UNIVERSALISM:
Killed and Obliterated by Paul!
Universalism:
Killed and Obliterated by Paul!
JAN LILLEBY
You may already (I hope) read the extensive article published here, written by Otis Q. Sellers in his time.
Actually, that article should be sufficient for anyone to stay away from all forms of Universalism.
Seller’s scrutinizing work gunned down at least four of the most known forms of it, such as The Universalist Church of America, Universal Restorationists, Racial Salvationists, and Universal Reconciliationists.
Of which A.E. Knoch – who was a real ‘Snake Oil’ swindler – was the originator of the latter. His method of fraud in regard to Bible quoting laid in the fact that he (much like the JW organization of our time) quoted from his own Bible translation, the Concordant Version and thus made people believe he quoted from the real original Greek Bible versions.
Otis Q. Sellers made a correct notice of Mr. Knoch’s fraud, as follows,
“Many of Mr. Knoch's followers accept without question his claims for his version. If these claims were true, it would seem that a version could be produced that would contain no errors and need very little revision. However, if a comparison is made between the 1930 edition of The Concordant Version and the 1944 edition it will be found that hundreds of important changes have been made. Why so many changes should be necessary in a version that claims to have bridged "human fallibility" is a puzzle to me.”
How can anyone (as a Christian) flat out sell their souls to such frauds as A.E. Knoch and other Universalists, when it has been proven that Knoch changed his own Bible translation over a hundred times in 14 years? They must be out of their mind.
UNIVERSALISM KILLED BY PAUL – AND I
MEAN ALL KINDS OF UNIVERSALISM
The very hub in all forms of Universalism seem to be that they propagate a belief, that God will give all men (if need be) a so-called ‘Second Chance’ to choose Jesus Christ as Savior. If they lived their lives as unbelievers here in this life, they will still be saved because of the grace of God in eternity.
Well, it is obviously not a thought or idea that could ever come from Paul, and not from any other Biblical person anointed by God.
This frenzy idea of a ‘Second chance’ is nothing but human twit-twat, rubbish and total non-sense altogether.
In Paul’s two Church epistles, Ephesians and Colossians, such an idea glitters by its sheer absence. It is nowhere to be found.
What we find is several passages where Paul, the apostle to us Gentiles, in a repetitive manner persist on SALVATION BY FAITH ALONE, no works (thus, no second chance!).
IN EPHESIANS WE CAN FIND PASSAGES:
Eph. 2:8, 9, AMP Bible unless otherwise noted) –
8For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God;
9not as a result of [your] works [nor your attempts to keep the Law], so that no one will [be able to] boast or take credit in any way [for his salvation].
I emphasized through faith – this is the first cannon round Paul ‘fired’ against anyone who would dare to suggest any other way to salvation than by faith in Christ, no works, it is a gift of God. This latter emphasize was the second round fired by Paul: You cannot earn it, or work for it. You can only receive this gift by faith alone, HERE ON EARTH, IN THIS LIFE.
The trickster-move from Universalists has always been that they pretend as if God’s Word, as for instance Eph. 2:8, 9 – was directed at and written to all men in the world, regardless of faith or no faith. And ignorant people buy this idea. It is totally foolish and vain, - a fairy tale at best.
They simply skip the intro of Ephesians, which clearly addressed this great Word of God to NONE OTHER THAN THE BELIEVING SAINTS in the time of Paul, Eph. 1:1-2,
1Paul, an apostle (special messenger, personally chosen representative) of Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed), by the will of God [that is, by His purpose and choice],
To the saints (God’s people) who are at Ephesus and are faithful and loyal and steadfast in Christ Jesus:
2Grace to you and peace [inner calm and spiritual well-being] from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The sure and true Word of God on salvation by faith alone, no works, it is a gift of God WAS FOR THE BELIEVERS IN CHRIST, and not the whole ‘Universal mankind’.
All mankind goes lost forever unless they take to the faith in Christ while they are alive here on earth.
The Bible has no doctrine of any ‘Automatic life after death’ for anyone; believers or not. Automatic life after death is a main factor in Spiritism circles and is not backed up by any Bible word.
The Bible says, ‘…For the dead knows nothing’. (Ecc. 9:5.)
A dead person is stone dead – and out of existence.
To be able to have life after death, God must raise you from the dead.
SALVATION IS COMING TO FULFILLMENT
ON THE DAY OF REDEPTION
Paul was an expert in using metaphors…such as Eph. 1:13, 14,
13In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation, and [as a result] believed in Him, were stamped with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit [the One promised by Christ] as owned and protected [by God].
14The Spirit is the guarantee [the first installment, the pledge, a foretaste] of our inheritance until the redemption of God’s own [purchased] possession [His believers], to the praise of His glory.
I emphasized that which concerns the Holy Spirit in this passage. Overlooked totally by all Universalists. The Holy Spirit is entering our being/mind in the very same instance we come to faith in Jesus Christ here in this life, here on earth.
Having the Holy Spirit is likened – as in Paul’s metaphor – with a security, a guarantee for the promise of salvation, that we one day shall experience the final entrance into heaven up above. This just nails it, doesn’t it? If we have a guarantee in us – the Holy Spirit – already here on earth, then there is total proof of salvation ALREADY DECIDED when we are alive here, and thus making any later decision (in a supposed imaginary after-life situation) obsolete.
Eph. 2:1-6 just keeps on underlining this important Biblical fact, refuting Universalism, pointing also to what concerns those who have not the Holy Spirit, - those who was separated from God because of unforgiven sin, as emphasized by me below, - thus having Satan’s SPIRIT (!) ---
And you [He made alive when you] were [spiritually] dead and separated from Him because of your transgressions and sins,
2in which you once walked. You were following the ways of this world [influenced by this present age], in accordance with the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit who is now at work in the disobedient [the unbelieving, who fight against the purposes of God].
3Among these [unbelievers] we all once lived in the passions of our flesh [our behavior governed by the sinful self], indulging the desires of human nature [without the Holy Spirit] and [the impulses] of the [sinful] mind. We were, by nature, children [under the sentence] of [God’s] wrath, just like the rest [of mankind].
4But God, being [so very] rich in mercy, because of His great and wonderful love with which He loved us,
5even when we were [spiritually] dead and separated from Him because of our sins, He made us [spiritually] alive together with Christ (for by His grace—His undeserved favor and mercy—you have been saved from God’s judgment).
6And He raised us up together with Him [when we believed], and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, [because we are] in Christ Jesus, 7[and He did this] so that in the ages to come He might [clearly] show the immeasurable and unsurpassed riches of His grace in [His] kindness toward us in Christ Jesus [by providing for our redemption].
We can all see this strong hard evidence from Paul’s revelation in Ephesians, that on the one hand the unbelievers in this world are having a spirit of Satan’s power, in unbelief and in enmity with God and Christ! (v. 2).
And on the other hand, we find us believers in Christ as such ones who are blessed with the Holy Spirit, as a guarantee for the promised salvation in the heaven up above (Greek, epiouranos).
We are displayed in Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians as such ones who are already seated with Christ in the heaven up above…WHEN WE BELIEVED, HERE IN THIS LIFE, - thus we know that those who do NOT believe, here in this life, they are NOT seated with Christ in the heaven up above. Simple, isn’t it?
Salvation is proven by the original Bible texts to be a move of God which takes place ONLY when a person chooses Christ by faith, here in this present life on earth. We are saved by faith because of the Grace of God given in Christ, and no works are demanded.
In Paul’s Church doctrine there cannot be found anything saying otherwise. It has to be decided in this present life. If not, the Bible says that such unbelievers are taken down by the spirit of Satan (Eph. 2:2).
Eph. 4:30 says that our final salvation will arrive on the ‘Day of Redemption’,
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [but seek to please Him], by whom you were sealed and marked [branded as God’s own] for the day of redemption [the final deliverance from the consequences of sin].
Notice again, please: The final redemption, the day we actually enters heaven up above, is connected to the Holy Spirit, who was given ONLY to those who believed on Jesus Christ, - and this settles the case entirely. Salvation must take place here in this life first, for then at last to be effectuated on that one particular day when God concludes this Church dispensation by transferring us all into His high heaven up above (Col. 3:1-4).
Unless this predicted ‘Day of Redemption’ arrives for us, all the metaphors used by Paul, of us ‘Seated with Christ in heavenly places’, or having the Holy Spirit as a seal or guarantee etcetera, would be in vain. Metaphors cannot bring us into heaven, but God and Christ can!
UNIVERSALISM KILLED BY COLOSSIANS 2:21-23
«21And although you were at one time estranged and alienated and hostile-minded [toward Him], participating in evil things,
22yet Christ has now reconciled you [to God] in His physical body through death, in order to present you before the Father holy and blameless and beyond reproach—
23[and He will do this] if you continue in the faith, well-grounded and steadfast, and not shifting away from the [confident] hope [that is a result] of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which [gospel] I, Paul, was made a minister.” (Editor’s emphasize).
Again we find strong evidence of Paul’s Doctrine of Faith regarding salvation as something which must be decided here in this present life.
The entire verse 23 should be sufficient – especially the words ‘if you continue in the faith, well-grounded and steadfast, not shifting away from the hope of the gospel’ – this is an exhortation which displays to us that unless you KEEP ON IN FAITH, you may lose your salvation. If you turn away from the faith and the hope in Christ, you will go lost. So this settles it again: You will go lost in eternity if you leave faith when you are alive in this world. It is not settled somewhere in a supposed ‘After death’ situation.
This will be my final word on general Universalism. It is total heresy and in contradiction to all what Paul taught on salvation by faith in his two Church epistles, Ephesians and Colossians.
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