Predestination

Predestination is a word that breezes comfortably through our minds and flows easily from our tongues. However, if we were to see that word for what the world has made of it, we would rather chew nettles than speak it. Spiritually, it is one of the filthiest words in language, with the power to overthrow entire cultures and civilisations. How this can be is staggering to grasp.

Understanding how the god of this world manipulates language is fundamental to our understanding of this study, so we will take a brief look into it. The manipulation of language is one of the most supercilious activities engaged in worldwide. For example, through the devil's control of media, words from scripture are twisted and given horrendous undertones, while his filthy words are bottle fed to us as infants so we grow up comfortable with them. One of the most effective methods employed against the word of God is the perverting of the meanings of words. As an example, consider the following.

Exodus 21:2,5,6
If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

To understand these verses we must understand the culture. Back then, there was no social security, no welfare, no free money handouts from government. So what happened to someone whose business failed? What happened to someone who perhaps had a wife and family to feed but who was without income? God knew these things would happen and he made provision for them.

Instead of a social security system, the Israelites implemented a system whereby if you became unemployed and ran out of money you could work as a servant for a period of time. In return, your master, who could be a businessman or farmer, would take care of your every need - clothing, food, and housing. At the end of six years, your period of service would expire and the master of the house was then required to give you your freedom and pay you a lump sum that would be enough to start your own business again. Not a bad deal!

However, if the servant had built up such a relationship with his master that he loved his job so much that he didn't want to leave, there was an option for him to remain as a servant within the master's household for the rest of his life. If a servant chose this option, he would have his ear pierced so everyone would know he was a servant for life in the service of his master.

This lifetime of service was a highly venerated and revered position that carried high social honour and prestige. After all, the servant had the option of leaving and setting up his own business, but instead had chosen, by his own freewill, to remain within his master's household and serve him for the rest of his life. Such servants were greatly honoured and highly valued, and they usually held high office within the master's household. In the Greek, such a servant is called a doulos, a slave. A slave?

A few centuries ago, evil men made vast sums of money from kidnapping black Africans, transporting them around the world in horrendous conditions, and selling them as property. These unfortunate creatures came to be known as slaves. However, they were not slaves according to the biblical definition of that word. Why did the devil use this wonderful term from the bible that describes perhaps the most revered and honoured relationship possible between an employer and an employee and apply it to the criminal trafficking of human beings? Why do you think?

Most of us today would rather die than be slaves, wouldn't we? How do people feel when they first hear this term used in the bible in reference to us being a doulos, a slave for the Lord Jesus Christ? This is how the world conditions people to think by manipulating language so that God's word sounds revolting rather than attractive. In Romans, Paul refers to himself as a slave.

Romans 1:1
Paul, a servant [doulos] of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

Paul was a slave, but he wasn't some ill-treated piece of property that had been kidnapped and sold against his will to work in the employ of a tyrant. Rather, this was the highest position in life Paul could aspire to, a position that carried tremendous spiritual responsibility, prestige, and honour. This is but one example of how the devil twists language to destroy the word.

The same is true in reverse. Words that should make us shudder with revulsion have been sprinkled with chocolate and cream and tarted up to make them appealing and desirable. Words like homosexuality. I'm going to remove the chocolate and cream from the word predestination as it is currently understood and let you see that word for the pile of dogshit it really is.

Ephesians 1:3-5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

God chose us from before the foundation of the world, and we were predestinated according to God's good pleasure. So does this mean we had nothing to say about it? Does this mean then that no matter what we would have done with our lives, we had absolutely no say whatsoever in whether or not we would become God's children? Is everything that happens to us therefore totally beyond our control? I think you can begin to smell the stink already. Let's look more closely at this.

Matthew 22:14
For many are called, but few are chosen.

This must be one of the most misused scriptures in the whole bible. It is usually quoted to make people feel bad about themselves when they make mistakes. It also paints God in a bad light, as if he is poking around with a stick looking for someone worth keeping. When people make mistakes and fall short, as we all do, this scripture is often used against them as a weapon, to make them feel guilty and unworthy.

There are a number of important keys to the word's interpretation, and one of them is that a scripture must be in harmony with all the other scriptures relating to the same subject. If we have many clear verses on a subject and one apparently contradictory verse, do we ignore the many clear verses and focus solely on the unclear verse? Not if we are interested in an honest handling of the word of God, we don't. Here are a few scriptures that clearly teach that God is no respecter of persons.

Romans 2:11
For there is no respect of persons with God.

Ephesians 6:9
...neither is there respect of persons with him.

1 Timothy 2:3,4
For this is 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.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Without labouring the point, God isn't fussy about whom he chooses. Therefore, if Matthew 22:14 teaches that God is choosy about people, it contradicts the rest of the bible.

Another key to the interpretation of the word is that all scripture interprets itself in the verse, in its context, or where it has been used before. The immediate context of Matthew 22:14 happens to be a parable. A parable is a figure of speech, in this case, an extended simile. A simile is the simplest figure of speech in language and as such makes only one point of comparison. For example, if we say a person runs like a cheetah, the only point we are making is that the person is a fast runner. We are not implying that the person has four legs, a spotty fur coat, and likes to eat monkeys. That would be absurd. The only comparison the simile makes in this example is regarding the person's speed as a runner. Similarly, this parable, which is an extended simile, makes only one point of comparison and one point only. You cannot spiritualise every single point in this parable as if it were an allegory.

Jesus Christ used this parable, this simile, to paint a picture in the minds of his listeners. He used their culture and their language to illustrate one point regarding the kingdom of God - many are called, but few are chosen. Therefore, if we can understand the meaning of the parable, we will understand the meaning behind those words. The entire parable illustrates this one spiritual truth, nothing else.

Matthew 22:1,2
And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son

The words like unto tell us this is the figure of speech simile.

Matthew 22:3-7
And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:

And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Remember, this is a parable with only one point of comparison. It is not an allegory. You cannot take each aspect of this parable and spiritualise it, as it only makes one point of comparison. There is nothing to learn spiritually from the parable so far as it is merely part of an illustration from their culture that Jesus used to paint a picture for those listening. It is fiction, a made up story, not a real life event. This has never happened and this king never existed in real life. He is merely building a mind picture for them using words they understood so that at the end he could make a single spiritual truth live for them in a very real, unique, and special way. If you were to try to say this is referring to Israel in the old testament then are you also saying that it was God who did all this killing and burning? This was a story he made up that they would understand so he could illustrate a single point regarding the kingdom of God.

Matthew 22:8-14
Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which are bidden were not worthy,

Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

And he said unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

For many are called, but few are chosen.

Now we need to check another key to the word's interpretation - all scripture must be understood according to its biblical usage. The bible is an eastern book filled with eastern customs and we often need to understand these orientalisms to get to the truth behind the words. Understanding eastern culture is the key to understanding this parable and the truth it illustrates.

In Jesus' day, guests did not wear their own clothes to a royal wedding. The king personally sent out wedding clothes to everyone on the guest list. It was the king's responsibility to provide tux and tails for the gentlemen and dresses for the ladies. That was their culture. Of course, everyone Jesus Christ was talking to here would have known that. They would have also known that to turn up at a royal wedding in your own clothes, having deliberately refused to wear the clothes provided by the king, would have been an unpardonable breach of etiquette. It would be a bit like turning up for dinner with the queen at a State banquet dressed in tatty jeans and a rude t-shirt, only much worse. Refusing to wear the royal wedding garment would have been an unpardonable act of disrespect, like spitting in the king's face in public.

When this person was confronted, he was speechless. What could he say? He had been freely given a royal wedding garment and had knowingly and willingly refused to wear it, showing unbelievable disrespect for the king, and breaking every cultural protocol imaginable. It was his choice to do so because he had freedom of will.

Matthew 8:14
For many are called, but few are chosen.

Whether we choose to clothe ourselves with what God has made freely available, is our choice. We decide whether or not we are one of the chosen few. It is our choice, our decision. We can decide to clothe ourselves with what God has made freely available, or we can choose to ignore the invitation. If you want to march into God's presence and tell him that what he has freely made available isn't good enough for you, fine, go ahead. Let's look again at those verses in Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:3-5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Is eternal life available to all? Yes, it is. Who decides whether or not we are one of the chosen? We do. It is our choice. We, by the freedom of our will, decide to become one of God's chosen. God in his foreknowledge knew we would believe before the foundation of the world and, therefore, he foreordained us to the adoption of children. He knew we would believe, but it was we ourselves by our freedom of will that made the choice to become God's child. How did we do that?

Romans 10:9,10
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 [sōzō].

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Confessing with our mouths and believing in our hearts are decisions we make. Without believing and confessing as stipulated in Romans 10:9, we would not receive the gift of holy spirit, we would not be clothed with power from on high. The receiving of the gift of holy spirit is entirely conditional on us carrying out the instruction given in Romans 10:9. When we confess with our mouths Jesus as Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, we are saved (Greek sōzō), made whole, referring to once again being complete, being whole, with body, soul and spirit.

Does God force us to believe? No. God never forces anyone to do anything. He gave us freedom of will and it is up to us whether we choose to believe God and his word or not. Therefore, predestination here is simply a reference to God's foreknowledge. He knew way back in the beginning that we would believe, and so we were predestined, foreordained to become sons and daughters of God.

The twisting of the meaning of the word predestination was something that even affected Jesus Christ's closest disciples.

John 9:1,2
And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

To understand this you have to ask the question, how could this man have been born blind because of his own sin? Can babies sin in the womb before they are born? No, that's ridiculous. The disciples indicated that they believed that it was possible that a person could be born blind because of his own sin. They asked this question because predestination, and how it ties in with reincarnation, had been engrained into their thinking through religion and culture. They believed this man might have sinned in a previous life and consequently been predestined to be born blind because of his previous sins. They got this nonsense from the religious teachings in their synagogues, which wasn't much different to the horseshit taught in churches today. Predestination, where everything in your life is beyond your control, which includes reincarnation, is unscriptural. Note Jesus Christ's response.

John 9:3,4
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents [there should be a full stop, a period here after the word parents]: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him [insert a comma here instead of a period].

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

Be careful with punctuation as the original texts had none. Every full stop and comma has been added by the translators and they are entirely devoid of any authority whatsoever. No punctuation is God-breathed, therefore all punctuation has to fit within the context of the bible. The comma after the word parents is clearly wrong as the verse then depicts them as puppets whose son God made blind just so Jesus could do a miracle. This man wasn't born blind because of anyone's sins. He was not predestined by God or anyone else to be reincarnated into a blind body. Look at how prevalent and insidious this doctrine of predestination can be. People can only believe such horseshit if they believe that when you die you don't really die. Do you begin to see the power in that original lie with which the serpent seduced Eve? Jesus Christ had to deal with this even among his own disciples.

The following verse from Isaiah is a prophecy regarding the physical beatings the Lord Jesus Christ endured prior to his death.

Isaiah 52:14
As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:

What this verse foretells is that the Lord Jesus Christ would be beaten so badly during the time he was tortured before his crucifixion, that his physical form, his physical body would be disfigured more than any man in human history. His physical body was pulped during the forty hours he was beaten, whipped, and tortured. Jesus Christ was so badly beaten, he was unrecognisable as a human being as the Romans dragged him to his crucifixion.

This was prophesied of hundreds of years before it actually happened. So does that mean that those who beat Jesus Christ to a pulp did not have freedom of will? Were they simply puppets and robots doing what God made them do just so God could bring his word to pass? Maybe now you can begin to smell the real stink behind this word predestination as it is widely understood today. Even though we see old testament prophesies coming to pass in the new testament, all those responsible for the brutal beatings of the Lord Jesus Christ, all of them, exercised their own freedom of will. God may have known in his foreknowledge what would happen and had it recorded centuries earlier, but that does not mean that those involved were not exercising freewill.

Jesus Christ decided by his freedom of will to be the passover lamb that year for all mankind, and he laid down his life. He gave it, it was not taken from him. The religious leaders of his time, the church hierarchy, those who worked for the god of this world just as they do today, also made freewill decisions. God in his foreknowledge knew what would happen and recorded it, but he did not force anyone to do anything just to make sure his word came to pass. This is true of all scripture prophesying of future evil events.

In short, predestination as it is understood today destroys people. It gives people excuses for their failures. Instead of taking responsibility for their failed marriages, businesses, families, health, and everything else in their lives, they come up with all sorts of excuses and blame it all on God. It was predestined and they had nothing to do with it. Folks are taught they have no control, that everything is meant to be. So they blame their failed marriages on God, they blame their failed businesses on God, they blame their failed health on God, because it was all meant to be. Put your noses into this dogshit of predestination and take a good sniff. It is a stinking lie. Sure, God will light our path so we can see where we are going, but we have control of our own lives and over which paths we walk. The decisions we make determine our successes and our failures. If we fail, it is our fault, not Gods. God never made a failure.

When the devil attacks, he likes nothing more than to watch people lie down and die. That is why he weakens us with such lies. He doesn't like it when people stand up and fight back, it defeats his purposes. If he can get us to just accept defeat because we think it was meant to be, then he wins and we lose. This lie has the power to destroy entire races and civilisations.

Your life is yours to live so be careful with what you think was meant to be. We all grow up in the devil's world and grow up exposed to his filthy language, but that's no excuse for your thoughts to be contrary to God's word. Put your televisions and newspapers and religious mythology aside, open your bibles again and put your hearts into the word. Be watchful, because predestination is the language of extinction.

Chapter 29 - The Course of this World