Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals
Tuesday, September 15
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2 Peter 2:1-But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
The Apostles of Christ taught that during the Christian Age, some would depart from God’s Word (Acts 20:28-32; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-13; 1 Timothy 4:1-5; 2 Timothy 3:15-4:5; 2 Peter 2:1-22). Sadly, we see this happening throughout the history of the church.
When Catholicism began to thrive in the ancient world, the Bible as God’s authority in all religious and spiritual matters was rejected. Paganism then quickly began to infiltrate the world of Christendom. Some of the pagans believed in the notion that all matter is evil and that the gods individually predestined each person to Heaven or Hell (irregardless of their personal desires and choices).
Valentinus said saving faith comes from your spirit, if you are one of the chosen (men are born saved),[xvi] and some are not predestined to be saved but are predestined for hell. The rest might be saved through works.[xvii] Only those whose spirits are an emanation from Sophia are predestined to be saved. All others are predestined to hell (double predestination),[xviii] and those predestined for salvation do not need to practice good works.[xix] So we can see that affirming predestination based on emanation, double predestination, denying original sin, and denying the need for holiness are all Gnostic ideas that Paul would classify as a “doctrine of demons”.…With the demise of most of the factions of the Gnostics by the mid second century, the two main schools left were the Valentinian Gnostics (Calvinistic Gnostics) and the Basilidean Gnostics (Pelagian Gnostics). By the mid third century the Basilidean Gnostics had all but died out and the Valentinian Gnostics were growing fewer in number, except in their stronghold in the mountains of Egypt. They had all been forgotten by the church until AD 216, when a man named Manes (Mani) was born. He studied all the major philosophies, then emerged on the scene declaring he was a prophet of God. Manichaeism About AD 252, Manes formed a sect called the Manicheans. They mixed Christianity with Valentinian Gnosticism and other Persian elements. He stated his teaching came from Christ and the Persian Magi. Mani taught that there are two gods, one evil and one good.[xx] He taught Jesus came to reconcile man to Satan, the dark god,[xxi] but Jesus did not undergo punishment on the cross.[xxii] He said Satan is the god of Moses and the prophets.[xxiii] Man does not have free will,[xxiv] and some are born with their nature totally depraved,[xxv] while others are born nearly perfect.[xxvi] Mani said he was the Comforter (Paraclete) and also the “that which is perfect” of 1 Corinthians 13:3. Mani taught that vegetarianism, marriage, and having children are sins, [xxvii] and that there was a purgatory for purifying souls.[xxviii] The church listened to Manes and concluded that he was a heretic. Since Manes denied the Scriptural teaching of the free will of man, he could not be sinless and therefore not an emanation from God.…On November 13, AD 354, a child was born who would become known as Augustine of Hippo. He grew up rather wild and rejected the things of God. After a time of seeing the results of his sin, he began his own unique journey into the world of religion and philosophy. After studying for quite a while, he joined the Manicheans. Augustine remained loyal to the Gnostic cult for eight years.…Augustine had very little success in his debates, so he decided to go back and see how the Valentinian Gnostics gained their victories over the Basilidean Gnostics. He found most of the time the Valentinians did this by focusing on their doctrine of predestination. The Gnostic version was based on the idea that a man’s spirit was an emanation of a god and therefore incorruptible. This would not fit with Christianity, so he changed it a bit and came up with the idea that a Christian is predestined for salvation, not because of anything in himself but because God simply ordained it without any explanation. This had to be because mankind is totally depraved and unable to do anything in and of himself. Thus the doctrines of predestination, total depravity, and bondage of the will were formed. (Ken Johnson, Th. D., The Gnostic Origins of Calvinism, 17-23 (Kindle Edition): CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform)
Later, John Calvin adapted the teachings of these pagans as he relied on the writings of Augustine. The sad result is that many in the religious world today have, in rejecting the Word of God, likewise incorporated such doctrines into their denominational creeds. Tragically, many today are unaware that much of their religious traditions are in fact doctrines of demons.
Antony Flew, one of the world’s most well-known (former) atheists, describes how these false teachings were partly responsible for turning him away from Christianity.
I had always been repulsed by the doctrine of predestination, which holds that God predestines the damnation of most human beings. An important feature of this debate was Craig’s rejection of traditional predestinarian ideas and his defense of libertarian free will. Craig held that God acts directly on effects and not on the secondary agents, and thus it was impossible for God to create a world of genuinely libertarian creatures who always do the right thing. He cited verses from the Bible that emphasize God’s desire that “all persons should be saved” (e.g., 2 Peter 3:9). Quite recently I found out that John Wesley, whom I consider one of my country’s great sons, had led a great controversy against predestination and in favor of the “Arminian” alternative, particularly in his greatest paper “Predestination Calmly Considered.” I also understand that many exegetes today see St. Paul’s writings on predestination as referencing the role of specific individuals in the workings of the church and not their salvation or damnation. (Antony Flew & Roy Abraham Varghese, There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, 73 (Kindle Edition): New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.)
Flew, after many years of study, eventually renounced atheism.
I now believe that the universe was brought into existence by an infinite Intelligence. I believe that this universe’s intricate laws manifest what scientists have called the Mind of God. I believe that life and reproduction originate in a divine Source. Why do I believe this, given that I expounded and defended atheism for more than a half century? The short answer is this: this is the world picture, as I see it, that has emerged from modern science. Science spotlights three dimensions of nature that point to God. The first is the fact that nature obeys laws. The second is the dimension of life, of intelligently organized and purpose-driven beings, which arose from matter. The third is the very existence of nature. But it is not science alone that has guided me. I have also been helped by a renewed study of the classical philosophical arguments. My departure from atheism was not occasioned by any new phenomenon or argument. Over the last two decades, my whole framework of thought has been in a state of migration. This was a consequence of my continuing assessment of the evidence of nature. When I finally came to recognize the existence of a God, it was not a paradigm shift, because my paradigm remains, as Plato in his Republic scripted his Socrates to insist: “We must follow the argument wherever it leads.” (Antony Flew & Roy Abraham Varghese, There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind by Antony Flew, 88-89 (Kindle Edition); New York, NY; Harper Collins Publishers, Inc.)
Again:
In the video of the symposium, the announcer suggested that of all the great discoveries of modern science, the greatest was God. In this symposium, when asked if recent work on the origin of life pointed to the activity of a creative Intelligence, I said: Yes, I now think it does… almost entirely because of the DNA investigations. What I think the DNA material has done is that it has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce (life), that intelligence must have been involved in getting these extraordinarily diverse elements to work together. It’s the enormous complexity of the number of elements and the enormous subtlety of the ways they work together. The meeting of these two parts at the right time by chance is simply minute. It is all a matter of the enormous complexity by which the results were achieved, which looked to me like the work of intelligence. This statement represented a major change of course for me, but it was nevertheless consistent with the principle I have embraced since the beginning of my philosophical life—of following the argument no matter where it leads. (Antony Flew & Roy Abraham Varghese, There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind by Antony Flew, 74-74 (Kindle Edition); New York, NY; Harper Collins Publishers, Inc.)
Finally:
But the three items of evidence we have considered in this volume—the laws of nature, life with its teleological organization, and the existence of the universe—can only be explained in the light of an Intelligence that explains both its own existence and that of the world….I must say again that the journey to my discovery of the Divine has thus far been a pilgrimage of reason. I have followed the argument where it has led me. And it has led me to accept the existence of a self-existent, immutable, immaterial, omnipotent, and omniscient Being. (Antony Flew & Roy Abraham Varghese, There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind by Antony Flew, 155 (Kindle Edition); New York, NY; Harper Collins Publishers, Inc.)
However, he never turned his life to Jesus Christ.
May we beware of the effects of such terrible doctrines like Calvinism, and may we strive to diligently and carefully examine and apply God’s Word.
Father, give us wisdom and help us to better understand Your Word. Amen.