The prior chapter presented a Philosophical justification for this book. This chapter presents a Biblical justification for the same book.
Even though I am the author of this book my pen name is Theophilus. The only reason my pen name is significant is that I am addressed in both Biblical documents divinely inspired to be authored by Luke.
This is the way I am addressed in the Gospel of Luke.
Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of
those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them
unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; it
seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the
very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest
know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed.
And this is the way I am addressed in the Acts of the Apostles.
The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to
do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy
Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen.
Luke wants Theophilus to be aware of certain Truths
Luke teaches “the certainty of those things” (Lk 1:4) such as “the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk 19:10) by “the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God to be crucified and slain by wicked hands” (Acts 2:23).
I am “certain” that the English term “the Son of Man” refers to the offspring of the womb of a human female virgin named Mary (Lk 1:26ff). Mary’s child was named Jesus as ordered by “the angel Gabriel.”
Jesus is “The Son of Man” simply because Mary, His mother, was descended from Adam and Eve.
I am also “certain” that Mary’s virgin womb was impregnated by “God’s Holy Spirit” (Lk 1:35). Thus, Jesus was also the “Son of God” simply because Jesus was a descendant of God the Father.
Both “certainties” were “predestined” by “the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” such that the “Son of Man” co-existed with the “Son of God” in the incarnated human body of “the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.” That co-existence was announced by Jesus in John 14:7 when “the incarnated Son of Man” declared “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.”
That co-existence also established God’s DNA pattern for the “born of the flesh humans” whom “the Son of Man came to seek and to save.” It is “certain” that every “born of the flesh” human co-exists with a “born of the Spirit” human whose name was registered in “the book of Life before the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8). Thus, I am “certain” that both “human life” and “Spiritual life” are “the gift of God lest any man should boast” (Eph 2:9).
The English word “lost” in Luke 19:10 was translated from the Greek word “ἀπόλλυμι”; Strong’s G622, “from <G575> (apo) and the base of <G3639> (olethros); to destroy fully (reflexive to perish, or lose), literal or figurative :- destroy, die, lose, mar, perish.” That definition applies to every “born of the flesh” human whom God made to be a child of “your father the devil” (John 8:44) who is also “the god of this world” (2Cor 4:4).
“The devil” was created by God to be “the god of this world” who owns every “born of the flesh” human including “The Son of Man” who “died and after that was judged to be without sin so that He could ransom the lost.” “The determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” planed the “redemption” that paid the ransom price established to purchase “a few” (Matt 7:14) of the “slaves of sin” (Rom 6:17) who were owned by “the god of this world.”
“The Son of Man” was divinely prepared for His assignment to “redeem that which is lost” from ownership by “the god of this world” by being “led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil” (Matt 4:1). The fact that “he fasted forty days and forty nights” simply emphasizes that Jesus was “tempted of the devil” both physically as well as morally. In fact, the incarnate Jesus “was tempted in all points” as the worst-case example of every “born of the flesh” human slave owned by “your father the devil.”
God established “the born of the flesh Son of Man” as the final “Sin-Offering” which was officially initiated in Leviticus 4:1ff even though “Able,” the second son of Adam and Eve implied that he already knew about that “Sin-Offering.” “The Son of Man” declared His assignment was complete “when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost” (Lk 23:46). Until that instant “the Son of Man” was still capable of submitting to “the god of this world.” However, while still on the cross “he said, it is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost” after which He was buried as a “born of the flesh” human who had died.
The only thing that distinguished “The Son of Man” from every other “born of the flesh” human is that Jesus “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15) – no other “born of the flesh” human can make that claim.
The official Levitical command to sacrifice for infractions of the Law was divinely replaced when God “abolished the Law” (Eph 2:15) as reported in Galatians 4:4-5 “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”
It was necessary for “the Son of Man” to be crucified because neither “God-the- Father” nor “God-the-Son” can be “tempted to sin” nor can either of them “die.” Only the shed blood of a completely “sinless” human could provide the ransom paid to “your father the devil” for the “redemption” of those who had been born to be “slaves to sin” (Rom 6:16).
Some Bible school trained religious leaders teach that Ephesians 1:7 defines “redemption” to be nothing more than “forgiveness of sin.” Please affirm that “redemption from sin” can never be conflated with “forgiveness of sin.” Non- equivalence was emphasized by Jesus when He charged those whom He “forgave” to not reveal their “forgiveness” to anyone because that knowledge could sabotage His eventual crucifixion by the most religious God believers in the world.
The conclusion of Luke’s Certain Truth
The point of this review of Luke’s assertions of “certain” Truth is to allow God’s own Words to describe “the manifold wisdom of God to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known BY THE CHURCH the manifold wisdom of God” (Eph 3:10). And Jesus, “the Son of Man” predicted “I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18). “The gates of Hell” are not defined but “prevailing against unity” is the equivalent of religiously “leaning unto your own conflicted understandings.”
The initiation of “THE CHURCH” is critically important to the fulfillment of God’s Purpose-For-Creation. However, “seeking and saving the lost” is merely a single step in the process of “Jesus building His CHURCH” so that “the manifold wisdom of God’s salvation” can be demonstrated to “the principalities and powers in heavenly places.”
“The eleven disciples” (Matt 28:16-20) were commissioned to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” But none of “the eleven disciples” is reported to have appealed to Isaiah 49:6 “I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” Without exception, the Apostle Paul is only Apostle described in Scripture as fulfilling God’s promise to Isaiah when Paul became “the Apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom 11:1-13). Accordingly, the so-called “Church Age” is one of the “Dispensations” revealed in Scripture.
The only non-apostolic “Christian church” identified in Scripture was led by James, the half-brother of Jesus. It seems the church located in Jerusalem was populated entirely by Jews who believed that the crucified and resurrected Jesus merely fulfilled the Law of Moses. Churches organized to practice some denominational form of obedience to the Law of Moses are never Biblically organized. By contrast, God is the Organizer of “the unified church being built by Jesus.”
Please affirm that neither “the eleven disciples” nor “the apostle to the Gentiles” has responsibility to “seek and save that which is lost.” Only Jesus has that divine responsibility. And only “the eleven disciples” were given the “Great Commission to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.” “Preaching the Gospel” proclaims the Good News rather than “win souls” (Prov 11:30).
God’s Purpose-For-Creation was never that Adam and Eve and their descendants would be without sin else there would be no one for Jesus to “Seek and Save.” Rather, every descendant of Adam and Eve is a sinner who is “born of the flesh” to be “that which is lost.” Every “born of the flesh” human is a temporary and disposable tool for demonstrating the need for “the Son of Man to seek and save that which was lost.” Adam and Eve immediately demonstrated their need for salvation exactly as God intended (i.e., “predestined”). Every “born of the flesh” descendant of Adam and Eve continues to demonstrate that need exactly as God intended (i.e., “predestined”).
It has always been a “mystery” that Adam and Eve and their descendants each enter life as children of “your father the devil” to be used as an object lesson in the education of “the principalities and powers.” Readers who are Biblically proficient are asked to affirm Ephesians 3:2-10 literally reveals “The mystery” of God’s Purpose- For-Creation.
Luke’s assertion of “certain Truth” is the God inspired source for all the above conclusions derived by “Trusting the LORD with all my heart.”
Luke was there when the Gospel was challenged
Luke also wants Theophilus to know “the certainty” that the Grecian Luke “had perfect understanding of all things from the very first” (Lk 1:3). That suggests that Luke was present when “some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spoke unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus” (Acts 11:20). Or else Luke’s assertion “from the very first” may refer to the Acts 13:2 event when “the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” Or “from the very first” may reveal that Luke literally interviewed Mary after the birth of Jesus was angelically announced.
Doctor Luke may have already been hired to serve as the personal physician of a prominent Jewish Pharisee named Saul.
Scripture is not clear when Luke’s “perfect understanding” began. But it is not important because tradition teaches that Luke was “the Grecian Doctor” who always traveled with Saul/Paul. Thus, “the certainty of” 1st Century God-believers challenging the doctrine taught by “Barnabas and Saul/Paul” was personally observed by “The Grecian Doctor” Luke as those events happened in time-and-space after “Barnabas and Saul” had been “called and separated” by “the Holy Ghost” (Acts 13:1ff) but before the Acts 15 Church council was called.
The 1st Century challenges by Jewish God-believers were driven by their faith that a “righteous” God would never “abolish” the requirement to obey “The Law of Commandments” which God explained so thoroughly in the books of Leviticus (the 1st report of the Levitical Law) and Deuteronomy (the 2nd report of the Levitical Law).
Perhaps your Bible scholars taught you to believe that obeying the “Law of Commandments” describes the process by which you attain the Holiness of Entire Sanctification. But the Old Testament reveals “God’s righteous Law” being continuously disobeyed by “God’s Chosen People.” The uncomfortable truth is that everyone shares the same guilt as “God’s chosen people.” God teaches that even the slightest instance of “sin” must be paid for by a blood-shedding sacrifice. Ephesians 2:15 teaches “The Law of Commandments” was never intended to “redeem sinners.”
The 1st Century Jewish believers assumed the means for attaining Entire Sanctification was obedience of the Mosaic Law. Some modern sectarians essentially agree with those 1st Century God-believers that Entire Sanctification is a process that is divinely shared between God and humans. Some sectarians literally teach the Ephesians 1:7 divine gift of “redemption” is nothing more than “forgiveness of sins” that precedes Entire Sanctification. But Ephesians 2:15 is clear that obedience is “abolished” as the means for attaining Entire Sanctification because “the Law” never offered “redemption.”
“God’s Chosen People” as well as some modern sectarians are correct that “Holiness unto the LORD” is defined by God’s “righteous Law.” However, neither God nor Moses nor any prophet taught God’s “righteous Law” financed “redemption” from Satan’s ownership.
Contrary to a common sectarian “understanding” of Ephesians 1:7, “forgiveness” is merely a function of “redemption.” “Forgiveness” is neither equivalent to nor a substitute for “redemption.” “Redemption” finances an “everlasting” purchase from the ownership of Satan while “forgiveness” is always temporary (i.e., Jesus said “go and sin no more”). In other words, Christians are “forgiven” eternally only because they have been eternally “redeemed” rather than receiving a temporary “forgiveness” that must be followed by the command to “go and sin no more.”
It is intuitively obvious an omniscient God never expected “God’s Chosen People” to comply with “the Law” simply because “God’s Chosen People” were “predestined” by God to “crucify the Lord of Glory” (1Cor 2:8).
Biblically proficient readers know the assumptions of 1st Century God-believing “Chosen People” were wrong because “the Apostle who was commissioned by the resurrected Jesus as the Apostle to the Gentiles” (Acts 9:15) was inspired to reveal that “abolishment of the law of commandments” has always been God’s Purpose “which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men (e.g., God’s Chosen People), as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit … To the intent that now, unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known BY THE CHURCH the manifold wisdom of God” (Eph 3:2-10).
God’s Purpose-For-Creation was to teach “the knowledge of good and evil” to “the principalities and powers in heavenly places” so they could intelligently worship God by declaring “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (Is 6:3). Education of “the principalities and powers” divinely began by viewing Eve’s proclivity to “evil lust” (James 1:14-15) and continued by viewing that same “evil lust” in “God’s chosen people.”
As of AD60 the time-and-space education of “the principalities and powers” has been partially completed by the Apostle Paul’s initiation of “THE CHURCH being built by Jesus.” The next step of God’s Purpose is the “resurrection” of earthly church attendees who have been “called and elect” out of “the earthly version of THE CHURCH” to be instantly reinstated as “the Heavenly version of THE CHURCH which Jesus is building.”
Eventually, “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2Peter 3:10). The time-and-space attribute of creation will no longer exist because a completed educational process eliminates any further need for the intrinsic cause- and-effect of time-and-space. Before “God created the heavens and the earth” “The principalities and powers in the 3rd heaven” (2Cor 12:2) had no opportunity to learn about “evil.” But, since “creation of the heavens and the earth, the principalities and powers” literally observe every time- and-space occurrence of “the evil of sin.”
Establishment of “THE CHURCH” was “predestined by the manifold wisdom of God before the foundation of the world.” God’s Old Testament teaches the need for “the lost to be sought and saved” (Gal 3:24). God’s New Testament teaches God’s “mysterious” plan for resolving that need. Both Testaments describe disposable humans being used to demonstrate “God’s manifold wisdom” to “the principalities and powers in the heavenlies.”
“The time-and-space version of THE CHURCH” is populated with both “redeemed” and “un-redeemed” God-believers. But “the Heavenly version of THE CHURCH” is populated with only “redeemed” God-believers who have been “Spiritually born again to have the DNA of everlasting life” and whose “names were written in The Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world.”
God’s Purpose-For-Creation was “To the intent that the principalities and powers” could view “the coming of the Son of Man to seek and to save” everyone who was listed in “the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev 20:12). Accordingly, “The Law was our schoolmaster to bring the called and elect unto Christ so that they might be justified according to the faithfulness of God to fulfil His promise” (Gal 3:23-25). The evidence also suggests God created humans to have the appearance of self-generated faith but a self-generated human faith has never justified anything. “God’s justifying Faith is not of yourselves. God’s justifying Faith is always the gift of God. God’s justifying Faith is not of works lest any man should boast” (Eph 2:8-9).
The reality is that God does whatever God wants to do despite any conflicted opinions about the self-generated “faith” that may be manufactured by sectarian Christians who have been “deceived” into believing “the lie” that they were given a volitional free will to make those kinds of “everlasting life” decisions.
Those whom “Jesus came to seek and save” were “predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Eph 1:5). “Adopted children” never “choose” their adopting parents. Every “adopted child of God” has been divinely “chosen” (i.e., “called and elect”) by “the good pleasure of Jesus Christ” to eventually become the “redeemed” population of “The Heavenly Version of THE CHURCH.”
Every “un-redeemed” and “un-adopted” member of “the earthly version of THE CHURCH” will spend eternity in Hell along with “their father the devil” simply because they are each “vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” (Rom 9:20ff). By contrast, the “called and elect” are re-created as “vessels unto honor” who will “not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16) simply because they have been “born again of the Spirit” (John 3:3ff) to inherit a Spiritual DNA that guarantees “everlasting life” as well as enables “believeth in Him.”
Each “calling and election” is an outcome of God’s Purpose-For-Creation. God “predestined” that Purpose by creating a “world” having a dimension of time-and- space controlled by cause-and-effect. It is impossible for an immutable God’s cause- and-effect to be altered by “whosoever believeth in Him.” Accordingly, church attendees who depend on self-generated “faith” have never been Spiritually “born again.” Saving “faith” is “not of yourselves: that kind of faith is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8).
Church attendees typically listen to stories about Jesus yet they remain “un- redeemed and un-adopted” humans who are owned by “the God of this world” until the God of Heaven “lovingly and graciously” causes (i.e., “predestines”) a “new Spiritual birth.”
God’s “determinate counsel and foreknowledge” has no provision for volitionally generated belief. God’s created cause-and-effect results in religious conflict between sectarian affiliations being divinely established by precluding “many who say to me in that day, Lord, Lord” (Matt 7:22ff) from “understanding God’s Words” even though they were trained at an approved Bible school. “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Lk 13:28). “Nay but, O man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?” (Rom 9:20).
All the above is Scripturally reinforced in 1John 5:1 “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” But “believing” is never the cause of salvation. “Believing” is always an after-the-fact human response that results from being “predestined” to be “born of God.” Thus, God’s salvation is Eternally Secure for “whosoever” has been divinely “born again” but salvation is Eternally Insecure for “whosoever” merely self-generates “belief in Him” by a volitional-free-will decision.
God’s plan has always been for the benefit of “the principalities and powers in Heavenly places” rather than for the benefit of disposable humans who incidentally may be either “redeemed” or “un-redeemed.” “Redeemed” humans are merely incidental beneficiaries of God’s plan by being graciously “adopted” for “everlasting” residence in “Heavenly places.”
The prophet Ezekiel predicted “being born again” in 36:26 “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” Some theologians argue the context of Ezekiel’s prediction allows only “God’s chosen people” to benefit, nevertheless, God’s New Testament adds detail to Ezekiel’s prediction by “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6) “therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new” (2Cor 5:17). Those verses seem to apply to both “God’s chosen people” as well as Gentiles who are “called and elect” to be divinely gifted with “a new heart.”
It was “determined before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4; 1Pet 1:20) that God- the-Father would supernaturally create natural birth as well as spiritual re-birth.
Some disposable humans will eventually learn they were “called and elect according to the good pleasure of His will” (Eph 1:5). However, only “called and elect” Gentiles as well as “a predestined number of God’s chosen people” will benefit from the divinely provided gift of being “born again of the Spirit” according to God’s Purpose- For-Creation.
The issue of “abolishing the law” forced the Acts 15 council at the Jerusalem church. Luke reports the Jewish challenges were rejected by the council in an epistle written by James to be hand-delivered to the churches established by “Barnabas and Saul/Paul.”
The document described in Acts 15:23 may have been recorded for modern Christians as the New Testament epistle that bears the name of “James, the brother of the Lord.” The epistle of “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James” may also be based on that Acts 15:23 document simply because God’s intention has always been for Scripture to explain Scripture thus avoiding even the hint of ambiguity that must be theologically interpreted by conflicted Bible scholars.
Nevertheless, Luke is concerned because “the certainty of those things delivered to us by the Apostle whom Jesus had chosen” is being denied by 1st Century “chosen people” who mutilate God’s immutable Words.
Sincere theological scholars frequently suggest alternative ways to change (i.e., mutilate) God’s immutable Words. Despite the sincerity of Bible scholars, pulpit messages are observed being based on theological mutilations of God’s Words rather than based on an exposition of God’s Words. However, the Biblical requirement for pulpit messages is “the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2Tim 2:2). It sounds like Paul is commanding preachers to exposit Scripture rather than preach a sectarian approved “understanding” of Scripture.
However, preachers must know “the things that thou hast heard of me” before “those things” can be preached. Thus, Biblical proficiency ought to be a priority – there are no alternatives to Biblical proficiency. Proficiency in counseling (i.e., topical preaching) may offer some benefit to those who lack “trust in the Lord” but proficient counseling skills ought never be an alternative to proficient Biblical exposition.
Theological writings, especially the conflicted writings of sectarian Theophanies of God such as Calvin and Wesley, are never a source for Truth. Theological writings are of value only as added affirmation of local preachers who “trust in the Lord for eyes to see and ears to hear.” The only source for Truth is God’s Literature. The opinions of sectarian Theophanies of God are never a source for Truth.
Luke is concerned because knowing “the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God” is of more eternal importance to “The principalities and powers” than learning about any sectarian challenges (i.e., “the gates of hell”) to the eternal church being built by Jesus (Matt 16:18).
Theophilus has observed similar challenges
Theophilus shares Luke’s concern because modern Bible school trained preachers are observed challenging the beliefs of rival preachers just as 1st Century Jewish leaders challenged “the certainty of those things delivered unto the apostles.” Modern preachers emulate the doctrinal challenges of 1st Century Jewish leaders.
Modern challenges to God’s Words are publicly observable in the form of “Christian preaching that devalues Scripture.”
For example, modern Bible school trained sectarians devalue John 3 by teaching “anybody can be saved by believing in Him.” I have literally heard Bible school trained sectarians emulate Nicodemus as recorded in John 3:4 by assuming that Jesus was using the metaphor of birth to offer the option of volitional belief to “Whosoever believeth.” But that kind of doctrinal assumption is a devaluing (i.e., a literary corruption) of the message being delivered to Nicodemus.
Jesus responded lovingly and graciously to Nicodemus as well as to modern Bible school trained sectarians by explaining in John 3:5ff that a Sovereign God “Verily, verily” controls “being born of the Spirit” just as God “Verily, verily” controls “the wind.” Both “the wind” and every instance of “the birth process” is “Verily, verily, by the good pleasure of God’s will.”
I have heard 21st Century sectarian preachers devaluing Scripture by claiming the term “whosoever believeth in Him” is a universal inclusive that invites every human to “believeth in him.” But John 3:16 teaches the exact opposite of the “deception” that salvation is universally inclusive.
For example, baseball fans talk about the exploits of “whosoever” plays baseball for the Cubs but “whosoever is dead” is eternally precluded from playing baseball for the Cubs. Neither can “whosoever is dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1) make a volitional decision to stop being “dead” by volitionally deciding to “have everlasting life.” The common sectarian doctrine of universal inclusiveness is a “deceptive” academic abuse of the English language.
The linguistic problem with “whosoever believeth in him” is emphasized by the literature of James 2:19 “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” Sectarians emulate “the devils.”
My caveat
All the above was the outcome of simply reading the Biblical Epistle to the Ephesians without any attempt to interpret the meaning. The Apostle Paul reveals the “mystery” that God’s Purpose-For-Creation was to educate “The principalities and powers.” Nevertheless, you may think I have been overly zealous in my Biblical justifications for my book – you may think I have manufactured Scriptural detail to surreptitiously prove my point.
I have literally experienced vehement religious resistance to my claim of Biblical justifications. Thus, I humbly beg you to forgive any accidental polemic you may think you have observed.
Here is the literal reality:
• Those who agree with me have been led by God to agree.
• Those who disagree with me are also led by God to disagree.
• God sovereignly leads both agreement and disagreement.
God never requires God’s Purpose-For-Creation to be acknowledged. It is conceivable that even preachers who preach a “lie” may have literally been “Born again of the Spirit.” In fact, I “Trust” it to be so. The reality is that God’s Purpose- For-Creation has always been a “mystery” to believers as well as unbelievers. The evidence is that it continues to be a “mystery” despite God’s inspiration in AD60.
The point of this book is that those who either agree or disagree with me are each temporary and disposable educational tools used by God such that God’s Purpose is being accomplished. In fact, “God is good all the time; All the time God is good” even when we vehemently disagree.
I am constantly reminded of Romans 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” I write using the pseudonym Theophilus to disguise my embarrassment about the weakness of my own self-generated faith. All my words have been evaluated by God in Romans 3:4 “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” That verse evaluates me as being a “liar” while God alone is “justified in thy sayings.”
Accordingly, I confess that I am a “liar.” But then, God also evaluates Augustine of Hippo, Jacobus Arminius, John Calvin, Ignatius of Loyola, the current Pope, Joseph Smith, John Wesley, as well as the very best radio and TV preachers as “liars.” God evaluates the leadership of every affiliation of churches as being “liars.”
And God evaluates that you also are a “liar” despite your agreement or disagreement about God’s Purpose-For-Creation as revealed in this book.
“Leaning unto your own understanding” may be an eternal problem for those who address Jesus as “LORD” but that kind of “understanding” has nothing to do with your “predestined” listing in “the Lamb’s book of life.”
My caveat is that “leaning unto your own understanding” of that which God really meant to say is of no consequence to God’s gift of “everlasting life.” God graciously “predestines” salvation despite your absurd decision to “lean unto your own understanding” rather than “Trust in the LORD with all your heart.”
“Believeth in Him” is absolutely required but none of us is saved because of our self-generated belief. “Believeth in Him” is the “predestined” outcome of “your name being listed in the Lamb’s book of life” rather than a sectarian approved method for attaining “everlasting life” by making a volitional free will decision to no longer be “dead in trespasses and sin.”