INTRODUCTION

:In this article I would like to discuss the absolute sovereignty of God and absolute predestination.

I always did claim to believe in absolute predestination ever since I was saved in January of 1962. However, I did not dwell on the matter very much until the last ten years or so. I did not really stop to think just what all absolute predestination involved. What did get me thinking more about this doctrine seemed insignificant at the time, just one of those things that come into a persons life, or more accurately, what happened in someone else's life. But, God did not leave it at just "another amusing incident to chuckle over," He used it to get me thinking about just how much God does control the events of our lives. And the final result of these thoughts, along with other events God brought to my attention finally convinced me of His absolute sovereign control and predestination of events.

EXAMPLES OF GOD'S OBVIOUS PLANNING:

I would like to go over these events in which made such a difference in what I believe about God. So bear with me as I go into my own family history to show some startling facts that showed me just how God has to control things in order to accomplish His will(plan) in His own good time.

My Great Grandmother:

The first thing that really started me thinking about how much control God exerts over the events of this world was something I learned about my great-great-great grandmother - before she became my greatx3 grandmother. It seems that she "died" while still a young maiden - just how old I do not know, it makes no difference, but it was before she married and bore any children. At least they thought she was dead. She was laid out in a coffin already for burial like any dead person would be. Then, all of a sudden during her intern waiting for burial she suddenly sat up, and walked away from her coffin. I will not dwell on the shock on the people of the time, I presume your imagination is as good as mine. Of course she was not dead, I make no claim that God raised her from the dead. She was in a state of near death even the doctor declared her dead. In those days this was a fairly common phenomenon and is not unheard of in our day of the late 20th century. But what got me thinking is the fact that he young lady who was to become my greatx3 grandmother was supposed to be dead. What if she had died?

Do you fully understand what that would mean? It would mean that there would be no grandfather of mine, no father of mine, and no me. I think as adults, we all know the facts of procreation. To be us, who we are as individuals certain facts had to take place before we could be who we are. To be us we had to have the exact parents we have, and conception had to take place at exactly the time of month it did with the exact seed joining that took place. This is specially true of the male when out of the millions of sperm cells that enter the female, only one causes pregnancy. If any other sperm cell had caused conception then it would not have been us individuals born. It would have been another individual, even if called by our name, the resulting person would be a totally different personage. That is obvious because we see brothers and sisters that have been conceived at different times by different seed. So you can see what I mean by saying if this young lady who became my greatx3 grand mother had died at this time like they thought she had, there would be no me, or any descendants from her at all. And yet the Bible says before the foundation of the world God elected certain ones to be saved - and that included a certain person by the name of David Shortt - me.

If this young lady had died before mothering my line of descendants from her, then God's plan for me would have been obliterated. If my great grandmother had died, no one would have known that in God's eternal plan this David Shortt was supposed to have been born, and of course no one would have been any the wiser. But God knew His plans, and made sure that they were not disrupted. He knows the end from the beginning. And of course He should because He is the one who ordered it all, I am convinced to the minutest detail. This before you is the first event that got me thinking along these lines. And just remember, I speak of my family lineage because I know them. If any one out there in this world were to look back into their family history you may find just as startling events that would shock you and point to God's absolute control of the events of this planet.

This event with my great grandmother shows "what could have been if I'd stayed around" actually taking place. My grandmother didn't die at that time, so we actually see what could have happened if she had not died. Strange when you think about it, is it not?

How my parents were brought together

The next things that got me thinking about God's control is looking deeper into my family history and I really marvel at the line as I traced both families back about two hundred years. How events occurred until the couple that became my parents finally met, thousands of miles away from their family's original home soil.

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They came to America before the revolutionary war sometime in the mid seventeen hundreds. The direct lineage of my family did not agree with separation from England so after what is now the United States broke from England the Allens that my mother descended from moved from U.S. territory to Canada, settling in the Kingston area. These people who came to Canada rather than live under a new regime in the U.S.A. are known as United Empire Loyalists. Anyway, the Allen family remained in the Kingston area for some time.

So we will leave the Allen family and go look at activity of the Shortt family. The Shortts came to Canada directly, settling in New Brunswick. However some members did not stay there very long and certain members soon moved to Ontario settling in the Guelf area. Here we will leave them for a few years and go back to the Allen family, who by this time, some at least, have moved again. This time they settle near the city of London Ontario. Now the families are fairly close together. However they are still far too far apart to expect a courtship between young people of the two families yet, but they certainly are a lot closer than they ever have been before, certainly closer than across the ocean, or even the distance between New Brunswick and Kingston Ontario. They would be about 100 miles or so apart now. Once again a member of the Allen family is on the move, this time it is a man by the name of Joseph Allen -- my grandfather. He moves to the Halliburton area, about 120 miles northeast of Toronto. So now the Shortts-Allens are even further apart, about 220 miles now. Lets leave my grand father here in Dorset because he has married and settled down and raising several children, the second youngest of this brood will become my mother.

The Shortts have moved quite a bit, some are near Parry sound and from here a young man named John Shortt has left the family home and gone off to make his way in the newly opened Northern Ontario. In fact he is officially registered as a pioneer opening up the country around Englehart/Tomstown in northern Ontario. This John Shortt is to become my grandfather Shortt. He too settles down, marries and has several children, the oldest of this brood becomes my father.

Now, how did my father and mother get together to meet, court and marry when they are still some 220 miles apart? You guessed it. By this time the children of grandfather Allen were pretty well grown up so once again he was on the move. Most of his children came with him, and of course that includes my mother. You guessed it again, the place they moved to was right to the Englehart/Tomstown area in Northern Ontario, just in time for the two individuals who are now just around marrying age, my father and mother, to meet. And they do meet, court and marry and a few years later I am born to them. All this just a coincidence? Or did it happen just as God had planned all along? I believe that God's elected individual by the name of David Shortt was born, and 22 years later saved, all in God's eternal plan known only to God him self.

The Indian connection:

There is one more incident in my family history which is just as remarkable in its clarity of God working behind the scenes to accomplish His plan. My great-great grandmother fell in love with a full blooded Indian. This did not go over too well with the parents of the girl and refused to give permission to the girl to get married. It must not be forgotten that in those days a girl was not free to do her own will until she was 21, and this girl was not that age yet by several years. So the couple eloped and married Indian style, not a white man's marriage. The father did not recognize this marriage and forced the girl to leave her Indian husband. The only trouble was that the girl was already pregnant. She had the baby, and in the end was brought up by the parents of the mother. The girl went on to marry a white man, and he turned out to be a real bummer. The parents of the girl admitted years later that they really regretted having separated their girl and her Indian husband.

The baby that was born of this short marriage between this young girl and her Indian husband was my grandmother. Again, if it had not been for this short marriage that produced this one little girl there would be no father of mine which came from her, and no me which came from my father which came from her.

COINCIDENCE OR DIVINE DECREE?

Now the question is was all this just coincidence, or was it all the result of a well thought out and executed plan - God`s foreordained plan for all this to happen. I for one do not believe anything happens by accident. As I said before God states He ordained his elect before the foundation of the world to be saved in time, during ones lifetime. If that is so, and it is, then He has to ordain that person be born, and also ordain all things leading up to that person's physical birth and then his spiritual birth (his being born again with an altogether new spiritual nature), making sure that nothing interferes with that plan from the first man Adam up to the time of my own birth. All this over thousands of years of earth history!! There is only two ways God could go about saving a person.

(1) God could have looked down through time and seen that a person was going to accept Christ and become a Christian and then just elect him on that basis. That would certainly be the easy way of doing things, and would eliminate the problem of the absolute control over the minutest detail that God would have to have if he did it the second way.

(2) God in his Sovereignty ordered every thing to happen just exactly the way they do - good, bad - every thing, all according to His eternal purpose. As time goes on, what He ordained to happen is played out just as he ordered, right to the minutest detail. It is hard to accept that God orders all the death, war, famine, sin in this world, but if we read the Bible and believe what God says about himself, then we have to accept just that.
 
 

Of course there are those that do believe God took the easy way and just looked down through history and saw what was going to happen so ordained things to suit that. They do not have much of a God who has to resort to such tactics. The Bible very clearly states that God ordains things to happen, including our being saved according to his will and purpose, not according to man's will or works. Let's look at just two scriptures to prove this point. There are many more, but likely if you can`t accept one or two you will not accept any amount I could present. Lets read:
 
 

And:

Nothing here about God depending on man making the first move is there? In fact it is very clear the complete reverse is true. What happens to us is due to God making the first move, His ordaining authority.

As I have stated before, all the events mentioned above are just things that got me to thinking over life and all its complexities. How, how? How could these things be, considering the several thousand years of mankind? How, over such a long period of time could world events happen exactly when they do and just happen to be at the exact time needed for a given subject to happen? There had to be complete control, a plan of God, and He could not wait for or depend on the obedience or disobedience of man (or for that matter the Devil or Angels) to carry out that plan - just plan it, and do it, according to His will and plan. The fact He had a plan and carried it out according to His will became clear as I read the Bible and began to understand the depravity of man, and the fact that man could not come to God or have a good thought toward God or want to do a good deed until God made him willing through the rebirth, the activating of a spiritual element (nature) in a person. And Then scriptures like:

 I believe it was by divine decree.

There is a plan, and it is laid out before our eyes in these few words. The complication of world events do not bother God, they were ordered by Him, and small things like a certain person being born and eventually saved is a small thing to an all powerful, a sovereign God - my God, even if not yours. God sees to it that all events happen exactly as planned, including his elect being born, then saved. All in God`s own time. He sees his elect are saved if he has to send a preacher out into the desert to talk to a single individual, like He did the eunuch from Ethiopia, or like sending Paul to the Island of Potts to save an elect on that Island, or send an individual 3000 miles from his home in a small Northern Ontario village to one of His preachers in a small Baptist Church in Puerto Rico - like he did me. HE LOSES NOT ONE IN THE MAZE OF LIFE AND ALL ITS COMPLEX TWISTING.

 Just how much does God involve Himself in the events of this world? It has been said by many that God does not have to cause man to sin, all that God has to do is leave man to his own sinful nature. Man's nature is more interested in satisfying its own lusts and desires with no interest at all in doing things God's way. And the above is certainly true. Man left to himself will automatically do the desires of the flesh, not the will of God. I will give an illustration of the above statement. God has made many laws to govern nature, let's take a look at just one of these laws. God when making this world decreed that when something was dropped, or fell free from a restraining hold it would fall. We know when we drop something it will fall. But it would be very foolish to picture God zapping down to earth to personally see to it that when each and every item ever dropped or fell free from it's restraining hold would fall to earth in accordance with his decree. No, God at the same time he made the decree that all freed items fall to the earth He set in motion a law that would cause that item to drop to the ground. We know that law as gravity. That's why when we drop something there is no doubt that it will fall.

In the same way God has ordained events in the life of every individual, some good, and much evil. But in the same way God does not directly cause an item to fall, but instead uses "gravity" to do His work for Him, God does not usually personally cause a man to sin, He uses this "gravity" to do it for him. This "gravity" is mans "no good in man," depraved, sinful human nature, the natural man. It does the same thing for God that gravity does in nature, carries out God`s decrees freeing God from interfering directly to cause a decreed sin to take place. Let's go on into another angle. When you drop some thing, you know gravity will cause that item to fall, unless another power greater than the gravity pulling it down interferes with it and stops it's fall. In the same way, when man is left on his own, he will y nature do what is pleasing to his own "no good in man", depraved nature. He will not do anything for God, he just is not interested in God and wants nothing to do with Him -- unless a greater power than one's sinful, depraved nature interferes. Of course that greater power is the power of God.

Man's sinful, no good in man's depraved nature cannot rise above itself. In other words, man's nature which controls his mind, his thinking, his morality, his way of life, his actions, etc, will never become better than a "no good in man - sinful depraved nature". Since there is absolutely no good in our nature - can do no good. Let's have a look at that level of morality as the Bible describes it.

THE CONDITION OF MAN:  HIS DEPRAVITY:

I repeat, a depraved nature that can THINK no good, hence can DO no good. One cannot be passive, submissive or obedient except under the influence of this outside power - the Holy nature of God in us. Keeping all the above in mind we determine that we do good when God's influence causes us to do good - any kind of good, but sin happens when God withdraws His influence and we are left to the will of our own nature and just like an object dropped gravity will cause it to fall, when God withdraws His influence(grace) our sinful, depraved nature will cause us to fall. And this is true whether your saved or not. Any good thoughts or deeds come from God's influence(grace) in or upon us, not our own sinful, depraved, no good in
man nature.

The fact that one continues on in the life style of his former self, loving the world and it's way of life, not respecting God or His revealed way of life for mankind, under the influence of his own human nature only, as described above, is sure evidence that that one has not been born again - God has not given that one His own Nature because when He does the following changes will take place: 

There are other scriptures that also describe the depravity of our human nature, the level of our morality that is completely alien to God, and makes us enemies of God.

Please read:

    And another:

Pretty picture isn't it? And yet there are so many that do not grasp the statement that "there is none that doeth good, no not one," and keeps right on trying to do good, to appease God by upholding his end of the stick so to speak, or in other words uphold his responsibilities. But above is what to expect of our human nature - no good at all. It just cannot do good, and as I said before it cannot raise itself above it's own level - and that does not change when we are saved. God does not change our human nature when we are saved - that is made plain in the first scripture quoted. No, any change in our way of obedience, thinking, our lifestyle, our actions is brought about by that new Holy nature God puts in us at our new birth. This new nature lives along side our human nature in our heart and I assure you they are not friends. Galatians 5:17, I repeat, makes that quite clear. Our nature controls the way we think, and of course we do what we think.

Those of us who are born again have two natures that are working on our mind, our human nature that wants to continue in the old way, and our Holy nature that wants to do what God wants. There is always that conflict. When God wants something in particular done His influence (Grace) will override the rebellion of the human nature, and that person will be controlled by the spirit and he will do God's work. When God has completed the work with that person His influence(Grace) will depart from that one and that person will go back to being his own sinful self again. If God's influence were to leave a person totally that person would go right back into being nothing but a lost sinner again. But we know that will not happen, God has promised that He will never leave us totally on our own again. A good example of all this is when Elijah destroyed the 400 prophets of Baal.

Did he do this with his own nature and strength, or was it God's nature in him that gave him the thought command to do all this, then gave him the strength to carry the commands out? I think it is obvious that the command came from God, as well as the strength, for look at what happens the very next day. (Remember - for it is God that works in us both to WILL and DO His good pleasure - Philippians 2:13).  He was running for his life from the queen who favored Baal and the prophets he had killed. He would have been no more dead from the queen if she had killed him, had God let her get to him than the 400 prophets of Baal could have made him had God let them kill him. No, Elijah had the power of God on the one occasion, and God's influence left him on his own against the queen, and in his human weakness ran.

In plain, simple words -- God doesn't have to interfere to cause a man to sin, just leave him to himself, ones own depraved sinful nature will do the rest, the only result you can expect from that sinful nature - sin. When God wants a good done in a certain way, then God does interfere and overrides mans sinful, depraved nature and accomplishes God`s wish under the direct influence of God. Referred to in the Bible as - "the measure of faith" given each one.

This is how I think most of God`s decrees are brought about. However, as I read through the Bible time and time again I would come across scripture after scripture that made me realize that God does work directly on man on occasions, to accomplish a wrong if that is the turn of events that was in His eternal plans.

As I said before, all the above is what got me thinking of just how much God directly influences the events of this world. Then as I read The Bible and came across scripture that backed up the conclusions I was coming to just taking into account what I had learned about life, and that conclusion is that God does take a very powerful role in all the events of life. I have been a Christian since 1962, I had read the New Testament through probably about 45 times, and the Old Testament about 25 times by the time I started thinking seriously about the absolute sovereignty of God. When I did, then the scriptures began taking on a whole powerful new meaning. The first scripture I would like to bring forth is:
 
 

  LET'S STUDY GOD'S SOVEREIGN ACTS:

To most people, the thought of God creating evil is the unpardonable sin. Yet God says He does. We should stop and think a second or two about who made us. He made us with a sinful nature, and since He made us that way He must have had a purpose for that sinful nature in us - and that was for us to sin. In His eternal plans sin was very much a part of it all. The same can be said for the Devil and all the non elect angels who have gone after Satin in his downfall. All part of God's plan we know nothing about. As discussed earlier, God may not cause us to sin, but He still gave us a sinful nature that God knew would sin and how it would react under any given circumstance.

Alot of people have the mistaken idea man was made perfect. It is true man was made good (sinless, innocent). A new born baby is sinless, innocent, but he is not perfect, and we find out mighty quick about his sinful nature. Being sinless and being perfect is two different things. The angels are sinless (at least God`s angels) but they are not perfect because they have the potential for sin. Satan himself used to be one of the highest ranking of God`s angels, but he sinned. If he was perfect he could never sin, nor could anyone else if they were perfect in the sense God is. The only perfect being is God.(in the fullest meaning of the word anyway) He cannot sin, if we were made perfect like God then we could not have sinned. In the beginning God made all things "good", or according to His specifications. Good does not mean perfect - just - no bad found in them yet. That came later - then they were not "good". All this we have discussed comes in the eternal will of God of course. He has a purpose for all He does known only to Himself, and we have to accept His sovereignty in this matter.

After seeing the above scripture, then scriptures like John 1:3 and Romans 13:1 took on a lot more meaning. Lets read them:

What powers is he talking about here? For many years I thought nothing of what He meant, thinking He meant the power of nature and so on. But looked at closely He is certainly not just talking about the power of nature. He is talking about political power. Kingdoms, dominions, political powers no matter what they may be called. Ninety nine point nine percent of the political powers that has ever existed in this world were corrupt to some extent. I probably should say one hundred per cent but I will give some one somewhere the benefit of the doubt.
 

Even evil kingdoms such as the Roman empire was created by God. After all, who was it going to be who killed our Lord Jesus Christ, and on the cross, a Roman method of execution. All this was prophesied centuries before it happened. Do you really believe Jesus death by the Romans was an accident, something God just took advantage of because it was a handy way of accomplishing His goal? Man may be at the mercy of nature and his environment, governed by the laws of nature, but God does not have that problem, God governs nature, not nature governing or limiting what He can do. Was what Judas did just an accident, something God thought up in a hurry as a stop gap to fill the plug of man's terrible sins, something God had not taken into consideration when he had made man? Or was it all a part of God`s over all plan, developed by the Godhead before the world was put into existence?

The Bible teaches the latter. It has to be this way, other wise we have a real problem with our God - just consider this -- I mentioned above that God did make Satin as the highest ranking angel, but he fell. Was this an accident, did God make a mistake in his make up, did God make him, then lose control of him. Then God makes man, and it seems He had not learned by His mistakes because man soon falls too. He made the same old mistakes. The only difference He made us mortal flesh with not anywhere near the power Satin has. What a weak God that is, can't even create beings that He can control after!! Is that your God? It sure isn't mine. In fact that is no God at all, but the imaginary god of man who wants thing according to his understanding. My God is the God of the Bible, and the Bible tells me God made things the way they are in this world and that He has a purpose for it all, and I'll leave it in His care to know what He is doing and that it will all work out for the best for us some day, and to God's glory. In other words, I BELIEVE ON JESUS. I truly believe that He also has the future eternity planned out too, and what we are going though here in this life is preparing us for that future eternity. We could never appreciate that position He has prepared for us without the experience we go through here.
 

We should never boast and say we would never commit such and such a sin. We all have the same nature and so we all have the potential of committing the most vile sin, including betraying Jesus as Judas did. Don't worry though, that sin has already been taken care of, but you or I would have done the same thing as Judas had it been one of us ordained by God to commit that deed. We would have done just exactly as he did under exactly the same circumstances.

GOD ORDERS ALL THINGS:

Lets look at some more scripture to start the search into just how much God does take part in the affairs of man, sometimes even causing man to do evil to accomplish Gods eternal will.

We will go to Romans 9:17 first:

Note here that it plainly states that God raised Pharaoh up, or had him born and raised to manhood for one purpose. What purpose is he talking about? That is found in the book of Exodus in the story of Moses and the Exodus of the people of Israel out of Egypt. What the Bible is referring to is Pharaoh's part in that event. To an outsider looking in on those events or reading about them in Exodus he would just pass off Pharaoh as a stubborn old fool who just could not be persuaded to let the Israelites go. In actual fact if Pharaoh had been left alone in this case he probably would have let the Israelites go the first time Moses asked to be allowed to go. But that was not God's will yet. He had a purpose in having Pharaoh keep those Israelites in Egypt. He said above that the purpose was to show his power. What does he mean by power? Well I think God means his authority, or his sovereignty over the events of this world. We will now go to Exodus and see just how things went there to show how God controls the strings of life. Before the story of the Exodus itself, or any confrontations Moses had with Pharaoh over the children of Israel God is having a talk with Moses and is laying the ground work for what will happen when Moses approaches Pharaoh about taking his people out of Egypt, here is what is said: 

Can you deny God's work on Pharaoh here, it clearly states that GOD will harden Pharaoh's heart and even tells us why. As I stated above if Pharaoh had been left alone, he probably would have let the children of Israel go the first time Moses asked. But God had other plans. He had a purpose for Pharaoh to act the stubborn fool, so God made him act like one. To an outsider looking in it does look like Pharaoh was just a stubborn old fool, but when those of us on the inside(are saved) that can see things clearer and just believes God's word as He speaks it, we see that God is in it all, behind the scene. All this is confirmed in the New Testament such as the scripture I quoted, Romans 9. Here are several more, each one saying virtually the same thing:

What more needs to be said when God's own word makes it as plain as words can put it. All we have to do is believe that God says what He means and means what He says. But that is the problem with human nature, once they have a view point of their own, they just can't change it. (unless of course God intervenes and changes it for them.) Pharaoh was just a tool to bring about the predetermined plan of God. In fact so are we all. We all think, when we are still in the unsaved state that we are free, that we are the masters of our own destiny. What a lie!!! Nothing could be further from the truth!!

It is bad enough that unregenerate people believe this, but when people confessing to be saved believe we are free, that God made us with no purpose other than to send us out into the world to do as we please without design or purpose is a terrible pity. In fact we are only tools in God's hand created by Him for a purpose and He makes sure we carry out the purpose we were created for. Every thing in this universe He has made was made for a purpose. We understand when man makes something that that creation was made for a purpose, and everything man makes he makes sure he can control it. Is this any less true with God? No, we are created by God and as His creation therefore are tools made for a specific purpose, sophisticated tools maybe, but tools none-the-less.

You may say -"yes, but the tool is what does the work." But is it? Take a simple pen and run it across a paper. It's true that it is the pen that makes the mark - that is what it was made for, but where does the power to run across the paper come from - you isn't it? Same with us - we are God's tool, we are the ones people see doing the work - but what is moving us? - it is God's Holy nature in us, and all we do is leave the mark which God created us to make.

If it was not for God's hand in our life we would not get far in life. He controls nature, our life span and certainly our health. If He so desired He could cut us off at any time. The position we achieve in life is due God's grace,(the influence of the Holy Spirit upon us) and not our own effort. You might say to me - "I am the one who went to college, or university or whatever, I am the one who studied and put long hours in so how can you say it is God's hand that got me where I am"? Well just go back a few sentences for the answer. Where do you think your health that enables you to do the things you mentioned comes from, or the wealth that pays for the tuition? You could have been born mentally retarded or with any amount of disabilities that abound in this world.

In God's eternalwill you are one of the blessed ones that have good health, mentally and physically to enable you to study and get a good position in life. There are many, many that are not blessed to that extent. Be thankful and praise God for those blessings instead of boastful and unbelieving - God could change everything mighty quick if he so desired just by a quick stroke, or heart attack, or accident, or by the many decease's that plague man kind. God is in control of your circumstances.

Now lets go back to discuss Judas. I mentioned some distance back that what he did was no accident, but in the framework of God's plan. He ordained it to happen. He is still accountable for his actions - but still God did ordain it to happen. But that one is still accountable - will have to answer and be punished for that deed - but in the flesh, the part of him that sinned. Judas was not saved, so he had to suffer two ways, in the flesh by hanging himself and eternally for his rejecting Christ. But a saved person's sins have already been punished in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the spiritual, eternal sense. But this does not cover the punishment due the part of us that sinned, the flesh - our human part of us. The Bible makes it plain that when we commit a serious sin we are accountable for it and can expect the wrath of God on us in some form of physical punishment. Lets read:

We see from this that God does punish in the flesh those who commit serious sins, or keep on committing less serious sins. Despite the fact that God Foreordained them to happen. He did not make us do them but the flesh did it wilfully - which makes us accountable and can expect some sort of physical punishment. This is true whether saved or lost, the only difference is a lost person has to commit some very serious sins or over a long period before God punishes him, while a saved person can expect God's chastisement much sooner and for less serious sins. So we are accountable for everything we do or say - God punishes or awards us in the flesh according to our faithfulness in keeping his statutes and demands. Despite the fact how faithful, or good a Christian we are is ordained of God, He still awards our good deeds and punishes our bad deeds as if we were totally in control of our actions.

I would like to point out again the control God has to have over life to bring a particular person into being compared with the billions and billions that "could have" been born instead if God was not in control of what seeds caused conception. Note that I am not talking about a name. A persons name is just a tag of identification of that person. It means nothing as far as the person being that person. So from this we have to conclude that God does control the events of life, good and bad. What could be worse than the betrayal of Jesus by Judas? And yet God was behind it. He ordained it to happen, and it did, by the very person who He ordained to carry out this terrible sin and at the exact time that all other events concerning Jesus and the cross was taking place. Judas may not like the idea he was just a tool being used to carry out God's will, he probably never understood that he was, but he was just the same.

The same goes for Pharaoh whom we studied earlier, and the same goes for the Roman empire, and the same goes for the Nazi empire, and the same goes for each one of us. But whether we like it, or understand it or not, we are just tools, being used by God to carry out His ordained plans - the reasons He created us for in the first place. Lets go to other scriptures that plainly shows God's interference among man to cause them to carry out God's ordained will. Let's read:

EXAMPLES OF HOW GOD WORKS BEHIND THE SCENE:

I will give some background of what is being talked about here. This is found in the story of Samson. Samson has just asked his parents to bless a marriage between him and a woman of Timnath, which if you know Israelite law was for bidden. But Samson insisted even after the parents tried to talk him out of it, so they gave in to his demands. The quoted statement reveals why - it was plainly and simply the will of God, it was in God's eternal plan for that to happen, as well as the events that followed. Lets look at another scripture that shows the same thing:

See also verse 24 in the same chapter. Again to give a little back ground for those who do not know the Bible well. Solomon the wise king had just died and left the throne to Rehoboam his son. This son asked advice of his elders who had ruled with his father about whether he should slacken up on the tight rein his father had held over the kingdom of Israel. He did not like the elders advice, so he went to inexperienced people, young people like himself, and asked, and in the end, took their advice. Bad advice as it turned out, for the people rebelled against the king and 11 of the 12 tribes of Israel broke away from the kingdom.

I would like to bring one more event to bear here from the Old Testament again:

Take a close look at this portion of scripture because it is one of the very few places that God allows us a peek into one of his war councils, if you can call it that. It has all the makings of one any way. God is having a meeting with some of his Angels mapping out a strategy to follow to get king Ahab to go to war on the side of a neighboring king. King Ahab is very reluctant to go, and probably would not have gone except God stepped in and caused this lying spirit, unseen and unheard, working behind the scene, unknown to any body, caused king Ahab to do something he should not have done, and really did not want to do, but he ended up going anyway because of the influence of this lying spirit sent by God.

You see God had a purpose for king Ahab to go into this battle. God planned to kill him in that battle for all the sins he had committed over the years, for King Ahab was a very bloody man.

The punishment included even the sin of the king going to this war to help a friend which God had just influenced him into doing against his own better judgement!!!

This shows us that we are still accountable for our actions - that God will take action to punish us in the flesh when we commit a serious sin - not your everyday "'mistakes", if He did we would always be under His wrath. Despite this hidden power we cannot feel, hear or see, and we do not even know why we do some of the things we do, we are still accountable (will be punished in the flesh) for wrongs we do.

You may ask how, how can God blame us when we are just carrying out God's will? I can only give the answer Paul gives in:

ACCEPTING GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY:

The same question was asked of Paul, and I can only give you the same answer. If Paul cannot answer that question I'm sure I can't for I use his writings for any answer I would give. We are created beings of God, therefore He can and does as He wishes with us. And this scripture plainly brings out our tool status, and that tool can be called a pot of clay, a robot, or any tool in between you wish to name, but we are just tools made by God to accomplish His decreed plan. That is very humbling indeed, but if a person in his pride and arrogance prevents him from accepting that, then there is something lacking somewhere, you are certainly not humbled yet as you "ought to" be. Believing all this is really what humbles a person. I know human nature looks upon himself as some supreme being, and maybe he is over our worlds lower life, but the comparison between our supremacy over worldly life is very pale compared to the supremacy of God over man.

The question comes up, if all things are ordained to happen in a given way, and that is what is going to happen any way, why do anything, why preach to the lost to get people saved? The answer to that is two-fold. (1) Because God tell us to. (2) Because that is the method God has ordained to be used to get things done in this world, through tools, and we humans are a tool greatly used by God to carry out His will. God does not operate openly in this world - therefore whatever He accomplishes He does secretly, through physical means such as preaching to get a man saved - and yet no man is saved unless God, unseen and unheard enters that one's heart and causes the change. God does the work, yet the preacher is given the credit for that person being saved. The reverse is also true. When Israel fell - they fell because of unbelief. That is the physical that we see - but in reality Israel fell because God withdrew His influence from among them and the old natural, "no good in man" nature was in control of their thinking and the results were inevitable - sin and rebellion, the only thing you can expect from our human nature.

Look at:

God does not just use the foolishness of preaching to save people. He uses preaching for getting people motivated into Christian living as a whole. We may give ourselves the credit when we do good, from going into the ministry and preaching God's word, or living an unreproachable life, or just being a good person, while others may not be so good. They might have a lot of sin in their life, so much so we tend to question whether they are saved. Don't give yourself the credit. If you do, that in itself is a terrible sin because it takes the glory away from who is actually making you different - and yes - better than your Christian neighbor - God's nature in you.

You see, God runs this world with a lot of "ought to" demands. The Bible is one big "ought to", for almost everything you read in the Bible is telling us what God expects of us, how we "ought to" live. He has his preachers go into the world preaching the Gospel and preaching how we "ought to" live, THE WAY THINGS SHOULD BE, AND WOULD BE IF IT WASN'T FOR ADAM'S FALL AND THE RESULTING "NO GOOD IN MAN" NATURE WE INHERITED FROM ADAM FROM THAT FALL.

The Bibles says we "ought to" "believe in" the Lord Jesus Christ(meaning: we should have enough confidence in Jesus Christ that we trust that whatever He says or does He is doing right and every thing will come out right in the end, to our good and to God's honor and glory. He does not ask us to understand or agree with everything He does, just believe that everything He does is right, and will work out to the best in the final analysis) - it teaches we "ought to" repent of our sins - it says we "ought to" confess our sins - it says we "ought to" put aside our old man and live Godly lives - it says we "ought to" sanctify ourselves, it says we "ought to" humble ourselves, it says that we "ought to" and even must be holy like Christ or we will have no place in heaven AS IF we could make ourselves holy by goodly living or do the rest of those "ought- to's" ourselves.We call this inability to change ourselves "The depravity of man".

The Bible says we "ought to" believe God's word, just take it as He says it without any "reading between the lines". It says we "ought to" live up to all these responsibilities AS IF we could change the way our nature reacts to God when in fact we can do none of the above. We can not change our minds or the way our natural mind thinks any more than a lion can change it's stripes or a colored person could make himself white, or visa versa. To an unregenerate person that is what it does sound like God is saying, you live up to these standards or else. That is all right for an unregenerate person or even a newly born again person to believe, and teach them. But to a person who has been regenerated, with a new nature from God dwelling within one, and knows the scriptures at all and wants to mature as a Christian, he must learn that all the above mentioned are actually gifts from God. We do not become righteous by what we do but only when we are born again and under the influence of what Christ has already done for us.(God's grace) He has done all that needs to be done to make us righteous. He kept the law, for us, and causes us to keep these "ought to's"  by controlling our thoughts by giving us thought commands from that Holy Nature that He has put in us. (or the Holy Nature in us prompts our mind to do as it wishes.)
 

GOD AT WORK IN US:

We can understand what God is doing by making all these demands if we understand that God is laying out what He expects of us. He lays out what is expected of us. Then we have a dilemma - will we try to meet all these demands ourselves - or will we recognize that in no way can we meet these demands thoroughly enough to satisfy God - acknowledge this to God, then accept the work of God's substitute - the Lord Jesus Christ who has already met all these demands and will impute these good works(Jesus righteousness) to those who will acknowledge all this. Of course an unsaved person will try to meet all these demands himself, he cannot understand that he can't meet these standards to God's satisfaction. A person who is born again -with God's Holy nature in him will understand and accept the substitute.

Christ chose to earn the honor of being called righteous by coming to earth, keeping the law as God demands everyone to keep it, every jot and tittle of it - for us. He certainly did not need to make Himself righteous by obeying the law, He was already Holy. So why did Christ go to the trouble of coming to live on this earth for 33 years, give up all He had in heaven to come to this sinful old world to keep all God's demand that qualifies one to be righteous.

I think for two reasons. (1) by keeping them He proved they could be kept. (2) He proved that man in his 'no good in man' state (his depravity) could not meet these demands, so He kept them for us. And Note when I say all God's demands I mean more than the written law of Moses, such as the ten commandments, but the unwritten as well for there are many differences in our nature that separate us from God that can not be taken care of in a written law. I quoted Galatians 5 where it mentions a number of attributes that a person gets from the Holy nature in us. Only when a person understands that he can never meet his responsibilities will he look for a substitute to do it for him.

That substitute of course is Jesus Christ. He doesn't have "TO do it", He has already DONE all there is to be done, long ago. And never loose sight of the fact that the life we now live and the sins we are committing is the very sins Christ died for on that cross. Then when an individual will accept his "no good in man" state and realizes he cannot meet his responsibilities and is prepared to transfer his own responsibilities to Jesus, Jesus in return takes over your responsibilities and transfers His earned righteousness to that individual. He has already done the works as well as died for our sins, and now stands before God as our mediator. Now we are justified - which means AS IF we had never sinned.

Yes God treats us AS IF we had never sinned once in our life if we are trusting in what Christ did for us - His death burial and resurrection - for us. But, I repeat, man will not depend on what Christ has done until he accepts that he cannot do them himself, and that they have already been taken care of by Jesus. A person is not really believing (or depending) on Jesus the way He meant it when He told us to "believe in" the Lord Jesus Christ until he understands our "no good in man" state and how hopeless it is for us to try to meet our responsibilities and are willing to transfer those responsibilities to Jesus Christ.

That's what the Bible is all about, from beginning to end it is trying to get across to us our "no good in man" status by comparing our lives and what we can accomplish with our "no good in man nature" by what God demands of us (a perfect life, not one single sin in our life) - that we are TOTALLY, ABSOLUTELY depraved and will be as long as we are in this flesh. We do sin, even after being saved, but once we put our trust in Jesus finished work - saved - in God's eternal purpose He sees us AS IF we had never sinned. If He didn't, then no one would ever get to heaven for God demands absolute perfection, not one sin in our life.

When we live good lives pleasing to God, (or think we do) we tend to boast that it was ourselves making ourselves that way forgetting our total depravity (no good in man) status that God Himself says can never do any good. Any man saying there is some good in man and goes about trying to meet God's standard himself calls God a liar, and the truth is not in him. (No Spiritual life.) God says there is no good in man period, so if any good deeds come from man it is God working in him causing him to do good. Even unsaved people. Without the influence of God's Holy Nature in us putting these thought commands in our minds causing us to do good it would never happen.

If you understood human nature in it's true state, then you would know that we can do no good except under the influence of that new Holy Nature God plants in us at the rebirth. We would be far worse than we are if it was not for the restraining power of God in our lives. So we have God to thank, not ourselves. But once again God treats us and blesses us AS IF we were the ones stirring ourselves up.

So as I said before, never boast about your goodness, just thank God for God's work within you making you what you are. If he does not put you in as high a position in life as others - still praise God for what you are - just look around you and see what He could have done to you. Ever have much to with mentally retarded, or people crippled up with cerebral policy or with any of the many other crippling diseases that plague this world? Just thank God you are not in that condition. And when I say position in life I do not just mean social position, I also mean the measure of faith God has given you. Are you faithful, knowledgeable, a hard worked, a good preacher, or good at witnessing. If you are praise the Lord. If you are not don't feel left out, God has a purpose for you. It may not be as big or noticeable a position others may have, but to God it's just as important and if faithful in that call He will award you just as much. Maybe God will call you for a higher place in the future.

Any changes God makes or any call to any individual He does through preaching. He has a preacher preach a certain sermon concerning whatever it is God wants, then the Holy Spirit (nature) will apply that to the mind of the individual He is calling and that person will respond because of the thought commands the Holy nature is putting in that person's mind. Then when God has made the person willing He will give that person the ability to carry out that calling God called him to, not only in the spiritual sense but He will take care of any other obstacle such as financial problems, or even language differences.

As I stated before, God chose the foolishness of preaching to reach the lost, to draw them from sin, and also to call one into the ministry, or any other calling, and also to correct any error in a persons life. That error could be sin in his life, or an error in doctrine. Once again, when the word goes out, it is preached to the congregation AS IF you can stir yourself up to make the decision to go into the ministry, or make the corrections in your life. But reality is, that nothing will change until that Holy nature in you does the stirring. You cannot feel Him working, you may think it's you making the decision, but it is not, because the Bible says a man cannot stir up himself to do good. Let's read:

If We cannot stir up ourselves to take hold of God (or any thing pertaining to God) then who stirs us up. God's new nature in us does. Lets read:
 
 

I think it is quite clear here that without God's influence in us we will do no kind of good. All you have to do is accept this, our total, absolute depravity. That's what the meaning of depravity is all about - we can't do good.

Do you have a hard time accepting that God controls every thing despite first appearances? Just take a look around this old world and look at the disasters, the death, suffering, pain, the sin that abounds. Does it look as if there is an all powerful God in control? If there is, why would he let all this happen. What I am trying to say is that God lets life go on in this world AS IF there was no God, AS IF there was no one in control, AS IF everything happens by chance. Our world's scientists would like us to believe just that.

But we know it is not true, God is there, but as usual He stays in the background out of sight, controlling what happens even though we do find it hard to believe He would let all these terrible things happen. Don't forget, since Adam fell this world has been under a curse, and all these terrible things happen as a result of that curse. He has his purpose for all this, and because He is sovereign, all powerful, we have to put up with it whether we like it or not. He does not have to explain His actions to us. Our being upset over it will not change God's plan for this world, which includes us. We can console ourselves with the comforting fact it could be worse, people would be worse if not for the restraining power of God on all His creation.

In God's plan He ordained how deep He would let man go into sin, individually or collectively, what sins man would commit, and when His eternal plan is fulfilled God restrains man from going any deeper in sin. The Bible tells that in the latter days just before Jesus' return, things will get much worse, people will sin greater sins, just as a demonstration of how bad things can be when God withdraws his restraining power. Same thing He did to Israel - and the result will be the same - a turning away from God. The greatest restraint on the world's morality and way of life is the influence of God's elect when they are saved. The more of God's elect that are in the world and being saved of course the greater the influence they will have on the way of lfe of the world in general. When God has few elect in the world being saved then of course the fewer people that are being saved will have less influence on the world's way of life. God said He would only work with the Gentiles a certain length of time then would go back to the Jewish nation. I think that is slowly taking place now. We see less and less people being saved - hence less and less of God's elect among the gentiles. The result - more sin as the influence of God's people gets less as the number of elect/ saved gets thinner.

Yes this AS IF along with His "ought to" demands is a powerful factor in this life we go through. When one rejects God's sent Savior, they are punished with eternal hell for doing so and yet at the same time we understand we cannot accept Christ unless there is a work of God done in one. It does seem unfair to us because we cannot see the end from the beginning. We are the created not the creator, and even if we do not like it, that is not going to change God.

This is where faith comes in, trusting God that He knows what He is doing and He knows what is best for us in the long haul. Just remember though, that the ones who do accept Christ as Savior was brought about, along with any good in their life because God worked a work in their lives, and yet God awards them AS IF they stirred themselves up to do that work. One cancels out the other. We are what we are because of the Grace of God, just like Paul said, some are made into vessels of honor, while others are made vessels of destruction. (we read that in Romans 9.) And even some vessels of honor are made more honorable than other vessels of honor. He makes each one of us as He chooses whether we like it or not. Let's read:

You can see from these scriptures that It is God's Holy nature He "borns again" in us at work in us that causes us to do any good that we may do. In 1 Corinthians as quoted above even Paul speaks AS IF it was his own human nature that stirred him to do what he "ought to" be doing, but then as if he realized that he was giving himself the credit where he should not, he about turns and states - "but not I, but God that was with me." And that is exactly what we "ought to" do - acknowledge that any good we do - it is God working in us to do it through that Holy nature He put in us when we were born again. (born with a new nature from God)

Lets look at a scripture that tells us of this new nature God puts in us:

You can see from this that we who have been born again actually partake of the divine nature, we have the Holy Nature residing in us. I don't think it takes much of an imagination to figure out which nature it is that causes the great changes in the way we think. Isn't this what God is promising in Ezekiel 36:27 I quoted earlier being fulfilled? Then, because we think differently our way of life will also change reflecting our change in the way of thinking. The Bible usually refers to this Holy Nature He puts in us as the Holy Spirit in us. The two terms are synonymous, they both mean the same thing. Let's read a couple of verses that says the same as above using the term Holy Spirit:

Can you deny that the Holy Spirit of God actually dwells in our heart as a second nature alongside our old human nature? Both are there, both working on our minds as thought commands. That is why we can be so Godly one minute and the next minute so ungodly - human like. It all depends which nature is controlling our mind. God's nature is always in a saved person, but He is not always influencing the way we think or act, hence our sins which we commit and regret later. This is why in this article when I have quoted scripture where it uses the words "Holy Spirit" or just "Spirit" I have put in brackets (Nature) beside it, because in fact that is what the Holy Spirit that wrote the scripture means each time as can be seen by other scriptures where He does use the word "nature". If a person understands that God actually puts His own Holy Nature in us they would not be so apt to credit themselves with the changes in their lifestyle, but recognize that the change was brought about by that second nature Got puts in a saved person. Lets read another scripture:

It is true I have put my own meaning to some of the words of the King James text. However, there are other translations of scripture that uses these very words. I accept them because I think it gives a more accurate meaning of what the Holy Spirit was saying but was lost in the translation from it's original Greek text. This often happens, an exact translation can be made only by a long explanation of just what was meant, to get across the exact meaning of the Greek words used. That they did not do in the Kings James Bible. The literal translation gives the impression that a person born of God never sins after he is born again - saved. But we know from experience that if that were literally true there would not be a single born again person in the history of mankind. So comparing these scriptures with others, and our own experience I think we must conclude that the meanings I have put with 1 John 3:9 is fair and accurate.

I would like to point out the Holy Spirit's (who inspires the writing of all scripture) use of the word "seed" in the quoted verse. What is this seed He is talking about. Read the text and I think you would have to admit that this seed is exactly what I have talked about - that Holy Nature/Seed God plants in our hearts. Notice it is because of that seed/Holy Nature that is planted in us that we can't live a life of sin.

Oh yes, we sin, but not a life of continuous sin with no regard of it's consequences. It is also this seed/nature that makes the change of lifestyle as mentioned in Galatians 5 which I have already quoted. It is also God fulfilling His promise made in Ezekiel 36:27 as quoted earlier.
 

Why the difference between the beliefs of even Christians.  The trouble is that most people of our day have been brainwashed by worldly beliefs and opinions to how God should act and what He can do and can't do that they keep these opinions regardless of what His Holy word, the Bible says, even after being supposedly saved. A rule of thumb is that if a belief or doctrine is highly favored and accepted by the general population, then you can be quite sure that it is not true Bible teaching. This is true of most so called Christian religions because they do not have this new nature in them teaching them spiritual truths any more than the world population in general. The way man thinks and the way God thinks just is not compatible. I do pray that God may use this article to show someone somewhere more of God's truth than he had before. Even if one is blessed thus, all this work has been worth it. I leave that to God's prerogative.

CONCLUDING REMARKS:

You may ask the question - does a person have to believe all that has been discussed here to be saved? The answer is - NO - DEFINITELY NOT!!!

What I have Discussed here is for VERY mature Christians, or those who are willing to give up "natural man" prejudices and just believe what God says, to reach a higher level of spiritual maturity. Many people who are Christians will never reach this level of knowledge (maturity) because they have been so brainwashed by worldly religions and their beliefs that they cannot give up old opinions. Of course God can change their minds, but for some reason most are left in their ignorance. Remember Ephesians above, He hands out faith - and faith comes by knowledge (hearing the word preached) - by measure as He pleases.

To be a saved person all you have to do is put your trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ - the gospel. That is, that He died on the cross for your punishment of your sins, and that he arose from the grave and returned to God, and there represents you before God. But, as I said before, a person will not put his trust in, or rely on, or depend on, or put his confidence in(which the expression "believe on he Lord Jesus Christ" wishes to convey) until one understands his own hopelessness in meeting his responsibilities. He will not understand that there is no good in him, and if there is no good in him then he can do no good - or in other words he is TOTALLY DEPRAVED.

As long as one does not understand these things one will try to fulfil his own responsibilities and not transfer them to Christ as he must since God demands absolute perfection. Since one can not achieve that oneself, either he accepts Christ's righteousness as substitute or perish. Jesus kept the law, gives those who are trusting on Him credit for keeping the law AS IF that person kept it himself making that person as holy as JESUS Himself. Or in other words God imputes the righteousness of Christ to a person "believing in Jesus." If you are not putting your trust in what Jesus has already done then you will never see heaven. When you have, God sees you as justified - or, JUST - AS - IF - you'd never sinned.

What is the signs that a person is truly born again - that one has that new Spirit Nature that is in a saved person? Well, just like a new born baby wants food right off, so does a new born person want spiritual food. In other words, he wants to learn more of God, he will never be satisfied with what he knows and will be forever wanting to learn more of God and all pertaining to Him. Of course spiritual food is that of a spiritual nature - what you read of God from the Bible, or hear preached in a good sound church. He wants to go to where he can get that spiritual food - church. But make sure it is a good sound church that is anchored in God's word.

The only ones I know that can qualify are Baptist churches, and even many calling themselves Baptist are not worthy of being called Christ's church. You must be very careful in choosing a church. There is a definite change in any person who has been born again, brought about by the Holy Spirit nature risen to life (quickened) within you. lets read:

Old things pass away, and all things become new. In other words the old way of looking and thinking about God has changed, the old way of looking at your relations with God has changed. Now you see Him as a supreme being and you "reputed as nothing" as King Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel in the old Testament found out the hard way. Also, you want to be around other godly people, Christians. The appeal of worldly friends and worldly entertainment will wear off, you will have a desire to be around other Christians, and a desire for more God-like entertainment will take over.

So there is definitely a change. God certainly does not let us carry on in the old sinful way of life. Remember 1 John 3:9. If truly saved, God saved us for a purpose, He directs us to fulfil that purpose. We have no choice - He has a work for us and we will do that work whether it is small or large. He may even lead us through rebellion first, but in His own good time we will submit and do what He intended for us. Take the story of Job as an example. It is all His predetermined path He had for us and causing things to happen to appear AS IF things happened by chance.

This change may take place over a period of time, sometimes over a long period, it depends on God and His measure of faith He implants in you. For my own part, the wish to be around worldly friends disappeared very quickly, due to persecution, and this came from some who were professing Christians, including pastors. It was from "Christians" I received the greatest persecution. May God award them according to their folly.

If you cannot accept what is said in this article does not mean you are not saved. I do pray that every one who reads this article will be blessed by it and will have his knowledge increased thereby. If you just cannot accept what is said, all I ask is that you don't turn away from these teachings completely, but that you will go to God in prayer and ask for wisdom. May God be gracious and reveal these truths to you.

As for God granting me more spiritual wisdom than most people, well, humanly speaking, I have wished at times over the years He had not given me this Knowledge, because, as I found out the more knowledge He gives, the more isolated one becomes, because there is less people that knows as much as that one, and as a result gives one fewer and fewer people that one can sit down and have a real time of fellowship with. If the other person cannot see what you believe, there is controversy and disagreement. Just as the Bible says - His word does not bring peace, but separation, it is a divider between those who believe and those who do not. Of course I am human too, and like companionship like everyone else. When talking with others who are not as enlightened divides us, it is a disappointment. But then I stop and think for a second and realize again that God granted me a great privilege in allowing me to have a deeper look into His inner works. Then I praise God for this great privilege, and just accept any division, the insults, the ravings from others this deep knowledge may cause from others not so privileged. I make no hesitation whatsoever in my choice in taking God's companion ship instead of the fickle(shallow, no depth of) human companionship. I may appear lonely, but I sure am not with God ever near. I speak from personal experience but I'm sure others with the same knowledge feel the same way.

As I said at the beginning of this article that events I found out in my family history made me start thinking of just how much God influences events on earth. I found it hard to accept that he predestinated every event in our life too, especially all the bad. After all I have a human nature like every one else that had it's own ideas. God changed those ideas by first bringing to my attention the events mentioned in the beginning of this article, then confirmed as I read and reread His word using the scriptures I have quoted here, plus many more I have not used. I do not use any more because I feel if one cannot accept three examples to prove a subject you will not accept it no matter how many scriptures I bring forth. God's law states that we should accept the word of three witnesses, and I believe that pertains to believing His word too, especially if that subject agrees with all the other attributes of God, fitting into the whole picture like a piece of a puzzle. Not the picture of God we have painted of Him in our own minds but the picture God painted of Himself through the scriptures. So I must conclude with utmost certainty that God predestinates all the events of our lives, every thing, good or bad and they are used to His eternal glory in some way we do not understand.

Going back to the question I asked at the first - how does God accomplish the complex events of this world. Did he take the easy road and just look down the road of time and see who would be saved, then elect his people on that basis? Or, did he elect those whom he pleased, for his own purpose and for his own reasons, apart from anything we did, then set worldly events in motion to accomplish that purpose, ordaining that road of time? I think the Bible makes clear the answer, that the first method can be completely disregarded, so lets throw that idea in the trash where it belongs. Then the second method has to be true. Remember that all major events are ordained of God, and all major events have a lot of minor events leading up to them, and if even one minor event leading to a major event is altered, then the major event would be altered too, or not happen at all. Remember the three events in my family history, if any one of those had changed what would have happened concerning me. If events small and large had not happened exactly as it did then all descendence from them would be cut off before mothering the descendants between them and me. God does not let that happen. Everything is ordained of God to happen precisely the way they do, and nothing will change that ordered plan.

I will just have a short review of what I have been teaching in this article so there will be no misunderstanding of what I have said.
 

Appendage One

In discussions with certain people over the years the most outstanding error most people accuse me of is that I teach that God actually personally steps in and causes man to break the Moral Law - the ten commandments. I do not. In this article I have tried very hard to show that when God wants man to sin, all God has to do is withdraw the rest raining influence of that Holy nature God put in us and man will resort right back to the works of his "no good in man" nature and it will do the things we can expect from that nature - sin, no good. Remember back to the illustration of gravity will cause an article to fall when a restraining hold is taken from an object. Same as when God's Holy Spirit withdraws His influence, our own human nature will "fall" - or sin just as assuredly as did that object fall when the restraint was released. Since God made us He knows how that nature will react under any given circumstances. So God ordains the circumstances that He wants that will result in the person reacting in the way God ordained him to. You may say - yes, but didn't you give several examples where God did personally step in and influenced men to actually sin? Yes, that is true, and since you read it in the Bible you cannot deny it - truthfully. And to ignore it would be a sin.
 

 But take a look at those scriptures again. There is no where it states that God caused these men to break the moral law - the ten commandments - but He did cause these men to make some very bad judgements, and even caused Samson and parents to break a local Jewish law. But that is not the ten commandments that is applicable to all men of all races in all ages. As I said above - that is in the scripture plain as day, so you "ought to" believe it and put aside human nature prejudice - what you think should be.

Appendage two:

Another error that has crept into Baptist beliefs is that of God's "permissive will." People can't stand the fact that God would ordain all the evil of this world, so they invented God's "permissive will" to answer things they do not understand - the awful sins that people do commit, the calamities of life etc. How can they happen since God is so powerful He could have prevented them? It just does not fit into the picture they have painted of God in their minds. But they forget we should not believe according to the picture we have painted of God in our mind but by the picture God has painted of Himself in His Holy Word.

I do not think that this "'permissive will" theory gives any kind of answer to the situation at all. If that were fact then God is not really in charge at all, but only "lets" certain things happen, but would really prefer that it didn't. Is that really your God? Is that your idea of a sovereign God who does as He pleases with His creation whether we like it or not? It sure isn't mine. To answer this problem ask yourself a few questions.

(1) Does God operate this world on a time table - or schedule?

(2) does any event bad or good have to have God's permission or stamp of approval on it before it can happen? I think you have to admit that the answer to those questions is yes. So if anything that happens has to be approved by God, then God has to fit these events people call God's "permissive will" into that schedule - if He didn't then that schedule would always have some unscheduled - God's "permissive will" events - throwing that schedule off schedule.

Personally, I have a sovereign God that does not let that happen. My God is in charge of things, He controls everything. To my mind, the very act of God fitting any event into His schedule and putting His stamp of approval on it is the act of ordaining it to happen. Just think that over. I will repeat - the act of God fitting all events into his schedule He is putting His approval on that event - bad or good, and that act is God ordaining it to happen. You disagree? - well just go over things - can any thing happen without it being God's will, or Him letting it happen? Then once God has approved said event and fits it into His schedule - can it do anything but happen? In other words, once any event has been fit into God's schedule and approved - and if He approves said event, that event must be His will to happen - that event will take place - period.

I cannot see any difference between God's "permissive will" being fitted into His Schedule with His approval than ordaining it to happen. It's just a play on words, using different words to say the same thing to satisfy the unbelief of people who just can not believe the plain truth of what God says about Himself. To say God's "permissive will events" happen regardless of God's will, causing havoc with God's scheduled plan is nothing short of blasphemy and comes from a person who sure needs to get right with the Lord. We must think, not using what others say, but only using the information from God's word, and prayerfully. I conclude that God ordains all the events of this world whether to man, beast, fish, fowl or the universe itself, right down to the minutest detail - it is all God's plan minutely planned out and perfectly executed - just what you would expect from a Totally Sovereign God.
 

Appendage three:

There is some out there that will ask me if there are well known, famous people, or "bigwigs" in the religious world who believe the things I bring out here, or is all this just the ravings of an insignificant religious crank who can not even be considered worth listening to. Well - my return question is - where is faith these days? Does not God require us to believe by faith what His word says? I have made every effort to show you God's word, what it says and not what any man says regardless if that person is right or wrong. I do not expect you to believe it just because I say it, but that the Holy Spirit will take what has been said and apply it to your heart and change any error you have in your beliefs.

The final court of appeal on whether something is right or wrong is God's Holy Word, the Bible. However, I know very well that most people will not accept things unless some "bigwig" does teach it. It's a part of the shame of our depraved nature. It does not say much for one's spiritual status to have to rely on the word of some well known person before one can accept it. And note I said "accept it", not "believe it", for if you just take man's word you do not "believe it"- that is trust, rely, depend on it as Holy fact - that kind of belief is actually conviction from the holy Nature in a saved person, not just being convinced by a man's smooth talk. I will quote a paragraph taken out of the introduction of a book on The Doctrine of absolute Predestination - by Jerome Zanchius written in the late 1500s. The introduction is written by Henry Atherton for this reprint of the original book. Quote:

"The Doctrine of Predestination has been dealt with from many doctrinal positions, and it would require a large volume merely to describe these positions. Augustine, Bradwardine, Wycliffe, Luther, Zwingle, Calvin, ZANCIUS, Owne, Goodwin, Perkins, Twisse, Whitefield, Toplady, and, in modern times Kuyper and Warfield are but a few of those who have written concerning it, and none of the works of these great men have ever been answered". Unquote.

The fathers of the protestant reformation all believed as I have written in this article, and most Protestant churches were still very sound in these doctrines as late as the late 1800s. Even large churches like the Church of England was quite sound in most doctrines, including predestination and all it entails up to the late 1800s. As mentioned I have a book on absolute predestination written by Zanchius in the late 1500s. He talks about His friends Calvin and other "bigwigs" of the reformation as you and I would our next door neighbor, mainly because to him they were You should read this book. What he teaches is exactly what I have put in this article. If I had had this book before starting this article I probably would not have bothered writing it. We say the same thing except that he uses a few more examples to prove his case. When I read his book on Absolute Predestination I was absolutely amazed by the similarity in our conclusions. That was one man I could have good fellowship with, too bad he lived in the 1500s!! In modern times there are men like Arthur W. Pink who teaches the same thing. I will quote a few things he says in his book - The Sovereignty of God. Quote:
 

"In the new birth we are made partakers of the Divine nature: a principle, a "seed", a life, is communicated to us which is "born of the Spirit", and therefore "is spirit:" is born of the Holy spirit, and therefore is Holy. Apart from this Divine and Holy Nature which is imparted to us at the new birth, it is utterly impossible for any man to generate a spiritual impulse, form a spiritual concept, think a spiritual thought, understand spiritual things, still less engage in spiritual works." Unquote.

Is not that exactly what I have been saying? Now another one by Pink again. Quote: "In treating of the Will of God some theologians have differentiated between His decretive will and His permissive will, insisting that there are certain things which God has positively foreordained, but other things which He merely suffers to exist or happen. But such a distinction is really no distinction at all, inasmuch as GOD ONLY PERMITS THAT WHICH IS ACCORDING TO HIS WILL. No such distinction would have been invented had these theologians discerned that God could have decreed the existence and activities of sin without Himself being the author of sin. Personally, we much prefer to adopt the distinction made by the older Calvinists(the fathers of the reformation) between God's secret and revealed will." Unquote.

If you do not know what is meant by His secret and revealed will, just remember back to the portion of this article I talk about the "ought tos" and the responsibility of man. The revealed will of God are these "ought tos", these men just used the expression "revealed will", whereas I used the expression "ought tos". The Bible usually talks the way things "ought to be". That is His revealed plan. But behind the scene there is a secret plan known only to God, and God makes things happen in this world according to His secret plan rather than His revealed plan.

One example of this - going back to the example of Moses and Pharaoh. God's revealed plan to the general public including Pharaoh was that God wanted Pharaoh to let the children of Israel free to go to the dessert as Moses said. But God had another plan known only to Himself and Moses - a secret plan which He shared with Moses. Which plan was carried out? The secret, hidden plan which only He knows why He did it that way. We can sum it up in this statement - "God's revealed plan is everything in the Bible - all it's "ought to" demands, while His secret plan is what actually happens. If this is not true then God is not in control of this world at all!!!

Of course there are many others than myself that believe what I state here in our day. No they are not big important famous people in the eyes of the world, they are just ordinary folk like me. Some are pastors, most are not, therefore you will likely never come across many of us. But God promised He would work through the base people of the world, the poor and insignificant, not the rich and famous. He works in each individual as He sees fit - whether they are rich or poor or famous is of no consequence to God. It does not necessarily have to be a famous person or even a pastor so he can pass the good word along in his preaching, that is what the Bible is for, along with that Holy nature in us. That is where we who do understand all I've said here gets all these truths from, not from the word of man, no matter how much of a "Bigwig" he is. That is why I urge anyone reading this to consider what has been said - because God said it in His book - the Bible - not because some one rich and famous said it - no matter how Godly you esteem him to be.
 

Appendage four:

I will discuss one more subject. Does the fact that we are relieved of our responsibilities and have transferred them to Christ and now have His righteousness in us relieve of us of our accountability? No definitely not. Being "held responsible" or Held accountable for everything we do does not mean the same thing as being given certain responsibilities. If we are given certain responsibilities imply that we have to fulfil these responsibilities in order to qualify for some thing - what - salvation?? That is going right back under the law, and the Bible plainly states we are not under the law - hence we have no responsibilities we must fulfil to qualify. But we are "held responsible" - or accountable for every deed, every word, every action we do.

 It is our responsibility to keep every jot and title of the law. God awards us or punishes us according to how well we live up to God's statutes, laws or demands. The punishments and awards are in the flesh and have nothing to do with our eternal welfare. We must also note as we have discussed previously in this article that we cannot live up to God's statutes, laws, or demands unless God puts a new Spirit/nature in us. Yet He awards us according to how we live, despite the fact how we live depends on how much of a "measure of faith" God puts in us, whether a large or small portion. No matter what proportion of faith He is pleased to put in us, according to His good pleasure and the work He as ordained for us, we are awarded AS IF our own sinful depraved nature stirred us up to that level.

If you cannot believe this - for this is what we refer to as God's sovereignty - God's right to do as He pleases with His creation - then you do not "believe IN Jesus".(Have the confidence in Jesus that no matter what He does or says it is right and in the end will all work out to our benefit and to God's honor and Glory.)

MAY GOD BLESS THIS ARTICLE, AND ALL THOSE WHO READ IT.
 

By: David Shortt