Dan R. Smedra

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Like a lost treasure, genuine biblical Christianity has been buried beneath the sands of time. Down through the centuries, much of Christendom has become a synthesis of humanism and Biblical semantics--an unholy alliance, symbolized above by Leonardo da Vinci's Renaissance man, (who signifies man as the "measure of all things") holding the Christian Pax emblem. Nearly all twentieth century Christianity has erroneously embraced the foundational tenet of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment--the sovereignty of man. Let's explore the consequences.

Were you shocked by the 1978 Jonestown Massacre in which 900 sect members followed an ex-Pentecostal preacher, Jim Jones, into mass suicidal death? Or have you been appalled through the years by the outrageous claims and fleshly antics of the Tulsa, Oklahoma based charismatic Methodists--Oral and Richard Roberts? Have you provided an adequate explanation for yourself and others concerning the sex scandals and financial fiascos of Jim and Tammy Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, or numerous other Pentecostal or charismatic 'lesser lights'? Then finally, was your curiosity stirred by Jim Bakker's confession of his sins "from childhood to this minute" to a Roman Catholic priest? Are these events somehow related? Were certain religious ideas or concepts common amongst those mentioned above? Or, are they simply cases of "individual moral failure" as the secular news media so often report?

The remainder of this Web page is designed to explain, at an unfortunate but necessarily technical level, the historical union which developed between humanism and numerous Christian denominations in the West. In addition, you'll be introduced to some biblical truths which are extremely vital to a sound and healthy Christian life. Follow along, and you'll gain a better understanding of the link between religious belief and behavior, the difference between truth and error.

Throughout this web page, you'll notice words ending with the suffix "ism." Typically, their usage denotes a system of religious or philosophical tenets, or a scientific theory. An "ism" represents a group of related ideas bundled together to form an overarching point-of-view--a worldview. However in contrast to "isms," you'll be primarily dependent upon God's written revelation--the 66 Books of the Bible, for guidance and instruction in safe and sound doctrine. Today, the Bible is the primary means by which sovereign God illuminates and teaches us about Himself as well as gives mankind the only honest and accurate diagnosis of the human condition.

Created in God's image

Contrary to popular thinking, there is a God--and we are not Him. Further, God is not an impersonal force. God is a Spirit who possesses personality with attributes of unlimited intellect, emotions, and absolute, immutable self-determination--free will. He is Love, Light, and the Creator of all things, including the Creation in which you are sitting.

Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, were created in the "image" of God. God was the Creator, Adam and Eve were the created. This was not a physical likeness, rather it was one of personhood. Adam and Eve resembled God in that they possessed intellect, emotions, and volition or will. God created the first couple so that they, and consequently the entire human race which would spring from them, could share in God's life, love, and purpose...'a nurtured relationship', a fellowship with God. Throughout this web page, quotations taken from God's Word--the Bible (New King James Version) are shown as follows:

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.  Genesis 1:26

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  Genesis 1:27.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (soul).  Genesis 2:7

While God is: infinite, uncreated, heavenly, and the Source of life; Adam and Eve were: finite, created, earthly, and dependent upon their Creator for life. God is Sovereign and Supreme (above all), Omnipotent (all powerful), and Omniscient (all knowing). Sovereign means above all, which by definition cannot be shared with any another. He alone is Autonomous, and freedom in its purest form belongs only to Him. His will is a unity with His essence. All other creatures (men and angels) possess only a secondary form of self-determination--accurately referred to as volition or power of choice.

The FALL -- "...and you can be even more like God"

Adam and Eve were created in fellowship with God and their wills were inclined toward God. This inclination or propensity for behavior was the Creator's product and the creature's activity--i.e., obedience. God issued a warning that disobedience would result in grave consequences--"you will die." Neither Adam nor Eve clearly understood that to "die" meant both spiritual separation from God as well as physical and material decay. Consequently, through temptation and disobedience (read Genesis chapter 2, verses 16 and 17 and all of chapter 3) Adam and Eve died in relation to God. Instantly, they suffered spiritual separation and their nature (mind/emotions/will) became independent and inclined toward or 'enslaved' to disobedience. As creatures created in "the image of God," they retained their faculty of volition or power of choice, but their propensity (bent or inclination) changed!! Adam and Eve passed from a state of obedience toward God to an innate desire to act independently and contrary to God's character and will. The Bible defines this state of independence and rebellion as sin.

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned--  (Romans 5:12)

Universal physical death is proof that all mankind are sinners. The historical event of Adam and Eve's disobedience to God is commonly referred to amongst Christians as the "Fall". This First Couple 'fell' from their original position, incurred corruption, and became alienated from their Creator--the Source of Life.

Our Inheritance

And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image; and named him Seth. Genesis 5:3

Adam and Eve likely did not have any children before the Fall. If they did, their Genesis 3 disobedience brought corruption upon all their offspring and well as the cosmos in general. After the Fall, all humanity (which includes you and me) inherently share in all the "death" consequence of their disobedience. We are all born into this world in the image of Adam--a distortion of the original "image of God." We all bear Adam's likeness--chips off the old First Block. Since the Fall, every human being (except One) has been born in a state of independence and alienation from God. Born spiritually "dead in transgressions and sins" we all sin in thought, word, and deed as well as progressively journey toward physical death.

Note: Keep in mind, some forms of sin may not necessarily seem morally offensive to us or to society. Sin's basic or underlying essence is independence from or rebellion against God, which can appear quite upright, good and noble.

The New Birth and New Nature

Mankind remains in a state of spiritual death, having only one propensity or 'nature', and inclined toward sin...until the Spirit of God initiates a 'new birth' and recreates an individual "in Christ." This redemption/regeneration is "by grace through faith." Grace is the cause, faith is the means. The new birth places us in union with the life of Christ, a Life which is immutably inclined toward righteousness and holiness. Contrary to time-worn theory, the Christian does not receive or regain autonomous "free will" at the new birth. So-call "free will" is a myth. However, the born-again believer does possess two propensities. For a thorough explanation of the believer's two natures, read The Ground of Growth, THE COMPLETE GREEN LETTERS, Miles J. Stanford, (Zondervan, 1983), available at Amazon or through your local Christian bookstore.

The Blinding of the Minds

There are two erroneous systems of belief simultaneously devastating the Church and paralyzing Christians today. As mentioned in the introduction above, one is Christian humanism which is further explained in detail below. The other is the age-old Legalism, which is championed by the Protestant Reformed/Covenant theology movement, law-based Christian denominations, and other law-centered, para-church organizations.

FAQs - Questions and Answers

CHRISTIAN HUMANISM

Christian humanism is a religious philosophy which utilizes a biblical vocabulary, but is built on the philosophical and sociological myth that man is autonomous and possesses free will. It is a devastating error which deceptively draws sinners into falsely believing they are saved (i.e. Christian) when in fact they are religious and lost. It is one widespread means by which the unbelieving mind is blinded to the Gospel--the true message of Christian redemption.

BEWARE! - Read 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

Religious humanism is centuries old. It fueled the core of hatred and opposition toward the Lord Jesus Christ when he walked the earth over 2,000 years ago. The Jewish religious leaders of his day (and ours) denied their congenital inheritance from the First Adam, rejected their condition of bondage to sin, and erroneously believed that they possessed unbounded free will. The account of this conflict is recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter 8:31-47. As this error continued its infectious spread, the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Christians living in Rome,

"For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all." and "But God be thanked that though you were slaves to sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine [Paul's Gospel of Grace] to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." (Romans 11:32; 6:17,18).

Going forward however, Christianity would always struggle to stand free from the corrupting influence and damaging effects of religious humanism.

Pelagianism

Early in the Fifth century, an English lawyer and moralist, Pelagius sought to reform the Roman Catholic Church in Europe. His concern justifiably centered on the behavior of morally lax clergy and church members who used the fact of human frailty as license for immorality. His influence is illustrated below through the use of the small arrow. Throughout the remaining graphics, arrows are used in this fashion to denote an intellectual influence, either modifying or corrupting.

Pelagius taught that man did not inherit Adam's propensity toward sin, possessed free will, and consequently constructed a system of rationalistic moralism. While accepting the Bible's account of Adam and Eve, but relying on reason and experience, he insisted that a good and just God would not command of fallen man that (moral imperatives) which were impossible to perform and that anyone could live free from sin, if they just chose to. According to Pelagius, man was autonomous, unhindered, and free to choose for or against God. Further, he also erroneously believed that man's mental abilities were unaffected by the Fall. He and his followers became the life-long theological antagonists of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354-430 C.E.), who unsuccessfully sought to defend the truth of man's ruin at the Fall as recorded by God in the Bible.  Pelagius and his teachings were formally condemned by various early Catholic councils; however, this was not the end of the matter.

Semi-Pelagianism

By the end of the Fifth century, through a process of compromise and conciliation with the teachings of the Bible, Pelagianism spawned Semi-Pelagianism. It has been described by Dr. Kenneth Good in these words:

Though it retained much of the philosophical basis of its parent (Pelagianism), as opposed to divine revelation (i.e. the Bible), Semi-Pelagianism compromised with truth sufficiently to gain favorable audience with some Christians.  It became, thus, a far more dangerous form of infidelity than its parent.  As such, it eventually overcame the Roman Catholic Church and returned it to the very Pelagianism condemned by Augustine.  Semi-Pelagianism changed its disguise and further altered its voice at a later date to become known as Arminianism, following some scholastic refinements and adjustments to Christianity. 1

Semi-Pelagianism was ineffectively condemned by Rome's leaders at The Council of Orange (529 C.E.).  However, it gained sufficient popularity to be confirmed at the Council of Trent (1547 C.E.) and adopted as an official religious doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church.  Both Councils argued that man possessed free will, although corrupted.  Both Councils minimized the extent of the corruption.  Throughout the centuries to this very day, the Roman Church has defended and institutionalized their dogma of autonomous "free will".  Recent books by Pope John Paul II affirm the semi-pelagian position of modern-day Catholicism.  Curious about who constitutes a Roman Catholic?   See WHO IS A ROMAN CATHOLIC.

From approximately the Fifth to the Fourteenth century, most of Europe lay under feudalism and the pervasive civil influence and ecclesiastical control of the Roman Catholic Church. This period is known as the Middle or 'Dark' Ages and was generally characterized by ignorance, immorality, and barbarism among the peasantry. The Bible was tenaciously controlled by Roman Catholic monks, priests, bishops, etc., thereby keeping church members as well as the general populace ignorant regarding the Bible's contents.  This was a serious abuse of power and authority.

However, following the linguistic translation work of William Tyndale (1494-1536 C.E.) and black market efforts to make the Bible widely available in the language of the common people, the spiritual and religious darkness of Europe began to lift. The people were eager to explore the contents of the Bible and found that the Book could act as its own interpreter, contrary to Rome's claim. Also reflecting the growing willingness to question religious authority, England's King Henry VIII (1491-1547 C.E.) challenged Pope Clement the VII's claim to papal infallibility. King Henry took steps to formally separate the Church of England from the corrupt Roman system, and by 1534 had fully established the independent, national Church of England, also called the Anglican Church. Later, the American version of Anglicanism would be known as the Episcopal Church. However, in spite of the institutional separation, Anglicanism also retained a semi-pelagian position.

Contemporaries to this era, Martin Luther (1483-1546 C.E.) and John Calvin (1509-1564 C.E.) also raised protests against Semi-Pelagian heresy and Rome's claim to ultimate authority. For these Reformers or 'Protest'ants as they were called, the Bible (under the sovereign illuminating control of God the Holy Spirit) was the sole and final authority for faith and life, not corrupt tradition or perverse church leaders. These individuals and their followers left their mark, many times with their own blood, on medieval history by progressively freeing northern Europe from the tyranny, but not the presence of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and Semi-Pelagianism.

Contrary to common thinking, the banner of the Protestant Reformation was not "justification by faith." Rather, it was "justification by grace through faith" built upon a solid foundation of God's sovereign electing grace and man's ruin as recorded in the Bible (Ephesians 2:8,9). No Pelagian error would be tolerated here! The original Protestants taught that man did not possess free will, but was bound in sin as previously discussed. God's grace (unmerited favor) was the cause of redemption, faith but the means. While this may seem like a subtle or unimportant semantic difference, the religious consequences of this distinction are profound. Listen to the concluding remarks of Martin Luther as he argued against the Dutch humanist scholar, Desiderius Erasmus and Semi-Pelagianism in his magnum opus work--The Bondage of the Will.

Now, my good Erasmus, I entreat you for Christ's sake to keep your promise at last. You promised that you would yield to him who taught better than yourself. Lay aside respect of persons! I acknowledge that you are a great man, adorned with many of God's noblest gifts--wit, learning and an almost miraculous eloquence, to say nothing of the rest; whereas I have and am nothing, save that I would glory in being a Christian. Moreover, I give you hearty praise and commendation on this further account--that you alone, in contrast with all others, have attacked the real thing, that is, the essential issue. You have not wearied me with those extraneous issues about the Papacy, purgatory, indulgences and such like--trifles, rather than issues--in respect of which almost all to date have sought my blood (though without success); you, and you alone, have seen the hinge on which all turns, and aimed for the vital spot. (bold and underline emphasis mine). 2

This "vital spot" to which Luther refers was the biblical truth concerning man's lost and sin-bound condition in contrast to any and all forms of Pelagian heresy. Luther was convinced that this doctrine was vital to the truth of the Christian Gospel, and that its absence had formed the seedbed for various false forms of Christianity. As one brother has keenly said, "The world was never the same following God's testimony through this faithful servant."  For a contemporary account of this issue, see SOVEREIGNTY PLUS RESPONSIBILITY & THE NEW CATHOLIC COUNTER-REFORMATION.

Arminianism

Note: Arminian is not to be confused with Armenia and/or Armenian, a small country located in the modern Near East which now borders: Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Iran.

Arminianism is another humanistic religious system generally accredited to the sixteenth century theologian--Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609 C.E.), and his followers. Who was this man whose ideas influence Christendom today more than those of any other? Some detailed church history will prove helpful. Born in Amsterdam, Holland, he received his education in the European mainland. Later, he returned to the Netherlands as a Protestant minister. In time, he became a strong advocate of Dutch Reformed theology--a system of teaching held by the followers of John Calvin in Holland. Ultimately chosen to write a defense against attacks upon these beliefs, Arminius concluded that some of Calvin's tenets were indefensible. However, in rejecting the excesses of Calvinism, and in the attempt to construct his own system of beliefs, Arminius drew upon both Semi-Pelagianism and the Bible to create a new theological hybrid--subsequently labeled Arminianism.

While Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism more or less denied the effects of Adam's sin on his posterity, Arminius sought to further modify and construct some middle ground on the subject.  Similar to his Catholic predecessors, he labored to create a consistent interpretation of the Christian religion without forfeiting the free will foundation. According to his theory, man's will was hindered in the Fall, but God restores to all men adequate freedom (free will) so that they can determine their own destinies.

The followers of Jacob Arminius, called Arminians, set forth their views in a document called the Remonstrance which can be summarized as follows:

1. God acts on the basis of foreseen faith or unbelief. The basis for God's favor is His foresight of man exercising faith.

2. Christ died for all men without distinction, consequently only those who exercise their "free will" are saved. Christ's atonement did not guarantee salvation for anyone. Man's decision or choice makes the difference.

3. Common grace, which is given by God to all men, removes their inability to choose Him. Man's will is rendered free and is unhindered from exercising saving faith. Consequently, man has no propensity for or against God; man is neutral.

4. Grace may be resisted. Man has the ability to ultimately resist God's effort to save him.

5. Hence, uncertainty surrounds whether those who are saved will finally persevere or be lost. Final salvation is possible for believers. However, ultimate victory rests with their faithfulness. Apostasy (ultimate falling away) is possible for those once saved..

Appropriately, Christian theologian Dr. A.H. Strong wrote:

It is important to understand that, in Arminian usage, grace is simply the restoration of man's natural ability to act for himself; it never actually saves him, but only enables him to save himself...if he will.

While these Arminian tenets were added to, expanded, and further developed, their essence has remained the same. Christian author Miles J. Stanford succinctly states:

Their God determines nothing, gives nothing except so-called common grace which removes the inability to choose Him, and He secures nothing.

As a synthesis of humanistic Semi-Pelagianism and the Bible, Arminianism insists that any movement toward God is man's ultimate decision, and that God simply acts in response to that decision. Consequently, man is sovereign!

The early 20th century founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, L. S. Chafer, wrote:

Arminianism's misleading error in the field of salvation is that it persists in attempting to build the Christian's standing upon his feeble and faltering daily life, rather than on the sufficient and immutable merit of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Arminian salvation becomes little more than a system of human conduct; for, though the idea of regeneration is incorporated, it is, in the Arminian idea of it, of no abiding value, being supported only by a supposed human merit. 3

Again, hear Stanford's description:

Coming from humanistic Pelagianism instead of from the Scriptures, Arminianism bases salvation upon the will of fallen man. It is anti-sovereignty, anti-security, anti-dispensational, anti-grace, pro-works religion. The teaching is that God, through redemption, bestows a 'common grace' upon all men, thereby making it possible for the individual to exercise his free will either for, or against God. Its maxim is, "It is mine to be willing to believe, and it is the part of God's grace to assist."

Thus the sinner's choice of God, and not God's choice of the sinner, is the ultimate factor in salvation. Those elected by God are chosen only in the sense that He foresaw their faith and good works--which arise from themselves and are not wrought of God. The human will is exalted to the place of sovereignty and, according to this system, man is his own savior.

In that the Arminian begins on the premise of his own free will, his end is on the same assumption. He feels that since he can come in, he can therefore go out, by his free will. What little assurance of salvation he has is founded upon his own momentary merit, plus whatever emotional experiences he can muster along the way. "After I accepted Jesus I wasn't sure if I was really saved; but when I had my 'baptism in the Holy Ghost,' and spoke in tongues, then I was sure." Consequently the Arminian's existence is experience-based, only to be beset by fears, uncertainties, backslidings, and failure.

Unconditional eternal security grounded upon the fact of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ is utterly rejected by the Arminian. He sedulously avoids all portions of the Bible that establish eternal security, or at best seeks to discredit and deny them. He gravitates to out-of-context verses that seem to him to militate against the truth of "once saved, always saved." 4

Methodism

John Wesley (1703-1791 C.E.), son of an Anglican minister, also became a Protestant minister in the Anglican Church (Church of England). While on a voyage to America for service in the Episcopal Church of Georgia, he came in contact with a Christian sect, the Moravian Brethren, who impressed him with their certainty and assurance of salvation. Religious but lost, Wesley became deeply concerned regarding the uncertainties in his own life and lack of religious "experiences." After laboring under the pretense of being a Christian and consequent failure in mission work, he returned to England in distress and sought out the Moravian community. There he again caught a glimpse of the effects of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith, free of Semi-Pelagian error. After Wesley had studied the subject, he subsequently testified of having undergone a religious experience which partially resembled a true conversion. In his diary he wrote:

In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society [Moravian meeting] in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing a change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sin, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. 5

If John Wesley was truly saved at Aldersgate, he remained confused regarding what occurred or why. However in time and with aid of theologian John W. Fletcher, Wesley embraced and incorporated both Arminianism and the spirit of the Enlightenment (Europe's intellectual awakening) into his Wesleyan movement--Methodism. While several aspects of both the Renaissance and the Enlightenment eras were culturally positive, their progressive reliance on human reason in religious matters and denial of divine, supernatural revelation proved spiritually ruinous. In 1790, shortly before his death, Wesley published Fletcher's biography in The Arminian Magazine as a tribute to, in Wesley's words, the "Theologian of Methodism."

Note closely the contemporary remark of Duke University Divinity School professor, Thomas A. Langford:

It is important that the Wesleyan movement came into existence during the Enlightenment and therefore, from the beginning, has carried a modern sensibility.

The Enlightenment ushered in the modern period in western culture.

More revolutionary for the West than the Reformation, which continued to accept the dominant assumptions of medieval life, the Enlightenment challenged inherited convictions about God and affirmed the radical independence and competent rationality of human beings. Hence autonomous rational people came to be the chief assured reality. (Underline emphasis mine.) 6

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Copyright © 1985-2013.  All rights reserved.  Raised Roman Catholic until the age of twenty, Dan R. Smedra, became a new-creation Christian in October 1969. A personal testimony is available at http://withChrist.org/dan.htm.

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