Tuesday, April 9, 2013

The Religion of Animism: Exposing the Tenets of Primitive Religion by Reformed Truth



TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1:         At the Outset
Chapter 2:         Adam as the First Man
Chapter 3:         The True God Alone
Chapter 4:         The True God Can Be Known
Chapter 5:         The Caring God
Chapter 6:         Salvation and Healing
Chapter 7:         True Spiritual Power
Chapter 8:         The Doctrine of Sin
Chapter 9:         Forbidden By God
Chapter 10:       The Doctrine of the Afterlife
Chapter 11:       The Animism Controversy
Chapter 12:       The Christian Gospel of Grace

Chapter 1:

At the Outset

            In accordance with Scripture, it is crucial to defend the very essentials of the Christian faith (1 Pet. 3:15).  The main subjects are: Adam as the first man, the understanding of the true God alone, knowing the true God, understanding God as the caring God, salvation and healing, true spiritual power, the doctrine of sin, a forbidden practice of the occult, and the doctrine of the afterlife, the animism controversy, and the gospel of Christ.  Thus I rightfully intend “…to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). 
Chapter 2:

Adam as the First Man

            God made man a living being (1 Cor. 15:45).  Humanity exists because God created Adam as the first representative of humanity (Gen. 2:7).  Holy Writ of the New Testament explicitly indicates that our existence depends upon the very creative work of God alone.  Adam was created by God Himself (Gen. 2:7).  The origin of humanity must be seen in light of holy Scripture.  To see it in light of holy Writ is to see it correctly.  The fact that Adam was the first human being is not based on mythology.  Jesus proclaimed, “…Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE…”  (Matt. 19:4). 
            John Chrysostom wrote, “…If you quote Moses, I will quote the God of Moses, and with him I am always strong.  For God from the beginning made them male and female.  This law is very old, even if it appears human beings have recently discovered it.”[i]  Paul refers to Adam as the literal head of mankind: “For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve” (1 Tim. 2:13 cf. 1 Cor. 11:9).  After man’s fallen condition occurred through Adam’s disobedience (Gen. 2:16-17; 3:1-6), they made themselves their own coverings (Gen. 3:7).  It is the way of man to find his own solutions about religion apart from the holy ways of God.  The Scripture say, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Prov. 14:12; 16:25).  But later God provided skin clothing for Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:21).  The way of God is the right way.  The skin clothing indicates that they belonged to God.  The skin clothing foreshadows the atonement of Christ as the covering of God’s people.  God’s people alone are clothed in the very robes of Christ’s righteousness.  Therefore, Adam and Eve were believers in the God of the Christian Bible, and animism could not have been the earliest form of religion.  After the counsel of His own will (Eph. 1:11), God created Adam with the divine knowledge of the divine decree already set forth in eternity passed to send Christ as the sole Savior for His people (Gen. 3:15).  The divine remedy for the radical fallen condition of man is accomplished through the perfect life of Christ (Gal. 4:4; Matt. 5:17; Rom. 5:19), and the atonement of Christ at Calvary (1 Pet. 1:18-21).
Chapter 3:

The True God Alone

Concerning the limitation of spirits and gods, the God of holy Writ is not a God limited by geographic location.  Rather, He alone is omnipresent; He is everywhere all at the same time.  Is a god who is not omnipresent worthy of worship?  Of course not.  For the Scriptures say in Ps. 139:7, “Where can I go from Your Spirit?  Or where can I flee from Your presence?”  The infinite God of biblical Christianity is omnipotent--He is all-powerful (Ps. 115:3).  God alone has sovereign power, control over all His creation and complete authority.  God cannot act in opposition to His nature.  He is not like the false gods of animism who have limitation concerning their power.  Is a god who is not all-powerful worthy of worship?  Of course not.  But God upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3).  Moreover, the Blessed Trinity should alone receive worship, and He alone hears the prayers of those that are His.  To give worship to a creature breaks the first commandment of God:  “…for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God...”  (Ex. 34:14).  Prayer is the means in which Christians communicate to God alone.  Therefore, “The righteous cry, and the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles” (Ps. 34:17).
            Concerning ancestors the Scripture proclaims, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment…”  (Heb. 9:27).  For the regenerate person, absent from the body is at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8).  The Christian Bible forbids “…one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead” (Deut. 18:11).  Regarding the conception of gods, God alone has the power of being within Himself.  Therefore, He alone is worthy of trust (Ps. 9:10).  He alone is worthy of service and worship because He alone is the Eternal Self-Existent One (Ps. 90:2).  God Himself declares He is absolutely unique.  That is, there is no god with Him: “Do not tremble and do not afraid; Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it?  And you are My witnesses.  Is there any God besides Me, or is there any other Rock?  I know of none” (Is. 44:8 NASB).  Scripture declares, “…Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me” (Is. 43:10).  Animism refers to God in two forms.  He is either monistic or monotheistic.  Monistic refers to an impersonal oneness.  Monotheism refers to a God who is a personal Being.[ii]  The true being of God is one:  “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one” (Deut. 6:4).  God is one in essence, three in person (Matt. 28:19). 
            The Scripture thusly declares, For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…”  (1 Tim. 2:5).  The one true Mediator is Jesus Christ.  The true Mediator could only fulfill His mediation because He is both God and man.  Jesus Christ is the perfect Incarnate Mediator.  Therefore, there is no need for other mediators.  According to animism, there are personal spirits and impersonal energy.  There are deceased ancestors, and spirits and gods.  The spirits are mediators who intercede on behalf of people.   In order for the mediation to occur, people must initially provide homage to the mediators.[iii] The spirit-beings have particular powers, and there are spirits who are limited to a geographic area.[iv]  There are some spirits who use their power over human affairs, and over nature.[v]  We have seen what divine Scripture teaches, and how Animism departs from the clear testimony of Scripture. 
             
Chapter 4:

The True God Can Be Known

            It is not the will of foreign gods that should be obeyed (Deut. 32:12).  Rather, we ought to obey the will of the one true God.  To “equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (Heb. 13:21).  All people are called to obey the perceptive will of God (Ps. 119).  The perceptive will refers to the unveiled commandments of God’s public law.  According to animism, God is “too abstract to be known.”[vi]  The intermediate spirits may be used to accomplish the will of the Supreme Being.[vii] 
            Christians are able to know God the Father through His Son by the power of the Holy Ghost.  Christ is the eternal Son of God (John 1:1) Who took upon flesh (John 1:14).  God the Son became man.  This indicates that God the Father is knowable through the Incarnate Son of God.  Immanuel means “God with us” (Is. 7:14; Matt. 1:23).  Therefore, God is knowable through Jesus Christ. But according to animism, God is unapproachable and unknowable.   
The Lord Jesus Christ declares, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).  And “…If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24).  The Incarnate Redeemer came to save men not to destroy them (Luke 9:56).  The person who comes and believes on the Son has eternal life from the Incarnate Bread of life:  “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst’” (John 6:35).  Here is a Christian hymn about the offer of the Christian gospel:

Come to the Saviour now, He gently calleth thee; in true repentance bow, before him bend the knee; He waiteth to bestow salvation, peace and love, true joy on earth below, a home in heaven above.  Come to the Saviour now, ye who have wandered far; renew your solemn vow, for his by right you are; come, like poor wandering sheep returning to his fold; His arm will safely keep, His love will never grow cold.  Come to the Savior, all, whatever your burdens be; hear now his loving call, “Cast all your care on Me.”  Come, and for every grief in Jesus you will find a sure and safe relief, a loving Friend and kind.  Amen.[viii]

            If someone comes to Christ, it is assured evidence of the drawing of God the Father to God the Son.  The Scripture declares man’s inability, and the absolute necessity of the drawing of God the Father to God the Son, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.  ‘It is written in the prophets, 'AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me’” (John 6:44-45).  Therefore, “And He was saying, ‘For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father’” (John 6:65).  Thus, the only way to the Father is through His Beloved Son: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me’” (John 14:6).  God grants all of His people salvation and saving knowledge (1 Tim. 2:4). 

Chapter 5:

The Caring God

            God calls His people to cast all their cares upon Him (1 Pet. 5:7).  Therefore, God is concerned with ultimate and immediate issues of life.[ix]  Ambrose wrote about the believability of God, “Let God Himself, Who made me, teach me the mystery of heaven, not man, who knew not himself.  Whom rather than God should I believe concerning God?”[x]  Animism views the major world religions as addressing the ultimate issues, and it views the immediate issues of major world religions to be something that is neglected.  Ultimate issues are eternal matters.  Immediate issues refer to our daily needs.  Halverson notes that one can be a practicing Catholic and consult a shaman.  A shaman is an animistic priest who consults spirits to heal the living.[xi]  God is concerned in His all-knowingness of every sparrow that hits the ground, “…And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father” (Matt. 10:29).  How much more, therefore, is God concerned with human beings?  According to God, people “…are more valuable than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:31).[xii] Animists seek help within their daily lives from wicked spirits.  But how much more will the one true God help His people who truly seek Him?[xiii] 
Chapter 6:

Salvation and Healing

            It is not spirits of the heavenly realm that bring true healing.  Rather, it is the God of the Christian Bible that brings authentic healing concerning salvation.  The guaranteed promise is the saving of the soul for God’s elect only from God’s just and righteous wrath, hell, sin and Satan.  Thus, by His crucifixion wounds God’s people are healed (Is. 53:5).  Divine justice has been satisfied because of Christ alone.  Animists depend upon their sacrifices, but Christ Jesus offered Himself as the ultimate sacrifice that was wholly pleasing to His Beloved and Holy Father.  The sacrifices of the wicked are detestable, abhorrent and abominable to God (Prov. 21:27).  But the cross of Christ is well-pleasing to God the Father.  The atonement of Christ was made once and for all.  The spirits, gods and ancestors of animism lack this essential truth.  The Lord Jesus willingly died for His beloved people.  He brings life to poor sinners.  Those who place their trust in Him alone by authentic and lasting faith alone have His righteousness imputed to them.  Christ proclaimed, “…unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).  The verse indicates that regeneration precedes faith (see Titus 3:5).  Therefore, monergistic regeneration (that is, being born again) is supported and established.[xiv]
            It is the Lord Jesus Who brings true salvation to people, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).  True salvation is a true relationship with Jesus Christ.  People who do not believe the Son do not have eternal life but have the wrath of God upon them.  It is not simply optional to believe Christ.  Rather, it is a command: “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us” (1 John 3:23).  Thus, “...these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).
            A healed heart is not obeying our sinful fleshly desires or consulting spirits.  Rather, a healed heart is “…a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” (Ps. 51:17).  Indeed, may the convicted sinner cry, “…O, thou Father of my spirit, thou King of my life, cast me not into destruction, drive me not from thy presence, but wound my heart that it may be healed; break it that thine own hand may make it whole.”[xv]  Fervent and meaningful crying out to God brings healing, “O LORD my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me” (Ps. 30:2). 
Chapter 7:

True Spiritual Power

The Holy Spirit is a divine Person.  He is the Third Person of the Trinity.  He is not an impersonal force.  Thus, this is Who the animists should surrender their lives to.  The Holy Spirit, not impersonal forces of energy, empowers His people with divine grace.  The Spirit of God is not the same spirit that operates in Animism.  Moreover, God is not manipulated as it is in Animism.  God accepts repentant sinners.  God does not use animistic rituals, charms or words to move Him.  Animistic thought teaches “…spiritual forces can be used for either good or evil purposes.”[xvi] 
            Prayer should only be used solely for lawful purposes.  In the Our Father, Christians are called to ask for deliverance from Satan.  God is not a God Who takes pleasure in wickedness, evil or sin.  Rather, the God of the Christian faith is superlatively holy.  God never fails to act righteously.  Thus, God is free from evil, and He is wholly good.  True spiritual power resides in God.  He has the power of being in and of Himself.  God has true power rooted in goodness, holiness and righteousness.  God never uses His power for unjust, evil, unrighteous or unholy purposes.  Rather, His ways are and always shall be holy.  Therefore, true power is found in Him alone and true power comes from Him alone.  We ought to flock to the One Who has “…authority on earth to forgive sins…” (Luke 5:24).  Christ has the divine authority as the divine Son of Man to forgive sins and Christ has full power “in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18).
            The spirits of Satan have spiritual power, but it is a false, evil and deceptive power.  The spirits bring people into spiritual bondage.  God has real and true spiritual power.  God has shown through His Beloved Son that He has triumphed in His all-powerfulness over demonic and satanic powers.  He is greater then any false spiritual power of Animistic spirits.  The apostle John wrote regarding God’s children, “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).  Therefore “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him” (Col. 2:15).  God the Son brings spiritual freedom: “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
            The power is from God the Father:  “…For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” (Matt. 6:13).  The gospel is the power of God for those who believe:  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16).  Power comes from God the Holy Spirit:  “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13).  The cross is the power of God for those who are being saved:  “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). 
            Rest on the power of God:  “so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:5).  It’s not man’s words but God’s power:  “For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power” (1 Cor. 4:20).  Concerning the power of Christ:  “And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me” (2 Cor. 12:9).  Be protected by the power of God:  “who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:5).  Power is in God forever:  “saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen” (Rev. 7:12).
            Animism teaches that spiritual energy “infuses special objects, words and rituals.”[xvii]  The “energy gives these objects the power that people need to accomplish their desires.”[xviii]  Halverson cites an example from Quicksall about writing a verse from the Koran on paper.  The Muslim leader then places it into water so the water-soluble ink dissolves away.  The person who wears the fetish drinks the water, to have the message internalized.[xix]  We have seen what divine Scripture teaches, and how Animism does not have true spiritual power.
Chapter 8:

The Doctrine of Sin

            First, the spirits of the heavenly realm are wicked (1 Sam. 16:14; Luke 7:21).  The spirits are under the control of “the father of lies” (John 8:44).  Wickedness is not a good attribute, and to replace God with something is a serious offense against Him.   If the spirits are wicked, they will deal wickedly with people.  The spirits bring bondage not freedom.  Bondage is from the devil (2 Tim. 2:26) and from sin (John 8:34).  Second, the prince of these spirits is Satan.  The sinless Christ referred to Satan as “the evil one” (John 17:15).  Are the spirits of animism worthy of trust?  Of course not.  But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one” (2 Thess. 3:3). The Our Father shows God’s power over Satan (Luke 11:2).  Consider what Jesus Christ declared, “…for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me” (John 14:30).  That is, Jesus Christ is free from any sin whatsoever.  Therefore, He is the One to trust.  Christ was the only person free from original sin.  Therefore, all of humanity is in sin because of the result of Adam’s sin.  This is properly known as original sin.  The animist is concerned with offending the localized spirits.  They fear the wrath of spirits who will harm them due to their offences.[xx]  The manifestation of their wrath may occur “in the form of injury, sickness, failure, or interpersonal strife.”[xxi] 
            Additionally, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).  Mankind is totally depraved and dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1).  Mankind also has total inability, yet bears total accountability before God.  Man in his nature is spiritually insane, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor. 2:14).  Thus, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18).
            Third, fear the God “…who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28 NASB).  God does not sin nor does He tolerate sin.  The place of hell is real.  It exists to punish the sin that was not punished on Christ.  Therefore, the fear of a person should have God alone as his object.  The God of holiness is the God Who dealt with sin on the cross of Christ at Calvary.  The Incarnate Christ paid the eternal debt in completeness that His people could never pay.  The Incarnate Lamb bore divine justice in behalf of poor sinners.  He bore hell upon His cross so His people would not suffer eternal punishment.  Therefore Jesus satisfied divine justice.  Christ became a curse for His people (Gal. 3:13), and “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).  That is, the sin of His people was transferred to Him. The righteousness of Christ alone was transferred to His people by faith alone.  Jesus Christ is the divine remedy for sin.  It is through Christ crucified that God’s people obtain forgiveness.  This is necessary because “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Rom. 3:23) for "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE…” (Rom. 3:10). 
            Paul in Rom. 3:21-28 declares:

But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.  This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

            The faith of Romans 3 is a living, lasting and true faith.  Faith alone is the instrument of justification.  Justification by faith alone is the heart of the gospel of Christ.  Faith is the necessary instrument to receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  This faith is not a mere profession of faith but a real, living and authentic faith.  This true faith is from a true regenerated heart.  Human works do not have a role in justification.  Justification refers to how a person is declared right before God.  There is no person who is justified by their good works.  Rather it is by faith alone but it is not a dead faith.  It is wholly the work of Another.  This alone forms the grounds of justification.  Justification is a forensic (that is, legal) act of God alone.  This is where He declares the unjust sinner to be just.  Thus, Christians are just sinners.  This means a sinner ought to live a life of faithful repentance of sin to God through Christ by His Spirit.  Therefore, sin is confessed before God, forgiveness is received, and remission is granted.
Chapter 9:

Forbidden By God

The holy Scripture addresses divination.  Holy Writ applies condemnation toward this occultic practice.  This is known as heathen religion.  It is referred to as detestable (Deut. 18:11-12) before God.  The evil practice of divination was punished by death (Lev. 20:6-7). God’s people in the midst of divination are to remain blameless: “You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so.” (Deut. 18:13-14).  Cyprian declares in conformity with Scripture, “Divination must not be used.”[xxii] 
            Divination falls within the occult.  Divination is a way to obtain knowledge of an angered spirit.  It is also used to discover if a curse has been pronounced.[xxiii]  The practice of divination is also used to fix a problem.  This is done to obtain knowledge through occultic means.  It is the method of learning what is not known through mysterious ways.[xxiv]  Halverson wrote about divination, “Methods of divination are numerous and varied; they include tarot cards, palm reading, the I Ching, tea-leaf reading, observing how feathers fall, the throwing of cowry shells, astrology, omens, dowsing (see Weldon), rituals, necromancy (contacting the dead), and interpreting dreams and visions.”[xxv]
            Sorcery was forbidden by the Old and New Testament, but there were still people who practiced divination (Acts 19:12-16).  Bar-Jesus is known as Elymas.  Luke identifies Elymas as a magician.  Elymas stood in fierce opposition to the gospel of Christ because he tried to prevent Sergius Paulus from adopting the Christian gospel (Acts 13:8).  Luke identifies him “…as a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet.”[xxvi]  This was not unusual in history.  They acquired a status of power because they pretended to provide unique insight into the future.  Initially, he acquired the confidence of the proconsul.  The proconsul’s name was Sergius Paulus.  Elymas understood his days were numbered because of the ministry of Paul and Barnabas.  Elymas opposed the Christian gospel.  He did all “…he could to turn the proconsul from it.”[xxvii]  The wicked oppose the Christian gospel.  Thus, Bar-Jesus should be understood as Bar-devil.[xxviii]
            Interestingly, the proconsul is described as “…a man of intelligence” (Acts 13:7).  Paul was filled with God the Holy Spirit, and he “fixed his gaze on” Elymas (Acts 13:9).  Paul identified Elymas as “…full of deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease preventing the straight ways of the Lord?”  (Acts 13:10).  What Elymas did emerges from Satan.  He was a son of the evil one.  The source of the work of Elymas was Satan.  Elymas as Cain, belonged to the devil (1 John 3:12).  Moreover, the straight way of the Lord is the right way of the Lord (Acts 13:10).  The right way of Christ is the holy gospel of grace and peace.  Indeed, the Incarnate Way is the only way (Acts 4:12)!  Elymas became blind because the hand of the Lord fell upon him.  He was not able to “see the sun for a time” (Acts 13:11). 
            Luke tells of “…a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand” (Acts 13:11).  The manifestation of Paul’s judgment pronouncement upon Elymas was evidence of God’s righteous judgment.  There will be negative consequences from God if someone practices the occult.  The judgment of God was done to hinder the work of Satan, and advance God’s kingdom.  Paul acted in righteousness, but Elymas acted in unrighteousness.  The God of truth and righteousness is the God of Paul.  But Satan is a false god of deceitfulness and unrighteousness.  This is the god of Elymas.  Paul furthered God’s righteous cause, but Elymas acted in deceitfulness to further Satan’s unrighteous cause.  The proconsul saw what Paul did against the enemy of the cross.  The proconsul was astonished at the teaching of the Lord (Acts 13:12).  Paul’s ministry work was the means God used for the proconsul to believe the gospel (Acts 13:12; 2 Tim. 2:10). 
            The reason the proconsul believed was surely not because there was something good in him. That is, he did not believe because he is smarter then Elymas.  Rather, the difference between Sergius Paulus and Elymas is the reason of the work of God alone (see John 3).  That is, there is not something in the proconsul which made him believe in and of himself.  God alone is the One Who makes men to differ.  We find the product of true belief from the heart of the proconsul by the work of God the Holy Ghost in effectual calling.  God changed the heart of the proconsul through His appointed means that produced true belief that was exercised through his changed will.  We see an unregenerate man who was the enemy of God in his occultism, and a regenerate man who became a child of God through the God-approved and God-honoring ministry of the apostle Paul. 

Chapter 10:

The Doctrine of the Afterlife

            The apostles were all witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection; “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses” (Acts 2:32). Christ testifies of His own bodily resurrection:   “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’  The Jews then said, ‘It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?’  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken” (John 2:19-22).
             The resurrection of Christ was foretold in the Old Testament:  “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.  You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever” (Ps. 16:10-11).  The Lord Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead:  As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay…”  (Acts 13:34).  Indeed, Christ rose for the justification of His purchased people.  Therefore reincarnation is wholly inconsistent with reality.  For example, Christ “…died and rose again on their behalf” (2 Cor. 5:15).  His resurrection verified His atonement in truth and righteousness, for “…the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses” (Acts 3:15).
            The assured consequence of sin is death (Rom. 5:12).  After death there are either two places a human being goes to.  The two places are hell and heaven.  Hell is prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41).  Those who are wicked (Rev. 21:8) and reject the gospel (Matt. 10:15) enter up in hell.  It is described as a place of eternal fire, punishment, destruction and outer darkness.  The Lord Jesus Christ was the greatest preacher of hell.  Christ preached more about hell than He did about heaven.  Will you not believe the only sinless God-man in history (Mark 9:42-48)?  Will you not heed His words regarding hell (Matt. 8:12; 25:46)?  God appropriates His righteous and holy justice on the unsaved in hell.  Hell is the presence of God’s wrath and judgment.  It is the absence of God’s retraining grace.  Hell is also the absence of God’s mercy.  The pains of hell surpass any understanding of misery in this life.  There will be no cruelty in hell.  Rather hell is a place of God’s sinless justice.  The nature of hell is eternal. 
            There is no escape once a person is in hell.  Hell is eternal separation from God in His mercy, love and compassion.  People who are not saved in a redemptive sense will go to hell after they die.  That is, if someone dies without Christ, hell is a place of certainty.  The gospel is eternally important.  Christ accomplished redemption for His people and God the Spirit applies the work of Christ to His people.  This guarantees heaven.  In complete perfection, Christ saved His elect only.  Indeed, Christ is the Prefect Redeemer.  Those He came to save will be saved.  Christ did not merely make the saving of His people possible, but rather He made it actual.  Indeed, Christ is the actual Incarnate Lord and Savior.  There is never danger of eternal damnation if a person is in Christ (Rom. 8:1-2).
            The place of hell is as real as the place of heaven.  Heaven is the place of the Trinity, His holy angels, and God’s glorified people.  The place of heaven will be the absence of sin, sorrow, pain and death.  Heaven is a place where Christians will enjoy Christ’s immediate presence.  Heaven alone includes the beatific vision of God.  This is the place where God’s rewards will be enjoyed.  The nature of heaven is eternal.  It will never end (Matt. 25:46).  Heaven includes blessed joyfulness.  Heaven is the eternal Sabbath of holy rest in righteousness and peace.  No earthly experience will be able to compare with the blessedness and bliss of heaven.  Only God’s people will be in heaven.  Therefore, people either go to the place of hell or heaven.  It is not ancestral spirits or an evil human being who became an evil spirit, but rather demons in deceitfulness, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).
            Animism does not have a “universal and consistent doctrine throughout the many animistic religions as to what happens to a person after death.”[xxix]  Within animism, “[m]any see the person’s spirit as continuing to exist after death either by being reincarnated into another life on earth or by ‘graduating’ to a higher spiritual level.”[xxx]  After death people may become an ancestral spirit.  The believers of animism must provide offerings to the deceased member to appease or prevent harm from coming to them.[xxxi]  Moreover, “[i]t is often believed that the soul of an evil person becomes an evil spirit, continuing to work mischief among the living.”[xxxii]  We have seen that divine Scripture teaches resurrection and the doctrine of hell and heaven, and how Animism departs from this. 

Chapter 11:

The Animism Controversy

            The Incarnate Christ is the only way to have a true relationship with God.  Religions of the world offer inauthentic, untrue and false ways to God.  Christ is the true Savior that is based on Scripture alone[xxxiii] to reveal the only true way to God.  God Himself has approved and ordained Christ as the only Savior.  Animism does not lead a person to “…a kind of preparation…” to believe Christ.  The natural man cannot cooperate with God.  God’s people are made partakers of redemption.  This is only by the effectual application to His people (John 1:12) by His Spirit (Titus 3:5-6).  The Spirit works faith in His people (Eph. 2:8).  He unites His sheep to Christ in the effectual calling of His people (Eph. 3:17).  This is the work of the Holy Ghost (2 Tim. 1:9).  The Spirit convinces God’s people of their sin and misery (Acts 2:37).  He enlightens the minds of His people in the knowledge of Christ Jesus (Acts 26:18), and renews the will of His people (Ezek. 36:26).  The Holy Ghost persuades and enables His elect only to accept Christ Jesus.  This is freely offered in the gospel (John 6:44-45).[xxxiv]  The natural man is spiritually dead.  He cannot accept what is spiritually good (the gospel).  As we have seen, monergism is what scripture teaches.  Indeed, animism is devoid of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit of God approved the religion of Jesus.  Therefore, the religion of animism is a false religion, and its source is of the evil one.
            The issue emerges about the spiritual source of animism.  Is the source of animism a similar source related to biblical Christianity?  Pope John Paul II wrote there is “…a kind of common soteriological root present in all religions.”[xxxv]  As a modified universalist, Pope John Paul II states,

…Is there, perhaps, in this veneration of ancestors a kind of preparation for the Christian faith in the Communion of Saints, in which all believers—whether living or dead—form a single community, a single body?  And faith in the Communion of Saints is, ultimately, faith in Christ, who alone is the source of life and of holiness for all.  There is nothing strange, then, that the African and Asian animists would become believers in Christ more easily than followers of the great religions of the Far East.”[xxxvi] 

            Biblical Christianity offers the matchless message of the gospel.  The natural man cannot prepare to accept Christ.  There is nothing in and of himself that will lead the natural man to accept Christ.  Man is totally depraved, and he does not have an island of righteousness in himself.  Salvation is found in no one else except Christ alone (Acts 4:12).  Therefore, animism has the absence of the saving message of the soul, and the presence of the bondage of the soul.  Thus, the Christian Bible[xxxvii] does not teach modified universalism.  Rather, the Christian Bible teaches the exclusivity of Jesus Christ as the sole Incarnate Redeemer (1 Tim. 2:5; John 1:14).  Therefore salvation is solely found in Jesus Christ.  That is, the Christian Bible denies salvation in anyone or anything else.  True explicit faith from a true regenerated heart is essential for true soteriology (that is, salvation). 
Chapter 12:

The Christian Gospel of Grace

The gospel of grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is:  “…Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).  God commands people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).  Repentance is turning from sin and clinging to Christ.  God is superlatively holy.  He grants repentance in righteousness for His people according to His good pleasure.  True faith produces true fruit in obedience to Christ.  True repentance is contrition not attrition.  Repentance must be accomplished for offenses against God not because of the threat of hell.  The gospel is, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…”  (Acts 16:31).  In order to repent and believe, a person must be born from above (see John 3).  The fruits of being born again are faith and repentance.  The consequence of the sinfulness of sin of a person is the actuality of the wrath of God.  The life of a Christian is a life of constant and faithful repentance.  “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?”  (Ps. 130:3).  The reality of the wrathfulness of God: “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36). 
God acts in His wrath from His righteousness.  The Lord Jesus has rescued His people: “and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath” (1 Thess. 1:10).  Christ is wholly sufficient for the sinner: 

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation (Rom. 5:6-11). 

All that the Father gives to the Son will never be cast out: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out”(John 6:37 NASB).  Therefore the time to repent and believe is now (2 Cor. 6:2).

Conclusion

            We have seen what the Bible teaches and the tenets of animism, and how they differ from biblical Christianity.  Christianity has been shown to provide meaningful answers to the animistic worldview.  There are sound answers to the views of animism in comparison to biblical Christianity.  Biblical Christianity offers animists the opportunity to understand true religion, an intimate knowledge of God, knowing God personally in salvation in and through Christ, worshipping God alone in spirit and in truth, experiencing the power of Christ in life, understanding the reality of sin, avoiding and abstaining from evil practices of the occult, capturing the reality of the place of heaven and hell, and revealing the truth presented in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

En


[i]Manlio Simonetti.  Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture New Testament 1b, Matthew 14-19, (Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 91. 
[ii] Dean C. Halverson, Ed. The Compact Guide To World Religions (Minneapolis, Minnesota:  Bethany House Publishers, 1996), 40.
[iii] Halverson, 40.
[iv] Halverson, 40.
[v] Halverson, 40.
[vi] Halverson, 40.
[vii] Halverson, 40.  It is creation which shows of His handiwork and of His glory.  The spirits were not involved in the creation of the universe.  The spirits are demons yet mere creatures.  The devotion and worship of a person should be to God alone not to demonic spirits. 
[viii] Trinity Hymnal Baptist Edition, (Georgia:  Great Commission Publications, 2000), 395.
[ix] Halverson, 44.
[x] David T. King & William Webster.  Holy Scripture: The Ground and Pillar of Our Faith The Writings of the Church Fathers Affirming the Reformation Principle of Sola Scriptura, Volume III, (Washington: Christian Resources, 2001), 263.
[xi] Halverson, 40
[xii] Halverson, 47.
[xiii] The Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33).
[xiv] God does not save from obligation.  Rather, God alone voluntarily chose His beloved elect only in eternality passed that is revealed in time (2 Tim. 2:10), after the counsel of His good and holy will (Eph. 1:11), according to His good pleasure.  The only reason why a person chooses God after regeneration is because God first chose him or her.
[xv] Arthur Bennett, Ed.  The Valley Of Vision (Pennsylvania: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2003), 69.
[xvi] Halverson, 42.
[xvii] Halverson, 41.
[xviii] Halverson, 41.
[xix] Halverson, 41. 
[xx] Consider these verses: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” (1 John 4:18).  “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:16).  
[xxi] Halverson, 42.
[xxii] David W. Bercot, Ed.  A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs (Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1998), 633.
[xxiii] Halverson, 42. 
[xxiv] Halverson, 42.
[xxv] Halverson, 42.
[xxvi] James Montgomery Boice.  Acts: An Expositional Commentary (Michigan: Baker Books, 1997), 231.
[xxvii] Boice, 231. 
[xxviii] Boice, 231.
[xxix] Halverson, 43.
[xxx] Halverson, 43. 
[xxxi] Halverson, 43. 
[xxxii] Keith Crim.  The Perennial Dictionary Of World Religions (New York: HarperSanFranciso, 1989), 38.
[xxxiii] Holy Scripture is properly understood as the sole infallible authority for Christians.
[xxxiv] These scriptural answers were used from A Puritan Catechism by C.H. Spurgeon.  The questions range from question 28 to question 30.  The questions are:  28. Q. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ? 29. Q. How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ? and 30. Q. What is effectual calling? which were presented with answers in his Catechism.
[xxxv] Pope John Paul II.  Crossing The Threshold Of Hope (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1994), 81. 
[xxxvi] Pope John Paul II, 82.  Exclusivists rightly understand his book as a “universalist manifesto.”
[xxxvii] The Christian Bible do not teach Communion of Saints in the Roman Catholic sense.  Communion of Saints in the biblical sense does not include but entirely excludes the concept of praying to saints (Ps. 62:2, 5; 1 Tim. 2:5) or praying for the dead (2 Sam. 12:21-23).  The Larger Catechism of the Westminster Assembly asks Q. 179. Are we to pray unto God only?  The answer is, “God only being able to search the hearts (1 Kings 8:39; Acts 1:24; Rom. 8:27), hear the requests (Ps. 65:2), pardon the sins (Micah 7:18), and fulfill the desires of all (Ps. 145:18, 19); and only to be believed in (Rom. 10:14), and worshipped with religious worship (Matt. 4:10); prayer, which is a special part thereof (1 Cor. 1:2), is to be made by all to him alone (Ps. 50:15), and to none other (Rom. 10:14).”  (The Larger Catechism of the Westminster Assembly With Scripture References, (Glasgow: Free Presbyterian Publications, 1998), 41).

                Was animism the earliest form of religion of ancient man?  Does it provide a meaningful explanation about ancient man?  Who was the first man?  Who is the true God?  Is God knowable?   Is God caring?  Where does true salvation and spiritual healing come from?  Where is true spiritual power found?  Who is worthy of heavenly trust?  What practice is forbidden by God for humanity?  What evidence is there about the reality of hell?  Is animism compatible with authentic, biblical and orthodox Christianity?  Does God command lost sinners to repent? 
                Turn to this book for a Reformed defense of the Christian faith.  The Reformed faith provides answers to these questions of animism.  The work is important to share the Gospel with people who are animists but who struggle with their doctrinal claims