applause applause @k2,

keep it up sir.

yes sir, man has no free will - we are controlled by the forces of nature - resistance is futile!

@K2

I have said that the Father and Son are not equal, only because Jesus himself implied same on several occasions:
John 14:28
"You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
Also;
‘I only do what I see my father do’.
Can you imagine God saying ' I only do what I see Christ do'!!

Furthermore, Jesus is the only begotten son of God. So tell me, could Jesus exist before God?

Notice also, that (Philippians 2:6) Jesus is called Mighty God, not Almighty God.

And again 1 Cor. 11:3, RS: “I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.”
This was writen by apostle Paul, long after Christ had returned to Heaven, why then is he still stating that the head of Christ id God, if Christ and God are equals?


If you say that Christ and the holy Sprirt are equal, then why does it go thus; God sent Christ and He came to do the will of God, and Christ promised to send the comforter.

These statements clearly imply that one sent the next and so on, which is why we say Christ is the second person , while the holy Spirit is the 3rd.

Now, let us assume that Christ ‘turned off’ his God attributes while here as a man. Since, the much that we know of Christ was the brief period here as a man, and furthermore, since the question posed by Ugonna was relating to Christ’s foreknowledge during the event in the garden of Gethsemane, then may I suggest that Christ was not omniscient whilst here on earth. In heaven, things may be very different.

Then again, since the saints in heaven are no longer dying or bound by time, then perhaps we all may be omniscient in the afterlife!!!!!

Hmmmm,this is getting very interesting.

Its really getting very very interesting indeed. i kind of like Grouppoint's good knowledge of the scriptures. Its nice and encouraging. Keep it up brother


KDK, why have u not replied my mail, check ur box, (offline)

grouppoint, if u say that Jesus Christ did not have foreknowledge as a man, why then in john 11 Vs 11, he told his disciples that our friend Lazarus is asleep, but i will go and wake him up.

The scripture here tells us that Jesus already knew that Lazarus was dead. Right? Infact, he knew he was going to die and that was why he stayed back for 2 days b4 he finally decided to go back to Judea after Lazarus's death. In vs 4, he said the illness was to bring glory to God, and to the Son,

Another case is in John 21 vs 18-19, Jesus there told Simon Peter, the way and manner he was going to die, Right. (And i believe that he actually died the way it was destined for him).

In a way, if u look at from my own point of view, i dont think that man has free will. Abinitio, i was of that opinion that man has free will, but from this discussions, i am begining to look at it in another perspective. Lets take the case of Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, it was already predestined that someone was going to do that to fulfil the scriptures, unfortunately it happened to be judas, and to prove that he was compelled by an unknown force, he was bitter after the whole thing and he returned the money and hung hmself. This clearly states that whatever we do in this life has already been predestined, whether we like it or not. A propelling force will compel one to do that thing that already has been destined for him to do, whether he likes it or not.

And talking about equality or non eqaulity of the three persons in trinity, grouppoint remember that Christ himself said that- I AND THE FATHER ARE ONE

(i still stand to be corrected if in anyway i have deviated from the truth)

Could you guys please drop the issue of the trinity and concentrate on the subject matter.   

Grouppoint:

<snip>

Christ was not omniscient whilst here on earth.

- Jesus knew who was going to betray him.

- Jesus knew he was going to be crucified.

- Jesus always knew what people were thinking in their minds towards his actions, even without them saying a word.

- Jesus knew what would transpire between the donkey owner and his disciples, when he sent them to go collect the donkey for his Triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

- Jesus was omniscient, even as a man!

He is.

@goodguy

Omniscience means knowing all things. Not many things.

Hence if Jesus knew the things which you described above, but goes further to confirm that He did not know the hour or day of His return, then Jesus Himself has confirmed that He was not Omniscient.

Jesus was on earth as a man, but not as an ordinary man. The things you described above can be known by spirit filled individuals (yourself for example) This does not quiet make us omniscient.

@Ugonna

Thanks for your compliments. It is God who grants all wisdom. (James 1:5)

Regarding your last post, I have stated that Christ did not have foreknowledge of certain events, simply because Christ Himself said so.(Would Jesus Lie?)

Regarding the case of Lazarus, even pastors and other people in tune with their inner spirit man, can tell you certain things that portray foreknowledge (prophets do have some foreknowledge, or dont they?)

Now concerning Judas Iscariot, even though it was predistinated that one man shall betray Christ, it was still out of freewill that Judas made the choice.
(Though Christ knew this all the time)

Ugonna, Now think about all the temptations that you undoubtedly come across each day. Imagine that you succumb to each one of them, and each time claiming that like Judas, 'a force compelled me', But I believe that you have, on many occasions applied your freewill and made the right decisions.

However, all this time God knew that you, Ugonna, was always going to make Him proud.

This is an example of how freewill and Omniscience can exist together.

Would i be right if i cite the incidence that occured with Job as an example, regarding your last post of omniscience and freewill co exiisting?
because in job 1:11-12, God allowed the devil test Job, cos the devil assured God that Job would curse him if all the blessings were taken away from him, and despite the pressure from his wife to curse God, but he refused. meaning that God knew he was not going to curse him, and despite the pressures from his wife, he still out of his own free will refused to curse God.

This Omniscience and free-will is beginning to get very interesting.

Lets take the case of King Hezekiah, God had already destined that he was going to die from his illness, He even sent the prophet Isaiah to tell him of the intended death, but out of the king's desire to live, he turned his face to the wall and cried unto God, before God changed his mind and added more yrs to his life.

This indeed is very interesting, i am begining to learn a lot.

Grouppoint:

However, all this time God knew that you, Ugonna, was always going to make Him proud.

This is an example of how freewill and Omniscience can exist together.

If she is going to make the wrong choice, God already knows.  Why then doesn't he stop her from making such choice, knowing fully well what harm it will do to her?  If you're going to tell me God does not interfere with our decisions (even when it's a bad one), then you wouldn't be portraying Him as a good God.  Imagine a father deciding not to interfere with his child's decision to go play with a lion, all in the name of "freewill".

I just thot of somethings now and i am of the view that maybe Omniscience of God and free will of man does exist. But i think it exist in a parallel form and no matter how hard u try, they can never meet. That's my conclusion, but i will sit back and read other people's opinion.

Ugonna,
Don't you dare think of running away. So now you agree with me that they can never converge after all these while. So tell me, what school do you belong? OMNISCIENCE OF GOD or man's free will?

@Goodguy
Yes If she is going to make the wrong choice, God already knows.

However, God will not stop her from using her freewill. He may place things and people in her life to show her the way. But ultimately, the decision is still hers.

Let us not forget that God has already portrayed the ultimate goodness, by dying on the cross. Hence, each time she is making the wrong choice, she is the one refusing to accept that goodness of God,
By accepting Jesus as our salvation, we are accepting to make the right choice at all times, no matter how hard it is, afterall that's what Christ did in the wilderness, at the garden, on the cross,

@KDK, i thot i made myself clear. i believe in the two but my problem is that no matter how grouppoint tries to knit them together, they seem to grow far and far apart. They are two mysteries that seems to exist but this time around in a parallel form, which means they can never meet.
I aint running away like u said, but i will just sit back and enjoy the forum. You wont believe that i have turned in a Bible knowledge student all of a sudden because of this thread.

But how come, u KDK have stopped contributing, its only grouppoint and goodguy that seems to be contributing so far.

@ Uggonna,
Contrary to what you think,I have been observing what all of you have been writing. I knew it will come to a time that some of you guys will argue urself out of point and become confused/ more enlightened as the case may be. You have decided to just do what I have been doing since;lay back and observe hence learning from the different wealth of knowledge being shared here.
But my dear, I am most happy that God has used this to make ur bible study life deeper. I am happy because you are searching and digging out the truths with the purpose of learning or as the case may be, supporting your argument and to this I say all glory to God.
God bless you.

Grouppoint:

However, God will not stop her from using her freewill.

Even if that freewill will cause harm to her?

goodguy:

Even if that freewill will cause harm to her?

Has God not given the earth to man to tend, have dominion and multiply?
Most of the destruction on the earth has been caused by man excercising his freewill, and it seems there is worse to come,
Yes even if the excercise of freewill will cause harm to man, God has left a blueprint for man to follow,in order to avoid this potential harm.

However, it is within man's free will to utilise this blueprint.

My advise is that anyone who is interested in knowing the answers to the questions posed by the originator should patiently read the article below.

The Myth of Free-Will Exposed  

There was a time when I too was hoodwinked into believing that man has a "free will." I believed free will to be man’s ability to make choices, change his mind, learn from experiences, etc. And since it is a fact that man can indeed do these things, it seemed evident to me that man has free will. But then I learned that these are not the definition of free will at all.

Free will does not actually and literally mean that one can make choices, create, change his mind, or reformulate ideas and data, etc., but that those choices and thought processes must themselves be free thoughts and free choices. "Free will" is only true if our choices are also free. But free from what? Why, free from being forced upon us against our will, or free from being caused by anyone or anything except our OWN will. And so, yes, man can think, process data, make choices, change his choices, etc. But none of these activities are free from internal or external CAUSES.

That man has a will, there is no debate. It is the teaching that man himself determines his own will, FREELY, without anything causing his will or his choices to be what they are. The idea of free will or free moral agency is that man can by himself unaided by anything else, originate his own choices of his will.

But does man actually possess such a power? And if he does, where is the proof? Now for all who have no confidence in the Scriptures, let me say that there is absolutely no scientific proof that man has a "free will" or the ability to make "uncaused choices." If such a freedom of the will existed, it should be possible to demonstrate it. But there is no such scientific demonstration that man can formulate thoughts and actions to which absolutely no cause whatsoever can be attributed.

And for all who do have confidence in the Scriptures, let me say equally dogmatically that there is absolutely no Scriptural proof for man having a "free will" or the ability to make "uncaused choices." In every case Scripture shows that it is God Who is behind the scene of all circumstances that influence and cause a man to make the one and only choice possible under any given circumstance. This law of "cause and effect" is stated and demonstrated time and again in Scripture. Ignorance of these behind the scenes causes does not disprove the fact that they are the actual and literal cause of our choices

There are laws of science that men do not wish to carry over into his private and spiritual life. Why? Well, because he doesn’t like the ramifications of these laws. He does not want to admit that he is bound and controlled by laws. He wants to be "free"—free to be his own god, free to determine his own destiny, free to override the rule and dominance of God, free to rebel or free to obey, but freedom of the will at all cost.

I will admit that it is a real shock when we first come to understand that of ourselves we cannot make one "free" choice to do good. Something must cause that choice, but the carnal mind hates to be "caused" to do anything. "God gave all men free will," he shouts. God gave man no such thing. Free will is a phantom illusion that has deceived the whole world.

But how could most of the population of the entire world for the whole history of the world believe something as fundamental as "free will," if such a thing does not even exist? Well, that’s a fair question, and before I get into dozens and dozens of specific proofs that free will does not exist, let me just show you two very broad and Scriptural statements that would certainly be indicators that maybe what is popularly believed and taught is generally not true:

Enter ye in at the strait [narrow] gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait [narrow] is the gate, and narrow [cramped or difficult] is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it [Gk: ‘are finding it’]" (Matt. 7:13-14).
 
"Where is the wise? Where is the Scribe? Where is the disputer [debater] of this world? Has not God made foolish [Gk: ‘stupid’] the wisdom of this world?" (I Cor. 1:20).
Notice that it is not the "foolishness" of this world that God says is stupid, but rather it is the "wisdom" of this world that is stupidity to God! And one of the most profound philosophical and theological pieces of wisdom that is universally agreed upon in this world is the belief that man possesses free will or free moral agency. Virtually everyone in all ages have believed this teaching of free will, and yet not one of them has ever seen it proved either Scientifically or Scripturally.

WHY ALL THE FUSS OVER FREE WILL?

Why does it matter one way or the other whether man possesses free will or not? Would the future of the human race be changed somehow if man did or did not possess free will? Here’s how much it matters: If the basic free will doctrine and the eternal torture in hell doctrine taught by Christendom are both true, then man himself, and not God, is ultimately responsible for where he will spend eternity.

If man possessed a will that is free from internal or external causality, then it would be possible for all humanity to decide to choose God and be saved. Or all humanity could decide to not choose God and all would be lost. Or part of humanity could choose one way and part the other. It is the latter that is believed and taught by Christendom.

I receive emails on a regular basis stating that: "God doesn’t send anyone to hell. Man himself chooses to go to hell." Oh really? And do we have a chapter and verse on such heresy? I think not.

Statistically speaking, there has been relatively few of the world’s population that have ever heard of the name of Jesus Christ (which name is admittedly the only name under heaven by which men "must be saved," Acts 4:12). So what happens to all of the billions upon billions upon billions of boys and girls, men and women, who have never heard the name of Jesus? Let Dr. James Kennedy (probably the greatest Christian theologian alive on earth today—sporting six doctorates) answer this question for us:

"It is the light of Christ. It is the light of grace, and it is not incumbent upon God to extend it to everyone. Let us make it very clear that it is not incumbent upon God to extend it to anyone."

"But because God extends it to some does not mean He must extend it to any other. He must be just. He doesn’t have to be gracious or merciful to any guilty sinner…."

"So the idea that God owes to anyone some offer of mercy is totally foreign from [to] the Bible."

(Above quotations taken from a printed brochure of the sermon What About Those Who Have Never Heard? By D. James Kennedy. A.B., M.Div., M.Th., D.D., D.Sac.Lit., Ph.D., Litt. D., D.Sac. Theol., D.Humane Let. From the pulpit of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida).

Is this the way that God would have Christians believe that He cares and provides for billions upon billions of His creatures? By burning their flesh in some terrorist torture chamber for all eternity? For absolutely no redeeming reason or purpose? Dr. Kennedy says: "Hell is fair." Now I don’t mean to be unkind to Dr. Kennedy, but such sermons as this desperately need exposing. Millions are being deceived by such unscriptural nonsense and evil.

Let’s have a little sensibility in this matter: Even if man had a free will, in what possible way would he be free to choose Christ and choose heaven, should he be one of the billions of unfortunate people who has never heard of Jesus or heaven? But we are told that he does choose hell even if he never heard of heaven or hell, and doesn’t even know that there is a choice to be made in the first place. And so, the idea of a free will would be of no value to the salvation of the majority of humanity even if they did possess such a God-defying power.

DOES MAN REALLY CHOOSE TO GO TO HELL?

Maybe we should examine for a moment this idea of Christendom that man "chooses to go to hell."

Just how does man choose to go to hell, anyway? First a definition:

"choose v 1. To select from a number of possible alternatives" (The American Heritage College Dictionary).

How does one "select from a number of possible alternatives" unless he is presented with a number of possible alternatives? But then again, world famous preacher, John Hagee says, "You send yourself to Hell for rejecting the gospel of Jesus Christ." How one actually rejects something that they have never heard of, however, presents its own set of problems.

My dictionary tells me that the word "reject" means: "To refuse to accept, submit to, believe, or make use of." Can anyone give me an intelligent explanation as to just how one would do all of those things with regard to something they have never ever even heard of?

Is there a place and time in every man’s life when he is presented with, and given an opportunity to select from either a place called heaven or a place called hell, where he will voluntarily live for all eternity? Such a proposition is absurd. People have lived and died by the billions not having heard of Jesus and Heaven or Satan and Hell.

In this life, most of humanity has had no firsthand knowledge of a place of eternal torture called hell. Neither have they had any firsthand knowledge of a place of eternal bliss called heaven. If you try to pin down a theologian on just how this choosing of heaven and hell actually occurs, their arguments become extremely fussy and unscriptural. No one can make an intelligent choice of anything without proper information on alternatives to be chosen. How many of my readers have actually thought more than a few minutes on any of these grand teachings of Christendom?

THE MAN OF SIN IS A BEAST WHO THINKS HE IS A GOD

Last Installment we learned that "the man of sin," spoken of by Paul in I Thes. 2, resides not in a physical temple of stone and mortar in Jerusalem, but inside of each and every one of us. This man of sin sits in "the temple of God whose temple ye are." And we learned that God calls this man of sin, "a beast".

What possible power does man believe that he possesses which causes him to

"…oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God [‘as a god’] sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God [‘is a god’]" (II Thes. 2:4)?

As long as this phantom god rules one’s heart, Jesus may only be "with us," but not really "IN us." For Jesus our King to sit in the heart of our temple, the man of sin must be put out, seeing that, "no man can serve two masters," and "what fellowship has light with darkness?"

EVEN THE DISCIPLES DID NOT RECOGNIZE THE BEAST WITHIN

Before the true spiritual conversion of Christ’s disciples, we read this:

"And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him: but ye know Him; for He dwells WITH you, and shall [at a future date when they are converted] be IN you" (John 14:16-17).

After years of following Jesus daily the apostles were not as yet converted. In the evening of the last Passover Jesus tells Peter:

"And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; But I have prayed for you, that your faith fall not: and when you are converted, strengthen your brethren" (Luke 22:31-32).

Yes indeed, "…when you are converted…." And just when might that be?

Up until the very last day with their Lord, the apostles all believed that they possessed the power of free will, which could enable them to choose their own destiny, and that they could and would have the strength of self determinism and free will to maintain that course. But Jesus told His disciples that they would all forsake Him. In other words, Jesus was foretelling of events that would cause (even ‘force,’ if you will) them to change their wills, against their previously stated wills. They of course, all denied that Jesus knew what He was talking about.

"And Jesus said unto them, all ye shall be offended because of Me this night; for it is written, I shall smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered" (Mark 14:27 & Zech. 13:7).

The disciples all said that they would remain loyal. But Jesus said that they would all be offended because of Him. Was there a reason for God causing the disciples to will loyalty to Jesus and then in the same night to will to deny Jesus? Does God do anything in vain without a reason? This was all part of their conversion process. God totally humiliated them by proving to them that their own will was not free to do what they wanted, but that

"…it is God [not man] which works in you BOTH TO WILL [God causes us ‘to will’] and TO DO [God causes us ‘to do’] of His good pleasure" to bring about His intentions (Phil. 2:13).

In just one night God smashed the presumed free will of all the disciples. They lost confidence in their flesh after that night. James later shows us just how well he learned this lesson of so-called free self determinism:

"Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, which appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. For that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that" (James 4:13-15).

Free will? Where?

James certainly agrees with Scripture and Science that man has the ability "to will." But he also fully recognizes that there are two things that constantly oppose and change the will of man, so that it cannot be said that the will is free to will its own destiny for even a day or an hour.

What are these two factors over which man has absolutely no control whatsoever?

1. Factor number one--CIRCUMSTANCES: What did the Holy Spirit of God inspire (cause?) James to explain as a major factor in what determines the true outcome of man’s will? Answer: "Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow."

God changes the minds and wills of mankind around the world, a billion times a minute, through circumstances that "you know not" are actually the cause of your choices and your changed choices. We are often if not most of the time completely unaware of what actually caused us to do or say or think as we do.

How did all the disciples will to remain loyal to Jesus no matter what, at one moment in time, and in the next moment in time, they all changed their will to forsake Him? What changed their wills? Circumstances. One moment they were at ease and safe in the upper room, and at a later moment they were in the garden surrounded by Roman Soldiers! Fear was the circumstance that caused their (un-free) wills to change.

So it was the presence of certain circumstances that caused the disciples to will as they did. But what caused the circumstances to be as they were to ensure that they would will appropriately to fulfill Christ’s prophecy concerning their denying and forsaking Him?

2. Factor number two—GOD’S WILL: Notice the second thing that the Holy Spirit inspired James to write regarding what will or will not happen on any given day to any given person. "…if the Lord will…"

Who was in charge of all these circumstances, which caused the disciples to change their wills? Why God, of course. They did not want to change their wills. They did not desire to deny their Lord and Saviour. They did not wish to make liars and fools of themselves. They did not want to be shown that they were all cowards. Well then, why did they change their wills if they did not wish to change their wills? Were they free to not change their wills? No, they were not free.

The fear inside of them caused and made (and yes, FORCED, if you will) them to change their will. And Jesus Himself told them that they would change their wills, so how pray tell could it have been otherwise? Yet I suppose that some are so spiritually stubborn that they will still insist that the apostles did not need to change their wills, that their wills were yet free to stay loyal in the face of these fearful circumstances.

When we argue with God like this, we demean Him. God has a plan, and God brings about His plan. God is not stupid. God knows exactly how to cause man (all mankind) to do exactly as He plans for them to do.

DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN GOD’S STATED WILL AND HIS PLAN OR INTENTIONS

Few students of the Scriptures have learned the truth regarding God’s stated WILL and His PLAN or INTENTIONS. They are clearly not one and the same. They operate completely differently for different purposes.

First we should understand that God’s will is used both as a noun and a verb. As a noun, God’s will is virtually synonymous with His GOAL. It is usually not too hard to tell in Scripture whether the word "will" is used as a noun or a verb. In the Scripture we just used to show that things only happen "if God will," it is used as a verb. And whenever God uses His will as a verb, then it absolutely will be fulfilled and carried out at the time and place that He wills it.

If, however, God is speaking of His will as a noun, meaning His ultimate goal, then it does not immediately come about in totality at the place and time that He states it. A perfect example of God’s will as a noun and it not coming to total fruition at the place and time stated, is in what is popularly called "The Lord’s Prayer."

"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heave" (Matt. 6:9-10).

I don’t think too many would argue that God’s kingdom and His will has not totally come to this earth as it is in heaven. This is a goal—it will happen, just not at this time. And so man’s will is almost always at variance with God’s stated will as His ultimate goal for the human race. But God’s day-to-day willing of events to carrying out His plan is never ever contradicted or thwarted by puny man. Paul understood this principle perfectly.

DID PHARAOH HAVE FREE WILL?

We will now look at some of the most profound and yet most misunderstood and not believed Scriptures in the entire Bible.

"For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" (Rom. 9:15).

Just who is in control in this statement, puny man or God? Man’s will is not free to contradict what God says He WILL DO.

"So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but OF GOD that shows mercy" (Ver. 16).

What puny man "wills" has absolutely nothing to do with what God WILL DO.

"For the Scripture says unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might show My powers in you, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore has He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardens" (Vers. 17-18).

Pharaoh did not harden his own heart—God said that He hardened it.

Remember I said that God has a stated will as a goal and an active will in the plan or process of obtaining His stated will? Right here we can see this principle in action:

God states His will:

"Then the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go…" (Ex. 9:1).

There is God’s stated will—He wants Pharaoh to "Let my people go…" But does God expect or even want His "will be done on earth" at the time that He declares it? Obviously not. In fact, it is God Himself, Who prevents Pharaoh from doing God’s stated will of letting His people go. Notice it:
 
"And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had spoken unto Moses" (Ver. 12).
Most Christians just plain refuse to believe these very simple Scriptures. Yet the ramifications of these Scriptural truths are enormous. Notice what God did with Pharaoh:

First God tells Moses to tell Pharaoh to "to let My people go." And Pharaoh would have let the Hebrews go. Sure he would, had not God Himself intervened. Why would Pharaoh let them go? Because Pharaoh’s heart was both soft and weak. A soft and weak heart was no match for God. Pharaoh would have caved in and let His people go. But God did not want Pharaoh to let His people go. He asked Pharaoh to let His people go, but He didn’t want Pharaoh to let them go this easily.

Next God has to do something in order to prevent Pharaoh from letting His people go. God actually wants Pharaoh to go against His stated will. God’s stated will is "let My people go," but God doesn’t want Pharaoh to do God’s stated will at this time. He wants Pharaoh to resist God.

God has not changed, God still wants mankind to resist Him. But Pharaoh (just like the rest of humanity) is too weak and soft to resist God. So what does God do? Two things:

"And I will harden [Heb: qashah—to make hard] Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay My hand upon Egypt, and bring forth Mine armies, and My people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth Mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them"

After God hardens Pharaoh’s heart [makes it harder than it was], and Pharaoh resists God’s will and refuses to let the Hebrews go, God then puts greater and greater plagues upon Egypt until even hard-hearted Pharaoh gives in and lets the people go. But notice what God does after this.

"For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in. And I will harden [Heb: chazaq—to make strong and courageous] Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so" (Ex. 14:3-4).
Pharaoh was naturally too soft of heart to resist letting the Hebrews go, and so God hardened his soft heart so that he would resist and would not let the people go until God first made a great display of His strength to the Egyptians. And after Pharaoh did let the people go, God wanted Pharaoh to try and follow after them and kill them. But this time we find that Pharaoh’s heart was too weak. And so again, God strengthens and gives courage to Pharaoh’s weak heart, and Pharaoh charges after Israel only to be totally defeated by God in the Red Sea.

Well, there it is. How hard is that to understand? But who will believe it? From Pharaoh’s birth until his death, God had a purpose for Pharaoh’s life, and God controlled every aspect of it. Pharaoh had not "free will" in any of these events. God changes not; He operates the same way in everyone’s life. You will either be a vessel of honor or a vessel of dishonor, and it is ALL UP TO GOD!

WHO HAS RESISTED GOD’S WILL?

So God has mercy upon whom He will have mercy and whom He wills, He hardens. But when I tell people that this is how God operates, they find fault with it. They say that isn’t fair. They say we are mere puppets if this is the way God operates. How can God blame and punish people for doing what God Himself caused them to do in the first place? The Apostle Paul got the same carnal-minded criticisms of God’s plan:

"You will say then unto me, Why does He [God] yet find fault? For who has resisted His will [Greek: boulema—‘resolve, purpose, a deliberate intention’]?" (Rom. 9:19).
[b]This is an amazing Scripture. This Scripture shows the difference in attitude between those who understand God’s plan and will and those who do not.[/[/b]color]After explaining to the Romans that God raised Pharaoh up for a specific purpose in God’s plan, Paul foresees the attitudes of his listeners. They will reason that if God is the One behind our actions, and we are totally incapable of doing other than what He determines we will do, then WHY DOES HE FIND FAULT WITH US WHEN WE SIN?

First it is most important that we look at and understand the word translated "will" in Rom. 9:19. It is not the usually Greek word, which is translated "will" hundreds of times in the New Testament. This Greek word boulema is used but twice in the Bible, here in Rom. 9:19 and in Acts 27:43 where it is translated "purpose."

So the question that Paul is setting up is not "…who has resisted His will?" but rather, "who has resisted His purpose [His plan, His intention]?"

To the question, "…who has resisted His will?" the answer is: EVERYONE! But when properly translated, to the question, "who has resisted His purpose?" the answer is: ABSOLUTELY NO ONE!

God has a will and God has a plan and purpose to reach that will. And no small part of reaching His desired will is to set men against His will, just as He did with Pharaoh. But no one has ever hindered God’s plan and purpose in reaching that goal and stated will. God’s will, will be done in His time.

So back to Paul’s questioners: If God causes us to do what we do, and no one ever has or ever can go against or resist that purpose of God, why does He blame us when we sin? And again, I will let Paul answer, since the question was directed to him. But you know what? Paul does not even deign to answer their question. That’s right, Paul proposes the question and then does not directly answer it. He considers the very question itself too demeaning, if not blasphemous to answer. Instead He says this:

"Nay but, O man, WHO ARE YOU that replies against God? Shall the thing formed [that’s us] say to Him that formed it, [that’s GOD] Why have You made me thus? Has not the Potter [GOD] power over the clay [man], of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" (Rom. 9:20-21).

GOD IS THE POTTER AND WE ARE THE POT

Could anything be plainer? God, the Potter, does not owe an explanation to the pot as to why He made the pot the way He desired! And God desires to make some pots honorable and some pots dishonorable. Why? Because He is a mean and nasty God? No, because He has a plan, a purpose, intentions, to save all humanity in the end. That IS THE "WILL" OF GOD. And if you will continue reading chapters 10 and 11 of Romans, you will plainly see that those who are lost along the way in God’s plan will all be saved in the end.

What is the conclusion of the whole matter—and I mean THE WHOLE MATTER? How good of a Potter is God? Will He have to destroy most of His pots for all eternity? If God is the Potter and we are the pot, how can the pot be responsible for ANYTHING?

This is God’s analogy, not mine. Seriously, can a pot be responsible for anything?

GOD WILL SAVE ALL OF HIS "POTS"

Not only will "ALL Israel be saved" after God brings them back from the dead, but also all of the Gentiles as well will be saved. Let’s read it together and believe:

"For God has concluded them all [both the Israelites and the Gentiles—see verses 25-31] in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon ALL. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God? How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Or who has first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen" (Rom. 11:32-36).

And so God knew exactly what was needed to make all of the disciples change their wills, just as He knew with Pharaoh. God said that they would change their wills and forsake Jesus, and God was not about to be made a liar. Peter did not even know what it was that caused him to deny Christ until the "cock crew."

In our above example with the disciples, not only did they change their emphatically stated will, but, they did so against their stated will. Even when they willed to change their will, they did so against their original desired will. Peter did not want to deny Christ. But he was made to deny Christ by the mere fact that the alternative (fear) was greater than his desire to remain loyal. And so, how was he "free" to remain loyal? He wasn’t.

Peter was no more "free" to not deny Jesus any more than he was "free" to be loyal in his original choice. Both choices were caused, and once something is caused to happen, it could never had been otherwise. Once the cause is set in motion, the effect must follow. This is true Science and this is the truth of Scripture.

Clearly God brought about circumstances that caused, made, forced, Peter to do what he didn’t want to do. How then, can such a forced will, be free? Peter did will to deny Jesus, but he was clearly caused to do so. This is an example of how God causes men to change their will even when it is against their initial will to do so. How much easier and unrecognizable are the millions of choices we make in which we very willingly make the decisions we do, because they often appear to be pleasant, profitable, and desirable choices?

GOD NEVER CHANGES

But doesn’t God change the way He operates from time to time with regards to man’s will? Let God’s Word answer:

"And as a vesture shall Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but THOU ART THE SAME…" (Heb. 1:12).

"For I am the Lord, I CHANGE NOT…" (Mal. 3:6).

"Jesus Christ the SAME yesterday, and today, and for ever" (Heb. 13:.

Now, had God supernaturally strengthened Peter’s resolve to remain loyal despite the tremendous fear to give in, he would have remained loyal, because the greater power will always be dominant. And since God is ALL mighty and ALL-powerful He can ALWAYS dominate.

One does not need to be a rocket scientist to see what God did in this situation and all such situations in the history of the human race. First, Jesus told His disciples what they would do. Then God brought about the circumstances by which they would have to do what He said they would do. Where is the "free will" argument against these facts? Now then, just how many dozens and dozens of times do the Scriptures tell us that this is exactly how God always works? Many. We will go through some of them.

[color=#000099]FOREKNOWLEDGE CONTRADICTS FREE WILL

This example of the disciples forsaking Jesus is so important to this study that we are going to stay with it a little longer. Can we believe that Jesus could have told His disciples the following:

"And Jesus said unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night, but then again, maybe not all of you will be offended, seeing that all of you have a free will to will against My pronouncement…."

Or maybe this to Peter:

"And Jesus said unto him [Peter] Verily I say unto you, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shall deny me thrice, but then again, maybe you won’t deny Me three times, seeing that you have a free will that does not need to deny Me even once. It doesn’t depend on what I say, or circumstances brought about by My Father, or what God declares, but rather on your own free will."

Sounds a little silly when we look at it logically doesn’t it? Yet this IS the contention of those who believe in "free will." Maybe Peter will, but then again maybe Peter won’t, NOT EVEN GOD KNOWS FOR SURE. Almost sounds like blasphemy, doesn’t it? It is blasphemy.

To argue that when God prophesies, states, and intends that someone do a particular thing, that the person is still at liberty because of his supposed free will, to not do what God has said, is absurdity on the highest level. Yet this IS what the theory of free will demands.

The fact that God has a foreknowledge of everything proves that free will is an impossibility, as true free will could alter the future and therefore God could not have an absolute and true knowledge of the future. It is idiocy to state that man has a free will that is not made or caused to do as it does, and yet state that God knows in advance the only possible choice that a person must make.

How can one believe that if God states that a person will make choice A, that he is nonetheless still at liberty to make choice B? Let me restate that: Can God say that you WILL make choice A, but you can make choice B?
Can God say that such and such, WILL happen but that it doesn’t need to happen? The disciples WILL forsake and deny Christ, but they have a free choice NOT to forsake and deny Him? God knows in advance that something WILL be a certain way, and yet it doesn’t have to be that way? Am I going too fast for anyone?

Not only does the theory of free will demand that man be able to think uncaused thoughts and performed uncaused tasks, but that he can in fact, do these uncaused things contrary to and in opposition to God’s preordained stated plan and purpose. He must be blind indeed, who cannot or will not see that such a haughty presumption lifts such an one’s ego to that of a veritable "god’ in his own heart and mind.

GOD USES OUR STUPID WISDOM TO SHOW US OUR FOLLY

Before conversion Peter thought he possessed free will:

"Peter answered and said unto Him, Though all men shall be offended because of you, YET WILL I NEVER BE OFFENDED" (Matt. 26:33).

Famous last words.

Jesus responded that Peter had no more freedom of the will to stick by such a statement than a donkey:

"Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, YOU SHALL DENY ME thrice" (Ver. 34).

Peter again responds from the pinnacle of his presumed free will and CORRECTS Jesus to His face:

"Peter said unto Him, Though I should DIE WITH THEE, YET WILL I NOT DENY THEE. Likewise also said ALL THE DISCIPLES" (Ver. 35).

And the rest is history. When Peter was confronted the third time we read this:

"Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I KNOW NOT THE MAN. And immediately the cock crew… And he went out, and wept bitterly" (Matt. 26:74 & 75b). Free will? Where? Give it up.

What about all of the other disciples who also thought they possessed this power of free will and self-determinism?

"But all this was done, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then ALL THE DISCIPLES FORSOOK HIM, AND FLED" (Matt. 26:56).

Free will? FREE will? FREE WILL? Where? If you still believe man has a will that is "free" from external and internal causes, beyond his control, then your arguments are not with me, but with God’s Word.

THE WISDOM OF THIS WORLD

The inhabitants of the whole world believe that they possess a wonderful gift from God called variously: "free will," "free choice," and "free moral agency." Even atheists believe that this marvel is a real and actual power evolved from primordial soup in some ancient sea slime. It is believed and taught that it is this agency of "free will" that enables a person to choose good over evil and even choose his own eternal destiny, independent of any one, any cause, or even God Himself. For if anything… ANYTHING should ever cause, hinder, persuade or restrict one’s supposed free will in any way, it would cease at that moment to be "free."

And so it is repeatedly stated that under no circumstances would God ever interfere with, cause, or force anyone to think or do anything against his sacred and God-given, free will. Of course we just saw a marvelous example in Scripture where men do change their wills against their wills, thus proving that neither their initial nor subsequent will was "free" at all.

I will show that free will is indeed an "idol of the heart" which needs to be repented of. And of all man’s sacred cows, free will is the most sacred of all. It is undoubtedly the most difficult doctrine in man’s walk with God to acknowledge and give up. And though neither science nor Holy Scripture know anything of a power called "free will," most will continue to defend it even in the light of a mountain of Scriptural proof that contradicts it at every turn.

To even question the existence of such a universally accepted sacred cow that has been lauded by theologians and philosophers since Eden, is to open oneself to criticism of being either a slowpoke or an heretic. It is rather this theory of free will itself that is moronic and heretical. Yea, it is rather idiotic and evil. God Himself calls the notion of independent free choice, evil. There is a plethora of simple-to-understand teachings in the Scriptures that utterly contradicts the fantasy of man’s supposed "free will."

That man does indeed possess a "will" there is no doubt in either Science or the Scriptures. That such a will is "free," and brings about its own existence, however, is neither demonstrable by Science or Scripture. Contrariwise, both Science and Scripture teach against such an untenable phenomenon.

Remember that God says,

"For the wisdom [the ‘wisdom’ mind you, not the ‘foolishness’]…the wisdom of this world is foolishness [Gk: ‘stupidity’] with God. For it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness" (I Cor. 3:19).

"Free Will" DEFINED

The American Heritage College Dictionary:

"free will n. 1. The ability or discretion to choose; free choice. 2. The power of making free choices that are unconstrained by external circumstances or by an agency such as fate or divine will."

My Meriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary/Eleventh Edition has an even more precise definition:

"free will n. freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention."

It is useless to have a study on this term "free will" unless we stick to a strict, concise and precise definition of the term. As can be seen from our dictionaries, "free will" does not have for a concise or precise definition the ability to "make choices." Yet this is the way it is often defined.

Notice that our dictionaries are specific in stating that it is "FREE choice" that is the definition of "free will," rather than just "choice" alone. To be an expression of "free will," choices must also be free. Free from what? We just read it:

Free from "PRIOR CAUSES."

Free from "CONSTRAINT."

Free from "EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES."

Free from "FATE."

Free from "DIVINE WILL."

Free from "DIVINE INTERVENTION."

Those who would argue for free will, however, refuse being held to these precise and concise definitions. They want the mere ability to "make a choice" to be considered an act of "free will." Well it is nothing of the kind. Making a choice has absolutely nothing to do with the doctrine of "free will." This is easily demonstrated. Computers make "choices." They can make trillions of choices per second. It would take a trillion people to make that many choices in a second. All that these marvelous machines do is make choices.

Now then, will anyone contend that computers have unprogrammed and uncaused, free wills? So now we have proof that making choices is not the same as "free will."

We are not speaking of "Hal" in the Hollywood science fiction fantasy: "2001—A Space Odyssey." Computers do not have "free wills," yet THEY CAN MAKE CHOICES, but those choices are anything but free. Their choices are all a matter of PRE-programming. They cannot think and act independently of "causes." Neither can man think or do anything outside of the realm of "causes." In order for an effect to be present, there must first be a cause, and once something is caused, the effect must follow, and neither could have been prevented.

There is not one example that can be presented by scientific a method, that can demonstrate that man’s will is free from causality. Neither is there an example in all Scripture that can be shown to be the exercise of a will that is free from causality. And that certainly includes all that our Lord Himself ever thought, said, or did.

IN THE BEGINNING/IN THE GARDEN

What was the first historically recorded choice of our first parents? We read of Mother Eve that:

"…she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat…" (Gen. 3:6).

But was this the first choice and the first sin attributed to our Mother Eve? No, it wasn’t the first. It was not even the second, or the third choice.

It is generally taught that Adam and Eve were spiritually perfect immediately after their creation, seeing that it says,

"And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good…" (Gen. 1:31).

Never mind the fact that even poisonous snakes were also "very good." Of course everything God made was "good." It was, in fact, even "perfect"—perfect, that is, for the purpose for which it was created.

But did our first parents have perfect and good spiritual character of heart when God completed them? Absolutely not! Far from it! They were as carnal-minded as any two people who have ever lived.

The Scriptures show us that Eve committed every known category of sin there is, before she ever ate of the forbidden fruit. This one should knock your socks off. It knocked mine off when I first discovered it.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ARE NOT SPIRITUAL

It is believed by most that the Ten Commandments, if followed by everyone, would eliminate all of the problems of the world. Did you know that it is possible to keep ALL of the ten commandments without having the spirit of God or without being spiritually converted? 'Tis true. Here are the commandments:

You shall have none other gods before Me,
You shall not make you any graven image…,"
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain…,"
Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it…,"
Honor your father and your mother…,"
You shall not kill [murder],
Neither shall you commit adultery,
Neither shall you steal
Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor,
Neither shall you covet…
Yes, even unaided by the Holy Spirit of God it is possible to keep these commandments of God. And the proof of this is simple: The penalty for breaking any of these commandments was death, and yet, most in Israel were not stoned to death for breaking these commandments. All of these commandments are referred to as "carnal commandments" in the New Testament (Heb. 7:16). They do not require a converted spiritual heart to keep and obey.

There was ONE commandment, however, that was of a spiritual nature. It had to do with the desires and inclination of the heart. It was the 10th commandment:

"Neither shall you desire [covet] your neighbor’s wife… house… field… manservant… maidservant… ox… ass… or any thing that is your neighbor’s" (Deut. 5:7-21).

However, was anyone ever stoned in ancient Israel for coveting any thing that belonged to his neighbor? No. Never. One could "covet" anything he wanted all day long, just so long as he didn’t break any of the other nine commandments!

One could "covet" his neighbor’s wife, just as long as he didn’t commit adultery with her—for that he would be stoned to death.

One could "covet" his neighbor’s ox, just so long as he didn’t steal it—for that he would be stoned to death.

Oh "coveting" was a sin all right, but since it cannot be detected by man unless it eventuates into stealing or the like, no penalty was enforced on such an one. However, to Paul, it was this commandment that proved to him that his heart was not right with God even though he performed all the visible and outward duties of the law:

"…for I had not known [Gk: ‘would not have known’] lust, except the law had said, "Thou shalt not covet" (Rom. 7:7).

So lusting and coveting that which is not legal, is a sin, but it carried no penalty in Ancient Israel. But before a man ever steals, or ever commits adultery with another man’s wife, he first covets, and that is a sin and the precursor to additional sins. But is it man's will that does the coveting? Can man's will, will NOT to covet? Is man's "will" the problem? No, no, it is NOT.

SIN BEGINS IN THE HEART

Man’s mind is not the birthplace of sin. And certainly man’s will is not the originator of sin. God did NOT say: "O that there were such a WILL in them, " (Deut. 5:29). If we will just believe, our Lord tells us plainly where sin originates:

"And Jesus said, Are ye [all of you] also yet without understanding?

Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever enters in at the mouth goes into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth FROM THE HEART; and they defile the man.

For out of THE HEART proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashed hands defiles not a man" (Matt. 15:16-20).

Need I remind any that all of the above thoughts and deeds are sin?

So what pray tell does all this stuff have to do with Mother Eve’s sin in the garden? A lot—everything. The Apostle John classifies all sins into just three categories under one heading.

LOVE NOT THE WORLD—THREE CATEGORIES OF SIN

"Love NOT the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father IS NOT IN HIM. For [for means ‘because’] ALL that is in the world,

the lust of the FLESH,

the lust of the EYES,

and the pride of LIFE,

is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides for ever" (I John 2:15-17).

Notice that "…ALL that is in the world…"—all the sins of the world, have their origin in one of these three categories of sin that proceeds "out of THE HEART." Not out of the "will" or out of the "mind," but "out of THE HEART." The "will" and the "mind" are subject to the "heart," and not the other way around. The heart is not subject to the will, neither is the heart subject to the mind, but rather both of these are subject to the birthplace of all human functions—the HEART!

Simply and unarguably, Jesus states as a fact, that all evil thoughts and sins proceed OUT OF THE HEART.

Now, with all that said, let’s prove once and for all that Mother Eve and Adam were (1) NOT spiritually perfect in any way shape or form, BEFORE they actually ate of the forbidden fruit, and (2) neither did they sin and then partake of the forbidden fruit through the operation of something called "free will."

"And when the woman saw that the tree was GOOD FOR FOOD… Gen. 3:6:

"…lust of the FLESH…" (I John 2:15)
 
and that it was PLEASANT TO THE EYES… Gen. 3:6:

"…lust of the EYES…" (I John 2:15)

and a tree to be DESIRED TO MAKE ONE WISE Gen. 3:6:

"…the PRIDE OF LIFE" (I John 2;15)

Eve committed EVERY CATEGORY OF SIN THERE IS IN THE WORLD, before… BEFORE she actually ate of the forbidden fruit.

ALL of Eve’s evil thoughts of pride, vanity, lust, greed, disobedience, and finally thievery proceeded NOT from Eve’s supposed "free will," but rather from out of her HEART. And the only reason these sins could come out of her heart is because THEY WERE ALREADY IN THERE FROM THE BEGINNING. BEFORE Eve actually ate of the forbidden fruit, she committed every category of sin in the world. And need I remind us that we were also, ALL IN ADAM, before he ate of the tree (I Cor. 15:22). Will we deny our own eyes and the Scriptures we have just read?

"CAUSE AND EFFECT"—THE FIRST EDICT OF THE UNIVERSE

Let me interject a few thoughts here before we go on. Science has never found an "effect" anywhere in the universe for which they believe there was not first a "cause." I mean, how could it be otherwise?

What is there anywhere, that can happen, come into existence, display an effect, for which there was absolutely NO CAUSE?

Why is it then that most of humanity believes that they can think thoughts that they themselves brought into existence WITHOUT ANY CAUSE? Why would anyone think such a thing? Well, for one thing, they are not usually, consciously aware of the cause. Therefore, they deceive themselves into believing that their thoughts HAD NO CAUSE!

But since when must the cause of an effect be visible or perceivable in order to be accepted? I can witness the tremendous effects and power of electricity, and yet I have never seen electricity. I see the effects and power of the wind, and yet I have never seen the wind. We can also see things and not feel them. I can see the sky, but I can’t feel the sky. We can also hear sounds, but we can’t see sounds. The rays of the sun burn our skin, but we can’t see the actual rays that burn us. We can smell things that we cannot see, hear, or feel. We can’t see taste.

Then why should it seem strange to us that we can have thoughts without seeing, feeling, hearing, or smelling the CAUSE of those thoughts. It is amazing just how deceiving this doctrine of free will is when we consider that most scientists accept free will as a fact, yet they would never in a million years accept anything else in the universe as coming into existence without a cause!

Psychiatrists and psychologists look for every conceivable CAUSE of mental diseases, personality disorders, and a plethora of behavioral dysfunctions associated with the thinking of the mentally challenged. Try to convince even one of them that these disorders have absolutely no cause whatsoever, and see how they will look at you with a cocked head. But then suggest to these same experts if indeed all of these malfunctioning thought patterns do have a cause, then just maybe all of our properly functioning and socially acceptable thoughts, ALSO HAVE CAUSES. And they will AGAIN look at you with a cocked head of incredulity! Does anyone see a CONTRADICTION in all this free will philosophy?

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO UN-RING A BELL

It has been wisely stated, that once a bell has been rung, it can never be UN-RUNG. And this axiom is also true for our thoughts and everything else in the universe that was the effect of some cause. Once we are CAUSED to have a particular thought, it is not even in the realm of possibility for that thought to never have occurred. IT HAD TO OCCUR. Once anything CAUSES something, the effect of that cause could never have been otherwise. The very fact that everything in the history of the universe and the history of the human race had a cause is proof positive that this same history could never have been different.

Whatever HAS HAPPENED, HAD TO HAPPEN. The CAUSES of all happenings, MADE all of the effects come into existence. Nothing that has a cause can ever be stopped, for if the cause could be stopped, the effect would have never happened, and we would not have the existence of any such cause to even be talking about in the first place. BUT ALL THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED, HAVE HAPPENED! This is not rocket science. No one can UN-RING a bell.

Now then, if ALL effects are the result of "something," namely a "cause," bringing about the effect, what brings about the "cause" OF the "effect?"

Thank God! I thought no one would ask. Answer? Laws! Laws cause effects. Laws cause thunderstorms. Laws cause life. Laws cause death. LAWS CAUSE EVERYTHING!

But let’s keep this thing going: Who or what causes "laws?" I can see I’ve got to get up pretty early in the morning to keep ahead of this group of readers—just fooling with you. Seriously, this is a deep question that deserves an answer, but the answer is not one that most want to hear. They prefer the superiority of man creating his own thoughts, actions, and theories a whole lot better. So what causes laws? Actually it is not a what, but a Who

GOD CAUSES LAWS

Maybe you are saying, "Well I knew that." Oh really? Then why do you still believe in UNCAUSED human free will? They are not compatible you know? God can’t be steering this creation in one direction while five and a half BILLION humans are steering it in another direction. Which direction WILL IT GO? If it goes in man’s direction, then God is not in control of its direction. And if it goes in God’s direction, THEN MAN HAS NO FREE WILL TO MAKE IT GO IN HIS DESIRED CONTRARY DIRECTION! Guess which one is the Truth? But, "Lord who has believed our report?"

"In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth." (Gen. 1:1).

Man can "create" nothing—not even a thought.

"Through faith we understand that the worlds [ages] were framed [prepared] by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear [are visible]" (Heb. 11:3).

Invisible things are nonetheless REAL.

Now for maybe the most profound and all-encompassing statements in all Scripture:

"In Whom [GOD] also we have obtained [‘obtained’ not ‘earned’] an inheritance, being PREDESTINATED [our ‘destiny’ was ‘pre’ arranged by God, not us] according to the PURPOSE OF HIM [not the free will, OF US!] Who WORKS ALL THINGS [EVERYthing] AFTER THE COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL [not OUR OWN WILL]" (Eph. 1:11).

BACK TO MOTHER EVE AGAIN

Was it Eve’s will from the beginning ("free" or otherwise), that she would eat the forbidden fruit? No, it wasn’t. Let’s read it:

"Now the serpent was more subtle [cunning] than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, has God said, Ye [you and your husband] shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."

Eve was not yet deceived: she was not as yet caused to disobey God. She set the serpent straight by telling him that his statement wasn’t completely true. They could eat of all of the fruit in the garden EXCEPT ONE. Eve was okay with that commandment from God. Well why did she then eat of the forbidden fruit? WHAT CHANGED?

Did Eve’s "heart" change? No, she had the same heart she was created with.

Did Eve’s "mind" change? Yes it did.

Did Eve’s "will" change? Yes, of course it did.

Now for the "sixty-four thousand dollar question." WHAT changed Eve’s mind and will? Even though Eve had a deceitful heart, there was something else that CAUSED her to change or mind and her will regarding the forbidden fruit. The Apostle Paul plainly tells us what CAUSED Eve to change her mind and her will. Eve did not "freely" will to sin. Her choice to sin was not "free" from an external cause. IT WAS CAUSED, and when something is CAUSED to happen, it could not have been "free" to NOT HAPPEN. Am I going too fast for anyone?

"But I fear, lest by any means, AS the serpent BEGUILED [Gk: ‘DECEIVED’] Eve through HIS subtlety [craftiness]…" (II Cor. 11:3).

Where does anyone see one single word here to the effect that Eve deceived HERSELF, or caused HERSELF to sin, or "freely" willed HERSELF into a different frame of mind WITHOUT A CAUSE?

WHAT CAUSED EVE TO SIN WILLINGLY?

Did Eve herself think that she "freely" willed to sin WITHOUT A CAUSE?

"And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that you have done? And the woman said [Yes, just what did ‘the woman say?’ Did she say that she "freely willed" to commit this sin? Did she say it was her and all her and nothing but her that did this? Or did she say…], The SERPENT BEGUILED ME… [and BECAUSE the serpent beguiled or deceived her, we now have a CAUSE], and I did eat" (Gen. 3:13).

And what did God have to save about all this blame casting on Eve’s part? Did God say something like this:

"Oh really, Eve? Yah right, go ahead, try and blame it on THE SERPENT! No, Eve, you ‘FREELY’ willed by your own ‘FREE MORAL AGENCY’ which I gave to you and which is free from ALL CAUSALITY AND BLAME CASTING, to do this thing ON YOUR OWN."

Is that what God said? Let’s read it:

"And the Lord God said unto the serpent, because YOU HAVE DONE THIS, you are cursed above all cattle…" (Verse 14).

There it is. God’s Own answer. But will we accept God’s answer? For most, probably not.

God plainly said that it was the serpent who "has done this." Eve said it was the serpent that deceived her and God Himself also conceded that it was the serpent that "HAS DONE THIS." That was the CAUSE, and that was the reason for the serpent’s punishment.

WHAT CAUSED ADAM TO SIN WILLINGLY?

How about Adam? Does he fair any better than his wife? Did Adam eat the forbidden fruit and sin by his OWN ‘FREE’ WILL? Or do the Scriptures tell us that he too was CAUSED to have his will do what he did?

"And the man said, THE WOMAN whom You gave to be with me, SHE GAVE ME OF THE TREE, and I did eat" (Ver. 12).

And again, did God say something like" "Oh sure, Adam, blame it on your WIFE! You know that you ‘freely’ without any outside cause whatsoever, decided on your own to eat the fruit." Is that what God intonated to Adam? Let’s read it:

"And unto Adam He said, Because [‘because’—here is the real CAUSE] YOU HAVE HEARKENED UNTO THE VOICE OF YOUR WIFE, and have eaten of the tree …" (Ver. 17).

Does anyone see here where God says, "Because you have hearkened unto the voice of our OWN ‘FREE’ WILL, and have eaten of the true…?" Well? No, before Adam "willed" (and NOT FREELY), but willed to eat of this fruit, his heart was influenced to do something that it already had all the potential in the world of doing. Namely, disobeying His God and Maker. And what was that? HIS WIFE’S VOICE. And at THAT point in the process, Adam began to "will" this act, and his mind formulated the actual physical action of doing the eating.

You see, Adam was willing to die for his new bride, just as Jesus was willing to die for His bride, the church.

God doesn’t even hint that Adam did what he did "freely." God Himself admits that the CAUSE was "the VOICE OF YOUR WIFE."

I have said and taught for decades now that God never FORCED anyone to sin or go against whatever their will is at the precise time that his will is changed by a cause. Men volunteer to sin. They don’t need to be "forced"—they are SINNING MACHINES! Most men (not all) can be made to sin at the drop of a photograph. (That is, if the photograph is that of a sexy young lady in high heels and a mini-skirt). He doesn’t need to be ‘FORCED’ to lust and sin over the young lady, even though it may not have been his conscious will TO LUST just prior to seeing the sexy photograph.

Who created man with such passions and desires? Dah! Who created Testosterone?

IT ALL STARTS WITH THE HEART

ALL have sinned because it takes SPIRITUAL POWER not to sin. And God did not give our first parents that kind of spiritual power. They were spiritually weak as water.

We read in Jer. 17:9:

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"

We know from Scripture that God "…creates EVIL…" (Isa. 45:7), but did He also create man’s heart in a "desperately wicked" state? No, He did not. God did not FORCE upon man, at creation, a "desperately WICKED" heart. Let’s read this verse from the Jewish Publication Society,

"The heart is deceitful above all things, And it is EXCEEDING WEAK—who can know it."

God did not create man’s heart "desperately wicked" as the KJV suggest, but rather He did create the human heart, "exceeding WEAK."

The seat of emotions and desires is the HEART. And God made the heart "exceeding WEAK." Man did not sin because he "freely willed" to sin, but because his heart was so exceedingly WEAK. That is why it takes next to nothing to persuade the heart of man to DESIRE SIN.

Jesus Christ Himself taught us that EVIL THOUGHTS, MURDERS, BLASPHEMIES, ADULTERIES, etc., all start, begin, originate, proceed, out from THE HEART.

Once the heart senses a feeling or emotion, it begins to desire something. These very thoughts of desire emanate out from the heart, seeking fulfillment. At this point in the process the will is manifested. It now becomes the driving force within you to accomplish the thoughts and emotions of ,

_{PART 2}



, the heart. The will is not the original instigator in this chain of events; it is not even the second in line, but rather the third.

The will of man has no power until first his heart DESIRES,

Second these desires are formed into actual THOUGHTS,

Then at this third stage the will purposes to find fulfillment for all that is coming out of the heart.

The heart played a huge role in Adam’s decision to also partake of the forbidden fruit. In I Tim. 2:14 we read this:

"And Adam was NOT deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression."

Why did Adam sin if he was NOT deceived as his wife was? Again, the answer goes back to THE HEART.

Adam LOVED his wife dearly. He never wanted to be separated from her. But he knew that the wages of eating the forbidden tree was to be death. But did he fully comprehend all that death entailed? Probably not. But whatever the penalty would be or how it would be carried out, Adam knew that he did not want to be separated from his wife. Notice what He said to God:

"And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be WITH ME, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." (Gen. 3:12).

Isn’t that interesting. Adam did not say: "The woman whom you gave TO ME." Or, "The woman whom you gave FOR ME." But rather, "The woman whom you gave to be WITH ME." Adam reminded God that He created Eve to be ‘WITH’ him, not apart from him. And if Adam had obeyed God, whereas his wife did not, he feared being SEPARATED from Eve. And so he also ate of the fruit and sinned, not because he was deceived as Eve was, but because he loved her in his heart so much that he couldn’t bear the thought of not being "WITH" her.

And so, did Adam "freely" WITHOUT A CAUSE choose to eat the forbidden fruit? What nonsense. Adam had the BIGGEST REASON in the world that CAUSED him to sin and remain with his wife!

So if you are looking for "free" will in the Garden at the time of our first parents' creation, forget it, 'cause it ain’t there!

SUBJECTED TO VANITY NOT WILLINGLY

Here is another profound reason why man’s will is not and never was free. We saw that Eve was already in a state of spiritual weakness and actually committed all of the three categories of sin before she actually ate of the forbidden fruit. And the reason she was in this condition and easy pickins for the serpent, is taught us in the Romans 8:20.

"For the creature [Gk: ‘creation’] was made [put under, subordinate to, to obey] subject to vanity [Gk: ‘futility’], not willingly, but by reason of Him Who has subjected the same in hope."

WOW! What have we here? Free will? I think not. Pay close attention to the words that God inspired:

"WAS MADE"—This is an ACT or CAUSE of God: Not of man’s will.

"SUBJECT TO VANITY"—CAUSED by God: Not man’s choice.

"NOT WILLINGLY"—According to God’s will: Not man’s will.

"BY REASON OF HIM"—By reason of GOD: Not by reason of man.

"WHO HAS SUBJECTED"—Subjected by GOD: Not chosen by man.

So where is the "free" will in all this? There is no free will in all this!

Notice verse 21:

"Because the creature [Gk: ‘creation’] itself also shall be delivered from THE BONDAGE OF CORRUPTION into the glorious liberty of the children of God."

Man was never "immortal," neither was he "incorruptible." Not before Adam and Eve sinned, nor after. This is why Paul tells us that,

"For this CORRUPTIBLE must put on incorruption, and this MORTAL must put on immortality" (I Cor. 15:53).

This is not speaking of something that happened later in the history of the human race. No, this goes back to the very CREATION of all things. It is GOD Who does the CREATING and it is GOD Who does the SUBJECTING, and man’s will has absolutely NOTHING to do WITH IT, or ABOUT IT!

If man has a will that is free from being something other than what God Himself has SUBJECTED it to, why doesn’t man just "free will" himself to NOT be subjected to futility and corruption? I’ll tell you why: Because the will of man is NOT FREE to do others things than what it is caused to do, and has absolutely NO POWER OR AUTHORITY to do otherwise, independent of God’s will and God’s choices for him. How about a Chapter and Verse on that statement? Okay:

"Then said Pilate unto Him, Speak you not unto me? Know you not that I HAVE POWER to crucify you, and have POWER TO RELEASE YOU? Jesus answered, You could have NO POWER AT ALL against Me, except it were GIVEN YOU from above…" (John 19:10-11).

THE SOURCE OF ALL POWER

What do we learn from these verses? Are we to believe that for this particular event (the Crucifixion of our Lord), God supernaturally supplied Pilate with the power to perform his dirty work? Is that what we learn?

Pilate already KNEW that he possessed power—he told Jesus he possessed this power. He possessed it for some time, that’s how Pilate was sure that this power was available to him whenever he needed it. But from where did Jesus say Pilate’s power came from? "…from ABOVE." It ALWAYS COMES FROM ABOVE.

So, what about the ruler before Pilate? Did he have power? Where did that power come from? "…from ABOVE." And what about the neighboring cities, states, powers, countries and kingdoms? Where did THEIR power come from? "…from ABOVE." Where has all the power of evey city, state, and nation, farm, company, household, and individual who has ever lived, come from? "…from ABOVE.

Where does all power in heaven and earth come from? "…from ABOVE." Therefore, man is subject to the power that enables him to do things, and as we have already seen, man has no power to do anything except what God has already determined that he WILL DO, and MUST DO.

CAN THE ETHIOPIAN CHANGE HIS SKIN, OR THE LEOPARD HIS SPOTS?

I marvel that learned philosophers and theologians have studied, argued, and debated for centuries over whether man has a free will or not. Why is it that people find this subject too elusive to nail down? Why can’t everyone come to the same conclusion? Is there no proof to settle this enigma, one way, or the other?

Actually there is no great mystery about this matter at all, if we would just believe the Scriptures. We have already seen two whole sections of Scripture from Adam and Eve to Jesus and His Disciples where circumstances dictated action and not some phantom free will.

There is, in fact, one very simple and beautiful verse of Scripture that proves the total impossibility of free will. If we have a "love of the Truth," and are willing to "believe God," then I can prove that man does not have a free will because God Himself says as much in one verse.

If man possesses a free will, then it IS POSSIBLE for him to choose good over evil. Do we have any arguments here? If a man possesses a free will, and he is presented with a choice between doing evil or doing good, then "free will" advocates (will all agree) that he has the ability to choose good. No he doesn’t. He absolutely has no such power or ability. And how can I say such a thing? Oh, not me. I did not come up with this. This verse is one of those "Thus saith the LORD…" verses. In Jer. 13:23 we find God speaking in the first person:

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil."

Too bad that Calvin and the boys never took a longer look at this little verse of Scripture. It would have saved many thousands of hours of unprofitable debate. Can the Ethiopian change his skin? No. Can the leopard shed his spots? No. Then can we or anyone else in the world who grew up with a carnal mind, on his own, by his own fancied free will, choose and do good? God Himself says, "No." If the Ethiopian can change his skin and the leopard his spots, then you CAN do good. But if the Ethiopian cannot change his skin and the leopard his spots, then you CANNOT do good. But, "Lord, who has believed our report?"

THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH

I stated earlier that it is through LAW that God controls all things in the universe. Only the ego of the carnal mind is so great that it actually believes it is the exception to the universal rule, and is not subject to law, but is free from law. I tell you assuredly, it is not exempt from law.

We saw that with Adam and Eve, as well as with Peter and all the disciples, that there was always a cause that made men will as they did. But why is it that the natural carnal mind always wills against God? Why does it always will to sin and do evil? And why does the spirit mind of converted man always desire to obey God and do what is good? Could there be a "law" at work here? Yes, indeed there is. The carnal-minded man is governed by one law, whereas the converted man is governed by a different law, but all are governed by law.

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:1-2).

Notice that one law frees us from another law, but we still remain under some law. All unconverted carnal-minded humanity is under "the LAW of sin and death." That law controls the unregenerate man. And he cannot, of his own will, break the controls of that law. That law will control him until he dies or unless God intervenes with a different offsetting law, namely, "the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus." But when we are made free, does that mean that we then have "free will?"

We saw from the Scriptures that Adam and Eve did not have free will, nor did Peter, or any of the disciples before their conversion. But what about after their conversion and receiving the Holy Spirit? This is what a number of large denominations believe and teach. They teach that it certainly is true that the unregenerate, carnal-minded man cannot have a free will to choose and do good, but that at conversion and receiving of God’s Spirit, they can have free will to choose to do good. Is this true?

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).

Free from what? Free to make "free choices" as opposed to CAUSED choices? This verse has absolutely nothing to do with a so-called "freedom of the will."

The Myth of Free-Will Exposed

ONLY THE SPIRIT CAN CAUSE THE CARNAL MIND TO REPENT

The carnal mind is a mind debarred of spiritual understanding. Not only does it not understand spiritual things; it is an impossibility to do so. The carnal mind cannot spiritually repent. Therefore it is not "free." It is in fact, enslaved to sin. No "slave" is "free." Let’s learn a few very basic Truths:

"God [is] SPIRIT" (John 4:24).

"…the Words that I speak unto you are SPIRIT…" (John 6:63).

"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the SPIRIT which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy SPIRIT teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

But the natural man [still being carnal-minded] receives not the things of the SPIRIT of God: neither CAN HE know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (I Cor. 2:12-14).

Clearly, the natural mind of man unaided by the Spirit of God, is not "free" to receive "the things of the Spirit of God, neither CAN HE KNOW THEM…"

God is SPIRIT and the words of Christ are SPIRIT. To understand these words we must have the Spirit, which is of God. We can then "compare" or (Greek: "match" spiritual with spiritual, and understand.

If we have the Spirit of God we can do this. But if we are carnal-minded and have not the Spirit of God, we cannot do this. Here is why:

"Because the carnal mind is enmity [hatred] against God: for it is NOT subject to the [spiritual] law of God, neither indeed CAN BE" (Rom. 8:7).

Now follow me closely. What, pray tell, happens between being carnally-minded and not loving God or being subject to His spiritual law, and later, loving God and being subject to His spiritual law? What happened and WHO was responsible for causing it to happen?

According to "free-willers," a person must choose of his own will, to love and obey God. Any person with a "free will" is supposedly able to hate and disobey God on one day and then decide for himself on another day to love and obey God. This is believed to be self-repentance. And this, we are told is something that every individual must do on his own, seeing that God will not make one or force one to do this. It must be "freely" chosen, or of what value is "forced love," as they argue?

Here is a problem of major proportions starring us right in the face with this free will assertion. If a carnal minded person cannot love God and cannot be subject to God’s law, how in the world is he going to choose to love and obey God with his carnal mind? God’s Word says that it is not possible ("…neither indeed CAN BE"—King James/"…for neither is it ABLE"—Concordant Literal New Testament).

God’s word tells us that the natural, carnal mind of man, [all mankind—the human race], cannot love or obey God. For it:

"receives not the things of the spirit," "neither indeed CAN BE/for neither is it ABLE."

Therefore the will of man, of all mankind—the entire human race, is not ‘free’ to contradict these Scriptural Truths of God.

I'm not talking about the verses here or there where a person is said to have made a "choice." We are not talking about "making choices." Dumb computers can made "choices."

What I am trying to draw your undivided attention to is the Scriptural teaching of the theological/physiological/philosophical power and ability of the natural, unaided human mind to choose good.

We need to stick to the current subject. The subject is not can a man make a choice. The subject is can a man make a choice to obey God with his natural mind?

And time and again I have shown you that God says in His Word that the natural, unaided mind of man cannot "will" and choose to do good.

The Scriptures have already concluded that man’s will is not free to do that which it cannot do. Yet should God intervene and cause this same person to repent and turn to God in obedience, how can this same person take credit for repenting and turning to God, seeing that it was ALL OF GOD? Yes, the human mind and will can will and can choose to obey God, but only when God causes it to do so.

Did Jesus obey His God and Father, without a cause?

"Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, [truly, truly—what Jesus is about to say is the Gospel Truth!] I say unto you, THE SON CAN DO NOTHING OF HIMSELF…" (John 5:19).

"THE SON CAN DO NOTHING OF HIMSELF"

Can we obey our Lord Jesus Christ, without a cause?

"I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit, for WITHOUT ME YE CAN DO NOTHING" (John 15:5).

"WITHOUT ME YE [‘ye’ means ‘ALL of you’] CAN DO NOTHING"

I repeat:

"THE SON CAN DO NOTHING OF HIMSELF"

"WITHOUT ME YE CAN DO NOTHING"

Where then is the "freedom of will" and "freedom of choice" in these two statements of God’s Word? They are nowhere. There is no such thing. They don’t exist. The theory of "free moral agency" is one of the foolish and stupid wisdoms of this world.

"Love NOT the world, neither the things [nor the stupid wisdom] that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is NOT in him,  And the world PASSES AWAY…" (I John 2:15 & 17).

The very second that something causes one’s will to do something that the person himself had not planned by an uncaused will or a will that was not influenced in any way, he ceases to have a free will. A will made to think or do anything is not free, and it is senseless to argue anything to the contrary. There is not a Scripture in the bible that presents us with a person willing something or making a choice for which there was no cause. And "caused" wills and "caused" choices are not free.

LIMITED FREE WILL

The free will scholars themselves have had to re-adjust their theory in the light of obvious scientific and Scriptural proof against free will. They assure us that although man does not possess total free will, he does, nonetheless, possess "limited free will." That is, man’s will is limited, but within those limits, the will is completely and totally free. Oh really?

I never cease to be amazed at the fact that contradictions never interfere with Christian doctrine. Believing in contradictions is absolutely necessary if one is to accept most Christian doctrines, and this "limited free will" is just another one of them. Let’s take a quick look at this idiotic proposal of "limited free will." It is nothing more than the "square circles" theory all over again.

Here is how my Twentieth Century Webster’s Dictionary defines "limited, a. restricted" (Page 963). And here is how this same dictionary defines "free, a. without restriction" (Page 682). Got it? "Limited" means: RESTRICTED, and "free" means: WITHOUT RESTRICTION.

So scholarly theologians would have us believe that man possesses a will that is, "RESTRICTED WITHOUT RESTRICTION." What? Does anyone see a problem with this limited free will theory? Does the word "contradiction" come to mind?

Now then, if the natural carnal mind of man cannot choose to love and obey God, and God absolutely will not cause one to love and obey Him, how is it then that ANYONE CAN EVER BE CONVERTED? Do any of you who believe in man’s free will or man’s limited free will have an answer to this Scriptural dilemma? Or do you all feel more comfortable just leaving these questions behind as though they were never proposed in the first place? I mean, why meditate on a problem that has no Scriptural answer other than to accept the fact that the Scriptures do not support any form of a "free will" theory?

WHAT GOD SAYS ‘CAN’T BE,’ MEN SAY ‘CAN BE’

It is impossible to contend with any amount of sanity that man’s natural mind cannot choose to obey God, and yet believe that man must choose by his own will to obey God. Such a contention is unscriptural, contradictory, nonsense. It is believed by most that not only can man choose to obey God by his own free will, but that he indeed must do so if he is ever to be saved.

We cannot say, "Well God gives us His Holy Spirit so that we CAN choose to love and obey Him." Nope, here’s why that won’t work:

"And we are His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to them that OBEY Him" (Acts 5:32).

And so Romans 8:7 teaches us that we can’t obey God without His Spirit, and Acts 5:32 teaches us that God only gives His Spirit to those who do obey Him. So free will is blasted out of the sky with just these two statements of Scripture. Besides, man’s free will would cease to be free if God does anything to actually cause man to repent and turn to God.

But maybe you are one who believes in the contradiction of Scriptures? Maybe you are one who believes that your idol of the heart supercedes the plain Word of God.

THE SCRIPTURAL PROCESS OF CONVERSION

The truth of conversion is a simple one, if we believe the Scriptures and don’t try to bring it about by some phantom free will. It is all of God.

How do the Scriptures say we become converted? Does an ounce of "free will" enter into the conversion process according to the Scriptures?

"Or despise you the riches of HIS goodness [‘His goodness;’ not our free will] and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God LEADS [God’s ‘leading’ is the CAUSE] you to repentance?" (Rom. 2:4). Where is the ‘free will’ in this statement? "God LEADS…" is the cause of repentance, not free will.
 
"No man CAN come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw [Gk: ‘drag’] him: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44). This verse is plain: "No man CAN…" come to Christ of his own will. It is the Father "dragging" him that is the cause of one coming to Christ, not his own supposed free will.
 
"You have not chosen Me, but I HAVE CHOSEN YOU…" (John 15:16). "I have CHOSEN you…" is the CAUSE and it is by Christ’s will, not man’s will.
 
"I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF the Son of God [not faith ‘IN’ the Son of God, but the very faith ‘OF’ the Son of God—it is His faith, not ours until He gives us some of it] Who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). It is not by the ‘free will’ of our faith that we live, but the by the faith OF Jesus. There is no human free will in all this.
 
"I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit, for without ME YE CAN DO NOTHING" (John 15:5). According to God’s Word, what is it that we can do by our own will? Answer: "NOTHING." It is Christ "IN him" that brings forth much fruit. Man does not bring forth much fruit by his fabled free will.
 
"And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:11). Is this man’s part in his own salvation? Must man confess that Jesus Christ is his Lord by his OWN FREE WILL, or it will have no real meaning? Is that how this confession is made? Answer: "…no man can say [with his fabled free will] that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit" (I Cor. 12). Do we profess Jesus as our Lord by our own will or by the Holy Spirit? "By the Holy Spirit" is the cause. Our own will is not the cause of our calling Jesus, Lord.
 
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that [‘that faith’] not of yourselves [NOT of your own faith or will] it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are HIS workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:8-10).

Are we saved through the faith of our own will? NO. Do we do good works by our own will? NO. It is: God’s faith, God’s gift, God’s Workmanship, God’s creating, God’s ordaining. The cause is "His workmanship," not our own will.
I could go on and on like this for a hundred pages. I could go through the entire Bible proving that all is of God, not of man’s will. It is always God; it is never man’s will that is the first cause of all things. Nowhere in the entirety of the Bible is there anything suggesting that man has a "free will." Man’s will is not free. Man has a will, but it is not free from the causes that make it do what it does.

Millions and millions of times it is stated by the clergy that man must live by his "free will" that God gave him. God never goes against our own free will, we are told. Hogwash!

Since God says we cannot obey Him with our natural mind [our own God-given will], and yet we have much Scriptural proof that God does cause men to do what He wants, then we also have proof that God does go against man’s will, and He does it often.

"For it is God [who? ‘GOD’] which works in you both TO WILL and TO DO of His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).

According to Christendom, this verse is a fraud. We are taught that, "It is OUR OWN FREE WILL that works IN us both TO WILL and TO DO of His good pleasure." But no, it is God Who works in us both to will and to do. There is no "free moral agency" at work in this verse of God’s Word or anywhere else, for God’s Word does not contradict. These Scriptures I am giving you are so very simple and so very plan, yet, "Lord, who has believed our report?"

As I have pointed out in another installment of this series, that if there were a Scripture that stated: "God our Saviour; Who will NOT have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth," that my detractors by the thousands would use and quote that Scripture to me to PROVE that God will NOT save all humanity. Yet it is obvious to all that there is NO such Scripture. What I Tim. 2:4 really says is:

"God our Saviour; Who WILL have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."

And so, if there were such a Scripture stating that God "will NOT save all men," they would believe it. But since the Scriptures actually say that God "WILL save all men," they refuse to believe it. And so in the final analysis: If God "will NOT" save all men, then they would believe that He "will NOT" save all men. And as God says He "WILL" save all men, then they believe that He also "will NOT" save all men. It’s insane! Yet I am put down and ridiculed because I believe the Scriptures.

And in the very same way, if Phil. 2:13 had stated the following: "For it is your own free will which works in you both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure," all of Christendom and all of my detractors would use that verse to prove that it is man’s free will that "works in you both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure." But since there is no such verse. and since Phil. 2:13 really says, "For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" they still believe that this verse means, in the final analysis, that it is "man’s free will" and "not God" which does these things. Again I say: It’s insane!

FREE INDEED

In the last installment we read John 6:36:

"If the Son therefore shall MAKE you free, ye shall be free indeed."

I said that this verse has nothing to do with free will. But it certainly does have to do with freedom. But freedom from what? From what is it that Jesus frees us? Why free from what we were in bondage to before He freed us, of course.

"Because the creature itself also shall be delivered [freed] from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Rom. 8:21).

The whole creation will be delivered from this bondage one day. But until then, only those destined to become the manifest sons of God receive this deliverance.

Here is the same thought in slightly different words:

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free [here is this ‘cause and effect’ thing again] from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2).

No one can "freely" change his will from hating and disobeying God on one day to loving and obeying God on the next. No, it takes a supernatural miracle from God to accomplish this. God must Personally remove and free [here is the cause] us from being under the "Law of sin and death" to being under the "Law of the Spirit of life in Christ."

Does man accomplish this by his own will? Not unless you want to make a liar out of Jesus. Jesus says that He "frees us," so how can we say that we freely free ourselves?

ONLY GOD DELIVERS FROM BONDAGE

So we read in Romans 8 that the whole creation was subjected to corruption and in bondage. Man possesses no such power as freedom of the will by which he can free himself from such bondage. It takes the Spirit of God to even give someone the desire to come out of bondage. People foolishly believe that when they hit bottom in life that they can then "free-will" themselves into turning to God. No one turns to God by his own will. It is God Who is already at work in a person’s life before they ever feel the need to turn to God.

Israel was in bondage under the rule of Egypt for four hundred years. Who put them under Egyptian bondage? We shall see that it was God. Who is the only One Who can release them from bondage? Again it is God:

"And they [Egypt] made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service wherein they made them serve, was with rigor" (Ex. 1:14).

When God’s time came to release Israel from bondage, we read this:

"And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them" (Ex. 2:23-25).

And just what "caused" Israel to "cry unto God?" Their own free will? No. "Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried…" There is always a cause, but it is never man’s fabled free will.

Just how much of this release from bondage was dependant upon the will of the Children of Israel? And is it by our own will that we also repent and come out of our Egypt of sin and bondage? Or is it all of God?

"Wherefore say unto the children of Israel,

I am the Lord and

I will bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians, and

I will rid you out of their bondage, and

I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: And

I will take you to Me for a people, and

I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that

I am the Lord your God, which brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And

I will bring you in unto the land, concerning that which

I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and

I will give it you for an heritage:

I am the Lord" (Ex. 6:6-.

Eleven times in one sentence, we read God saying that it is "I" [GOD], and not man’s will that, performs these miracles. When God says that He will cause a dozen national and international interventions of colossal proportions, how are the millions of people involved "free" to do anything but react according to what God causes to come about?

Do we fare any better than Israel of old? Do we possess the weapons of free will so that we can by-pass the intervention of God in our lives to repent and turn to God? Answer:

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil" (Jer. 13:23).

"…for without Me, YE [all of you] CAN DO NOTHING" (John 15:5).

Not only can we not deliver ourselves from sin; we cannot even truly repent of our sins by our own will. This too requires a miracle from God.

Repentance is not predicated upon the "free will" of man, but on the will of God. We have already cited this verse that we will now examine more closely.

"Or despise you the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? (Rom. 2:4).

What leads us to repentance? The goodness of our illusionary God-given "free will?" NO, "…the GOODNESS OF GOD…" But can the carnal, natural, unconverted mind of man appreciate God’s goodness and then repent by his own will? No, absolutely not. Let’s read it again: "the goodness of God LEADS you to repentance?"

This is the one and only time in the whole Bible that the Greek word ago is translated as "leadeth." If you check Wigram’s Englishman’s Greek Concordance of the New Testament, you will find that this Greek word ago is translated into much stronger words than "leadeth." Dozens and dozens of times ago is translated as bring or brought. The word, in fact, also means to drive. (Remember that in John 6:44 the Father "draws" [Gk: ‘drags’] us to Christ?)

Yes, repentance is a process, but it is the goodness of God that does the actual bringing us to and bringing about of our repentance.

Would it shock you to know that not even our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ possessed this phantom of free will that is maybe the most important single doctrine in all the Church today? ‘Tis true. We will now consider the Scriptures.

JESUS CHRIST DID NOT POSSES FREE WILL

I am sure that there may be more than a few out there who are by now ready to start casting stones at me. But don’t take my word for anything. Check the Scriptures.

The theory of free will argues that anyone possessing this God-defying power can freely choose his own course in life by making his own decisions and choices that are CAUSED by no thing or no one. Every free-willer is said to have the power to do or not do, to think or not think, anything they wish, without anything causing them to do contrariwise. So surely Jesus possessed this power as well, did He not? Not.

Here is a blanket statement of Scripture that proves Jesus did no more have a "free will" than anyone else does:

"Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son CAN DO NOTHING OF HIMSELF, but what He sees the Father do: for what things so ever He does, these also does the Son likewise" (John 5:19).

Do you know of one Scripture that contradicts this verse in John 5:19? If you don’t then you must admit that Jesus could not do anything by a supposed "free will" which is said to have the ability to act independently of God.

But wait, there’s more:

Jesus plainly had a will, but the Father willed that Jesus would bring His will into line with that of His Father. The Father would not allow Jesus to give up the good fight of faith. It pleased God to bruise His Son for our salvation,

"Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief: When you shall make His soul an offering for sin…" (Isa. 53:10).

God said that He would "make" the soul of Jesus an offering for sin. God doing the "making" is the CAUSE. Therefore, Jesus was not free to run from the cross. God inspired Jesus [caused] Him to pray. And God caused Jesus to pray that His Father’s will, would be done, not His Own will. It was a real battle for a few hours. The will of Jesus cried out for another way other than to drink the cup and go to the cross. Hour after hour He poured out His heart to His Father. And hour after hour His Father propped Him up so that He would not and could not give in to His flesh.

God MADE Jesus go through that spiritual battle of His will, but never for a second was the plan of God in jeopardy! God had clearly prophesied the positive outcome of this battle hundreds of years before its actual occurrence. And absolutely nothing in the history of the universe has ever thwarted God’s plan, purpose or intention.

The Father inspired [caused, made] Jesus state time after time, "Not My will but Thine, Not My will but Thine, NOT MY WILL BUT THINE"!!

It was the very words of His Father that Jesus prayed. Those words that came out of the mouth of Jesus first came out of the heart of His Father, and God’s Words never ever return to Him void.

"So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth [and into the mouth of Jesus]: it shall NOT RETURN UNTO ME [as when Jesus prayed back those same words to His Father] VOID, but it SHALL ACCOMPLISH that which I please, and IT SHALL PROSPER in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isa. 55:11).

As I have said a hundred times to my detractors, your argument is not with me, but with God and His Word.

I will show you from Scripture that the thoughts, words, works, and deeds of Jesus were only those things that came directly from His Father, not from some phantom "free will" of His own.

And so the very words that Jesus prayed that night in the garden were the very words of His Father, and the words of His Father of the purpose for which they were sent. But then again, "Lord, who has believed our report?"

When there is a conflict between wills regarding the bringing about of that which pleases God, whose will is it that will always win out? Is it possible for man’s will to thwart the will and intention of God? Does man possess such a God-defying power? Can man with his illusionary free will, will against and contrary to the predetermined plan and intention of God Almighty? No! No, he can’t. And yes, we do have a Scripture on that:

"For it is GOD which works in you both TO WILL and TO DO of His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).

When our very own Lord cried out in agony to His Father because His flesh did not want to go through the crucifixion necessary because of the sin of the world, whose will prevailed?

"And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto you; take away this cup from Me: nevertheless not what I will, but what YOU WILL"

And He comes and finds them sleeping…"

"And again He went away and prayed, and spoke the same words. And when He returned, He found them asleep again…"

"And He comes the third time…" (Mark 14:36-41).

Now then, what was the outcome of this heart-wrenching prayer and request of our Lord to His Father? Was the will of our Lord free to override the will of His Father? Or did not Jesus recognize that it was His Father’s will that would prevail and that His will was not free to think or do contrary to His Father’s intentions? Answer:

"And he came the third time, and said unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour IS COME; behold, the Son of man is betrayed [is being betrayed] into the hands of sinners… and when they had crucified Him…" (Mark 14:41 & 15:24).

Clearly: It "pleased" God to crucify Jesus, and it was God Who "worked in His Son both TO WILL and TO DO of His Father’s good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). Where is free will in all this? It is debarred.

Maybe there be some who didn’t think Jesus made Himself clear when He said,

"The Son of man can DO NOTHING of Himself…"

Let’s try another one:

"I can of mine own self DO NOTHING: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the father which has sent Me" (John 5:30).

When God wants to emphasize something He often repeats it. If God gave all humanity a "free will," and it is a good thing to have a "free will," then why is it that not even our Lord trusted in such a gift from God? If Jesus had His own "free will," why did He trust only in the will of His Father? Maybe man’s will is not as "free" as theologians would like you to believe.

We have already read the Scriptural answer to this dilemma. The reason Jesus didn’t trust in His own free will is because Jesus didn’t have a free will to trust in. Jesus didn’t have the power to always will what is right by His own power or freedom of the will. Jesus trusted in the will of His Father, ONLY! Just whose will was it that took Jesus through ALL of His many trials and hardships? Was it His Own will? Jesus just told us that of His own self He could do nothing. He couldn’t have made it through life, SINLESS, without the mind and will of His Father in Him!

"For IT IS GOD which works IN YOU both TO WILL and TO DO of HIS good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).

By the time you finish this paper you will either start to hate this verse in Phil. 2:13, or perchance you will for the first time, begin to believe it.

Jesus certainly wanted us to see the Truth of what He is telling us:

"For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine Own will, but the will of Him that sent me" (John 6:38).

It is hard to even imagine that some will not get this point:

"Jesus said unto them, My meat is TO DO THE WILL OF HIM THAT SENT ME, and to finish His work" (John 4:34).

Jesus didn’t even speak His own words:

"Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I DO NOTHING OF MYSELF: but as My Father has taught Me, I speak these things" (John 8:28).

"For I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father which sent Me, He gave me commandment WHAT I should say, and WHAT I should speak" (John 12:49).

Not only did the Father do the speaking through His Son, but He also performed all of the works as well:

"Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwells in Me, He does the works" (John 14:10).

If Jesus had a "free will," He sure didn’t use it very much:

"He that loves Me not keeps not My sayings: and the word which ye hear is NOT MINE, but the Father’s which sent Me" (John 14:24).

So then, does anyone believe that WE have a greater power of will than our own Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ? Or maybe some believe that God could save His Son, but He can’t save us (or at least not all of us) because we possess a power of will greater than our Saviour Jesus Christ and that of God Almighty?

Jesus Christ was very content to have His Father live in Him, and think in Him, and do good works and deeds, in Him. But the very thought that God will and does do the same, in US, is absolutely REPULSIVE to most Christians. "Why we would be little more than robots," they retort. Jesus didn’t feel like a "robot;" I don’t feel like a "robot;" none of my like-minded, believing friends feel like "robots."

Could it be that you trust your OWN WILL living your life more than you would trust GOD’S WILL living your life?

UNDENIABLE EXAMPLES AGAINST FREE WILL/CHOICE


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JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN HAD NO FREE WILL/CHOICE

In Chapter 37 of Genesis beginning in verse 18 we read of how Joseph’s brothers conspired together to kill him. First they decided to kill him and blame it on an evil beast (Ver 20). Reuben however, talked them out of killing him and suggested that they draw no blood, but just put him in a pit to die (Ver 24). While they were eating a band of Ishmeelites with camels came by headed for Egypt. And so Judah suggested they sell Joseph as a slave for 20 pieces of silver (Ver. 26). They carried Joseph to Egypt and sold him to Pharaoh’s captain of the guard (Ver. 36).

In Chapters 38-41 you can read of Joseph’s many trials in Egypt and how he eventually found favor with the Pharaoh because Joseph could interpret dreams. Pharaoh was so impressed with Joseph that he made him the number two man in all Egypt. Then came the seven years of plenty and seven years of famine that was prophesied through Pharaoh’s dream. During the years of famine many countries came to buy grain from Egypt (41:57).

Jacob received word of the grain in Egypt and sent ten of his sons to go to Egypt to buy grain. Joseph recognized his brothers, but hid his own identity from them. Joseph was going to make his brothers go through severe fear and trails before he would reveal his identity to them. He planted his own gold in their sacks and then had them searched and accused them of stealing.

Finally Joseph could not contain his compassion for his brothers any longer and he revealed himself to them (Gen. 45:1-4).

And now we will learn that God never works his plan according to the supposed "free will" of men. God is always in control of everything.

Now then, just who was responsible for Joseph being sold down in Egypt as a slave? Didn’t Joseph's brothers conspire against Joseph first to kill him and then to sell him as a slave to the Ishmeelites, by their own free will? No, no they didn’t. But don’t the Scriptures that I referenced plainly show us that they did all this by their own free will? No. These Scriptures tell us nothing of a supposed "free will" of Joseph’s brothers. The referenced Scriptures above tell us what Joseph’s brothers "willed" and what they actually "did." They tell us nothing of any presumed "free will."

But cannot it be assumed from the context that they did have a "free will" and that they exercised that "free will" in the things that they did to Joseph? No, we cannot assume any such thing, seeing that God tells us at the very beginning of this episode and again at the end just what it was that caused (made) Joseph’s brothers do what they did, and it was not their own assumed "free wills."

Here is the inspired answer to what caused Joseph’s brother to do what they did:

"Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither…"

Oh yes, Joseph admitted that it was his brothers who "…sold me hither…" Of this there is no doubt. Just as there is no doubt that all of mankind makes billions and billions of choices and decisions. Many of them just as evil as the brothers of Joseph. And just like Joseph’s brothers, billions of people make such decisions and choices, and do such deeds according to their own will. But, are their wills "free" to think and do these things, or are their wills controlled and made to do what they will to do, by a Higher Power?

As Paul Harvey likes to say, "And now for the rest of the story":

"Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: FOR GOD DID SEND ME BEFORE YOU TO PRESERVE LIFE" (Gen. 45:5).

And so once again, we have the plain Scriptural truth regarding man’s fabled "free will"—HE HAS NO FREE WILL!

Joseph tells them to not grieve or be angry with themselves for selling him into Egypt. But they did feel guilty and grieved because they knew that they did what that did from their hearts. It was mean and cruel and evil what they did, and willingly did it. Of this there is absolutely no debate whatsoever. But that they made these choices freely, without a cause, is both ridiculous and unscriptural.

They grieved because they knew they did this evil to Joseph. And yet Joseph is telling them that it was God who brought Joseph down to Egypt. Yes God used Joseph’s brothers, yes God used the Ishmeelites to bring it all about, but it was all of God.

But just how did God actually CAUSE Joseph’s brothers to do what they did. Did God supernaturally make them all murders? Did God force Joseph’s brothers to hate Joseph and do this evil to him? No, God did not force them. God didn’t need to force them, seeing that if God would bring about the exact necessary circumstances, they would all agree to do this dirty deed, VOLUNTARILY. But God did cause it nonetheless, and God tells us exactly how He did it and what it was that caused Joseph’s brother to do this evil to him. Let’s read it:

"Now Israel [Jacob] loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brehren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, THEY HATED HIM…" (Gen. 37:3-4).

"And Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it to his brethren: and THEY HATED HIM YET THE MORE" (37:5).

After Joseph tells his brothers his dream we read this:

"And his brethren said to him, Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us? And THEY HATED HIM YET THE MORE for his dreams, and for his words" (Ver. .

"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold the sun and the moon and the eleven stars [his eleven brothers] made obeisance to me [bowed down to me]… And his brothers ENVIED HIM…" (Vers. 9 & 11).

Later Joseph goes out into the fields to meet his brothers:

"And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they CONSPIRED AGAINST HIM TO SLAY HIM" (Ver. 18).

And so, did God have to FORCE Joseph’s brother AGAINST THEIR WILLS to do this evil deed? No. All God had to do (and it was God Who did bring it about) was to inspire Jacob to make Joseph a robe of many colors. All God had to do is have Joseph dream a silly dream. That’s all. And the carnal mind and heart of Joseph’s brothers took it from there and ran with it just as God knew and intended for them to do. Contrary to Christian doctrines, God is really quite good at what He does.

We can learn a great deal about how God operates in the world of humanity by studying these few verses. Were the dreams that God caused Joseph to have, evil? No, of course they were not evil. The fulfillment of these dream/prophecies, pictured the salvation of the Children of Israel down in Egypt. Had God not provided for them through their brother Joseph, they would have starved to death. So, no, these dreams were not evil.

But what effect did these benevolent dreams have on Joseph’s brothers? Why, exactly what God wanted them to have—they made them hate Joseph, they made them mad, they made them want to kill Joseph. God had to intervene in Reuben’s heart or they would have killed Joseph.

So who was ultimately responsible for Joseph’s brothers doing their evil deeds? Why, GOD, of course. It was GOD who caused Joseph to have his dreams and God knew that those dreams would excite the carnal passions of his brothers to do their evil deed. It was all planned. It was God’s plan. It was a good plan. The plan worked perfectly and beautifully. So why do most Christian hate the fact that God has a plan for their life that is beyond their own control? It all has to do with the unconverted, carnal mind, which hates God, and hates His spiritual Law.

God knew exactly how to insight hatred out of Joseph’s brothers. And God knows exactly how to insight hated out of US toward HIM. God has the entire human race born under "The law of sin and death." This is why,

"…the carnal mind [the natural mind] is enmity [hatred] against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7).

The natural mind of man with his non-existent free will is NOT at liberty or free to love God and obey His Spiritual law. Rom. 8:7 along with hundreds of other supporting Scriptures proves this beyond any shadow of a doubt.

God Almighty caused Joseph’s brothers to hate and desire to kill their brother because of a dream that would have caused any carnal-minded person to hate their brother under the same circumstances.

Joseph was the youngest of the brothers, so naturally all the other brothers would think themselves superior to him. Jacob loved Joseph more than the others, so naturally they would have jealousy toward him. Then Joseph tells his brothers of a dream he had where his sheaf in the field was standing upright and the sheaves of his brothers all bowed down to him. What audacity they thought of their little brother presenting such a haughty representation of himself. And then to add insult to injury he tells them of another dream he had where the sun [his father] and the moon [his mother] and eleven stars [his eleven brothers] all bowed down to him.

That was the last straw! They, Joseph’s elder brothers, would all bow down and worship Joseph, their little brother? Over their dead bodies. From then on they hated Joseph with a passion. And what caused this hatred? Why Joseph’s silly dream, that’s what. And just Who was it that caused that silly dream? None other than God. And yet, there are those who will insist that Joseph’s brothers did not need to do what they did. That their wills were ‘free’ to do good even though they were accustomed to doing evil under "the law of sin and death," and even though none of them were able to "change an Ethiopian’s skin or a leopard’s spots."

PART 3


LEMONS TO LEMONADE?

Many Christian teachers and theologians like to look at examples such as this one with Joseph and conclude that God merely turns the lemons of Joseph’s brothers into lemonade. That is totally untrue and unscriptural. Was the selling of Joseph into Egypt as a slave (their lemons), that God then used to preserve life (His lemonade)? Is that what took place here? God used their lemons to make His lemonade? Absolutely not.

It was GOD who made these "lemons" in the first place—"GOD DID SEND ME…," and it was also God Who turned those lemons into lemonade, "…TO PRESERVE LIFE" (Gen. 45:5b). Or as Gen. 50:20 states:

"But as for you, ye thought evil [lemons] against me: but God meant it for good [LEMONADE], to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive."

Joseph and his brothers is a parable for the whole plan of God, to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear:

God made the lemons and God changed the lemons into lemonade.

God is the Potter and we are the clay. God first made the clay in His hands "marred/ruined"—LEMONS, before "…He made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the Potter to make it"—LEMONADE (Jer. 18:4).

Therefore, "For as in Adam ALL DIE [the marred, ruined clay—lemons] even so in Christ shall ALL [it’s the same ‘all’ as ‘in Adam’—it’s the SAME CLAY {Adam means ‘clay’}--lemons] BE MADE ALIVE [‘another vessel, as seemed good to the Potter to make it’—LEMONADE]."

It is God Who makes both the lemons and the lemonade. God is in control of His creation from beginning to end:

"Having made known unto us the mystery of His will [God’s will is still a mystery to the world of Christendom], according to His good pleasure [‘For it is GOD which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure’—Phil. 2:13] which He has purposed in Himself [not in man’s fabled ‘free will’]: That in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in ONE, ALL things in Christ, both which are IN HEAVEN, and which are ON EARTH [that’s ALL the heavenly host and ALL humanity that has ever lived]; even in Him: In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance [in this age and this lifetime, ahead of the rest which must go through judgment first], being predestined according to the purpose of Him [not by the ‘maybe yes/maybe no’ uncertain shaky possibility of man’s supposed free will] Who works ALL THINGS after the counsel of HIS OWN WILL" (Eph. 1:9-11).

It is GOD Who does the working of the clay. The clay does not determine its own destiny, that is the POTTER’S job:

"Nay but, O man, who are you that replies against God? Shall the thing formed [we, the clay] say to Him that formed it [God, the Potter], Why have You made me thus? Has not the Potter power over the clay [and the clay’s powerless imagined ‘free will’], of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour [lemonade], and another unto dishonour [lemons]" (Rom. 9:20-21).

If the evil deed of selling Joseph into slavery was the "lemons," then it was GOD who made them lemons. Well doesn’t that then make God the evil One? No, no it doesn’t. Here is why. It all has to do with the intent of the heart.

From the intentions of the heart of Joseph’s brothers, the deed to sell Joseph into slavery down in Egypt was EVIL. But from the intention of the heart of GOD, the deed was one of great benevolence and righteousness! And the Scriptures actually say so in just so many words, when Joseph’s brothers did indeed bow down to him:

"And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought EVIL AGAINST ME; but GOD MEANT IT UNTO GOOD, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive" (Gen. 50:18-20).

You won’t find many statements in Scripture more profound than this one. "…you thought EVIL AGAINST ME; but GOD MEANT IT UNTO GOOD…" This is absolutely not a case of turning the lemons of men into the lemonade of God. It was GOD who made both the lemons and the lemonade. Why was this act a sin and an evil on the part of Joseph’s brothers? Because they "thought EVIL" against Joseph. And why was it NOT a sin or an evil when God takes credit for this act? Because "GOD MEANT IT UNTO GOOD." No, contrary to those who hate God’s ways, God is not evil, nor does He ever sin through all His dealings with evil on behalf of mankind’s good and eternal welfare.

One final point, just in case you didn’t catch it: Nowhere in any of these statements of Scripture do we see God "changing" the original evil of men into something good. No, not at all: for it was God, Himself Who is responsible for both the original act of evil and the final consummation of blessing.

Joseph plainly states that "God meant it unto good." The "it" was the evil act of Joseph’s brothers. God did not change "it" unto good. No, God meant for the "it" to take place—"it" was His doing. But God’s motivation for the "it" was for good and not evil as Joseph’s brothers intended. So God brought about the "it" by the dream that He caused Joseph to have. And it was God’s intention from the very conception of the "it" (the dirty deed) to be used for good!

And this IS how God operates. Not just with Joseph and his brothers, but with all humanity in all ages. "God is no respecter of persons," and "God changes not."

THE NATION OF ISRAEL HAD NO FREE WILL/CHOICE

Did any in the nation of Israel have "free will" or did their own carnal-minded hearts and exterior circumstances always dictate what their will would be?

After leaving Egypt and coming into Sinai God spoke these words to Moses:

"Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people for all the earth is Mine: And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak unto the children of Israel" (Exodus 19:5-6).

Here then is the response of the people to God’s proposal:

"And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, ALL THAT THE LORD HAS SPOKEN WE WILL DO. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord" (Ex. 19:7-.

What external cause beyond their control do you suppose forced the nation of Israel to say that all that the Lord spoke they will do? Or do you suppose they made this momentous decision based solely on some fictitious freedom of the will? No. God caused them to make this decision based on great fear. (Remember Peter and the disciples?)

"And ye said, Behold, the Lord our God has showed us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God does talk with man, and he lives. Now therefore why should we DIE? For this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then WE SHALL DIE" (Deut. 5:24-25).

So there we have the cause, and the cause was GOD.

"For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go you [Moses] near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and speak you unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto you; AND WE WILL HEAR IT, AND DO IT" (Deut. 5:26-27).

Say, did you notice that the people were so fearful that they agreed to do everything God commanded BEFORE they even knew what it was God had commanded? That my friends is real motivating, will-causing fear!

Was God impressed by this overwhelming response of the people to be obedient and obey God? Let’s see:

"And the Lord heard the voice of your words, when ye spoke unto me, and the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto you: you have well said all that they have spoken. O THAT THERE WERE SUCH AN HEART IN THEM, THAT THEY WOULD FEAR ME, AND KEEP ALL MY COMMANDMENTS ALWAYS that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever" (Deut. 5:28-29).

Does God really believe that Israel now will obey Him and do all that He commanded them? Hardly. Why not? What is the problem with these people? Is there "will" not working properly? No, there will is working perfectly—God scared them half to death and that fear CAUSED them "to will" to say they would be obedient to God. Why then is this decision of theirs to be obedient, not going to work? Because there is NO "such an HEART in them," that’s why.

Remember in Part A I showed you that it all starts in the HEART and mind, not in the will. Just start adding up all the Scriptural truths that we have learned and this whole thing of human will becomes very simple to understand.

"For from within, out of the HEART of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man" (Mark 7:21-23).

The HEART is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked [Hebrew: ‘exceeding weak’] who can know it" (Jer. 17:9).

"Because the carnal mind is enmity [hatred] against God: for it is NOT subject to the law of God, neither indeed CAN BE [neither is it ABLE]" (Rom. 8:7).

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed [carnal-minded from our birth, as the nation of Israel was] to do evil" (Jer. 13:23).

"For it is God which works in you both TO WILL and TO DO of His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).

"In Whom also we have OBTAINED an inheritance, being PREDESTINATED according to the PURPOSE of Him Who works ALL THINGS after the counsel of HIS OWN WILL" (Eph. 1:11).

There are FIVE "causes" listed in just this one sentence.

"For we are HIS WORKMANSHIP, [this is the cause an force behind our Christian walk. We are ‘His workmanship’ in action, not some presumed freedom of the will in action] created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has BEFORE ORDAINED that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10).

Etc., etc.

Now then, since the nation of Israel did NOT have "such an HEART in them," and since they were all born with "carnal minds," and since Israel as a nation was "accustomed to do evil," and since God had not at that time purposed to perform His "workmanship in them," etc., etc., is there any possibility that Israel will be able to follow through and perform obedience to God according to their own power of the "will" to do so?

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, you shall sleep with your father; and this people will rise up and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will FORSAKE ME, and BREAK MY COVENANT which I have made with them"(Deut. 31:16).

"And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and FORSOOK THE LORD AND SERVED NOT HIM" (Judges 10:6).

As we all know Israel did utterly corrupt themselves. The whole generation, which left Egypt, died in the desert and never did inherit the promise land. And those who entered into the land of promise were driven into captivity for their evils and sins. But how did God know they would do that? Was it just a good guess? No, God not only prophesies the future, it is God Who brings about the future. Israel’s will was not "free" to say or do anything. Israel’s history was all of God.

ISRAEL’S HISTORY AND DESTINY WAS IN GOD’S HANDS

Did the nation of Israel have the power to determine their own will and hence their own destiny? Or did God control their destiny? And do we have a statement of Scripture for proof? Yes, it was God, and not Israel’s free will that took them where they went and determined their future:

"But it shall come to pass, if you will not hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command you this day; that all these curses shall come upon you, and overtake you…" (Deut. 28:15 thru 19).

Later God told Moses which course of action Israel would take: obedience and blessings or disobedience and cursings. God then prophesied that Israel would be disobedient and utterly corrupt themselves. Once God pronounced which way the would go, then that is the way they had to go.

"Free will" was not even an option, because they had no free will.

And so, Who is it that is responsible for all of these curses that will come upon Israel? None other than "the LORD." Israel’s "will" was not free and was therefore helpless to prevent what "the LORD" had stated WOULD HAPPEN:

"The LORD shall send upon you cursing…" (Deut. 28:20).

"The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto theee…" (Ver. 21).

"The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption…" (Vers. 22-23).

"The LORD shall make the rain…" (Ver. 24).

"The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten…" (Vers. 25-26).

"The LORD will smite thee…" (Ver. 27).

"The LORD shall smite thee…" (Vers. 28-34).

"The LORD shall smite thee…" (Ver. 35).

"The LORD shall bring thee…" (Vers. 36-47).

"Therefore shall you serve your enemies which THE LORD shall send against thee…" (Vers. 48-58)

"Then the LORD will make your plagues wonderful [extraordinary]…" (Ver. 59).

"Moreover HE [the LORD] will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt…" (Vers. 60-63).

"And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people…" (Ver. 64).

"And the LORD shall bring you into Egypt again…" (Ver. 68).

God has provided us with hundreds of Scriptures which plainly in great detail state what He would, and will do, with and to the major nations of the world. And yet billions of Christians believe that man (all mankind) possesses a God-given ability (called free-will) by which all mankind can thwart the very words, declarations, pronouncements, and detailed prophecies which God has spoken and determined beforehand, absolutely will happen just as He has stated. And even when this total contradiction is pointed out to them, virtually none of them see a problem with it.

The world of Christendom has no problem in believing in doctrinal contradictions and square circles. God pronounced all of these evils and curses on Israel and He said that He would be the One to do it. The words of ALL the people of Israel barely stopped echoing off of the canyon walls before God told Moses that Israel would not do what they promised according to their own will. What ‘free will?" They had not free will. They had a weak will that was not free and was totally incapable of carrying out it’s own desire and declaration of obedience.

After God made these pronouncements upon Israel, there was no possible way that they could "free will" themselves out of these impending dilemmas. Israel did not have free will and they did not have self-determinism. God told them how it would be, and that's how it was. "And the rest," as they say, "is history."

Israel’s self-assured ‘free will’ pronouncement was dashed on the rocks of God’s sovereign will:

Man’s weak will:

"And ALL the people [everyone’s will] answered together, and said, ALL THAT THE LORD HAS SPOKEN WE WILL DO. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord" (Ex. 19:.

Remember now, that according to the theory of free will, all Israel willed with their own FREE WILL to do all that they promised.

God’s Sovereign Will:

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers; and this people WILL rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and WILL forsake Me, and break my covenant which I have made with them… For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord…" (Deut. 31:16 & 29).

And the winner is:

"And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they [Israel] returned, and corrupted themselves more than their father, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them, they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way" (Judges 2:19).

There is no problem or difficulty in determining from hundreds and hundreds of Scriptures that man has a will that is caused to be what it is by God’s will. Against this truth there really are no sound arguments. The real problem for people to understand this truth is two-fold:

People want to be their own demigod, which cannot be controlled by anything or any one. This is the one area were all humanity can shine.

People don’t approve of God’s way of doing things. They argue that if God is sovereign and operates as the Scriptures tell us, then it isn’t fair and it isn’t even morally right.
They say that for God to be in total control of us would be to treat us like robots. And that it would be evil for God to predetermine us to do evil before He allows good to be done in us. And so, as the world of Christendom does not approve of the God of Scripture, they create their own god in their own image—one that they themselves can control by the power of their own supernatural freedom of will. And because they cannot with a carnal mind love and obey God, and

"…because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall SEND THEM strong delusion, that they should believe a [the] LIE: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (II Thes. 2:10-12).

From Genesis to Revelation, God has provided us with hundreds and hundreds of statements, prophecies, declarations, etc., concerning the nations and everyone living in the nations. Nowhere can one example be found that shows a nation or an individual of a nation making an UNCAUSED "free will choice." But rather, example after example by the dozens, we see that it is always without exception, God Who is bringing about His plan through individuals and nations.

ALL IS OF GOD AND FROM GOD

Do we think that God is no longer in charge and in control of all individuals and all nations? What happened? Did God change from how He always operated in the past? No:

"For I am the LORD, I CHANGE NOT…" (Mal. 3:6).

It is God Who has always done all the doing, whether physical or spiritual in nature. ALL IS OF GOD:

"In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose OF HIM Who works ALL things after the counsel of His OWN will" (Eph. 1:11).

How spiritually stubborn can we possibly be? I’ll tell you: As stubborn as God as predetermined and predestinated and purposed for us to be. But for those few whom God is calling to salvation by the "foolishness of preaching," let’s take a closer look at how things are done according to God.

"…we have obtained…" What we obtain from God, is not of our own will.

"…being predestinated…" What God predestinates is not of our own will.

"…the purpose of HIM…" What is God’s purpose is not of our own will.

"…works ALL things…" What is God’s work is not of our own will.

"…of His OWN will…" What is God’s OWN will is not of our own will.

ALL that we have, we have obtained from God. Not one thing have we obtained by our own presumed freedom of will. Can we take credit for anything that we have? Is our own will, independent of God’s will responsible for obtaining anything? Answer:

"For who makes you to differ from another? And what have you that you did not RECEIVE [Gk: ‘OBTAIN’]? [from God] now if you did receive it [from God], why do you glory [Gk: ‘boast’], AS IF YOU HAD NOT RECEIVED IT [from God, but rather of your own ‘free’ will]?" (I Cor. 4:7).

Since it is a Scriptural fact and truth that no one ever has received or obtained anything aside from it being given to him of God, why does all of Christendom boast of their achievements as though they were not gifts from God straight out of heaven, but rather the results of their own clever resourcefulness.

"EVERY good gift and EVERY perfect gift is FROM ABOVE, and comes down FROM THE FATHER OF LIGHTS, with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning [in other words of Scripture: ‘I CHANGE NOT…’]" (James 1:17).

According to this verse and a hundred like it, does any good gift come from "below," from the "carnal mind of darkness," from the "fabled ‘free will of man," who is always changing being "tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine?" Hardly. So why then do we "boast and glory" as if these hundreds of verses of Scripture are not true, and that we really can choose to do good through our own carnal-minded, God-rejecting will?

Giving credit to one’s presumed and phantom "free" will is a far more serious sin than most could ever realize. Whatever, we bow down to, give homage to, give credit to, in place of the one and only True God are Idolatry! The Scriptures tell us that everything that we have, we "received" or "obtained" from God. Every good gift comes from God. Then why do we believe that through the agency of a supposed "free" will or "free" choices, we are able to obtain these things? It is a SIN to believe in, take credit for, and trust in one’s own will, as though we can "will" to do and accomplish things ON OUR OWN.

JOB DIDN’T HAVE FREE WILL/CHOICE

Job finally saw this SIN in his life and repented of it. Must we be brought down as low as Job was before we see this sin in our own lives:

"If I rejoiced because MY wealth was great, and because MINE HAND HAD GOTTEN much…"

Have we not all said, or believed, that it is by man’s own free moral choices that he can either be a bum or make himself prosperous? Have we not all believed this, and acted on this, and taken credit, all through this belief in our own "free will choices?" Of course we have, and IT IS A SIN that needs to be repented of:

"…because MINE HAND HAD GOTTEN much… THIS ALSO were an INIQUITY TO BE PUNISHED by the Judge: for I should [would] have DENIED the God that is above" (Job. 31:25 & 28).

It is "iniquity" to take to one’s self, powers and accomplishments that belong to God and to ONLY God. Job repented of this iniquity. What is our excuse for continuing to cling to this idol of the heart?

PART 4


SAMSON AND HIS WIFE HAD NO FREE WILL/CHOICE

I have heard many argue that God does not burden Himself with the billions of daily details required to run this universe. Oh really? And is this why God knows every bird that falls and every hair on our head? Of course God is in the details, no matter how small.

Most would not think God would bother Himself to get involved with the romantic affairs of young lovers. Not true. All is of God:

In Judges 14 we read of Samson wanting to take a wife of the Philistines. His parents protested. They wanted Samson to marry a woman from their own tribe. But Samson insisted because this Philistine woman pleased him much. Was there any way that this marriage could have been avoided? Was it the work of human "free will" that brought it about? No, human will had nothing to do with this marriage. It was all of God. Here is what the Scriptures say:

"But his father and his mother [who rejected this marriage] knew not [of course, most of humanity ‘knows NOT’ that all is of God] that it [this marriage that was thought to be sinful] WAS OF THE LORD" (Judges 14:4).

But why? Why would God arrange a marriage that they thought was sinful?

"…that He sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel" (Judges 14:4).

There is the Scriptural answer to the why of this romance between Samson and this Philistine woman—it was all of God, for God’s purpose. God could best bring about His judgment on the Philistines by having Samson marry a Philistine. Simple, huh? God has a plan for every person’s life, and this IS how God operates. God planned your wedding as well. God plans everything. It just that most of humanity, "…knew NOT that it was OF THE LORD."

THEY KNEW NOT THAT IS WAS OF THE LORD

This "knowing not" is still the problem with the world and with God’s people and church. If they only "KNEW" what the Lord is doing and why He is doing it, there wouldn’t be a thousand differing denominations in the church today. If they only "KNEW" that their lives are totally in the hands of God they wouldn’t be as spiritually frustrated as many are. If they only "KNEW" that ALL IS OF GOD, they could have a quiet confidence that all will turn out well, not for just those who "are loving God," but eventually for the whole world.

"That they may SEE, and KNOW, and CONSIDER, and UNDERSTAND together, that THE HAND OF THE LORD HAS DONE THIS…" (Isa. 41:20).

Done what? Done only the "context, context, context" of Isaiah chapter 40 only? Or the context of the whole book of Isaiah only? No, the entire Bible is filled with such statements regarding a whole plethora of thoughts, plans, and activities of mankind, in every conceivable context:

"And ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD…" (II Cor. 5:18).

"For OF HIM, and THROUGH HIM, and TO HIM, are ALL THINGS: to Whom be glory for ever. Amen" (Rom. 11:36).

"For it became Him, FOR Whom are all things, and BY Whom are all things…" (Heb. 2:10).

"And He is before ALL things, and by Him ALL things consist" (Col. 1:17).

"In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who WORKS ALL THINGS AFTER THE COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL" (Eph. 1:11).

"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me.

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, MY COUNSEL SHALL STAND, and I WILL DO ALL MY PLEASURE: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes My counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I WILL ALSO BRING IT TO PASS; I HAVE PURPOSED IT, I WILL ALSO DO IT" (Isa. 4 6:9-11).

"The lot is cast into the lap; but the WHOLE DISPOSING THEREOF IS OF THE LORD" (Prov. 16:33).

"For it is GOD which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).

"The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, IS FROM THE LORD" (Prov. 16:1). [Regardless of the proper translation of the first half of this verse, the second half is emphatically] "…FROM THE LORD."

"O Lord, I know that the way of man is NOT IN HIMSELF [not in his will or choice] it is not in man that walks to direct his steps [he is not ‘free’ to choice where he will walk]" (Jer. 10:23).

"Man’s goings [steps] are OF THE LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?" (Prov. 20:24).

But of what value are these many Scriptures that I have cited if we don’t believe any of them? Is there even ONE Scripture that I have cited above that you believe to be an ABSOLUTE AND TRUE STATEMENT OF GOD regarding man and his ability to will and choose independently of God? Well if you can agree that even ONE of them is absolutely true, then you must admit that God and the Scriptures allow no place for any reality of man having his OWN WILL that is FREE from the sovereignty of God’s operations of all.

No, it was "the hand of the LORD" that caused Israel to first say they would obey and later decide to not obey. It was "the hand of the LORD" that caused Joseph’s brothers to hate him, sell him into slavery, and then later to bow down to him. It was "the hand of the LORD" that put Samson and the Philistine woman together, but as with these and hundreds of more dealings by "the hand of the Lord" mentioned in Scripture, they "KNEW NOT THAT IT WAS OF THE LORD."

Do you "know NOT" that all that you have said and done today, "was OF THE LORD?"

Most of humanity is born, lives, does evil and good, then dies, and "KNEW NOT THAT IT WAS OF THE LORD."

In Part C of this series, I will show you a statement where God Himself tells us that when He uses someone for His purpose, the one being used thinks that he himself is planning and carrying out the desires of his own heart and is making the choices of his own will; whereas God tells us that it is HE and not the one being used that is in totally control of everything, and that the one being used is totally unaware that he is being used like an inanimate object that doesn’t even have a brain!

Yes, God tells us that this is how He operates in ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH! A few have been aware of God’s operation of all, down through the centuries; most however, have not. I will share these Scriptures with you next time. Robots? Nay, we are but clay (albeit ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ clay, Psalm 139:14) in the hands of the Master Potter.

The Myth of ‘Free Will’ Exposed

It has been foolishly asked from time immemorial whether God could ever build a rock so heavy that even He couldn’t lift it. Let me suggest, that if we let “will” represent a rock, and “free will” a rock so heavy that God can’t lift it, then God has indeed, finally built a rock so heavy that even He cannot lift it! For just like the proverbial immovable object, man’s phantom “free will” has become God’s very Own Achilles heel. The only Sovereign-Buster in the universe is man’s fabled “free will.” According to Christian doctrine: the “Irresistible Force”—GOD’S will; has been decidedly and eternally thwarted by the “immovable object”—MAN’S will.

Someone accused me yesterday of going against “The Greatest Theological Thinkers of our time.” Actually I thought it a nice compliment. Not many religions spell out in just a sentence or two what they believe is the plan and purpose of God. But here’s one from a “Great Theological Thinker”—Milton G. Henschel prior director of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society—Jehovah’s Witnesses. He said this with regards to the plan and purpose of God:

“His [Jehovah’s] supremacy has been challenged by Satan, who caused the rebellion in Eden and who puts the integrity of all men to the test. God’s primary purpose is the vindication of this supremacy.”

So here we have the words of a Great Theological Thinker from a very large denomination of worldwide believers, but it is sheer nonsense. Not one word of his statement is Scriptural, and yes, like all great religions, this one too believes that God gave mankind the power of “free will.”

First he suggests that Satan is challenging God’s supremacy (sovereignty). Not true. Satan couldn’t challenge his own tail in the presence of God. Next man’s integrity is being tested. Not true. Man has no integrity. And finally that the “primary purpose” of our very existence is “the vindication of God’s supremacy (sovereignty).

And just how does the god of this world’s religions hope to accomplish this great goal of being adjudicated as “Supreme Sovereign of the Universe?” Why by creating billions and billions of humans with “free moral agency,” all of which supposedly CAN, and most of which supposedly WILL, THWART AND WRECK HIS PRIMARY PURPOSE, and never ever love or obey him!!

The instant that this god created “free moral, uncaused, independent of god, god-thwarting will,” his plan of “supremacy” was doomed, for by so doing he created his own Frankenstein Monster which would ultimately turn on him and knock him off of any presumed “supremacy” or “sovereignty.” So much for another “great” thinker.

This God-demeaning, God-weakening, God-defying, God-thwarting attribute of so-called “free-will” is lauded as one of God’s single-most ultra-grand achievements and gifts to humankind. Albeit the very thought that God would build a rock (man’s ‘free-will’) so powerful that it would thwart the very will and purpose of its own Creator is absurd.

SATAN AND THE ANGELS DID NOT HAVE “FREE-WILL”

Was Satan once an angelic cherub named “Lucifer” who used his supposed God-given free-will to rebel against God and thus become Satan the Devil?

It’s a fable. It never happened. It is a Christian hoax. Satan was never “good.” Satan was never “truthful.” Satan does not have free-will. Satan was always Satan, and nobody but Satan “…from the beginning.”

For proof that Satan was never an angelic cherub named “Lucifer,” see Installment IX. I will not take the time to re-write that proof here, however, we will look at Scriptural proof that Satan was Satan from the beginning, and that God created him as he is. Satan did not create himself or free-will himself into the Devil.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1;1).

We all know what the earth is. The heavens, however, is a different matter. The physical heaven is where we find the moon, sun, and stars. But God’s domain is a spiritual heaven.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world [Gk: ‘age’], against spiritual [Gk: ‘spiritual powers of, or spiritual hosts of, or spiritual forces of’] wickedness in high places [Gk: ‘heavenly places’]” (Eph. 6:12).

So God created the plural “heavens” “in the beginning.” And Paul tells us that there are “principalities and powers” in these “heavenly places” or “celestials” as it is in the Greek. And that these “principalities and powers” are powers, hosts, or forces that are “wicked!”

“For by Him [Jesus] were all things created that are in the heaven [Gk: ‘heavens”—it is plural in the Greek as it is in the Hebrew], and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers ALL things were created by Him, and for Him” (Col. 1:16).

“Principalities and powers” are part of the “all” which Jesus created “in the beginning,” at the beginning of creation. And these “principalities and powers” are “wicked” forces, which we wrestle against. These powers are under authority.

“But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow does not cast out devils [demons], but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils” (Matt. 12:24).

Beelzebub is from the Hebrew, Baal [a Phoenician deity] and Zbuwb [a fly], thus the “god fly.” Couple this with the knowledge of where flies hang out, and in parody, Satan was known as the dung god. Fitting, I think. Jesus accepted their use of this title for Satan:

“And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan [referring back to Beelzebub introduced by the Pharisees] cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?” (Matt. 12:25-26).

Satan never was a cherub possessing free will; neither does he now have free will. Satan is a creature that obeys the commands of his Creator and never talks back. Whenever Jesus told Satan to “get thee behind Me,” Satan got behind Him (Matt. 16:23, Mark 8:33, Luke 4:. When God said he could go so far and no further in the trial of Job, then that’s precisely how far he went and no further. When Jesus told Satan “get thee hence… then the devil leaves Him…” (Matt. 4:10). Satan has no “free will” to resist.

ONE OF THESE CREATED WICKED FORCES WAS A SERPENT

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made” (Gen. 3:1).

This God-created serpent deceived Eve (I Tim. 2:14). God “made” “the serpent” who “deceived” Mother Eve. Notice that God did not create something called “Lucifer,” that was “…more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.” If this “serpent” is indeed, “the Devil,” then the Scripture plainly tells us that this was a beast “…which the Lord God had made.”

God told Adam and Eve:

“But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

Satan the Serpent, however, said:

“Ye shall not surely die” (Gen. 3:3 & 4).

The Old Serpent, the Devil, LIED!

Now then, was there ever a time when the Devil was not a liar?

“Ye are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).

Satan the Devil was a liar “…from the beginning.” But didn’t he once “abide IN the truth” before he became Satan? Never.

The phrase, “…and abode not in the truth…” is proof against any such theory. Someone suggested that Satan once did stand in the truth, and this verse is telling us that he “…did not continue standing in the truth…” That is not what this phrase is stating. Notice a few other translations of this phrase:

Young’s Literal Translation: “…and in the truth he has not stood….”

Green’s Interlinear Greek-English New Testament: “…and he has not stood in the truth…”

Emphatic Diaglott Interlinear: “…has not stood in the truth…”

No, Satan the Devil has never stood in the truth. He was a liar and a murderer “…from the beginning.” And so we have proof that God created Satan just as he is.

About five times a year I get a long email from someone trying to prove to me that the “serpent in the Garden” was not Satan, but Adam’s carnal mind, or some other such thing. God tells us, however, who Satan really is: “that old serpent." Proof:

“And the great dragon was cast out, that Old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan” (Rev. 12:9).

Is this not the same “crooked serpent and dragon” mentioned in Isa. 27:1 which God will yet punish:

“In that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea” (Isa. 27:1).

The word “liviathan” means: “SERPENT.”

The word “dragon” means: “figuratively the constellation of the dragon; a sea SERPENT.”

God is not going to “punish” a constellation in the sky or a fish in the sea. This is speaking of that great and wicked spirit: Satan, the Devil, that Old serpent, the dragon, the crooked serpent, the destroyer, the accuser, the Adversary.

Did “…the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan…” (Rev. 20:2), form himself out of a perfect angel/cherub, or did God form this serpent as he now is? Answer:

“By His spirit He [God] has garnished [adorned] the heavens; His hand has formed the crooked serpent” (Job 26:13).

God did not form a perfect cherub named Lucifer who then became the crooked serpent.

Satan was not an “Angel of Light which transformed himself into Satan,” as the Christian Church teaches, but rather:

“And no marvel: for Satan himself is transformed [Gk: or ‘disguised’—Strong’s #3345] into an angel of light” (II Cor. 11:14).

The “Lucifer became Satan” fable is Scripturally contradicted by the “Satan pretends to be an angel of light” truth.

Satan the serpent is a destroyer:

“Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer” (I Cor. 10:10).

What is this “destroyer?” The word is taken from the Greek word, olothreutes, and guess what it means? It means “venomous SERPENT.” This serpent is a “destroyer.” God “formed the crooked serpent,” and this serpent is a “destroyer.” Isn’t that the very purpose for which God created this “venomous serpent/destroyer?”

“Behold I have created the smith that blows the coals in the fire, and that brings forth an instrument for his work; and I [God] have created the waster [Heb: ‘destroyer’] to destroy” (Isa. 54:16).

Another reference to this destroyer:

“The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way…” (Jer. 4:7).

God had “sown His word into Adam and Eve.” When the serpent appeared unto Eve, she still had that “sown word in her heart”—“But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said [this is the word of God which was still sown in Eve’s hear speaking—she retained it, and knew what God had said, and knew it to be the ‘word of God’], ‘Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die’” (Gen. 3:3).

The Word of God was sown to both Eve and Adam “by the way” and Eve certainly “heard” the Word in her ear, and took it “to heart.” But it obviously was not well rooted. It had not as yet become part of her spiritual character. And so the serpent came on the scene very quickly:

“And the serpent said unto the woman, ‘Ye shall not surely die. For God does know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Ver 4-5).

The serpent appealed to Eve’s carnal mind and took away the word of God. Next:

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes… she took of the fruit thereof, and DID EAT…” (Ver. 6).

Now then, just who is it that Jesus tells us plainly “takes away the word” when it has not had time to be properly rooted? Answer:

“And these are they by the wayside, where the word is sown, but when they have heard, Satan comes immediately, and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts” (Mark 4:15).

It was the serpent in the Garden, which took away the word of God from Eve. Hence we have proof that “the serpent” was “that Old serpent—Satan.”

And although God said that “He” destroyed and killed the firstborn of Egypt, there is one verse that specifically tells us Whom it was that God used to accomplish this slaughter:

“For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood upon the lintel, and the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer [permit] the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you” (Ex. 12:23).


We now have a mountain of Scriptural proof that Satan is “the serpent,” and that he has always been the serpent from his creation:

Satan is identified as: “…that Old SERPENT, called the Devil, and Satan…” (Rev. 12:9 & 20:2).

God is going to punish “liviathan,” and liviathan means, SERPENT. (Isa. 27:1).

God calls this adversary, “…the piercing SERPENT…” (Isa. 27:1).

God also calls him, “…that crooked SERPENT…” (Isa. 27:1).

God calls him, “that dragon…” Dragon comes from a Hebrew word meaning: sea SERPENT. (Isa. 27:1).

God says, “…I have created the waster [Heb: ‘destroyer’] to destroy” (Isa. 54:16). In I Cor. 10:10 we learn that those who murmured in ancient Israel, and the first born of Egypt

“…were destroyed by the destroyer,” (I Cor. 10:10 and Ex. 12:23),

and the word translated destroyer in I Cor. 10:10 means, “venomous SERPENT.”

And according to Job, Who was it that formed this “crooked serpent” in the first place?

“…By His spirit He [God] has garnished the heavens; His hand has formed the crooked SERPENT” (Job 26:13).

Jesus said that “Satan comes immediately and takes away the Word.” Eve had God’s Word, and it was taken away by the serpent, hence, Satan is the SERPENT.

Was the Garden serpent a fallen cherub or was he a “serpent which God had made” AS a serpent?

“Now the SERPENT was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made” (Gen. 3:1).

In Revelation 12:9 and 20:2 Satan is called “that OLD SERPENT.” Could any serpent be older than the one God had made at creation and placed in the Garden?

Satan deceived our first parents in the Garden, and he has been deceiving the whole world ever since. There is absolutely not one scrap of Scriptural proof that Satan was a perfect cherub or that he has EVER exercised a power known as free will.

Satan thinks he has free will. Eve thought she had free will. All mankind still thinks he has free will. But the Scriptures disprove it over and over and over again.

EVEN GOD’S CHOSEN ELECT WERE ONCE DECEIVED

The workings of Satan have deceived the whole world including the ones whom God would later call to be His elect:

“And then shall that Wicked [‘Lawless One’—the beast within all of us] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan [It is not Satan, but is ‘after the 0working of Satan] with all power and signs and lying wanders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God [yes, God Himself] shall send them strong dilusion, that they should believe a lie [Gk: ‘the lie’]…” (II Thes. 2:9-11).

And just how much of mankind and how much of this world has God given to that same Old Serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, to deceive?

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which DECEIVES THE WHOLE WORLD” (Rev. 12:9).

“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect” (Matt. 24:24)

Once one becomes a member of God’s very elect, he can be deceived no more.

Don’t you be deceived. This verse does not say: “Satan, which deceives the whole world (except the two billion twenty-first century professing Christians of the world).” No, Satan deceives “the whole world,” including the two billion professing Christians. How many have escaped the deception of Satan by the use of their “free will?” Not one man possesses a will by which he can freely resist Satan. If we are to “resist the Devil so that he flees from us,” we will need the power of God’s Spirit in us.

THE INVISIBLE HAND OF DECEPTION

Just how does God deceive mankind into thinking that their thoughts and choices are “free and uncaused?” The answer is quite simple: man does not see, feel or perceive in any way, either internally or externally, any force or power causing him to think or do anything other than what he consciously wills. Surely that is enough proof for any carnal-minded person that his will and choices are free from any causality whatsoever. If he can’t see, feel, or perceive of anything making or causing him to choose a particular way, then surely, there is nothing there, and his “will is free.”

As though a mortal, carnal-minded man can perceive things of the spirit. A little later we will look at a verse that unlocks the secret as to why carnal people cannot understand the reason why they don’t have a free will.

God uses means and ways that are not perceived by man in causing his thoughts, will, and choices. What are always miracles from God are perceived by the carnal mind to be merely routine acts of nature. Here is an example that doesn’t involve any real danger or evil that should be apparent to any thinking person:

All week your wife and you plan to take the children on a picnic at a local state park. Everything is prepared and ready; everyone is excited; and the will of everyone is set on this picnic. But when Saturday morning arrives and the car is loaded and ready to go, everyone changes his will about going on the picnic. In a matter of moments all decide that they no longer want to go on this picnic that they have been looking forward to all week. Why? What happened? What changed their minds? Answer? It’s raining.

God does, of course, as we shall see from the Scriptures, often use much harsher and more painful means to cause men to exercise their carnal minds in very evil ways. But even then, they are totally oblivious to the actual causes of their thoughts and deeds.

Is it a sin to want to go on a picnic with one’s family? No. Is it a sin for God to make (cause) it to rain? No. But when shown from the Scriptures that God often uses ways and means that are very severe and brutal, virtually all, professing Christians refuse to believe even the very words of God Himself. They instead become extremely angry with me for showing them these Scriptures, and for insisting that these hard-to-accept Scriptures are true, and actually eventuate in a much higher good than would have been otherwise possible.

Back to our example of a family picnic: God doesn’t force our family to desire a picnic or force them to change their mind about going on a picnic, but God does control the weather, just as He controls all circumstances leading up to the rainy day. The weather is but one of millions of things that control and influence our daily decisions. Weather is no more a natural uncaused event than was the recent Christmas tsunami:

“He [God] causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries” (Psalm 135:7).

God, “causes,” “makes,” and He “brings” into existence the manifestations of nature’s powers. Nothing “just happens” without a cause, and God says that He is the cause—every time and always. Yet how many Christians reading this will now believe that it is God Who causes the weather and all catastrophic (even acknowledged by insurance companies as “acts of God”)? It is not really “me” and “my” statements that people find difficult, if not impossible to believe, but rather the Scriptures that I quote to them.

So maybe most of my readers will concede that it was indeed God who caused the rain, which caused our family to change their minds rather than to have a wet picnic. But is God the ultimate cause of all things that cause all mankind to make every choice and decision based on powers and circumstances way beyond their control and often beyond their knowledge? If it is God, who causes all circumstances which cause all of our thoughts and decisions and acts, then clearly our thoughts and actions are not based on uncaused and non-existent circumstances. Clearly our will is caused and not “free” or “uncaused.”

Did God, for example, cause the Christmas tsunami that killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people, which in turn, caused millions of people worldwide to think and make choices based solely upon this one disaster? We shall see.

GOD HAS PERFECTLY CHOREOGRAPHED HIS CREATION

All that has been, and is, and will be, has been planned and choreographed down to the movement of the last atom, by the Designer and Operator of the Universe, without Whom everything would fall apart in oblivion:

“For by Him [Jesus] were ALL things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible [unseen powers], whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him. And He is before all things and by Him all things consist [‘has its cohesion,’ ]” (Col. 1:16-17).

Since “by Jesus all things consist and have their cohesion,” why is it that only man and his fabled “free-moral-agency-will” is the only truly “free radical” in the universe? Nonsense! Even “free radicals” operate under law—God operates all that exists, by law. Jesus did not create the universe and all that in it is, and then goes off on a trip to let the universe fend for itself. God presently is “working—operating” all that exists, and that includes the “will” of all mankind. Here’s some more Scriptural proof:

“…God which works [‘operates’] all in all ” (I Cor. 12:6). God works all that there is in all that there are. Pretty neat, huh? When we have a God this great, we can expect nothing but perfect assured success. The Christian teaching that God only can “desire” great things, but He cannot actually “accomplish” great things is absurd.

Here is Christian theology at its best: God invents man. God desires for man to work a certain way. Man fails to work in the way that God desires. Out of uncontrollable frustration, God tortures his mal-functioning invention for all eternity. And no one sees a problem with this anti-scriptural heresy.

Who among us has not seen in real life or in the movies: A man invents a machine. He desires for his invention to work a certain way. The invention fails to work in the desired way. The inventor smashes the mal-functioning machine into a thousand pieces? We laugh at such stupid and juvenile behavior, yet we worship a god who supposedly acts a thousand times more stupid and evil than our carnal-minded inventor. Go figure.

What kind of insanity blames a “created machine” for any mal-functions? God created the human race; God is responsible for any and all activities of the human race. No one asked to be born! And yet… and YET, there are those evil-minded theologians and Christians who believe that God will not only torture most of His creatures, but that He actually knew in advance of their creation that He would torture most of them in literal fire for all eternity!

Not only would such an “Inventor” be stupid, but he would be evil beyond words to describe. Yet even all of this stupidity and evil of the human heart, “…is of God.” Most have not yet even conceived of the Judgment that will come on them for the heresy of their own hearts. This judgment of our hearts is also part of God’s grand plan. God has made man in this weakened spiritual state for a grand and glorious destiny. Man is not yet created in God’s full spiritual Image, but that is the process, purpose, and destiny of the human race—to finally be the very Image of God Himself.

The Scriptures plainly show and state in many places, that the natural mind of man cannot love and obey God. Yet theologians tell us that unless man does, of his own free will, love and obey God, that God will torture them in fire for all eternity. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place!

“…Who works [‘operates’] ALL THINGS after the counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:11).

“For OF Him, and THROUGH Him, and TO Him, are ALL THINGS…” (Rom. 11:36).

“And ALL THINGS are of God…” (II Cor. 5:;18).

“…calls those things which be NOT, as though they WERE” (Rom. 4:17).

“Declaring the END from the BEGINNING…” (Isa. 46:10).

“For in Him we LIVE, and MOVE, and have our BEING [Gk: ‘we ARE’—we exist]…” (Acts 17:28).

All energy, all matter, all creation, and all humans are in God. We can only “live and move… IN HIM.” And this is why:

“O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walks to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23).

No man has a will that can choose contrary to what God already knows will be: “…and calls those things which be not [thoughts and deeds which have not yet been supposedly ‘freely’ thought of] as though they were [as though they already were thought of—how is that ‘freedom’ of the will?]” (Rom. 4:17).

I will repeat this until I am blue in the face, and perchance somebody out there will say, “Ah, yes, now I get it.” Once more: Since God says very plainly that He knows all things and that He knows all things before they happen, how is it then possible that anyone can think a thought which God didn’t know he would have to think? And if God already knows every thought that you must think: how are you free to not think those very foreknown thoughts and those foreknown thoughts only?

If any person in the history of the world can think one thought that God did not foreknow that he would think, then God cannot;

“call those things which be not as though they were.”

“Man’s goings [Heb: ‘steps’] are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way?” (Prov. 20:24).

“The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.” (Prov. 16:1).

No one can make one statement out of his mouth, unless it was first pre-ordained, foreknown, and approved of, by God!

“The Son of man [Jesus] can do nothing of Himself… without Me [Jesus] ye [all of you—all of mankind] can do nothing” (John 5:19 & 15:5].

THE CHRISTMAS TSUNAMI IN INDONESIA—ALL IS OF GOD

Shortly after what has been called the Christmas tsunami which destroyed the coastal regions in a half dozen countries surrounding the Indian Ocean, Joe Scarborough of MSNBC News had 700 Club President Pat Robertson on his show. The previous night Scarborough asked religious leaders why a loving God allowed so many thousands to die in this disaster. He reported that the L.A. Times and the Washington Post also asked similar questions.

Mr. Scarborough introduced his evening topic by asking the following: “So, is God a loving father or a mass murderer?”

Is God a mass murdered? How did guest Pat Robertson answer this question? By leaving God out of the equasion altogether! The truth be known: God does kill, destroy, and war, but He does not “murder” nor has He ever sanctioned “murder.” The 6th Commandment is: “You shall not murder” (Ex. 20:13).

After introducing Pat Robertson, Mr. Scarborough posed the following question: “Pat, I want to ask you a question… that Christians, Jews, Muslims, men and women of faith all over the world are asking tonight. And that is, how does a loving God allow a disaster like this to happen?

After giving a plug for his own relief program in the disaster area, Mr. Robertson said the following (I have the transcript):

“…the truth is, Joe, that natural disasters will happen on this planet. It was one of a subduction of one of the tectonic plates in the Indian Ocean. And it’s not God’s do [doing?]. It was one of those things, like a hurricane. It’s a natural release of heat in the atmosphere. And if people choose to live along the coastlines in dangerous areas, they are in trouble, just like people who live on the San Andreas fault in California …but you can’t blame God for your foolishness. If you want to live there, that’s too bad.”

What? It was a natural release of heat? It was just one of those things? God had nothing to do with it? If you want to live there, that’s too bad? And he takes the liberty to use the word “foolishness?”

First we are told that God has nothing to do with this tsunami. As though it is not God’s fault if this earth is fraught with unseen dangers of Biblical proportions. What does “God” have to do with such things? I mean, after all, God only created this earth and its surrounding universe. Is God’s “sustaining” ability a little lax, seeing that an awful lot of bad things on earth just “seem to happen out of the blue?” Second, maybe we are to believe that God was even unaware of this tsunami before it was too late for Him to do anything about it? I speak as a fool.

Since Pat Robertson really personifies much of fundamentalist Christendom, it might be a good idea to pursue his premise a little further. Just where does Mr. Robertson think that the six billion people on this earth should be living? Let’s look at Mr. Robertson’s answer a little more closely and see if there is a lick of Scriptural truth or wisdom to what he said.

If Pat Robertson were to read the book of Joshua, for example, he would see where God specifically gave Judah a border on the Mediterranean Sea Coast for a possession to dwell there (Joshua 15:12). So let’s not be assuming that God considers all people “foolish” who live in coastal areas of the world. If, however, coastal areas are to be avoided as foolish places to live—that would render huge portions of the earth uninhabitable, as would most of the remaining land of planet Earth:

And he already mentioned that living near fault lines is a foolish thing to do (there are fault lines virtually everywhere on earth).

What about living on the plains where tornadoes are a constant threat to life, limb and property, not to mention killer hail storms.

Certainly steep hills and mountains are not a good place to live. There is the constant threat of mudslides such as witnessed in Southern California, and avalanches which have already claimed many lives, and rock slides.

What about the many islands and areas of volcanoes? We have much historical evidence of the dangers in living at such places (witness Mt. St. Helen). There is also the infamous “ring of fire” which virtually surrounds the Pacific Ocean.

Are the deserts of the world a good place to live? Hardly anything can live in such arid areas, not to mention the perils of constant sand storms.

And the whole Caribbean is potentially a dangerous place, seeing that we have killer hurricanes in this area.

Maybe the many river valleys of the world would be a good place to live. Of course there is the constant threat of flooding. Many lives are lost, crops are wiped out, and damage caused annually by the over-flowing of major and minor rivers.

So with that all said and considered, just where, Mr. Robertson, do you propose that the six billion people on this earth live? Just where can six thousand million citizens of planet earth live where they are guaranteed permanent “safe soil?” No, Mr. Robertson, the people in Indonesia did not die because they were foolish for living in an unsafe area of the Earth.

The tsunami was the means by which these people in Indonesia were killed, but it was not the reason that they were killed. God always has a purpose behind His means, and God was behind that tsunami.

CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH?

Even if we were to accept Mr. Robertson’s theory that God had nothing to do with this Christmas tsunami, we would still be forced to concede that “God allowed it.” That is, in fact, the terminology that is used in most discussions of this subject—Why did God “allow” it? Why does God “allow” this, that, and the other thing?

Allow, allow, allow. That is the mind-set of most discussions whether they are religious or secular—Why did God “allow” it? Surely no one doubts God’s ability to stop any or all such catastrophes if He so desired? A man in an Atlanta Court House murdered three people. Since God obviously did not stop it, why then did God “allow” it? Would you really like to know why God “allowed” those murders and why He allowed the Christmas tsunami?

And not only why did He allow this tsunami, but all tsunamis, and typhoons, and hurricanes, and floods, and tornadoes, and violent thunderstorms, and rock slides and mud slides, and avalanches, and volcanoes, and earthquakes, and forest fires, and droughts, and famines, and diseases, wars and holocausts, and (not just the killing 3 people in Atlanta), but all deaths? Do you really want to know why God “allows” these things? Are you sure you are ready for God’s answer to this most profound mystery in all creation?

I am reminded of the film, “A Few Good Men.” In a dramatic court scene Tom Cruise demands of the witness: “I want the TRUTH!” To which Jack Nicholson shouts back: “You can’t HANDLE the TRUTH!!”

This is what I fear is the situation here. People think they want the truth, but they can’t handle the truth. Very few indeed want the whole Truth: the whole counsel of God. And most of those who have heard it have been highly offended by it. Often they killed the messengers who brought God’s message of Truth. That’s just how offensive the Truth of God is to the carnal mind. I have a drawer full of emails that speak volumes against God’s Truth.

But I know that there are a few chosen of God to whom the Truth is not offensive. For those few I will continue. As Joan Rivers used to say: “Can we talk?” Are your kids in bed? Can we talk? The remainder of this series on free will is not for the immature or faint of heart.

Okay then, back to our question: Why does God “allow” all of the pain, suffering, disasters, and even mass killing of the innocent to happen? Actually, the question is not even a legitimate question because God does not “allow” any of these disasters to happen. Here then is one of the greatest truths in all the world and of all Scripture:

God does not “allow” anything to happen: God is the ultimate CAUSE of all things that happen!

If a person is able to prevent a crime (let’s say without any expense or harm to himself) but doesn’t, he is no better than the one who commits the crime. So now the question is: “Where is Jesus Christ when all such crimes are committed?" Is Jesus no more powerful or responsible than the god Baal?

“About noontime, Elijah began mocking them [the priests of Baal]. You’ll have to shout louder than that; he scoffed, to catch the attention of your god! Perhaps he is talking to someone, or is out sitting on the toilet, or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!” (I Kings 18:27, The Living Bible).

No, Jesus does not live far far away on the other side of the universe in a place called heaven. Heaven is not a place; heaven is the realm of spirit. Jesus does not sleep in heaven. Jesus does not live in a physical heaven. Jesus will not live in a physical body full of holes, for the rest of eternity either. It is impossible to even think about these important issues of life with the mentality of Christian doctrines. Jesus Christ is “spirit”: “Now the Lord is that SPIRIT…” (II Cor. 3:17). Make no mistake about it; Jesus Christ is present at every crime scene that ever was or will be.

Jesus is at the scene of every crime in the world, and He is there before the crime actually happens. What would Jesus say to a woman if she were in the presence of some slimeball who is hell-bent on raping her little daughter? We know that Jesus is there, but what if Jesus manifested Himself right there, at the scene? What would Jesus say when the woman would beg Him to stop this slimeball from raping or murdering her daughter?

Surely He would stop the crime, right? Well if that be the case, how come there are so many rapes and murders that have not been prevented by Jesus? Do not all parents (almost all) pray for the safety of their children? So the pat Christian answer is: “Well, we don’t know why, but God allowed it.” God no more allows crimes that harm one or two individuals than he allows tsunamies that harm and hundreds of thousands.

I am well aware of the fact that Jesus does at times intervene and stop some crime or evil from taking place. I am now referring to those times when He does not intervene and stop the crime. Why does He “allow” it?

You say, “Well, nobody knows the answer to that!” Oh but we do know the answer. The Scriptures give us the answer. We don’t want the Scriptural answer. We don’t want the truth. We can’t handle the truth. And woe to the messenger who delivers the truth!

And just what do we think we gain by using the catch phrase: “God allowed it?” Does that phrase get God off the hook of responsibility and place the responsibility upon His mal-functioning inventions? Does the word “allow” carry the connotation: “I had nothing to do with it?” “My hands are clean?” “It’s not my job to prevent evil crimes?” Is this what the word “allow” really means?

The American Heritage College Dictionary:

“ allow v. –lowed, -lowing, -lows. 1. To LET do or happen; PERMIT.”

“permit v. –mitted, -mitting, -mits. 1. To ALLOW the doing of; CONSENT. 2. To GRANT. 3. To AFFORD OPPORTUNITY.

Now then, do we feel better about this theological heresy and nonsense by using the word “allow”? If a Police Officer were to, LET HAPPEN, PERMIT, CONSENT, GRANT, and AFFORD OPPORTUNITY for a horrible crime to take place without lifting a finger to stop it, would he be morally guiltless for “allowing” it to happen? Does the catch phrase “allow” with all of its definitions somehow make void the responsibility of the Police Officer? Is God Almighty less capable and less responsible than even a carnal-minded Police Officer?

Why then do theologians invent their own solution to the problem by applying the unscriptural word “allow” to the acts of God, rather than to accept the plain truth of Scripture concerning these matters? Well, for the exact same reason they invent the unscriptural phrase “free-will” to get God off of the hook of responsibility for the evils in God’s Own creation! They don’t want the truth; they can’t handle the truth; the truth would convict their own evil and carnal-minded hearts, and they would be forced to humble themselves and repent!

Could any of us honestly say with respect to our presence at an imminent crime, that if we: “allowed, let happen, permitted to happen, consented to its happening, granted it to happen, and afforded it the opportunity to happen,” then our hands are clean? We have no involvement in the crime? We had no obligations, and we are not to be held accountable and responsible?

You know that I speak the truth, but many of you can’t handle the truth.

So am I saying that since God is the Creator of all, and Sustainer of all, and by Him all things Consist, and He already knows all that is and will be, and He works all things after the counsel of His Own will, that all of the crimes of the world are a part of God’s plan? No, that is not my teaching. But this is precisely what the Scriptures say! This is not some perverted theory. I read it in the Bible—in hundreds and hundreds of places!

I have no problem in justifying God in all of His doings, even though I personally am overwhelmed at times over the magnitude of pain and evil that God has subjected us to. It is humbling! It surely does produce God’s desired purpose, and I can personally attest to this fact. Inventing an unscriptural and anti-scriptural term like "human free will" or "free choice" does not remove the consequences of evil from God's shoulders.

GOD THE CREATOR OF EVIL

“That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I made peace [good], and create evil: I the Lord do all these things” (Isa. 45:6-7).

Notice that God did not create light to shine IN the darkness. No, God “created” darkness, itself. Darkness is not just the absence of light. Darkness was created by God. It does not “naturally” exist independent of His creating it. This, like everything else in the Bible, is a parable. Mankind is spiritually in “darkness.” And it is a very painful thing to come out.

“For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness [not ‘in’ darkness], has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” (II Cor. 4:6).

Before we go further, it is necessary for those who have never seen it proven, that it is God Who is the Creator, User, and unltimately, the Destroyer of evil.

I often receive emails from readers who assert that the word “evil” in this verse should be translated “calamity.” That is decidedly a fabricated assertion, but little would be gained by it even if it were true. Would the Christmas tsunami in Indonesia have reeked less havoc had it been a “calamity” rather than an “evil?” What would be gained by calling “evils” by the name “calamities”? That is nonsense.

Nevertheless, let it be known that the word translated “evil” in Isaiah 45:7 is the Hebrew word ra. The Hebrew word for “calamity” is the Hebrew word ade which means “misfortune, misery, or ruin. Whereas the Hebrew word ra means “bad or evil.” It is the same word used for the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil [ra].” It was not the tree of the knowledge of “good and calamity.” Did Jacob really mean to say, “a calamitous beast” had devoured his son? (Gen. 37:33)? Did Israel really “do calamity in the sight of God” by worshipping Balaam, or did they do evil? (Jud. 3:7).

The Hebrew ra means “bad or evil” and it is used over four hundred times to represent bad or evil, not calamity.

God created ra—EVIL. Furthermore God used evil and continues to use evil against His creatures all day long.

Understand that I take no emotional pleasure in teaching these truths other than that they are absolutely necessary if we are to understand the deeper ways of God with His creatures. But I will haste to add that like all of God’s deeper truths they can only be discerned spiritually by the Spirit of God. The carnal mind cannot and will not understand these truths.

THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH GOD CREATED EVIL

This is all the strange work of God. There is no free will about it. We are all born out of a dark womb into the natural light of day, but this too is but a parable. We must be “born again” out of spiritual darkness of this age into the glorious light of the Sun of God. It is a painful journey, and requires an experience of evil to accomplish.

“And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail has God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith” (Ecclesiastes 1:13).

What a horrible translation! My King James has three superior numbers in this one verse indicating three different words in the margin. Especially the last phrase:

“…this sore travail has God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.”

What pray tell does that mean? One of the most all-encompassing and profound verses in all Scripture, and most translations butcher it beyond understanding.

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE: “A thankless task God has appointed for men to be busied about.”

JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY: “…it is a sore task that God has given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.”

NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION: “What a heavy burden God has laid on men!”

YOUNG’S LITERAL TRANSLATION: “It is a sad travail God has given to the son of man to be humbled by it.”

This is really an important verse; we have got to get it right. Young’s Translation gets a little closer to the truth than the KJV or the previous three references. He got the humbled part right. But what is all this “sad travail,” “heavy burden,” “thankless task,” business all about? It is not that difficult if we will just look at the Hebrew words:

Ecc. 1:13 from the King James:

First, the word “this” may be better translated “it,” as some have done.

But far, far more important than all, the word “sore” should be translated “EVIL” as almost none have done. It is the Hebrew word ra which always means “EVIL,” and is translated as “evil” in hundreds and hundreds of other verses. Why not in this verse? The few times that ra is translated “sore” in the KJV, it ALWAYS means “evil” as in “evil sickness” or “evil troubles.”

The word “travail” in the KJV is not out of line with the Hebrew, but is nebulous and not easily understood by most. It would better translated as “employment” or “experience.”

And we have already seen from other versions that the KJV “exercised” is better translated “humbled” as Young’s and Concordant has done.

Here then is a proper translation of this most profound verse:

“It is an experience of evil Elohim [God] has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it” (Concorant Old Testament).

Now we can easily understand what is being said in this verse.

This “experience of evil” is not the purpose or goal of human existence, but this is indeed the process by which God is bringing His Sons and Daughters into glory! Most translations have hidden the meaning of this verse of Scripture. The translations just couldn’t believe that God would do such a thing. They see it all around them. They see it in thousands of Scriptures, but they just couldn’t bring themselves to come right out and say it, as God obviously has stated in the original Hebrew of this verse.

“It is an EXPERIENCE of EVIL that God has given to the sons of humanity to HUMBLE them by it.”

And to this agrees the rest of Scripture:

“For ALL his days are SORROWS, and his travail [experience] GRIEF…” (Ecc. 2:23).

The destiny of the human race is indeed GLORIOUS, but the journey is filled with evil and sorrow. This not to say that there are not many beautiful and good things in life, but for most the misery far far outweighs the pleasurable.

Do not be deceived: when Jesus said—“…I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10), He was surely not speaking about this life, now, in the flesh! Contrary to the evil teachings of prosperity ministers, Jesus never promised us LARGER HOMES AND GREATER MATERIAL POSSESSIONS after we start following in His steps.

Jesus said that if we leave our parents, families, houses and possessions for His sake that we would receive a hundred fold of parents, families, houses and possessions NOW. But He was not speaking of receiving back NOW, these same PHYSICAL parents, families, and possessions, but rather the families and possessions we would receive NOW would be SPIRITUAL.

Does anyone really believe that if we leave our PHYSICAL PARENTS that He will give us another, different set of PHYSICAL PARENTS? Well, yes, I guess there are those who are so spiritually ignorant that they might really believe that they will receive a brand new set of BIRTHING PARENTS to take the place of the ones they left. However, the truth is: “…the words that I speak unto you, they are SPIRIT…” (John 6:63).

PART 5


JOB’S TRIAL ANSWERS MANY ENIGMAS

Who was responsible for Job’s trial? Satan? Job? God? Are “calamities” better than “evils?” Can Satan operate independently of God? Does God use evil for good? Is it a sin to hold God responsible for all the evil in the world?

Job was a man who feared God and eschewed [shunned] evil. God gave Satan authority to test Job. God set the guidelines. Satan caused all of Job’s oxen, sheep and camels to be stolen, and his servants to be killed. He also caused a house to collapse in a wind and kill all the young men and Job’s sons and daughters. Satan then covered Job with painful boils.

Would anyone suggest that these trials that came to Job were not “evil?” Well here is what Job called them:

“But Job answered and said, O that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!” (Job 6:1-2).

Calamity is the proper translation in this verse. Now then, does the argument (which is totally untrue) that God created “calamity” in Isa. 45:7 rather than “evil” carry any weight whatsoever in any practical way. No, Job’s “calamity” was very evil.

Who was responsible for these evils and calamity that came upon Job? Satan, right? Wrong. Satan was merely the club in God’s hand. Notice what Job was inspired to say:

“And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned NOT, nor charged God foolishly [with wrong]”  (Job 1:21-22).

Dr. Fred Price wrote me a letter along with a booklet he wrote in which he states that the phrase, “…the Lord has taken away” in this verse of Scripture, is not true. Dr. Price argues that God does not take away. Clearly God did more than “allow” these evils to come on Job, rather God caused these evils to come on Job. It was “The Lord” Who took away all of Job’s possessions and his family. Satan was merely the club in God’s hand.

Surely all of my readers are aware if you or I did to Job and his family what God did, it would be a crime of the highest magnitude and would be punishable by death.

All through the remaining chapters, Job charges GOD with being responsible for his trial, not Satan. In the last chapter God reprimands Job’s three friends by saying:

“…ye have not spoken of Me the thing which is RIGHT, like My servant Job” (Job 42:.

Job charged God with all the evils that came on him and God said Job spoke the truth and what was right,

Job had no “free will” in any of this. God was in total control and God was responsible for all that happened. God caused Job’s uprightness; God caused Job’s downfall; God caused Job’s restoration and blessing. He will do the same for all humanity, with the exception that our blessings will be spiritual and eternal, not just physical and temporary as Job’s were. Job's spiritual blessings will come when “…the heavens be no more” (Job 14:12). The book of Revelation tells us precisely when this event will occur in the life of Job and the Patriarchs of old.

THE KINGDOMS OF SATAN AND HIS ROLE AS ADVERSARY

A note of great importance: Why didn’t God personally, and directly bring all of these trials and calamity of evils upon Job? Why did God USE Satan? Or is this just another case of God “allowing” Satan to test Job? We shall soon see how much God “allows” in the Scriptures, and it will shock most people when they learn the Truth.

At the start of this paper we learned that Satan (Beelzebub) has a “kingdom.” And that it involves the spiritual realm of demons and devils.

But Satan rules over far more than just the realm of demons. Lets learn a few more Truths that have been hidden from the eyes of Christendom.

Did God really, merely, allow Satan to try Job? God will reveal to our spirit many many spiritual truths of paramount importance if we will read His word and BELIEVE WHAT WE READ.

“And the Lord said unto Satan…”  (Job 1:7).

“And the Lord said unto Satan…” (Job 1:.

“And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he has is in THY power; only upon himself put not forth your hand. So Satan went…”(Job.1:12).

Now really, is this whole scenario something that Satan thought up? Is this something that God is just “allowing?” Be honest. God set this whole thing up from the beginning. GOD goaded Satan into a negative response. GOD pushed Satan to find an excuse for Job “eschewing evil.” GOD set up this trial. GOD commissioned Satan to bring evil against Job. GOD instructed Satan as to just how far that evil could extend. THIS WAS ALL OF GOD!

But God does not work this way with all mankind, seeing that God is a respecter of persons and God changes His overall approach to the trying of mankind, doesn’t He? I speak as a fool:

All mankind:  

“An experience of evil God has given to the sons of humanity [that’s everyone] to humble them by it”  (Ecc. 1:13).

A respecter of persons:

“Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons”  (Acts 10:34).

God changes:  

“For I am the LORD, I change not…”  (Mal. 3:6).

No, God CAUSED and USED Satan in the trying of Job.

Did God merely “allow” Satan to try Jesus Christ our Lord?

“Then was Jesus led up of the SPIRIT [of GOD] into the wilderness [This is the Spirit of God leading Jesus up into the wilderness. But why? For what purpose?] to be tempted [Gk: ‘tested’] OF THE DEVIL [Satan, Ver. 10]” (Matt. 4:1).

Is this not the very same thing we read concerning Job; that he was “tested of God” through the vessel of Satan?

“But He knows the way that I take: when He [God] has tried me [Hebrew:  ‘tested me’]” (Job 23:10).

Satan has a kingdom. Jesus said he has a kingdom. Jesus Himself created all of those “powers and principalities” and kingdoms:

“For by Him [Jesus] were ALL things created that are in heaven [we covered this part earlier] and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions [Greek: ‘rulers’], or principalities, or powers…” (Col. 1:16).

Notice that Jesus created “dominions—RULERS.” Are we told anywhere specifically who or what these “rulers” are?

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the RULERS of the darkness…” (Eph. 6:12).

The Greek word translated “rulers” in Strong’s Greek Dictionary is “#2888, kosmo [from #2889, the world] krator [from #2902 to seize/strength], a world ruler an epithet of Satan” (Strong’s p. 143-144).

“A WORLD RULER”! An epithet of SATAN! Wow! Where have we seen this before? This word kosmokrator—A WORLD RULER—an epithet of Satan is used nowhere else in the entire Bible but in Eph. 6:12, and refers to no one else except Satan. And rightly so: after all, how many “world rulers” can there be?  

There is only ONE “ruler of this world” and it is SATAN!

Make no Scriptural mistake about it: Satan has an invisible kingdom in “heavenly places” but he also has a kingdom “in the EARTH.” Get ready for a spiritual EARTHQUAKE.

“Again, the devil takes Him [Jesus] up into an exceeding high mountain, and shows Him ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD, and the glory of them; And says unto Him, ALL THESE THINGS WILL I GIVE YOU if You will fall down and worship me” (Matt. 4:8-9).

Notice how Jesus answers Satan. Jesus does not say to Satan: “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt NOT LIE…”

Jesus doesn’t accuse Satan of “lying.” No, Satan didn’t lie: Satan “TEMPTED” Jesus with the TRUTH. ALL OF THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD REALLY DO BELONG TO SATAN!

How many reading these awesome Scriptures will believe them? Maybe a “few” whom are “chosen.”

There’s more: Not only is Satan the possessor of all the kingdoms of this world, but he is, in fact, THE GOD OF THIS WORLD:

“In whom THE GOD OF THIS WORLD has blinded the minds of them which believe… [just ask yourselves if you really believe all of the Scriptures that I am presenting in this paper?…] …believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, Who is the Image of God, should shine unto them”  (II Cor. 4:4).

And where do you suppose Satan has his throne to all his kingdoms? Answer: In the church!

"I know your works and where you dwell, even where Satan seat [GK: 'throne'] is, ,"

And the very "depths of Satan" are in the church (Rev. 2:24).

Satan did not gain and acquire all the kingdoms of this world as personal possessions against the purpose and intention of God his very Creator! What greater power and authority could there possibly be than to be the possessor of “ALL the kingdom of the world,” and to be the very “god OF THIS WORLD?” Is all this power and might just “allowed” by God or rather is it not purposefully ORDAINED of God?

“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power BUT OF GOD: THE POWERS THAT BE ARE ORDAINED OF GOD”  (Rom. 13:1).

There is an important distinction to be made between [1] the “god of this world”—Satan/kosmokrator—world ruler—who is Satan (II Cor. 4:4/Eph. 6:12), and [2] the civil “powers” and “rulers” which are called “magistrates” in the Greek, who make laws that govern and suppress some of the evil in the world. Both the “world ruler/god of this world” AND the “powers and magistrates” are “ordained [Gk: ‘appointed’]” OF God, but one we are to “be subject to” but the other we are to “resist.”

“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers [‘governing authorities’]…” (Rom. 13:1)

BUT:

“Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you”  (James 4:7).

This is a most important point, and our own Lord has given us the perfect example of how we are to "resist the Devil," but, "be subject unto the higher powers:"

“Then said Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan [Jesus ‘resisted’ the Devil]: for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. Then the devil LEAVES HIM…”  (Matt. 4:10-11).

Though Jesus resisted the Devil, He was then “subject to the higher powers” for the rest of His ministry:

“And they that had laid hold on Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas the high priest…”  (Matt. 26:57).

“Then said Pilate unto Him, speak you not unto me? Know you not that I have power to crucify you, and have power to release you? Jesus answered, You could have no power at all against me except it was given you from above; therefore he that delivered Me unto you has the greater power”  (John 19:10-11).

But above all:

“We ought to obey GOD rather than MEN.”

And so we have read that God used Satan to try, and test Job, He used Satan to try, and test Jesus, He uses Satan to try, and test believers, and He also uses Satan to try, and test THE WHOLE WORLD:

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour [Gk: ‘swallow down’]: Whom RESIST stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished [‘experienced] in your brethren that are IN THE WORLD”  (I Pet. 5:8-9).

As I have said before, God does not turn man’s lemons into His lemonade. No, God first creates the lemons and then turns them into lemonade.

God does not “allow” Satan to do ANYTHING. Satan was created by God to do exactly what God wants him to do—nothing more and nothing less.

Satan is an intricate and necessary creation of God to accomplish His awesome purpose and goal for the human race. When God desires something, HE CREATES IT. God desired an “adversary,” an “enemy,” but there is no natural adversary or enemy of God:

“I am the LORD, and there is NONE else, there is NO God beside me”  (Isa. 45:6).

And so when God needed a “god” to rule ALL THE NATIONS of this world, HE CREATED ONE—one that would lie, deceive, accuse, tempt, and murder.  A Devil who would “deceive the WHOLE WORLD.” But one who would appear as “An ANGEL of Light.” My how flawlessly he has performed his duty to God. And you thought he was a “free moral” renegade running amuck through heaven and earth destroying God’s handiwork!

God have mercy upon our stupid and foolish hearts for ever believing that Your Own creation could wreck and destroy Your Own creation.

ALL THE BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF WHAT GOD ALLOWS

Here then are all the Biblical examples of what God “allows”:

“But as we were allowed [Gk:   ‘approved’] of God to be put in trust with the gospel…”  (I Thes. 2:4).

That’s it! That is the totality of everything in the Bible that God “allows.”

NOW A FEW BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF WHAT GOD CAUSES:

EARTHQUAKES :

The Christmas tsunami was caused by an under water earthquake. Pat Robertson says this earthquake was not from the Lord.   Earthquakes are mentioned in 17 verses of Scripture, and everyone one of them is FROM THE LORD:

“You shall be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake…” (Isa. 29:6).

“And, behold, there was a great earthquake for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven…”  (Matt. 28:2). Etcetera,

After each category of evil that I will Scripturally prove comes from God, we need to ask ourselves, “Does God ‘allow’ all of these things, or does God create, cause, and bring these evils upon humanity?”   God does not “allow” earthquakes, but rather He causes and brings earthquakes. I will give a second witness to each of these categories, although with some of these evils, there are hundreds of Scriptural examples.

FLOODS :

“And with the blast of Thy [God’s] nostrils the waters were gathered together [Heb: ‘piled up’], the floods stood upright as an heap [Heb: ‘mound, a wave’ as in the tsunami quake which caused a huge wave!], and the depths [Heb: ‘an abyss (as a surging mass of water), especially the deep (the main sea or the subterranean water-supply), Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary] were congealed in the heart of the sea”  (Exodus 15:.

Sounds pretty much like what God did in the Indian Ocean to destroy the coastal regions of Indonesia, doesn’t it? Theologians refuse to believe that God would purposefully CAUSE the Christmas tsunami, yet it was God who destroyed not just a few hundred thousand with a flood in Indonesia, but destroyed the whole human race (save eight souls) in a worldwide flood:

“And, Behold! I [GOD] even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, where in is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die”  (Gen. 6:17).

Does Mr. Robertson believe that this too was just a “subduction of one of the tectonic plates in the ocean?” Was it really just “a natural release of heat in the atmosphere?” Or was it a work of God to “…destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth…”? (Gen. 6:7).

PLAGUES AND DISEASE :

“Moreover He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of and they shall cleave unto you. Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of the law, them will the Lord bring upon you, until you be destroyed”  (Deut. 28:60-61)

“The LORD shall smite you with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue you until you perish”  (Deut. 28:22).

POVERTY :

“The LORD makes poor…”  (I Sam. 2:7).

“The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of all”  (Prov. 22:2).

FAMINE :

“Moreover He [God] called for a famine upon the land: He broke the whole staff of bread” (Psalm 105:16).

“And I [God] will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from the land…”  (Jer. 24:10).

AFFLICTIONS :

“…the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted [Heb: ‘to make good for nothing’] me”  (Ruth 1:21).

“And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them [Heb: ‘hurt and weakened’]”  (II Kings 17:20).

THE SWORD :

“I [God] will consume them by the sword…”  (Jer. 14:12).

“I [God] will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their father have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them”  (Jer. 9:16).

WAR :

“The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is His name”  (Ex. 15:3).

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and He that sat upon Him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war”  (Rev. 19:11).

DESTRUCTION :

“Howl! Ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty”  (Isa. 13:6).

“Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come” (Joel 1:15).

“PESTILENCE:

“And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall DIE of a great pestilence”  (Jer. 21:6).

“If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people…” (II Chron. 7:13).

HAIL :

“Behold, tomorrow about this time I will CAUSE it to rain a very grievous hail, such as has not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now”  (Ex. 9:18).

“I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labors of your hands, yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord”  (Haggai 2:17).

ICE, COLD AND FROST :

“He casts forth His ice like morsels: who can stand before His cold?” (Psalm 147:17).

“He DESTROYED their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost”  (Psalm 78:47).

KILLING :

"And My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless”  (Ex. 22:24).

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven… a time to kill…”  (Ecc. 3:1 & 3).

SLAUGHTER :

“And the Lord discomfited them before Israel; and slew them with a great slaughter…” (Joshua 10:10).

“For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their armies: He has utterly destroyed them, he has delivered them to the slaughter”  ( Isa. 34:2).

CALAMITY :

“I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity” (Jer. 18:17).

“…and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, says the Lord” (Jer. 49:32).

WIND :

“You break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind…”  (Psalm 48:7).

“Thus says the Lord; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon… a destroying wind” (Jer. 51:1).

GRIEF :

“You did say, Woe is me now! For the Lord has added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest” (Jer. 45:3).

“But though He [God] cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies”  (Lam. 3:32).

FIRE :

“Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven”  (Gen. 19:24).

“And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them”  (Rev. 20:9).

FOREST FIRES :

“…I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it”  (Jer. 21:14).

“And say to the forest… I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee…”  (Ezek. 20:47).

WILD BEASTS :

“I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate”  (Lev. 26:22).

“They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust” (Deut. 32:24).

EVIL :

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil” (Isa. 45:7).

“And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow… the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”  (Gen. 2:9).

“It is an experience of evil God has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it”  (Ecc. 1:13, Concordant Literal Old Testament).

“Out of the mouth of the most High proceeds not evil and good?”  (Lam. 3:38).

“I will raise up evil against you out of your own house…”  (II Sam. 12:11).

“…I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction”  (Jer. 4:6).

“…Hear, O earth; behold, I will bring evil upon this people…” (Jer. 6:19).

“…Thus says the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you…”  (Jer. 18:11).

“…so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things, until He have destroyed you from off this good land…”  (Josh. 23:15)

“What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil?”  (Job 2:10).

“…shall thee be evil in a city, and the Lord has not done it?”  (Amos 3:6).

Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!

(My wife and I spent a weekend in the room next door to Yul Brynner at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis during his last performance of "The King and I." I copied the "Etcetera, " thing from the King's repeated line in the play. Didn't want you to think that was original or anything). Just trying to lighten things up a bit after that long list of human misery and evils.

Teaching that God does not cause and use evil, but only allows it, is nothing less than theological buffoonery.

Do you comprehend what you have read? Do you really? Well if you haven’t gotten it yet, let me make it clear: Things don’t just happen on this earth or in the universe; rather God makes them happen, He causes them to happen, He brings them about.

“…according to the purpose of Him [God] Who works [Greek aiorist tense: past, present, and future] all things after the counsel of His Own will” (Eph. 1:11).

GOD CAUSES EVIL IN THE CITY

Let’s take a close look at that last Scripture in our list:

“…shall there be evil [Heb: ra—‘bad, evil’] in a city, and the Lord has not done it? (Amos 3:6)

There’s the question; what’s the answer? The answer from all Christendom is “Yes.” “Yes” there shall be all kinds of evil in a city, and the Lord has not done it. In fact, according to their teaching, the Lord does no evil in any city, ever. World famous teacher/preacher/theologian/author, Billy Graham said before a packed house in the National Cathedral, that GOD DOES    NOT CREATE EVIL.  But what saith the Scriptures (Amos 3:4-6):

“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"

Answer: NO!

“Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has not prey?"

Answer: NO!

“Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?"

Answer: NO!

“Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin [baited trap] is for him?"

Answer: NO!

“Shall one take up a snare [shall a snare spring up] from the earth, and have taken [caught] nothing at all?"

Answer: NO!

“Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid?"

Answer: NO!

“Shall there be EVIL in a city and the LORD HAS NOT DONE IT?"

Answer: NO!

The Answer is “NO”!

I am now speaking to the mature only. This information is too heavy, too hard, too overwhelming for the carnal-minded person.   Have you ever wondered just where it is that the proverbial “rubber meets the road?” Well, right here is where the rubber meets the road. If you don’t accept; if you cannot accept, if you will not accept the truth of all these double-witness Scriptures presented above, then you will never understand God’s plan of salvation for the human race.

Seven times in Amos 3 God asks us a question, and SEVEN TIMES THE ANSWER IS “NO”! NO, there shall not be EVIL in a city [any city—all cities] unless THE LORD HAS DONE IT! The truth of this Scripture (along with hundreds and hundreds like it) is so powerful, so absolutely earth-shattering, that the mere fact of me quoting it and suggesting that it is a true statement, will evoke hate mail from far and wide.  

The world of Christendom will not tolerate, anyone quoting these Scriptures and then teaching that they are true and factual as to the character of our Great Creator God. They do not approve of God “creating” evil, nor do they approve of God “using” evil—even if God’s use of evil always eventuates in the GREATEST POSSIBLE ETERNAL GOOD.

It never dawns on their carnal minds for one moment that God might cause and use these unspeakable evils for a great and redeeming purpose beyond our wildest dreams or expectations. Unless we can see the plan, the purpose, the Goal of God for the human race, we will never see or be able to justify the hard, and painful, and difficult, and humanly impossible journey through evil to reach that marvelous eternal goal that God has purposed in Himself and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

God does not reproduce Himself as Sons and Daughters of God, in His Own Image and Likeness, with His own Love, Power, and Eternal Glory, by using a cookie cutter and a sheet of Styrofoam. Do we think that the Awesome Creator of the universe is little more than “sugar and spice and everything nice?” Listen: God knows all about “evil”:

“And the Lord God said, behold, the man is become as one of Us, to know good and evil…”  (Gen. 3:22).

A QUICK STUDY ON THE PURPOSE FOR HUMANITY

“Behold, what manner of LOVE the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the SONS OF GOD [and DAUGHTERS, II Cor. 6:18] of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew Him not.

“Beloved, now are we the SONS OF GOD [and DAUGHTERS] and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM [like GOD]; for we shall see Him as He is. And… [yes, there is more to it] And EVERY man [and woman] that has this hope in him PURIFIES HIMSELF, EVEN AS HE [GOD] IS PURE” (I John 3:1-3).

And it is this purification of the physical, carnal, temporal Adam, into the spiritual, holy, eternal Christ, that requires severe heat and pressure—a real life experience of overcoming EVIL with GOOD.    

Here is the destiny of the whole human race:

“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you FAULTLESS [pure and perfect] before the presence of His GLORY with EXCEEDING JOY, To the only WISE God our Saviour, be GLORY and MAJESTY, DOMINION, and POWER, both now and ever. Amen” (Jude 24-25).

There are far more answers to mysteries of life found in the Scriptures than most would ever dream. But the Scriptures that answer the really hard and deep mysteries of creation are often so offensive to Christians that they do not consider them for even a moment. Well today, we are going to consider some more of them in detail. I will also state that the Translators have sometimes done more to hide the meaning of some verses than they have done to reveal their real meaning.

We learned from Ecc. 1:13 that God has given to the sons of humanity an experience of evil, to humble him by it. Are the sons of humanity—the human race, aware of this plan and process of their Creator? Not many.

ANOTHER TRANSLATION NIGHTMARE

Try to get through this next section as it contains some essential knowledge. Here is another Scripture of major importance, if only we could understand it:

“He has made every thing beautiful in His time: also He has set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end” (Ecc. 3:11).

Again, what pray tell, does all that mean? “He [God] has made [past tense] every thing BEAUTIFUL in His time…? Oh really? Is “everything” that God created in this world, “beautiful?” Hardly. How would that statement square with “an experience of EVIL” for the whole human race?

And remember chapter 2:23:

“For ALL his days [the sons of humanity—the human race] are sorrows, and his travail [employment or experience] grief…”

Or this one:

“…so are the sons of men snared in an EVIL TIME…”  (Ecc. 9:12).

Or this:

“I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men [the whole human race], that God might manifest them, and that they might see that THEY THEMSELVES ARE BEASTS”  (Ecc. 3:18).

How “beautiful” does any of that sound?

GOD DID NOT PUT ‘ETERNITY’ IN THE HEART OF MANKIND

Next we read in verse 11:

“…He set the world in their heart…”

Which a few translations render even worse as

“…He set eternity in their heart…”

Then we are told that the reason for setting the “world” or “eternity” in their heart is:

“…so that no man can find out the work that God makes…”

There is absolutely no way to understand this Scripture as it is translated in the King James and some other modern English Versions. Let’s see if we can get some clarification on this phrase from a few other translations:

The New Revised Standard Version: “He has made everything suitable for its time…”

The New American Bible: “He has made everything appropriate to its time…”

A New Translation by James Mottatt: “He assigned each to its proper time, but for the mind of man He has appointed mystery…”

Concordant Literal Old Testament: “He has made everything fitting in its season; However, He has put obscurity in their heart…”

Some of you may be asking, “Well, how are these translations any better?” Well, they are better—much better.

A little help from Strong’s Concordance:   As we have seen above, the word translated “world” and “eternity” by some translations, is rendered as “mystery” and “obscurity” by others, and it is taken from the Hebrew word olam. Here is what we read in Strong’s:

“#5769, olam, from #5956; prop. concealed.”

So “mystery” or “obscurity” are certainly very close to this definition.

Next notice the last verse of the last chapter in Ecclesiastes:

“For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil” (Ecc. 12:14).

The word translated “secret” here is the Hebrew word alam. And here is what we read in Strong’s: #5956; a prim. root; to veil from sight, i.e. conceal.”

The first definition of #5760, olam is concealed; and #5760, olam is taken from #5956, alam and its definition is veil or conceal.

I went through this slightly technical explanation to prove to you the real meaning of this verse. The understanding of this verse will greatly assist our understanding of the Sovereignty of God and man’s absence of anything akin to a “free will” which could operate independently from God.

Let’s read the last version of this verse again:

“He [God] has made everything fitting [not ‘beautiful’] in its season; However, He has put obscurity in their heart so that the man may NOT find out His work, that which God does.”  (Ecc. 3:11).

So God has made everything that there is (even though much of it is evil, ugly, and NOT ‘beautiful,’) fitting, proper, appropriate, and suited for its own season, “but” or “however”—here comes a counter proposal, if you will. So God makes EVERYTHING proper and appropriate for His plan, however…. BUT, “…He has put OBSCURITY in their hearts…” so that, or in order that, they CANNOT know or understand what it is that He is doing to them in this human existence we call “life.” What a spiritual revelation!

We have hundreds of Scriptures that verify the fact that God does do according to His plan and intention, always, and everywhere, but there are few verses as this verse which tells us specifically how He had HID [concealed, obscured] this marvelous operation from the eyes of carnal humanity as this verse does.

But Jesus Christ can set us free from the carnal mind, and give us spiritual discernment, and increase our knowledge, and make us wise so that we can understand. Here then is the revelation of a major mystery:

God uses mankind with his “obscured heart” to do all of His intentions without mankind every consciously knowing that God is working His purpose through them—“so that no man can find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end.”

THE KING OF ASSYRIA’S OBSCURED HEART
VERSUS THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

Last time I said that I would show you in the Scriptures an example where God tells us that He uses people to do His will, but that the one being used doesn’t know it, but rather thinks that he himself is doing the choosing and making the decisions and carrying out the intentions of his heart all according to his own presumed free will, whereas God says that it is He, and not the person being used, Who is in total control of the one being used.

Isaiah 10:5-17:

“O Assyrian, the rod of Mine anger, and the staff in their hand is Mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of My wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

Howbeit HE means not so, neither does HIS heart [his ‘obscured’ heart—Ecc. 3:11] think so; but it is in HIS heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. For he says, Are not MY princes altogether kings…

As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord has performed His whole work [at the hands of the Assyrians] upon Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his high looks.

For he says, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by the wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathers eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

Shall the ax [king of Assyria] boast itself against him that hews therewith [God]? Or shall the saw [king of Assyria] magnify itself against Him that saws with it [God] as if the rod [king of Assyria] should shake itself against them that lift it up [God], or as if the staff [king of Assyria] should lift up itself, as if it were no wood [but rather something with free will and the power of self-determinism].

Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle it burning like the burning of a fire. And the light of Israel shall be for fire, and His Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day”

That section of Scripture is pretty much self-explanatory. This is a perfect example where God fills in the whys and wherefores of how He operated and worked with the king of Assyria to punish His people, Israel.

But this is also how God works with all kings and presidents, and heads of corporations, and heads of families, and all humanity. God “…works ALL according to the counsel of His Own will.” But just like the King of Assyria, not so is all humanity thinking in THEIR heart. They don’t believe that God uses them on a daily basis just as He did with the King of Assyria. That’s because:

“He [God] has made everything FITTING in its season; However, He has put OBSCURITY in their heart so that the man may NOT find out His work, that which God does from the beginning to the end.” (Ecc. 3:11).  

What an amazing Scripture. Imagine a preacher ever giving a sermon on a Scripture as “OBSCURE” as this?

Back in Gen. 50:20, we have another excellent example of how God put “obscurity” into the hearts of Joseph’s brothers. They, like the Assyrian King, had one plan in their hearts, while God was using them for His plan—a totally different plan:  

“And Joseph said unto them [his brothers], Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”

Did Joseph understand in his “obscured” heart that it was GOD sending him to Egypt to do His will? No. Did the King of Assyria understand in his “obscured” heart that it was God sending him to Jerusalem to do His will? No. Does Christendom understand in their “obscured” hearts that it is God sending them to deceive the world and to blaspheme His name through their evil doctrines? No.

“The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers [rillets—small brooks] of water:  He turns [directs] it whithersoever he will [desires]” (Prov. 21:1).

It is not in a king to direct his ways, neither is it in ALL MANKIND to direct his steps:

“O Lord, I know that the way of man [Heb: ‘Adam, a human, mankind] is NOT in himself [or in his presumed free will] it is not IN man [‘not in MANKIND’] that walks to direct his steps”  (Jer. 10:23).

If mankind cannot direct his own steps: Who then does direct his “steps?”

“Man’s goings [Heb: ‘STEPS’] are OF THE LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?” (Prov. 20:24).

All is OF God.

GOD’S JUDGMENT AGAINST THINKERS OF FREE-WILL

Actually the belief of “free will is in the Scriptures. Oh it’s there alright: but it is there for the express purpose of showing us just how FALSE, AND EVIL, AND BLASPHEMOUS this false doctrine is!

God claims sovereignty:

“O Assyrian, the rod of Mine anger, and the staff in their hand is Mine indignation. I will send him… I give him a charge…”  (Isa. 10:5-6).

The King of Assyria contradicts God’s claim of Sovereignty over his life:

“Howbeit he means NOT SO [he doesn’t believe that it was all of God] neither does his heart think so [no, he thought he had “free will” and decided for himself what he would or would not do]; but it is in his heart to destroy… [not to do God’s bidding in this scenario]. For he said. Are not my princes… As my hand has found… Shall I not, as I have done…”  (Isa. 10:7-11).  

Clearly here is maybe the best personal demonstration of presumed “free will” in all Scripture. Does anyone doubt that this King is expressing in no uncertain terms, the belief that he himself possesses ‘FREE WILL?”

God will punish the King for his presumed “free will” attitude:

“Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord has performed His whole work [‘For it is GOD which works in you {King of Assyria} both to will {‘Howbeit HE means not so neither does HIS heart think so…’} and to do {‘Shall I not, as I have DONE…” Says the King of Assyria in his presumed free will} of HIS good pleasure’ Phil. 2:13] upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will PUNISH the fruit of the stout [ARROGANT] heart of his high [HAUGHTY] looks.” (Isa.10:12).

Why is God going to “punish” the King of Assyria. Why does God call him “ARROGANT AND HAUGHTY?” Didn’t the King merely do what God INTENDED for him to do? Yes, God PLAINLY tells us that the King of Assyria did only what God Himself intended for the him to do.

God does not say He will punish the King of Assyria for killing and slaughtering, or pillaging and plundering. It was God Himself who gave to him:

“…a CHARGE to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.” (Ver. 6).

God is not going to punish the king for doing these things.

Well, why then does God find fault with Him:

“Thou [you reading this paper right now…] will say then unto me, ‘WHY DOES He [God] yet find fault' [with the King of Assyria or ANYONE who merely does what God Himself has supernaturally INTENDED for them to do?] For [or ‘because’] who has [EVER] resisted His [GOD’S] WILL [Gk: boulema ‘resolve, intention, or PURPOSE.” This word is never translated “will” and is used but one other time in Acts, translated: ‘purpose.’]”

God tells us that the Assyrian did only what He Himself intended for him to do. Paul, likewise, assures us that no one ever has or can go against God’s “intention or purpose.”  How then is God justified in punishing the King of Assyria or anyone else for doing what God “intended” for them to do? The answer lies in the HEART of mankind. God said that He would punish “the fruit of his ARROGANT HEART”

The Bible doesn’t say that man doesn’t have a HEART. It doesn’t say that he doesn’t have a MIND. It doesn’t say that he can’t THINK. It doesn’t say he can’t make CHOICES. It doesn’t say he doesn’t have a WILL. It doesn’t say he can’t carry out his will through his thoughts, choices, planning, action, and deeds. What it does say is that: MAN IS NOT A GOD WHO CAN DO THESE THINGS INDEPENDENTLY AND FREELY FROM THE INTENTIONS AND PURPOSE OF HIS CREATOR!!   THAT’S what the Bible really says!

The King of Assyria is being punished because he is claiming to possess FREEDOM OF HIS OWN WILL. He claimed that he came up with the ideas, he made the plans, he carried them out, he reaped the rewards, he took credit for being someone great, etc., etc., when in reality God tells us it was all of Him, and that the king was merely a club in God’s hand.

A final note: Assyria is just one of “ALL the kingdoms of the world” which are the personal domain of Satan the Devil. Did Satan exercise his “free will” over Assyria? Or did God say that He used Assyria like it was a club in God’s own hand?  God uses Satan over the nations as He wills Satan to will, not as Satan himself “free wills.” God uses the nations themselves to will as He wills the nations to will, not as the nations themselves “free will.” If we are to believe the Scriptures rather than the heresy of men, where does Satan or any of the nations possess “free will?”

How is it that God has already foreseen the precise end of all nations, when according to the Church, all of the nations are operating upon their own “free will” and Satan himself is also supposedly operating all that He desires contrary to God’s purpose and intentions upon his own “free will?” Does anyone see a Scriptural problem with this rank heresy? Can you say, “CONTRADICTION?”

CLAY DOES NOT POSSESS SELF-DETERMINISM

“God is the Potter; we are the clay.” When will we ever humble ourselves and believe the Word of God? This is GOD’S metaphor, not mine. Clay does not possess the power to thwart the plans of the Potter. Yet Christians profess that they possess a power that can thwart the purpose of God, and they even go so far as to say that God Himself gave to them this God-thwarting power. Do some think that when they exercise their “free will” contrary to God’s purpose that maybe “THEY are the Potter and God is the clay?”

And so, God has “obscured” his heart from seeing and understanding this Spiritual Truth. It takes a supernatural revelation from God to “spiritually discern” this deepest of human mysteries. And it is for the very fact that it is from the very HEART of man that he presumes to take to himself a presumed power GREATER THAN GOD HIMSELF, that He will “PUNISH HIS [MAN’S] ARROGANT AND HAUGHTY HEART.”

We are “accountable” for what comes out of our arrogant heart, but God is “responsible” for giving us such an heart in the first place.

Ignorantly assuming that one has a “free will” is a sin for which God can grant repentance [NOW]. But is “Arrogantly” clinging to this idol of the heart after God has shown it to you in His Word is BLASPHEMY, which assuredly will be punished [LATER]!  

The obscured heart of the King of Assyria did not know that it was GOD Who was using him as a club in God’s Own hand to punish Israel. The king didn’t know, but we now know because God has plainly told us so. But “Lord, who will believe our report?” (Isa. 53:1 & Rom. 10:16).

Free will? Man possesses free will? Balderdash! Man has no more a free will by which he can go against, contrary to, or thwart the plan and intentions of God Almighty than could the king of Assyria. And be warned: God will “PUNISH the fruit of the arrogant heart” of all those who presume to have powers above what their Maker has given them.

“Shall the ax [the one being used by God] boast itself against Him that hews with it?” (Isa. 10:15).

“Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?” (Rom. 9:20).  

“And the vessel [humanity] that He made of clay [Adam] was marred [‘ruined’—and its heart was made ‘subject to vanity {futility, failure}… and in ‘bondage of corruption’, Rom. 8:20-21], in the hand of the Potter: so He made it again ANOTHER vessel, as seemed good to the Potter to make it” (Jer. 18:4).

Every vessel of humanity is first made “marred in the hand of the Potter.” , “the carnal mind is enmity against God,” , “for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts.” Every vessel must be refashioned--regenerated, converted, judged, purged, and born again of the Spirit.

This regeneration of the human heart and mind occurs during two appointed times:

JUDGED NOW OR JUDGED LATER

“For the time is come that JUDGMENT must begin at the House of God, and if it first begin at us [NOW], what shall the end be of them that obey NOT the gospel of God [LATER]?”  (I Pet. 4:17).

“For if we would judge [‘adjudicate’—thoroughly separate ourselves from sin] ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord [NOW], that we should not be condemned with the world [LATER]” (I Cor. 11:31-32).

“For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins [NOW]. But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries [LATER]”  (Heb. 10:26-27).

[We can either] “Agree with your adversaries quickly, while you are in the way with him [NOW], lest at any time the adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison [LATER]” (Matt. 5:25).

There will be more on these judgments in future Installments of this series.

Next time we will see right out of the Scriptures, that not only does God know all and control all, but He has foreknown all and predestined all to happen at a certain specified time and date. Can an accident, poor health, or suicide alter the day on which God knows you will die? The very day that you were born was predetermined by God, as was the very day on which you must die. Nothing can alter anything that God has predetermined, as He already knows what will happen from the beginning to the end. This really scares some people. It gives me absolute confidence in the power and stability and predictability of God’s character and love. God is not a god of evil and stupid contradictions, as portrayed by the Church.

In Part D we will examine scriptures that will shatter some of the most coveted doctrines of the church. Most will not believe how perfect and exact God's plan is. God's plan is operating on a pre-arranged schedule. It cannot be changed or altered one iota, ever!

God created man in a “marred” condition, but God’s plan has no mars whatsoever. It was not wrong or a sin for God to create mankind in a “marred” condition.  It was a perfect plan. It is now and always will be a perfect plan.

God has always worked all things after the counsel of His Own will. His plan needs no midstream adjustments, corrections, or refinements. It cannot be improved upon. It cannot be added to or detracted from. IT IS PERFECT.  GOD IS PERFECT. ALL WILL TURN OUT PERFECT. WE ALL WILL BE PERFECT BECAUSE GOD WILL BE “ALL IN ALL”! I believe it. I hope you do too.

PART 6


EVERYTHING HAS A PRECISE APPOINTED TIME

God Almighty is responsible for everything and He brings about everything only at its precise "APPOINTED SEASON AND TIME." Let's read it:

"To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven" (Ecc. 3:1).

The implications of this verse are staggering. The very foundation of human psychology and theology crumbles under the weight of this declaration of God’s Word. This is undoubtedly one of the ten most profound Scriptures in the entire Bible.

If we are to be honest and believe this verse, then we must concede that absolutely NOTHING is left out God’s profound declaration except man’s anti-scriptural theory of "free will."

The word "season" in the KJV is translated from the Hebrew word, z[e]man, and is defined in Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary as: "APPOINTED season, occasion, time." And "purpose" is defined as: "pleasure, desire, matter." Sometimes rendered as "purpose" or "event."

Here’s a second witness to this grand declaration:

"Because to every purpose [matter or event] there is time and judgment, " (Ecc. 8:6).

And a third witness:

"…for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work" (Ecc. 3:17).

Here are a couple translations that make this verse a little clearer:

", for He has appointed a time for every matter, and for every work, " (The New Revised Standard Version).

"For He has set a season for every event and for every deed, " (The Concordant Literal Old Testament).

There is no wasted motion in God's creation, purpose and plan. Everything has an appointed time, and everything includes: "every purpose, every work, every matter, every event, and every deed." Where pray tell does "free will" fit into all this? It doesn’t. It clearly DOESN’T. Man has no free will. There is no such thing as free will. It is but the phantom of an "obscured heart" as we learned in Part C from Ecc. 3:11.

Again we ask, since "EVERY work, purpose, matter, deed and event" under heaven must happen at an "APPOINTED TIME," how can there be such a thing as human, uncaused, "free-will?"

Is any man free to do anything other than what God HAS "appointed time" for? No.

Is any man free to do anything that God HAS NOT assigned an "appointed time" for? No.

Is any man free to do or not to do anything that God HAS or HAS NOT assigned an "appointed time" for? No.

Then how can man have a free will?

Man’s will is predicated on previous circumstances and causes, all of which originate in God’s preordained plan and purpose.

Christendom and her fabled doctrine of "free moral agency" is trapped and completely book-ended between:

[1] "To every thing there is a season [appointed time],and a time to every purpose [matter or event] under the heaven" (Ecc. 3:1).

AND:

[2] "I know that, whatsoever God does, NOTHING can be put to it, nor ANYTHING taken from it: and GOD does it" (Ecc. 3:14).

Someone might see a contradiction in God’s teaching. If the two above Scriptures are true, then why does God warn against "adding to or taking away from His word?" Well, like everything else that is beyond the realm of carnal comprehension, all of these things too, have been foreordained and pre-determined to happen only at their "APPOINTED TIME." God has appointed a time for false prophets to add and God has appointed a time for false prophets to take away from His word.

HOW INTELLECTUALLY AND SPIRITUALLY HONEST ARE YOU?

Do you believe the two verses of Scripture that I have quoted above? Is there any honest way out of what they say? Is there room for such a think as "man’s uncaused free will choices" in either of these two verses? Unless you still insist on believing in contradictions and square circles, this should not be too mentally challenging to anyone:

[1] God has PREDETERMINED a PRE-APPOINTED TIME for EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS UNDER HEAVEN.

AND:

[2] Absolutely NOTHING can be ADDED TO OR TAKEN FROM this purpose of God’s.

Just where can one slide "free will" into these two declarations of God? God plainly tells us in these two verses that He has already determined the precise time for EVERYTHING UNDER HEAVEN to happen, and then tells us that absolutely NOTHING can change ANY OF IT! Well? Where is there any possibility for "free will" in such a book-ended proposal from God Himself?

Dear reader, "To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven" is a law of GOD! "Whatsoever God does, nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it: and God does it" is a law of GOD.

These declarations of Scripture are God’s Word. Is it possible that the Scriptures can be broken?

"If He called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and THE SCRIPTURE CANNOT BE BROKEN" (John 10:35).

I am fully aware of the fact that most of Christendom thinks that these are doctrinal matters, which everyone is at liberty to either, accept or reject. Certainly what one believes has nothing to do with sin, does it? Oh, but it does. Whether you are consciously or spiritually aware of it or not, you become hopelessly enmeshed in a tangle of sin and deceit that will hinder your spiritual growth and keep you out of the Kingdom of God if not bitterly repented of. Here are but a few of the evils that accompany living one’s life as thought he possessed the same freedom of will that the King of Assyria and King Nebuchadnezzar were severely punished for:

1. You call God’s Word and declarations cited above, a lie.

2. You call God Himself a liar.

3. Your spirit rebels at being humbled under God’s sovereignty.

4. You take to yourself powers and abilities that God never gave to you.

5. You claim personal power great enough to thwart the very will of your own Creator.

6. You call "good" what is actually, factually, and Scripturally, a great evil.

7. You cut off the very spiritual channels by which you could spiritually grow.

8. You establish and worship what is Scripturally known as "an idol of the heart."

9. You recreate the God of your heart into that of a man who possesses human limitations.

10. You actually loose respect for a Saviour Who needs your personal assistance and your human contribution in order for God to save you.

But yes, even all of these things listed are all according to God’s foreordained purpose.

Now then:

"So shall MY WORD be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall NOT return unto me void [unfulfilled], but it shall accomplish that which I please; and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isa. 55:11).

God has predetermined that many should be reading this paper of mine at this precise "appointed time." God has also predetermined that only a few will understand and accept what they are reading. The majority will be offended at the Scriptures that I have presented and their frustration will turn to hatred, because the head of one of their "idols of the heart" is being knocked off. But be not deceived—each and every one’s actions are in perfect accord with the two Scriptures I have presented above.

Absolutely nothing can be "added to or taken from" what is taking place in each and every reader at this very moment. God will either cause you to accept these truths at this "appointed time" in your life, or He will cause you to reject these truths at this "appointed time" in your life, and your "will" is not "free" to do either. It is all of God! The circumstances are already set in motion which will bring about God’s desired intentions. Individually, however, each one will have perfectly reasonable and rational reasons for his or her decision.

Those who accept this Truth will have rational reasons to voluntarily do so. Likewise those who reject it will have equally reasonable objects (to them they will be reasonable) for not accepting what they are reading. Amazing, isn’t it?

There is nowhere to go with this heretical God-thwarting doctrine of free will, but into the furnace. Free will is an evil doctrine that blasphemes the sovereignty of God, and hence God will punish all who cling to it:

"I will PUNISH [Heb: ‘avenge, hurt, do judgment’] the fruit of the stout [Heb: ‘arrogant’] heart of the king of Assyria [or anyone else with this same sin, seeing that "God is no respecter of persons’ Acts 10:34], and the glory of his high [Heb: ‘haughty’] looks" (Isa. 10:12-b).

Everyone who insists that he lives his life according to his own independent of God, free will choices, is "haughty and arrogant," and God will "punish" all such hearts.

And, as I stated at the close of Part C, we can either be judged in fire for our works, NOW (I Cor. 3:13-15) or we can be judged in the Lake of Fire/Second Death, LATER (Rev. 20:13-15). But either way, we will be judged. No one escapes the judgment of God. All is of God, but there is a method to God’s preordained plan with His children:

"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children, My son, despise not you the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.

If ye endure the chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not? But if ye be without chastisement [in this life] whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons" (Heb. 12:5-.

All free-willers are down to two options, in the light of these Scriptures: Accept God’s True declarations and give up the heresy of free will, or continue to hold to the position held by the King of Assyria, and be punished. And either decision will be predicated on God’s foreknowledge of what each and every one of you will, and must do, even though His method may seem silly to many:

", it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that BELIEVE" (I Cor. 1:21).

TIS TRUE: OUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED

Continuing in Ecc. 3:2:

"A time [an 'APPOINTED time'] to be born, and a time [an 'APPOINTED time] to die, "

The whole point of Ecclesiastes chapter three is not that people are born and die, or that people plant and harvest, or that people war and make peace, or that people weep and laugh, but rather that there is "an APPOINTED TIME" for all these things to happen—an appointed time appointed BY GOD.

This is not a new idea, or a new revelation. This truth has been preserved in chapter three of Ecclesiastes for a couple of thousand years. But how many Christians believe it?

Job understood under inspiration of God's Spirit that:

", the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, " (Job

1:21). Contrary to a letter I received from Dr. Frederick Price, who said that this verse in Job "is Scripture all right, but it just isn't true." Well far be it from me to argue the validity of the Scriptures with a carnal mind, but nonetheless, this verse of Scripture is true. It is always God Who gives and God Who takes away, even though He uses other agents such as Satan to carry out and accomplish His perfect and flawless will.

God gives life and God takes life away. Most Christians would concede that human birth is indeed a miracle. But how many would concede that even death is a miracle? But it is. Birth and death are not things that "just happen" anymore than anything in the whole universe "just happens." God is the cause for everything:

"In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who works ALL THINGS after the counsel of His Own will" (Eph. 1:11).

"For OF HIM, and THROUGH HIM, and TO HIM, are ALL THINGS, " (Rom. 11:36).

Is there any real difference in saying that God "gives life" or that God "causes a baby to be born?" Is there any real difference in saying that God "takes away life" or that God "causes us to die?" When it comes to death, we prefer euphemisms. We don't like to hear that "our Mother is DEAD!" We prefer to say that "Mother passed away." We don't want to be so honest or brutal as to say "God KILLED my son" but rather "God took my son." But the use of mellower-sounding euphemisms does not negate the fact that God appointed a time for us to be BORN, and He also has appointed a time when we must DIE.

Our will cannot change any of God’s "appointed events" or His "appointed times" in which each event must occur. You might think that you can. You might suggest that you will commit suicide and shorten your life. How silly—how totally unscriptural. No one can commit suicide unless and until the "appointed time" that God has foreordained that you commit suicide, if indeed God has ordained such a thing for you.

"There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither has he power in [Heb: authority over’] the day of death, " (Ecc. 8:.

Is this verse too difficult for anyone to understand? The Scriptures are clear:

", the Spirit gives life" (II Cor. 3:6).

"His breath [Heb: ruach, ‘spirit’] goes forth, he returns to his earth; I that very day his thoughts perish" (Psalm 146:4).

One cannot continue to live without spirit.

"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it" (Ecc. 12:7).

And God says that

"NO MAN has power over the spirit."

The implications of this verse go far beyond mere suicide. This verse also confirms that no one can kill or murder another person until the "appointed time" set by God. No soldier or civilian has ever died even in war except at the "appointed time."

There is probably not a person alive who has not wondered just exactly when he might die? We saw from Ecc. 1:2 that there is an appointed time ", to DIE." And Ecc. 8:8 tells us that

", no man has power over the spirit to retain it [when God takes our spirit, we die, Ecc. 12:7]; neither has he power over the day of [his] death, "

But there’s more:

"Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he takes under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him: for it is his portion." (Ecc. 5:18).

This is not exactly what the Hebrew manuscripts say. Here is what it should read: ", during the NUMBER of days in his life…" The word for "all" as in "all the days of his life," is the Hebrew word, mispar, and its first definition is "NUMBER." Man’s days are "NUMBERED." And God only knows the number.

Here’s another one:

"Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with Thee, You have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass" (Job 14:5).

The word "determined" comes from the Hebrew charats and means "to point sharply." Here we are told that man’s "months" are determined to a precise sharp point in time. There will be no variation in time as to when we must die.

Not only is our precise time of death appointed, but also our resurrection:

"If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my APPOINTED TIME will I wait [in the grave] till my change [resurrection] come" (Job 14:14).

Another:

"Is there not an APPOINTED TIME to man upon earth? Are not his DAYS also like the days of an hireling? (Job 7:1).

Everyone who has ever been born or will yet be born has been appointed by God to be born at that time and season according the purpose of His will. And likewise, everyone who has died or will yet die has been appointed by God to die at that time and season according to the purpose of His will. It just is not possible to alter or change anything in the purpose and intention of a sovereign God. So once more, "free will" is out the window.

If mankind had a free will to do things that only they desired to do, at the time that only they desired to do them, then there would be billions upon billions of additions and deletions to God’s original plan. For it is foolishness to argue that one is "free" to do things that God has not preordained to happen, yet the very concept of free will demands that such unscriptural things can happen every day of our lives.

Free will contradicts:

"I know that, whatsoever God does, it shall be for ever [Heb:’for the eon’]; nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it; and God does it, that men should fear before Him" (Ecc. 3:14).

Ecc. 2:23—"For all his day, pains and vexation are his experience."

Ecc. 1:13—"It is an experience of evil God has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it."

Ecc. 9:12—"For a man also knows not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men [mankind] snared [trapped] in an EVIL TIME."

Does a fish know ahead of time when it will be caught in a net? Does a bird know ahead of time when it might be caught in a snare? No? You say, NO? Well then that’s exactly how much you know in advance what will befall you in this life of evil. The human will is not free to change anything that God has pre-appointed. You will "will" according to the circumstances God places in your path. And you are not free to "will" otherwise.

Between the birth of humanity and the death of humanity we find all of the following taking place at their appointed time:

"plant and pluck, kill and heal, breakdown and build up, weep and laugh, mourn and dance, cast away and gather, embrace and not embrace, get and lose, keep and cast away, rend and sew, keep silence and speak, love and hate, war and peace, " (Ecc. 3:2-9).

What we have here in Ecc. 3 is "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" and every shade of gray between good and evil. God takes us through such profound experiences as "war and peace," all the way down to tearing a piece of cloth and sewing it together again-"a time to rend [apart] and a time to sew [together]." Not only do we all tear our pants or tear our shirt at some time or another, but, there is actually a God-appointed time for these things to happen.

I realize that this is a hard concept for most to believe, but this is indeed what God is emphasizing in this third chapter of Ecclesiastes: "To every thing there is a season [Heb: "an appointed season or time'], and a time to every purpose under the heaven." Can we believe it? Will we believe these grand declarations of God? Not if we are "free-willers" we won't.

The will of the entire human race combined, cannot bend one blade of grass unless it was foreknown, foreordained, and appointed by God to happen. Read Ecclesiastes 3 and tell me otherwise.

Clearly God tells us that there is an appointed time for everything that happens between birth and death. But nowhere does human free will and free choice enter into any of these God-ordained and God-caused and God-performed events in the lives of all who are born and die among the human race. Man’s "will" is indeed able to always choose what it prefers, but what it prefers will always be in concert with what God has preordained.

All the choices of all humanity are preordained by God to happen, and as such, not one is free to not happen. Therefore, no one has a will that can operate independent from or in opposition to, God’s preordained purpose.

How then is it possible to believe these Scriptures and yet believe in "free choices?" It is not possible, for these Scriptures blatantly contradict any such theory as "freely chosen acts" independent and contradictory to the will and plan of God. Seriously, if anyone can explain how someone can freely choose a course of action, [1] independent of God, or [2] bring about any course of action at a time other than pre-appointed by God, please drop me an email. I will now hold my breath,

Let me assure my readers that I do not make light of the profound heartache, pain, and misery that God inflicts upon humanity. I am not a newcomer, nor a novice to the arena of heartache, pain, and misery. I have on numerous occasions suffered very severe pain. I have been "one knock from death's door" more than once. I have lost my only son when he was but seven years old. Although I can justify God in all His dealings with His creatures, yet I cringe at many of the atrocities deemed necessary for His plan and purpose. Do you think that I am able to take in stride the cruel and evil beheadings by terrorists in Iraq?

We read that, "Jesus wept" as He perceived the near-at-hand destruction of Jerusalem. And yet He fully knew that it was all of God His Father, and at the appointed time Jerusalem and its citizens would be starved, tortured, and utterly destroyed by the armies of Titus. I too weep over the present evils of this world and those yet impending.

GOD IS A STICKLER FOR DETAILS

God doesn’t only know the big things, like when you were to be born and when you are to die, but God know everything in between our birth and death.

Just because God counts islands and whole nations as tiny drops or particles of dust, does not mean that He is not also aware of droplets of water and particles of dust (Isa. 40:15). Jesus said: "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Matt. 10:30).

Do you realize what that statement means? If your hairs are all numbered, then God must know and take note every time ONE FALLS OUT, for the number then changes.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father?" (Matt. 10:29).

Surely from these we can understand and believe that God truly does rule over His creation down to the very smallest of things. People often state that God is just not interested in such small things of life. Not true. God is more than just aware of all things, but rather God has created this world and all that in it is, for a grand purpose. No detail is too small in the ultimate working out of that purpose.

Do scientists send men to the moon without first working out the minutest of details regarding the rockets and landing craft? Is anything too small to consider when operating on the human brain or heart? Just remember that God created the entire universe out of things too small to even been seen. God is not limited to "reading us like a book." Oh no, it is God who wrote our book!

GOD’S PEOPLE ARE IN BABYLON

The Church of God is

"in the wilderness."

And this Church has a name:

"MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" (Rev. 12:6 & 17:5).

And just where do you suppose that God’s "chosen elect" come from? Why out of Babylon, of course:

"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, COME OUT OF HER MY PEOPLE, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Rev. 18:4).

Maybe the biggest single aspect of "coming out of Babylon" is giving up the unscriptural "free will"/"free choice" idol of the heart. We've seen the sin for which, the King of Assyria was punished by God, the sin of "free self will." Believing that he, himself, had the power of will and choice to act independently of God’s foreordained intentions.

THE KING OF BABYLON COMES OUT OF BABYLON

One of the most remarkable stories ever told, is virtually never ever told in the Church. That is the trial God inflicted upon King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. They have not a clue as to what it means or what was accomplished by it. Maybe we should read it.

God gave King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon a dream, part of which Daniel interprets as follows:

"That they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet you with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, TILL YOU KNOW THAT THE MOST HIGH RULES IN THE KINGDOM OF MEN, AND GIVES IT TO WHOMESOEVER HE WILL" (Dan. 4:25).

Do we think that God doesn’t do things like this anymore? Do we think that God "changes" the way that He does things today? Do we think that God is a "respecter of persons?"

From the above verse in Daniel, does it appear that God knows in advance whether His plan will work or not? Can God predict with certainty that He will get the desired result for His actions in the affairs of mankind? Does man have a "free will" which could possibly alter the outcome of what God predetermines must be? I speak as a fool.

"At the end of twelve months he [Nebuchadnezzar] walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.

The king spoke, and said, is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of MY power, and for the honor of MY majesty?" (Dan. 4:29-30).

Sounds like the voice of a true "free-willer" doesn’t it? This is how all free-willers speak and believe. "I am responsible for my actions and you are responsible for your actions. I can will to do good if I so desire, and you can will to do good if you so desire. God does not, and will not, ever interfere with man’s free will, free choice, free moral agency." Is this a nursery rhyme we are reading in Dan. 4, or is this the word of God?

God says to Nebuchadnezzar: "Here is what I will do to you, and here is the result it will accomplish": ", till YOU KNOW, " is God’s pronouncement.

Back to the palace:

"While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from you.

The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds claws" (Verses 31 & 33).

Will God’s plan for the king accomplish the desired result? What if the king uses his "free will" against God’s plan? What if the king desires to will something altogether different from what God has already preordained will happen with the king’s heart? Again, I speak as a fool:

"And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up my eyes unto heaven, and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honored Him that lives for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:

And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing [‘nothing’ is pretty small]: and He does according to His Will, "

WAIT, WAIT, STOP! What is this? What is this that we are reading? "God does according to HIS will, ?" But if this statement is true, then where pray tell, does that leave MAN’S will?

Right here, dear readers, is a drama to end all dramas of the ages. Talk about Greek tragedy—we are about to witness a great Babylonian tragedy. There is a battle of the wills going on in this drama. God pits HIS will against that of king Neduchadnezzar. Hmmm, wonder which one will win?

Consider with a rational mind for a moment the implications of the outcome of this great drama. If man’s will [in this case king Nebuchadnezzar’s] should win, then he has not only made a LIAR out of God, but he has in fact DEFEATED God. On the other hand, if God’s will should win out, then we have conclusive, Scriptural proof, that MAN DOES NOT HAVE A WILL THAT CAN OPERATE CONTRARY TO, INDEPENDENT OF, AND IN OPPOSITION TO, THE DECLARATIONS OF GOD’S PLAN AND PURPOSE.

Yes, we are about to settle this controversy regarding man’s fabled free will that supposedly enables him to will contrary to what God has ordained MUST HAPPEN. Continuing:

", And He [God] does according to HIS will in the inhabitants of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none, [How many? ‘NONE.’ How many are left out? ‘NONE.’ How many have a free will that can will against God’s declared intentions? ‘NONE.’ How many stubborn, dyed-in-the-wool, free-willers will repent and believe this declaration of God Himself? ‘NONE.’] , and NONE can stay [restrain] His hand, or say unto Him, What are You doing?" (Verse 35).

It doesn’t get any clearer than this. If you can’t accept this truth and repent of your egotistical, self worth, and self superiority, thinking that you can thwart the very intentions of God’s Own will any time you desire, then you too will be PUNISHED for your stout and arrogant heart:

"Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all Whose works are Truth, and His ways justice: and those that walk in pride He is able to abase [HUMBLE]" (Verse 37).

God told Daniel that only the "wise" would understand these things:

"And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and NONE of the wicked shall understand; but the WISE shall understand" (Dan. 12:9-10).

Remember that God repeats for emphasis those things that are extremely important:

ONCE:

", to the intent that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever He will, " (Dan. 4:17).

A SECOND:

", and seven times shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever He will" (Ver. 25).

A THIRD:

"till you shall have known that the heavens do rule, " (Verse 26).

A FOURTH:

", seven times shall pass over you until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives sit to whomsoever He will" (Ver. 32).

A FIFTH:

", and I blessed the Most High and I praised and honored Him…and He does according to HIS WILL in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth and NONE can stay His hand, " (Ver. 34-35).

A SIXTH:

", And he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts… till he knew that the Most High God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that He appoints over it whomsoever He will" (Dan. 5:21).

Can we now believe that it is important to understand that we can accomplish nothing of our own will, and that it is not free to do anything independent of God and His purpose? Does not the mere fact that God repeats this grand declaration six times on two pages prove just how very very important this teaching is? Where else has God repeated Himself six times on two pages regarding one aspect of man’s nature which must be changed?

Did not Nebuchadnezzar have a "will?" Of course he did. Did he not claim that it was by his own will that he accomplished what he did in his great kingdom? Of course he did. Did God show him that his thinking and philosophy of life and self-determinism was wrong? Yes He did. Did the king acknowledge his own stupidity and vanity? Yes he did. Does the king give us wise warning as to what God will do to all others who have this same arrogant belief that they can do things independent of God through their fabled free will? A word to the wise is sufficient.

IRONY OF IRONIES

God commands His people to come out of Babylon:

"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, COME OUT OF HER [MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH, Rev. 17:5] MY PEOPLE, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Rev. 18:4).

Babylon the Great was alive and well when John wrote Revelation. It has been alive and well down through the centuries. It is alive and well today. God’s elect have always been commanded to "COME OUT OF HER, My people."

King Nebuchadnezzar himself came out of Babylon over which he himself was the king! That’s right. Nebuchadnezzar the very king of Babylon, spiritually, came out of Babylon.

And yet, and YET, Christendom has not a clue as to who Babylon the Great is, and it has not a clue as to what it means to come out of Babylon. We just read how king Nebuchadnezzar came out of Babylon. God turned the king into a BEAST:

"…Let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a BEAST’S HEART BE GIVEN UNTO HIM: and let seven times pass over him" (Dan. 4:16).

King Nebuchadnezzar’s heart was turned into that of a beast, and Prov. 23:7 tells us:

"For as he thinks in his HEART, SO IS HE, "

And God calls us all "beasts"

"I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of man, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves ARE BEASTS" (Ecc. 3:18).

What was it the king of Babylon had to learn? What was it he believed to be true, that God says is not true, and therefore man must repent of?

What Nebuchadnezzar believed:

"The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of MY POWER, and for the honour of MY MAJESTY?" (Dan. 4:30).

What God showed him to be the real truth:

"And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he does according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and NONE can stay [restrain] His hand, " (Dan. 4:35).

Nebuchadnezzar said that He did things by his own power for his own honour and majesty. Is this possible. Can any man do such things by his own power of will? No, "NONE" God’s Word states. On the other hand, does God always do according to HIS WILL among all the inhabitants of the earth? Yes. Do any inhabitants of the earth have the power of will to thwart God’s will? "NONE" God’s word states.

Now then, Does God say that He, ", WILL have ALL men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (I Tim. 2:4)?

Is that a "YES," I hear out there in computerland?

Okay then, Does God say that He, "does according to HIS WILL …among the inhabitants of the earth, " (Dan. 4:35)?

But can’t the "free will/choice" of mankind stay or refrain God’s hand from accomplishing what He desires?

Answer: ", and NONE can stay His hand, " (Ver. 35b).

Does the world of Christendom believe and teach these grand declarations of God Almighty? No, of course not. Their own declared freedom of will contradicts and blasphemes all of God’s declarations concerning His plan to save the human race.

How many hundreds of Scriptural proofs does your mind need before you are willing to give up this damnable idol of the heart for which Nebuchadnezzar was turned into a beast? What will it take to remove this heresy from your heart?

A WORD ABOUT ARMINIANISM, CALVINISM, AND FREE WILL

Most all of the Christian theololgy in the world is based on a teaching known as "Arminianism" or a teaching known as "Calvinism" (and of course, a thousand and one shades of these teachings in between the two extremes).

Both theololgies have FIVE POINTS to their teaching. We will briefly consider them. With regards to "free will" or "free choice," we can glean the following from their teachings:

ARMINIANISM: Man was given a "free will/choice" when he was created. He (and she) then used his free will choice and sinned. He continues to have free will until this day throughout all generations of mankind. At death however (which Arminians and most all Christians believe is not death at all, but merely a change of life in a different location), man looses his free will and is not able to freely repent or freely serve God after death.

CALVINISM: Man was given "free will/choice" when he was created, but he lost it when he sinned. No one has free will again unless he is chosen of God, and converted, and born again, and receives God's Holy Spirit. From that point on he once again has the ability to freely choose, and will have free choice eternally. Those ordained for eternal hell, will of course, never regain their freedom of will.

A Brief Comparative Study of Arminianism and Calvinism

Found at http://www.the-highway.com

This web site has done a fine job in outlining the five points of Arminianism and Calvinism. But I will comment on their content and teaching.

Point 1

Arminianism - Free-Will or Human Ability:

Although human nature was seriously affected by the fall, man has not been left in a state of total spiritual helplessness. God graciously enables every sinner to repent and believe, but He does not interfere with man's freedom. Each sinner posses a free will, and his eternal destiny depends on how he uses it. Man's freedom consists of his ability to choose good over evil in spiritual matters; his will is not enslaved to his sinful nature. The sinner has the power to either cooperate with God's Spirit and be regenerated or resist God's grace and perish. The lost sinner needs the Spirit's assistance, but he does not have to be regenerated by the Spirit before he can believe, for faith is man's act and precedes the new birth. Faith is the sinner's gift to God; it is man's contribution to salvation.

Versus:

Calvinism - Total Inability or Total Depravity: Because of the fall, man is unable of himself to savingly believe the gospel. The sinner is dead, blind, and deaf to the things of God; his heart is deceitful and desperately corrupt. His will is not free, it is in bondage to his evil nature, therefore, he will not - indeed he cannot - choose good over evil in the spiritual realm. Consequently, it takes much more than the Spirit's assistance to bring a sinner to Christ - it takes regeneration by which the Spirit makes the sinner alive and gives him a new nature. Faith is not something man contributes to salvation but is itself a part of God's gift of salvation - it is God's gift to the sinner, not the sinner's gift to God.

Comment: ARMINIANISM is wrong in teaching that BY the ‘fall’ [sin] mankind was weakened, but did not completely lose his ability to freely choose God. Hence they teach that man does possess free will by which he can repent, believe, and choose, good over evil, but that most will not take advantage of this God-given power, and therefore will be eternally damned and tortured.

Comment: CALVINISM is wrong in teaching that because OF the ‘fall’ [sin] man no longer possessed the freedom of will to choose God. Hence they teach that man lost his "free will" and therefore cannot of his own will repent, believe, and choose good over evil. And those not preordained for this election will be, of course, eternally damned and tortured. That man cannot of his own will repent, believe, and choose good, is the correct and Scriptural truth, but not because of the reason given by Calvinism.

Point 2

Arminianism - Conditional Election: God's choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the foundation of the world was based upon His foreseeing that they would respond to His call. He selected only those whom He knew would of themselves freely believe the gospel. Election therefore was determined by or conditioned upon what man would do. The faith which God foresaw and upon which He based His choice was not given to the sinner by God (it was not created by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit) but resulted solely from man's will. It was left entirely up to man as to who would believe and therefore as to who would be elected unto salvation. God chose those whom He knew would, of their own free will, choose Christ. Thus the sinner's choice of Christ, not God's choice of the sinner, is the ultimate cause of salvation.

Versus:

Calvinism - Unconditional Election: God's choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the foundation of the world rested solely in His own sovereign will. His choice of particular sinners was not based on any foreseen response of obedience on their part, such as faith, repentance, etc. On the contrary, God gives faith and repentance to each individual whom He selected. These acts are the result, not the cause of God's choice. Election therefore was not determined by or conditioned upon any virtuous quality or act foreseen in man. Those whom God sovereignly elected He brings through the power of the Spirit to a willing acceptance of Christ. Thus God's choice of the sinner, not the sinner's choice of Christ, is the ultimate cause of salvation.

Comment: ARMINIANISM wrongly teaches that salvation is offered to all mankind, but that only a certain election are able to freely respond and receive salvation. God foresaw from the foundation of the world, those who would of their own free will choose to repent, believe, and answer God’s call completely on their own without any outside assistance from God. And those whom God did not foresee doing this, would of course, be eternally damned and tortured.

Comment: CALVINISM wrongly teaches that only those elected by God from the foundation of the world can possibly be saved, as none others are even considered by God for salvation. Hence those foreknown and chosen will be saved completely by and through God, without any contributions from the elect, and the rest, of course, were foreordained to be (as the Arminians likewise teach) eternally damned and tortured.

Point 3

Arminianism - Universal Redemption or General Atonement: Christ's redeeming work made it possible for everyone to be saved but did not actually secure the salvation of anyone. Although Christ died for all men and for every man, only those who believe on Him are saved. His death enabled God to pardon sinners on the condition that they believe, but it did not actually put away anyone's sins. Christ's redemption becomes effective only if man chooses to accept it.

Calvinism - Particular Redemption or Limited Atonement: Christ's redeeming work was intended to save the elect only and actually secured salvation for them. His death was substitutionary endurance of the penalty of sin in the place of certain specified sinners. In addition to putting away the sins of His people, Christ's redemption secured everything necessary for their salvation, including faith which unites them to Him. The gift of faith is infallibly applied by the Spirit to all for whom Christ died, therefore guaranteeing their salvation.

Versus:

Comment: ARMINIANISM wrongly teaches that Christ’s Sacrifice made it possible for all humanity to be saved, but it did not ASSURE that all humanity would be saved. Couple this with point two, and we have one giant contradiction. How is it "possible" for all humanity to be saved, when God foreknows that most will not be saved? Unbelievable! And yet most of Christendom does believe this unscriptural heresy which saves a few and sends the rest to be eternally damned and tortured.

Comment: CALVINISM wrongly teaches that, although it is God only Who contributes all that is necessary for salvation, this secured salvation is given only to a protion of mankind, the unfortunate rest of which, can do absolutely nothing to bring themselves salvation, and God Himself will do nothing to save them, therefore their preordained destiny from the creation of the world is to be eternally damned and tortured.

Point 4

Arminianism - The Holy Spirit Can Be Effectually Resisted: The Spirit calls inwardly all those who are called outwardly by the gospel invitation; He does all that He can to bring every sinner to salvation. But inasmuch as man is free, he can successfully resist the Spirit's call. The Spirit cannot regenerate the sinner until he believes; faith (which is man's contribution) proceeds and makes possible the new birth. Thus, man's free will limits the Spirit in the application of Christ's saving work. The Holy Spirit can only draw to Christ those who allow Him to have His way with them. Until the sinner responds, the Spirit cannot give life. God's grace, therefore, is not invincible; it can be, and often is, resisted and thwarted by man.

Versus:

Calvinism - The Efficacious Call of the Spirit or Irresistible Grace: In addition to the outward general call to salvation which is made to everyone who hears the gospel, the Holy Spirit extends to the elect a special inward call that inevitably brings them to salvation. The internal call (which is made only to the elect) cannot be rejected; it always results in conversion. By means of this special call the Spirit irresistibly draws sinners to Christ. He is not limited in His work of applying salvation by man's will, nor is He dependent upon man's cooperation for success. The Spirit graciously causes the elect sinner to cooperate, to believe, to repent, to come freely and willingly to Christ. God's grace, therefore, is invincible; it never fails to result in the salvation of those to whom it is extended.

Comment: ARMINIANISM wrongly teaches that God’s Spirit inwardly calls all sinners, but that man’s free will enables man to resist the call and thwart the will of God. It is taught that man’s contribution to salvation is his faith to believe and be born again, so that the Spirit can do it’s part. Those who supposedly have the power to resist God’s calling will have to be eternally damned and tortured.

Comment: CALVINISM wrongly teaches that God calls many to hear the gospel, but not all. And of those whom are called to hear, only a select elect will be empowered by God’s gracious election to willing accept God’s call to repent, believe, and come to Christ. Those to whom God gave no opportunity whatsoever to be saved will be eternally damned and tortured.

Point 5

Arminianism - Falling from Grace: Those who believe and are truly saved can lose their salvation by failing to keep up their faith, etc. All Arminians have not been agreed on this point; some have held that believers are eternally secure in Christ - that once a sinner is regenerated, he can never be lost.

Versus:

Calvinism - Perseverance of the Saints: All who are chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and given faith by the Spirit are eternally saved. They are kept in faith by the power of Almighty God and thus persevere to the end.

Comment: ARMINIANISM wrongly teaches that it is possible to fall from grace by failing to keep one’s faith, even though this flatly contradicts their statement that God knows from the foundation of the world those who WILL accept Christ and who WILL be saved. Of course some Arminians believe that once a sinner is brought to Christ he can never fall away. But for all those who "might" fall away, and for all those who never came to Christ in the first place, these will all be eternally damned and tortured.

Comment: CALVINISM wrongly teaches that only a few are actually pre-elected to salvation by God from the foundation of the world, and these will by the grace of God persevere unto the end, while those who were never chosen at all will be eternally damned and tortured.

According to Arminianism: Salvation is accomplished through the combined efforts of God (who takes the initiative) and man (who must respond) - man's response being the determining factor. God has provided salvation for everyone, but His provision becomes effective only for those who, of their own free will, "choose" to cooperate with Him and accept His offer of grace. At the crucial point, man's will plays a decisive role; thus man, not God, determines who will be recipients of the gift of salvation.

According to Calvinism: Salvation is accomplished by the almighty power of the Triune God. The Father chose a people, the Son died for them, the Holy Spirit makes Christ's death effective by bringing the elect to faith and repentance, thereby causing them to willingly obey the gospel. The entire process (election, redemption, regeneration) is the work of God and is by grace alone. Thus God, not man, determines who will be the recipients of the gift of salvation.

These are the two main theological doctrines regarding God’s Sovereignty and man’s supposed free will, with regards to salvation. The controversy between these two views has raged in heated debates for over four centuries. Which one is Scripturally correct? Neither. Both teachings contain gross unscriptural heresy.

THE UNSCRIPTURAL ‘FALL OF MAN’

Since both theories stated above teach a "fall of man," it is needful that we briefly address this unscriptural theory. I, as well as most of you have heard of the "fall of man" hundreds if not thousands of times. One would think there is reference to "man’s fall" at least a few dozen places in the Bible. NOT. The fabled "fall of man" is not mentioned in the Bible because it is just that—A FABLE. Man was NEVER a perfect spiritual specimen in the very image of God who then "FELL" from that lofty position. No, man was "naked flesh"—SIN. Man [humankind] was a sinner who when given the opportunity, SINNED.

Let me restate their positions in a nutshell:

Arminians believe that God makes salvation available to all mankind, however, because man’s will is free, God knows in advance who will and will not choose to be saved. Those who choose not to be saved will not be saved, and of those who do choose to be saved, even some of them might not be saved. All unsaved will be eternally damned and tortured.

Calvinists believe that God preordains a certain few to be saved. Of these, all will absolutely be saved. Those which have not been preordained to be saved, will all be eternally damned and tortured.

Arminianism suggests that God "offers" salvation to all, but having given man free will, God knows that most can not and will not respond favorably, hence most of humanity will be lost due to the weakness and/or stupidity of God’s plan.

Calvinism says that God never even "offered" most of humanity a chance at salvation, thus making God incomprehensibly evil.

Well, there you have it: Christendom in a nutshell. And what an evil and disgusting picture it is!

And here is the unfortunate part of the Good News Gospel of Christendom to the world of humanity:

"FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE HUMAN RACE THERE IS NO ETERNAL HOPE OR SECURITY IN THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST! MOST OF HUMANITY WILL BE DAMNED AND TORTURED IN FIRE FOR ALL ETERNITY AND THERE IS NO LOVE NOR POWER IN HEAVEN OR EARTH THAT WILL PREVENT IT !"

This is, of course, my own personal paraphrase of their gospel, for which I take personal accountability. I am confident that the Church will take appropriate actions against me. God have mercy upon them all.

Here’s God’s answer to four hundred years of this carnal-minded theological swill:

"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who WILL HAVE ALL MEN TO BE SAVED" (I Tim.2:4).

AND:

"My counsel shall stand, and I WILL DO ALL My pleasure.

I have spoken it, I WILL also bring it to pass.

I have purposed it, I WILL also do it" (Isaiah 46:10-11).

There is much more that could be said regarding the Sovereignty of God verses the fabled free will of man. But why? Most who will see the truth of this subject saw its truth back in Part A, and those who do not as yet see it, won’t see it if I continue on to Parts X, Y, and Z.I think it is time to move on. God grant to you the eyes to see and the ears to hear what the Spirit is demonstrating through His marvelous Word.

Article written by
L. Ray Smith.


I hope the above is of help. God bless you all.

_{Note that original article was in parts A,B,C & D.}

There is no better word for insanity!
Y don't u just make a reference and let those interested go check it out?

@Izoneb,
Let me guess, what you're trying to say is that a link would have helped readers understand the article better or may be save them the trouble of actually reading it or better still, transfer the content of the article to their brains.   The point is this my dear, anyone who does not have the patience to read the article here will still not read it if i had placed the link.  I agree that the article is very very long but removing any part of it will defeat the essence as the author did a very tedious job in this expository essay.
Moreover,I don't remember stating that it was compulsory to read the article rather I said that those who are interested should patiently read through the article.If you are not interested doesn't mean your fingers should just punch keyboards.
Moreover, no sincere person will recommend a religious book or site without vetting it's content completely,I have not been able to go through the whole site and as such can not post a link to it; this is so that you do not lead people astray. When I finish vetting it's contents, I will add the link to the final post. HAPPY?

By the way, since you are so interested in links and christian websites, you could join numerous global and world class convicted pastors in www.revivalschool.com
This is a site that a lot of pastors visit and you can ask any question there; by the grace of God, they'd tell you what they know.Infact, the article above was recommended by a pastor from that site as this very topic was a very hot subject of debate. You can imagine when people with very sound biblical background take opposite positions on a subject. They just went on and on. What you saw here was child's play with little or no biblical backing. For example one topic being discussed presently is the issue of astral projection in christianity because Paul talked about an out of body experience in 2  corinthians 12:2-4. So the question is whether christians have their version of astral projection.

So my dear, if you don't mind, just give us a vist. Remember it is www.revivalschool.com
Thank you and God bless.


P.S,
You should mind what your fingers type. You are meant to control your fingers as they type and not your fingers control you.

ok ooooooo
Sorry i was a bit hash mhn?
convicted[color=#990000][/color] pastors?

Yep, CONVICTED pastors.It was no grammatical or typographic error.  

I don't know how best to summarily explain the context with which it was used but if you really want to know, you may need to read religious literatures such as biographies of great men of God who truly put the salavation of men's soul before anything else. The dictionary however gives you an idea of the usgae in this context e.g the 3 meaning from this site:  http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=convicted

Less I forget, YES, you were very harsh with your choice of words but it's all good.
God bless you ma'am.

Blimey

who is this guy trying to upload a whole damn book unto the forum.

remarks should be "a concise summary" abeg.

readers will be bored by the time they go halfway anyway.

@KDK,
That was very educative and the writer was balanced in his presentation although I must confess that it was really long. Can you please send me the writer's website address by email? : cleric_lxg@yahoo.com

Thank you.