (v.15).

You shouldn't worship a god who lives in Hell, that's evil. Of course God is omnipresent, but He doesn't mean He lives in Hell. Don't minimize Hell by placing God in it to tickle ears, but it really is the place without God and it goes on forever. People have the right to be in a place without God for eternity. That's part of free will. Hell would be torment to us who are saved but to them it is just their every day way of being under eternal judgment because they want to be that way; in fact, they send themselves to Hell.

Do you believe hell is not annihilation of the soul, but eternal suffering, separation and punishment for the unsaved once they are resurrected to the Great White Throne (after the millennial kingdom) to be judged, then cast into the fire (Rev. 19.20, 20.10,15)? "And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire" (v.14) which is hell. Unlike any natural fire that burns out, this one never does. "He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone" (14.10), and "they have no rest day nor night" (v.11), for it "will never burn out" (Matt. 25.41). They "will never die, and the fire that burns them will never go out" (Is. 66.24). This fire represents eternal judgment from which there is no escape nor would the unsaved want to leave this place, because they want to be eternally separated from God. This place has no love, no peace and no joy. Most of all it is without God's presence.

"Do not fear them who can kill the body only rather fear Him who can destroy both the soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10.28). "Destroy" doesn't here mean annihilation, but in the lexicon: "render useless...to perish, to be lost, ruined...to lose...metaph. to devote or give over to eternal misery in hell...to put out of the way entirely, abolish." The unsaved can no longer do damage to the elect because they will be eternally separated from us like a prisoner locked in jail for life. "The hour is coming...unto the resurrection of life" and separated by a thousand years, some "unto the resurrection of damnation" (John 5.28-29). "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3.36). "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal" (Matt. 25.46). "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the exclusion of the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power" (2 Thess. 1.8-9).

"Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?" (Ez. 18.23). "For I have no pleasure in the death of any one, says the Lord GOD; so turn, and live" (Ez. 18.31). "Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?" (Ez. 33.11) God literally pleads with people. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3.9). "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2.4). God being all loving implies that in any world He creates, He desires and strives for the salvation of every person in that world. But people who would freely reject His every effort to save them should not be allowed to dictate to God what worlds He would be free to create. Why should the joy and the blessedness of those who would freely accept God's salvation be precluded because of those who would stubbornly and freely reject it?

Some argue that it is unjust of God to send a person to Hell for forever based on finite sins. But if the person never stopped sinning, his sins would be infinite, thus deserving of being in Hell permanently. But even one little sin eternally separates a person from God because with God there is no sin at all. If a person doesn't want the remedy for that sin, He is saying to God, he wants another way, yet there is no other way than Hell. Insofar as someone would continue to hate God, their sins would be infinite. Because sinning goes on forever, so does the punishment. Sins we have been forgiven for are finite, but the order of sin in rejecting Christ and the atonement, continues on forever. Those in Hell only grow more implacable to God. They would never freely choose to go to Heaven. The door to Hell is actually locked from the inside by the damned whom freely reject Him forever.

The mistake those who judge God for being unjust towards those who never heard the gospel, assume that God judges them on the same basis. God will judge the unreached on the basis of His self-revelation in nature and conscience. From the created order alone, we can all know the Creator God exists. God has implanted His moral law in all our hearts so we are held accountable. The Bible promises salvation to anyone who responds affirmatively to this self-revelation of God. This does not mean they can be saved apart from Christ, but the benefits of Christ's sacrifice can be applied to them without their conscious knowledge of Christ. Like in the Old Testament, people who had no conscious knowledge of Christ could be saved based on the information God had revealed to them if they responded faithfully. Denying someone is a sinner is like denying someone is ill who is faced with an illness that has a cure.

Here is the problem for the non-Christian. They would concede if the God of the Bible is true, they would prefer to go to Hell even in view of the fact how tormenting Hell is. Even when it comes to Hell, God could be seen as merciful, for the punishment could be much worse considering their eternal desire to be separated from Him, but He lessens their suffering in Hell. God does share responsibility for our choices, for He knew many would reject Him, so He could not create a Hell with more fire than would be deserving of their eternal rejection of Him, though He could lessen it a smidgen.

"And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name" (Rev. 14.9-11). Presumably those who reject Christ for their salvation would mostly take the mark of the beast. "And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 13.42). This fire is a metaphor for their anguish they bring upon themselves. "As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world" (Matt. 13.40). Burned in the fire of Hell.

Not believing in God is suicidal. If an evangelist comes up to you while you are standing too far out into the street and says get back otherwise you will get hit by an approaching bus and even tries to grab you to pull you back, but you will have none of it, how is that any different than rejecting what God did for you and choosing to think He doesn't even exist despite all the evidence? Closing your eyes real tight and pretending God can't put the unsaved in their place is the kind of attitude that is just fatal!

By learning to read God’s word through reading and praying, we gradually touch the spirit of the word. We become aware of the great distance which exists between our personal condition and the spirit of God’s word. Take, for instance, the passage in Philippians 3.18-19, which reads: “For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” We may quite easily and correctly say that these are the enemies of God, whose end is perdition, but we have hardly touched the spirit of the writer of this Scripture passage. If we were to read through quickly, we would fail to touch the spirit of the writer. But if we were to pray and to read at the same time—if we were to put ourselves in the place and the heart of the writer—we would readily see how full of love is his heart.

Let us see that one who was full of love was here being used by God to pronounce a very severe word. Let us see how he said it: “now I tell you even weeping.” These people about whom Paul was writing had the belly as their god; they were the very enemies of the cross of Christ, and their end was perdition. All these were facts which he could not help but assert. Nevertheless, when Paul declared them, he was full of loving affection. It is relatively easy for us to learn to speak severely, but it is quite difficult to have such a loving spirit as Paul exhibited here. On the other hand, it is also simple and rather easy for some of us to be good-natured and always speak kindly of others, but it becomes impossible for us to ever say severe words such as Paul said here.

As we read this Scripture and actually touch the spirit of the writer, we will come to know ourselves as well as know the author. But if we do not touch the inner spirit as we read the word of God, it will leave us empty. Yet by reading and praying, our heart becomes single towards God, our spirit is opened to Him, and we shall be able to touch what is beyond the word. And thus shall we never feel dry, but instead be satisfied with living bread. In short, we shall be fed as we read.

We hope brothers and sisters will be attentive to read the word of God carefully each morning. Do not rush but read deliberately. Read and pray, pray and read. By reading each morning for but fifteen minutes, half an hour, or an hour, you will be fed and strengthened. You will have taken in God’s word, and by so doing you shall experience the strength of the Lord throughout the day.

"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?" (Matt. 23.33) "In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side" (Luke 16.23).

Water is a symbol, you don't want to legalize it. It simply means to die to the world and come out of the world as you come up with Christ. It is burial and resurrection with Christ. As you died with Christ so you come up with Him with resurrection life. We don't know of dozens whether they were baptized by water or no water. There is no water in the desert. "Baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matt. 3.11). "And" with fire is different than baptism with water or the Holy Spirit. Three different kinds of baptisms are mentioned in this one verse: (1) water baptism, (2) Spirit baptism, and (3) fire baptism. The fire here points to hell-fire. "Baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire"—The word "and" is a coordinate conjunction which shows a comparison in the things connected. Since the Holy Spirit is literal, the fire must also be literal. At that time those who stood before John the Baptist were of two classes; one had a real desire for the Lord and one had no desire for the Lord. The baptism of John will not differentiate them but the Holy Spirit and the fire will. Some may take the word "fire" here as referring to the tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost. But this is unlikely, for it would constitute a vain repetition of thought if 3.11 in this case were now to read: "baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in the Holy Spirit"! "Fire" is mentioned three times in 3.10, 11 and 12. Since both the first and the third instances of fire refer to hell-fire, how can the middle reference to it mean something else? Such being the case, it seems that the kingdom of heaven commences with the Lord baptising people in the Holy Spirit and concludes with the Lord baptising people in fire (cf. 2 Thess. 1.7-8). Thus, water is to come out of the world (no longer belonging to it as a sojourner) and for service, Spirit baptism for the work of the Holy Spirit and for infilling, and fire baptism is judgment. Even Christians who are carnal will have to have their false works burnt off by the fire from Hell.

Water represents His non-atoning death. At the time of baptism, there is not only a spiritual meaning involved; for is it not also an outward act of baptizing with real water? This outward act helps to bring out the inward spiritual meaning (and refreshing others by washing their feet from defilement with the world-see John 13.1-17; 1 Tim. 5.10). How will you express the reality that you are dead? By being baptized. We Christians have a death that delivers us out of Adam, as well a 'birth' that brings us to Christ. In between this death and birth is a floating bridge which is burial that is expressed through baptism. This enables us to cross from the side of Adam to the side of Christ. For baptism connects Adam to us on the one end and Christ to us on the other. It says farewell to Adam and breaks off all connection with him. It also brings us into Christ and a new beginning with Him. Though all the waters of the world will not be able to wash away a single one of my sins, yet the water of baptism testifies that 'by death I come out of Adam, but through burial I am able to enter into Christ. I am now in Christ, therefore my sins are cleansed and I am saved.'

Do you believe baptism is, after having died on the cross, with or without water in burial (Rom. 6.4) and resurrection (v.5) to come out of the world into a living hope of newness (1 Pet. 1.3) with Christ? Is it for service to come out of the world by asking a member of the body of Christ to bury you which lets Christians know you are a member of the same body ("by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body" 1 Cor. 12.13) and baptized by God (see 1 Cor. 1.30)? "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned" (Mark 16.15-16). Salvation is coming out of the water (world) itself, not the effect of having done so; perdition is staying in. You were not the only one who went down in the water; your world went down with you. Does the water represent Christ, since "baptized into Christ" (Rom. 6.3a) is into water; as well as death, since we are "baptized into his death" (6.3b)? Is baptism a testimony before angels and men that your sins were washed away and forgiven by God? Was your baptism the appeal, testimony, "the answer of a good conscience toward God" (1 Pet. 3.21), taking a public stand God has placed in you in Christ? Since you have died and don't want the old life anymore so you let it be buried through baptism.

Do not live as though you need to repeat the "teaching of baptisms, not laying again a foundation of repentance" of water, Spirit, and judgment by fire (Heb. 6.1-2, Matt. 3.11). The fire of the gospel should not be suppressed (Luke 12.49) for which Jesus had a "baptism to be baptized with" (v.50) by His death on the cross and was buried. But let the fire spread. Upon experiencing the baptism of the Holy Spirit did your intuition become acutely sensitive to discover in your spirit a spiritual world open up before you (of things and beings) so that not only can you touch the supernatural power of God but are able to contact God's Third Person as well? (As the Apostles were taught of the Scriptures by the Lord after Calvary; but they were made conscious of the real existence of a spiritual realm following the Spirit-baptism at Pentecost, the starting point of spiritual warfare with the enemy-an engagement of spirit with spirit. Going into the water I simply act the whole thing out, affirming publicly that the "judgment of the world" became real to me from the day when the "lifted up" Son of Man drew me to himself.)

Once a believer has contacted the Person of God via the baptism in the Holy Spirit, he then has his own spirit released. He now senses the reality of the things and beings in the spiritual domain. With such knowledge (and let us call to mind that the knowledge of a spiritual man does not accrue to him all at once; some of it may, and usually does, come through many trials), he encounters Satan. Only those who are spiritual perceive the reality of the spiritual foe and hence engage in battle (Eph. 6.12). Such warfare is not fought with arms of the flesh (2 Cor. 10.4). Because the conflict is spiritual so must the weapons. It is a struggle between the spirit of man and that of the enemy—an engagement of spirit with spirit.

Baptism and Circumcision
Baptism belongs to the new covenant (not the old covenant) and is only upon confession of faith in Christ. "And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing" (Acts 8.36-39). Circumcision was under the old covenant and without faith. Neither baptism nor circumcision saves souls. Circumcision does not effect forgiveness of sins, regeneration (salvation) or eternal life. It couldn't even be a symbol thereof since it was only for males 20 years of age and older. It was for all male descedants of Abraham. Even Ishmael, a rank unbeliever, was circumcised, as were millions of Jews who never had the faith of Abrham but rebelled against God and are going to be resurrected for hell.

If, as Calvin taught, circumcision effects "forgiveness of sins, and eternal life...i.e., regeneration," how could Jews who were circumcised be lost, and why did Paul cry out to God "for Israel...that they might be saved" (Rom. 10.1)? Why was he so concerned for the salvation of circumcised Jews that he said, "I would wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites" (Rom. 9.3-4; see Jer. 44.4-6)? Clearly, circumcision did not provide "forgiveness of sins and eternal life." Nor does baptism! Calvin's erroneous teaching concerning salvation of infants by baptism born into Roman Catholic or Calvinist families and his insistence everyone must be regenerated before believing in Christ only shows John Calvin was never saved and will be resurrected for hell. God's condemnation of millions of Jews, in spite of their having been circumcised, refutes Calvin's unbiblical statements about circumsion. For the record, John Cavlin admits he has no recollection of being being born-again in a real authentic choice for Christ. It was always just assumed. Anabaptists are catabaptist with regard to infant baptism (paedobaptism) so they rebaptize because of false baptism in childhood. This proper baptism is the "believer's baptism" or credobaptism upon a genuine choice for Christ, for which many Christians have been martyred by the Roman Catholics and Calvinists.

Experiencing the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Broadly speaking, a Christian who has not yet experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit is rather vague about the reality of the spiritual realm. He is like the servant of Elisha whose eyes were closed to that sphere. He may receive instructions from the Bible, yet his understanding is confined to the mind because he still lacks revelation in his spirit. But upon experiencing the baptism his intuition becomes acutely sensitive and he discovers in his spirit a spiritual world opening before him. By the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit he not only touches the supernatural power of God but contacts God’s Person as well. Now it is just there that spiritual warfare begins. This is the period when the power of darkness disguises himself as an angel of light and even attempts to counterfeit the Person and the work of the Holy Spirit. It is also the moment when the intuition is made aware of the existence of a spiritual domain and of the reality of Satan and his evil spirits. The Apostles were taught in the Scriptures by the Lord after Calvary; but they were made conscious of the real existence of a spiritual realm following Pentecost. Spirit-baptism marks the starting point of spiritual warfare.

Once a believer has contacted the Person of God via the baptism in the Holy Spirit, he then has his own spirit released. He now senses the reality of the things and beings in the spiritual domain. With such knowledge (and let us call to mind that the knowledge of a spiritual man does not accrue to him all at once; some of it may, and usually does, come through many trials), he encounters Satan. Only those who are spiritual perceive the reality of the spiritual foe and hence engage in battle (Eph. 6.12). Such warfare is not fought with arms of the flesh (2 Cor. 10.4). Because the conflict is spiritual so must the weapons. It is a struggle between the spirit of man and that of the enemy—an engagement of spirit with spirit. (The Spiritual Man, 55-56, vol. 2.)

There is some confusion among people about when the Holy Spirit enters a person. Is it at new birth or when one is baptized by water and the Holy Spirit? Besides bestowing life to believers at new birth, the Holy Spirit executes a further work of abiding in them. How regrettable for us if we forget this! “A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you ... and I will put my Spirit within you” (Ezek. 36.26-27). Note that immediately after the clause “a new spirit I will put within you” there follows this one of “I will put my Spirit within you.” The first statement signifies that believers shall receive a new spirit through the renewal of their deadened spirit by the incoming of life. The second has reference to the indwelling or the abiding of the Holy Spirit in that renewed spirit of theirs. Believers at new birth obtain not only a new spirit but also the Holy Spirit dwelling within. Is it not sad that many fail to understand the newness of their spirit and the abiding of the Holy Spirit in their new spirit? Christians need not delay many years following regeneration and then suddenly wake up and seek the Holy Spirit; they have His entire personality abiding in them—not just visiting them—at the moment they are saved. The Apostle exhorts us on this wise: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph. 4.30). The use of the word “grieve” here and not “anger” reveals the Holy Spirit’s love. “Grieve” it says and not “cause to depart,” for “he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14.17). While every born-again believer does have the Holy Spirit permanently residing in him, nevertheless the plight of the indwelling Spirit may not be the same in all saints—He may be either grieved or gladdened.

Do you believe the Bible is the complete word of God about Jesus Christ, no more, no less, in the 66 books from Genesis to Revelation? To add or take away from these 66 books of God's loving Word is a sin (Rev. 22.18,19), even altering Jesus Christ (John 1.1) in your heart? Since the number of Satan is 6 and the number of man is also seen in Scriptures as 6 (1 Sam. 17.4,7; Dan. 3.1-3; Rev. 13.18) because man has sinned by listening to the word of the devil, the 66 books identify for us the redemptive design God is employing to separate this union. The "protective shell" of Scripture is not only reliable, but inerrant with respect historical issues, practices and what it touches in the real world; it is infallible with respect to doctrine and what it teaches, for Jesus said "the scripture cannot be broken" (John 10.35). Inerrancy is important for the health of the Church. Infallibility is important for the salvation and life of the Church. Peter points out the "Scripture" (2 Pet. 3.15-16) and Paul concurs, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is usef for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3.16-17).

Broadly speaking, a Christian who has not yet experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit is rather vague about the reality of the spiritual realm. He is like the servant of Elisha whose eyes were closed to that sphere. He may receive instructions from the Bible, yet his understanding is confined to the mind because he still lacks revelation in his spirit. But upon experiencing the baptism his intuition becomes acutely sensitive and he discovers in his spirit a spiritual world opening before him. By the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit he not only touches the supernatural power of God but contacts God’s Person as well.

Now it is just there that spiritual warfare begins. This is the period when the power of darkness disguises himself as an angel of light and even attempts to counterfeit the Person and the work of the Holy Spirit. It is also the moment when the intuition is made aware of the existence of a spiritual domain and of the reality of Satan and his evil spirits. The Apostles were taught in the Scriptures by the Lord after Calvary; but they were made conscious of the real existence of a spiritual realm following Pentecost. Spirit-baptism marks the starting point of spiritual warfare.

"Do not trust deceitful words, chanting..." (Jer. 7.4).

The Apostle articulates God’s realities in phraseology taught by the Spirit. In his intuition he receives His instruction. Nothing in the life of a Christian is of any value save that which is in his spirit. Even in relating spiritual knowledge he needs to employ spiritual words. Intuition appropriates not only the thing which the Holy Spirit unfolds but also the words taught by the same Spirit, in order to explain to others what has been revealed. How often a believer tries to impart to others what has been revealed so clearly to him by God; yet try as he may, he finds no words to convey the fundamental meaning of what has been disclosed. Why? Because he has not received words in his spirit. At other times, as he waits before the Lord, the believer senses something rising in the center of his being—perhaps but a few words. With those few words, however, he is able to communicate adequately at a meeting what has been revealed to him. He comes to realize how God actually uses him to testify for the Lord.

Such experiences attest the importance of the “utterance” given by the Holy Spirit. There are two kinds of utterance, the natural and the Spirit-given. The type of utterance recorded in Acts 2.4 is indispensable in spiritual service. However eloquent our natural utterance, it remains powerless to truly communicate the things of God. We may view ourselves as having spoken quite well; yet we have not succeeded in expressing the thought of the Spirit. Spiritual words, that is, terminology received in the spirit, can alone articulate spiritual knowledge. If we are burdened with the message of the Lord in our spirit, as though a fire were burning within, and yet have not the means to discharge that burden, we should wait for the “utterance” to be given by the Spirit so that we may proclaim the message of our spirit and discharge that burden. Should we inadvertently employ language taught by human wisdom instead of waiting for the words bestowed intuitively by the Holy Spirit, we shall find our spiritual effectiveness comes to nought. Speech merely grounded in earthly wisdom can only move people to say that the theory advanced is indeed good. Sometimes we enjoy many spiritual experiences, but we are at a loss how to articulate them until other believers unlock them with a word. This is because until the moment we heard others uttering our experience in simple terms, we still had not received in our spirit explicit words from the Lord.

Gibberish babble is noisy. It doesn't let you enter quietude in Christ to listen to that still small voice of the Holy Spirit in the inner registrations and movements of your spirit. "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words" (Matt. 6.7). "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof" (Prov. 18.21). A false tongue is going to damage to the water and lamnin in your body. "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" John 6.63). "A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit" (Prov. 15.4). "He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions" (Ps. 107.20). This is something gibberish babble can't do in the true sense.

How many there are who cannot restrain their tongues. Their heart is clear but they are unable to end or restrict these unprofitable words. It seems that as soon as ideas have moved into their mind and before there has been any opportunity to think them through, they have already become words. The tongue is out of control of the mind and the will. A torrent of words is uttered without thinking or choosing. Sometimes they are spoken against the intent and will of the speakers. Later reminded by others, they wonder why they thus spoke. These are all due to the passivity of the mind. Satanic elements can engage man’s tongue through man’s immobilized mind. They begin by mixing their thoughts with man’s thought, and then they proceed to mix their words with man’s words. The Christian must unmistakably understand that all his utterances have to be the result of his own thinking. Any word which bypasses the process of thinking is formulated by the wicked spirits.

By examining every instance in the New Testament where God’s supernatural revelation is recounted, we find that everyone there who experiences a revelation does so with his mind functioning and with the ability to control himself and use any part of his body. But counterfeit supernatural revelations chiefly require the receiver’s mind to be totally or partially passive, with the receiver no longer able to employ parts of his body either in part or in toto. This constitutes the fundamental antithesis between what is of God and what is of the devil. Where the speaking in tongues is related, for example, the speakers have both control and consciousness of themselves. On the day of Pentecost Peter could hear the mocking of the peoples and answer them, proving that he and his colleagues were not drunk but were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). Those who spoke with tongues in the church at Corinth could count the number of two or three, could control themselves to speak in turn, and if no interpretation was given could keep silence (1 Cor. 14). All retained their consciousness and could restrain themselves. This is because “the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets” (1 Cor. 14. 32). But in counterfeit experience the spirits usually demand the subjection of the prophets to them. Herein can we see which is of God and which is of the devil.

Now it should be called to mind that the Holy Spirit wants us to be enlightened and to know (Eph. 1.17-18). God’s Spirit never treats men as puppets, summoning them to follow Him without any consciousness. He does not even ask them to do good in that way. He usually expresses His thought in the depth of man, in his spirit. Hence His guidance is never confused, vague, puzzling, or compulsory. But not so with the evil spirits. Simply note how they operate: (1) Their thought always invades from the outside, entering primarily via the mind. It does not come from the innermost being, is not a revelation in the intuition, but is a flashing mental thought. (2) Their thought forces, pushes and coerces man to take action immediately. It never affords man time to think, consider or examine. (3) It confuses and paralyzes man’s mind so that it can no longer think. Consequently, we can see that in all the occurrences of a believer’s life, whether special or ordinary, everything which proceeds from evil spirits strips the proper functioning from his mind. The Holy Spirit, however, never does.

The only time in the Bible a person talks with a voice that is not their own language is when they are demon possessed. Pentecostals are not in the driver's seat; they often lose consciousness when they are being taken over. The modern day tongues movement is nothing more than the muttering and peeping of the demon possessed people in Isaiah 8 & 29 by familiar spirits. Pentecostals, usually, are not born-again. Praise God this is not our future though we have to put up with it for a time.

Do you believe speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit for today to spread the word of God in different languages (with discernible linguistic syntax)? The speaker knows what he is saying (Gen. 10.20,21; Isa. 66.18; Mark 16.17; Acts 10.46, 19.6; 1 Cor. 12.10,28,30, 13.1,8; 14.5,6,18,21-23,39; Rev. 7.9, 10.11, 11.9) as was the case at Pentecost (Acts 2.3,4,11), but the hearer may not know that particular language (1 Cor. 14.2,9,11,13-14). The tongue of angels is the same language of our intuitive spirit (13.1) since angels are spirits. Do you believe the mediums of babble and psychic gibberish popularized today induce passivity and confuse the outerman's soulical emotion for the spirit's intuition, thereby desensitizing conscience to block communion with God? If the Holy Spirit must assume management of the tongue of the body and speak then our body has supplanted our spirit in the latter's work.

These false tongues stimulate natural abilities that the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, traceable only by man's delicate intuitive faculty in his spirit, might be suppressed. Such baby talk causes a vacuous mind, stripping them of all reasoning and sense which provides a foothold for the evil foe to accept every one of their teachings regardless of nature or consequence. It prevents them from being able to discern senseless supernatural revelations and various implanted suggestions to recognize their alien sources. Does this give ground to accept suggestions with an improper or blank mind from malevolent spirits? God created man with a mind to be used so "he who hears the word and understands it" (Matt. 13.23) could distinguish between the inner registrations and movements within the spirit's intuition (without words or utterance) from gibberish babble (utterable and wordless)? Do you think the latter is vain, inducing a carnival-like atmosphere, and ego-centric, to claim you have something others don't have?

A passive state is most advantageous to the evil spirits for it offers them an opportunity to occupy the believer's will and body too. Just as a darkened mind is easily deceived because it knows not what it is doing and where it is going, even so is a passive mind prone to attack since it has no sensitivity whatsoever. Should anyone allow his head to cease thinking, searching, deciding and to no longer check his experience and action against the Bible, he is practically inviting Satan to invade his mind and deceive him.

In their desire to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit many of the Lord's people feel they do not need to measure, investigated, and judge by the light of the Bible all thoughts which seemingly come from God. They think being led by the Spirit is being dead to themselves and obeying every notion and impulse of their brain. They follow especially those desires that arise after prayer; hence they arrange for their mind to be passive during and after prayer. They halt their own thoughts and their other mental activities so as to be ready to receive "the "thoughts of God." And the result is that they become hard and obstinate, having no reason and carrying out many harsh, pertinacious and irrational things. They do not know: (1) that prayer will not transform our thoughts into godly ones; (2) that to wait for divine thoughts during and after prayer is to invite counterfeits from the evil spirits; and (3) that God's leading is in the intuition of the spirit and not the mind of the soul. Not a few saints--ignorant of God's will that He does not wish man to be passive but rather cooperate activiely with Him--spend time training themselves to be of a passive mind. They induce themselves not to think in order to possess God's thoughts.

When Saul kept trying to kill David (1 Sam. 18ff), Saul engaged in bizarre frenzied raving (1 Sam. 18.10) similar to the self-destructive activity of the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18.28-29. But that which is associated to the Holy Spirit is coherent ecstatic utterance (1 Chron. 25.1-3). That which is incoherent is not of God but the evil spirit. The demonic spirit of gibberish babble that indwells false Christians is a spirit that they are unwilling to repent of showing they are not a Christians. If they were willing to repent then it would show they were Christians who were engaged in spiritual warfare. Therefore, next time you come across a gibberish babbler in their false tongues, simply ask them to repent of this sin. If they are unwilling to, realize they are not your brother or sister in Christ.

Do you believe laying on of hands will join us experientially to the body of Christ, the Church; after one is born-again, it can remove the inordinately individualistic mentality so as to accept the authority of the Church and authority God has arranged for you by the authority of the Head (Christ Himself)?

"The LORD replied to Moses, 'Take Joshua son of Nun, a man who has the Spirit in him, and lay your hands on him'" (Num. 27.18). "Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua, had him stand before the Eleazar the high priest and the entire community, laid his hands on him, and commissioned him, as the LORD had spoken through Moses" (Num. 27.23).

Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland and Paul Crouch abuse laying on of hands to manipulate people and twist laying on of hands in their Word of Faith movement (see video).

Can women as co-heirs (1 Pet. 3.7) be apostles, evangelists, prophets, shepherds (teachers/pastors), elders of a locality (bishops), elders of meeting places and deacons (Gal. 3.28)? In the Bible, do you believe Mary was born into sin as she made mistakes which stemmed from the flesh ("that which is born of the flesh is flesh" John 3.6), her overassuming and sin? Christians love the messsage of Thecla (female disciple of Paul and acknowledged as an apostle) recorded in the 2nd century, and Junia (the first recorded female apostle, Rom. 16.7,15) in the Bible. If women can be Apostles, they certainly can be Elders of a locality and Elders of meeting places. We know why women didn't have a more prominent role in antiquity, because it is difficult to buck the standard of the day among the nations, but over time we see more women apostles and elders, inspired by God's Word.

"So the apostles and church elders got together to decide this question" (Acts 15.6) "Even the elders of that city..." (Deut. 21.3); "and the elders of that city shall..." (v.4); "And all the elders of that city, that are next..." (v.6); "bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place..." (v.19); "and they shall say unto the elders of his city, this...." (v.20). "The elders of the town shall call him" (25.8).

"He was seen...then of the twelve" (1 Cor. 15.5); "after that, He was seen...then of all the apostles" (v.7) indicating there are Apostles every generation. Do you believe Apostles, working in a region of churches, are still directly commissioned by God to appoint Elders to take care of a church locality (city, town, remote locale or rural area) of believers, and Elders of a locality approve Elders of meeting places within the Scriptural city? (State and church remain separate.)

The Church will return to "thy first love" (Rev. 2.4) in this final church period before Christ, the Son of Man, appears with His overcomer believers who receive the reward of reigning for 1000 years over the nations as kings and priests (20.2-7). Apostles and elders though first need to be in agreement about deeper truths in the Word of God such as Biblocality.

Some other Apostles not among the Twelve: (a) Barnabas (Acts 14:14) — "the apostles Barnabas and Paul"; (b) Timothy (1 Thess. 1:1 with 2:6); (c) Ephesians 4:8,11 are relevant — 4:8 "Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.... [vs. 11] And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." Various unnamed apostles (and the other three workers as gifts for the Church) were given after Jesus' ascension back to heaven; (d) "The Didache" contained instructions on how to distinguish between false and true apostles; (e) "Thou hast tried them which say they are apostles" (Rev. 2.2). This verse wouldn't make much sense if there were no longer any Apostles setting up the churches.

Have you "tested those who call themselves apostles" (Rev. 2.2)? "As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions which had been reached by the apostles and elders" (Acts 16.4) to "speak thou the things which befit the sound doctrine" (Tit. 2.1). Paul told Titus that an elder (bishop) should "be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers" (Titus 1.9). Apostles directly commissioned by God have asked 37 questions (and the first 19 questions for Elders) as a statement of faith so the Church can be confident in those who say they are Apostles. See the questions at registration. Do you accept the Apostles and Elders organizing the Church on the Meeting Place Finder for the Body of Christ and at a minimum for Apostles to agree with the 37 questions (in your profile) and Elders agree with the first 19 questions?

"And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed. But we will not glory beyond our measure, but according to the measure of the province which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even unto you. For this reason I left you in a region of churches, that you should set in order the things which remain, and appoint elders for every city as I directed you...without taking sides or showing special favor to anyone. Never be in a hurry about appointing an elder" (Acts 14.23, 2 Cor. 10.13, Titus 1.5, 1 Tim. 5.22).