← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Texas Dissident
Thread ID: 12611 | Posts: 10 | Started: 2004-03-02
2004-03-02 07:30 | User Profile
Who are God's Chosen People?
by Gerald L.K. Smith
When God called Abraham aside, He made a covenant, assuring Abraham, "In thee and thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Out of the loins of Abraham came the seed which produced the sacred Scriptural House of Israel. These people were chosen to fulfill a definite Divine plan of God for the salvation and the redemption of His children of all the nations
The Old Testament tells the story of the development of this people referred to as Israel. Because of the fact that God chose Abraham and his seed to bring forth the Savior of the world, the House of Israel became known as "God's Chosen People" -- chosen for a great sacred purpose; namely, to introduce the Son of God to humanity.
The word "Jew" was never used in identifying these people in their formative developments. If Abraham were to be resurrected from the grave, or if Isaac were to be brought back to this earth, limited by the knowledge that they had when they died, they would not know the meaning of the word "Jew."
It is unnecessary at this time to summarize the events which took place in the development of the House of Israel and in the preparation for the coming of the Messiah. These people in their houses of learning and in their houses of worship were taught to expect the coming of the Messiah. The Old Testament is filled with prophetic accounts designed to stimulate this great anticipation.
In the meantime, degeneration set in. Aliens, Canaanites and people with strange blood began to occupy the land, and they became the corrupters and the subversives and the hypocrites and the political authorities. They usurped the authority over the true Israel quite as the subversives of the world today are attempting to usurp the authority over the nations which have grown out of Christian tradition.
When Jesus was born of Mary and identified by an angel from Heaven and witnessed by the Wise Men from the East, the area around Bethlehem and Jerusalem and the whole central area of what we now know as Palestine, was filled with evil corrupters who called themselves Jews, but were later referred to in the New Testament as the "synagogue of Satan."
These apostates had corrupted the Temple, had degenerated the synagogues, and became the chief hecklers of Jesus as He introduced Himself to the world as the Son of God.
It will be recalled the when He walked down to the River Jordan to be baptized of John, a dove lighted upon Him and a voice spoke out of Heaven saying, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased."
The people who called themselves Israelites and were not, who posed as the seed of Abraham and were not, could not be satisfied with anything less than death for Jesus of Nazareth. When confronted by a mob of these hecklers, Jesus identified them by saying, "Ye are of your father, the devil, a liar from the foundation of the earth."
Again He said, "If ye were of Abraham's seed, ye would do the works of Abraham", meaning, of course, that they would recognize that Jesus was of the seed of Abraham by way of His mother and the fulfillment of God's covenant with Abraham.
These interlopers and apostates and fakes and imitation Israelites could not rest until they had conspired with the politicians to frame Jesus with false charges (in the night) and stimulate His crucifixion on the cross. Even Herod and Pilate did not want to crucify Him, but they yielded, as many men are doing in this world today, to what is called Jewish pressure. It was Jewish pressure that caused Pilate to flog the flesh off the body of our Lord. It was Jewish pressure screaming in public that made Herod and Pilate realize that if He was not killed it would effect their political influence, both in Rome and in Judea.
At one time the Scripture said, "Jesus went into Galilee because the Jews sought to kill him." These citizens of Judea, who were nicknamed Jews after the word Judea, and the term Jew applied to a wide variety of citizens, not necessarily offspring of the seed of Abraham -- they were as apostatic as the theological professors of this day who are paid to train preachers in theological seminaries, but scream to the world, "God is dead."
The apostates within the Sanhedrin and among the Pharisees were not so concerned because Jesus called Himself the Son of God. They were concerned because His influence among the people jeopardized their authority over the people. It involved an antipathy based on the fear that the righteous influence of our Lord would cost them money and power, so they were instrumental by their conniving courts, held largely in the nighttime, in murdering the Son of God.
How did Jesus distinguish between the apostates on one hand and the devout ones on the other? He referred to the apostates as "goats" and to the devout ones as "sheep". When was the selection made? It was made on the first Pentecost following the Resurrection when the Scripture says, "Devout men were gathered from every nation on earth". When Peter had finished his account under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, these devout men cried with a loud voice, "What shall we do to be saved?" Peter gave them the answer, and they repented and were baptized, thus identifying themselves as Christians.
What happened to the goats - - the synagogue of Satan? What happened to those who still justified the conduct of the screaming mobs as they raised their voices in Pilate's court saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him"? They continued to perpetuate the doctrine of the synagogue of Satan. They continued to represent the seed of Abraham as a fraud and an imposter. They perpetuated this blasphemy and this denial, and they took on to themselves the label "Jew", and they launched a worldwide propaganda campaign which they have continued until this hour boasting to the world, "We are God's chosen people". There is nothing in the Scripture to establish the theory that Christ's worst enemies are God's chosen people. In fact, the words "chosen people" should go rather to those who choose to accept the name of Jesus Christ. The devout Israelites gathered from all over the face of the earth lost their identity in the blood of Christ, and although they were indeed of the House of Israel, and although the Scripture says that we who have accepted Christ have been 'circumcised by faith', the great covenant that God made with Abraham has been fulfilled not in the profane blasphemies of those who dishonestly call themselves "God's chosen people", but fulfilled rather in the blood of Christ and in the obedience of mankind to the will of His Gospel.
Then who are the chosen people? They are the lovers of Christ. They are those who have manifested their love by their faith, their repentance, their confession and their baptism. I humbly boast that I am of the House of Israel, because I have accepted the Divine seed of Abraham fulfilled in its Divinity through the Blessed Virgin and the Holy Spirit. That was the only reason for the House of Israel -- to cradle and conceive and bring forth the Son of God.
When I sit in a church auditorium, or attend a religious meeting, and hear a man who ought to know the definition of the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaim these apostates, these enemies of Christ, as "God's chosen people" I weep within my soul and I pity those who are not wise enough and inspired enough to realize that the only fulfillment of the covenant that God made with Abraham was by way of the Cross.
Note: For the apostates who now call themselves Jews and have stolen for themselves a name that belongs only to the Cross of Christ -- the name Israel -- for these people to call themselves "God's chosen people" is to announce to the world that Christ's worst enemies are God's chosen people. No Christian with a consistent faith in the covenant God made with Abraham and a consistent understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can ever identify a man as God's chosen man unless that man chooses to accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Messiah of the true Old Testament Israel, and the Savior of the world.
For these apostates to invade the Holy Land and desecrate Christian shrines and represent their barbaric act as a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy is to define themselves as Jesus defined them, face to face, "Ye are of your father, the devil, a liar from the foundation of the earth."
2004-03-02 11:48 | User Profile
What happened to the goats - - the synagogue of Satan? What happened to those who still justified the conduct of the screaming mobs as they raised their voices in Pilate's court saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him"? They continued to perpetuate the doctrine of the synagogue of Satan. They continued to represent the seed of Abraham as a fraud and an imposter.
I have read that in the years following Pentecost until the sacking of Jerusalem in 70 AD that the early Church was at the least viewed with much suspicion by the Jews, even to the point of accusing them of being traitors when they wouldn't fight against the Romans in the AD 66-73 revolt.
Keep in mind during this time that the spirit of Judas Maccabaeus was still alive in these Zealots, culminating in the siege of Masada.
When you read Christ's messages at the beginning of Revelation to the churches in Asia...
*2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. *
...he is most likely speaking of the persecutions those churches were suffering at the hands of unbelieving Jews and/or Judaizing "Christians."
2004-03-02 12:12 | User Profile
Note: For the apostates who now call themselves Jews and have stolen for themselves a name that belongs only to the Cross of Christ -- the name Israel -- for these people to call themselves "God's chosen people" is to announce to the world that Christ's worst enemies are God's chosen people. No Christian with a consistent faith in the covenant God made with Abraham and a consistent understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can ever identify a man as God's chosen man unless that man chooses to accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Messiah of the true Old Testament Israel, and the Savior of the world.
Tex (or anyone else interested),
If you want to get into the real brass tacks of how the dispensationalists lost the key doctrine of Christ in the Covenants, I highly recommend listening to this lecture by Rev. Reggie Kimbro of the Free Presbyterian Church:
[url=http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=&sermonID=380222246]A Layman's Look at the Problems in Dispensationalism[/url]
One thing I learned is that premillennialism is not exclusive to dispensationalism, it's just that the two are so prevalent together among today's evangelicals that they are associated with each other. (I do believe that belief in the pre-trib rapture is exclusive to dispensationalists, though, as it's a Darby/Scofield doctrine.) The corollary is that not all covenant theologians are amillenial...Kimbro himself says he believes in historic premillennialism, but if covenant theology required him to be amillenial, then he would be because covenant theology is so central to the doctrine of salvation.
I guess the Presbyterians are allowed some lattitude in deciding their eschatology, unlike Lutherans who have amillenialism codified as an article of faith:
[url]http://www.lcrusa.org/brief_statement.htm[/url]
***Of the Millennium **
Over against this, Scripture clearly teaches, and we teach accordingly, that the kingdom of Christ on earth will remain under the cross until the end of the world, Acts 14:22; John 16:33; 18:36; Luke 9:23; 14:27; 17:20-37; 2 Tim. 4:18; Heb. 12:28; Luke 18:8; that the second visible coming of the Lord will be His final advent, His coming to judge the quick and the dead, Matt. 24:29, 30; 25:31; 2 Tim. 4: 1; 2 Thess. 2:8; Heb. 9:26-28; that there will be but one resurrection of the dead, John 5:28; 6:39, 40; that the time of the Last Day is, and will remain, unknown, Matt. 24:42; 25:13; Mark 13: 32, 37; Acts 1: 7, which would not be the case if the Last Day were to come a thousand years after the beginning of a millennium; and that there will be no general conversion, a conversion en masse, of the Jewish nation, Rom. 11: 7; 2 Cor. 3:14; Rom. 11: 25; 1 Thess. 2:16.
According to these clear passages of Scripture we reject the whole of Millennialism, since it not only contradicts Scripture, but also engenders a false conception of the kingdom of Christ, turns the hope of Christians upon earthly goals, I Cor. 15:19; Col. 3:2, and leads them to look upon the Bible as an obscure book. *
Something else Kimbro talks about at the end of his lecture is "progressive dispensationalism," which is being spearheaded by Dallas Theological Seminary for the evangelical masses. Essentially the dispensationalists are accepting covenant theology because they are being called on the carpet for inconsistencies in their theology, but they are coupling it with some form of premillennialism or pre-wrath rapture to keep nominal support for national Israel (or at least end times prophecy hysteria = book and DVD sales) in their doctrine. At any rate, when the dust settles, expect progressive dispensationalism to still have a highly futurist-oriented view of prophecy. Of course, they won't call it covenant theology because that would be career suicide for them to do so.
Personally, I think that neo-Calvinist movement of doctrinaire reformed Baptists (and Presbyterians) led by the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals (the White Horse Inn guys) and people like John Piper are simply stealing all the thunder at present, and the questions these good people raise have gotten to the point among thinking evangelicals that the issues cannot be ignored or dismissed anymore because Piper's books are bestsellers with the people in the pews.
Apparently this progressive dispensationalism thing has ruffled some feathers among the hardcore Christian Zionists. I saw Zola Levitt on the Family Channel the other night complaining about it, probably because it will delegitimize the theological pillar on which evangelical support for national Israel rests. So look for Hal Lindsey and other Christian Zionists to hurl canards of "replacement theology" at the progressive dispensationalists if it starts catching on...and then change their tune when they see where the money is. Trust me, the Tribe is probably watching this development with a very jaundiced eye. You heard it here first.
[url=http://www.geocities.com/lasttrumpet_2000/pd/levitt_mccall.html]Chronicles of Zola Levitt's & Tom McCall's "Bad-Faith" Attack on Progressive Dispensationalism[/url]
2004-03-02 19:04 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Centinel]One thing I learned is that premillennialism is not exclusive to dispensationalism, it's just that the two are so prevalent together among today's evangelicals that they are associated with each other.
Yes, that is true. From fivesolas.com concerning non-dispensational premillinnialists:
Without question, the best and most influential historic premillennialist was the late George Eldon Ladd of Fuller Theological Seminary. Through the work of Ladd, historic premillennialism gained scholarly respect and popularity among Evangelical and Reformed theologians. Other major historic premillennialists include the late Walter Martin, John Warwick Montgomery, J. Barton Payne, Heny Alford (the noted Greek scholar), and Theodore Zahn (the German NT specialist). The best examples of current historical premillennial work would the many scholars of the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Evangelical Free).
Historic premillennialism draws its name from the fact that many of the early Church Fathers (i.e. Ireneaus [140-203], who as a disciple of Polycarp, who had been an disciple of the apostle of John, Justin Martyr [100-165], and Papias [80-155]), apparently believed and taught that there would be a visible kingdom of God upon the earth, after the return of Christ.
Several major Evangelical seminaries have some historic premillennial representation such as Fuller and Trinity. Surprisingly, a number of the faculty of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis (a Reformed institution), held to a covenantal form of premillennialism -- J.O. Buswell, J. Barton Payne and R. Laird Harris. However, all of these men have recently departed for glory, and the Reformed varieties of premillennialism are probably gone with them.
A good way to remember is that all dispensationalists are pre-millennialists, but not all pre-millennialists are dispensationalists.
Outstanding info you present here. Thank you.
2004-03-02 22:50 | User Profile
As long as we are in the subject of " The God's of the chosen people" , can someone tell me why those people call their God "Elohim"? that word is the plural of "Elah", so, who are all those God's that they call Elohim? is it two, or three or what ? ,,,,,, I do know that one of them is the US dollar.
2004-03-02 23:02 | User Profile
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." NIV 1 Peter 2:9
"But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;" NASB 1 Peter 2:9
You=christians
2004-03-02 23:19 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Ponce]As long as we are in the subject of " The God's of the chosen people" , can someone tell me why those people call their God "Elohim"? that word is the plural of "Elah", so, who are all those God's that they call Elohim? is it two, or three or what ? ,,,,,, I do know that one of them is the US dollar.[/QUOTE]
Elohim is the plural and used as early as Genesis 1:1. It simply evidences the Triune God from the beginning, so to speak.
2004-03-02 23:59 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Ponce]As long as we are in the subject of " The God's of the chosen people" , can someone tell me why those people call their God "Elohim"? that word is the plural of "Elah", so, who are all those God's that they call Elohim? is it two, or three or what ? ,,,,,, I do know that one of them is the US dollar.[/QUOTE]
It's popular among Hebrew Roots/Sacred Name and Christian Identity nuts. These heretics want everyone to think they've found some "secret" that sets them apart, such as salvation being dependent on using Hebrew names for God.
IMHO these kooky sects can all trace their beliefs back to fanatical dispensationalism and unbiblical devotion to national Israel that left the bounds of Christian orthodoxy long ago.
Good reading:
[url=http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/tlamb/Thename.htm]The sacred names or the Holy name[/url]
[url=http://www.acts17-11.com/snip_legalism.html]The New Legalism[/url]
[url=http://www.watchman.org/profile/yahpro.htm]The Watchman Expositor: House of Yahweh Profile[/url]
[url=http://www.watchman.org/profile/Identitypro.htm]The Watchman Expositor: Christian Identity Profile[/url]
2004-03-03 01:54 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Centinel]It's popular among Hebrew Roots/Sacred Name and Christian Identity nuts. These heretics want everyone to think they've found some "secret" that sets them apart, such as salvation being dependent on using Hebrew names for God.
IMHO these kooky sects can all trace their beliefs back to fanatical dispensationalism and unbiblical devotion to national Israel that left the bounds of Christian orthodoxy long ago. [/QUOTE]
I don't know why the Identity people go through all these scriptural contortions and heresy when the traditional Christian teachings are all they need.
I hope nobody gets upset, but people should face the plain truth that Identity is just as heretical as dispensationalism. I became convinced of this when I found that nowhere did the Church Fathers talk about anything close to the Identity theology.
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2004-03-03 02:33 | User Profile
To even think there is a humanist/ secular approach to our life is totally refuted by the Word . Those who refute or have problems with Scripture have such because of their Own Sin, and it will drag them to Hell. The truth is hard to swallow in this sick world, and as products of this world, they profane and obfuscate and manipulate to their demise. I know My God, the same God you Love, Tex. There is only one. There is no evolution. There is devolution. Anything that separates Man from God in Heart or Deed is the Product of Lucifer. Lucifer is Real. Satan is Real. In every failure to Trust in His Rod and Staff, he is Manifest. Lucifer has impregnated the minds and hearts of many men and women, and gives them his power. God allows it to happen. He does so Because YOU must EARN Salvation. By both Deed and Faith. Unholy power is given to the World's Men... but Holy Power is given to those who KNOW and LIVE BY the Word of Life Eternal , Paradise as God first designed, and when you die Tex, and I die, we shall meet in Paradise INDEED.