Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Eternal Security And The Sin Unto Death

Eternal Security And
The
 Sin Unto Death

Dan Corner

Can The Righteous Sin Unto Death (Lose Salvation)?

sin unto death

sin unto death
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The Sin Unto Death Verse

The bogus sin unto death understanding given by the eternal security teachers reveals their license to sin!sin unto death It is important to know about because you will probably never hear any eternal security teacher say outrightly their doctrine is a license for immorality. In fact, they will most often flatly deny this charge sometimes to the point of yelling slanderHowever, there are still various ways these people teach this very thing they hate to be identified with. Again, this is through their twisted version of the sin unto death. The apostle John wrote of this sin:
If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. (1 John 5:16,17).
Can A Real Christian Experience Spiritual Death (Sin Unto Death) After Initial SalvationClearly, there is sin unto death. Whatever type of death this is, is not clearly identified in 1 John 5:16,17. However, the eternal security teachers like to draw our attention to 1 Cor. 11:27-30 to teach physical death is the sin unto death:
Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
And to that they further try to connect the sin unto death to the physical deaths of Ananias and Sapphira. To them, they are specific examples of the sin unto death:
Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?" "Yes," she said, "that is the price." Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also." At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband (Acts 5:3-10).

To Them The Sin Unto Death Is Always Physical

To the eternal security teachers sin unto death 1 John 5 will always be physical death, such as mentioned in 1 Cor. 11:30 and Acts 5:3-10. While it is undeniable truth that God gets so angry over sin that he kills people because of it, there is another truth related to the sin unto death that the eternal security teachers will always deny - that sin can bring a Christian to his spiritual death. Hence, just like Adam and Eve who died spiritually because of their sin, as God warned (Gen. 2:17), Christians can experience the same. God didn't kill them physically, but they did die spiritually. For them it was a sin unto death in a spiritual sense!From the eternal security perspective, when a person once saved dies physically, he goes to heaven. How such people are living at that point is inconsequential, even if God would kill them physically because of their unrepentant heinous sins. This clearly spells out a license for immorality and that is their poisonous understanding of the sin unto death.

Dave Hunt's License For Immorality

Please note what Dave Hunt teaches about this as he comments on the 1 Cor. 11 passage and the sin unto death:
For this cause, some of you are weak and sickly and some of you sleep; some of you died because God has brought judgment upon you for the way you have conducted yourselves and so forth. So I think what he's saying is, there are some sins that are so heinous and not only heinous but perhaps I think it depends upon the position that a person has that brings reproach upon Christ and God takes them home for that. [Radio show 0121. (The word, heinous, is defined as "utterly reprehensible or evil.")]

Sin Unto Death - Judgment or Blessing?

To be consistent with Dave Hunt ministries license for immorality or his security-in-sin gospel, commonly called eternal security (once saved always saved, the perseverance of the saints or the preservation of the saints), Dave Hunt must always teach the way just cited. Question for Dave Hunt (and all other eternal security proponents):
What kind of punishment is this that God would kill a person because of their unrepentant heinous sins and take them out of this cursed environment filled with sin, injustice and pain to a beautiful paradise where joy, peace, truth, righteousness, etc. will be?
For Paul, to live was Christ and die was gain and better by far (Phil. 1:21-23), but these "blind guides" want us to think we can live for self, sin and the devil and die in those sins and still go to heaven. Hence, death isn't really a punishment at all, but a blessing and gain for their hatred of God and wickedness.To look at this in another way, one can therefore backslide into heinous sin and wickedness, absolutely refuse to repent even though disciplined and get blessed by the thrice holy God for his unyielding stubborn rebellion when God strikes him dead in his holy wrath and anger AND TAKES HIM TO HEAVEN! Dear reader, that is nonsense! If you ponder the horrible conclusion produced by the eternal security teachers, you will have to agree that their version of the sin unto death is nothing more than a deadly, religious myth yielding an opportunity to live in wild rebellion to God - a license for immorality.
Eternal Security Dripping With A License To Sin

D. James Kennedy's Sin Unto Death

The so-called Berean Dave Hunt is not alone with these Scriptural fabrications and distortions about the sin unto deathDave Hunt has the staunch Calvinists as his close companions and co-laborers on the sin unto death, even though he claims to oppose Calvinism! Please note what Calvinist, D. James Kennedy has likewise written about the sin unto death:
I think back many years ago of a man in this church who was engaged in adultery - a man who had been a minster [sic] and had left the ministry, but a man who seemed to be a godly man - a man who seemed to be a Christian. Only God knows the heart. He became involved with a married woman. He was going to have her divorce her husband and marry him. I admonished him and urged him to repent. He was brought before the discipline committee and they admonished him to repent. He was suspended from the sacraments, but he did not repent. Finally, the Session determined that since he remained impenitent, they would have to excommunicate this man from the church. Just before that happened, God pulled his string and suddenly that young man died. These are just some of the unlimited, infinite ways God can chasten those who are truly His own, who do not repent of their sins. My friends, we need to take the warnings seriously because they are very real. [D. James Kennedy, Can A Christian Fall From Grace? (Ft. Lauderdale FL: Coral Ridge Ministries), pp. 14, 15.]
So Dave Hunt and the Calvinists are identical twins regarding the sin unto death, because they both teach eternal security, that is, once a person becomes saved he will always remain saved regardless how far into wickedness he may go and remain there without any repentance!

Click Here: S. Michael Houdmann Teaches the Same Heretical Way About The Sin Unto Death

Calvinism's Christian Adulterers

D. James Kennedy's message comes through loud and clear regarding his so-called doctrines of graceHe is indirectly saying by his story that Christian adulterers do exist. In contrast to this deadly doctrinal myth, the Bible speaks of only one type of adulterer and he is always shown as one who will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9,10), but instead will be thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8), unless he repents. But the eternal security teachers don't think this person has to repent for salvation. He will still get to heaven and escape hell in his unrepentant adultery or heinous sins, because he was once saved! How God must hate this deadly lie which has multitudes deceived.At times D. James Kennedy's Calvinism will have him declare the elect will endure in holiness to the end, but then he turns right around and blatantly teaches his sin unto death yarn. Doesn't D. James Kennedy know that dying in adultery is not enduring to the end in holiness? Clearly, this is a doctrine of demons, which Christians must oppose!

God Lovers and God Haters

Dear eternal security reader, don't let yourself be deceived by popular teachers of our hour and from yesteryear who have changed grace into a license for immorality, as just proven. This should be apparent now after considering what both types of eternal security teachers have said about the sin unto deathTheir deadly version of grace with the sin unto death allows or permits all forms of unrepentant wickedness for those that get regenerated. In contrast, the Bible says the following:
However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor 2:9).Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? (James 2:5)
In other words, those who actually enter God's kingdom love God. (This is the real issue, not if God loves them.) To love God we must obey him (John 14:15,21,23,24; 1 John 5:3). Moreover, not to love Jesus is to be unsaved:
If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed. Maranatha. (1 Cor 16:22)
Clearly, one is not loving God if he is in such sins as those just taught under the sin unto death by the well-known Dave Hunt and D. James Kennedy. Jesus taught:
He who does not love me will not obey my teaching .... (John 14:24)
Furthermore, Hebrews 10 say:
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the ENEMIES OF GOD. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? (Heb 10:26-29)
Did you notice that one becomes (spiritually dead and) an enemy of God by turning to that type of willful sin (unforgivable sin), the very thing that Dave Hunt's and D. James Kennedy's teachings allow for without jeopardizing salvation, with their false sin unto death. Also, Heb. 10:27 says the fury of fire (or raging fire) will consume God's enemies. How much more clear can it get? The ones killed by God because of their deliberate sinning go to the fires of Hell, not heaven.Also, the true Christian is clearly called by the term saint, which means holy oneSince sin can make a holy person unholy again (1 Tim. 5:22; Rev. 3:4; etc.), and therefore unfit for entrance into the kingdom of God (Mt. 5:8; Heb. 12:14; Rom. 6:22; etc.), then these eternal security teachers are dangerously downplaying the effects of sin in the life of a Christian. Souls are at risk because of their fables, including the sin unto death myth.

The Real Truth About The Sin Unto Death

The real truth is a true Christian can sin in such a way as to bring him back into spiritual death and endanger him to the lake of fire again (James 1:14-16; 5:19,20; Luke 15:24,32; Gal. 5:19-21; 6:8,9; Rom. 6:16; 8:13; Rev. 2:10,11; etc.). This is the real sin unto death, as mentioned by the Apostle John. Moreover, if God in his holy wrath strikes someone dead because of his unrepentant adultery he will go to hell, not heaven, with other God haters as already shown in Hebrews. Adulterers do not inherit God's kingdom (1 Cor. 6:9,10). This was basic knowledge in first century Christianity, though popularly denied in our dark day by those who maintain their security-in-sin gospel and license for immorality.

Sin Unto Death Meaning

What happened to Adam and Eve, when they sinned (and died spiritually) is a true example of the sin unto death. Similarly, the prodigal became "dead" and lost (Lk. 15:24) as a backslider in his sins. He too exemplifies the real meaning of the sin unto death. Furthermore, because the prodigal got forgiven upon repentance, his example answers the sin unto death vs. the unpardonable sin question! They are NOT the same. The sin unto death can get forgiven, while the unpardonable sin can't.Sins that cause the sin unto death (or spiritual death) are the ones listed in 1 Cor. 6:9,10; Eph. 5:5-7; Rev. 21:8 and other listings which exclude one from inheriting the Kingdom of God. Lesser sins, such as worry or unthankfulness, are not sins unto death.
Dear reader, if you think you can live in heinous sin, as Dave Hunt and D. James Kennedy wants all to believe, and still be on the road to heaven, you have been dangerously deceived. You must repent (turn from sin) or you will find yourself being thrown into the lake of fire in the end. You are not just jeopardizing your physical life, rewards, etc. as they say, but it is your very SOUL that is endangered. Don't be deceived about the sin unto death or anything else they say which allows for wickedness and salvation at the same time.
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil .... (1 John 3:7,8)
Remember, if you are an eternal security proponent this information (really sin unto death sermon) exposes eternal security as a license to sin!
sin unto death

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Tuesday, December 29, 2015

John MacArthur And Those Who Trust Him.

One of the most powerful warnings Jesus gave is "Be Not Deceived". I know as I have been deceived by many men. It was not until God impressed on me that I did not believe much of the scriptures, but instead I believed what the teachers told me God meant! I spent years correcting my mind. How foolish I had been to trust any man with my soul. Simply laziness.

I started in the New Testament and read it slowly, asking my self if I believed what was written and was it evident in my life. I also chose to believe the the warnings as they are for believers.  I also used a new Bible Translation that was different. That helped me to not skip over verses. I used the God's Word translation. I kept thinking it was wrong and I would go to NKJ, only to find I had not noticed the words in the past.


If the root is rotten, the result is a mixed, confused, false gospel. MacArthur is not from God. He told the world that you can take the mark of the beast and repent later. That has just added to his spiritual death. Jesus makes this crystal clear, as we see

Did you know that MacArthur has likely told your children that they can take the mark of the beast and repent later? Jesus says just the opposite.  MacArthur is attempting  to destroy the children. He is responsible for evil. Look closely at verse's 18 and 19.

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.

18 I TESTIFY TO EVERYONE WHO HEARS THE WORDS OF THE PROPHECY OF THIS BOOK:

IF ANYONE ADDS TO THEM,

GOD WILL ADD TO HIM THE PLAGUES WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN THIS BOOK; [MacArthur added to the book when he said "you can repent later"]

19 AND IF ANYONE TAKES AWAY FROM THE WORDS OF THE BOOK OF THIS PROPHECY,

GOD WILL TAKE AWAY HIS PART FROM THE TREE OF LIFE AND FROM FROM THE HOLY CITY,

 WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN THIS BOOK.  [MacArthur took away the words of this book, when he ignored Jesus who said if you take the mark of the beast, you will go to hell]

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Was Paul A Sinner After Salvation? Those Who Desire A License To Sin Want That!

“Wretched man that I’am” – A brief commentary on Romans 7

“Wretched man that I’am” – A brief commentary on Romans 7

I have heard many times people using the words of Paul in Romans 7:24 saying: “Wretched man that I’m. Who will deliver me from this body of death?” They use them in a way that implies that these words are applying to us, the born again Christians. They use them like we Christians are in a kind of slavery to sin (it is in the same context, just a few verses earlier, that Paul says “I’m carnal, sold under sin” (Romans 7:14). They say then: “O wretched men we are”, “we are sinners, sold under sin”, “who will deliver us from this?”
In this article I submit that though people who love the Lord and want to follow Him – and only to such people this article refers to - can fall into many mistakes, they are NOT sold under sin, nor are they wretched men waiting for a deliverer. The deliverer has come and His name is Jesus Christ! He has opened the door of our prison and made us free. We are not “wretched men” any more. We WERE once wretched men when we were dead in the trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). But now we are not dead anymore! God made us alive together in Christ, as a gift, only on the base of our faith (Ephesians 2:5)! Now we are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that we should show forth the praises of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). This is the truth of God’s Word.
But then we are right to ask what is this pitiful situation that Paul is describing in Romans 7? To whom is he referring to? Why is he using this passage like it would apply for himself and why is he speaking in present tense like it is something that is happening now? Well, we do not need to go far to find the answer. All that we need is to read the context of the above phrases, the whole of Romans 7. Having a look at Romans 7 shows that its main topic is the law and how it was impossible for somebody that had only the sinful nature of Adam to fulfill this law. To say this, Paul is using first singular and present tense figuratively, not literally. In other words though it appears that he says what he says for himself personally, he only does this figuratively, putting himself into the position of those to whom these things were directly applicable. How do we know this? Let’s read for example the verses 7-9 of Romans 7:
Romans 7:7-9
“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. No, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, you shall not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
The age “without the law”, was before the giving of the law, hundreds of years before the birth of Paul. So when Paul says “I was alive without the law once” he is using the first singular person (“I”) only figuratively. He was not alive at that time, but he figuratively puts himself into the position of the people who were alive saying “I was alive”. Same also for the next part of that passage that says: “but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died”. The commandment came with Moses and Paul was not alive then either. It is obvious then that he is using himself (first singular) FIGURATIVELY, not literally. The same pattern continues throughout Romans 7. Paul uses himself and many times present tense to describe what was a PAST situation. The reason he does this is to make the situation more vivid and the contrast with the present situation (which is described in Romans 8) even more clearer. His main topic in Romans 7 is the without Christ situation. Before Christ the law was present, and though this law was good and holy and just it was impossible to be kept by people who had only their sinful, carnal1, nature. As he characteristically said:
Romans 7:12, 14
“Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good ….. the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.”
Was Paul carnal when he was writing these things? Did he have only the old Adamic sinful nature? Was he “sold under sin”? The answer is empathically NO. Paul, as any born again believer, had Christ living in him. Christ had made him free. He was now born again and saved. To what therefore is he referring to when he describes himself as “sold under sin”? He refers to the age of the law, the main subject of Romans 7. In the age of the law, there was no new birth! There was no new nature! All these are things available to us after the sacrifice of Jesus but before that, in the age of the law, they were not available. Thus the only that people had at this time was the old sinful nature. Though the law was good and holy and just it was a spiritual law while they were carnal, sold under sin. When Paul therefore says “but I am carnal, sold under sin” he is using himself and present tense figuratively, putting himself into the place of those who lived in the age of the law, exactly as he did in verse 7 with those who lived without the law, when he said “I was alive without the law”. When Paul was writing Romans 7, he was a new creature as any of us, who has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Son of God, also is:
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;”
Paul uses the same way of speaking (first singular, present tense) throughout the remaining of Romans 7. Let’s read it:
Romans 7: 15-24 “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells [this is a timeless truth: there is nothing good in the old man, in the flesh]; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
What Paul is describing is a miserable situation. If you don’t take into account what is the context of the passage and if you ignore and discount the new birth realities you will get miserable too. You too you will cry “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”. But Paul says all that he says to describe the situation before Christ. It is a situation longing for a deliverer. Yes, before Christ all of us would cry “O wretched men that we are. Who will deliver us from the body of this death”. But the good news is that some 2000 years ago the deliverer came!! His name is Jesus Christ! Paul does not stop to the question: “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” but he immediately continues with the answer and here it is:
Romans 8:1-4 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus HAS MADE ME FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
There was a time when we were slaves, sold under sin. But no more! By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, He freed us from this slavery. Now we have a new nature, Christ in us. Now we are FREE. Now we are righteous!
To summarize: here is the question of Paul in Romans 7:24:
“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?””
And here is the answer just 2 verses later:
“the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus HAS MADE ME FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH.
And again Galatians 5:1
“Stand fast therefore in the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
We are no longer slaves, sold under sin. We are no longer “wretched men”. Instead Christ our deliverer, came, gave himself as ransom and made us FREE. Next time therefore you will hear somebody crying “O wretched men that we are!”, implying that this is what we are now, you know that such an application to us is WRONG. Praise the Lord and thanks be to God always, who, through His Son, has delivered us from this dreadful situation. Praise be to him always that though we were once “dead in the trespasses and sins …. God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:1-5). Praise be to Him and to Jesus our deliverer always.

Please check out Anastasios's book "The Warnings of the New Testament". Purchase at Kindle and Amazon or download for FREE at: http://www.jba.gr/Articles/pdf/the-warnings-of-the-New-Testament.pdf

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Spiritual Tragedies and Apostasies Between Initial and Final Salvation

Spiritual Tragedies and Apostasies Between
Initial and Final Salvation

Dan Corner

BEWARE: Christians Can Depart From The Faith

apostasies spiritual tragedies

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Possible Spiritual Tragedies Between Initial and Final Salvation (pdf)
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NO Eternal Security Verses

apostasy depart from the faith fall away anti eternal security verses listThis spiritual war is raging and has resulted in many apostasies and spiritual tragedies. Don’t be deceived, spiritual tragedies and departures from the faith (apostasies) do occur among the righteous. These NO eternal security versesrelated to backsliding, are clear and to the point. According to Scripture, it is possible to:

Can You Name Specific Apostasies In The Bible

The Reality of Apostasy (Depart From The Faith)

apostates apostasy






















apostatesdrift away (Heb. 2:1)
apostateswander away (Mt. 18:12,13)
apostateswander away from the faith (1 Tim. 6:10,21)
apostateswander away from the truth and destroy the faith of others by false teachings (2 Tim. 2:18)
apostateslose your saltiness (Lk. 14:34,35)
apostatesfall away (Mt. 11:6; Mk. 14:27,29)
apostatesfall from grace (Gal. 5:4)
apostatesstop believing and fall away in time of testing (Lk. 8:13)
apostatesturn to evil and die spiritually (Ezek. 33:18)
apostatesturn away from the faith (Mt. 24:10)
apostateswander away from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith and turn to meaningless talk (1 Tim. 1:5,6)
apostatesbroken off because of unbelief (Rom. 11:19-21)
apostatesturn back and no longer follow Jesus (Jn. 6:66)
apostateshave your faith shipwrecked (1 Tim. 1:19)
apostatesleave the straight way and follow the way of Balaam (2 Pet. 2:15)
apostatesget cut off from Christ and become like a branch that is thrown away and withers (Jn. 15:6)
apostatesgo astray (Jn. 16:1)
apostatesinsult the Spirit of grace after being sanctified by Jesus' blood to become God's enemy and go to raging fire (Heb. 10:26-29)
apostatesturn away from Christ to follow Satan (1 Tim. 5:11-15)
apostatesdepart from the faith (1 Tim. 4:1)
apostatesturn your ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths (2 Tim. 4:4)
apostatesacquire a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God (Heb. 3:12)
apostatesfall away to the point where you can’t be renewed to repentance (Heb. 6:6)
apostatesturn away from him who warns us from heaven (Heb. 12:25)
apostatesbecome lukewarm and get spit out of the body of Christ (Rev. 3:15,16)
apostatesnot remain faithful and be hurt by the second death (Rev. 2:10,11)
apostateshave God take away your share in the tree of life and in the holy city (Rev. 22:19)
apostateswander from the truth and become a sinner in need of having your soul saved again (James 5:19,20)
apostatesreturn to sin after knowing the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 2:20-22)
apostatesbe carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position (2 Pet. 3:17)
apostatesbe carried away by all kinds of strange teachings (Heb. 13:9)

Specific Apostasies

Specific apostasies start with Adam in Genesis 3 and they stretch throughout the New Testament. Some returned to salvation and some didn't! Among the many apostasies are king Davidking Solomon, the apostle Judas Iscariot, the apostle Peter, Demas, Hymenaeus and Philetus (2 Tim 2:17,18) and many who were unnamed. It is for good reason we read:
All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Mat 10:22)
We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. (Heb 3:14)
For a complete listing of eternal security verses, examined and explained in context, get the books, The Believer's Conditional Security and The Myth Of Eternal Security. Order together for a discount at Evangelical Books. Both books deal indepth with proof that the believer's security is conditional. Be sure that apostasies, spiritual tragedies and departures from the faith have often occurred! This list of NO eternal security verses shows that, among other things.



spiritual tragedies apostasy

Could This Be The Great Apostasy
Do NOT Be Deceived
Apostasy Occurs Among Christians
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Saturday, December 26, 2015

How Would You Like To Hear From The Disciples, Of Jesus' Disciples? Part 7

Have you heard of man's free will? Do you know what Jesus's disciples did? They had disciples also! This is how we know about the early churches. Let's go back and see!


We stated in the introduction that Calvinism has its roots in the views of St. Augustine. This man was also largely responsible for the acceptance of a-millennialism into mainstream Christianity, and the Roman Catholic doctrine that the Catholic Church is now God's Kingdom on earth. Prior to his conversion in the fourth century, Augustine was heavily involved in a pseudo-Christian Gnostic cult that held heretical ideas regarding the nature of God as well as the person of Christ. All of the Gnostic cultists were heavily influenced by the writings of the Greek philosophers. And Augustine was no exception. 

Prior to the writings of Augustine, the Church universally held that mankind had a totally free willEach man was responsible before God to accept the Gospel. His ultimate destiny, while fully dependent on God's grace and power, was also dependent on his free choice to submit to or reject God's grace and power. In the three centuries from the Apostles to Augustine the early Church held to NONE of the five points of Calvinism, not one. The writings of the orthodox Church, for the first three centuries, are in stark contrast to the ideas of Augustine and Calvin. Man is fully responsible for his choice to respond to or reject the Gospel. This was considered to be the Apostolic doctrine passed down through the local church elders ordained by the Apostles, and their successors. Below we have listed a few representative quotes from the earlier writers in order to give the flavor of the earliest tradition regarding election and free will. Some deal with the subject of perseverance and apostasy.
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Alexander of Alexandria (AD273-326) 
"I will endeavor, with your assistance and favor, to examine carefully the position of those who are offended, and deny that we speak the truth, when we say that man is possessed of free-will, and prove that “They perish self-destroyed, By their own fault,” choosing the pleasant in preference to the expedient." (Alexander, Banquet of the Ten Virgins, Discourse VIII, ch. xii)

Lactantius (AD260-330) 
"When, therefore, the number of men had begun to increase, God in His forethought, lest the devil, to whom from the beginning He had given power over the earth, should by his subtilty either corrupt or destroy men, as he had done at first, sent angels for the protection and improvement of the human race; and inasmuch as He had given these a free will, He enjoined them above all things not to defile themselves with contamination from the earth, and thus lose the dignity of their heavenly nature." (Lactantius, Divine Institutes, Bk. II, ch. xv)

There seems to have been no exceptions among early Christian writers to the orthodox teaching that man has been granted by God a free will to choose his destiny, and that salvation is available to all. The opposing view, that man is controlled by fate, could only be found in the Greek philosophical schools, Gnosticism, and Eastern mysticism during the first 300 years of Christianity. 

It is no wonder that the man who introduced Greek fatalism into Christianity should come from a Gnostic and Neo-Platonic background. Augustine's theory differed from the Greek philosophers mainly by naming the CAUSE of fate — God's mysterious will which must not be questioned, and cannot be understood by mortals. The impact of Augustine's teaching probably would not have been nearly so great if Pelagius had not gone to the opposite extreme in renouncing Augustine.

While those of the Reformed persuasion are right to reject the Latin heresies of Rome, they have been lax to recognize the Greek heresies introduced before the Latin era, which are equally contrary to the truth of the Christian Faith "once for all delivered to the saints" by the Apostles of Jesus Christ. They seem to hold a higher opinion of philosophers, like Augustine, than of the Apostles themselves, and those to whom the Apostles entrusted the Apostolic tradition.

Friday, December 25, 2015

I Was Brought Up in Calvinism. Left Many Years Ago, Knowing John Calvin, Will Change Your Mind.

Calvin's Reign of Terror. If the root is bad, the tree will be also.

After some negotiation, Ami Perrin, commissioner for Geneva, persuaded Calvin to return. He did so, though unwillingly, on September 13, 1541. His entry was modest. Geneva was a church-city-state of 15,000 people, and the church constitution now recognized "pastors, doctors, elders and deacons," but the supreme power was given to the magistrate, John Calvin.

In November 1552, the Council declared Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion to be a "holy doctrine which no man might speak against."

Thus the State issued dogmatic decrees, the force of which had been anticipated earlier, as when Jacques Gruet, a known opponent of Calvin, was arrested, tortured for a month and beheaded on July 26, 1547, for placing a letter in Calvin's pulpit calling him a hypocrite. Gruet's book was later found and burned along with his house while his wife was thrown out into the street to watch. Gruet's death was more highly criticized by far than the banishment of Castellio or the penalties inflicted on Bolsec -- moderate men opposed to extreme views in discipline and doctrine, who fell under suspicion as reactionary.

Calvin did not shrink from his self-appointed task. WITHIN FIVE YEARS FIFTY-EIGHT SENTENCES OF DEATH AND SEVENTY-SIX OF EXILE, BESIDES NUMEROUS COMMITTALS OF THE MOST EMINENT CITIZENS TO PRISON, took place in Geneva. The iron yoke could not be shaken off. In 1555, under Ami Perrin, a revolt was attempted. No blood was shed, but Perrin lost the day, and Calvin's theocracy triumphed. John Calvin had secured his grip on Geneva by defeating the very man who had invited him there, Ami Perrin, commissioner of Geneva.

CALVIN FORCED the citizens of Geneva to attend church services under a heavy threat of punishment. Since Calvinism falsely teaches that God forces the elect to believe, it is no wonder that Calvin thought he could also force the citizens of Geneva to all become the elect. Not becoming one of the elect was punishable by death or expulsion from Geneva. Calvin exercised forced regeneration on the citizens of Geneva, BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT HIS THEOLOGY TEACHES.

Michael Servetus, a Spaniard, physician, scientist and Bible scholar, was born in Villanova in 1511. He was credited with the discovery of the pulmonary circulation of the blood from the right chamber of the heart through the lungs and back to the left chamber of the heart.

He was Calvin's longtime friend in their earlier resistance against the Roman Catholic Church. Servetus, while living in Vienne (historic city in southeastern France), angered Calvin by returning a copy of Calvin's writings, Institutes, with critical comments in the margins.

Servetus was arrested by the Roman Catholic Authorities on April 4 but escaped on April 7, 1553. He traveled to Geneva where he attended Calvin's Sunday preaching service on August 13. Calvin promptly had Servetus arrested and charged with heresy for his disagreement with Calvin's theology. The thirty-eight official charges included rejection of the Trinity and infant baptism.

Servetus was correct in challenging Calvin's false teaching about infant baptism for salvation, but he was heretical in his rejection of the doctrine of the Trinity. Servetus pleaded to be beheaded instead of the more brutal method of burning at the stake, but Calvin and the city council refused the quicker death method. Other Protestant churches throughout Switzerland advised Calvin that Servetus be condemned but not executed.

CALVIN IGNORED THEIR PLEAS AND SERVETUS WAS BURNED AT THE STAKE on October 27, 1553. JOHN CALVIN INSISTED THAT HIS MEN USE GREEN WOOD FOR THE FIRE because it burned slower. SERVETUS WAS SCREAMING AS HE WAS LITERALY BAKED ALIVE FROM THE FEET UPWARD AND SUFFERED THT HEAT OF THE FLAMES FOR 30 MINUTES before finally succumbing to one of the most painful and brutal death methods possible. Servetus had written a theology book, a copy of which Calvin had strapped to the chest of Servetus. The flames from the burning book rose against Servetus' face as he screamed in agony.

John Calvin celebrated and bragged of his killing of Servetus.

Many theological and state leaders criticized Calvin for the unwarranted killing of Servetus, but it fell on deaf ears as Calvin advised others to do the same. Calvin wrote much in following years in a continual attempt to justify his burning of Servetus. Some people claim Calvin favored beheading, but this does not fit charges of heresy for which the punishment, as written by Calvin earlier, was to be burning at the stake.

Calvin had made a vow years earlier that Servetus would never leave Geneva alive if he were ever captured, and Calvin held true to his pledge.

Truly John Calvin is burning in Hell for his heresy, blasphemy of God and murder of many.

Another victim of Calvin's fiery zeal was Gentile of an Italian sect in Geneva, which also numbered among its adherents Alciati and Gribaldo. More or less Unitarian in their views, they were required to sign a confession drawn up by Calvin in 1558. Gentile signed it reluctantly, but in the upshot he was condemned and imprisoned as a perjurer. He escaped only to be incarcerated twice at Berne where, in 1566, he was beheaded.

CALVIN ALSO HAD THIRTY-FOUR (34) WOMEN BURNED AT THE STAKE AFTER ACCUSING THEM OF BEING WITCHES WHO CAUSED A PLAGUE THAT HAD SWEPT THROUGH GENEVA IN 1545.

The number of people murdered by John Calvin has been a dispute -- not the fact that he murdered them. Calvinists reject the references describing John Calvin's reign of terror because they worship him. John Calvin's actions were very paganistic like his mentor, Saint Augustine.

Jesus and all of the Apostles would have abhorred and condemned these blatant mass murders.

To Be Continued

Calvinism and Islam. Cousins?

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Calvinism vs. Islam

Bowe Bergdahl was home-schooled and raised as a very strict Calvinist. It should not surprise us that a Calvinist has become a Moslem. The two religions have much in common.
Both have a constricted view of the nature of God, a view that limits human responsibility. Calvinism is characterized by a belief that, before all time, God decided who was saved and who was damned. Whatever good we do cannot save us if we have been damned. No matter how much we pray to God for our salvation, no matter how much others pray for our salvation, no matter how much the saints intercede for us, our predestined end cannot change.
The analogous belief in Islam is that everything is Allah’s will. No matter how careful we are, if Allah intends for us to be killed in an automobile accident, it will happen. If we drive 100 miles per hour drunk on the wrong side of a highway, and Allah does not intend for us to be killed, we will not be.
Calvinism and Islam are characterized by unjust and harsh laws. John Calvin had a baby’s hand cut off when the baby hit his father. Women are killed in Moslem countries for things beyond their control.
Both Islam and Calvinism practice an extreme form of textual literalism in understanding scripture. Scripture acquires a position as a first principle in both religions rather than as a part of Revelation. Neither asks how God has revealed scripture; both simply believe in scripture as if its divine origin were obvious.
Finally, both Islam and Calvinism produce self-righteousness and intolerance. Both were born in pride. Christianity encourages humility. We are tolerant of those who are obviously in error, and we recognize the limits of our ability to correct them by reason. We know, however, that God may give them the gift of seeing the truth; and we pray for this gift humbly.
Let us pray for Bowe Bergdahl and his father, and, of course, for the victims of their perfidy.

How Would You Like To Hear From The Disciples, Of Jesus' Disciples? Part 6

Have you heard of man's free will? Do you know what Jesus's disciples did? They had disciples also! This is how we know about the early churches. Let's go back and see!

We stated in the introduction that Calvinism has its roots in the views of St. Augustine. This man was also largely responsible for the acceptance of a-millennialism into mainstream Christianity, and the Roman Catholic doctrine that the Catholic Church is now God's Kingdom on earth. Prior to his conversion in the fourth century, Augustine was heavily involved in a pseudo-Christian Gnostic cult that held heretical ideas regarding the nature of God as well as the person of Christ. All of the Gnostic cultists were heavily influenced by the writings of the Greek philosophers. And Augustine was no exception. 

Prior to the writings of Augustine, the Church universally held that mankind had a totally free willEach man was responsible before God to accept the Gospel. His ultimate destiny, while fully dependent on God's grace and power, was also dependent on his free choice to submit to or reject God's grace and power. In the three centuries from the Apostles to Augustine the early Church held to NONE of the five points of Calvinism, not one. The writings of the orthodox Church, for the first three centuries, are in stark contrast to the ideas of Augustine and Calvin. Man is fully responsible for his choice to respond to or reject the Gospel. This was considered to be the Apostolic doctrine passed down through the local church elders ordained by the Apostles, and their successors. Below we have listed a few representative quotes from the earlier writers in order to give the flavor of the earliest tradition regarding election and free will. Some deal with the subject of perseverance and apostasy.
-------------------------

Hippolytus (AD170-236) 
"But man, from the fact of his possessing a capacity of self-determination, brings forth what is evil, that is, accidentally; which evil is not consummated except you actually commit some piece of wickedness. For it is in regard of our desiring anything that is wicked, or our meditating upon it, that what is evil is so denominated. Evil had no existence from the beginning, but came into being subsequently. Since man has free will, a law has been defined for his guidance by the Deity, not without answering a good purpose. For if man did not possess the power to will and not to will, why should a law be established? For a law will not be laid down for an animal devoid of reason, but a bridle and a whip; whereas to man has been given a precept and penalty to perform, or for not carrying into execution what has been enjoined. For man thus constituted has a law been enacted by just men in primitive ages." (Hippolytus, Against all Heresies, Bk. X, ch. xxix)

Novatian (AD210-280) 
"And lest, again, an unbounded freedom should fall into peril, He laid down a command, in which man was taught that there was no evil in the fruit of the tree; but he was forewarned that evil would arise if perchance he should exercise his free will, in the contempt of the law that was given. For, on the one hand, it had behooved him to be free, lest the image of God should, unfittingly be in bondage; and on the other, the law was to be added, so that an unbridled liberty might not break forth even to a contempt of the Giver. So that he might receive as a consequence both worthy rewards and a deserved punishment, having in his own power that which he might choose to do, by the tendency of his mind in either direction: whence, therefore, by envy, mortality comes back upon him; seeing that, although he might escape it by obedience, he rushes into it by hurrying to be God under the influence of perverse counsel." (Novatian, Trinity, ch. I)

Archelaus (AD277) 
"This account also indicates that rational creatures have been entrusted with free-will, in virtue of which they also admit of conversions." ... "For all the creatures that God made, He made very good; and He gave to every individual the sense of free-will, in accordance with which standard He also instituted the law of judgment. To sin is ours, and that we sin not is God’s gift, as our will is constituted to choose either to sin or not to sin. ... The judges said: He has given demonstration enough of the origin of the devil. And as both sides admit that there will be a judgment, it is necessarily involved in that admission that every individual is shown to have free-will; and since this is brought clearly out, there can be no doubt that every individual, in the exercise of his own proper power of will, may shape his course in whatever direction he pleases." (Archelaus, The Acts of the Disputation)

Thursday, December 24, 2015

How Would You Like To Hear From The Disciples, Of Jesus' Disciples? Part 5

We stated in the introduction that Calvinism has its roots in the views of St. Augustine. This man was also largely responsible for the acceptance of a-millennialism into mainstream Christianity, and the Roman Catholic doctrine that the Catholic Church is now God's Kingdom on earth. Prior to his conversion in the fourth century, Augustine was heavily involved in a pseudo-Christian Gnostic cult that held heretical ideas regarding the nature of God as well as the person of Christ. All of the Gnostic cultists were heavily influenced by the writings of the Greek philosophers. And Augustine was no exception. 

Prior to the writings of Augustine, the Church universally held that mankind had a totally free will. Each man was responsible before God to accept the Gospel. His ultimate destiny, while fully dependent on God's grace and power, was also dependent on his free choice to submit to or reject God's grace and power. In the three centuries from the Apostles to Augustine the early Church held to NONE of the five points of Calvinism, not one. The writings of the orthodox Church, for the first three centuries, are in stark contrast to the ideas of Augustine and Calvin. Man is fully responsible for his choice to respond to or reject the Gospel. This was considered to be the Apostolic doctrine passed down through the local church elders ordained by the Apostles, and their successors. Below we have listed a few representative quotes from the earlier writers in order to give the flavor of the earliest tradition regarding election and free will. Some deal with the subject of perseverance and apostasy.


Clement of Alexandria (AD153-217) 
"God, then, is good. And the Lord speaks many a time and oft before He proceeds to act. ... For the Divine Being is not angry in the way that some think; but often restrains, and always exhorts humanity, and shows what ought to be done. And this is a good device, to terrify lest we sin. “For the fear of the Lord drives away sins, and he that is without fear cannot be justified,” says the Scripture. 

And God does not inflict punishment from wrath, but for the ends of justice; since it is not expedient that justice should be neglected on our account. Each one of us, who sins, with his own free-will chooses punishment, and the blame lies with him who chooses. 

God is without blame. “But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous, who taketh vengeance? God forbid.” ... It is clear, then, that those who are not at enmity with the truth, and do not hate the Word, will not hate their own salvation, but will escape the punishment of enmity. “The crown of wisdom,” then as the book of Wisdom says, “is the fear of the Lord.” 

Very clearly, therefore, by the prophet Amos has the Lord unfolded His method of dealing, saying, “I have overthrown you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah; and ye shall be as a brand plucked from the fire: and yet ye have not returned unto me, saith the LORD.” See how God, through His love of goodness, seeks repentance; and by means of the plan He pursues of threatening silently, shows His own love for man. “I will avert,” He says, “My face from them, and show what shall happen to them.” For where the face of the Lord looks, there is peace and rejoicing; but where it is averted, there is the introduction of evil. The Lord, accordingly, does not wish to look on evil things; for He is good. But on His looking away, evil arises spontaneously through human unbelief. “Behold, therefore,” says Paul, “the goodness and severity of God: on them that fell severity; but upon thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness,” that is, in faith in Christ." (Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Bk. I, viii)

Origen (AD185-254) 
"This also is clearly defined in the teaching of the Church, that every rational soul is possessed of free-will and volition; that it has a struggle to maintain with the devil and his angels, and opposing influences, because they strive to burden it with sins; but if we live rightly and wisely, we should endeavor to shake ourselves free of a burden of that kind. From which it follows, also, that we understand ourselves not to be subject to necessity, so as to be compelled by all means, even against our will, to do either good or evil. For if we are our own masters, some influences perhaps may impel us to sin, and others help us to salvation; we are not forced, however, by any necessity either to act rightly or wrongly, which those persons think is the case who say that the courses and movements of the stars are the cause of human actions, not only of those which take place beyond the influence of the freedom of the will, but also of those which are placed within our own power." (Origen, De Principis, Preface)

"And for this reason we think that God, the Father of all things, in order to ensure the salvation of all His creatures through the ineffable plan of His word and wisdom, so arranged each of these, that every spirit, whether soul or rational existence, however called, should not be compelled by force, against the liberty of his own will, to any other course than that to which the motives of his own mind led him (lest by so doing the power of exercising free-will should seem to be taken away, which certainly would produce a change in the nature of the being itself); and that the varying purposes of these would be suitably and usefully adapted to the harmony of one world, by some of them requiring help, and others being able to give it, and others again being the cause of struggle and contest to those who are making progress, amongst whom their diligence would be deemed more worthy of approval, and the place of rank obtained after victory be held with greater certainty, which should be established by the difficulties of the contest." (Origen, Bk. II ch. I)


Wednesday, December 23, 2015

MacArthur, R C Sproul, and The Satanic





Brothers and sisters, evil is all around us. MacArthur is telling the young people they can take the mark of the beast and repent later, setting them up for hell! What could be more evil? Jesus tells us we may be called to die for Him, but if we deny Him, He will deny us before the Father.

Now we see the true R. C. Sproul giving a Satanic Salute.

I plead with you. Do not give your mind to a teacher. You should never do that. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and read the New Testament for your self. Satan has thousands of false teachers. YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY DO WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT. Why would you trust your soul to a man who may fill his time at home with pornography or Satanic Salutes. They are getting bolder by the day.


How Would You Like To Hear From The Disciples, Of Jesus' Disciples? Part 4

We stated in the introduction that Calvinism has its roots in the views of St. Augustine. This man was also largely responsible for the acceptance of a-millennialism into mainstream Christianity, and the Roman Catholic doctrine that the Catholic Church is now God's Kingdom on earth. Prior to his conversion in the fourth century, Augustine was heavily involved in a pseudo-Christian Gnostic cult that held heretical ideas regarding the nature of God as well as the person of Christ. All of the Gnostic cultists were heavily influenced by the writings of the Greek philosophers. And Augustine was no exception. 

Prior to the writings of Augustine, the Church universally held that mankind had a totally free will. Each man was responsible before God to accept the Gospel. His ultimate destiny, while fully dependent on God's grace and power, was also dependent on his free choice to submit to or reject God's grace and power. In the three centuries from the Apostles to Augustine the early Church held to NONE of the five points of Calvinism, not one. The writings of the orthodox Church, for the first three centuries, are in stark contrast to the ideas of Augustine and Calvin. Man is fully responsible for his choice to respond to or reject the Gospel. This was considered to be the Apostolic doctrine passed down through the local church elders ordained by the Apostles, and their successors. Below we have listed a few representative quotes from the earlier writers in order to give the flavor of the earliest tradition regarding election and free will. Some deal with the subject of perseverance and apostasy.

<>Tatian (AD110-172) 
"Why are you fated to grasp at things often, and often to die? Die to the world, repudiating the madness that is in it. Live to God, and by apprehending Him lay aside your old nature. We were not created to die, but we die by our own fault. Our free-will has destroyed us; we who were free have become slaves; we have been sold through sin. Nothing evil has been created by God; we Ourselves have manifested wickedness; but we, who have manifested it, are able again to reject it." (Tatian, Address to the Greeks, XI)   

Tertullian (AD145-220) 
"Moreover, man thus constituted will be protected by both the goodness of God and by His purpose, both of which are always found in concert in our God. For His purpose is no purpose without goodness; nor is His goodness without a purpose, except forsooth in the case of Marcion’s God, who is purposelessly good, as we have shown. Well, then, it was proper that God should be known; it was no doubt a good and reasonable thing. Proper also was it that there should be something worthy of knowing God. What could be found so worthy as the image and likeness of God? This also was undoubtedly good and reasonable. Therefore it was proper that (he who is) the image and likeness of God should be formed with a free will and a mastery of himself; so that this very thing — namely, freedom of will and self-command — might be reckoned as the image and likeness of God in him. For this purpose such an essence was adapted to man as suited this character, even the afflatus of the Deity, Himself free and uncontrolled. But if you will take some other view of the case, how came it to pass that man, when in possession of the whole world, did not above all things reign in self-possession — a master over others, a slave to himself? The goodness of God, then, you can learn from His gracious gift to man, and His purpose from His disposal of all things. At present, let God’s goodness alone occupy our attention, that which gave so large a gift to man, even the liberty of his will. God’s purpose claims some other opportunity of treatment, offering as it does instruction of like import. Now, God alone is good by nature. For He, who has that which is without beginning, has it not by creation, but by nature. 

Man, however, who exists entirely by creation, having a beginning, along with that beginning obtained the form in which he exists; and thus he is not by nature disposed to good, but by creation, not having it as his own attribute to be good, because, (as we have said,) it is not by nature, but by creation, that he is disposed to good, according to the appointment of his good Creator, even the Author of all good. In order, therefore, that man might have a goodness of his own, bestowed on him by God, and there might be henceforth in man a property, and in a certain sense a natural attribute of goodness, there was assigned to him in the constitution of his nature, as a formal witness of the goodness which God bestowed upon him, freedom and power of the will, such as should cause good to be performed spontaneously by man, as a property of his own, on the ground that no less than this would be required in the matter of a goodness which was to be voluntarily exercised by him, that is to say, by the liberty of his will, without either favor or servility to the constitution of his nature, so that man should be good just up to this point, if he should display his goodness in accordance with his natural constitution indeed, but still as the result of his will, as a property of his nature; and, by a similar exercise of volition, should show himself to be too strong in defense against evil also (for even this God, of course, foresaw), being free, and master of himself; because, if he were wanting in this prerogative of self-mastery, so as to perform even good by necessity and not will, he would, in the helplessness of his servitude, become subject to the usurpation of evil, a slave as much to evil as to good. Entire freedom of will, therefore, was conferred upon him in both tendencies; so that, as master of himself, he might constantly encounter good by spontaneous observance of it, and evil by its spontaneous avoidance; because, were man even otherwise circumstanced, it was yet his bounden duty, in the judgment of God, to do justice according to the motions of his will regarded, of course, as free. 

But the reward neither of good nor of evil could be paid to the man who should be found to have been either good or evil through necessity and not choice. In this really lay the law which did not exclude, but rather prove, human liberty by a spontaneous rendering of obedience, or a spontaneous commission of iniquity; so patent was the liberty of man’s will for either issue. Since, therefore, both the goodness and purpose of God are discovered in the gift to man of freedom in his will, it is not right, after ignoring the original definition of goodness and purpose which it was necessary to determine previous to any discussion of the subject, on subsequent facts to presume to say that God ought not in such a way to have formed man, because the issue was other than what was assumed to be proper for God. 

We ought rather, after duly considering that it behooved God so to create man, to leave this consideration unimpaired, and to survey the other aspects of the case. It is, no doubt, an easy process for persons who take offence at the fall of man, before they have looked into the facts of his creation, to impute the blame of what happened to the Creator, without any examination of His purpose. To conclude: the goodness of God, then fully considered from the beginning of His works, will be enough to convince us that nothing evil could possibly have come forth from God; and the liberty of man will, after a second thought, show us that it alone is chargeable with the fault which itself committed."(Tertullian, Against Marcion, Bk. II, ch. vi) 

"God put the question [to Adam - "where art thou"] with an appearance of uncertainty, in order that even here He might prove man to be the subject of a free will in the alternative of either a denial or a confession, and give to him the opportunity of freely acknowledging his transgression, and, so far, of lightening it

In like manner He inquires of Cain where his brother was, just as if He had not yet heard the blood of Abel crying from the ground, in order that he too might have the opportunity from the same power of the will of spontaneously denying, and to this degree aggravating, his crime; and that thus there might be supplied to us examples of confessing sins rather than of denying them: so that even then was initiated the evangelic doctrine, “By thy words thou shall be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” (Tertullian, Against Marcion, Bk. II, xxv)

"That rich man did go his way who had not “received” the precept of dividing his substance to the needy, and was abandoned by the Lord to his own opinion. Nor will “harshness” be on this account imputed to Christ, the Found of the vicious action of each individual free-will. “Behold,” saith He, “I have set before thee good and evil.” Choose that which is good: if you cannot, because you will not — for that you can if you will He has shown, because He has proposed each to your free-will — you ought to depart from Him whose will you do not." (Tertullian, On Monogamy, XIV)