Page 60 - Prophetic Word Newsletters Archive 2006 by Pastor Randy Shupe

~AUGUST 2006~ 61

THE TWO SOURCES OF

“THE TREE OF LIFE”

THE LIE THE
TRUTH

“NOW YOU SHALL SAY TO THIS PEOPLE,
‘THUS SAYS THE LORD: BEHOLD, I SET
BEFORE YOU THE WAY OF LIFE AND
THE WAY OF DEATH.’”
Jeremiah. 21:8

“SEE, I HAVE SET BEFORE YOU TODAY LIFE AND GOOD, DEATH AND EVIL… I CALL HEAVEN AND EARTH
AS WITNESSES TODAY AGAINST YOU, THAT I HAVE SET BEFORE YOU LIFE AND DEATH,
BLESSING AND CURSING; THEREFORE CHOOSE LIFE…” Deuteronomy 30:15,19

When it comes to placing responsibility solely upon His own people to make life-changing decisions,
God’s Word will bear witness that He is definitely “pro-choice.” He always has been, is presently, and will
remain so in the future, because He testified of Himself in the Old Testament, “I am the Lord, I do not
change” (Mal.3:6), and likewise, in the New Testament, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and
forever. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines.” (Heb. 13:8-9).

When it comes to assuming responsibility for making decisions between “good and evil, life and death,
blessing and cursing,” we better be a people who are not “carried about with various and strange
doctrines” such as the overblown Calvinist view of the sovereignty and predestination of God that divinely
protects saved people from the consequences of their own choices. Neither should we take false security
in the doctrinal blanket of “once saved, always saved,” and “unconditional eternal security.” These are
“various and strange doctrines” that contain principles contrary to what the unchanging God records in
His Word. Adam and Eve had choices set before them even in paradise. The children of Israel had
choices set before them in the wilderness. And as stated above, Jeremiah the prophet is warning God’s
people that they can choose either “the way of life” or “the way of death.” This was not written to
unbelievers but rather to Israel – God’s chosen people. Paul likewise gives warning to the church:

“DO NOT BE DECEIVED, GOD IS NOT MOCKED; FOR WHATEVER A MAN SOWS,
THAT HE WILL ALSO REAP. FOR HE WHO SOWS TO HIS FLESH WILL OF THE FLESH REAP CORRUPTION, BUT HE

WHO SOWS TO THE SPIRIT WILL OF THE SPIRIT REAP EVERLASTING LIFE. AND LET US NOT GROW WEARY
WHILE DOING GOOD, FOR IN DUE SEASON WE SHALL REAP IF WE DO NOT LOSE HEART.” Galatians 6:7-9