"Dualism" Is Heresy

John Reseinger

Why do sincere Christians do this? Why do they blame the good on God and the bad on the devil, unconsciously denying the sovereignty of God? It is probably because they are trying to "protect" God. They are trying to make it easier to believe and love Him by exempting Him from anything that appears to be bad and crediting Him with everything that appears to be good. A young nurse who worked in the emergency ward of a hospital told me that when anyone from a particular church in that town had an accident, the pastor would rush down to the hospital. His first words to the victim and family were, "Remember, God had nothing to do with this." I suppose the poor man was afraid the people might desert the faith. If you'll just think that preacher's statement through for a moment, you can see it is ridiculous. The man may have been trying to "protect God," but in reality he was laying the groundwork for despair and unbelief. He was leaving the injured person totally in the hands of either Satan or blind cruel fate. He was unconsciously moving God right out of the picture when the person needed most the assurance of God's sovereign control.

A Personal Example

The other evening a man gave his testimony and told of a friend that had died in a tragic Army plane crash. The officer in charge of the situation was seeking to comfort the mother and said the following:
"It is impossible for this to ever be repeated. It was a freak accident that could never occur again. No one could have predicted or controlled the events. There simply is no explanation."
The mother was a Christian that understood the truths we are talking about, and she replied:
"Sir, you may not believe that God was in that plane with my son, but I do. I have no idea why God chose to allow this to happen, but I know that this was part of His sovereign purpose and His hand was in total control of the plane, the weather, and my son's life."
How different is that mother's theology and hope from that of the preacher in the emergency room!

How Powerful Is God?

Suppose you were the victim of an accident and you were laying in the emergency room in pain. Would that preacher's theology and "words of comfort" help you? How would you feel if someone told you that God had nothing to do with what happened? How long would it take you to start thinking some very serious and logical questions like, "Where was God when this happened? Could He have prevented it? Why didn't He prevent it? Was the devil stronger than God in this situation? Did the devil really cause this accident, even though God was desperately trying to keep it from happening to me?" You would soon begin to wonder whether you were on the wrong side. You might think, and correctly so, that if the preacher were right, then maybe God is not nearly as powerful as you thought He was.

I am sure you can see that if God isn't big enough to control the bad things as well as the good things, then we are in deep trouble. When the bad things get more numerous than the good things (in times like today), then it looks as if we are losing the war. It looks like "our side" is the weak side. Whether you realize it or not, that is exactly what has happened in the hearts of many present-day Christians. This generation has forgotten the sovereignty of God and exalted the sovereignty of man's "free will." We have forgotten the holiness of God and exalted man's personal happiness to be the chief goal and obligation of the gospel. We are so occupied with ourselves and our own pleasure that we literally believe that God exists for the sole purpose of making us "happy" by giving us whatever our sinful and selfish hearts desire. He is viewed as a heavenly bellhop that is ready to carry our suitcase of self-ambition anywhere we instruct Him_we call it "praying in faith." When we do not get what we want, then we either condemn ourselves for lack of faith or lose confidence in God's promises (what we falsely believed were His promises).

The more self rages, the more sin and man's selfish nature appears to triumph, the more it looks like God is losing the war because He is weak and helpless. The despair, frustration, and depression of this present existential generation is in direct proportion to their misunderstanding of the sovereign control of God over all things, and the worst is yet to come. The "God wants you rich and healthy" gospel will prove to have been the primary cause of the forsaking of the faith in this generation. The "loving God" that is supposed to give you anything your heart desires will be despised and ridiculed when He does not deliver the goodies.

If a Christian living in wicked times like today really understands the Scripture, he is like the little boy who was playing baseball. A man came along and said, "What's the score?" and the boy replied, "Forty to nothing." The man asked, "Who's winning?"; the boy answered, "The other team." The man wanted to be sympathetic and said, "You must be very discouraged." The little boy's face lit up and he said, "Oh, no, we're not discouraged. We haven't come up to bat yet!"

The Christian doesn't look at the newspaper headlines, he doesn't look at the odds or the experts, he is not impressed with either the "doomsayer" or the "false prophet". The child of God with a clear understanding of the Scripture looks to the sovereign God clearly revealed in that Scripture. A knowledgeable believer knows that he is on the winning team regardless of what the world's scoreboard says. He knows that Jesus Christ is Lord regardless of what is taking place either in the world or in his personal life; he is confident that everything will, in the end, be for his own good as well as for the glory of God.

Calvary Was A Day of Victory

Jesus Christ was never more our Lord, and His Father was never more in total control of all things than the day that sinners "with wicked hands" unknowingly fulfilled the decrees of God and nailed our Saviour to the cross. Our blessed Lord was never more in control, never more sovereign and powerful, than He was the moment men cried out in derision, "Where now is your God?" and challenged Him to prove He was the Son of God by coming down from the cross. If you and I had stood under the cross that day we probably would have wondered whether God was really the Father of our Lord Jesus. If He was, why didn't He come and help? Why did the Father allow all of these things to happen to His dear Son? We would have never understood, apart from revelation, that this hour of this day was the specific point in time toward which God had been moving ever since the day that Adam sinned.

There has never been a day when God was more triumphant in His power, in His love, and in His holiness than He was that day at Cavalry. Jesus Christ was not a martyr; God's Son was not a victim. That day at Golgotha was the day of God's victory, not a day of defeat. God was the Master of Ceremonies and controlled every single detail of that event. The world and the devil may have thought that God's plan and purpose had been thwarted, but they were wrong. Calvary was a day of glorious victory for sovereign grace. Sinners gloated and mocked without being aware that their very thoughts and actions were fulfilling God's ordained purposes.