Gary, the author of the article addressed in The Deadly Error of the Universalists, wrote the following response to that writing:
Hi Paul,
Thanks for sending me a copy of your letter. Of course I do agree with most of what you say as far as one needs to be born again and washed in the blood which this book also says. In all fairness to the article you could have included this quote also from the book. By the statements below how can you conclude that I do not teach salvation by being born again? We only grow spiritually by following in Jesus’ footsteps and that is what I constantly teach.
Christ Must Be Formed In Us
Once we have been born again and quickened by the Spirit of God and washed in the Blood of the Lamb, we have a totally new life born in us. The promise is to the new life that is the seed of Christ in us. We have within us another person born in our spirit. This new person must be properly fed and nourished and He will grow to be the overcoming one in us. This is God once again being birthed in humanity. The life in us is not the old carnal life made over. Jesus said, “That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is Spirit.” Most have never realized that in their spirit is another person. He is Holy, undefiled, and high above the law of sin and death. This one in you is the child of promise, born of the incorruptible seed of the living God. I believe that even as you read these words something is stirring within you, trying to burst forth within your consciousness and bring deliverance from the Adamic nature.
You see, if Christ has not been formed in you, you cannot live the overcoming life. Once Christ begins even in a small way to be formed in you, you cannot help but be an overcomer. You must learn to look within and discover the truth of what it means to be born again. You are a totally different person in your spirit. As you discover this and begin to pray and meditate daily on this new life, the seed of Christ in you will begin to grow and fill your soul with His life. He will flow into your mind and renew it so you think like Christ. He will flow into your will and make it pliable to do His will. He will flow into your emotion so that the pure unadulterated love of God will flow from you.
Until the seed of Christ begins to grow in you, you must learn the power of forgiveness and the power of the Blood of Jesus. If you have not read my book Coming Out of Condemnation, please write and ask for it. It will help you to understand the Gospel of Grace. We are saved not by what we do, but by what God has done. He has made a promise to the seed of Christ, and you can be assured He will bring it to pass.
I certainly agree you have a right to your opinion of the material on my website. If you have the time I would appreciate you listening to a message I did about a month ago on Law and grace. You can find it at this link: http://sigler.org/CDOM16.mp3.
I do thank you for your diligent heart to proclaim the truth of His Word.
In His Unlimited Love
Gary Sigler
Paul’s reply:
Greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ, Gary,
I greet you in the Lord because I am in Him, with Him, and speak from Him.
I can understand how it may appear to you that we are in agreement. In many things our words do agree, and I understand the true things you say. However, there is a fundamental difference in where we are coming from, and the divergence begins with the very first word in the writing that you quote below. You write: “Once we have been born again….” It is that first word, “once,” where we diverge, because you presume things contrary to Scripture and the experience common to all saints that are present with Him in Heaven. You make the erroneous assumption that Christ, the seed of God, is within all, and that many have a heart after God and have experienced forgiveness and rebirth from Him by recognizing this “fact” of His presence within. You begin with the premise that all men have good (God) within, whereas the Scriptures declare that all men are not good and have no heart for God (Romans 3:10-19). The Scriptures also say that not all men have His Spirit:
“But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Romans 8:9 MKJV).
I have written at length on this error in the paper I have sent you, but you cannot hear what I am saying. That is because you are not of God. You are ministering a false gospel of salvation from another spirit that saves and empowers the flesh. We have seen the fruits that your gospel produces. It is the man of sin that you empower, rather than put away.
You try to explain your way around this by dividing man up into separate parts, each with its own identity. According to you there is the flesh and the first Adam that is never good or redeemable, and the spirit that is never bad or in need of redemption. That may sound good to the simple and deceived, but the informed know better. Just as God is one, and not three parts, so man is one, and not three parts. Man was made from the earth, but became a living soul when the Spirit of God breathed life into him. When God speaks of the soul, He speaks of the man, and all that he is and does.
“But the soul that eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, that pertain unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall be cut off from his people” (Leviticus 7:20).
Gary, we are not of the religious with whom you have traveled in the past. We know the sovereignty of God and His will that all come to a place of repentance. For this cause God has us speak against the false gospel you preach. The Lord has kept and delivered us from man’s religion. He has led us, taking us through Romans 7 to the other side. We are in the place of rest and power that you somewhat describe. We came to it, however, contrary to the way you preach. We came by the cross, according to the gospel the apostle Paul preaches. That is the only legitimate way, and the only way the man of sin is dealt with.
“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel; not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those being lost, but to us being saved, it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:17-18).
I go on. You write:
“We are saved not by what we do, but by what God has done.”
You say a lie while speaking the truth. Those words are true, but as Satan ever does, they are twisted to serve a flesh-preserving untruth. While the work is done, and there is nothing we can do to be saved, the process of salvation (which is what this world is here for after all) requires our participation by faith. We are saved by what God has done, to enable us to do what we in turn must do in Him. I am not talking of a doing by the carnal man and the flesh, but by the faith of God operative in our whole being, the Spirit ruling over all.
“And we are His witnesses of these things. And so also is the Holy Spirit, Whom God has given to those who obey Him” (Acts 5:32).
“Therefore, brothers, rather be diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things, you shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:10-11).
“Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive” (Ezekiel 18:27).
“Save his soul alive.” We are active agents in the process of salvation. You err, Gary, in a fundamental and deadly way.
I listened to your presentation on the law and grace as you suggested. Again, you are in grave error. You assert that there is a drastic difference between Old Testament and New Testament revelation. That is a lie. They are one and the same. It is all from the same Tree, the same Lord and God. Those who came before Christ did not live by law, but by grace. Noah found grace in His sight. Abraham walked by faith in the commandments of God. Moses walked by faith, forsaking Egypt. Have you not red Hebrews 11? To present those who preceded Paul in the faith of the fathers as antagonistic, or opposed, or even different than the revelation of Christ, is to make God schizophrenic and a psychotic liar. It is blasphemy. The “fathers” are indeed the fathers.
You even go so far as to say that the Law of Moses is the divider of the Body of Christ, and the reason for most if not all wars on earth! What God calls good, Gary calls evil. God says false religion emanating from the false spirit in man is responsible for all bloodshed (Rev. 18:24), but Gary says the Law of Moses, which is holy and good (Romans 7:12), given by God, is. Who are we to believe and follow?
“Do not boast against the branches. But if you boast, it is not you that bears the root, but the root bears you” (Romans 11:18).
That was spoken to believers, not blasphemers like you, who do not even acknowledge the authenticity of the root.
“Then what is the superiority of the Jew? Or what is the profit of circumcision? Much, by every way! Chiefly, indeed, because they were entrusted with the oracles of God” (Romans 3:1-2).
“Or is He the God of the Jews only, and not also of the nations? Yes, of the nations also, since it is one God Who will justify circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith” (Romans 3:29-30).
Those who call what God gives us evil, do so because they are in evil. The Law is holy and good. Jesus said not one jot or tittle of the Law would fail. Read Law and Grace. But what good will it do you? You are given over to, and blinded by your god, serving yourself in what feels good to you.
Here is something from another of your writings that captures the essence of your god:
“Nobody would see the loveliness and the beauty of my Father and reject Him.”
You describe the god of this world, who comes in different guises, all acceptable and lovely to man. The true God is neither.
“If I had not done among them the works which no other did, they would not have had sin. But now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father” (John 15:24).
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” (Isaiah 53:3).
Here is something else you wrote in one of your writings on the web, which sums up the essence of your error:
“For years, we were taught that we had to die to the flesh, and we tried. If you want to know the truth, you can only get life out of life. Jesus said, ‘I am come that you might have life‘ (John 10:10). It’s the life in you that pushes out death. If you never experience life, you can’t get rid of your death.”
It is true; you cannot escape death without the resurrection life of Christ. But you are wrong on the route. Life does follow death, the death of the cross.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit” (John 12:24).
“And He said to all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever will save his life shall lose it, but whoever will lose his life for My sake, he shall save it” (Luke 9:23-24).
Finally, you write:
“I don’t think anyone needs to be told any longer how sinful they are. But they do need to have revealed to them what their true identity is.”
How revelatory a statement you make, Gary! You never repented, which is the only godly way you could escape the unbearable burden of trying to live by the law. So, you skipped “A” and went to “Z.” You now assume the Omega, that you are with God, but deny the Alpha, which is where God begins. The beginning of the gospel is the call to repentance. No Alpha, no Omega.
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; therefore be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:15-19).
You are creating a nation of bastards who do not partake of His chastening. You appear at, but are not permitted to remain in, the wedding feast. You have no wedding garment. What is such a garment made of?
“And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Revelation 19:8).
Yes, the Lamb of God purchased our righteousness by His blood. He has given the grace to overcome, and to enter into His presence. We are not foolish virgins. We have our own oil. Adam has been reconciled and restored.
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death” (Revelation 12:11).
Amen.
Contending for the true faith that brings us into eternal life through death, against the false love of the god of this world, the enemy of God and denier of the cross,
Paul