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Statement of Beliefs

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version.  Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000. (see text)

Chapter Two:

One of the chief foundations of liberalism, the cornerstone upon which rest all the other malefic lies of this age, is the dictum:  "Mankind is essentially good;  evil is an aberration."

That reminds one of that often-quoted Bible verse so joyously welcomed every Sunday from the pulpits and the pews of worshipful assemblies across this great land:   "Man is, by nature, decent, loving, caring, generous, selfless, pure, truthful, hard-working, honest...."   Oops -- !  Wrong passage -- or should I say wrong Bible, wrong faith, wrong man, wrong world, wrong god.  The Bible of the holy LORD God Almighty, the one which begins with Genesis and ends with Revelation, voices a somewhat different tune.

Psalm 53:1-3 -- (of David) The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."  They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity;  There is none who does good. God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.  Every one of them has turned aside;  They have together become corrupt;  There is none who does good, No, not one.

I will have to admit the former passage is a bit easier to swallow than the latter -- nicer intonation, pleasanter adjectives, more positive dogma altogether -- certainly no reminiscent aftertaste of guilt, as with the latter passage.  Unfortunately, the first passage is lacking one crucial ingredient requisite for my acceptance of it:  truth.

"Okay," asks the liberal.  "What is truth?"

Truth  is everything.  Without truth there can be no absolutes, no set standards by which anything may be measured.  If I say that one inch is approximately 2.5 centimeters, and you say it's the distance from New York to London, who's to say who's right?  Without truth, everything's relative;  nothing is correct or incorrect;  everyone may believe, speak and act as they choose, inconsequent of accountability.

The entire crux of relativism is its belief in the essential goodness of man.  We'll tackle relativism in the next chapter, but for now, in this chapter, let us concentrate on its indispensable foundation:  The lie that mankind is essentially "good".

It is incredible that anyone can actually read Psalm fifty-three and claim the Bible doesn't teach the total depravity of mankind, yet one might be surprised at just how objectionable this doctrine is throughout much of professing Christendom today.  The fallacy of mankind's goodness is wholeheartedly embraced while the verity of God's word is discarded as something odious and repugnant.  It's so much easier to delude ourselves into believing the lie.  After all, the lie furthers an auspicious optimism about ourselves, the sort so creatively and wondrously cultivated weekly on our television sets through the several incarnations of Star Trek.  Unfortunately, while it may make for uplifting entertainment, it is far from the truth as so poignantly envisaged in the holy word of God.  We cannot pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and solve any of the problems we face today, much less all of them as some Pollyannish screen-writers contend.

I realize it goes against the grain of everything most of us have been taught since early childhood, that we are for the most part good, decent, moral beings, fully capable of resolving all the difficulties, removing every obstacle, making the world we live in a gosh-awfully decent, jolly good, spanking, ripping, first-rate, admirably splendid, wholesome, orderly, super- excellent place.  But it just isn't so.  One thing stands in our way, ever frustrating all efforts of achieving the consummate utopian dream:  sin.

I know, it's a dirty word.  We don't like it.  We'd just as well ignore it and pretend it isn't there, than face and have to deal with it.  None of us like to admit it's a part of our very essence, a core component, an unshakably tenacious constituent more interwoven to our being than any physical organ or feature of the flesh.  We can no more displace it or expel its influence than expunge water of its hydrogen atoms.  Love it or loathe it, sin will be with us the whole of our lives.  Only Christ's atonement can remove its stain, and even then its control is merely lessened, always there to rear its ugly head when we least desire it.  It's such a part of our lives that the Holy Spirit saw fit to record the words of Psalm fifty-three twice;  it is repeated verbatim in Psalm fourteen (or Psalm fourteen repeated verbatim in Psalm fifty-three).  It is also a keynote quotation of the Apostle Paul in Romans three.

Romans 3:10-12 -- As it is written:  "There is none righteous, no, not one;  There is none who understands;  There is none who seeks after God.  They have all turned aside;  They have together become unprofitable;  There is none who does good, no, not one."

This passage and the many like it which permeate the whole of Scripture leave no room whatsoever for such sugar-coated, yet entirely false notions as the essential "goodness of mankind".  Thus, after reading it, one can only be left with the impression that those who persist in denying its verity are either illiterate or just plain stupid.  The word of God further emphasizes this unpleasant truth via widespread repetition, beginning as early as the sixth chapter of Genesis.

Genesis 6:5 -- Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And for those who maintain this evil inclination was merely a pre-flood condition, I'd like to direct their attention to Genesis, chapter eight.

Genesis 8:21 -- The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in His heart:  "Never again will I curse the ground because of man,  even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood." (NIV)

It would seem from these passages and others like them, that the view popularly espoused today is a far cry from the truth as related in the word of God.  Man is not this noble, industrious, selfless individual we hear so much about, capable of effacing all the world's sorrows if only he'd look within and draw from his own potential "goodness". To the contrary, let us read what man would really see, were he able to honestly and truthfully scrutinize his soul.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 -- For there is not a just man on earth who does good  And does not sin.

Jeremiah 17:9 -- The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

Job 14:4 -- (Job speaking) "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?  No one!"

Job 15:14 -- (Eliphaz speaking) "What is man, that he could be pure?  And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous?"

Psalm 51:5 -- (of David) Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.

Psalm 58:3 -- (of David) The wicked are estranged from the womb;  They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

Ephesians 2:1-3 -- And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

At first glance it's possible to miss a startling admission in what Paul had written in Ephesians two, verse three.  In looking at the verse a second time, however, one should take particular notice of the word nature.  What does Paul say about human nature?  That we are fine, decent, upstanding people?  Not at all.  How does fulfilling the desires of the flesh sound?   How about dead in trespasses and sins?  While we're at it, let's try sons of disobedience on for size.  It's pretty sobering and not at all in accordance with what we're being told virtually everywhere else in our world today.

Let's go back into the Old Testament for a moment, to the book of Jeremiah, chapter four.  What about the people of Judah?  After all, these are God's beloved,  His chosen people.  Surely, such words would never apply to them?

Jeremiah 4:22 -- (the LORD speaking) "For My people are foolish, They have not known Me. They are silly children, And they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they have no knowledge."

Wait a minute!  Fools? Silly children?! Wise to do evil??  Perhaps we'd better return to the New Testament.  Surely, the Lord Jesus will tell us how "good" we are.  What does He say in Luke eighteen?

Luke 18:19 -- (Jesus speaking) (paralleled in Matthew 19:17 and Mark 10:18) "No one is good but One, that is, God."

How could the Lord say something like that?  What does He mean, none of us are "good"?  He says only "God" is "good".  Why can't we be "good", as well? Let's look at the eleventh chapter of Luke.  Verse thirteen records the Lord calling those who were listening to Him "evil".  Not exactly a way to endear oneself to the general populace and win over new friends, is it?  What did He mean, "evil"?

John 7:19 -- (Jesus speaking) "Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?"

Now, as in Luke 11:13, Jesus was speaking directly to the Jews of His day;  however, this must be applied to us, as well (and indeed, to all people throughout all time), as other portions of Scripture bear this tenet emphatically.

"So, none of us keep the law.  So what?  Nobody's perfect.  We've already established that.  We all mess up here and there.  As long as we even out in the end, as long as our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds we'll be okay, right?"

Deuteronomy 27:26 -- "Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law."

Hmm.  Maybe that passage doesn't mean what it says?

Romans 3:20 -- Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law.... (NIV)

Galatians 3:10-11 -- For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse;  for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them."  But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith."

No.  It seems like the Apostle Paul, in quoting that passage from Deuteronomy twenty-seven, is under the same impression that I am -- that no one can be justified before God through an observance of the law.

"Why not?  Isn't the whole purpose of the law to allow us a means to satisfy the requirements of a holy God for righteous living?"

James 2:10 -- For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

"Well, now this is something altogether new to me.  You mean I can't mess up even once?  Come on. Everyone messes up all the time."

Proverbs 20:9 -- Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure;  I am clean and without sin"? (NIV)

Romans 3:23 -- ...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God....

There you have it -- exactly what we've been saying all along.  "So, we all mess up;  so what?  God isn't going to hold everybody responsible?"

Romans 6:23 -- For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

"Death?!   That's a pretty strong penalty for not being perfect all the time.  Surely, that's not what Paul really meant?"

Revelation 20:11-15 -- Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.  And there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened.  And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.  The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.  And they were judged, each one according to his works.  Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.  This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

This is surely not an advantageous position to find oneself in.  "But, if everyone sins, and sin, even one sin, is enough to exclude one from eternal fellowship and blessing with the Lord, then what can we do?"

Isaiah 64:5-7 -- And we need to be saved.

But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rages;  We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You...

Ephesians 2:4-9 -- But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;  it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

And, in following through on the previously quoted passage from Romans three, the Apostle Paul writes the following:

Romans 3:22-25 -- For there is no difference;  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness...

So, contrary to popular sentiment, man's salvation comes not from looking within to himself, but outwardly to God.  It cannot be achieved, but received.  It seems so simple:  justified freely by His grace...through faith in His blood. (NIV)

"Then why don't we all, each and every one of us, fall on our knees in repentance this very moment and receive this gift of grace and eternal life?  Certainly, we should be most eager to receive God's forgiveness.  After all, we're bad, but we're not that bad.  I mean, we wouldn't refuse such a wondrous offer if we realized Who was offering it, would we?"

Psalm 36:1-2 -- (of David) An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked:  There is no fear of God before his eyes.  For he flatters himself in his own eyes, When he finds out his iniquity and when he hates.

"Okay, so maybe we are that bad, but to ignore the call of God?!?"

II Chronicles 36:15-16 -- The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through His messengers again and again, because He had pity on His people and on His dwelling place.  But they mocked God's messengers, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against His people and there was no remedy. (NIV)

Perhaps this was merely an isolated instance.  Let's go back to the seventeenth chapter of II Kings to see how the people responded to the LORD there.

II Kings 17:14-15 -- But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the LORD their God. They rejected His decrees and the covenant He had made with their fathers and the warnings He had given them.  They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.  They imitated the nations around them although the LORD had ordered them, "Do not do as they do,"  and they did the things the LORD had forbidden them to do. (NIV)

II Kings 17:40-41 -- They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices.  Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols.  To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did. (NIV)

It certainly isn't a very flattering portrayal of man, is it?  Let's look at two other passages from the Old Testament.  The first is in Genesis, chapter nineteen.  Here, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are about to be destroyed by the LORD.  Lot has been warned by two angels that the destruction is imminent.  He and his family are instructed they must flee to the mountains if they are to be saved.  Lot is about to pass this information on to his sons-in-law.  How will they react to such news from the LORD?

Genesis 19:14 -- So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, "Get up, get out of  this place;  for the LORD will destroy this city!"  But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.

They thought he was joking.  And, to keep this in perspective, remember the angels had only just struck their would-be, homosexual rapists with blindness.  It isn't as if two lunatics were pronouncing this coming destruction.  Their authority from God had been validated through their actions.

Things haven't changed much in nearly four millennia, have they?  I suspect the citizenry of New York, San Francisco or Miami might react in a similar fashion were they told the destruction of their cities was imminent because of their sin.  Were they told a catastrophic earthquake was likely, due to an influx of seismic disturbances, a few might actually be found absconding to a nearby haven.   Those found directly in the path of a fierce hurricane might certainly flee on the word of their meteorologist alone, vast inaccuracies not withstanding.  But, to actually budge an inch solely on the word of the Creator of all things, our sovereign LORD God Almighty?  Ludicrous!!  This is the twenty-first century.  Come on!  Wake up!!!

I'm sure the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, like Lot's dear, departed sons-in-law, said much the same.  "Come on, Lot, old man, we're enlightened, sophisticated beings.  No big, fearsome God in the sky is going to come, raining fire and brimstone down on us!  You've been keeping your head in those Scriptures too long.  Chill out.  Take a sedative.  Relax."

We haven't learned much in forty-one centuries. 

Early in the book of Exodus we find a similar mocking disbelief of God in the person of Pharaoh.  How many times did Moses and Aaron prove through miraculous signs that the LORD their God was indeed behind all they had said and done?  Read the seventh through fourteenth chapters of Exodus for an extraordinary account of Pharaoh's doubting and inexorable defiance of God.  How one could still turn away in obstinate disbelief, having witnessed all these plagues from God, is mind-numbing to consider.  Verses five through seven of chapter nine sum up this entire defiance-toward-God attitude most comprehensively.

Exodus 9:5-7 -- The LORD set a time and said, "Tomorrow the LORD will do this in the land."  And the next day the LORD did it:  All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died.  Pharaoh sent men to investigate and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died.  Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go. (NIV)

Yet his heart was unyielding.  It reminds me of the many passages throughout the latter chapters of Revelation where, despite all the disasters brought upon mankind for its sin and rebellion against God, still they do not repent.

Revelation 9:20-21 -- But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.  And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Revelation 16:9-11 -- And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues;  and they did not repent and give Him glory. Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness;  and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain.  They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.

I John 5:19 asserts that the whole world is under the control of the evil one (NIV).  The total depravity and absolute, complete moral blindness of mankind can be the only explanation for such unrepentant and defiant resistance to the mercy and forgiveness of God.  In II Corinthians 4:3-4, the Apostle Paul refers to unbelievers as blinded by the god of this age.

II Corinthians 4:3-4 -- But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

The words of the Lord Jesus in the eighth chapter of John echo these statements.

John 8:42-47 -- Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.  Why do you not understand My speech?  Because you are not able to listen to My word.  You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.  Which of you convicts Me of sin?  And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?  He who is of God hears God's words;  therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

Again, the Apostle Paul writes of the inability of man in his fallen state to understand the things of God:  But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him;  nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (I Corinthians 2:14)  In the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters of John, the Lord reiterates the division which exists between those of the world and those who are His.

John 14:16-17 -- (Jesus speaking to His disciples) "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him;  but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you."

John 15:18-21 -- (Jesus speaking to His disciples) "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.'  If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.  If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me."

The Apostle John demonstrates the inherent division between God and the world through the account of Cain and Abel.

I John 3:12-13 -- ...not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother.  And why did he murder him?  Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.

So, what, if anything, should be concluded from the many passages quoted throughout this chapter?  That mankind is the goodly, decent, honest and caring (albeit imperfect and prone to occasional slippage) personage as portrayed in the media today -- or that mankind, as portrayed in the word of God, is not only imperfect, but prone to perpetual slippage (sin), defiant toward God, and in no way desirous of anything even remotely connected to, or associated with His holy nature?

If there are still any doubts, perhaps the seventh chapter of Micah might help to dispel them.  There, the prophet Micah paints a stark, quite arrant portrait of the search for an upright man.  Again, the word of God promulgates no myth.  Its description is harsh, but true;  glum, but not without hope.

Micah 7:1-6 -- What misery is mine!  I am like one who gathers summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard;  there is no cluster of grapes to eat, none of the early figs that I crave.  The godly have been swept from the land;  not one upright man remains.  All men lie in wait to shed blood;  each hunts his brother with a net.  Both hands are skilled in doing evil;  the ruler demands gifts, the judge accepts bribes, the powerful dictate what they desire -- they all conspire together. The best of them is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.  The day of your watchmen has come, the day God visits you.  Now is the time of their confusion.  Do not trust a neighbor;  put no confidence in a friend.  Even with her who lies in your embrace be careful of your words.  For a son dishonors his father,  a daughter rises up against her mother-in-law -- a man's enemies are the members of his own household. (NIV)

To Titus, the Apostle Paul wrote: For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.  But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.  These things are good and profitable to men. (chiefly Titus 3:3-8)

Let this then be our hope:  That though we are depraved and evil sinners, we have a Savior who saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.  Total depravity need not become eternal depravity.  There is a way today for those who will receive it.

Chapter 1

Chapter 3-a