Dear Friends,

It’s true…there are some people who are not disciples of Christ, but will nevertheless escape the fires of hell. My dear brothers and sisters: no exceptions are needed to explain this!

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A little bit about Living Stream Ministry

I’m going to try to respectfully challenge a specific teaching from an international Christian organization called Living Stream Ministry. You can find out more about them on their website (www.lsm.org), but I will just say that I think they are true Christians, and that they have a great Bible-study type of gathering called a “home meeting”. I spent a few years at one their affiliated churches and home meetings, and I still visit the home meeting once in a while, even though I moved to a different type of Christian church several years ago.

Although LSM-affiliated believers meet every Sunday at their meeting house, they also have smaller gatherings (called “home meetings”) on Friday nights at the homes of several local believers. The home meeting is a wonderful experience. They read the Bible, they pray, they sing songs, they fellowship, and they share a meal. It’s very warm and intimate, and all ages are represented, which I liked.

Once more unto the sheep

Our passage today is:

[Mat 25:31-40 KJV] 31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth [his] sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed [thee]? or thirsty, and gave [thee] drink? 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took [thee] in? or naked, and clothed [thee]? 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me.

I presented my views on this passage, along with numerous Scripture references, last time (see 2d3a in series outline above), but here is a summary: The sheep are God’s elect children. They include people who were disciples of Christ while they lived on earth, and people who were not. Disciples of Christ or not, what they had in common was a primal desire to love other people. And this primal desire was given to them by God via regeneration. And this primal desire caused them to actually do some good deeds. So, he mentions the good deeds as evidence of who they were….not as evidence that they had done enough good works to earn their way into heaven.

Lastly, the way they became who they were was regeneration. Regeneration made them, in a vital sense, part of God’s family, which is why he tells them to “inherit” the kingdom. This is a family matter.

The LSM view

First, I will try summarize their views with the bullets below:

• The sheep are not Christians
• They are people who treated the Christians well during the tribulation
• They do not get regenerated
• They get restored
• They get to live in peace in the millenial kingdom
• Afterwards, some of them rebel against God and are thrown into the lake of fire
• The rest of them get to live in the new heavens and new earth, but they still do not get regenerated / born again

Next, I will provide all the excerpts that I tried to summarize with the above bullets.

This is an excerpt from the Holy Bible Recovery Version, electronic (Kindle) version 2.0, 2010 Living Stream Ministry. It is the second footnote to Matthew 25:46:

“So that believers left on earth will be cared for during Antichrist’s persecution, an eternal gospel will be preached to the nations (Rev. 14:6-7 and notes), as illustrated by the parable of the net in [Matthew] 13:47-50. The Lord will then judge the nations not according to the law of Moses or the gospel of Christ, but according to the eternal gospel. This is a matter of God’s dispensation. Those who obey that gospel and treat the suffering believers well will be blessed and reckoned as righteous and will inherit the kingdom (v. 34); but those who do not will be cursed (v. 41) and will perish for eternity.”

Witness Lee (a very important figure in the history of Living Stream Ministry) has a lot more to say about the sheep in his book “The Kingdom” (Living Stream Ministry, La Palma, California, 1980, First edition). You can find it online at ministrybooks.org, but I am going to reference the print edition for the following excerpts. I will not be pasting in all of his comments about this group of people, so please follow the link if you want to read the full treatment. To any readers affiliated with LSM, I welcome you to reply in the comments with additional excerpts or arguments which reinforce the excerpts I used, but at the same time, please also let me know your thoughts about my argument as well.

Page 404:

“We must realize that the Gentiles at that time will only be preserved, not regenerated. They will be preserved from being condemned and lost, but they will not be regenerated.”

Page 405:

“The nations who will be considered as sheep at that time will be preserved not by regeneration but by  restoration. Today all the unbelievers on earth are degraded persons, but during the millenium, all the nations will be restored persons. But that does not mean they will be regenerated. As believers we are regenerated. We have received another life into us. Those nations in the restoration will still have the same nature and the same element within them. What we have is not restoration but regeneration. During the millenium, the nations will not be regenerated but restored.”

Page 406:

“All the good ones in Matthew 25, who will be considered the sheep, will not be born again. They will not receive another life, but God will restore their created life to its condition before the fall. God will restore all the degraded creation. Thus, the word regeneration in Matthew 19:28 (KJV) does not mean regeneration in the sense of being reborn. When applied to believers, the word regeneration means to be reborn, but when applied in this verse to the age, it means restitution or restoration.”

Final fate of the sheep, page 407:

“At the end of the millenium, however some of the nations will be induced by Satan to rebel once more against God (Rev 20:7-9). The rebellious ones then will be destroyed by being cast into the lake of fire, and those who did not rebel will be transferred into the new heavens and new earth to be the nations. Revelation 21:24 says that the nations will walk by the light of the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem will be the composition of all the regenerated, saved, and transformed persons. But the nations will be there simply as natural, restored people.”

My response, part 1

Amen! I was thrilled to hear that these good brothers reject the idea that all non-Christians go to hell. I consider said idea thoroughly unbiblical, and also quite horrifying, and that is one of the reasons I decided to expend so much effort blogging about what I think the Bible actually teaches on this topic.

I first heard LSM’s take on Matthew 25 via their radio show, which is funny because at that time I was already attending worship with them. Anyway, I was pleasantly shocked to hear them claim that there are in fact some non-Christians who will not be cast into the lake of fire. They wisely reject the very unbiblical scenario of someone trying to help a persecuted Christian, but still going to hell because that person did not follow Jesus Christ in explicit Christian discipleship.

My response, part 2

I know that careful study of the Bible is very important to the believers involved with LSM.

For those readers who think that I should have just celebrated our common ground, without making any attempt to challenge what I view as unbiblical teaching, I offer this passage about the importance of doctrine:

[1Ti 4:13-16 KJV] 13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to *doctrine*. 14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. 15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the *doctrine*; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

So, here we go:

Objection 1:

First of all, let’s keep in mind that the sheep are also described as “righteous” in Matthew 25:37:

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed [thee]? or thirsty, and gave [thee] drink?

Now, how did they become righteous? It was by the obedience of one:

[Rom 5:19 KJV] 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

(by the way, I checked….same Greek word for “righteous” in both of the above verses)

Is there an alternate path to becoming righteous? LSM seems to think so, in this duplicate excerpt from earlier in this post:

“Those who obey that gospel and treat the suffering believers well will be blessed and reckoned as righteous…”

I am extremely skeptical of any alternate path to righteousness besides the obedience of Jesus Christ. Matthew 25 is NOT saying that the sheep achieved righteousness by obeying any gospel. It simply observes that they are righteous. How they became righteous is a subject addressed in other passages….like Romans 5:19.

Objection 2:

I disagree that any of these sheep are not born again. I say they are born again because of these passages:

[1Jo 2:29 KJV] 29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

[1Jo 4:7 KJV] 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

The sheep did righteousness, and they showed love. So how could they not be born again, in light of the two verses above?

Objection 3:

Which paradigm fits Matthew 25:34 better? Are these sheep part of God’s spiritual family or not?

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

Witness Lee claims that these people are not born again, only restored. But if they have not been born into God’s family, how can they inherit a kingdom?

The very first definition of the word “inherit” in Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary is (1):

“To take by descent from an ancestor”

Wouldn’t it make more sense to conclude that these people have been born again, and so they are part of God’s family, and so they have an inheritance?

I also submit this passage for your consideration…I claim it is teaching that we become heirs, at least in a vital sense, via regeneration, not restoration:

[Tit 3:4-7 KJV] 4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of *regeneration*, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made *heirs* according to the hope of eternal life. 

Objection 4:

Which paradigm fits Matthew 25:46 better?

[Mat 25:46 KJV] 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Are the righteous being admitted to the millenial kingdom, only to be later seduced by Satan and cast into the lake of fire by God?

Or are they entering into a beautiful, wonderful place that they will get to enjoy forever?

Well, the passage says “life eternal”. What do you think that means?

Here’s a duplicate excerpt from above from Witness Lee:

“At the end of the millenium, however some of the nations will be induced by Satan to rebel once more against God (Rev 20:7-9). The rebellious ones then will be destroyed by being cast into the lake of fire”

Surely, you can see my difficulty in reconciling “life eternal” (Matthew 25:46) with the “lake of fire” (Revelation 19 and 20). Witness Lee is claiming that someone can be given life eternal and also end up in the lake of fire. I cannot accept this.

One Way, or another

In our series on John 3:16, we are going through a section (2d) called “John 3:16 cannot mean that God has 4 ways of saving people.” Well, today, in 2d3b, we argued that Matthew 25:31ff cannot mean that either. Matthew 25 is not presenting an alternate escape route from hell; rather, it is explaining that when you are a child of God, it affects how you live, in a very wonderful way. I have said it many times before on this blog: there is NO alternate path to God, Jesus or heaven.

Namely:

Stillborn babies do not need an alternate path.

Mentally handicapped people do not need an alternate path.

Non-Christians who treat persecuted Christians well do not need an alternate path.

Instead of trying to figure out special ways for the above groups of people to go to heaven, I am challenging the commonly taught explanation for how Christians go to heaven. That is the problem with the salvation doctrines taught at many churches. If you get that right, then stillborn babies and those other groups are no problem at all 🙂

Again, Jesus Christ is the only path to heaven. HE and he ALONE is the way. A lifelong, faithful Christian like Watchman Nee is every bit as dependent on the blood of Jesus for his salvation as a non-Christian who shows mercy to a persecuted Christian.

There is ONE path, and it is a path we have NO control over (thank God), and although all Christians are included, there are a lot of non-Christians who are also included:

[1Jo 4:7 KJV] 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and EVERY ONE THAT LOVETH IS BORN OF GOD, and knoweth God.

The sheep are regenerated, beloved, born again children of God. Yes, I agree with LSM that they will not be cast into hell fire. But I reject LSM’s works-based explanation, and I insist on giving God all the glory for their good works, and for the fact that they are righteous.

That is where I stand; I need no exceptions to admit the sheep into heaven’s pure world. In fact, we (God’s people) are all sheep!

Finally:

Matthew 25:31ff and John 3:16 cannot mean that God has four ways of saving people.

God bless you.

Links:

(1) Definition of “inherit”