“The counsel of the LORd standeth forever, the thoughts of [H]eart to all generations”                                                                                                                                         (Psalm 33:11)

“…[O]ur God is in the heavens” [H] hath done whatsoever [H]e hath pleased.”                                                                                                                                           (Pslam 115)

“….[H]e worketh all things after the counsel of [H]is [O]wn will…”   (Ephesians 1)

 

I can remember the first time I came to understand the doctrine of God’s absolute sovereignty. I came to understand this foundational and fundemental doctrine when I learned the doctrine of Election. The manner in which I came to understand election was when I heard a preacher said that man cannot be saved whenever he wants to and he cannot be saved without the initiating work of the Holy Spirit.  This was a mind blowing comment.

The reason this preacher’s comment was so life changing was due to my incorrect view and understanding of God’s way of salvation. I had been led to believe that a person could be saved whenever he wanted to, all he had to do was to come to an understanding of the Gospel on his own volition and ask God to save him.  I was not taught that the Holy Spirit was absolutely necessary for one to come to this understanding. I thought all men had the ability to decide for himself, someone simply needed to lay the facts before him. Many persons are still under this erroneous doctrine. These persons, though well meaning, are sorely mistaken and under tremendous amounts of stress to get their fellow man saved. These misinformed persons believe they will be responsible for their neighbor and family if they go to hell and the blood of the Hell-bound will be on their hands.

If asked these persons will try to deny this stress but I was there.  The problem with this incorrect understanding of salvation is while it is stressing to the spirit, it is also logical that this understanding will cause the flesh to feel very self important. The flesh, at some point will begin to glorify itself. The flesh will begin to steal glory from God even though God says He will not share His Glory with another. This self importance may not be self evident but it is there…I was there and I know of what i speak.

After I heard the preacher speak on the absolute necessity of the Spirit’s initiating work in the spirit of the lost man all the stress and responsibility began to lift (However and although, we are called upon to speak of Christ, we are not responsible for the outcome. Salvation is of the LORD, salvation is not in accordance or compatable with the self will of man.
I began to study this doctrine of the Spirit’s sovereignty in election for myself. I read Luther’s, “Bondage of the Will,”  Arthur Pink’s,  “The Sovereignty of God,” and I looked up every mention of election, elect, chosen, and predestination in the Scriptures by using a concordance. I then read R.C. Sproul’s book, “Chosen.”

As I was studying the Scriptures and reading these books I was asking God for understanding and clarification as well as a confidence to make a stand on this/these doctrines.

Once I came to a place where I was pretty confident on a position and after trying to argue with that new position from Scripture, I contacted the preacher mentioned above and spoke to him concerning my findings and new understanding of God and His Sovereignty and asked if I was on the right track.  The preacher said, “Son, you are not crazy,” and he began to discuss these great truths with me.

Paul mentions a (2nd) second blessing in Scripture. He may not have been speaking to these doctrines but I can confess to a SENCE…a feeling comparable to a (2nd) second salvation or blessing. What I mean by a (2nd) second salvation is how i saw God in a new and glorious Light. I understood God in a new way and I was truly awe-struck. I then started finding the absolute sovereignty of the Godhead everywhere. I gloried in the Sovereignty of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I understood Ephesians 1:11, Christ’s teachings in John 6 and 10, and John 3 in the (b)right Light of Glorious Truth!!!

When I said this illumination was like a (2nd) second salvation I also meant that I began to share this great, this glorious, this comforting, this awesome truth with anyone who would listen.  To my surprise I was not met with great enthusiasm nor was this liberating, inspiring, golden and God Glorifying doctrine. I found that the circle/camp I was in was opposes to this doctrine and considered it heresy.
I continued to teach it and preach it because, like Luther, my conscience was held captive to Scripture. It got to the point that I actually said to God, either my family and I must leave the church (A huge and scary move) or the current pastor would have to go. We were very close to this pastor and his family, so this made the crumbling relationship especially difficult. I found out within the last year that the preacher said the same thing to God as I did, ” Either they go or we go.”

The preacher announced that he would be leaving the church and would begin pastoring another church.  This was staggering (probably to both the preacher and me), God had answered our prayers and it was a blatant answer. I was glad and relieved to see this pastor leave however, I want to state very clearly this was not a personally satisfying answer to prayer. The preacher’s resignation was necessary for the health of the church. This preacher must not be seen in any kind of a negative light.
The pastor’s resignation was God’s will and it took the form it did. This preacher was an exceptional teacher of the Word, I don’t know if I have ever, personally,  known a better or more detailed teacher than this man. His teaching on the tabernacle still remains with me to this day, almost (2) two decades later. This preacher was used by God to bring me back to the fold, his teachings and his friendship laid the foundation to what I am today. This pastor was a “chief corner-Stone” to my development.”

It is sad that our differences caused the division that they did. I blame the spirit legalism and a flesh centered understanding of the Gospel that drove the wedge between he and i. The church was not growing as the pastor expected and I believe, right or wrong, he placed the blame of this retardation of church-growth squarely on this writer.  He is not to be faulted in anyway for this, he was the victim of legalism’s possessing and tasking spirit.

A preacher must be conscious of God’s will. He must be inclined and open to the Spirit’s movements and purposes. He must be submissive to the will of the Godhead, no matter how much it may hurt or disrupt. I know it was God’s will that the aforementioned pastor leave his ministry because of the pastor that came next. This pastor was a great blessing as he was not possessed by the legalistic spirit. The new pastor understood grace and liberty, he was used of God to continue my education of Christ-ian liberty.

I stood in the pulpit, as I was one of the members of the committee to elect the new pastor, and stated unequivically that it was the will of God that this pastor lead this church. Ron Ruben is still pastoring the church almost (18) eighteen years later. A more faithful and dedicated man you will not find………………………..However,

The dividing but true doctrines of God’s sovereignty and of His free and unconditional election of certain sinners to salvation made it’s divisive presence known again. Within (4) four to (5) five years, I again was asking God, is it Thy will that Ruben remains or I remain in the church. This time it was my turn to go.
The doctrines of God’s absolute sovereignty and God’s free and unconditional election of certain sinners to salvation (As He passes over others) are very devisive, these doctrines draw a line in the sand and they turn brother against brother.
But do these doctrines have to be a deal breaker? The answer is yes and no. These doctrines do break apart relationships and church families yet they do not have to, but they do and they will.

These foundational and fundemental doctrines are not to be blamed nor is God. God is pleased when brethren dwell together in unity, and He hates the dividing up of brethren. The blame lies upon one’s refusal to see the clear and prevalent teachings of Scripture on God’s sovereignty and free election.

I wrote above that it was my turn to leave the church. Years later I crossed paths with Pastor Ruben and we spoke of old times and we found that we (2) two could, in fact and indeed, walk together, having differences and disagreements between the (2) two of us.
Pastor Ruben sees God one way and I see God in another way, but we both vehemently and fervently agree that Christ Died and rose again for sinners and whether God elects certain persons to salvation or not, (He does) persons; sinners must be told of the consequences of their rebellious acts against the Holy God and of God’s grace that can save them from the consequences of their rebellion.

I am a home preacher and Pastor Ruben is the pastor of Lighthouse Church in Plainfield/Romeoville/Bolingbrook area. We respect each other and more importantly, we love each other and God’s callings on both of us to be shepherds to God’s people, whether God’s people are elected by God to salvation or not…………………………………… (they are).
Godspeed.