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The Lake of Fire - Part 15 Installment XV - Part B 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:
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:
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:
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?
Can we obey our Lord Jesus Christ, without a cause?
I repeat:
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.
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 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?
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.
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:
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:
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.
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:
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:
When God's time came to release Israel from bondage, we read this:
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?
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:
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.
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:
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,
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.
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:
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?
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:
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,
Let's try another one:
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!
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:
It is hard to even imagine that some will not get this point:
Jesus didn't even speak His own words:
Not only did the Father do the speaking through His Son, but He also performed all of the works as well:
If Jesus had a "free will," He sure didn't use it very much:
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 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:
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":
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:
After Joseph tells his brothers his dream we read this:
Later Joseph goes out into the fields to meet his brothers:
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 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." 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:
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:
It is GOD Who does the working of the clay. The clay does not determine its own destiny, that is the POTTER'S job:
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:
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:
Here then is the response of the people to God's proposal:
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?)
So there we have the cause, and the cause was GOD.
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:
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.
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?
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:
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:
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:
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:
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
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:
It is God Who has always done all the doing, whether physical or spiritual in nature. ALL IS OF GOD:
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.
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:
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.
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:
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:
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? 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 why? Why would God arrange a marriage that they thought was sinful?
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.
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:
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. Till next time, may God be with you all, Ray
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