The Tangent College
This past week, a very crucial question was raised concerning Matthew 24:24 – “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” This scripture, along with others which mention the words “chosen” or “elect”, are misunderstood because of incorrectly defining the words “chosen” and “elect”.
In my thorough piece “The Doctrine of Predestination – confronting it head on” I define the word “chosen” in the section “What about the Chosen?” It is incorrectly defined by the religious as an eternal and unalterable decision by God. But God does not operate in this way in the temporal world. The same is true for the word elect.
“The elect” does not mean predetermined individuals that lose their ability to make Freewill decisions as to whether to follow God or not, or in this case to follow a false Christ as Jesus warns them repeatedly not to.
To be elected by God is similar to being elected by the people in order to serve in some governmental office. When a politician is elected to office, he is “chosen” by the people, is he not? (or by the deep state in our case) The people elect someone they consider, to one degree or another, who share their values (are of a similar heart), or someone who is attractive, or they believe that they can work with, or live with, whether for good or for evil. God does the same although his criteria is much higher and his information is infinitely more accurate. Consider also that the elected politician does not have to serve if he chooses not to – he can quit. Being elected does not obligate one to service. Secondly, the election is not permanent. We do not elect kings which are in essence permanent; kings declare themselves. But we elect representatives that can be unelected in the next election cycle or impeached, or thrown out of office if they do not satisfactorily perform their duty to the electorate.
The same is true with the elect of God. They are elected or chosen by God based on the integrity of their heart, which God, who does not look upon the outward appearance but looks upon the heart, is attracted to. David was a man after God’s own heart, and God elected him, chose him, to be king. He did not elect any of the other sons of Jesse, because God was attracted to the heart of David. The people in contrast, elected the handsome and tall Saul to be their king. God allowed the people to have their elected King but then later thoroughly rejected Saul because his heart was not right. Saul was anointed and elected but then later rejected by God. But did God reject Saul first? No. Saul rejected God. He chose to disobey and continued in his disobedience and rejection of God. The same is true for those who are deceived and follow after false Christs and false prophets. If they continue in their deception and in their rejection of God, then they will lose their elected status. They will be removed from office, so to speak.
Can the chosen or the elect fall? Of course they can. Consider the words of Christ, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” – John 6:70. Christ chose Judas Iscariot, did he not say so? He elected Judas Iscariot to be one of the twelve and yet Satan also elected Judas to do his bidding to betray the Son of Man. Judas chose to follow the election of Satan because his heart was twisted. He allowed himself to be deceived, and he turned to betray Christ. Judas was no longer elected by Christ. It was not God who used Judas but rather Satan used Judas as his fool. The choosing and the electing by God is dependent on the chosen and the elected in staying true and not continuing in deception.
The deceitful doctrine of predestination has been leavened into Christianity for so long that people have lost their ability to reason and understand what is clearly written and what words actually mean. Instead they make up nonsensical and rhetorical doctrines to comfort themselves and assure themselves that they are permanently chosen or elected regardless of whether they choose to turn away or are deceived. These Scriptures only makes sense in context with themselves if you define the words “chosen” and “elect” properly. Jesus makes it plain and clear that many will be deceived by many false Christs rising in the end times and that includes the elect.
The same holds true for Israel, or Ephraim, or Judah whose rejection of God is chronicled throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament. And yet they still claim to be the “chosen” or “elect” people of God. And most ironically, the vast majority of the Christian church also still views the Jews as chosen or elected despite their obvious rejection of Christ – the foundation of Christianity. Of course I am not speaking about messianic Jews who have accepted their Messiah. This creates a huge absurdity in Scripture and I believe makes a mockery of God. God does not care about blood or land or even sacrifice. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Psalm 51:17. Jesus said that the true worshipers of God worship him in spirit and in truth, not on this mountain or that mountain. (John 4:21-23). Land does not matter. Blood does not matter. The blood of the Israelites has been thoroughly tainted over centuries of intermarrying with all the idol worshiping lands they failed to drive out. Their blood is completely corrupted and the idea of a pure Jew at this point in history is formidable to imagine. They hated the Samaritans because they were not of pure-blood and they hate the Palestinians who have also intermarried with the Jews. The whole thing is a political and hypocritical mess.
Even Dennis Prager is rather hypocritical in claiming that blood does not matter regarding the adoption of children, and yet blood does matter apparently regarding the Jews.
Does blood matter in whether one is chosen or elected? Consider Jacob and Esau. Are they not brothers of an identical bloodline? And yet one was chosen and the other was rejected, even to the point of God saying “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated”. Why was Jacob chosen and not Esau? It is because Jacob wanted desperately to be chosen and even wrestled with God in order to obtain His blessing. Esau did not regard being chosen as having any value. It is because of the heart of Jacob which leads to the freewill choices of Jacob versus of the heart of Esau which leads to the freewill choices of Esau that caused God to select Jacob and reject Esau. Blood meant nothing.
I’ve covered a lot of ground in a short space as I could write a book on this subject but I must move on to other things. Perhaps this will raise a good and fruitful discussion at The Tangent College. These are all the things that most churches are scared to talk about.
This past week, a very crucial question was raised concerning Matthew 24:24 – “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” This scripture, along with others which mention the words “chosen” or “elect”, are misunderstood because of incorrectly defining the words “chosen” and “elect”.
In my thorough piece “The Doctrine of Predestination – confronting it head on” I define the word “chosen” in the section “What about the Chosen?” It is incorrectly defined by the religious as an eternal and unalterable decision by God. But God does not operate in this way in the temporal world. The same is true for the word elect.
“The elect” does not mean predetermined individuals that lose their ability to make Freewill decisions as to whether to follow God or not, or in this case to follow a false Christ as Jesus warns them repeatedly not to.
To be elected by God is similar to being elected by the people in order to serve in some governmental office. When a politician is elected to office, he is “chosen” by the people, is he not? (or by the deep state in our case) The people elect someone they consider, to one degree or another, who share their values (are of a similar heart), or someone who is attractive, or they believe that they can work with, or live with, whether for good or for evil. God does the same although his criteria is much higher and his information is infinitely more accurate. Consider also that the elected politician does not have to serve if he chooses not to – he can quit. Being elected does not obligate one to service. Secondly, the election is not permanent. We do not elect kings which are in essence permanent; kings declare themselves. But we elect representatives that can be unelected in the next election cycle or impeached, or thrown out of office if they do not satisfactorily perform their duty to the electorate.
The same is true with the elect of God. They are elected or chosen by God based on the integrity of their heart, which God, who does not look upon the outward appearance but looks upon the heart, is attracted to. David was a man after God’s own heart, and God elected him, chose him, to be king. He did not elect any of the other sons of Jesse, because God was attracted to the heart of David. The people in contrast, elected the handsome and tall Saul to be their king. God allowed the people to have their elected King but then later thoroughly rejected Saul because his heart was not right. Saul was anointed and elected but then later rejected by God. But did God reject Saul first? No. Saul rejected God. He chose to disobey and continued in his disobedience and rejection of God. The same is true for those who are deceived and follow after false Christs and false prophets. If they continue in their deception and in their rejection of God, then they will lose their elected status. They will be removed from office, so to speak.
Can the chosen or the elect fall? Of course they can. Consider the words of Christ, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” – John 6:70. Christ chose Judas Iscariot, did he not say so? He elected Judas Iscariot to be one of the twelve and yet Satan also elected Judas to do his bidding to betray the Son of Man. Judas chose to follow the election of Satan because his heart was twisted. He allowed himself to be deceived, and he turned to betray Christ. Judas was no longer elected by Christ. It was not God who used Judas but rather Satan used Judas as his fool. The choosing and the electing by God is dependent on the chosen and the elected in staying true and not continuing in deception.
The deceitful doctrine of predestination has been leavened into Christianity for so long that people have lost their ability to reason and understand what is clearly written and what words actually mean. Instead they make up nonsensical and rhetorical doctrines to comfort themselves and assure themselves that they are permanently chosen or elected regardless of whether they choose to turn away or are deceived. These Scriptures only makes sense in context with themselves if you define the words “chosen” and “elect” properly. Jesus makes it plain and clear that many will be deceived by many false Christs rising in the end times and that includes the elect.
The same holds true for Israel, or Ephraim, or Judah whose rejection of God is chronicled throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament. And yet they still claim to be the “chosen” or “elect” people of God. And most ironically, the vast majority of the Christian church also still views the Jews as chosen or elected despite their obvious rejection of Christ – the foundation of Christianity. Of course I am not speaking about messianic Jews who have accepted their Messiah. This creates a huge absurdity in Scripture and I believe makes a mockery of God. God does not care about blood or land or even sacrifice. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Psalm 51:17. Jesus said that the true worshipers of God worship him in spirit and in truth, not on this mountain or that mountain. (John 4:21-23). Land does not matter. Blood does not matter. The blood of the Israelites has been thoroughly tainted over centuries of intermarrying with all the idol worshiping lands they failed to drive out. Their blood is completely corrupted and the idea of a pure Jew at this point in history is formidable to imagine. They hated the Samaritans because they were not of pure-blood and they hate the Palestinians who have also intermarried with the Jews. The whole thing is a political and hypocritical mess.
Even Dennis Prager is rather hypocritical in claiming that blood does not matter regarding the adoption of children, and yet blood does matter apparently regarding the Jews.
Does blood matter in whether one is chosen or elected? Consider Jacob and Esau. Are they not brothers of an identical bloodline? And yet one was chosen and the other was rejected, even to the point of God saying “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated”. Why was Jacob chosen and not Esau? It is because Jacob wanted desperately to be chosen and even wrestled with God in order to obtain His blessing. Esau did not regard being chosen as having any value. It is because of the heart of Jacob which leads to the freewill choices of Jacob versus of the heart of Esau which leads to the freewill choices of Esau that caused God to select Jacob and reject Esau. Blood meant nothing.
I’ve covered a lot of ground in a short space as I could write a book on this subject but I must move on to other things. Perhaps this will raise a good and fruitful discussion at The Tangent College. These are all the things that most churches are scared to talk about.