Hmmm . . .you're take on Joseph Prince kinda fits the book as well. We're just starting it, have a lot of book to go through, and he'll say some things that are just awesome, then turn around and contradict himself. The one part that got my dander up yesterday, this is our Sunday School lesson for the adult class by the way . . .they're going through it page-by-page. If you have the book this part is off of page 33. It's under the heading "discerning grace" and it goes like this . . .
The new covenant of grace is so powerful that there have been attempts to pervert the teaching on God's grace. There are so-called preachers who are preaching a "grace" that is not of God! They believe in "universal salvation" and claim that because of God's grace, all will be saved, even without believing in Jesus. This is a lie from the pit of hell! (he put it in bold in the book) No man can be saved except through our Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father and receives eternal life except through Jesus! There is no grace without the person of Jesus. The teaching of "universal salvation" is a LIE that dishonors Jesus and negates HIS work on the cross! True grace always makes Jesus the center of everything. It's time for the church to tear down these fences of controversy around grace and start unveiling more and more of Jesus.
When believers don't understand that God's grace is His undeserved, unearned and unmerited favor, they will depend on their own efforts to keep the law of Moses to deserve, earn and merit His favor. Similarly, when believers don't understand that righteousness is a gift and that it is about "right standing" and not "right doing", they will depend on their own efforts to earn this gift.
End of quote.
After reading that I just kinda sat there and wondered why, in the middle of his explanation about what grace was, why did he seemingly out of the blue throw universal salvation believers under the bus? And where in the world did he get his definition of what a universalist was? It was a number of months back that one of my peers . . .a pastor of the same denomination as I who is also in the same district, he put a comment on his face book that had very much the same remarks. His description of what one was, was the same thing that Joseph Prince is saying here. I'm wondering now, if that's not where he got it from. I commented on his face book and told him if "that's" what a universalist truly is, then I'm not one either. Because from what I've gathered, no one is saying we're going to heaven regardless of Jesus dying on the cross or not . . .I've never even heard ANYONE imply that!!
The whole concept is BECAUSE OF what Christ did, who he is, and what his purpose was. It's ALWAYS had him as the center piece. But it's almost as if these guys are bringing false accusations at what one is, so they can justify their claims that not only is it not of God, but it's from the pit of hell . . . .sheesh . . .
