The Extreme View Of Total Dependence On God

Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The everlasting

God, The LORD,

The Creator of the ends

of the earth,

neither faints nor

is weary. 

His understanding is 

unsearchable.

Isaiah 20:28

     Opposite the theory of Deism where God has removed Himself from His creation leaving to their own devices and chance is the theory that God is the only cause. This theory of entire dependence does not allow for second causes, or in some theological circles, God will act in a some small way in allowing some "second causes" to occur. This absolute dependence on God, that includes that God is the only cause of events in the universe, has been widely adopted by the Church. This theory found advocates in many theists, among the Schoolmen, and by some Reformers, and by and large among many modern theologians. Many Christians are under the teaching of pastors and leaders, authors, and Christian educators who hold to this theory that God is the cause, man is not the cause, there are no second causes. Is this true? Is this a teaching we should come under in our Churches, and from invited speakers? Is God the only efficient cause? How does this theory affect my life, how I live and is it a true Doctrine of the Bible? Must we believe, just because some influential theologians from times gone past, that this Doctrine is true, that we believe it to be true? Paul gives us advice that we are to examine ourselves: "But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another" (Galatians 4:6). For some of us who have been bitten by false religion know that the first time we are as the saying goes: "The first time the dog bites me it is the dog's fault; the second time it is my fault." Become like the Bereans: "These (the Bereans vs.10) were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). Notice that this was not some off-hand, sometime (when things were in turmoil) search, this they did daily. Historically the Schoolmen otherwise known as Scholastics, among other teachings taught: Form and methodology constructed on the principles of Plato and a system of Christian philosophy. Those early Church fathers attempted to bring reason to the aid of Revelation. They were educators in the Universities and had influence upon students desiring to know God, yet instead of the Bible as the only source for truth they leaned heavily on the doctrine of the mystics, ultimately relying more on spiritual intuition that on dialectical proof for their explanation of the highest truths of philosophy. In the ninth century a Church father, John Scotus Erigena, taught: "Theophanes of all things visible and invisible creature, can rightly be called the manifestation of the divine." The wording must be carefully observed, the words visible and invisible are the manifestations of God. This teaching removes "second causes" and he had his followers. Some of those early fathers taught: That God is the essence of all being of all things and creatures. In other words, God is to be the only efficient cause.Thomas Acquinas stated: "That the fire is not to give heat, but God in the fire; and the same applies to all others." Even Zwingle was inclined to this extreme view of the dependence of the creatures of God, among other things on this subject he states: "Essence, power, and the operation of the gods, but they have not on their own. Then, are the instruments. That accompany these things, which we give the name of causes, not causes, but his hands and his right to the organs, the mind is eternal which it operates." John Calvin did not go so far: "They are nothing else than instruments, as it willeth for efficacy and for by which God his own discretion and constantly dropped in to this or that action bends and turns."
     As can be seen by these few examples of the early Church fathers, those who had much influence upon the Church there was a tendency and even a hard line approach that God was not in control of "second causes." I have not answered all the above questions, only have given the ground for such theological thought, a thought that has pervaded many Churches today and is affecting the lives and thinking of men and women who are truly seeking the truth about God. This subject must, because of its size and influence, be examined in more than one blog. Therefore this is a beginning, and more will be in the next blog. 

And he showed me
     a pure river
of water of life,
    clear as crystal,
proceeding from the
    throne of God and
of the Lamb.
                 Revelation 22:1

Remember, "it is done!"

Richard L. Crumb 

Objection To The Deistic View Of Sovereignty

Look at the birds

of the air,

for they neither

sow nor reap 

nor gather into barns;

yet your heavenly

Father feeds them....

Matthew 6:26a

      There are times in every one's life where confusions abounds. Distraction enters the mind when events seemingly are irrational. There seems to be no purpose for what occurred. In fact, it is hard to believe that there is a God who is Sovereign and in control; a God of Providence. In our confusion we are distracted and even there is a question of whether or not there is a God? If sanctification occurred in all its completeness at the time that God calls us and instills in us the Holy Spirit, we would not have questions; we would just accept what happens. This is not the case; sin abounds in the lives of men and must be removed and that by daily walking with the Lord by reading His Word, praying for the help needed, and finally by exercising the truths given to us in His Word in our every moment of life. For some men their questions become theories that are in order to explain these difficulties. For the Rationalists it is: "Any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification," opposing the Empirical view: "A theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily via sensory experience." A popular view that has been a theory of God for centuries and is well known today as a view of one of our Presidents; Thomas Jefferson (right or wrong is not part of this discussion). That view is Deism: "A view that gives way to a belief in a God, but this God is assumed that He is too exalted to concern Himself with even the smallest detail(s) of His creatures." Possibly you have had some thoughts regarding God in the same manner as the Deist. For the Deist God made the world and all the laws that govern and determine His creation. God gave to man the power of free agency, the stars, planets, suns, etc. with all the necessary properties; therefore God leaves the world to be guided by those laws that have been established and the effects of man's free agency. God never inserts His control and the world runs as though a watchmaker made a watch then sits back and watches it run allowing the watch to operate within the laws established. All things are said to pass by virtue of those laws and the operation of causes, that which He created at the beginning and set into motion. As with the watchmaker there was a need to wind the watch and when it began to operate then he left it alone to operate within the laws of nature, and the watch design. God does not in the view of the Deist determine or operate the natural causes; therefore the reason one season is propitious and much fruit, vegetables, and vegetation growth occurs and another season is the reverse, according to this theory is that things are the way they are due to the blind operation of natural causes. In other words, all happens by chance, God has nothing to do with them.
     Many people have fallen prey to this theory of God because they do not know God, nor do they attempt to know Him by reading God's Word on the matter, or that they attend churches that are so liberal (at least in some manner) that even their leaders are in some form; Deistic.The Scriptures are plain and clear that man in his naturalness cannot know God: But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Those theories of men who attempt to reason for the operations of the universe and in their own live faces the very first problem that they cannot overcome: "For 'who has know the mind of the Lord (cf. Isaiah 40:13) that he may instruct Him?' But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16). Without the mind of Christ operating in our lives we too then become fodder for false theories regarding God's Sovereignty and Providence.The Mind of Christ comes only to those He has called and enabled and with the baptism of the Holy Spirit by means of the acceptance, by a man, that Jesus Christ is his savior, and repents of his sins. Only God can reveal Himself to man and man can know of God only by the power of the Holy Spirit: "But God has revealed them to us (who are the "us"? it is the church of God as noted in 1 Corinthians 1:2) through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. for what man knows the things of man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). The prophet Isaiah gives us the way to God: "Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near" (Isaiah 55:6). It is God through His Son Jesus Christ that we are drawn to Him: "And I, if I am lifted up form the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself" (John 12:32). Notice two things in this Scripture; "people is italicized because it is added to clarify the meaning; and that the "all" is not every individual, this is a collective form and means certain ones of all types; but most important, Jesus will draw those His Father has given to Him: "My father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand" (John 10:29).
     Do not allow your confusion to stay confused: read His Word, pray to God for help and direction. Associate with a true Bible believing and teaching Church. The Scriptures are everywhere found to speak of God intervening in man's affairs and that He controls the universe. It is God who supplies the wants and needs of His creatures, not even a hair can fall without His notice. God controls the destiny of His creatures, His purpose will be accomplished. But, you ask, how can I know that God has called me? How can I know that God has me in His hand? A simple test, if it be a test, is this; do you desire to know God? Do you immerse yourself in His Word? Do you apply His Word in your life? Are you truly repentant for your sins? If so, then God is enabling you and drawing you to Him, yet, we must choose Him, and to choose Him is by the enabling of the Holy Spirit. Growth in sanctification may at seems slow, failure seems to happen much too often: God forgives the repentant heart and it is the heart that He sees and judges, for if you are truly repentant; then God forgives. 

Therefore whoever hears
     these sayings of Mine,
and does them, I will liken
     him to a wise man.....
                       Matthew 7:24a

Today, know that Jesus has the power to forgive sins.

Richard L. Crumb

God's Providential Relation To Sin

Let no one say

when he is tempted, 

"I am tempted by God;" 

for God cannot

be tempted by evil,

nor does He

Himself tempt anyone.

James 1:13

     Act one; scene two, where Queen Gertrude speaks to Hamlet: "Thou know'st 'tis common, all that lives must die. Passing through nature to eternity." The truthful words of Queen Gertrude cannot be disproved. It is the life between birth and death that for individuals is measured by God. It is sin, the sins of men, those sinful acts, all which must be somehow accounted, either to God or to man. It is very difficult to reconcile God's Providence with that fact of sin and sinful acts. The Scriptures teach us in regard to sin that they are under the control of God. They occur by His very permission and in execution of His purpose. As Sovereign and intimately involved in His creation and to the accomplishment for the purpose of creation that He guides men and women, both old and young, in their exercise of their wickedness, in all their forms and manifestations, each being determined by His will. Whoa! Wait a minute! Does this mean that God is the author of sin? Does this fact relieve us, His creation, without accountability for what we do? Is it then true that we are not responsible for what we do? What about the law of second causes? How can we reconcile these perplexing questions about God's relationship in Providence to sin? Some examples might help us clear the fog that so envelopes our minds. King Saul in a battle with the Philistines was wounded by an archer's arrow and Saul asked his armor bearer to kill him but the armor bearer would not obey so; "Saul took a sword and fell on it" (1 Chronicles 10:4b). Did God do the act of death or did Saul? The narrative of Saul's death, because he was unfaithful by not keeping God's word (a lesson for us, inasmuch as we are to keep God's word), continues where it is said that God killed him; (1 Chronicles 10:14). Who killed who? Was it God or Saul? It was God who inspired the narrative of the Exodus of the Jews and the warnings and the spiritual battle that was occurring with Pharaoh. During the 10 visits with Pharaoh and his magicians that Pharaoh hardened his heart (Exodus 7:3; 13; 22); then it is recorded that on the horribleness of the boils inflicted upon the Egyptians that Pharaoh's heart was hardened by the LORD; (Exodus 9:12). After the Israelites left Egypt, after the last plague, God hardened Pharaoh's heart; (Exodus 14:4). Why did God do such a thing? Because God controls all events towards His purpose as He so does state: "And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the Children of Israel from among them" (Exodus 7:5). God purposed two things, one, to bring Israel out from under bondage and to make them into a great nation; two, that the Egyptians may know that He is God. John's Revelation speaks of God's control over events here on earth: "For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled" (Revelation 17:17). We all can remember the account of Joseph where his brothers sought to do harm to him but God turned that bad event into the release of Israel, God overturned evil for good. Most importantly, God allowed His Son, Jesus Christ, to be beat, humiliated, then allowed Him to die upon the cross. Let us not be quick to dismiss this story so well known, and lean only on the fact that God allowed this to have sins propitiated. Jesus Christ underwent a horrible death, imagine the nails being driven into your wrists and into the top of your feet, the slamming to the stake into the hole in the ground, the thirst, the ridicule He endured during His death. This God allowed, this was God incarnate as man, the second Person of the Trinity, crucified by the will of God, just for sinful man which by doing so accomplishes His purpose. Did God cause the death of Jesus Christ? Is God responsible for evil? We turn to the Scriptures for the answer: No! God did not cause the death of Jesus Christ because Jesus was sinful, only that by means of the death of Jesus, in His economy and dispensation, but allowed and determined the death of Jesus to accomplish His purpose; and no, God is not responsible for evil as the Scriptures so indicate. The Scriptures teach that God's Providence in relation to the sins of men, is that sinfulness proceeds only from the creature, man, and not from God. The Apostle John adds: "For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world" (1 John 2:16). The opening Scripture further admits that God is not the author of sin, man is the author. God places sin upon man, His allowance for sin is not the cause for sin, man is the cause as Jeremiah states: "Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come stand before me in this house which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations" (Jeremiah 7:9-10)?

     Oh! let us learn from Jeremiah's words, for how often do we do such evil things, maybe you say it was only a "little" sin, a "white lie," and harbor ill feelings towards someone, then come to Church as though all was well between you and God? God does not accept your worship! Repentance, true repentance, not some emotional response to guilt, rather a true guilt emotion for defaming God in your heart. You must admit, we all must admit, we are the source for sin, we are responsible for our sin. It is clear from Scripture that God does govern all His creatures, their actions, and this fact can be found in all religions. It is our nature as written earlier that we have as our nature the knowledge of God. No matter what manner of philosophy, or religion, and theory that a man may have it is consistent and intuitive to be convicted of our sins. How does God do this? I don't know! All attempts to explain this difficulty only raises more questions than answers, but, the Scripture's plain teaching are consistent in teaching that man is responsible for their actions. In God's Providence He takes our bad and makes good become the result because He is in control. We cannot rely upon human reason for the answer, we cannot use the authority of man to resolve this difficulty. We must solely rely upon the authority of God, His Sovereignty, His Providence, and upon the efficacious work upon the cross that removes sin, and makes infinite intercession for all those God saves and makes them holy and His children. 

     It would serve us and our understanding on this subject to examine different theories; that will be our next blog.

For all People

     walk each in

the name of his 

     god,

but we will walk

in the name of the

    LORD our God.

                   Micah 4:5

May God Lead You Today

Richard L. Crumb