On February 23rd I was listening to The Message (Christian Music Radio Station) on Sirius XM, and Katy Nichole was being interviewed by one of The Message’s hosts for her new album “Jesus Changed My Life.” What bothered me is because she and the host had all these things in common, including a song she picked was his wedding song, the host said it was “The Universe made it so, was making the coincidences happen,” and she agreed. The Universe is a term used in Pantheism, it is said instead of God governing you, kinda like saying Mother Nature’s will. I am concerned how this terminology has entered the vernacular of Christians, because The Universe and saying its looking out for you is Pantheism, which is defined as, “If you believe in pantheism, you see God in the whole world around you. Pantheism is a religious belief that includes the entire universe in its idea of God.” And this is what Pantheism is, “the doctrine or belief that God is the universe and its phenomena (taken or conceived of as a whole) or the doctrine that regards the universe as a manifestation of God and pantheism refers to a belief in all gods from all religions, or a tolerance for those beliefs. In Greek, pan means "all" and theos means "god."” (https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/pantheism). God isn’t The Universe, He created the Universe and stands apart from it, like Eddison creating the lightbulb and making light, he also made motion pictures, he was not just one of his creations. In the same way Jesus created everything, including The universe through Him, “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him,” (Colossians 1:16) and “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:17, KJV). But Jesus is not the Universe, it is His creation, just as the planets, animals, and we are His creation.
Christianity is not Pantheism, let me reiterate, “Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universeand the cosmos are identical to divinity and a supreme being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity who is still expanding and creating, which has existed since the beginning of time.” (Pantheism, Wikipedia).
The Lord God Trinity is not the Universe, Cosmos, and His Creation, they were made by Him, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible,” (Hebrews 11:3), “God's Son has all the brightness of God's own glory and is like him in every way. By his own mighty word, he holds the universe together. After the Son had washed away our sins, he sat down at the right side of the glorious God in heaven,” (Hebrews 1:3 CSB), and “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created,” (Revelation 4:11); just as a painting has aspects from us, what we wanted to paint, deep feelings and ideas, but it is not equal to us nor encompasses all of who we are, a painting is just an echo, in same way The Universe is not the same or equal to God and His Divinity, rather the Universe is subordinate to God and will be destroyed by Him to create a new one, “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly,” (2 Peter 3:7), “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away,” (Matthew 24:35), and “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” (2 Peter 3:10). The Heavens here is the cosmos and universe, and so if it is to be destroyed and remade it is not equal to God or God at all, just as the sea came from God’s word (Genesis 1:6-8) but the sea is not God!
Pantheism is sneaky. It latches on to our concepts of everything being held together through Jesus (Colossians 1:17), but then it goes farther making The Universe itself god and equal to Jesus, which is a lie! Yes Jesus holds all creation together by Himself, but He is above it, and rules it and is called King of the Universe, “Therefore David blessed the LORD before all the assembly; and David said: “Blessed are You, LORD God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, And You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great And to give strength to all,” (1 Chronicles 29:10-19). To be reign over something means you have supremacy and dominion over it, just as Scripture confirms Jesus is ruler of all things. God is not The Universe, nor is the Universe equal to God and His Divinity, the Universe is subordinate and a slave of its King.
Be careful of letting creeping things from other religions into your vocabulary, for they can distorts sound doctrine, “they will abandon sound doctrine.” (). The devil needs only an inch to take a mile of your spiritual life, a compromise, and before you know it, you are no longer in orthodoxy (right belief) but in a false gospel, But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8-8), and having been deceived as Eve was, “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it way too easily.” (1 Corinthians 11:2-4). Take care and do not use The Universe made it so, but give glory to God, saying “God must have willed we hade so much in common,” or “The Lord truly works in mysterious ways.” Amen.
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