The Doctrine of Election Part II

There are grave consequences in ignoring the Doctrine of Election. We can go back and forth citing verse after Bible verse on the merits of what is known as cheap grace or cheap salvation (false eternal security), or the lack of the same thereof; meantime, the body of Christ apparently
will continue to be divided until kingdom come. Praise God, though, that He gives us the promise that one day we will come to the unity of the faith: 11) And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12) for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13) till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14) that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting (Eph. 4:11-14). Let us now proceed to examine this passage, which tells us the following:
1) Jesus Christ Himself gave us five ministries for the specific purpose of ministering the Word of God to the Church for the instruction and edification of the saints. Important note: These five ministries are the "basic" ministries. In 1 Cor. 12:28 are added healings, helps (diverse kinds), administration, tongues, interpretation of tongues (and whatever others may be found necessary to meet each congregation's specific needs). Some make a distinction between gifts and ministries. There is no such distinction. The ministries listed in Ephesians 4:11 should be regarded as basic or fundamental, but they are all gifts as well as ministries for the simple reason that they all proceed directly from God.
2) Through the aforementioned gifts or ministries and more diligent search for the unifying truth that some day will set us truly free, we will at long last become one single body--as opposed to multiple bodies usually called denominations, sects, religious organizations or societies. How distant that day is depends on how soon we stop ignoring or sidestepping the issue of the election of the saints. This issue is not a "pauline" issue, as many seem to suggest. With a few exceptions, the New Testament writers in general speak of the elect, the chosen, the saints, the body of Christ, the born-again believers, the Church of God, etc., all conveying the same distinctive idea. Even James, the practical Christian thinker par excellence asks: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? (v. 2:5).
3) The purpose of this unity, not just physical, but very especially a unity of doctrinal understanding, is precisely to prevent us from falling into irreconcilable heresies and eventual apostasy (into which more than just a few of us have already fallen). So far our multiple differences may be dismissed, downplayed or excused by some as unessential or as differences of form but not of substance, and so on, but they still constitute a real danger nevertheless. Unfortunately, it seems that instead of seeking that unity, the people of God are more interested in remaining perfectly and chaotically fragmented than in PRAYERFULLY seeking it. There is no doubt in my mind that all preachers should start studying this election "business" in earnest and focusing less on such secondary concerns as prosperity and miracle-healing among others. No one that I know of ever preaches or teaches election anymore, and those who might, which I seriously doubt, probably associate it with this false notion that once an individual has accepted the Lord, his salvation is assured, since God has predestined him to enjoy eternal life even if he loses his faith and becomes a profligate and an apostate. This is another good reason why the doctrine of the election must be studied diligently and in dead earnest.
Let us make it quite clear that unity of the body of Christ with the full agreement and understanding of the election as one of the leading doctrines of Christianity would be no guarantee of universal agreement. There will always be recalcitrant spirits who will oppose sound doctrine regardless of what they read in the Bible. This universal agreement was not the case in the apostolic era, it never was and it never will be. But one thing is certain: In due time God will expose them as antichrists (1 John 2:18), as it is written: They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us (1 John 2:19). One final word: It takes more faith to believe that God has chosen some of us for everlasting life in His kingdom, so that everything we need for our salvation was foreordained for us by divine decree, than to be sure to be saved for the time being but still uncertain of our final destiny, and that in spite of all the assurances that Scriptures give us to that effect. Below are just a handful of many such scriptures. Those of you who truly love Jesus, who is the Truth personified, please look them up in your Bibles and judge for yourselves whether or not the Word of God teaches random election or the predestination of the saints and its corollaries, such as eternal security, unconditional salvation, the law of cause and effect, etc.