"They could not believe!" Free will disproved by one verse

You might cherish your mythical free will. God does not.

God's Elect Aren't the Only Ones Saved from Sin and Death

My path from atheist to believer in Jesus was set by God long before I was conceived. I'm cool with that. I couldn't change it if I WASN'T cool with it. God's in charge and operating everything according to His perfect plan.

And "the elect," aka "the chosen," they aren't the only ones saved, just the first ones. God will work through the elect to reach the rest in this life, and after this life.

Beware of another Satan, the so-called "origin of evil"

 

It's true, there is another Satan among us, and he's worse than the true Satan. This other Satan is not the true Satan of Scripture. But, religions, including Christianity, promote this other Satan, causing many people to lose peace. Their peace is stolen as they are led to believe this other Satan can actually disrupt God's good plans for His creation. This other Satan, they say erroneously, does things that the Scriptures teach are the work of God alone. The Scriptures reveal the true God and the true Satan. Understanding the truth will bring you the peace of God in this wicked eon.  

How to EASILY disprove human free will

The popular teaching that humans have a free will and are "free moral agents" undermines and diminishes the only One Who truly does have a free will—God.

He is the Potter, and we are His clay. Clay does nothing apart from the Potter. Nothing. And anything the clay "does" is, in reality, being done by the Potter.

But, by the wisdom and power of God, even though we are not truly free, we FEEL free (at least as free as we can feel with all of the visible and invisible forces God uses to move us and restrict us).

The fact that He is actually in control of all things should give us comfort. Who else would you want to be running this show? Bruce Almighty?

Recent Reads: "The Problem of Evil and the Judgments of God"

"Where did evil originate?"

Mankind has been asking this puzzling question for a very long time.

And the answer has been right in front of us, hiding in plain sight. It's been read by millions, but believed by few. God, speaking for Himself in Isaiah 45:7 says, "Former of light and Creator of darkness, Maker of good and Creator of evil, I, Yahweh, make all these things" (Concordant Version of the Old Testament - CVOT).

Well, there it is in black and white in the best selling book of all time:

God is the Creator of evil.

Nobody likes to hear this ... at first.

But what's the alternative? Evil is created by another? Who, then is this other creator in the universe? What are his/her/its plans for the creation of evil? And can God control this inventor of evil, or is it an independent entity that has no leash?

If God is love, and the Scriptures teach us that He is (1 John 4:8,16), and if God is the Creator of evil, which the Scriptures also teach us, can we trust that He will use the evil that He creates for His ultimate goals of goodness for the entire universe? Or will the universe forever be infested by evil and its untamable creator?

These questions have solid answers that will bring you peace of mind and comfort knowing that your loving heavenly Father is in control.

So I'm recommending to you a solid-answer book that I've recently read:


Following is the description of the book from the publisher, Concordant Publishing Concern:

This book traces the divine function of evil (whatever is harmful or destructive) from its inception to its consummation, by presenting scriptural solutions to the various long-debated questions concerning God and His sovereignty. As one of its subjects, it probes and takes issue with the commonly accepted explanation that Satan, and not God, is responsible for evil. To quote the book’s author: “Almost all of us are shortsighted. We see the judgments, but fail to recognize that they are only part of God’s way with mankind, that they are definitely not an end. We confuse the going with the goal. Judgment is God’s strange work. He uses it as a preparation toward a glorious consummation.” The message in this book is especially valuable to us in these days of doubt and distress, to lead men to rely on and rest in God alone.

Below I've listed the book's individual article titles that are put into 2 main categories - The Problem of Evil and The Judgments of God: 

The Problem of Evil

• Evil and Sin
• The Source of Sin
• Sin for Sin
• The "Fall" of Satan
• Satan's Supreme Sin
• The Knowledge of Good
• Man's Greatest Mistakes
• Sin in Act and in Fact
• The Human Heart
• Conscience
• Man's Will or God's
• The Phantom of Free Will
• The Transmission of Sin
• The Unpardonable Sin
• Sin's Justification
• The Repudiation of Sin
• The God of Judas Iscariot
• God's Will and Intention
• The Deity of God

 

The Judgments of God

• "Responsibility"
• What is Judgment?
• The Dais of God and His Christ
• Requital at the Dais
• Revealed by Fire
• Suffering and Shame
• Endure and Reign
• Tribulation and Wrath
• The Judgments of the Nations
• The Function of the Great White Throne
• The Second Death
• The Appreciation of God

I'm planning on doing a series of posts on this book. In each part I'll choose an individual article and give you some of the best and most thought-provoking quotes.

I encourage you to order the book here. I'm not making any money from the sale of these books. I'm simply pointing you to good information when I find it. And I've found it in this book by one of the best authors I've ever studied under, A.E. Knoch.

The book also contains a helpful Scripture Reference Index.

"It's all in the perspective."

This issue of Martin Zender's Clanging Gong News will help you understand seemingly contradictory statements in the Scriptures. And it will also help you see Who's really running this show we call "life."

Gypping Jesus

The prince of gyppers

Has this - or something kinda like it - ever happened to you?

You pull up under the Golden Arches because you're craving some of the world's best fries and a Big Mac. You smell that smell.

You already know what you want as your eyes feast on the menu covered with images of perfect burgers. You don't care that your Big Mac won't look that good. It's the taste you're after.

You clearly and politely enunciate your order so no mistakes are made. Your mouth begins to water as you pull two crumpled five-dollar bills from your tattered leather fanny pack.

Tears begin to run down your face in anticipation as you ease your moped toward the first window to pay. By the time you get to the second window you're sobbing and drooling, and people are staring, pointing and laughing at you. You don't care!

You thank the window-food-lady and speed off to the local park to devour your prey. You nearly snap in half your six-foot tall orange moped flag pole in your haste.

You open the bag.

You inventory the contents: Big Mac - check; ketchup packets - check; forty extra napkins - check; fries ... fries? ... fries?! ... NO FRIES! What the @#%&? (Except you didn't say "@#%&".)

Depression and red-hot fiery anger flood your body. You throw the Big Mac to the ground in disgust. You fly home, snapping the six-foot tall orange moped flag pole in your haste. You throw on your pajamas (nevermind that it's only 12:42 in the afternoon) and watch Jerry Springer re-runs the rest of the day. It's the lowest point of your life.

You were gypped.

Jesus' shopping spree

Jesus came to earth to buy something. No, He came to buy everything. He scanned the menu, and He wants the whole thing - regardless of how it looks right now. The cost? Two crumpled fives? Not even close. Jesus didn't even wear a stupid fanny pack (that was Judas' job). The cost was His life!

Feast your eyes on these verses.

¹⁹ For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, ²⁰ and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. (Colossians 1 - New King James Version)

Did you see that - He came "to reconcile all things to Himself ... things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross."

Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:12 - NKJV)

There it is again - "His own blood."

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13 - NKJV)

Boom! Again - "the blood of Christ."

¹⁸ knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. (1 Peter 1 - NKJV)

Is it precious in your eyes - "the precious blood of Christ"?

And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation (Revelation 5:9 - NKJV)

Jesus doesn't care about where you were born or the color of your skin. He created the color of your skin. He bought us for God by His blood! This is heavy stuff man! Are you getting it?

And this - don't skip this. Put your eyeballs on it and think hard about it.

4 [God our Savior] will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (1 Timothy 2)

So Jesus bought all things - this includes all people - with His precious blood. But He hasn't taken possession of everything yet. It's like He bought the whole freakin' store, grabbed a giant shopping cart and is putting the stuff He owns into the cart. It doesn't happen all at once. But when He's finished the cart will be filled with the complete inventory of the store. All men will be in the cart. All men will be saved. None will be left on the shelf to rot. Jesus bought every person because He wants every person.

Jesus' Father gave Him the power to do this, and He's going to do it. Check this out.

[God has] put all things in subjection under his feet. For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. But we do see Him who was made a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:8-9)

Ok. How do I know all things will become subject to Jesus? I'm glad you asked.

²⁴ Then comes the end, when [Jesus] delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. ²⁵ For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. ²⁶ The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. ²⁸ Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15)

So when it's all said and done, the cart will be completely full, and God will have everything subject to Him. He will then be "all in all."

The attempted gypping of God's Son

Jesus doesn't have to hire out the job of getting all that He's paid for. He believes in the old saying, "If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself." Besides, no mere mortal can accomplish the things God has empowered Jesus to do.

But, alas, some say He will not be able to get all that He's purchased. Some say His shopping cart is just too small, and He's going to run out of time. Who are these people? Sad to say, those who proclaim His inability to do this are the very ones who claim to be His followers. They carry His book, wear crosses, gather together on Sundays, and thank Him for their own salvation. But they don't believe He will do what He came to do - buy all things with His blood, save all people, and bring all things under His Father.

Yes, mainstream Christianity says Jesus is going to get gypped. And they say mere mortals are the ones who are going to gyp Him. Hmm, how they gonna do that? Well, apparently when Jesus reaches toward the shelf to put people into His enormous cart, most will simply say to Him, "No, Jesus. I like the shelf." He will honor their desire and leave them. End of story.

Or is it?

Check out my next blog post - Passive Salvation - to see how Jesus gets all people off the shelf and into His cart.

Sincerely,
Wes

"Jesus just stepped on my toes!"

Whether the question "Does man have free will?" is answered with "Yes" or "No," an age-old wild-goose chase is officially entered. I really enjoy eating goose, not chasing it.

I personally have never heard an air-tight defense for either answer to this challenging question. Though I obviously don't know everything, I do know that I don't want to dive into this fruitless debate.

A better question

I think there's a better question we can ask concerning man's will. A question for which we can find an encouraging, faith-building Biblical solution. The question:

"Who's will ultimately prevails - God's or man's?"

The hierarchy of wills

Look around at the world. Or stare into your own mirror. It seems as though man is currently winning the battle of wills with God. Is God letting man win this battle? Or is man more powerful than God? Or is God "the perfect Gentleman," Who will not step on man's tender little toes, even when it would be good for man if He did?

It's vital to remember that God is still working toward His ultimate goals. And it's also important to keep in mind that God is supernaturally patient (2 Peter 3:8-9). To look around and see what's currently going on and assume this is as good as it gets is being shortsighted.

I submit to you that God's will is infinitely higher and more powerful than man's. And God will eventually accomplish all of His good, pleasing, and perfect will.

But you must look into the future with the eyes of faith to see it.

God's will prevails in judgment

God, "the perfect Gentleman," judges humanity against humanity's will.

As Noah was putting the finishing touches on the ark, CNN polled people and asked, "Do you want to drown in the massive flood?". Not surprisingly, 100% of people polled did not want to die in the flood. But they all died, except those in the ark. God stepped on a few toes that day, and His will prevailed in judgment. (Note: He's not done with these people yet.)

Jesus said in John 5,

²⁸ Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice ²⁹ and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. (Revised Standard Version)

Do you think those who are in the sleep of death will be happy to be raised to face Jesus in the resurrection of judgment? No. But God's will prevails over man's in judgment.

Raise your hand if you want to be cast into the lake of fire at the great white throne judgment. No takers? But an innumerable mass of people will be put into the lake of fire - those who are not found written in the book of life (Revelation 20:15). Again, God's will prevails over man's in judgment.

"So," you ask, "God strong-arms the rebellious into judgment? Does God use His almighty will for anythin' good?"

I'm so very glad you asked.

God's will prevails in salvation

Though sometimes God's judgment is necessary, there is also a time for God's ultimate will - salvation.

[God our Savior] will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4 - King James Version)

Many believe God will save all people and bring them to the truth. Many say God can't do this. Many say God won't do this.

Saul, the hyper-religious Pharisee, hated and persecuted the resurrected Jesus and His followers. With bad intentions, he headed from Jerusalem to Damascus to rough up some Christians.

Jesus met Saul on the way with His own set of intentions - a completely different, good plan for Saul's life. Jesus confronted him, humbled him, temporarily blinded him, and told him he was fighting a losing battle.

Jesus then overwhelmed Saul with grace, faith and love.

Jesus' foremost persecutor, who called himself "the worst of sinners," was changed by Jesus into one of His greatest ambassadors. Saul became Paul and wrote a large portion of the New Testament. God's will prevailed in the salvation of "the worst of sinners."

"Yeah, but Saul was the exception to the rule." Was he? Keep reading.  

Hyper grace

Paul later wrote about his life-changing encounter with Jesus.

13 I, who formerly was a calumniator [blasphemer] and a persecutor and an outrager: but I was shown mercy, seeing that I do it being ignorant, in unbelief.
14 Yet the grace of our Lord overwhelms, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.
15 Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all welcome, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, foremost of whom am I.
16 But therefore was I shown mercy, that in me, the foremost, Jesus Christ should be displaying all His patience, for a pattern of those who are about to be believing on Him for life eonian.
(1 Timothy 1:13-16 - Concordant Literal New Testament)

Notice the word overwhelms in verse 14. This is the only occurrence of the Greek word huperpleonazo in the Bible. It's a compound word made of huper (from which we get hyper), meaning over or beyond, and pleonazo, meaning to superabound or to exist in abundance.

So we could say that the grace of Jesus over-superabounded Saul. It seriously overwhelmed him. He couldn't stop Jesus' grace. Definition of grace: Favor given to those who deserve the opposite.

Saul couldn't stop Jesus' undeserved favor, even though he deserved judgment. That's GRACE! And it truly is amazing. God's will prevailed in salvation.

"Yeah, but God had a plan for Saul. Like I said before, he's an exception to the rule."

Verse 16 tells us Saul was the pattern for those who would believe on Jesus, not the exception.

We are all saved by the same general pattern of Saul. We are ignorantly rebellious in unbelief, confronted by the supernaturally-patient Jesus, humbled, shown mercy, overwhelmed by His grace, reconciled to Him. That's how He accomplishes 1 Timothy 2:4.

But wait! There's more!

"Hi! Billy Mays here! You'll not just receive Jesus' undeserved favor, you'll also receive - FREE of charge and with NO shipping and handling costs - faith and love!" 

Notice in verse 14 above that Jesus didn't just overwhelm Saul with grace, but with faith and love.

Jesus gives us the faith that is essential to believe in Him. And the love we need to properly relate to Him. Talk about gifts! Merry Christmas indeed! Four for the price of none - Jesus, grace, faith and love.

It cost Saul absolutely nothing in this transaction (which is always the case when you get a gift). Jesus did all the work. And Saul got this while he was on his way to persecute Jesus' followers. Yeah, Jesus stepped on Saul's toes, and His will prevailed in salvation!

Notice verse 15 - "Jesus came into the world to save sinners." This is part of His enormous, but doable, mission from His Father. ♪♫One sinner at a tiiiiiiiime, sweet Jesus!♫♪

He'll finish this mission. All sinners will be saved, even if billions of toes get bruised in the process.

Lost sheep are found

"Hey Jesus. I've, uh, been looking for You. No, really!"

Jesus said in John 10:11, "I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep."
 
When Jesus goes after a lost sheep, doesn't He realize that maybe Fluffy just wants to be left alone?

Well, Jesus has bigger plans for ignorant little Fluffy. And He's got bigger plans for all of us. Yes, all of us have been ignorantly lost sheep. Jesus has rescued some of us. He will eventually rescue all of us because He "is come to save that which was lost" (Matthew 18:11).

Be encouraged by this story.

Then drew near unto [Jesus] all the publicans [tax collectors] and sinners for to hear Him.
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners, and eats with them."
And He spoke this parable unto them, saying, "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoices more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, 'Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.'
Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance."
(Combination of Matthew 18:13-14 and Luke 15:1-7)

Notice what God's will is - "Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish." Have we not all been little ones? It's God's will that none of us perish.

Can you see from this story the value of every single sheep?

And the lost sheep was passive in his rescue.

Yes, Jesus can save you all by Himself, just like He saved Saul. He doesn't need your help. He'll lay you on His shoulders and get you where you need to be. Then He'll go back out to get the rest of the lost sheep.

That's why He's called "the Great Shepherd of the sheep" (Hebrews 13:20).

"Overruled!"

God's not concerned with being "the perfect Gentleman," Who never violates our wayward wills.

God, as Judge and Savior, will overrule us. He has to. If He didn't, we would remain lost sheep. And that's obviously not His plan for any of us.

God's will will ultimately prevail over man's. And we should be glad it does, because His will is good, pleasing, and perfect (Romans 12:2). He knows what He's doing, and He doesn't care if it makes sense to us right now.

God says in Isaiah 46,

⁹ ... I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me,
¹⁰ 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."

Rejoice in this!


Sincerely,
Wes

P.S. So, does man have free will? I like Dilbert's final answer.