Predestination:The Pharaoh Account of Grace

By Joachim P.C. Acolatse Jr.

If youve heard and believed that God predestinated some to eternal life and hardened Pharaohs heart, youve been misled! Biblical predestination doctrine is the opposite of theological writings on the subject. After studying this book, you will no longer accept Augustinian-Lutheran-Calvinist theology passing for doctrine.

Predestination The Pharaoh Account of Grace, is a biblical treatment of predestination doctrine. Part One refutes the theological arguments as un-Scriptural and opens up understanding of predestination doctrine with detailed explanation of the call, justification, and glorification available to man. It avoids the pitfall of equating Gods foreknowledge with omniscience and the consequent conclusion that God predestinated only those he knew from eternity would become believers.

Part Two clarifies the Exodus account which has negatively impacted Gods character and showcases his spontaneous and patient outpouring of grace upon Pharaoh. From initially foretelling the end from the beginning, God graciously repairs Pharaohs heart ten times as he, in turn, frustrates the grace.

Predestination The Pharaoh Account of Grace exposes the controversy stirred up concerning predestination since the fourth century as a work of the devil which must be destroyed. Undoubtedly, this definitive work on the subject will be of tremendous benefit to clergy, lay leaders, academia, and through them, the body of Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491854716

Joachim P.C. Acolatse Jr.

Joachim P.C. Acolatse, Jr, presently ministers as an ordained deacon under the able shepherding of Pastor E. Shadrach Deline, Nation of Christ Believers Fellowship Center in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and is the author of Samson – God’s Mighty Man of Faith (2010). Acolatse was born-again in December 1984, and has remained an avid student of the Bible. He has a passion for the uncompromised word of God: his motivational theme being, like Paul, the apostle, “Brethren, I would that ye be not ignorant”. Previously, he served as member of the choir, praise and worship team, youth pastor, and member of the board of directors of Bethel World Outreach Ministries (BWOM) in Silver Spring, Maryland. After relocating to Georgia in 1997, Acolatse became a member of Conquerors Christian Center (CCC) in Snellville (1999), where he was appointed an elder, and taught extensively on tithing, among other subjects. When he travels abroad to his native Liberia, he can be found teaching bible study and Sunday school classes at BWOM in Greenville, Sinoe, or, at Victory Intercessory Chapel in Congo Town, Monrovia. Acolatse hails from Monrovia, Liberia and resides in Lawrenceville, Georgia, U.S.A. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and has many years of experience in the chemical, bio-tech, and pharmaceutical industries.

Book preview

PREDESTINATION

The Pharaoh Account of Grace

Joachim P.C. Acolatse, Jr

58093.png

AuthorHouse™ LLC

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

©

2014 Joachim P.C. Acolatse, Jr. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 02/04/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4918-5470-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-5469-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-5471-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014901261

Cover illustration by Michael Diaz/Fiverr.com.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction

Part 1 Predestination

Chapter I   Historical Perspectives

Chapter II   Truth about the Controversy

Chapter III   Predestination: A Universal Decree

Chapter IV   Boundary Conditions

Chapter V   A First Order Solution

Chapter VI   Grace and Abundant Life

Part 2 The Pharaoh Account of Grace

Chapter VII   Israel in Egypt

Chapter VIII   Potter and Clay Principle

Chapter IX   Surveying Pharaoh

Chapter X   Putting the Translators to Task

Chapter XI   Conflict with God’s Character

Chapter XII   How the Translators should have rendered

Chapter XIII   Exodus Account Corrected

Chapter XIV   Agreement of Scripture

Chapter XV   Ya’akov and Esav

Chapter XVI   Epilogue

English-Hebraic Glossary of Names

Bibliography

Reference Notes

Dedication

This work is dedicated to Jehovah, our God and Father, and Yeshua ha Mashiach, our Redeemer;

And

All of God’s creation among mankind and to the memory of those who have lost their way because of

disillusionment or because they were confused by the message of hopelessness promulgated by so great a body of men in the Christian world, endued with the highest levels of learning, sense, and piety… who

have perverted the Word of God to his people. May their souls live forever!

And

To the Saints alive to study and be blessed by this body of revelation held in store but released in these last

days, that by renewing your minds you will be edified to glorify Jehovah for his wonderful works.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks and love to the Lord for His grace to instill within me the Spirit of Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom, to make this work possible; much thanks and love to my wife, Tanae, for the tremendous help and encouragement she is and has been to me; and to my mother-in-law, Mrs. Elaine Wolo, for her review and help in editing.

Preface

This book arises from a paper prepared for a course entitled Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament which I audited at Messiah Biblical Institute located in Gaithersburg, Maryland in August 1990. At that time, I was weighing the idea of attending bible school with the intention of going into the Lord’s ministry. Discerning that I was gifted with insight and understanding in the word, but uncertain that the Lord had called me into formal ministry, I decided to test the waters. Messiah Biblical Institute invited interested would be students to audit a course under the tutelage of Dr. Michael L. Brown without charge. Without hesitating, I seized the opportunity that might help me reach a decision.

The class requirements included writing a term paper limited to one thousand words, whose topic had to be chosen from among several given. Primarily, one was required to find the thread linking the subject between Old and New Testaments then use rabbinic sources to verify or validate the research. My chosen subject was predestination, and I added an odd twist in the title: Predestination—An Old Testament Treatment of a New Testament Concept. Odd because, although, predestination is not mentioned in the Torah, the most controversial passages of Scripture pertaining to predestination are found there. My common thread connected Romans chapter nine with Scripture in Exodus.

I remember decrying, then and still now, division and designation of the integral word of God into Old and New Testaments as though one portion has become obsolete and therefore inapplicable. I don’t remember why I decided to entitle my work that way, but I had grave reservations surrounding the doctrine of predestination as promulgated by heavy weights such as Augustine, Luther, and Calvin. I felt that my heavenly Father was not represented truthfully and, that if left unchallenged, he would remain a victim of character assassination. Is that possible? Well, who asks, Will a man rob God? Case closed!

So I set out to prove that Jehovah is everything that His name says He is: Eternally the same yesterday, today, and always. Therefore, Scripture must substantiate Scripture. If God said that He is merciful; gracious; longsuffering; that He is no respecter of persons, then, He could never be anything other than these in His dealings with Pharaoh or with any other man. Therefore, Scripture must always reflect these characteristics of God. And it does—I found that it does without fail. Moreover, Balaam emphatically stated in Numbers 23:19, that God is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent. If it is true that God raised Pharaoh up for the sole purpose of crushing him, then we have much to fear from an invincible God who not only picks fights with man, but also, acts capriciously to pick and choose who among us will be saved even though he claims not to be a respecter of person.

Now, as we set out to prove agreement between Scripture found in Romans and Exodus, we highlight the integrity of God’s word and refer to it (not as New and Old Testament) as Pre-Incarnate Gospel/Word, which comprises Genesis through Malachi; Incarnate Gospel/Word, which includes Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and Post-Incarnate Gospel/Word, which commences with Acts of the Apostles through Revelation. These three subdivisions of the integral word of God show perfect harmony with His name—Jehovah, the Eternal God, who was, who is, and forevermore shall be.

If God is eternal, then His word should also be eternal.¹ And it follows that the word of the Eternal Sovereign is immutable and cannot be altered.² In fact, God says, I am the Lord (Jehovah), I change not.³ How then, can man categorize the word of God in terms of old and new, with the old being abolished? What can be said in light of Yeshua’s statement that He did not come to destroy, abolish, or negate the word of God; rather, He came to fulfill, comply with, or execute it? Of course, pundits will say that it is the Old Covenant which has been abolished. Agreed, but what is the old or new covenant? And, isn’t the Old as well as New Covenant charted by God’s eternal words also? The same words some classify as old and new? So that the New Testament, founded upon the Old Testament, is thus made old and irrelevant also.

If the New Testament stands, does it stand alone? No! It stands upon the foundation of the Old. Therefore, the written word of God, his Testament is neither old nor new; rather, the differences in how the covenants are activated necessitate the description of New and Old Covenant; not Old and New Testament. The one testament, externally written on temporal tablets of stone, cut in the blood of bulls and goats, and activated by the shedding of their blood, became Old when the debt for sin was fully paid forever. Thence, was the loathsome requirement for blood-letting of animals abolished, also, forever.

Moreover, the same covenant, cut in the blood of Mashiach, permanently written and sealed within the human spirit, and activated by faith unto obedience by the promptings of the Spirit of His Word, became, and remains New forever by the one-time offering of the body and blood of Yeshua ha Mashiach.⁴ Hence, our Jewish brothers had an old covenant made new by the offering of the body and blood of Yeshua, in which we, Gentiles, become partakers—the New Covenant.

The Word of God remains eternal as God is eternal or God is not God. We cannot speak of the Old and New Testaments because we cannot speak of our Old and New Gods—when referring to the one and same Jehovah—either. Gods, because an old God must of needs be distinct from a new God even as his former (old) words differ from his current (new) words. But the same Word from the mouth of the same eternal God, spoken or written, was made available to mankind before, during, and after his incarnation. Therefore, it ought to be referred to as the Pre-Incarnate Word of God; the Incarnate Word of God; and the Post-Incarnate Word of God.

Instead of wrestling with whether the terminology, Old or New Testament is valid, keep in mind that the pre-Incarnate Word declares and proclaims what the Incarnate and post-Incarnate Word of God must affirm and confirm. And they do: Scripture is inerrant. Therefore, the word of God is one and its validity is inherent. Amen?!

Introduction

Foretelling the change in administration of the kingdom of God on earth from Jew to Gentile, Yeshua (Jesus) said to the Jews in Matthew 21:43, Therefore say I unto you, the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. This prophecy was a direct consequence of their rejection of the Messiah of the world: for he said . . . the stone (referring to himself) which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner. Several generations later, after the deaths of the last apostles, leadership and membership in the Church became overwhelmingly Gentile.

The conduct of Church affairs during this time until the twentieth century was characterized by a lack of vigorous input by the Holy Ghost. Actually, the opening verses of Isaiah chapter five gives us a rather good description of what happened and why. It reads,

Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

Isaiah 5:1-7

Anti-Semitism amid political and religious persecution choked and overthrew the choice plants in the Lord’s vineyard, thereby quenching the operation of the Holy Spirit. Instead of a crop of choice grapes (Jewish apostolic leadership) springing up from a planting of choice vine, a harvest of wild grapes or poison berries (Gentile philosophers) was reaped thereafter. Now, this did not follow the pattern of the God ordained order that everything will produce after its kind. A planting of choicest vines in a well cultivated field should return a harvest of choice grapes in the least. Wouldn’t you agree? Except, of course, in an untended field, thorns and briers soon choke out the choice cultivation and/or an enemy, at liberty, uproots and replaces the choicest vines with wild ones.

Yeshua came in the fullness of grace and revealed Jehovah, the Father, that we might know, and emulate him: that through communion with the God of holiness, righteousness, and mercy, we should also be holy, righteous, and loving. He therefore gave himself a ransom to set all men at liberty in order for them to serve him freely while he was departed into Heaven to receive his crown. And since his own had rejected him, the kingdom was given into the hands of Gentiles to tend. Still, (speaking after the manner of man), he anticipated that judgment and righteousness, love and mercy, would reign in their midst until his return. How disappointing for him to find only oppression and cries for justice from the vineyard continually? Therefore, he commanded that the clouds should hover over, but withhold the blessing of rain from watering his vineyard. Moreover, he removed the hedge about it that it should lay unprotected, untended and exposed.

From the time of the resurrection of Yeshua to the transitioning of kingdom affairs into the hands of Gentiles, the apostles failed not to warn the people of God that perilous times loomed ahead. Echoing the words of Yeshua, the apostles warned the Church to beware of men in the appearance of sheep, but who are wolves inwardly, entering the fold, desiring to devour them. False teachers, entering in, would infect the sheep with heresies to the extent that many would deny the Lord. But such things were ordained to transpire in order that they who, among the sheep, are approved might be revealed to them⁵ and that those who oppose themselves and become ensnared by the devil, might, through godly repentance, recover themselves from the grip of the evil one.⁶

Now, we know that godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of⁷ but the sorrow of the world produces death even as Esav could not obtain the birthright though he sought it sorrowfully and tearfully.⁸ So too, unless God gives repentance by the Holy Ghost it is impossible that one can be un-snared from the captivity of the evil one even-though he may passionately repent as Esav did. But these men, revered as church fathers, immersed in the glory of the prowess of their great minds, shunned help from Jehovah Parakletos (the Holy Spirit our Comforter) and led many into the ditch. Left to themselves, Yeshua asks rhetorically, ‘Can the blind lead the blind; shall they not both fall into the ditch?’⁹

Not relying on the Holy Spirit, its power base, the Church was doomed to suffer spiritual stagnation similar to what the children of Israel experienced in the Promised Land prior to the deliverance begun by Shimshon (Samson). The period of the early Church, after the apostles, is characterized by the great thinkers—Christian theologians and so-called Church Fathers. Yet, we recall that Yeshua admonished us not to call any man on earth our Father, for God alone, in heaven, (said he) is our Father.¹⁰ As such, we are to respect but not revere them. Yet, despite many instances of anti-Christian conduct—be it anti-Semitic remarks and/or heretical teachings—this group of men are still revered and honored by the Gentile Church today. Why?

Secondly, the Church provided the avenue and forum by which the private musings—theological ruminations—of these men became accepted as doctrine to infect the sheep. And just what is theology? The American Heritage Dictionary of the English defines theology as (1) "The study of the nature of God and religious truth; rational inquiry into religious questions, and (2) A system or school of opinions concerning God and religious questions."¹¹

From this we realize that theology is nothing more than a system of opinions concerning God that need not be truth. It must be the study of religious truth, alright, but the resulting conclusion does not have to be a truth so long as it is rational. In fact, the Online Etymology Dictionary cuts to the point and defines theology as the philosophical treatment of Christian doctrine.¹² At the most then, we can conclude that these men were glorified philosophers: not patrists.

So, there entered a host of them pontificating doctrine based upon their own group consensus and understanding of Scripture. Believing that here was an area the Apostles failed to expound on clearly, Augustine of Hippo gave what is assumed to be the first full exposition on predestination through grace. He has been followed by numerous others since then, even continuing up to now, of which I am included. And since the third century, controversy concerning the heretical teachings associated with the predestination decree has raged. Each succeeding writer, attempting to further clarify the already clear water of Scripture, only added more murk to it. By this, many, unable to recover their faith, have fallen away to fatalism, and other damnable doctrines.

Now, by the grace of God, you are about to embark upon this exposition of predestination Scripture which, were the first century apostles or their disciples alive, would lack occasion for penning, but in the aftermath of continued dissonance, stands in urgent need of clarifying. Hence, take heed and maintain hope in God: For I would not that you should remain ignorant, brethren, that the call of God is unto every man: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his Son, an investment, to redeem all men back to himself; for by so doing, he would receive many more sons in return.’ So, if any man would have faith in the Messiah and the purpose of his birth, life, death, and resurrection, that soul should never die, but forever live in him.

Therein is the Glory, and God shall be glorified in all things! Even in Pharaoh—because this same call to you was likewise unto him, and even more so—who, in the day of his calling, exalted himself against the Lord’s elect, and instead trampled the grace and longsuffering of God underfoot to his own damnation.

May God be glorified in his every word and magnified in all his deeds. Amen! Let the eyes of your understanding be enlightened and may the entrance of understanding be light that dispels all darkness in you. May God be glorified in this work. Amen!

PART 1

Predestination

We must study this doctrine from the word of God. We can’t just take it from Augustine. We can’t just take it from Calvin. The Bible does not teach limited atonement. It says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish but have everlasting life.

Philipp Melanchthon

Chapter I

Historical Perspectives

Reflecting on the excellent harvest anticipated from his vineyard, Jehovah ‘. . . looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth poison berries.’ Taking advantage of what he reasoned to be a scarcity of Church teaching on predestination up to the first four centuries, Augustine supposedly penned the first full and positive exposition on predestination through irresistible grace: the sum of which is that God’s absolute predestination determines who believers are. Prominent in his theory was the belief that the absolute will of God (Sovereignty of God) determined who would be saved and that man’s salvation depended on divine grace.¹³

Pelagius, a monk, and contemporary of Augustine, opposed the theology that all activities of man, be it human choice or moral responsibility, depend on God’s grace. He believed that predestination was irretrievably integrated with God’s foreknowledge of human decisions: that is, God knows who will respond to the grace of pardon and be saved. On the other hand, Augustine believed that predestination was God’s sovereign decree by which he has determined whom he will choose to be saved.¹⁴ His formulation is by no means complete nor accepted by Christians universally. But he sowed in virgin soil, thereby influencing countless numbers of believers, thinkers, and writers after him.

The first bold introduction of predestination to reprobation was proposed by Gottschalk, a ninth century monk who taught that God’s predestination was twofold: that is, some are predestined to salvation while others are predestined to hell. According to some, Gottschalk arrived at this heresy after misinterpreting some difficult passages in the writings of Augustine. Not so! Upon inspection of Augustine’s incomplete theology, this was a necessary and logical extension because predestination to salvation denotes predestination to reprobation: the opposite but balancing side of the equality. He taught that God does not wish all men to be saved, and that Christ died only for those who are predestined for salvation. Branded a heretic, he was forced to burn his works, was deposed from the priesthood, whipped, and imprisoned for life.¹⁵

During the Middle Ages, men like Anselm, Lombard, and Aquinas, espoused Augustine’s view, but to varying degrees. Aquinas, in particular, agreed that there is a relationship between predestination and grace, but that grace is not necessary for predestination. To him, predestination is a part of Providence presupposing the election. He believed that though divine goodness is outside of election still the bestowing of a particular good is due to election. The foundation for predestination and its reason lay upon the goodness of God.¹⁶ The reason for which God predestines some and reprobates others is that he wants to manifest his goodness with the mercy by which he spares in the one instance, and the justice with which he punishes in the other.¹⁷ Caught in the never ending quest of reconciling the character of God to such ungodly characteristics, Aquinas lamented when commenting on his life’s work, saying, As I look back, all my theology is only straw.¹⁸

Now, that took a penitent man in review of his life’s work to reprove and correct himself. But coming after, and not hesitating to enter