ECUMENISM AND UNIVERSALISM - ROOT CAUSE OF THEIR ERRORS – WRONG INTERPRETATION OF KEY VERSES
THEY MISINTERPRET THE BIBLE VERSES TO PUSH THEIR VIEWS. Christian Universalism is a complete perversion of the Christian gospel and Christian theology through misperception and misinterpretation of the entire Bible scheme. This small book identifies their basic arguments and disproves them from the Biblical perspective.
ACCORDING TO THE CULT OF UNIVERSALIST GOSPEL, ALL CREATION IS RESTORED IN CHRIST AUTOMATICALLY. HENCE ALL ALREADY SAVED OR ALL WILL BE SAVED INCLUDING DEVIL. Even if one person is lost, it would mean God failed. Hence even devil should be saved. This kind of wider ecumenism is mere rationalism. It is mere human plan, not a reality offered by God. Their reasoning is irrational. They have no valid criteria to base their teaching. They take up double standards. They contradict themselves. It might be interesting to hear that there is no hell and that all will automatically go to heaven. Sometimes they deny even heaven, saying that heaven is on earth. But their teaching has no support from the Bible. They attempt to prove their theories from the Bible. But they fail miserably. But they don’t give any authority to the Bible but deny its authority. But another serious problem with their theory is that, if they are convinced that all are already saved, why these people run their churches, why call themselves pastors? Why do they even preach? If no hell and all are already saved – why all these? Why worry about right worship, trinity song, true God, infant baptism etc? Why forget about all of Christianity only? If they are right, they should not be doing what they are doing. They should do anything else. Thus, they contradict themselves. They abuse Pentecostals. But they go around the world and preach in the Pentecostal churches, and get whatever financial resources possible. This is deception. Pentecostals must wake up.
THE UNIVERSALISTS MISUSE USE THE BIBLE PASSAGE FROM 1 TIM 2:1-7. In this passage, the expression FOR ALL MEN occurs three times. From this, the universalist is very silly and quick to conclude and argue that all men will be saved, or rather that all men are already saved. Hence there is no need of praying for their salvation or preaching the gospel for their salvation. But the universalist asks us pray for all. Okay we have no problem. We are praying. And we will pray. But the purpose of the prayer, if I am right in understanding what they mean, they want us to thank God because ALL ARE MEN INCLUDED, AND THAT ALL ARE SAVED. Their argument and question is that IF GOD DESIRES ALL MEN TO BE SAVED, WILL THAT NOT HAPPEN? They falsely conclude that, IF GOD DESIRES, THEN IT IS DONE. After all if you are God, they ask, will you not save all men? They assume Yes. Hence if God is not saving all men, then God is not good, not even as good as you God! But God is good. Hence all men will be saved. That is, if God is to be good, He must save all men. Thus they are actually cornering God, forcing God or even blackmailing God, saying – GOD, IF YOU ARE NOT SAVING ALL MEN, THEN YOU ARE NOT GOOD GOD. They also take the position that, if some preach the gospel with the assumption that the unbelievers will not be saved, then the preachers are bad and their God is also bad. They argue that such preachers are preaching another Jesus. HENCE THE ISSUE EMERGES AS TO, WHO IS PREACHING ANOTHER JESUS? WHO HAS ANOTHER JESUS - THE UNIVERSALIST OR THE CHRISTIAN PREACHER?
THE PROBLEM WITH THE UNIVERSALIST POSITION AND THEIR ARGUMENT IS THAT, WHAT THEY HAVE IS A MERE HUMAN ASSUMPTION. It is not the plan of God revealed in the Bible. Hence the proponents of this false assumption will not be able to prove their theory from the direct meaning of the verses of the Bible. Rather they will have to take up many faulty interpretations of the Bible passages, and search for their hidden meanings and make perversions of the word of God. Hence their approach is basically wrong and unjustifiable. There is absolutely no dispute that God desires all men to be saved, and that Jesus is available for all. But the issue is that, God has asked us to preach the gospel so that all those who repent and believe in Jesus shall be saved. But the false teachers are always imposing their worldview of universalism upon the Bible passages, and come out with their conclusions and claim that theirs is the true view. But a simple reading of the passage will prove that such universalist interpretation of the passage is a blatant violation of the truth in the word of God. Let us look into 1 Tim 2:1-7. I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For thisis good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have 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. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. The Apostle is urging intercessory prayer. It is our duty to pray for those in authority, and to seek after a calm and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. In a corrupt society, of then and now, for Christians to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, the only means is to pray. Not filing cases in the courts or civic turbulence. Moreover our solidarity with the entire mankind is appreciated. The whole mankind is one in the creation of God and the object of the ransom of Christ. But that does not mean that all are ipso facto saved by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ without any individual role or responsibility in their salvation.
IF THE AUTOMATIC SALVATION OF ALL IS GLORIOUS, THEN THE PHILOSOPHY WHICH SAYS, ALL MEN ARE GODS, WILL BE MORE GLORIOUS. These fake universalists claim all are saved by God’s faith, not by man’s faith. Man’s faith not needed for salvation. Because the law of God is written in the hearts of all people, preaching is not needed for salvation. All are already saved. What is needed is only the awareness or enlightenment that all are saved. They are aspiring to become equal to God. Hence Deification or becoming God is the objective of their SPIRITUALITY. This is the same as the INDIAN SPIRITUALITY OF YOGA.
THEY MISUSE 1 COR 13 TO ARGUE THAT GOD IS LOVE, AND BEARS ALL THINGS, AND HENCE GOD WILL NOT CARE ABOUT OUR SINS; THAT GOD HAS NO PROBLEM WITH OUR SINS. ADAM HAD PROBLEM WITH SIN. BUT GOD HAD NOT PROBLEM WITH SIN OF ADAM. THEY SAY THAT OUR SIN CONSCIOUSNESS MUST GO. IF WE THINK WE ARE SINNERS IT IS OUR PROBLEM. IF WE THINK WE HAVE NO SIN, WE ARE SAVED. HENCE TO THEM IT IS JUST A MATTER OF CHANGING THE GEAR OF OUR MIND. According to them sin is the violation of law and law was removed by Jesus. Jesus died for all. So now there is no sin. According to themthere is no hell and eternal punishment. Their argument is totally wrong. See the case of the Prodigal son. The Prodigal son had to repent and came back to the Father to be accepted. Father did not go in search of the lost son. When He saw the son coming back, with great joy he received the son. In the same manner sinners can repent and come back to God. Hence the claim that, man’s sin problem is automatically solved without repentance and faith, is wrong. Jesus said to the prostitute: go and sin no more. There is no permission to sin. Grace does not cancel the commandments for obedience. There is no freedom to disobey. Grace motivates more diligent obedience. Grace is not a license to disobey.
THEY FALSELY ARGUE THAT BECAUSE GOD IS LOVE, PREACHING AND BELIEVING ARE NOT REQUIRED. The liberal Christians and especially the Christian Universalists are pure rationalists. It is a cult spread across all denominations of the Christianity. They are extremely unstable and unpredictable as to the source of authority with regard to the formulation of theological doctrines. Most often they are extremely opportunistic in their perverted rationalizations. Their aim is to somehow defend and propagate their pre-determined ideology of universalism. They consider relationship with God is a one-sided event. This is a very wrong theological position. Here the sovereign will of God and the free will of man should both be allowed their respective roles. But the universalists over-emphasize on the sovereign will of God and nullify the significance of the free will of man. Thus, man is deprived of all the God-given freedom and responsibility in his spiritual life and destiny. This is not the Biblical position. Trust and obedience from man’s side is condition for the salvation process.
THEY ARGUE THAT BECAUSE THE LAW OF GOD IS WRITTEN IN HEARTS OF ALL MEN, ALL MEN HAVE AUTOMATICALLY GOT THE GOSPEL AND ARE SAVED. HENCE THERE IS NO NEED TO PREACH GOSPEL. Hence those who preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ are not under the New Covenant. This is very wrong. They over-emphasize on one verse uprooted from the context of the entire Bible. All the apostles preached the gospel. Jonah and PAUL PREACHED.This itself is the proof that the apostles never approved the universalist view. Apostles never subscribed to the perverted idea of automatic salvation. When we repent and believe, Jesus becomes our righteousness. The universalists argue their case based on the passage of the Hebrews 8: 11 onwards. It reads like this: For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. They argue also from Romans 2:14 that For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves. From these passages no one can logically and legitimately come to such wrong conclusions. We need to see the entire context of the passage. Also consider Romans 2:1 onwards. Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor 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, honor, and peace, to every man that works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another; In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Notice verse 24. For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
THEY ALSO MISUSE COLOSSIANS. The Bible passage they often quote in support of their teaching, itself proves them wrong. It becomes clear if we read a few verses before and after the verse they quote. THEY QUOTE COLOSSIANS 1:20. “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven”. To put the issue in the right perspective let us read the background passage from verse 5 onwards. Verse 5. “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel”. But now you notice the verse 21 onwards with special attention. Then you will understand the folly of their cultic teaching which is totally unfounded in the Bible. “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard,and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.
The passage involves deeper teaching in that it includes in the reconciliation by the blood of Christ, “all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven” not merely humanity. This can be related to the truth revealed in some other verses also. “God was in Christ reconciling the world (the kosmos) to Himself” (2Cor 5:19). And that “the whole creation waiteth in constant expectation for the manifestation of the sons of God and shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom 8:19-21).
When the Bible says "it pleased the Father by Christ to reconcile all things to himself," it relates only to those things which are in heaven and earth. Nothing is said of the inhabitants of hell, whether fallen angels, or the spirits of wicked men who are there. Hence it cannot mean that all things are actually reconciled. Because on earth have lived and died as God’s enemies. So are the fallen angels also. Such rebels will be confined to hell before the final reconciliation of all things of heaven and earth. It is significant that “the things under the earth” are not mentioned in this phrase. It is surely revealed (1 Cor 15:28) that all created existence, shall be “subdued unto” the Son and unto the Father in Him. But this is another thing from “reconciliation” and “peace.” Hence the universalism of this passage does not invalidate hell punishment for the rebels. There is no reconciliation of angelic beings in Christ because Christ did not pay propitiatory penalty for angels.
THEY DELIBERATELY PROMOTE THE FALSE GOSPEL OF HALF TRUTHS BASED ON HUMAN GUESS NOT GOD’S PLAN AND WORD. They promote the ideology of another Jesus and another spirit. It is a false gospel theory based upon half-truths and mere faulty human assumptions. This theory had to employ the guess work and half-truths exactly like the brethren people who are using them to support their false theory of once saved always saved. The proponents of the false theory of the glorious gospel, start with the Second Corinthians 11:4. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. Then they quote second Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4. In whom thegod of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. In this verse itself the responsibility of the man in believing Jesus is emphasized. But he just ignores it. Thus it is a deception based on presenting half-truths.
ACCORDING TO THEM THE GOSPEL IS GLORIOUS BECAUSE IT IS BASED ON THE LOVE OF GOD, ADOPTION AND MERCY OF GOD. To present the love of God, they quote John 3:16. But they speak only the first part of it. And ignores the second part in which the responsibility of man in believing Jesus is emphasized. 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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. The Bible says that: He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already. Hence only those who are believing are saved. Those who reject Jesus are already condemned. But the false teachers who preach false gospel claim that all are already saved because of God’s love. According to their false gospel, man’s response, faith, decision, choice and have no relevance.
ANOTHER OF THEIR ARGUMENT IS BASED ON THE MERCY OF GOD. For this they misuse Ephesians 2:5 onwards. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Even this passage, they skew and misinterpret in such a manner as to fit into their own false theories. They claim that man is dead in such manner that he is unable to believe, and that man is saved by God’s faith, and that man has no role in his salvation, that he does not have to believe etc. Hence all are automatically saved. But none of these things are asserted in the passage. They are just imposing all these ideas upon the passage. There are other passages in the Bible which emphasize the need of believing in Jesus, and leading a holy life for man to be ultimately saved. Hence they are perverting the word of God. They are not rightly dividing the word of truth.
ANOTHER POINT THEY GATHER AROUND IN SUPPORT OF THEIR FALSE GOSPEL IS THAT WE ARE ADOPTED INTO GOD’S FAMILY. They argue that it is like the infant who is baptized has no role in it. Hence those who are adopted have no role and it is entirely the work of God. Again they are projecting the half-truth trick. The truth is that, it is the believer who gets adopted into God’s family, not the unbeliever.
IN SHORT, BY WAY OF PRESENTING THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL, THEY ARE PREACHING THE FALSE OF GOSPEL ANOTHER JESUS THROUGH ANOTHER SPIRIT. It is a false ideology of half-truths based on human guess. They are selling poison in beautiful wrapper and label of glorious gospel. No such thing is in the Bible. They are just using the Bible to promote their false gospel.
THE QUESTION IS IF THERE IS NO HELL AND THAT ALL MEN ARE ALREADY SAVED, WHY SHOULD THEY PREACH THEIR FALSE GOSPEL AND ATTACK THOSE PREACH THE TRUE GOSPEL? Unless they are venomous false teachers there is no reason why they should attack the peaceful Pentecostals who preach the simple gospel of Jesus Christ, and their worship methodology, lack of trinity songs, true God, infant baptism etc? Why not just keep quiet? Is that not more logical? There is no error in Pentecostal theology. The theology of the Pentecostal churches as available in their websites, are more accurate than those of the traditional churches. The theory which many people are propagating as the glorious gospel is a false gospel, which is a manipulation through the fabrication of half-truths. It is not from God.
IF ALL ARE SAVED THE CHURCHES AND THEIR PREACHING WILL HAVE NO JUSTIFICATION FOR THEIR EXISTENCE. The anti-Christian elements can use this view as a justification to eliminate the very existence of every Christian element.