In my last post we looked at cults’ claims to exclusive authority to speak for God. So, what is God supposed to have said to them? There’s a plan, a purpose, something the church has totally lost until someone came along at just the right time to restore, clarify, and bring it to the world. When you see someone offering a system instead of a Saviour you should turn and run. Here are two examples.
We learn from Jehovah’s Witnesses that there is a big flock and a little flock. The little flock governs from heaven the big flock live eternally on paradise earth. Of course, the men who brought this message belong to the little flock. They have the important places in God’s purposes, while the rest should be glad the little flock is there. The little flock ‘govern’ because when Jesus says ‘kingdom,’ he means ‘government.’ Of course, Isaiah wrote, ‘the government will be upon his [the Saviour’s] shoulder’ (Isaiah 9:6), but Jesus preached one kingdom.
We learn from Mormons that God’s purpose is to make more gods. Of course, only the best of the best get to be gods by qualifying to enter the highest ‘celestial’ kingdom of God. Mormonism teaches degrees of glory, so those who miss out on godhood will go to one of the lower kingdoms. It is assumed that Mormon apostles and prophets get to be gods, but as to the rest, I have never known a Mormon confident enough to say, ‘’ll get there.’
Unity is God’s Purpose
There is a theme of unity throughout the Bible.
There is a unity in the Godhead, in the Trinity. Jesus said, ‘I and the Father are one.’ John 10:30; Heb.1:8; I John 5:20; 1 Cor.3:16.
There is a unity in humanity in the original creation, and between God and humanity, Gen.1:27; 2:24. To miss this picture of natural intimacy and fellowship, with God and with our fellows, is to miss God’s purpose in creating mankind. It is to miss what was tragically lost in the fall of man Gen.3:8.
There is a unity in the kingdom. To miss this is to put back the wall of division, to hang again, as have the Mormons, the curtain in the temple. The temple curtain was torn in two, Mt.27:50-51, restoring in Christ the fellowship we once had with God in the garden, John 17:20-24. Further, the wall of division was brought down Eph.2:14, creating in Christ one people of both Jews and Gentiles, one kingdom.
There is a unity in Christ. ‘In him [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him[Christ], things in heaven and things on earth.’ Eph.1:7-10
The focus and purpose of that unity is Christ not me. To miss this is to miss the purposes of God altogether, to miss the focus of God’s declared will and purpose in Christ. To miss this is to put man on the throne again as we preoccupy ourselves with rewards and position Mt.20:20-27 (great crowd/little flock/celestial kingdom/kingdom terrestrial kingdom/telestial kingdom)
It is unity that is restored in Christ. Unity between man and God, between man and men who form the new society, the new kingdom, the commonwealth of faith all together.
There is a plan, and God has declared it, has revealed the mystery of his purposes in Christ. When anyone else comes along offering a system instead of a Saviour you should tell them there is already a plan and you know it, you are part of it because you are in him.
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