March 9
ORIGEN’S GRAND STATEMENT
-Here is what J. W. Hanson said about Origen: "This greatest of all Christian apologists and exegetes, and the first man
in Christendom since Paul, was a distinctive Universalist. He could not have misunderstood or misrepresented the teachings
of His Master. The language of the New Testament was his mother tongue. He delivered the teachings of Christ from Christ Himself
in a direct line through his teacher Clement; and he placed the defense of Christianity on Universalistic grounds. When Celsus,
in his “True Discourse,” the first great assault on Christianity, objected to Christianity on the ground that
it taught punishment by fire, Origen replied that the threatened fire possessed a disciplinary, purifying quality that will
consume in the sinner whatever evil material it can find to consume."
-In 249 A.D., Origen was arrested, tortured, and died in 251 A.D. Most honest Christian writers consider him one of the
greatest Christian leaders ever. Origen was responsible for composing the first system of Christian theology in the year 230
A.D., of which a fundamental and essential element was the doctrine of the universal restoration of all fallen beings to their
original holiness and union with God. In the year 544 A.D., this doctrine was for the first time condemned and anathematized
as heretical. From and after this point ( A.D. 553 ) the doctrine of eternal punishment reigned with undisputed sway during
the Middle Ages that preceded the Reformation. With man having painted a picture of God as the Eternal Tormentor, NO WONDER
THE WORLD WENT INTO THE DARK AGES! THAT FALSE MESSAGE BRINGS WITH IT A DARKNESS THAT SWALLOWS UP THE LIGHT OF THE TRUE GOSPEL!
With this in mind, let us now turn our attention back to Origen and his GRAND STATEMENT.
-Here is Origen’s GRAND STATEMENT: … "with God the one fixed point is the end, when God shall be all in all.
All intelligent work has a perfect end of Colossians 1:20 and Hebrews 2:19, he says: Christ is the Great High Priest, not
only for man but for every rational creature. In his Homilies on Ezekiel, he says: If it had not been conductive to the conversation
of sinners to employ suffering, never would a compassionate and benevolent God have inflicted punishment. Love, which never
fails, will preserve the whole creation from all possibility of further fall; and God will be all in all forever."
-Do you believe God is compassionate? Do you believe God is love? Do you believe His love will never fail? Let us join
the ranks of this great theologian, and declare our God as merciful and compassionate. Let us declare THAT GOD IS LOVE, AND
THAT HE IS A LOVE THAT WILL NEVER FAIL!!!
-HIS LOVE WILL NEVER FAIL!-
