Mark 3:28-30, “Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.”
One of the most common topics, that my many dear web visitors who've
e-mailed me have brought up in the past months, is the “Reprobate Doctrine”
that has been popularized in recent years by Pastor Steven Anderson.
It is not my intent in this article to refute Pastor Anderson; but rather, to address this important matter and lay it to rest from the Holy Bible. I need to explain several things, to help you grasp this doctrine. There are several aspects that need to be explained, to lay a foundation. I have prayed for God to give me His wisdom, so I give the Lord any due credit, for it is His Holy Spirit working through me, and not my own wisdom by which I write this article.
The “Reprobate Doctrine” itself teaches that there is a line an unbeliever can cross, where God no longer deals with that person's heart about getting saved, and they are beyond hope. Although it is true that a person who rejects the Gospel runs the risk of never hearing the truth again, I do not believe that God deliberately wants anybody to perish in their sins and go to Hell forever. Pastor Anderson defines a “reprobate” as someone who is incapable of believing the Gospel.
Although I agree that an unbeliever's
heart can become so hardened that the truth is no longer effective, I do not
believe it is because God has willingly hardened their heart because He
hates them. The Lord wants all men to be saved (2nd Peter 3:9). The problem
is not that homosexuals are incapable of believing the Gospel to be saved; but
rather, Jesus said, “ye will not come to me, that ye might have life”
(Matthew 5:40).
The Holy Spirit Draws All Men to Christ to Be Saved
Jesus said in John 12:32, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” The Lord further said...
John 16:7-11, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”
The blessed Holy Spirit convicts the lost world
of sin, BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE NOT ON JESUS CHRIST. The Holy Spirit convicts
lost men that they need to get saved, by submitting to God's righteousness,
which is through faith (Philippians 3:9). The Holy Spirit convicts the world
that Judgment Day is coming!!! A person CAN be saved at any time by simply
believing the Gospel, but a person WON'T want to be saved unless the Holy
Spirit is dealing with their heart. This is the woeful risk and danger of
rejecting the call to believe the Gospel when you hear it, because you may
never heard the truth of the Gospel again. Romans 10:17, So then faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” If faith comes from
HEARING the Word of God, and you reject so great a salvation, then you may
never have another chance to get saved if you don't fall under the
conviction of the Holy Spirit again. It is a very dangerous thing to
postpone getting saved!!! You may never come under the fiery conviction of
the Holy Spirit again, unless you are blessed enough to hear the saving
truth of the Gospel down the road. Having explained this truth, that leads
me to my next point.
Speaking Evil of the Holy Spirit Effectively Means Rejecting Christ as One's Savior
There are two very important truths that I want you to see in the following passage...
Mark 3:28-30, “Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.”
Many people quote this same Scripture passage from Matthew 12:31-32 and Luke 12:10, but there is a truth that we find in Mark 3:28-30 that is not found in the other passages. Please notice two things:
- The Holy Bible says that a person who blasphemes the Holy Spirit “IS IN DANGER OF ETERNAL DAMNATION.” Carefully notice that the Bible doesn't say they are damned and beyond hope, as the unscriptural Reprobate Doctrine claims. They are IN DANGER of eternal damnation because they have rejected the conviction of the Holy Spirit, thus, they are still lost in their sinful state.
- The Holy Bible tells us why they are in danger of eternal damnation, BECAUSE THEY SAID, HE [JESUS] HATH AN UNCLEAN SPIRIT. That is, they accused Jesus of being of the Devil, thus, rejecting the truth of the Gospel.
Those are two very important truths, that I
hope you understood. The Bible doesn't say that they were automatically
going to Hell for blaspheming (speaking evil of) the Holy Spirit. The Bible
says they were “IN DANGER” of going to Hell. That means they can still be
saved. The only unpardonable sin is rejecting Jesus as one's Savior. And
since it is the Holy Spirit Who first has to convict a man and deal with his
heart to be saved, if you speak evil of Him, you have fallen from grace,
throwing away the ONLY hope of getting saved.
The Heresy of Dr. Harold Smith's Sermon, “God's Three Deadlines”
I
read about a popular sermon today, preached in 1992, which is being promoted
online in lame defense of the Reprobate Doctrine, called “God's Three
Deadlines” (available
to listen to here), by Dr. Harold J. Smith (1910-2001). I listened to
the entire MP3 sermon today, and I don't agree with numerous doctrinal
things taught by Dr. Smith. For example: In the sermon he says that people
who speak evil of the Holy Spirit have crossed the line and God will kill
them. That's simply not true. The devout atheists at
The Blasphemy Challenge
organization (known commonly as the
Rational Response Squad), have openly recorded thousands of people
(including themselves) saying, “I deny the Holy Spirit!” The atheist
activist group shake their fists in defiance at God, proudly blaspheming the
Holy Spirit. Yet, God has NOT killed them!
Clearly, Dr. Smith's sermon doesn't apply. I'm tired of preachers exploiting the misfortune of a few to superstitiously scare people into getting saved. I believe in THE TRUTH. You ought to get saved, because as Jesus said, you're “IN DANGER OF ETERNAL DAMNATION” (Mark 3:30). But for any preacher to tell stories about people who challenged God or the preacher, and then drove into a tree later that day and died, is not a proper way to teach the Word of God.
In the sermon “God's Three Deadlines,” Harold Smith even says during the invitation, that if anyone doesn't get saved at that time, but later changes their mind out in the parking lot, and comes back into the churches to get saved, God won't save them because it will be too late and they've crossed the line. Folks, that is junk theology and scare tactics. I am a fundamentalist, not a nut! If you don't respond to the invitation at the end of a sermon, but afterwards change your mind in the parking lot and come back into the church to find out how to be saved, GOD WILL MOST ASSUREDLY SAVE YOU if you place your trust in the Good News of Christ crucified on the cross for your sins, buried and risen three days later. That is “THE GOSPEL” (1st Corinthians 15:1-4)!!!
Dr. Smith also says in his bad sermon, that God will kill Christians who continue in sin. He uses 1st Corinthians 5:5 as his reference passage. Folks, we all know of horrible professed believers who live in continuous sin. The Bible says Demas forsook Paul, having loved this present world. Noah got drunk. Samson went with harlots. David stole a man's wife, impregnated her and then murdered her husband. Moses murdered a man. Isaiah was a man of unclean lips. Jacob betrayed his brother and deceived his father. Sarah laughed at the promise of God. Abraham lied. Jonah forsook God's will. When Jesus raised from the dead and found Peter, the apostle was butt naked in public. These are God's best and brightest! God DIDN'T kill any of them!!! Sorry Mr. Smith, but you're WRONG! God doesn't go around killing sinners, and a good thing, or we'd ALL be dead!
Granted, we have a few accounts in the Bible of people that God killed. Herod (an unsaved man) was killed for his hubris, because he failed to give glory to God. Ananias and Sapphira (saved believers) were killed, for lying to the Holy Ghost. So, yes, God can and does sometimes prematurely (by human wisdom) take a person's life for various reasons, but it is not the norm.
You can say bad things about the Lord, and God
the Father will overlook that if you're a blood-washed child of God (e.g.,
Peter cursed the Lord's name and denied Him three times). But if you reject
the Holy Spirit, you are in trouble, because He is your only ticket to
receiving Christ to be saved. But again, the Scriptures tell us that people
who blaspheme the Holy Spirit are only “IN DANGER OF ETERNAL DAMNATION,” it
doesn't say that they cannot be saved. Of course, we know from John 3:18
that all unbelievers are damned (condemned) already, because they have not
believed on the only begotten name of the Son of God. This simply means that
unless they get saved at some future point, they'll go straight to Hell the
second they enter into eternity.
What About Jeremiah 6:30 Where Men Call the Wicked Jews “Reprobate Silver”?
The Old Testament says...
Jeremiah 6:28-30, “They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters. The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away. Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.”
First of all, men didn't call them “REPROBATES,” they called them “REPROBATE SILVER.” That is, the silver was so full of alloy that it had no significant value. It needed to be purified first. The Bible is comparing the rebellious Jews to something of inferior value. I am reminded of “fools gold.“ During the California Gold Rush, many settlers thought they had found gold, because of the brilliant metallic sparkle, but it was actually the inexpensive metal tungsten, not gold. My point being, men called them reprobate silver, because the Jews had lost their peculiarity as God's holy people, because of their habitual idolatry and sin. God rejected Israel. Again, the Bible doesn't say that men called them reprobates, it says they called them reprobate silver. There's a big difference. This is the ONLY mention of the word “reprobate” in the Old Testament.
Secondly, God didn't reject the Jews from getting saved; but rather, He rejected them as a nation. The Holy Bible never teaches that when God divorced Israel, He gave up on them ever getting saved. In sharp contrast to the claim that God rejects the worst of sinners, we read in the New Testament that there has always been a remnant of believing Jews...
Romans 11:5 and 23, “God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. ... And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.”
Any Jew, still today, can and will be graffed back into the olive tree (the seed of Abraham) by faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:26). The Jews murdered the prophets which God sent to help them. They desecrated God's alters. But there has always been a small remnant of Jews, who have believed on the Messiah. The lie of Calvinism says that we believe because God chose us, but the truth of the Holy Bible says that God chose us because we believe.
It is true that the Old Testament Jews waxed rebellious against the Lord, committing all manner of evil and provoking the Lord. God had finally tolerated enough and gave Israel into the hands of the cruel Assyrians and the Babylonians. In 586 BC, Jerusalem fell to ruin and captivity into Babylon. This was God's judgment upon them! The Jews had become worthless as far as fulfilling their duty for God. But for anyone to attempt to use this passage of Scripture from Jeremiah 6:30, to say that the Jews were beyond the hope of getting saved, is junk theology. Romans chapter 11 evidences this truth. I am totally against the notion that our great God, Who gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross for the sins of the whole world, ever gives up on anyone getting saved.
Carefully notice that the Bible teaches God's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, but men's SINS have separated them from an omnibenevolent (all-loving) God. Isaiah 59:1-2, “Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” God always honors repentance, whether it be an individual or a nation. 2nd Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” That is, to change one's mind and believe the Gospel.
What About Pastor Jack Hyles' Teaching On
Romans Chapter One
The
Reprobate Doctrine crowd rally behind a sermon clip by Dr. Jack
Hyles, which Pastor Steven Anderson has titled, “Jack
Hyles Explains Reprobate Doctrine.” In the sermon clip Brother Hyles
simply teaches that there is a line which an unsaved person can cross,
beyond which they cannot be saved.
First, Brother Hyles was just an imperfect man, so his sermons are NOT our authority on doctrine. I love Brother Hyles and he is my hero of the Christian faith, but I am not a “Hylesite” (a terrible disparaging term hurled against anyone who loves Dr. Jack Hyles). I only follow Dr. Hyles when he follows the Lord. The apostle Paul said in 1st Corinthians 11:1, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” I like what General George Patton said, “Either lead me, follow me, or get out of my way!” Dr. Hyles was a leader, and no one was a better follower of the truth and servant of Christ than Brother Hyles. Still, he was only a flawed human being, as are we ALL!
Second, I agree with Dr. Hyles that there is a line that a person can cross, but it is a line that God does not set. Dr. Hyles never said that homosexuals are the reprobates. He plainly says in the YouTube sermon clip that he DOESN'T KNOW what that point is, nor WHO crosses it. Whereas Pastor Anderson has set a specific point, ostracizing all homosexuals from the Gospel. Brother Anderson is very WRONG!!! I say that kindly, but truthfully. Dr. Hyles never applied Romans chapter one to homosexuals, but Pastor Anderson did! Brother Anderson is teaching something very different than what Dr. Hyles taught.
Dr. Hyles clearly said that he DIDN'T KNOW who has crossed the line with God, nor WHAT THAT POINT IS. If you listen carefully to what Dr. Hyles is teaching, he is saying that there comes a point in a Christ-rejecter's life where they'll never hear the Gospel again. That is VERY DIFFERENT than God banning someone from getting saved. Brother Hyles is just saying that you'd better get saved now, while you can, and don't take a chance that you'll never hear the saving-truth of the Gospel again. Dr. Hyles also mentions a lost lady that he met, who said she couldn't get saved because she had crossed a line in her life. But if you listen to the story, it was her own lack of feelings and interest in the Gospel that cursed her, not something that God did to her. She decided that she had crossed a line, not God.
Dr. Hyles simply teaches that one day you'll hear your last invitation to be saved, and there won't be another, so you'd better get saved NOW! That is common sense folks! That is very different than saying that someone CANNOT be saved because God hates them, which is what Pastor Anderson is errantly saying publicly.
Respectfully, Dr. Hyles does teach some heresy in his video clip. He says that Esau couldn't get saved, but he takes the Scripture out of context. Here is the Scripture from Hebrews 12:17, “For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” What was Esau seeking? The Bible plainly tells us... to inherit “THE BLESSING” from his father Isaac! His wicked brother, Jacob, had deceived his father (pretending to be Esau) and cheated Esau out of THE BLESSING. This has absolutely NOTHING to do with salvation. I love Brother Hyles, but I won't defend him when he is wrong. So this passage has nothing to do with salvation.
Why Did God Harden Pharaoh's Heart in the
Time of Moses?
And furthermore, concerning Pharaoh in Moses' time, the Bible says that God hardened his heart not to let the Hebrews go. The Bible doesn't say that God hardened Pharaoh's heart not to get saved. Do you know why God hardened Pharaoh's heart? It was becausee God wanted to show off His muscles to His people. By hardening Pharaoh's heart, who refused to let the Hebrews go free to serve God in the Wilderness, it gave God the opportunity to work miraculous wonders, and blow everyone's mind...
Psalms:106:7-12, “Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea. Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left. Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.”
God
created mankind in His own image. Just as humans love to be praised, so does
God. That is why the Lord's Prayer (it's really the disciple's prayer,
because they said, “TEACH US TO PRAY”) in Luke 11:2 begins with
bragging on God... “HALLOWED BE THY NAME”! God loves to be bragged on. I
learned a long time ago from Brother Hyles to regularly brag on God to get
things from Him. Sometimes I just pause during the day, whether I be
working, resting or walking, and I simply say, “God, I love you so much!”
The Lord needs that adoration from His children, just as earthly parents need to hear their children say “I love you mom!” or “I love you dad!” How real is God to you friend? Do you talk to Him throughout the day? I talk out loud when I go walking, speaking to the Lord. I don't care if people think I'm crazy (although I am...lol). If they ask I will tell them, “I am talking to God, my best Friend.” The Lord loves to receive praise, and HE IS WORTHY! The Lord's Prayer begins with bragging on God, please don't forget that important truth!
So we see from the Psalms, that God only
hardened Pharaoh's heart so that He could flex His divine muscles and
impress His people. God did it so “THAT HE MIGHT MAKE HIS MIGHTY POWER TO
BE KNOWN” (Psalms 106:8). It had NOTHING to do with salvation.
The Reprobate Doctrine Crowd Have it All Backwards
Also, in the clip Brother Hyles refers to the following passage of Scripture...
Ephesians 4:17-19, “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”
This
is what Romans chapter one is talking about, in the downward progression of
an unrepentant sinner. First, they are unthankful and fail to glory
(acknowledge) God their Creator. Their foolish hearts become darkened in the
vanity of their minds. They worship the creature more than the Creator. They
indulge in fleshly lusts and sins. The Holy Bible says that God gives them
up to UNCLEANLINESS! It doesn't say that they can never be saved. The Holy
Scriptures say that God gives them over to VILE AFFECTIONS! The Bible
doesn't say that God gives up on them ever getting saved.
The Holy Bible plainly tells us WHY God gives
them over to their vile affections in Romans 1:25, “Who changed the truth
of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature
more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” They
were already committing IDOLATRY! They had already rejected the Gospel. You
see, the Reprobate Doctrine folks have it all backwards. They say that
because of gross sin (like homosexuality) God gives up on people ever
getting saved; whereas, the Holy Bible teaches that because unbelievers
reject the Gospel, God gives them up unto their filthy sins to allow them to
treasure up wrath against them on judgment day (which I'll explain further
in a moment). Romans chapter one is not saying that vile sinners can
never be saved. Anybody can still be saved! Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, and
let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool.”
Romans Chapter One is All About Accepting Or Rejecting the Gospel
Do
you know what Romans chapter one is saying? The Bible is saying that God
lets people be people. I can prove it, with the chapter that everyone
overlooks in Romans two! Romans 2:4-6, “Or despisest thou the riches of
his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the
goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and
impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath
and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every
man according to his deeds.” God is incredibly patient. We learn in
Romans 1:18 that the unrighteous “HOLD THE TRUTH IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS.”
So God says, fine, have it your way, but judgment day is coming. God is so ethical that He won't force Himself on anyone. The wicked fully KNOW what they are doing. They CHOOSE to live without God, hating even the knowledge of God (Romans 1:28). So, God never gives up on anyone getting saved. But He knows when someone rejects Him, and only then does He give them over to their vile affections and lusts, to dishonor themselves with one another, laying up God's wrath against themselves on the DAY OF WRATH (which is what the Word of God calls it) when all unbelievers will face the inexplicable horrifying judgment of God. Hebrews 10:31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
The alternative is to get saved, by trusting the Good News (Gospel) of Christ Jesus, and then the blood of Jesus washes away all your sins, and you are under grace instead of the curse of the law. Carefully notice that everything said in Romans chapter 1:17-32 follows Romans 1:16 about “THE GOSPEL,” “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Romans chapter one is all about THE GOSPEL my friend. Either you believe the Gospel and are safe in Jesus Christ, or else you are an idolatrous Christ-rejecter and God gives you over to your sins to lay up wrath against yourself on judgment day. That is what Romans one is about.
People error in doctrine when they attempt to make the issue about homosexuality. Whether an adulterer, murderer, gossiper, drunkard, pedophile, feminist, coveter, thief, kidnapper, whoremonger or filthy homosexual, one sinner is no different than the next as far as God's judgment is concerned. All sin is black! All sin brings the harsh judgment of God! There are only two categories of sinners in God's sight: redeemed and condemned.
Respectfully, I totally disagree with Pastor Steven Anderson's teaching that homosexuals are reprobates that cannot be saved. New Hope Ministry is living proof that homosexuals CAN BE SAVED. The man who started and runs the ministry was himself an unsaved homosexual, but the Gospel of grace found him, and he got saved, and has been delivered by the power of God from that horrible sin. Homosexuals are not a separate class of sinners. They are no different than adulterers, drunkards, liars or thieves. The works of the flesh apply to all sinners. We all struggle with different areas of weakness (Romans 7:14-25), but we are all equally sinful in God's sight (James 2:10), as far as our desperate need for redemption and cleansing by the precious blood of Jesus (1st Corinthians 6:9-11; 1st John 1:7; Revelation 1:5; 1st Peter 1:18-19). There is hope for homosexuals. No one has passed beyond the point of being reached by God's loving mercy and grace through the truth of the Gospel.
Oh my friend, the great heart of God loves
sinners, because He loves every human being. Many people don't understand
that the Bible mentions two types of love. One is fondness (Greek: phileo),
which a person feels toward their wife, children and loved ones. The other
is God's unconditional love (Greek: agape). The first is based upon others.
That is, we love them because of WHO THEY ARE. The latter is based upon our
self. That is, we love them because of WHO WE ARE. Hence, God is not fond of
homosexuals. When David said that he hated those who hate God, he meant that
he is not fond of sinners.
1st
Timothy 5:12, “Having damnation, because they have cast
off their first faith.” Biblically, men refuse and rebel
against the Lord, making themselves reprobates (heathens), but there is no
Scriptural idea of God banning a sinner from returning to God if they so
choose. John 6:36-37, “But I said unto you, That ye
also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out.” So here we plainly learn that a person
willfully chooses to BELIEVE NOT, but at the same time, Jesus gave His Word
that He would never cast out anyone who comes to Him by faith. I don't care
how far gone in sin a person may be, if they desire to come to Christ, He
will receive that person. The only “reprobate” is someone who intentionally
rejects the Son of God, refusing the precious Savior. The Lord plainly
stated in John 5:40, “And ye will not come to me, that ye might have
life.” Carefully notice that the Lord said: “YE WILL NOT COME,” He
didn't say “YE CANNOT COME”! That truth applies to all humanity. 
