I have belatedly written a few thoughts in response to Zander Dunn’s December letter.
Universalism is the theological doctrine that all people will eventually be saved.
To disown means: To refuse to acknowledge or accept as one’s own.
Jesus said very clearly: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” And then He continued: “Ask and it will be given, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
We are all seekers, and while we work God’s will, obedient to our place in His plan, our goal is to live with Him in glory. We can only find Him by knocking at the door, studying His word, accepting that even as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. No one else may claim eternal life.
God loves us, it is true. He loves all people of all nations and colours, but He waits for us to take His hand and accept the Son He sent to pay for all our sins. All people will be saved if they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and their Lord and Saviour. To promise salvation with no strings attached is like speaking with our fingers crossed — it’s not true. Jesus said: Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
A true teacher of Christ acknowledges Christ and the truth of His death and resurrection. He or she presents God’s truth and invites people to read and study, to discuss and question. A false teacher misleads with tangled words and fails to direct people to the word of the Lord to verify what they hear, to discern the truth.
Teachers and preachers be aware — teach and acknowledge. To be disowned before God in heaven is unthinkable.
