The Truth Of Predestination

The following is a letter from my brother in Christ, Tom Gaston that is a wonderful, Spirit Inspired work declaring the TRUTH OF PREDESTINATION of our Salvation , the greatest Gift of God given us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

AMEN

IF you don't know Jesus as your Savior please do so now by asking God to forgive you and by accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior.

For the Saints, our Redemption draws nigh.

M A R A N A T H A

By Tom Gaston:

 Here below is an email response for the defense of the predestination of the believer in Christ which I wrote to one of my friends who is on my email list and who has been arguing with me about this teaching in God's word.   This subject is very important and it is one of the most "blessed, humbling, and comforting" doctrines within the pages of Scripture which many have failed to understand and accept due to their humanistic approach.  Those who reject this doctrine try and bring God down to their level of "human emotion and reasoning."  It is important that the believer understands that God has so graciously included all of us whom He has called through Christ, NOT according to "our will", but according to His own divine plan, will, and purpose which He predetermined and foreordained before foundation of the world,  in order so that we who have been "called and chosen" in Christ can share in His glory for the ages to come.  And I am eternally gratetful to God that I am one of many whom He has called to be conformed to the image of His Son. 

Thank you heavenly Father for including me according to "your will" and NOT according to "my will."

Tom Gaston

Rapturetj@comcast.net

 

 First of all, what in the world are you doing going to an "Armenian" website in order to "try" and find sound doctrinal teaching.  Armenians have doctrinal errors in their theology and you should know better than to look for sound teaching in "their camp."  You already know that theArmenian doctrine does NOT believe nor teach the "eternal security" of the believer in Christ,  which means also then that their teaching on Justification, sanctification, and other important areas of Biblical doctrine ( and most importantly the efficacious work of Christ on the cross  ) are flawed and distorted.  For if one believes that a believer in Christ can lose their salvation, then what does that say about what Christ supposedly accomplished, completed, and finished at the cross according to Scripture.  What does that say about "all sin" and its penalty which Christ Himself according to Scripture has already made atonement for in the past ( Col. 2:13, 14   Heb. chapters 9 and 10 ) ?

 Why in the world would you tell me over the phone ( as you have already done ) that a while back you were talking to a preacher from the Methodist Church who is "Armenian" who believes that a believer can lose their eternal salvation, and then turn around and go to an Armenian website in order to try and find the answer to "predestination" question which you cannot accept nor answer?  Are you serious!   The only reason why you sent me that article is because you are looking for someones teaching that will embrace what "you believe" on the subject instead of searching the Scriptures and embracing what it teaches. 

Listen to me!   This man proved nothing on this subject of predestination in his examination of Ephesians chapter one, but instead he distorted it by trying to "support his doctrinal teaching" as anArmenian.   Therefore he is trying to "re-interpret" and "re-define" what "he thinks" the apostle Paul was teaching in this text without first giving attention to other important Scripture texts in the New Testament epistles which Ephesians chapter 1. is supporting on predestination.  In all reality could anyone of us who knows "sound doctrine" expect anything less from someone who is "Armenian" in his doctrine?  NO!

 The Armenian writer of this article failed drastically in his trying to "define" predestination and election of the believer.  Why?  Because he approached this subject by using his "pre-indoctrination" of Armenianism which was dictating his examination of Ephesians without examining other important Scripture texts along with Ephesians chapter 1.  He basically is teaching that "mans free will" is dictating God's will and decision making by the fact that he believes man'sfree will to "choose" will therefore determine the final outcome of the choices which God makes towards any individual who makes a choice either to "receive" Christ or to "reject Him."   Such an approach exempts and overides God's will and makes Him subjected to the will of man.  God's plan of redemption and those whom He would choose to carry out His divine plan ( those of us who know Christ ) was decided, determined, and foreordained long ago even before the foundation of the world. 

 You will notice that the writer avoided ( no doubt on purpose ) the following Scriptures that I will be sharing below.  And I believe that he did so because they "conflict" with "his doctrine" which he has chosen to embrace, promote, and teach. 

Paul the apostle States the following:

1 Corinthians 1:30  .........But by His doing ( God's ) you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption....."

Philppians 1:6.....For I am confident of this very thing, that He ( God ) who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus ( The resurrection / Rapture and glorification of the Church saints ).

Ephesians 2:8 - 10........" For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God preparedbeforehand ( pre-determined / foreordained in eternity past ) so that we would walk in them.

 We who know Christ did NOT begin the work of God within our selves by excercising our "free will."  Salvation is God's work alone from the beginning to the END ).

Matthew 19:24 - 26......." And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God...............When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?...............But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Jesus stated the following to His disciples. 

John 15:16.......You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

 The disciples did NOT commission themselves nor surrender themselves to the ministry of Christ by an act of their own free will as no man is capable of doing so within his own power.  Instead Christ came to them and sought them out and commisioned them for His purposes.  Man is a fallen creature before God and without any ability nor power within himself to choose and "seek out God" for the salvation of his soul by excercising his free will apart from God's calling.  No one in their sinful state seeks after God ( Rom. 3:11,12 ) and neither can they "will themselves" to be saved without God the Father drawing them ( John chapter 6 ).

John 15:19 ......."If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

Again, Jesus came "seeking" His disciples and "chose them" out of the world. Such is the same of all of those who are in Christ and members of His body.

Acts 2:39.......For the promise is for you ( Israel ) and your children ( Israel ) and for all who are far off ( the Gentiles),  as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 

 It's God's call which is going forth and it is NOT man's free will  which is being executed apart from God's call and drawing process.  This Scripture verse above is in total harmony with the other Scriptures below.   When God the Father draws and calls someone, then they will surrender their will to the Father as He changes their hearts and enables them to receive Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit whom the Father is using to bring them to salvation.  God the Father is calling out all those whom He has predestined. 

John 6:29 .......Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God ( not man's ), that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

Man in his sinful state is incapable of believing, or more accurately is incapable of "trusting" and or "entrusting" himself to Christ without the help of God the Father drawing them by His divine power.

John 6:37 - 39......"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, NOT to do My own will, butthe will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.

 These verses here in John 6:37 - 39 are in complete harmony with the following Scripture verses below. It is God the Father who is the One who is giving them to Jesus.  Jesus said He came to do the "will of His Father" and NOT the "will of men" who would decide to "choose Him" or not choose Him by their "own free will", as they are unable to do so in their sinful and depraved spiritual state as a fallen creature before God ( Rom. 3:23 ).

John 6:43 - 44......."Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.  Noone can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws them ; and I will raise him up on the last day.

John 6:65........."And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

Wow!   What a powerful statement Jesus just made in the Scripture above.  It shows that man's "free will" is incapable of coming to Christ apart from God the Father drawing them. 

 These verses in John chapter 6 shows clearly that Man's "free will " cannot and will not choose God without the enablement of God the Father drawing them.  And when God the Father "draws" someone, then that person will come to Christ as God "enables" them to do so.  God the Father through the work of the Holy Spirit therefore enables the sinner to hear the call of God and therefore respond to that divine call.  In all of this God the Father's will is being executed and carried out according to His divine plan which He alone purposed, foreordained, and decreed long before the foundation of the world was laid.  Therefore man was not around to excercise his "free will" since he did not exist at the time that God had dertermined His purposes and plans.

1 Corinthians 2:14 ........But a natural man ( unsaved and unregerate man ) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.......... ( in otherwords, they are only understood by the Spirit of God who reveals them to the one who is "in Christ " ).

Romans 3:11, 12....... “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands,There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless;There is none who does good, There is not even one.”

Notice what Paul states....."There is none who seeks for God."  This Scripture shows that man in his sinful condition will

never choose God, nor is he capable of doing so by an act of his own free will because he is enstranged and separated from God and has no power within himself to surrender himself to the will of God ( see Rom. 8:6 - 8 ). 

 The "sinner" is controlled by their sinful depraved nature which is incapable of choosing and seeking after God.  Once again, this is why Jesus stated in John chapter 6 the following: ....."No one can come to Me UNLESS the Father who sent me draws them".....and again...."No one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

 There are many who "stumble" over these verses and who cannot bear to accept them, but yet there they are coming right out of the mouth of the Son of God Himself.  I would advise all to go read Romans 9:14 - 24 which Shows that God has "vessels of mercy" and He has "vessels of wrath prepared for destruction" which He raises up for His own purposes.

  

 Now there are some who will try and make the assertion that God the Father "draws" someone and then after sometime passes He then requires them to either "choose Him" or "reject Him" based on their ability to excercise their "free will."  Scripturally this is NOT the case as Jesus makes this clear in the following Scripture.

John 6:37 ........"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.

"Will come to Me" ...........Here you can see that there is NO ROOM for suggesting that during the Father's "drawing process" that God the Father ( during this process ) requires that a person then excercise theirfree will and choose either to receive or reject His Son.  The drawing process of God the Father is a process in which He is changing the heart of the one whom He is drawing by His Holy Spirit who enables them to respond to God the Father's call upon their lives which has been predetermined in eternity past.  And since they have been "predestined" before the foundation of the world as Scripture states, then they "will surrender" their "will" and lives to the call of God which they have been predestined for, eternity with God.

  

 You will notice in the Scripture verse above that Jesus is NOT the one who is giving them "to Himself ", but rather that it is the Father who is giving them to His Son, as it is the Father Himself who is the one who is drawingthem to His Son.  Then Christ gives them back to the Father.  When the Father draws someone, then God the Father will follow through to the end and bring them to Christ.  

 Now, God ( during the drawing of a person ) does NOT  say..."Ok, I have been drawing you for sometime now and so it's time for you to make a choice with the free will which you have.  The choice is "yours.  Will you accept my Son, or will you reject Him?"  

 This example and approach above is certainly not Scriptural as it is suggesting that what God has already predetermined beforehand was NOT actually His will and plan at all, but rather that it was really "man's will and plan" which God ordained and adopted due to His omniscience ( infinite knowledge of knowing the future ).  But the fact is this that the will and purpose of God was already predetermined BEFORE man was even created,  and therefore before man could even excercise his will.  God's plan and purpose was NOT designed around the fact that He knew the future and therefore knew ahead of time what "man would will", or what "man would not will."  God did NOT use His "omniscience" in order to predestine all those who know Christ, but rather He already foreordained and predetermined that He would create "vessels of mercy" ( Rom. 9:14 - 24 ) for Himself who would represent Him in order so that His plan and purpose which He had already foreordained and determined could be carried out and fullfilled according to His own will.  Man's will was nowhere in the picture of what God had already determined.

  The following Scriptures in the book of Revelation are as "clear as a bell " in what they are revealing and teaching. Only those who have been predestined before the foundation of the world to come to Christ will be the only ones whose names are written in the "Lamb's book of life."  The "names" of those who were NOTpredestined before the foundation of the world were NEVER written at any time in the "Lamb's book of life."

Revelation 13:8......"All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.

Revelation 17:8.........."And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.

 You can see that their names were NEVER written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world.  Therefore a persons name can NEVER be blotted out from the Lamb's book of life if it was NEVER written there in the first place.   And we know from Revelation 3:5that the "overcomer" is none other than those who are in Christ and their names will never be blotted from the Lamb's book of life because they are "overcomers" through the blood of Christ ( Rev. 12:11  ).

Revelation 3:5.....He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life...."

 We who know Christ have been made "overcomers" through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The apostle John who wrote the book of Revelation is the same John the apostle who wrote the following.

1 John 5:4, 5 ........."For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victorythat has overcome the world— our faith...........Who ( then ) is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Revelation 20:11 - 15........." Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them......... And I saw the dead ( all the lost souls of all time ), the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books( plural ) were opened; and another book ( singular ) was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds ( there is a record kept of all the deeds of the wicked ).

.........And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds........Then deathand Hades were thrown into the lake of fire............ This is the second death, the lake of fire........And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

 Do you all realize that we who are saved members of the "body of Christ",  and who according to Scripture were "predestined before the foundation of the world to be conformed to the image of God's Son " from the very beginning of our conception,  have NEVER had a book of our "works" kept on us!    Why?  Because our names were already written in the "Lamb's book of life" in eternity past before the creation of the world.  Our destiny was already predetermined by God according to "His will" and purpose.

 Therefore unlike the wicked at the "great white throne" who have their deeds recorded in books, yet there is NO RECORD or "book" being kept on us of "deeds" which we committed "prior" too our salvation, nor AFTER our salvation.  Why? Because all of our trangressions have been forgiven us in Christ past, present, and future.  His shed blood has made perfect and complete atonement for all sin for all time ( Heb. chapters 9 and  10 ).  The only book that has a "record" of us is the "Lamb's book of Life" which we who know Christ are enrolled in.  And the names of all those who know Christ ( overcomers ) will NEVER have their names be erased or blotted out from that book as it is impossible for God to do so due to the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

 I thank the Lord that He came "seeking after me" ( back in 1976 ) whom He had already predestined before the foundation of the world.  When I got saved I didn't have "one clue" as to what was getting ready to happen to me.  I was not searching nor looking for God one ioda! God came "knocking on my door" and I was totally unaware of His plans for my life which He had already ordained for me in eternity past

 When one understands and accepts what God's word teaches concerning "His" predetermined plan and purpose which was already laid out in His foreordination, predestination, and election of all those who have come to know Him through Christ, then it will make you to want to fall down on your face and humbly thank Him endlessly for what He has predetermined for your life as you realize that He has "included you" in His eternal plan for the ages to come.  My wife Jeri and I thank God over and over again every day as we realize that God has graciously including us in His eternal plan.  We can never thank Him enough!

Praise the Lord!   And what a Savior and God we have come to know and serve as His chosen ones!

Romans 8:29 .........For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

Romans 8:30.......and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

1 Corinthians 2:7 .........but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;

Ephesians 1:5.........He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself,according to the kind intention of His will, ( not man's will ).

Ephesians 1:11..........also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,

Colossians 3:12........So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;

2 Timothy 2:10 ........For this reason I endure all things for the sake of "thosewho are chosen", so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.

Titus 1:1 ..........Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,

1 Peter 1:1 .........Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen.

1 Peter 2:9 .......But you are a "chosen race, a royal priesthood, A holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called youout of darkness into His marvelous light;  for you once were NOT a people ( speaking of the Gentiles ), but now you are the people of God; you hand not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

2 Thessalonians 2:13.........But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

 There is NOT one word in these Scriptures emphasizing that "mans' will " had anything to due with God "choosing us" in Christ.  Man's will is NOT even in the picture nor in the equation of our predestination.  NOT ONE WORD! 

In Christ, Tom Gaston

Rapturetj@comcast.net

 

 

The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus

 "Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come;glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, thatto all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.  This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.  I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.  Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they wereYours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You;  for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I ask on their behalf ; I DO NOT ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours;  and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.  I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished  but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

 But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.  I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone ( His disciples ), but for those also who believe in Me through their word ( All those "that belong to the Father" that are yet to be saved );  that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Their Future Glory

^"The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also,whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
  “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

 

 

 The content and theme which is contained and presented within the "high Priestly prayer" of Jesus is a continuation, a confirmation, and a clarification of what Jesus had been teaching His disciples all along in the following Scriptures "prior to" His "high Priestly prayer."

 

 

John 6:37 - 39......"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, NOT to do My own will, butthe will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.

 

 

John 6:43 - 44......."Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.  Noone can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws them ; and I will raise him up on the last day.

 

 

John 6:65........."And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

 

 

The "high priestly prayer " of Jesus therefore reveals and clearly shows by its "content " and "repeated emphasis" the doctrine of foreordiation, predestination, and election in the calling out ( through Christ ) all those all who belonged to God the Father before the foundation of the world.

 

When will clear and plain Scripture be enough for people???????????

In Christ, Tom Gaston

Rapturetj@comcast.net