Category: Biblical Doctrine

Biblical doctrine discussed.

  • WHAT IS PREDESTINATION.

     

    The majority of Monastic and Secular Churches do not actively preach predestination.  Each type of religion believes in their own interpretation of predestination as their own traditional teachings dictate.

    Generally accepted the definition of predestination is the divine foreordaining of all that will happen, especially with regard to the salvation of some and not of others.

    This generality has been specifically associated with the teachings of St. Augustine of Hippo and of John Calvin the French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation.

    St. Augustine of Hippo is quoted as “Predestination is the foreknowledge and the preparation of those gifts of God whereby they who are delivered are most certainly delivered.”

    http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12378a.htm

    John Calvin’s explanation was “By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which He determined with Himself whatever He wished to happen with regard to every man”.

    John Calvin (2012) “The Institutes Of The Christian Religion (Annotated Edition)”, p.810,

    The Body of Christ has an eclectic view of many doctrines taught throughout the world. The understanding of exactly what predestination is and its purpose is not standardized nor do pastors agree about predestination in biblical terms.

    God predestined certain people, nations, angels and time. It is God who wills men and nations to perform duties concerning the destiny of mankind within his plan of salvation.

    All humans are predestined to die a mortal death. All godly humans, who meet the highest standards of Jesus Christ, are predestined to be saved for immortality.

    God has planned 144,000 predestined positions for the Bride of Christ. The number of Bride members is predetermined, but it is not predestined who will be in the Bride of Christ.

    It was predestined by God that dispensations would differ in the blessings and curses that would or would not be bestowed upon them.

    The flood, lasting a year in Noah’s day, was predestined 120 years before it happened. Jesus birth as the Messiah could never have happened during the time of Daniel or David, but was predestined to occur during the time of Rome’s occupation of Israel’s. John the Baptist was predestinated to be the Herald of Jesus. Judas was predestined to be the betrayer of the Messiah. I could continue to talk about others, but only Jesus Christ was predestined for a specific pre-resurrection. None were predestined for salvation.

    There was never a virgin birth during the time of Solomon or Esther, yet it was predestined to happen in the time of King Herod.

    The people of Enoch’s dispensation didn’t have the Mosaic Law or the Law of Righteousness. During that dispensation of Enoch (God’s friend) Enoch was translated and taken by God, so that Enoch should not see death. But Enoch’s dispensational period did not allow Enoch a position in the Bride. Enoch’s translation did not void out the laws that govern perfection and neither did Enoch ascend to heaven. Hebrews 11:13 states that Enoch died not receiving the promises which God had given in the dispensation of the Messiah.

    Each dispensation has its own significant acts of predestination. None living before the dispensation of Jesus could lay claim to the predestined promises of righteousness given through and only by the coming of Jesus Christ. None before the dispensation of Christ could lay claim to the First Resurrection or a Bride membership.

    It was not predestined that Moses or Abraham would sit at the feet of Jesus during the Roman occupation and the dispensation of Jesus Christ.