Post by Watchman on Jun 19, 2007 17:22:56 GMT -5
"Ballade of Good Counsel"
Flee from the crowd and dwell with truthfulness:
Suffice thee with thy goods though they be small:
To hoard brings hate, to climb brings giddiness;
The crowd has envy, and Success blinds all;
Desire no more than to thy lot may fall;
Work well thyself to counsel others clear,
And truth shall make thee free, there is no fear!
Torment thee not all crooked to redress,
Nor put thy trust in fortune's turning ball;
Great peace is found in little busyness;
And war but kicks against a sharpened awl;
Strive not, thou earthen pot, to break the wall;
Subdue thyself; and others thee shall hear;
And truth shall make thee free, there is no fear!
What God doth send, receive in gladsomeness;
To wrestle for this world foretells a fall.
Here is no home, here is but wilderness:
Forth, pilgrim forth; up, beast, and leave thy stall!
Know thy country, look up, thank God for all:
Hold the high way, thy soul the pioneer,
And truth shall make thee free, there is no fear!
Therefore, poor beast, forsake thy wretchedness;
No longer let the vain world be thy stall.
His mercy seek who in his mightiness
Made thee of naught, but not to be a thrall.
Pray freely for thyself and pray for all
Who long for larger life and heavenly cheer;
And truth shall make thee free, there is no fear!
(Modern version by Henry Van Dyke)
"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent (Revelation 3:18,19)."
Here are the riches the church so desperately needs in this hour. But she cannot have them without repentance and where is the church that is willing to repent, or even sees any need to repent? It takes zeal to repent. It takes courage to repent. It takes fear to repent. it takes need to repent. It takes the Holy Spirit to repent. But alas! The church only has "goods" and among all those goods there is not one thing that leads to repentance. She has gold but not the kind she sorely needs. We do not need the gold of earth, we have found and shalt find that such "gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire (James 5:3)." "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal (Matthew 6:19-21)." What we need is not earth's treasures but the gold of the sanctuary, the gold tried in the fire of God's holiness, the gold of the just weight and the true balance.
What is God's complaint against us? God says lie has nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against Him (Isaiah 1:2). He says, "How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followed after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them (Isaiah 1:21-23)." Is this true? Can it be that God is mistaken about this?
Poor church! She offers her multitude of sacrifices, burns her incense, meticulously observes her new moons and Sabbaths, calls her assemblies on the slightest whim, spreads forth her hands and makes many prayers. With what result? God says that even her most solemn assemblies are iniquity! He hides His eyes from her spreading forth of hands and will not hear her prayers. And the church wonders why. With her hands full of blood, she wonders why. She says, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need
~f nothing; and wonders why her prayers are unanswered! She judges not the fatherless, pleads not the cause of the widow, neglects and despises the poor, and idly wonders why her many prayers are unanswered; forgetting all the while that this is no accidental world, that a sovereign God rules the universe on strictly just and moral principles, and that it is irrevocably written, "Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard (Proverbs 21:13)."
"None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies (Isaiah 59:4)." "And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter (Isaiah 59:14)."
"There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man (Luke 18:2)." This is the whole truth about every judge of every court in the world. There is no justice among men because there is not a just man upon earth. Why did the judge not regard man? Why was he unjust? He feared not God. This is the unbroken testimony of both Scripture and experience. But, alas, who in this hour will listen to either?
The times grow worse. Evil runs rampant. Dark clouds gather. Perilous times are upon us. "The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant (Isaiah 24:4,5)." "Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, 0 inhabitant of the earth (Isaiah 24:17)."
The grim specter of war hovers constantly. Nations rise against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms. The earth is torn by earthquakes and devoured with pestilence. Injustice and evil are the order of the day. Why?
"Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed atone in the midst of the earth (Isaiah 5:8)!" "Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope (Isaiah 5:18)." "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil.... Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink (Isaiah 5:20-22)."
"Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion." "Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches." "That drink wine in bowls." "For ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock." "Ye, which rejoice in a thing of naught." "Ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, Saying, when will the new moon be gone, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit." (Selections from Amos, chapters 6-8.)
"They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us (Micah 3:10,11)."
"For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory. The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul (Isaiah 3:8,9)."
This is a vivid and accurate picture of our society today. Experience confirms the fact that these Scriptures are applicable to us. Comment is unnecessary. The world is more thoroughly corrupt today than at any time in its history. Society is dissolute in all its segments. Nothing has escaped corruption; individuals, homes, churches, schools, business, government; all is corrupt. The reason? We do not fear God. This is the sorry state to which the preaching and doctrine of the modem pulpit has brought us. The philosophy of the modems that we live in an accidental world, that God is subject to man's whims, choice and will, is completely atheistic and can only make infidels of its believers. In the necessity of the case, such a philosophy is bound to lead any society embracing it down the path of dissolution, corruption, injustice, immorality, and finally to the pit of hell. Where else can it lead? How else can it end? If God is subject to man's choice and will, we do live in an accidental world, and verily man has no god but himself; if any man is saved, it will be an accident. Eventually, under such a philosophy, man "casteth off fear, and restrainest prayer before God (Job 15:4)." Prayer is the breathing of the soul. When men cease praying, they stop breathing, and when they stop breathing they die.
Predestination is the only basis and hope for society. If predestination were believed, if the doctrine that all human ties, bonds and relationships are divinely appointed and formed, were universally received, it would revolutionize the world. And unless we shall receive it, civilization as we know it is doomed. It must be evident to any man who thinks, that unless any human tie or relationship he may have is divinely appointed and formed, there is no possible reason to regard any such tie or relationship as sacred, nor can he conceive that he has any duty in maintaining such a relationship. Predestination is the only ground of duty as well as the only ground of faith. The accidental world is the world of the atheist, not the world of the Christian. No man is a Christian who believes in an accidental world. Predestination is the heart and soul of all Christian teaching, all Divine providence. It is the one reason for all things and the bedrock of Christian hope.
All human ties, bonds and relationships are divinely appointed and formed. The doctrine is true whether anyone believes it or not. But what a difference it would make if it were believed. It would solve the world's problems and resolve every difficulty of human relationship. It would create an ideal world where all men would dwell together in peace and harmony.
There would be no broken homes. Divorce courts would be unknown. Children would obey their parents in the Lord because it is right. They would realize that God has given them their particular parents and placed them in their particular home, and so would honor their father and mother, and it would be well with them, and their days would be prolonged (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16). "That thy days may be prolonged ..." an expression meaning not simply to live to a ripe old age, but that each day is prolonged, each day is filled with wonder and bright with the glory of God, each day is "as the days of heaven upon the earth (Deuteronomy 11:21)."
Parents would love their children. Fathers would "provoke not their children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:1-4)." Parents would realize that their "children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward (Psalm 127:3)." "Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt see the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord (Psalm 128:1-4)."
The doctrine of predestination, if the church believed it, would revitalize the church they would realize that church membership, like all other human relationship, is divinely appointed and formed. There would be no envy, jealousy or strife in such a church. They would recognize that they "are the body of Christ, and members in particular (I Corinthians 12:27)." Individuality would again prevail in the church and the sickly socialism and Godless communism of the modem church would disappear. Churches would again realize that "the body is not one member, but many" and would cease trying to make all their members alike in every detail, and forget their unscriptural and unrealistic concept that the church is some kind of a mass man in which all individuals must lose their freedom and identity. There is no room in the modem church for individuality. That man today who dares assert his individuality and contend for religious freedom is certain to incur the displeasure, if not the wrath, of the church, and he will be censured, or excommunicated, or made to feel the displeasure of the church in a thousand other ways.
Individuality has been lost in the church as well as elsewhere. The autonomy of the local church is gone even from those who profess to have it. We now have, in our churches, a system of super eccliasticism where conventions, associations, boards, heirarchies, or individuals rule the local church and consequently the individual members of the church. The right of private judgment is denied to all. This is a system of tyranny, wholly unscriptural, under which the individual is ruled, not by his own conscience or the laws of God, but by the arbitrary laws of sinful men who seek only their own aggrandizement. Under this system, the individual must do as he is told or else. He must conform in both opinion and conduct. He cannot think for himself. He is denied the right to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience. It is thus that the modem church has brainwashed its members. Woe be unto that individual today in any church that opposes the official line and dares to be what God made him, an individual. Individual liberty and religious freedom is nowhere more lost than in the modern church where today it is practically unknown. "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it bath pleased him (I Corinthians 12:18)." Church membership is a relationship divinely appointed and formed. God has set the members every one of them in the body and appointed each his function and endowed each one for that particular function. There is no elite, no ruling class in the church. "But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren (Matthew 23:8)." Like everything else, church membership and position in the church is predestinated. "And he saith unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father (Matthew 20:23)." Prepared-made ready before, thus foreordained, predestinated.
Is everything predestinated? Yes. "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9)." No new thing-no accident. Here we are plainly told that what is to be, will be; and what is not to be, will not happen. This is the doctrine of predestination and this is the tie that binds.
Opponents of this doctrine tell us that if predestination is true, man has no responsibility. The opposite is true. If predestination is not true, man has no responsibility. It is because predestination is true that man is responsible for his actions, which is why men reject the doctrine. The man who does not believe in predestination can always find an excuse for his sin. He blames it on accident, circumstance, or whatever. But we are warned about this. "Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error (Ecclesiastes 5:6)." Error-wandering, hence chance, accident; this is the meaning of the Hebrew word.
Predestination is the only basis for the responsibility of man for it is the only reason why things happen as they do, why causes have effects, why actions produce consequences, why men reap what they sow. In fact, predestination is the law of the universe. "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit (Matthew 7:16-18)."
Why is this true? Why do we not gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Because thorns do not produce grapes, thistles do not produce figs. Why not? You say, that is the law of nature. If you were religious enough, you would say it is the law of God. But call it what you will, there is a fixed and inexorable law that determines that thorns produce thorns, thistles produce thistles, grapes produce grapes, figs produce figs; and from this law nothing deviates. That is predestination. Trees produce after their kind because God has so fixed it and for no other reason. What is true in the natural realm is true spiritually. Predestination is the only reason for anything, and if predestination is not true, there is no reason for anything.
continued
Flee from the crowd and dwell with truthfulness:
Suffice thee with thy goods though they be small:
To hoard brings hate, to climb brings giddiness;
The crowd has envy, and Success blinds all;
Desire no more than to thy lot may fall;
Work well thyself to counsel others clear,
And truth shall make thee free, there is no fear!
Torment thee not all crooked to redress,
Nor put thy trust in fortune's turning ball;
Great peace is found in little busyness;
And war but kicks against a sharpened awl;
Strive not, thou earthen pot, to break the wall;
Subdue thyself; and others thee shall hear;
And truth shall make thee free, there is no fear!
What God doth send, receive in gladsomeness;
To wrestle for this world foretells a fall.
Here is no home, here is but wilderness:
Forth, pilgrim forth; up, beast, and leave thy stall!
Know thy country, look up, thank God for all:
Hold the high way, thy soul the pioneer,
And truth shall make thee free, there is no fear!
Therefore, poor beast, forsake thy wretchedness;
No longer let the vain world be thy stall.
His mercy seek who in his mightiness
Made thee of naught, but not to be a thrall.
Pray freely for thyself and pray for all
Who long for larger life and heavenly cheer;
And truth shall make thee free, there is no fear!
(Modern version by Henry Van Dyke)
"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent (Revelation 3:18,19)."
Here are the riches the church so desperately needs in this hour. But she cannot have them without repentance and where is the church that is willing to repent, or even sees any need to repent? It takes zeal to repent. It takes courage to repent. It takes fear to repent. it takes need to repent. It takes the Holy Spirit to repent. But alas! The church only has "goods" and among all those goods there is not one thing that leads to repentance. She has gold but not the kind she sorely needs. We do not need the gold of earth, we have found and shalt find that such "gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire (James 5:3)." "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal (Matthew 6:19-21)." What we need is not earth's treasures but the gold of the sanctuary, the gold tried in the fire of God's holiness, the gold of the just weight and the true balance.
What is God's complaint against us? God says lie has nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against Him (Isaiah 1:2). He says, "How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followed after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them (Isaiah 1:21-23)." Is this true? Can it be that God is mistaken about this?
Poor church! She offers her multitude of sacrifices, burns her incense, meticulously observes her new moons and Sabbaths, calls her assemblies on the slightest whim, spreads forth her hands and makes many prayers. With what result? God says that even her most solemn assemblies are iniquity! He hides His eyes from her spreading forth of hands and will not hear her prayers. And the church wonders why. With her hands full of blood, she wonders why. She says, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need
~f nothing; and wonders why her prayers are unanswered! She judges not the fatherless, pleads not the cause of the widow, neglects and despises the poor, and idly wonders why her many prayers are unanswered; forgetting all the while that this is no accidental world, that a sovereign God rules the universe on strictly just and moral principles, and that it is irrevocably written, "Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard (Proverbs 21:13)."
"None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies (Isaiah 59:4)." "And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter (Isaiah 59:14)."
"There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man (Luke 18:2)." This is the whole truth about every judge of every court in the world. There is no justice among men because there is not a just man upon earth. Why did the judge not regard man? Why was he unjust? He feared not God. This is the unbroken testimony of both Scripture and experience. But, alas, who in this hour will listen to either?
The times grow worse. Evil runs rampant. Dark clouds gather. Perilous times are upon us. "The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant (Isaiah 24:4,5)." "Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, 0 inhabitant of the earth (Isaiah 24:17)."
The grim specter of war hovers constantly. Nations rise against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms. The earth is torn by earthquakes and devoured with pestilence. Injustice and evil are the order of the day. Why?
"Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed atone in the midst of the earth (Isaiah 5:8)!" "Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope (Isaiah 5:18)." "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil.... Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink (Isaiah 5:20-22)."
"Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion." "Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches." "That drink wine in bowls." "For ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock." "Ye, which rejoice in a thing of naught." "Ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, Saying, when will the new moon be gone, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit." (Selections from Amos, chapters 6-8.)
"They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us (Micah 3:10,11)."
"For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory. The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul (Isaiah 3:8,9)."
This is a vivid and accurate picture of our society today. Experience confirms the fact that these Scriptures are applicable to us. Comment is unnecessary. The world is more thoroughly corrupt today than at any time in its history. Society is dissolute in all its segments. Nothing has escaped corruption; individuals, homes, churches, schools, business, government; all is corrupt. The reason? We do not fear God. This is the sorry state to which the preaching and doctrine of the modem pulpit has brought us. The philosophy of the modems that we live in an accidental world, that God is subject to man's whims, choice and will, is completely atheistic and can only make infidels of its believers. In the necessity of the case, such a philosophy is bound to lead any society embracing it down the path of dissolution, corruption, injustice, immorality, and finally to the pit of hell. Where else can it lead? How else can it end? If God is subject to man's choice and will, we do live in an accidental world, and verily man has no god but himself; if any man is saved, it will be an accident. Eventually, under such a philosophy, man "casteth off fear, and restrainest prayer before God (Job 15:4)." Prayer is the breathing of the soul. When men cease praying, they stop breathing, and when they stop breathing they die.
Predestination is the only basis and hope for society. If predestination were believed, if the doctrine that all human ties, bonds and relationships are divinely appointed and formed, were universally received, it would revolutionize the world. And unless we shall receive it, civilization as we know it is doomed. It must be evident to any man who thinks, that unless any human tie or relationship he may have is divinely appointed and formed, there is no possible reason to regard any such tie or relationship as sacred, nor can he conceive that he has any duty in maintaining such a relationship. Predestination is the only ground of duty as well as the only ground of faith. The accidental world is the world of the atheist, not the world of the Christian. No man is a Christian who believes in an accidental world. Predestination is the heart and soul of all Christian teaching, all Divine providence. It is the one reason for all things and the bedrock of Christian hope.
All human ties, bonds and relationships are divinely appointed and formed. The doctrine is true whether anyone believes it or not. But what a difference it would make if it were believed. It would solve the world's problems and resolve every difficulty of human relationship. It would create an ideal world where all men would dwell together in peace and harmony.
There would be no broken homes. Divorce courts would be unknown. Children would obey their parents in the Lord because it is right. They would realize that God has given them their particular parents and placed them in their particular home, and so would honor their father and mother, and it would be well with them, and their days would be prolonged (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16). "That thy days may be prolonged ..." an expression meaning not simply to live to a ripe old age, but that each day is prolonged, each day is filled with wonder and bright with the glory of God, each day is "as the days of heaven upon the earth (Deuteronomy 11:21)."
Parents would love their children. Fathers would "provoke not their children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:1-4)." Parents would realize that their "children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward (Psalm 127:3)." "Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt see the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord (Psalm 128:1-4)."
The doctrine of predestination, if the church believed it, would revitalize the church they would realize that church membership, like all other human relationship, is divinely appointed and formed. There would be no envy, jealousy or strife in such a church. They would recognize that they "are the body of Christ, and members in particular (I Corinthians 12:27)." Individuality would again prevail in the church and the sickly socialism and Godless communism of the modem church would disappear. Churches would again realize that "the body is not one member, but many" and would cease trying to make all their members alike in every detail, and forget their unscriptural and unrealistic concept that the church is some kind of a mass man in which all individuals must lose their freedom and identity. There is no room in the modem church for individuality. That man today who dares assert his individuality and contend for religious freedom is certain to incur the displeasure, if not the wrath, of the church, and he will be censured, or excommunicated, or made to feel the displeasure of the church in a thousand other ways.
Individuality has been lost in the church as well as elsewhere. The autonomy of the local church is gone even from those who profess to have it. We now have, in our churches, a system of super eccliasticism where conventions, associations, boards, heirarchies, or individuals rule the local church and consequently the individual members of the church. The right of private judgment is denied to all. This is a system of tyranny, wholly unscriptural, under which the individual is ruled, not by his own conscience or the laws of God, but by the arbitrary laws of sinful men who seek only their own aggrandizement. Under this system, the individual must do as he is told or else. He must conform in both opinion and conduct. He cannot think for himself. He is denied the right to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience. It is thus that the modem church has brainwashed its members. Woe be unto that individual today in any church that opposes the official line and dares to be what God made him, an individual. Individual liberty and religious freedom is nowhere more lost than in the modern church where today it is practically unknown. "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it bath pleased him (I Corinthians 12:18)." Church membership is a relationship divinely appointed and formed. God has set the members every one of them in the body and appointed each his function and endowed each one for that particular function. There is no elite, no ruling class in the church. "But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren (Matthew 23:8)." Like everything else, church membership and position in the church is predestinated. "And he saith unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father (Matthew 20:23)." Prepared-made ready before, thus foreordained, predestinated.
Is everything predestinated? Yes. "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9)." No new thing-no accident. Here we are plainly told that what is to be, will be; and what is not to be, will not happen. This is the doctrine of predestination and this is the tie that binds.
Opponents of this doctrine tell us that if predestination is true, man has no responsibility. The opposite is true. If predestination is not true, man has no responsibility. It is because predestination is true that man is responsible for his actions, which is why men reject the doctrine. The man who does not believe in predestination can always find an excuse for his sin. He blames it on accident, circumstance, or whatever. But we are warned about this. "Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error (Ecclesiastes 5:6)." Error-wandering, hence chance, accident; this is the meaning of the Hebrew word.
Predestination is the only basis for the responsibility of man for it is the only reason why things happen as they do, why causes have effects, why actions produce consequences, why men reap what they sow. In fact, predestination is the law of the universe. "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit (Matthew 7:16-18)."
Why is this true? Why do we not gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Because thorns do not produce grapes, thistles do not produce figs. Why not? You say, that is the law of nature. If you were religious enough, you would say it is the law of God. But call it what you will, there is a fixed and inexorable law that determines that thorns produce thorns, thistles produce thistles, grapes produce grapes, figs produce figs; and from this law nothing deviates. That is predestination. Trees produce after their kind because God has so fixed it and for no other reason. What is true in the natural realm is true spiritually. Predestination is the only reason for anything, and if predestination is not true, there is no reason for anything.
continued