#2. A snippet from Whatever Became of Melanie? (2005), pages 138-139, by
Allan Ernest Chevrier:
(Romans 5:18-21)
“Now what was the result of Adam’s transgression? It was universal condemnation of all, without first consulting them or asking for their contribution. The result of Adam’s disobedience was complete and universal in its scope and consequence, plunging each and every member of his race into sin and spiritual separation from God.
Now, just as Adam’s sin had a direct, powerful, irresistible effect on the whole for evil, so the righteous act of Christ has a direct, powerful, irresistible effect on the whole for good. Just as one sin resulted in universal, real, actual condemnation, so the one act of
righteousness performed by Christ, the second Adam, results in universal, real, actual justification, not just an opportunity to cast your lot in with Jesus, not just the offer of life, but the real, actual, powerful impartation of life! The real actual, powerful
communication of righteousness! The plain language of the text allows for nothing less!”
#3. THE MESSAGE FOR THE WORLD – Gary Siglar
The message for the world today is only one — that God has reconciled you back to Himself. He didn’t just redeem a few. He didn’t just forgive a few. He didn’t determine that a few would be saved and the rest would be eternally lost. God has a plan that is so perfect and worked out to restore all of mankind back to their source.
If you understand that no matter where you are today God chose you, before the foundation of the world, that you would be holy and without blame before Him in love. If you can believe this simple word you will rejoice.
I know the condition of carnal humanity. I know the condition of some people who love God. I know the carnal condition that most of us are in. The truth is — and the truth will set you free — you are holy, unblameable, and irreprovable in His sight. Not in your carnal adamic life, but in Christ. Christ is holy, unblemished, and undefiled. If you can accept that you will be that experientially. If you can’t accept that you won’t yet experience it but you still will eventually as God brings you into the knowledge of your true identity.
God has never, ever, made one human being that will fail except for a good purpose, because He works all things after the counsel of His own will. Known by God are all His works from beginning unto end.
Gary Sigler
sigler.org/
#4 A snippet from The Inescapable Love of God, Pages 59, 60, by Thomas Talbott:
“Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life (Romans 5:18).
For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all (Romans 11:32).
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive (I Corinthians 15:22).
In each of these texts, we encounter a contrast between two universal statements, and in each case the first “all” seems to determine the scope of the second. Accordingly, when Paul asserts in Romans 5:18 that Christ’s one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all, he evidently has in mind every descendant of Adam who stands under the judgment of condemnation; when he insists in Romans 11:32 that God is merciful to all, he has in mind every human being whom God has “shut up” to, or has “imprisoned” in, disobedience; and finally, when he asserts in I Corinthians 15:22 that “all shall be made alive” in Christ, he has in mind everyone who has died in Adam. The grammatical evidence here seems utterly decisive; you can reject it only if you are prepared to reject what is right before your eyes.”
Does “All” mean “All”?
hopebeyondhell.org/
#5 - “Hippolytus (about A.D. 220) enumerates and comments on thirty-two heresies, but universal restoration is not named among them. And yet, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen- then living- were everywhere regarded as the great teachers of the church, and their view of man’s future destiny was generally prevalent, according to Augustine, Jerome and others. It could not then have been regarded as a “heresy” or Hippolytus would have named it. What a force there is in fact that not one of those who wrote against the heresies of their times ever named universal salvation as one of them! Hippolytus mentions thirty-two. Epiphanius wrote his Panarion and epitomizes it in his nacephal’osis or Recapitulation, but not one of the heresy-hunters includes our faith in his maledictions. Could there be stronger evidence than this fact that the doctrine was not then heretical?”
A snippet from
Universalism the Prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church During
its First Five Hundred Years, by J. W. Hanson, 1899
tentmaker.org/books/OriginandHistory.html
#6 - truth.info/future/universalism.htm
The subjection of all to Christ
What does God mean when He states that Christ can subject all to Himself? Philippians 3:21 tells us that this will be in accord with the transfiguration of the body of our humiliation, to conform it to the body of His glory. This is further explained in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44: “Thus also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is roused in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor; it is roused in glory. It is sown in infirmity; it is roused in power. It is sown a soulish body; it is roused a spiritual body.” Verse 28: “Now, whenever all may be subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also shall be subjected to Him Who subjects all to Him, that God may be All in all.”
So not only is Christ able to subject all to Himself; He WILL subject all to Himself. Once all are subjected to Christ, Christ will subject Himself to God, that God may be all in all. This is when Christ will be giving up the kingdom to His God and Father- verse 24. Verses 25-27 show the intimate relationship between the subjection of all to Christ, and the abolishment of death. In verse 22 we are informed that the “all” encompasses the entirety of mankind. This is in perfect harmony with Phil. 3:21.
To further elucidate the theme, Paul gives us the revelation of Romans 5:18, 19. Being constituted just (immortality/ vivification) is contrasted with being constituted sinners (the body of our humiliation). Just as all mankind were condemned through Adam’s act, all mankind are justified through Christ’s sacrifice. This is an essential and unavoidable part of Christ’s achievement, “…For this was the Son of God manifested, that He should be annulling the acts of the Adversary.” 1 John 3:8. Never doubt that Christ and God are able to overcome Adam and Satan. Death will be abolished in practice; it already has been in principle. The realization of this achievement is accomplished in phases, for there
are three classes in view in 1 Cor. 15:20-28.
#7 A snippet from The Outcome of Infinite Grace
Death Swallowed Up in Victory
By Dr. Loyal Hurley:
““For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph.2:8,9). Why do these verses follow immediately the statement, “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus”?
And why do these verses begin with the word “for”? The word “for” shows a relationship between what precedes and what follows. In the ages to come, He will demonstrate His grace, for He has already shown it to us, His church, whom He will use as the demonstration.
No member of the church deserves to be saved by grace. Not one thing can we claim that has any merit in it. Some will say that at least our faith is our own. “For by grace are ye saved through faith”—and surely the faith is ours. But Paul will not have it so, for he adds, “and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” Yes, God gives to us our faith, “according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Rom.12:3). And He gives it to us through “Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb.12:2). Not only does He give us grace: He gives us the faith to receive it. Otherwise we would still be in stubbornness or unbelief. “For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all” (Rom.11:32).
So God chooses a few undeserving sinners in this age through whom He will demonstrate His grace to other undeserving sinners, “in the ages to come.” And the demonstration will be convincing, too. It will accomplish what God intends that it shall accomplish: “That in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him” (Eph.1:10).” 7
#8 - THE NATURE, THE CHARACTER OF CHRISTIAN PRAYER - JOHN WESLEY HANSON
Every human being is under perpetual obligation to pray to God as the Father of all souls, to bring in His kingdom, fulfill His will and deliver from evil, and save from sin the whole human family; and that we are commanded to pray for this,—universal salvation—is evident from the language of the Apostle Paul in I Timothy 2:1-4:
“I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers,
intercessions and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings and
all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life
in all godliness and honesty; for this is good and acceptable in the
sight of God our Savior; who will have all men to be saved and to come
unto the knowledge of the truth.”
Thus God desires all men to be saved, and you and I and all men are commanded therefore, to pray that all men may be saved. God does this. This prayer proceeds from the divine heart all the time. “Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire uttered or unexpressed.” All men must, when they follow the instincts of their nature, pray for the salvation of
all men…
But the second feature in prayer is, that men, "whatsoever they ask for of God, shall pray in faith, nothing doubting.
I Timothy 2: 8:—“I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting
up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.”
It is wicked to pray for anything to God, unless we pray in faith,
unless in our heart of hearts we believe our hopes will be answered. A
faithless prayer is an abomination in the sight of God; hence the
apostle says in Romans 14:23:—“Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”
Now, then, a Christian must pray for universal salvation; if he does not, he does not offer Christian prayer; and if a man thus prays, but believes that his prayer will not be answered, then he cannot offer Christian prayer. Genuine Christian prayer comprehends the final salvation of all men, and as it is necessary to give it in full faith, nothing doubting, it demonstrates the final salvation of all, for certainly God would not command his children to pray for a thing and pray without doubting, unless in the divine plan that were to be the result. Hence Paul appeals to this ground of faith in I Timothy 2:5-6:
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”
#9 - In John 12:32, in signifying by what death He was about to be dying (v.33), Jesus said, ‘And I, if I should be exalted out of the earth, shall be drawing all to Myself.’
It is not that “draw” means “drag;” it is rather that an agency which draws, is equally as effective as an agency which drags. When a man is dragged, he is moved contrary to his will; when a man is drawn, he is moved in correspondence to his will, according to the influences which cause him to choose as he does. Agencies which drag, determine the
body; agencies which draw, determine the heart, from which spring the outflowings of life (Prov.4:23).
When one is “drawn in” to doing something, he is still caused to act as he does; he must still do what he, even if gently, is “drawn” to do–as much so as if he were “dragged” (“kicking and screaming”) into so doing. It is simply that an agency which “draws,” engages the will and instills the voluntary behavior which follows, in contradistinction to a power that merely compels outward acts–“dragging” them forth–without gaining the acquiescence of the will.
Thus we rejoice to know that while no one can come to Christ if ever the Father Who sends Him should not be drawing him (John 6:44), in due time, under God, Christ “shall be drawing all to Himself” (John 12:32). James Coram concordant.org/expohtml/Ques … .html#115a
It would be good to answer this question: When will Christ draw to Himself the multiplied millions who die without having once heard about the one true God? (This would include hundreds of millions of small children.) - Kenneth Larsen 9
#10 - Does God “offer” salvation to all, and it’s up to each one to either accept it or reject it?
First, of ourselves, none of us would accept it. So, we should receive the clear Bible teaching that faith is a gift. Ro. 3:10-18; Eph. 2:6-10; Phil. 1:29.
Second, we know from Ro. 9 and other verses such as Eph. 1:4; 2 Thes. 2:13 and 3:2, that God does not choose to save all in this life.
Third, we know God wills all to be saved. Titus 2:11; 1 Tim. 2:4-6.
Fourth, we know that all things are possible with God. Matt. 19:25,
26; Jeremiah 32:17.
Fifth, we know that Christ enlightens all, and draws all to Himself.
John 1:9; 12:32.
Sixth, we know God will reconcile all to Himself. 1 Cor. 15:20-28;
Col. 1:15-20; Phil. 2:9-11; Ro. 5:18, 19.
Therefore, seventh, we know that God grants salvation (faith,
repentance, and reconciliation) to all, for He is the Savior of all
mankind. Acts 5:31; 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25; 1 Tim. 4:9-11 - Kenneth Larsen.
#11 - “Not you choose Me, but I choose you…” John 15:16
“Too often is salvation made a matter of the sinner’s choice. This sadly mars the full and clear apprehension of God’s love which it is intended to reveal. All active effort in redemption is the outflow of divine love, and is entirely on God’s side. All the sinner’s activity is a hindrance, He would choose anyone but God. His part is a passive or a negative one.
This basic truth is much more forcibly revealed later on in connection with the call of the nations. We were chosen by God in Christ before the disruption. Sin itself was subsequent to His choice of us. Hence, sin, either past or present, cannot affect God’s purpose for us, or our acceptance of His grace. He chooses, He calls, He glorifies. He does not give man his choice or a chance. He has the wisdom and the power to impel men to fall into line with His purpose no matter what their natural inclination may be.
All human experience confirms the divine declaration that He it is Who is operating in us to will as well as to work for the sake of His delight (Phil. 2:13).
Man can carry out his own will only so far as it accords with the purpose of God. When men rage against God, He uses their wrath as far as it is useful to His plans. The remainder of their wrath He restrains.”
-Snippet from the Concordant Commentary
(concordant.org/expohtml/Concorda … 4_John.htm)
#12 - TENTMAKER MINISTRY WEBSITE ARCHIVES
INTERESTING READING THAT URS WILL ENJOY
If the link doesn’t open up, click on the word “impatient”
January 15, 1998: web.archive.org/web/199801150406 … maker.org/
December 1, 1998: web.archive.org/web/199812011949 … maker.org/
June 10, 2000: web.archive.org/web/200006100208 … maker.org/
#13 - DESTRUCTION IS NOT ETERNAL – Kenneth Larson
Jesus knew that John 3:16 was not the end of the story…that’s why He continued to John 3:17 and talked about the salvation of all mankind!!!
Jesus makes no attempt to use verse 16 to negate or qualify verse 17. He simply makes both statements side by side as if both are completely true. The reason He does this is that both ARE completely true.
We see this over and over in Scripture, especially in the writings of Paul – a statement about people who have faith now (maybe a warning or exhortation or encouragement about the benefits of taking part in the kingdom of God a.k.a. the next two ages of life on earth) right next to a statement about how Christ accomplished the justification of all men. See Romans 3:23-24 and 5:18 and their contexts for example. This is no big deal; none of these statements negate, qualify (change), or contradict each other, because both concepts are 100% true. Some will be saved from death early and take part in the kingdom of God, and everyone else will be saved from death later.
To attempt to use some statements (about those who get saved early) to negate the others statements (about the eventual salvation of all) is to butcher the common sense rules of language and communication. We would never do this to each other in everyday communication; the only reason people try to do it to Jesus and Paul is because they cannot bring themselves to believe the plain statements about the eventual salvation of all mankind.
If I said to my kids, “Those of you who help me clean the yard today will get to go to a movie with me tomorrow, and next week I will take the rest of you to a movie,” I have made it very clear that all the kids will eventually go to the movies. My two statements do not contradict each other or negate each other in any way. This is the exact same thing Jesus does in John 3:16 and 17 – He makes two equally true statements. Yet “hell mindset” Christians try to make one statement negate the other in order to fit their preconceived pagan inherited ideas.
bible-questions-and-answers. … -book.html
#14 - IS GOD STRONG ENOUGH? – Kenneth Larson
“For which of you, wanting to build a tower, is not first seated to calculate the expense, to see if he has the wherewithal?- lest at some time, he laying a foundation and not being strong enough to finish up, all those beholding should begin to scoff at him, saying that 'This man begins building and is not strong enough to finish up!’” Lk. 14:28-30.
God’s perfect foundation is Christ Jesus. 1 Cor. 3:11; Is. 28:16; Lk. 20:17; Heb. 5:7-9. What God is building on His foundation is a perfect, reconciled creation. Ro. 8:20, 21; Col. 1:15-20; 1 Cor. 15:20-28; Phil. 2:5-11.
God is strong enough to reconcile all, for He controls all hearts. Is. 26:12; 2 Chronicles 30:12; Rev. 17:17. God has a purpose- a will for creation. Eph. 1:9-11; 3:11. God “wills that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth.” 1 Tim. 2:4. And “All that Yahweh delights He does, in the heavens and on earth, in the seas and every abyss” Ps. 135:6; see Is. 46:10 and John 1:29.
Christ will draw all to Himself. Jn. 12:32. Our stubbornness and unbelief are no match for Almighty God. Romans 11:32. “Not stronger than He are we!” 1 Cor. 10:22. God is a perfect Savior, and He is more than strong enough to save all. 1 Tim. 4:9-11; Is. 53; Matt. 19:25, 26.
#15 - Questions
In order to have a consistent, logical Biblical worldview, some questions about the Final Destiny of people must be answered. The Bible, to be credible, must be able to be logically explained. This is self-evident. As centuries have passed, ideas that were Orthodox, but unbiblical, have fallen away. Sometimes en masse, as during the Reformation. Sometimes more slowly, as with the gradual abolition of slavery, which was led and championed primarily by Christians.
Here are a few questions about the common Orthodoxy of Eternal Damnation.
• If some people will end up in eternal torment, is God unable or unwilling to save them? Logically, it must be one or the other. No tricky appeal to free-will can alleviate the tension of the question.
• If we determine our destiny by our free will, then is not our will stronger than God’s will? How do we deal with passages as in Romans 9 that says we cannot resist His will?
• If some people will be tortured eternally, which is apparently the will of Satan, how is Satan a defeated foe? Doesn’t eternal torment make Satan a partial victor?
• How can there be “no more tears” if some people will be tormented forever?
• How can we say that “His mercy endures forever!” if His mercy for us, in the most practical and real terms, ends if we do not choose to follow Christ before we die?
• Given the Bible’s revealed standards of righteous and justice (which are clear and not myterious at all), how is unending punishment just reward for temporary sin? Again, the Bible is clear on standards so saying “God’s ways are not our ways” or “It’s a mystery with God” is only an avoidance of a hard question. The question must be Biblically answered with justification from Scripture.
• If God “gives up” on those who do not choose Jesus before death, how does the parable of the 100 Sheep, with 99 found and the master leaving the 99 to find the one lost one, make any sense?
• Why does God give up on people after death?
• If eternal Hell is the price for disobeying God and living in Sin, why did God hide that from Adam and Eve and promise a different penalty? Why did God hide the most horrific fate possible, torture in Hell forever, from mankind for entire Old Testament period (probably 4,000 years)?
• How does the idea of Col 1:15-20 “restore All Things” (Ta Panta - The universal All in Greek) make any sense if some things are permanently and irrevocably isolated from and unrestored to God forever?
• Why must an omnipotent, omniscient God, who describes Himself as “Love”, settle for not having everything that has ever been made love and worship Him? Why must He settle for a divided creation in which some live in abundant joy and others live in mind-numbing torture? Is God really that weak or does He want that kind of reality?
• Why do we think that our “will” is so absolutely free, when it is affected by every little thing around us and we rarely respond from thought alone, but often from instinct built in us from birth?
• How can God be “All in All” as Revelation states He will be in the end if All is not in complete harmony with Him and His character of love, joy, peace, etc.?
• Why did God create a place of unending torture in the first place?
• How is God glorified in unending pain that does not lead to being restored to righteousness and a loving relationship to Christ?
These, and many more questions, must be answered scripturally and logically if the idea of an Eternal Torture is to be even considered as a Biblical possibility.
#16 – By Hannah Whitall Smith
“…I seemed to catch a fresh and clearer revelation of the depth of the misery that had been caused to human beings by sin. It was more than I could bear. I clenched my hands and cried out in my soul, “O, God, how canst Thou bear it? Thou mightest have prevented it, but didst not. Thou mightest even now change it, but Thou dost not. I do not see how Thou canst go on living, and endure it.” I upbraided God. And I felt I was justified in doing so. Then suddenly God seemed to answer me. An inward voice said, in tones of infinite love and tenderness, “He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.” “Satisfied!” I cried in my heart, “Christ is to be satisfied! He will be able to look at the world’s misery, and then at the travail through which He has passed because of it, and will be satisfied with the result; If I were Christ, nothing could satisfy me but that every human being should in the end be saved, and therefore I am sure that nothing less will satisfy Him.” And with this a veil seemed to be withdrawn from before the plans of the universe, and I saw that it was true, as the Bible says, that “as in Adam all die-even so in Christ should all be made alive.” As was the first, even so was the second. The “all” in one case could not in fairness mean less than the “all” in the other. I saw therefore that the remedy must necessarily be equal to the disease, the salvation must be as universal as the fall.
I saw all this that day on the tram-car on Market street, Philadelphia – not only thought it, or hoped it, or even believed it–but knew it. It was a Divine fact. And from that moment I have never had one questioning thought as to the final destiny of the human race. God is the Creator of every human being, therefore He is the Father of each one, and they are all His children; and Christ died for every one, and is declared to be “the propitiation not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). However great the ignorance therefore, or however grievous the sin, the promise of salvation is positive and without limitations. If it is true that “by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation,” it is equally true that “by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” To limit the last “all men” is also to limit the first. The salvation is absolutely equal to the fall. There is to be a final “restitution of all things,” when “at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Every knee, every tongue- words could not be more embracing. The how and the when I could not see; but the one essential fact was all I needed- somewhere and somehow God was going to make every thing right for all the creatures He had created. My heart was at rest about it forever.
I hurried home to get hold of my Bible, to see if the magnificent fact I had discovered could possibly have been all this time in the Bible, and I had not have seen it; and the moment I entered the house, I did not wait to take off my bonnet, but rushed at once to the table where I always kept my Bible and Concordance ready for use, and began my search. Immediately the whole Book seemed to be illuminated. On every page the truth concerning the “times of restitution of all things” of which the Apostle Peter says “God Hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began,” shone forth, and no room was left for questioning. I turned greedily from page to page of my Bible, fairly laughing aloud for joy at the blaze of light that illuminated it all. It became a new book. Another skin seemed to have been peeled off every text, and my Bible fairly shone with a new meaning. I do not say with a different meaning, for in no sense did the new meaning contradict the old, but a deeper meaning, the true meaning, hidden behind the outward form of words. The words did not need to be changed, they only needed to be understood; and now at last I began to understand them.”
A snippet from The Unselfishness of God and How I Discovered It
By Hannah Whitall Smith
tentmaker.org/books/unselfishness-of-god.htm
#17 - RAY PRINZING COMBO (worth repeating)
REDEMPTION ALL IN ALL - RAY PRINZING (my earthly hero and mentor)
“Aionian punishment means of the age, or age during. It is a period of time designated by God for the bringing to naught that which is wrong. God will mete out exactly the amount of time necessary for correction, but it will not be prolonged beyond that which is needed. All of God’s punishments are corrective in nature, motivated by His love, and used to work into our good and His praise.”
THE MAGNITUDE OF REDEMPTION – RAY PRINZING
“ ‘And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD.” 1John 4:14.
‘Who will have ALL MEN to be saved, and to come into a knowledge of the truth’ 1Tim. 2:4.
This is not a pitting of man’s will against the will of God as some try to teach, with man’s will able to resist and hold out until God cannot change him, but must throw him into some eternal cesspool to be tormented. NAY – for we read that ‘He is working out all things after the counsel of His own will,’ and man cannot disannul that which HE has willed. It is God’s will that all shall come to Christ. He is the propitiation for the sins of the WHOLE WORLD. Why then shall we be so foolish as to dispute the immutability of His truth?”
THE INTERPLAY OF GOOD AND EVIL – RAY PRINZING
“God is sovereign, and He controls all the interaction of evil and good, and causes all to redound to His own glory. It is not – what was lost by the fall was to be regained by redemption, BUT by the interaction of FALL AND REDEMPTION, God achieves greater, wiser, nobler, and higher goals than by the Adamic race remaining in its pristine state.
Evil and good are synchronized to accomplish God’s will and purpose, so that the ultimate goal shall reveal all evil transformed back into good, and all negation cancelled out by GOOD. Evil is allowed for wise ends, and when these are secured it must cease to exist, for God will restore all things into good. HE controls all the interaction between evil and good until His purpose of the ages is fulfilled. Then shall God be All in all.”
DIVINE INWORKINGS – ALL IN ALL – RAY PRINZING
“We would not minimize the judgments of God, but the more the spirit of revelation unfolds the truth, the more we see God’s judgments in proper perspective, that they are remedial, corrective in their nature and used to bring forth a state of righteousness. They shall not be executed in unholy vengeance, for MERCY shall balance the score. God’s judgments are ever tempered with mercy, and when they have fulfilled their purpose, the judgments end. Mercy will outlast all the judgments, and will rejoice in the ultimate restoration of all that was perverted, corrupt, and evil.
Mercy can operate on the basis of justice because Christ has gathered the whole into His own heart, and suffered to reconcile all to Himself.”
#18 - The first-born and first-fruits are the “few” and “little flock;” but these, though first delivered from the curse, have a relation to the whole creation, which shall be saved in the appointed times by the first-born seed, that is by Christ and His body, through those appointed baptisms, whether of fire or water, which are required to bring about “the restitution of all things.” St. Paul expressly declares this when he says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, … that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in the earth, even in Him.” - Rev. Andrew Jukes
#19 – By Walter Lanyon
“Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.”
With this overshadowing comes the peace that passeth ALL. An osmosis - absorption - a blending; into the ONE takes place and there is no longer question and answer, problem and solution.
“Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing” becomes a reality. There is no limitation - no questioning whether the desire is good, bad, or indifferent - for from this elevation the desire is the shape of the idea sent straight from the heart of God, and is made alive by the pulsating heartbeat of the universe.
“Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing” yet are you desireless, free from wanting and ready to move into a place of substance, out of the place of things and yet in the midst of them all. You are suddenly One. There is no more you and your problem, there is only you. You pass easily through the crowd of beliefs.
The Light universal keeps shining. As it intensifies, it absorbs the shadows of human belief; nothing matters, yet, everything does. It transform the Temple-body into a tenuous substance, through which it can shine forth, - assuming any attribute of God at will. Healing is not, then, some wonder projected through human thought, but rather the enveloping of the Golden Shadow. It is a natural blending with LIFE which rules out the narrow confines of health and strength in humankind. I AM suddenly submerged in a sea of LIFE - eternal, golden, and all redolent with the LOVE of God.
For the first time, the mystical becomes the intensely practical - the only real thing you have ever known. Sight becomes a capacity to peer through the dense midnight of thought, by means of the Light which projects its Golden Shadow from the “Mind which was also in Christ Jesus” and which you realize is the mind that is also in you.
No longer will you compromise with this power and put it through a thousand and one beliefs concocted by the mind of man. Instead, you permit it to take shape and form, even as the air takes the shape automatically of any vessel, yet never congeals or becomes set in that form, but lasts only for the moment of the duration of the desire.
“Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing” - it is a carte blanche releasement of HIS Love, and it has to be received naturally and not as some special dispensation. It is as though the Golden Shadow has cleared away all obstruction between you and His Love, and you can hear, and really HEAR what is being communicated to the earth plane; now you can really know the full dimensions of His Love, and that all manifestation will take place, independent of your thought and without any effort.
As a sudden heavy rain falls upon a parched desert and is instantly absorbed, so does this descent of spirit come upon you. It instantly changes the nature of the desert and the very seeds already there begin to stir. Something is to take place - “the desert is to blossom as a rose” - because of the downpour of His Love, and because of the Recognition. You are being conditioned to a new dimension.
The Golden Shadow is the Golden Fleece which you have sought for so long and which has been guarded by the Gorgon, with her snaky locks of human devices, ways and means. Upon whomsoever this Golden Shadow rests, something - a quickening, takes place - without effort, and without any of the old ideas of healing and helping. It is entirely impersonal and natural and has nothing at all to do with human thought. Nothing can stay it, nothing can project it; it is a natural movement or urge in the mind of God passing through the temple-body (man) casting the Golden Shadow of Love and doing the things called “miraculous” by its revealing Light.
“Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” Heaven and earth are full of thee - full, pressed down, and running over - there is not one empty vessel left, - even the borrowed ones are full. The Love of God keeps flowing until everything is satisfied. And all the while the Golden Shadow keeps revealing the intensely practical angle of it. It is not a mystical intangible thing, but something to be experienced and something to be handled with the hands and something that causes the wine of inspiration to flow through the body-temple with the rush of a pure mountain torrent. Health is absorbed into the LIFE of GOD, which knows no limitations.
“Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” You must be ALIVE to participate in this benefit. You have to come out of the tomb of human thinking into the clean, fresh and almost fierce tides of LIFE. You have to be ALIVE in the recognition and the instant response to HIS Voice.
To human thought His word is almost unbearably stimulating, breaking its limitations. The Spirit refuses to be longer held in the narrow confines of the letter. The grandeur, the magnificence of pure Spirit leaves you speechless and bereft of all thought. “Let the earth keep silent before me and renew her strength” - the body, the temple, the earth of you is experiencing the renewing of self-revelation.
You have entered a new mansion where there are “singing masons building roofs of gold.”* “Beauty, then is the destiny” ** which begins to shape itself and put to flight the FATE of human thought.
Yes, “thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desires of every living thing.” Right now - stay there a moment.
“Not to desire is to have.” Can you hear? Walter Lanyon
#20 – Dr. E.W. Bullinger, (THE COMPANION BIBLE)
“We have not an impotent Father, or a disappointed Christ, or a defeated Holy Ghost, as is so commonly preached; but an omnipotent Father, an all-victorious Christ, and an almighty Holy Spirit, able to break the hardest heart and subdue the stoutest will.”
A snippet from THESIS ON THE EONS – Travis Ogletree
Travis wrote, “Many find it difficult to see that the God Who is willing that none should perish has made atonement, not just for the sins of the elect, but for the sins of the whole world, will succeed (2 Peter 3:9 & John 1:2).”
Anyone who reads this thesis will probably find it less difficult and will have a much better understanding of why some of us believe that the Bible, literally (not interpretively) translated, teaches the eventual salvation of everyone because of what Christ accomplished by His death and resurrection.
Good job Travis! I’m sure it will be a blessing to everyone who reads it, even if it only causes them to begin to rejoice in the hope that the point of view your thesis presents is true.