Tag: Free Will

DEAD Men DON’T Choose: The Undeniable Truth of God’s GRACE

I’ve had it. Lately, I stumbled into a discussion tearing into Calvinism—its theology, its doctrines—and I’m not even a card-carrying Calvinist. I haven’t read his books, haven’t signed up for his club. I just try to follow the Scriptures and the Spirit of God. But what I saw incensed me: ignorance and sheer gall coming against the established Word, picking at gospel verses without context, tossing out the epistles like trash. It’s a butchery of truth, and I can’t shake it off. This battle’s raged for centuries—God’s sovereignty versus human free will—and it’s time to lay it down with the absolute, sledgehammer truth of Scripture. No more dancing around it.

Here’s the question: If we reject the points Calvinism leans on—total depravity, unconditional election, irresistible grace, all of it—what do we undo from the Word of God? Not just a system, but the Bible itself. I’m not here to defend a man-made label; I’m here to let God’s Word speak. And it’s screaming: we’re dead without Him, saved by Him, and He provides it all. Let’s hammer this home.

The Deadness: "Nekros" and Dry Bones

Start here: we’re dead. Not wounded, not limping—”nekros”. Ephesians 2:1—“You were “nekros” in your trespasses and sins.” That’s Greek for corpse. No pulse, no breath, no life. Romans 3:10-12 piles on: “None righteous, no one understands, no one seeks God. All have turned away.” Not some—”all”. Colossians 2:13—“You were “nekros” in your sins.” Dead men don’t choose. They don’t seek. They rot.

Ezekiel saw it too. Chapter 37: a valley of dry bones, scattered, hopeless. God asks, “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel doesn’t play hero—“Lord, you alone know.” Humanly? No chance. Dead bones don’t wiggle. But God says, “Prophesy,” and the Spirit’s breath—”ruach”—sweeps in. Bones rattle, flesh forms, and they stand—a vast army. Who did that? Not the bones. God. Ezekiel 37:14—“I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live.” Dead means “nekros”. No life ‘til God moves.

John 6:44 seals it: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.” “Can”—ability. Without the Father’s pull, we’re stuck. Romans 8:7—“The mind of the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit, nor can it.” Hostile. Incapable. “Nekros”. If you think a corpse picks itself up, you’re not reading the Bible—you’re writing fiction.

The Process: God Provides All

Salvation’s not steps we take—it’s God’s work breaking us alive. He’s not waiting for us to climb a ladder; He’s emptying our grave. Listen:

– He’s the Seed Supplier: 1 Peter 1:23—“Born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the word of God.” Matthew 13:37—“The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.” Christ plants life in “nekros” soil. We don’t sprout ourselves—He sows.  

– He’s the Knocker: Revelation 3:20—“I stand at the door and knock.” Jesus isn’t begging us to knock first—He’s pursuing. Dead men don’t knock back; “nekros” hearts don’t answer—He’s the hunter breaking in. Luke 19:10—“The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” He seeks; we’re lost.

– He’s the Convictor: John 16:8—“The Spirit will convict the world of sin.” Acts 2:37—Pentecost’s crowd, “cut to the heart,” didn’t self-diagnose. The Spirit stabbed them awake. Dead hearts don’t feel ‘til He strikes.

– He Gives His Spirit: Ezekiel 37:14—“I will put my Spirit in you.” John 3:5—“Born of the Spirit.” Titus 3:5—“Saved by the renewal of the Holy Spirit.” No Spirit, no life. He breathes; we don’t.

– He Provides the Lamb: John 1:29—“The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Romans 3:25—“God put [Him] forward as a propitiation by his blood.” We didn’t slay the Paschal Lamb—God did. Hebrews 9:12—“With his own blood, he secured eternal redemption.” All Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Romans 5:10

These aren’t steps to be redeemed—check off faith, grab grace, earn the cross. That’s works, and Ephesians 2:9 says, “Not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” It’s His process, His redemption, His hammer smashing our “nekros” chains. Acts 13:48—“As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” Ordained, then believed—not the other way around. Romans 2:4—“God’s kindness leads you to repentance.” He leads; we follow. He provides all, or it’s not salvation—it’s self-help.

The Gift: No Paychecks Here

If God does it all, it’s a gift. Ephesians 2:8—“By grace you have been saved through faith… it is the gift of God.” Faith too—not your grit, His grant. Philippians 1:29—“It has been granted to you to believe.” Granted, not grabbed; to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ—2 Peter 1:1. Hebrews 12:2—“Jesus, the AUTHOR and perfecter of our faith.” He writes it, not us.

If we choose God without His seed, knock, conviction, Spirit, and Lamb, that ain’t a gift—it’s a paycheck. “I chose wisely; pay me salvation.” Romans 3:27—“Where is boasting? Excluded.” Why? A “nekros” soul doesn’t choose—it’s chosen. John 15:16—“You did not choose me, but I chose you.” 1 John 4:19—“We love because he first loved us.” First. Always Him first. If we kickstart it, why the cross? Galatians 2:21—“If righteousness were through [us], Christ died for nothing.” Dead men don’t earn gifts—they receive them.

The Folly of Free Will Chasing

Some scream, “But free will!” Sure, we respond—”after” He moves. Acts 2:37—“What shall we do?”—comes after the Spirit cuts. John 1:13—“Born not of human decision, but of God.” Charles Spurgeon saw it clear: “Free will carried many a soul to hell, but never a soul to heaven. Anyone who believes that man’s will is entirely free and that he can be saved by it does not believe the fall.” He’s right. Romans 3:23—“All have sinned and fall short.” Free will without grace is freedom to rot, not rise. Romans 8:7—“The flesh “cannot” please God.” Cannot. “Nekros”.

2 Corinthians 4:6—“God… has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” We didn’t flip the switch—He did. Dead hearts don’t chase light; light chases them. Spurgeon’s not guessing—he’s echoing Scripture: a “nekros” will, unbound by grace, runs to ruin, not redemption.

Lay It Down

This war’s dragged on too long—centuries of dodging the obvious. Scripture’s clear: we’re “nekros” without God, revived by His Spirit, saved by His Lamb. He’s the seed, the knock, the conviction, the breath, the blood. Spurgeon’s words ring true—free will without grace is a one-way ticket down, never up. Reject that, and you’re not just undoing Calvinism—you’re undoing the gospel. Dead men don’t choose; God chooses them. John 6:44. Ezekiel 37. Ephesians 2. Romans 9:16—“It does not depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” It’s a sledgehammer of truth, and it’s time to swing it. He provides all. Let the Word silence the noise. Full stop.

Does God Initiate Both GOOD and EVIL?

“Unpacking the Enigma: Does God Initiate Both GOOD and EVIL?”

God is intrinsically a Creator; and the only self-existent One out there. Creating is His nature. He takes pleasure in creating. He must create and create and create.

If we believe that the phrase “in the beginning” represents the “genesis of all things,” then it follows that God began creating the heavens and the earth at the exact moment He appeared or when He began Himself. It is ludicrous thought. That would contradict His eternal past and imply that He had a beginning.

We simply cannot draw the conclusion that God’s creation of the heavens and the earth was His first setting because we cannot place Him inside the confines of time and that He resides outside of that creational dimension.

He has existed forever and eternity. He is without beginning or end. Can you envision the past continuing forever–an everlasting past? For Him, there is no beginning. We cannot analyze the things of God while we are bound to this mortal existence since we are creatures that are inherently based on time (Ecclesiastes 3).

Since the fall of man, there has been a void left in the mortals’ hearts. This chasm, which is a result of the fall, or consequence of the fall has also been filled with the ominous question: Who is He? Does God exist? Is God real?

God was not disregarding man’s innate yearning to know his Creator, nor was His silence an indication of His animosity or exhibiting abhorrence for His creation. After making a covenant with a man He summoned out of Ur of the Chaldeans (a heathen named Abram), God founded the nation of Israel through his descendants in order to utilize them as a platform for revealing Himself–to show the world He created for Himself who He really is and to raise up a holy seed from among them who would ultimately bring SHALOM to the dilapidated world.

“God so loved His cosmos”.

When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son (Galatians 4:4).

God sent His own Son to explain or put an end to these mysteries. Then “grace and truth” appeared – John 1:17 – Apostle Paul states: we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory – 1 Corinthians 2:7 – Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit (Ephesians 3:5). Jesus said, For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known (Luke 12:2) –  Of which the prophets have enquired and searched diligently – 1 Peter 1:10 – which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God – Ephesians 3:9 – Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints (Colossians 1:26).

As the Creator, He always ought to be creating. For that is His nature not just His hobby. It makes sense why He is known as “The Creator.” Human mind cannot fathom this Almighty – nor can we comprehend God enough with our finiteness.

The creature cannot have life apart from God. As God contains everything, He must also be present within His creation. He must uphold all things, without which nothing would exist. For in Him we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28). Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord, One that inhabits eternity (Isaiah 57:15). Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord (Jeremiah 23:24).

Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? (Isaiah 40:12) Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing (Isaiah 40:15).

To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? (Isaiah 40:18) It is He that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in: (Isaiah 40:22) To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One (Isaiah 40:25).

His breath in our nostrils – Genesis 2:7/7:22/Job 27:3/Lamentations 4:20 – causes everything to exist, including our ability to breathe, see, smell, taste, and discern objects. A living thing exhales to recover, replenish and to maintain itself; nevertheless, when God exhales, He does so to rejuvenate everything. When human’s exhales carbon dioxide it is absorbed by plants in photosynthesis. Similar to how plants use carbon dioxide that humans exhale as part of the photosynthesis process, God’s exhalation is His very Spirit, which is taken up by all of His living creatures.

It is impossible to count the angels in heaven (innumerable – Hebrews 12:22) or measure the sand on the sea floor (Jeremiah 33:22), but is there anything too difficult for the omnipotent God who treats nations as a drop in a bucket and counts them as minute dust on a balance? Indeed, He treats the islands as a very small thing. He also measures the waters in the hollow of his hand, metes out heaven with a span, comprehends the earth’s dust in a measure, and weigh it – Isaiah 40:12–15. He mentions how many stars there are and calls each one by name – Psalm 147:4. And to whom will you compare God then?

Unlike Lucifer, the anointed Cherub – Ezekiel 28:14 – who was given the office to reign upon a civilization and failed to carry out God’s will and ultimately perished from glory – Isaiah 14:17 – God through Christ, heals the broken in heart and binds up the wounds (Psalm 147:3) – Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite (Psalm 147:5) – The Lord lifts up the meek: he casts the wicked down to the ground (Psalm 147:6)

Can you picture God holding all the sand and all the deep waters in His palm to weigh them? Can you envision God addressing all the galaxy’s stars by their names and making sure that none are missed? Can you believe that God is aware of the number of hairs that have fallen off each of us, both the dead and the living? Do you understand why the mountains tremble and molten fire erupts from them? The mountains flow down at God’s presence (Isaiah 64:3) – He looks on the earth, and it trembles: he touches the hills, and they smoke (Psalm 104:32).

Are you familiar with the components of the winds? They seem to be appearing everywhere, but are they actual beings or just a phenomenon in the world? Revelation 7:1 Are you aware that the sun, which gives this world its light and life, has a home of his own and that he is carrying out the Creator’s edict to the letter? Psalm 19:4-6

Who will you use as a comparison for God, who created everything? To whom will you compare Him? How would you provide Him with a place to live? Can you fit the all-powerful, all-knowing God inside a shrine? Does He reside in man-made temples? You’ve got to be crazy, I guess.

The beings that consent to live in shrines or demand that shrines be created to facilitate them or that which agrees to live in shrines or demands that shrines be built to facilitate them should be beings/ entities that are restricted, deranged, that have a beginning, and are destined to perish in due course. It is not God who comes to dwell in shrines that humans have created. In human-made shrines, it is not God who visits and takes up residence. He penetrates the hearts through His steadfast Spirit, whereupon He is sanctified to dwell. As a Supreme Being, God Almighty is the opposite and has neither beginning nor end.

Since creation, that is inclusive of the angelic beings are incapable in producing anything good or bad without God’s consent, then we must understand that God who is Perfect and Holy must be the One who’s CREATED evil also; otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense. A creature like a cherub cannot ENGENDER evil. No wonder the New Testament divulge the existence of an entity named “the mystery of iniquity” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). It is kept a great secret for the now. Someday we shall know.

  • But though he causes grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.

For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.

To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,

To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,

To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approves not.

Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commands it not?

Out of the mouth of the most High proceeds not EVIL AND GOOD? Lamentations 3:32-38

  • What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not RECEIVE EVIL? (Job 2:10)
  • I (yatsar – (through the squeezing into shape); to mould into a form; especially as a potter) form the light and create darkness: I (`asah – accomplish, execute, provide, perform, bestow) make peace, and CREATE EVIL: I (Yhovah – (the) self-Existent or the Eternal One) the Lord do all these things (Isaiah 45:7)
  • I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: There is none other than Him who is the cause, originator, genesis of all things. From Him must proceed all things; by His command must all things take form or come to fruition or emerge. He spoke and it was done – Psalm 33:9 – He upholds all things by the word of His power – Hebrews 1:3.

Know then, that as there is the “great is the mystery of godliness” – 1 Timothy 3:16, there is “the mystery of iniquity” as well – 2 Thessalonians 2:7.

I don’t see God has created anything that is fail-safe or impregnable yet. Maybe, He did not begin a perfect age yet, I can only conjecture! If it was fail-safe, it wouldn’t have been made subject to vanity or putrefaction or bondage of corruption – Romans 8:20. This perspective is supported by the Bible, which states that “that which is partial shall be done away when that which is perfect is come” – 1Cor 13:10 – Not as though I had already obtained perfection or both: rather I pursue both (Philippians 3:12).

We who are in Christ our redeemer, who is the only Way to perfection, are on that journey to be made whole, complete. Even the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same (Romans 8:20). What for? There must be an explanation. It wouldn’t make sense if it didn’t, now, would it?

The entirety of creation is the handiwork of a master craftsman, and just as a potter works on his creation and subjects it to various processes, God has likewise made his creations/creatures to go through similar stages of growth.

Because of this, the word “yastar” is frequently used in the Bible to describe a potter’s work with clay. God originally gave man a clay-like makeup because of this reason. It was done on purpose. I assume that this earthly construction was a temporary undertaking in His eyes. Our physical body is likened by the apostle Paul to a seed – 1 Corinthians 15:42-44. Now, why would he do it if there was no justification?

For mankind, God had bigger goals in mind. While the first man is from the ground, the second Adam comes from heaven – 1 Corinthians 15:47,48. Christ, the Son of Man, was what God intended for every man to evolve into when He formed man out of dust and breathed into him life. And so, it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45).

Am I making sense? There is no way we could understand the causes of all the evil that befell humanity if we do not adopt this viewpoint. I couldn’t comprehend the causes of all the humankind’s woes until I understand about God through the holy Scriptures. If this were not the case, the focus and worries would shift to the wicked being and his plans. In light of the knowledge that God is supreme and that He rules over both human kingdoms and His own creation, Daniel 4:17,25,32/5:21, we may see that there is still hope for us.

Since the devil is a “fallen angel” and is a creation of God, we simply cannot attribute any glory to him–even instituting of evil. He is not the cause, but he is a fallen entity. As the breath of God and the word of his might sustains everything–the creation of God doesn’t possess the potential to create. Now don’t read me wrong! When the Bible portrays “Lucifer” as perfect in all his ways when he was created – Ezekiel 28:15 – that discloses to us an enigmatic/ambiguous nature of “evil”, the causation of evil.

If according to God, Lucifer was perfect in his ways from the day he was created until iniquity was found in him – Ezekiel 28:15, how would it make him the instigator of evil. It doesn’t make sense. How can perfection and evil co-exist? Was he the devil and a beloved son of God at the same time? God was so fond of him that He even made a lament for him after his fall and covered the deep for him (Ezekiel 31:15). The planet was submerged in water for this reason before God brought it out again to create a new species called man.

The chaotic earth that we see in Genesis 1 is the upshot of Lucifer’s rebellion. The submerged earth that we see in Genesis 1:2 was then a gesture of God’s lamentation over Lucifer. God hath set him so: he was upon the holy mountain of God (Ezekiel 28:14). He was the most exquisite creation that God delighted in, and every precious stone served as his covering when God formed him. He was heaven’s greatest composer as well.

Ezekiel the prophet describes him as the anointed cherub who was set up by God upon the holy mountain of God. Before his fall, in the original Garden of Eden, he was given a world to rule – Ezekiel 28:13. It makes sense why he envied Adam and Eve. For he once controlled this globe. Because of this, he continues to fight for it. I believe Lucifer, the anointed cherub, received ‘the Mimshach’ – which in Hebrew means, “anointed” – Mimshach was used to describe the unprecedented beauty, splendours, and stretched forth wings of Lucifer – Ezekiel 28

If Lucifer was evil, then that would contradict the word of God, which says the contrary – Ezekiel 28:15 – He was Perfect = tamiym = from 8552; entire (literally, figuratively, or morally); also (as noun) integrity, truth: — without blemish, complete, full, perfect, sincerely (-ity), sound, without spot, undefiled, upright(-ly), whole.

How could we then conclude that Lucifer IS the evil one, when he WAS not. We know that after his fall that he’s become the devil or the adversary of God. Unless God intended to have one, there can be no adversary for God. Since Yahweh is God, He must cause things – He must create one, right?

Did the ‘evil one’ fell from his call? No, Lucifer the prefect one, fell from his consecrated state through rebellion. If he was upright according to God, where did ‘pride’ originate from? This we now know that God made Lucifer to be ‘the evil one’ – ‘the wicked one’ – Satan, which means the adversary. That can be proper, but where did iniquity come from that made Lucifer fall?

We simply cannot answer this question as, God refers to it as “mystery of iniquity” – 2 Thessalonians 2:7. We must then realize that God has kept this mystery from being investigated for the now. As we cannot fathom the depth of God (the mystery of godliness – 1Timothy 3:16) for the now, the mystery of iniquity also remains a prohibited zone for our minds to stray into.

The mystery of iniquity continues to be a forbidden territory for our minds to wander into, just as we are unable to comprehend the depth of God (the mystery of godliness; 1 Timothy 3:16) for the time being.

However, we might be able to glean something out of that verse in Thessalonians. I see it as a spiritual entity that pervades the entire created world. We don’t know for sure whether this disembodied evil spirit entered Lucifer and he thus became the devil or Satan; but we know that there is a spirit that work in the children of disobedience, which is also known as the power of the air – Ephesians 2:2. We consider it as the spirit of Satan, but I believe that is not a correct description. This is the same spirit that ‘the man of sin’, the false Messiah will also be enthralled with.

Bible says, the evil spirit from God came upon Saul (1 Samuel 16:15/18:10). For the same reason: ‘Pride’ had led to this inception of evil.

The divine Being God who alone is the causation of all things, proceeds both evil and good. Evil as a chastisement or destruction or damnation or punishment.

The Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil (Genesis 3:22).

The evil, the death is all God’s handiwork meant to fulfil His eternal purposes. The evil or death are not some kind of influence or a force, but spiritual beings created by God, vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, if you will – 1 Corinthians 15:26/ Revelation 20:14/Romans 9:22.

The combination of that evil spirit from God (the mystery of iniquity) and the angelic structure of Lucifer is a force that needs to be reckoned with. That concoction of a creature has become Satan, who now instigates evil. But this ‘strong man’ that bedevilled the world was brought to its knees by the Lord from heaven – Mark 3:27/Col 2:15. And ‘the violent one’ Jesus Christ, not only bound this ‘strong man’ but also spoiled his goods – Matthew 11:12/12:29 – he took it by force and incapacitated the devil, which is called Satan.

Now the question is: Wouldn’t ‘knowing good and evil’ make God unholy and imperfect? Not a bit! God is perfect and Holy in every sense. He is a holy God and a righteous Judge. He is ‘the Judge of all the earth’ that judges righteously and without partiality – Genesis 18:25.

Only an omniscient God can be the “Judge of all the earth”. Hence, God is the “Ultimate Entity” that none would want to content with. His character is devoid of any wickedness. He is sinless and unflawed in every manner. His holiness, which distinguishes Him from all other beings, is frequently regarded as the very core of His being.

Furthermore, God is a just Judge. What would a judge then do? What is the Judge’s function? What authority does He possess, and how far would He go to punish, chastise, or vindicate?

In issuing judgments, a just judge must be fair, impartial, and unbiased. He upholds the law and is influenced by moral and just values. The law of God is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good (Romans 7:12)

If an accused person is judged to be guilty, a just judge must impose a sentence that is proportionate for the seriousness of the offense. It is His responsibility to decide whether the accused person is guilty or innocent. He will have mercy on whom He will – Romans 9:15,18 – He found none righteous, no, not one – Romans 3:10 – for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God – Romans 3:23 – In Adam all died – 1 Corinthians 15:22 – Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation (Romans 5:18). Who condemned us? God, the great ‘Judge of all the earth’. His law condemned us – Romans 7:7,8.

Hell is a term used frequently to describe the particular kind of punishment for the doomed, the particular form of the retribution meted out to the condemned. Hell is depicted as a region of anguish, sorrow and torment where the damned go to spend eternity separated from God.

What therefore must God have in His purview or at His disposal if He is the “Judge of all the earth”?

Just as a master has the authority to punish or reprimand a disobedient servant, God also has the power to condemn and punish those who rebel against Him. Matthew 18:34 and Revelation 21:8, suggests that those who do not follow God’s will may face eternal punishment in a lake of fire and brimstone. At the same time, He also has reserved a place for them who are free from condemnation. Does that make sense?

What I’m attempting to say is that because God is a righteous Judge and must carry out the duties of a Judge, anything He does—including punishing, condemning, destroying, reprimanding, humiliating—won’t render Him unholy or corrupt. It is impossible to ever classify His deeds as evil or unjust; rather, they are righteous and holy. He is bound by His own Laws, and they are just and holy – Romans 7:12. He maintains everything by the word of His power, isn’t that right? He has therefore, magnified His word above all His name – Psalm 138:2.

Whom are we fighting? Against whom are we at war? Against rulers of the darkness of this world, against principalities and powers, as well as against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12). Who did Jesus Christ succeed in defeating? You do realize that he spoiled ruined (incapacitated) principalities and powers? (See Col 2:15). Who, why, and for what purpose did all that is visible and invisible, including all thrones, all dominions, all principalities, and all powers were created? All things were created by the Word of God, and all things were created for Him (Colossians 1:16). For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. (Romans 13:1).

Can you not see the Almighty Creator at work in all of these?

  • “The great and terrible God (Nehemiah 1:5)
  • It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31)
  • For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regards not persons, nor taketh reward (Deuteronomy 10:17) –
  • For the Lord most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth (Psalm 47:2)
  • Say unto God, how terrible art thou in thy works! Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. (Psalm 66:3)
  • the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible one (Jeremiah 20:11)
  • And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake (Hebrews 12:21)
  • And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead (Revelation 1:17)
  • Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver (Psalm 50:22)
  • That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever (Joshua 4:24)
  • God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all of them that are about him. (Psalm 89:7)

Why did God create an entity like “Pharaoh”—who is a type of Satan, the “prince of this world”?

Let’s not assume things but let the word of God interpret itself.

For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised (exegeiro = from 1537 and 1453; to rouse fully, i.e. (figuratively) to resuscitate (from death), release (from infliction): — raise up.) thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. (Romans 9:17)

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? (Romans 9:21) – vessels of wrath fitted to destruction (Romans 9:22) – the vessels of mercy (Romans 9:23). Therefore, hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens (Romans 9:18). Nay but, O man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? (Romans 9:20) He does what pleases Him. For He is the Creator, God Almighty. For who hath resisted his will? (Romans 9:19)

For the Scripture now discloses that God dwells in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see (1 Timothy 6:16). But then we shall know everything, when He will cloth us with an eternal body – when death shall be swallowed up of life.

Evil or Death or Hell are spiritual beings created by God, or vessels of anger fitted to destruction, if you will, rather than some sort of influence or force. Behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him (Revelation 6:8).

So, what can we learn from all these? We learn that God created everything intended to serve His eternal purposes. For BY HIM WERE ALL THINGS CREATED, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16). And He is before all things (the pre-existent divine Being, whose name is called the Word of God – Revelation 19:13/John 1:1), and by Him all things consist of (Colossians 1:17). And all things are of God (2 Corinthians 5:18) – for whom are all things, and by whom are all things (Hebrews 2:10).

 

References:

  • What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? (Job 2:10)
  • GOD IS SOVEREIGN – Since God is the BEGINNING and He contains everything – He must be the sole creator of evil also. Let’s analyze the Scriptures.
  • Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. (Psalm 46:8)
  • I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. (Isaiah 45:7)
  • Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? (Amos 3:6)
  • Who hath made man’s mouth? or who makes the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? – Exodus 4:11
  • Deuteronomy 32:39 says, “See now that I, even I am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.” God holds final sway in every death and every life.
  • God sent an evil spirit – Judges 9:23
  • The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him – 1Samuel 16:14,15/18:12/19:9 – the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house – 1Samuel 18:10
  • And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. 1 Kings 22:21-22
  • God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another – Rom 1:24
  • And the Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper (2 Kings 15:5)
  • And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight (2 Kings 17:20)
  • And so, it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: therefore, the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them (2 Kings 17:25,26)
  • And the Lord sent against him bands of – 2Kings 24:2
  • Thus, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon – Jeremiah 29:4
  • I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them: Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord – Jeremiah 29:17-19 – I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people (Zechariah 12:3)
  • God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So, Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, – God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered – Jonah 4:6,7
  • And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his (Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) hand (Daniel 1:2)
  • A ravenous bird (ayit – a hawk or other bird of prey: — bird, fowl, ravenous (bird)) from the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country (Isaiah 46:11) – about the anti-Christ!
  • The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit. (Isaiah 19:14)
  • And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it. (Ezekiel 7:21)
  • The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. (Proverbs 16:4)
  • evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem (Micah 1:12)
  • “Abraham fell into a deep sleep and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said – Genesis 15:10-12
  • I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God (Ezekiel 25:14)
  • But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. (1 Samuel 16:14)
  • And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul (1 Samuel 19:9)
  • And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel (1 Chronicles 21:1) – And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. (2 Samuel 24:1)
  • And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. (1 Kings 22:21) – And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. (1 Kings 22:22) – Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee. (1 Kings 22:23)
  • Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: (Acts 2:23)
  • I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. Isaiah 45:5-7
  • Evil is God’s punishment to the transgressing creature. If Satan is the author of evil, then how come He was once said to be perfect in all his ways until iniquity was found in him. Where did pride come from?
  • Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
  • Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
  • He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done

God rulers upon all Kingdoms

  • The most High rules in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and sets up over it the basest of men (Daniel 4:17,25,32)
  • The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turns it whithersoever he will (Proverbs 21:1)
  • And he changes the times and the seasons: he removes kings, and sets up kings: (Daniel 2:21)
  • For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up (Romans 9:17)
  • Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwells on high, (Psalm 113:5)—the Lord, who does all these things (Acts 15:17)?

But though he causes grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.

For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.

To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,

To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,

To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approves not.

Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commands it not?

Out of the mouth of the most High proceeds not EVIL AND GOOD? Lamentations 3:32-38

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did we choose God or He chose us? FREE WILL!

Did we choose God or He chose us? FREE WILL!

 

Free will carried many a soul to hell, but never a soul to heaven. Anyone who believes that man’s will is entirely free and that he can be saved by it does not believe the fall – Charles Spurgeon

I believe that man is endowed with a WILL and that he is free to an extent to choose his own life. But it is a fallacy to say that, by the ‘free will’ one must choose Christ for to be saved, which is what I was preaching and teaching all these years until the Lord enriched my understanding through the Scriptures. I believe within every human being there is a vacuum only God could fill, and the effect of it, is the assortment of religion all around us. If man’s ‘free will’ is the proponent, then the question, why not all get to receive the truth, must have an answer. Without understanding about whom the Scripture verse is talking we often would cite, “When they knew God they glorified Him not as God”, and such…with the notion that it speaks briefly of the general mass, when it isn’t. We shall discuss that later. 

People might vary in their understanding of doctrines in the Christendom, which is unavoidable; because God has not given us the complete picture, or we are not in that state to understand things in their entirety. For now, we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known (1 Cor 13:12). BUT having sound dogmas like the Nicene Creed, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Westminster Shorter Catechism and such as a foundation is of paramount importance. God wants us to know about him and His nature – the Christendom is like a garden and all of us in it are like varieties of species of plants and trees. Each emits and produces diverse kinds of fruits and aroma. We are God’s husbandry (1 Corinth 3:9)!

What God has not revealed we are not bound to know. Indeed, it would seem better for us to be in ignorance where the Lord grants no information – C.H. Spurgeon

A great many people in Christendom endorses that our “free will” has something to do with getting saved. Is that really true? Let’s dive into the Scripture and see what it has to say. 

I believe men, by Adamic disposition, are dead and weak – the Bible endorses it – Rom 8:3. Otherwise, why would we be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man? (Eph 3:16) – For when we were yet without strength (feeble, weak, powerless – Rom 5:6, sin reigned over/dominion of sin – Rom 7:14/Gal 3:22, through fear of death were all our lifetime subject to bondage – Heb 2:15, having no hope – Eph 2:12 – under the power of Satan – Acts 26:18 – under the power of darkness – Col 1:13)

Just before WILLIAM TYNDALE was to be executed, John Foxe says that he cried out, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!   

Two years after Tyndale prayed, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes,” King Henry VIII required each parish church to have “one book [copy] of the whole Bible of the largest volume in English.”

Question: Would the king had given such an edict if the Lord had not opened his eyes or quickened his will? Could we give king Henry the credit for what the Lord had achieved through him? He could boast about this achievement but the truth is far from it, isn’t it?

For it is God which worketh in you both to WILL and to DO of his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13)

The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will (Proverbs 21:1). 

Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth (Romans 9:13-23)

Where is boasting then? (Romans 3:27)

If it is by “free will” then “election” holds no merit – ye cannot say both. Scripture states that we are condemned already. If so where is the morality that we say that we hold within? Can anyone show me the moral might of man? Know that our ways are not God’s ways and our virtuousness is like filthy rags to Him – Isaiah 55:8/64:6. If by your strength or by your “free will” you could choose God, then there was no necessity for a substitute to die in our stead to quicken us. The Bible says even our conscience is defiled and the heart darkened and is blinded; if so, and how on God’s earth are we going to invigorate this “free will” of ours? The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God (he is dead within): God is not in all his thoughts (Psalm 10:4). By His eternal Spirit, God then must quicken us, without which we have no hope of being made right. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly (Rom 5:6) – What does “without strength” mean? When we were dead in sins, hath He quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved – Eph 2:5). I can only say that I am made free because of the ransom of God – 1Tim 2:6/Mark 10:45.

We were powerless to make proper restitution, being both finite and sinful. Only Christ, the God-man could accomplish it through the eternal Spirit. Christ satisfied the requirements by which man is saved. His faith, His righteousness, His obedience had led to the restitution of all things – Acts 3:21, even the precious redemption of souls – Ps 49:8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Eph 2:8).

The Bible specifies whom God chooses and who gets to receive this gift of grace! God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble (James 4:6) – this is not the virtue “humility” that is being mentioned here. How could a branch of the olive tree, which is wild by nature – Rom 11:24 – bring forth good fruits? Humility or meekness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and one must be born of the eternal Spirit to bring forth good fruit – John 3:6. God gives grace to the “humble” = tapeinos – the depressed/wretched/ oppressed, humiliated in circumstances and disposition, cast down, of low estate, lowly) – For God chooses the foolish things of the world, the weak things of the world (asthenes – strengthless, more feeble, sick, without strength), the base things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen (1 Cor 1:27,28). If you were not weak, God would not have chosen you, period! Jesus said they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick (Luke 5:31) – the spiritually sick – The people which sat in darkness saw great light (Matthew 4:16) – Draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul (Isaiah 58:10). Jesus said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32) – a light that shineth in a dark place (2 Peter 1:19). Now you could say that your repentance holds some value! Genuine repentance can only take place within a soul where the Spirit of God has begun His redemptive work of grace. 

And when Jesus said, “Repent,” He did not mean (as the Latin Vulgate [the Latin translation of the Bible]) had translated it, “Do penance,” but rather (as Erasmus’ Greek New Testament had shown), he called for a change of heart and mind. He meant for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance – Martin Luther

Tell me now, how a man who is carnal and sold under sin – Rom 7:14 – can change himself? If, on our own, we could change our hearts, which are deceitful and desperately wicked – Jeremiah 17:9 – without the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, why would we ever need a Savior in the first place and what is the purpose of the gift of grace? Wouldn’t that mean we are sound within if we insist that our will is impeccable and that we could do things on our own without the Savior’s mediation? If our will is sound, then aren’t we obliged to please God, and what is that impediment that keeps us from obeying God? We have proved over and over again that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God – Rom 3:23. Let God be true and every man a liar – Rom 3:4. The truth is: our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God (Rom 3:5).

God says, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable (achreioo – render useless); there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Rom 3:10-12).

About Israel, the Bible depicts as “dry bones” – Ezekiel 37:4 – and we see that when God’s breath enters into him, that’s the time Israel would come to life. God has to initiate things before one could see any signs of life. That is why it is said, by grace are ye saved through faith and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God – Eph 2:8. When we were dead in sins (a corpse, lifeless, without hope), hath He quickened us together with Christ (Eph 2:5). For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Phil 2:13). And unless the Father draws (helkuo – drag) a soul to the life source, which is Christ, one won’t see life – John 6:44. Otherwise, what does “saving grace” means? The haughty and the proud, the strong and mighty God would resist, but them that are weak, sick, downtrodden and the broken-hearted the great Physician would attend to. 

I am not at all trivializing the importance of the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ (for the gospel of Jesus Christ is the fishnet into which God draws the fishes in – Mark 1:17 – but the Master must first give the word for the fish to be drawn in – Luke 5:5,6), neither am I propounding that the response from man’s side is impertinent; on the contrary, the seed must be dispersed, they by the mouth should hear the word of the gospel – Acts 15:7, and the soul must respond to benefit; where is the disparity then? I am only saying that the response of a soul to the gospel of Jesus Christ can only take place by the prompting of the Holy Ghost. That is why it is written, by “GRACE” are ye saved (the free gift of “Justification unto life” – Rom 5:18); and that not of yourselves – Eph 2:8! When the seed of the word falls into a good ground of the heart; the unyielding will of man receives vigor (quickens – Eph 2:1,5,13/John 5:21/6:63) to do the will of God, to obey from the heart that form of doctrine – Rom 6:17. One could call it “conviction” of the Holy Ghost. The majority of the modern-day believers, the charlatans had been let in into the sheepfold without such conviction of the Holy Ghost. As a result, as Ishmael (represents that which is born after the flesh) mocked Isaac (represents that which is born after the Spirit), without a change of heart, they (THE TARES) remain in the congregation of the saints (THE WHEAT) and choke the good seeds continually – Genesis 21:9/ Galatians 4:29. The prompting of the Holy Ghost within the heart of man then must precede belief, which is how a genuine conversion takes place. Otherwise, it ain’t the conversion of the soul or the work of regeneration but a mere emotional endeavor. The belief must be of the heart, not the mind. For with the heart/in the spirit – Rom 2:29 – KJV – man believeth unto righteousness – Rom 10:10. If the heart represents the spirit – Rom 2:29, someone tell me how one could believe with the spirit/heart without being born of God first? That which is born of the Spirit is spirit, right! – John 3:6.

The Bible clearly depicts that without Christ the heart of a man or the spirit of man is in a dead state – Col 2:13. Are you suggesting that without the candle of the Lord, which is the spirit of man – Proverbs 20:27 – which alone lights up the whole person was already glowing to receive Christ? If it is already lighted as you presume, why would one need Christ in the first place? If that be the case, aren’t we maintaining that we are sound within and that we have the potential to please God. And wouldn’t that make God a liar when He had said, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked? Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one; They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one – Rom 3:12/ Psalm 53:3/Jeremiah 17:9/Rom 3:23. 

Let me reiterate: The dead spirit must be quickened by the Holy Ghost first for the soul to respond according to the will of God. The soul of man must have his spirit revived first without which the soul in which the will is present holds no life whatsoever to respond to good work. To will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not – Rom 7:18 – but after being begat of God, we get to perform that which is good. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world -1 John 5:4 – We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him, not -1 John 5:18 – see, now IN CHRIST, we can overcome the world, we can keep ourselves and we can walk unto all pleasing, etc… which we were unable to accomplish when we were dead in sins and the uncircumcision of the flesh. Understand that outside of Christ we are still deplorable. But because we are being attached to the person of Christ, we could bear good fruits. For, if the root be holy, so are the branches (Rom 11:16).

Jesus said, Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me (John 15:4) – for without me ye can do nothing (John 15:5). Where is the boasting?

Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God -1 John 5:1 – this believing in Jesus is the work of the Holy Ghost within the heart of man and not of yourself – them that have obtained like precious faith with us – 2 Peter 1:1 – God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith – Rom 12:3 – that is why it is called, grace. Bible says, no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost -1Cor 12:3. Now after knowing these truths, isn’t it preposterous to consider that our will has responded to the gospel of Jesus Christ without any ministrations of the Holy Ghost, whatsoever? 

Do we get to choose life? The truth is: God must choose us first for us to even respond. Though the will is present with us, to perform that which is good is absent – Rom 7:18 – or the entity which alone is capable of propelling our will to obey is missing – which makes you and me impotent (unfit). The reason why we are deemed deficient is that our spirit, which alone can bring light and life to the whole person, is in a dead state. Unless our spirit is quickened or revived we do not possess the ability to choose anything Godly. God alone is the author of such virtues. God alone can do this operation through His eternal Spirit. And one must be born of the Spirit to receive anything of the Lord. 

This work of regeneration or the free gift of justification unto life proffered to man is the direct result of the obedience of One, Jesus Christ – Rom 5. And every one that would thus respond to God is deemed predestined (the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father – 1Pet 1:2) – whom the Father would draw – John 6:44 – All that the Father giveth me shall come to me (John 6:37). As many as were ordained to eternal life believed – Acts 13:48. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate – Rom 8:29 – Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified – Rom 8:30. You see the procedure!

We were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree – Rom 11:24 – this wasn’t our work, was it? The farmer or the professional alone chooses the buds that need to be grafted and not the contrary. Toward thee, it was goodness shown by the Lord – Rom 11:22 – Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Romans 2:4 Where is the boasting then? Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by the law of faith – Rom 3: 27,28 – which faith is obtained from God – 2Pet 1:1/Rom 12:3.

Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us to give light (Luke 1:78,79) – the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared (Titus 3:4)

Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto (until) obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:2) – you see, sanctification of the Spirit precedes our compliance! Obedience and a sprinkling of the blood follows sanctification of the Spirit and not the other way round! God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us – Rom 5:8.

Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God

1 Thessalonians 1:4

It is absurd to even imagine that a condemned person could choose life. If the judge would grant pardon and justifies the condemned, then alone that soul would be released from the death penalty. Then we could say, now he is judicially free and that the handwriting of ordinances that was against him, which was contrary to him gets rescinded as well (Col 2:14) – now being made right with God the Great Judge – Rom 5:1 – he now can live without any condemnation or fear. But being justified freely doesn’t make the heart of a criminal upright, does it? He must obtain the allotted like precious faith – 2Pet 1:1/Rom 12:3 – for the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience to kickoff – 2Thess 2:13/1Pet 1:2. It is through the faith of the operation of God – Col 2:12 – KJV. This sanctification is a continuous process and one not only must have the grace of God to apprehend it all, but one must grow in grace as well – 2Pet 3:18. Where is our boasting then? The goodness of God alone leadeth thee to repentance (Romans 2:4/11:22).

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out (John 6:37).

Who does reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment? (John 16:8) – It is the Holy Spirit that does all these work within a soul.

Does a slave get to choose his master? Or the master chooses whom he wants to keep? The latter is proper, right! Don’t ever forget that we are purchased of God – Acts 20:28/Eph 1:14. While we were yet sinners, Christ died – Rom 5:8. He did not ask for your approval to redeem you, did He? Now you know how priceless this grace that is bestowed unto thee!

One who is acquitted by God will be free of any condemnation as long as he/she would walk after the Spirit – Rom 8:1 – KJV. Walking after the Spirit gives you indemnity/immunity. The legal pardon – Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us – Col 2:14 – that gets done away in Christ. Now you have peace with God – Rom 51 – Secondly, the state of our spiritual dearth also gets covered in Christ, when we abide in Him, in total submission to His Spirit and His Word. Thirdly the culmination of these and the trying of our faith would result in attaining “everlasting life”- Rom 6:22/1Pet 1:7/James 1:3.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us (1 John 4:10) – God sent forth his Son (Gal 4:4) – What for? To redeem those who sat in darkness, who had no strength, already condemned, judicially and spiritually dead, having no hope. How dare such a man like myself who by the grace of God was saved stand before God and man, and boast that I chose God! Some might, but I cannot. I cherish this “so great a salvation” which was given to me from God as a gift – I’am ever so grateful and indebted to God for saving this hopeless, sinful, condemned, unworthy soul of mine. He begat me into His household and hath made me be seated with Christ. I chose God! Are you kidding me?

Would Christ receive all? Would God pardon anyone? Yes, but through Christ alone! It is futile for any man to call upon the Father or the Holy Ghost apart from Christ. For the life of God is in Christ, His Son. Jesus Christ is the only door, the only way to God. Even though I insist that there is an election by grace, I believe there is life for ALL those who come to Christ. This COMING to Christ is vital. All that the Father giveth me SHALL COME to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out (John 6:35-37). But would we come? Are we equipped to COME to life? That’s the question? The Bible says, NO.

Of course, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. BUT the problem is, how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? Rom 10:13,14  And how can they believe, if God wouldn’t open the eyes of their heart? For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their (Israel’s) unbelief (Rom 11:30). For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all (Rom 11:32). So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy (Rom 9:15,16).

Mercy triumphs over judgment

James 2:13 

Our will? If we possess such a will, then we are asserting that we are self-sufficient in some way, isn’t it? But Jesus said, Ye, WILL NOT come to me, that ye might have life (John 5:40) – Why? Because ourselves we are not in a state to come to Christ unless the Spirit of God would draw us to him. When God said, let there be light, the Holy Spirit who was brooding over the waters brought to light and life. Until the word came, the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2). This is exactly the condition of a soul without Christ. The earth without form and void represents the state of the fallen man. God must speak first, “let there be light”. I remember me pleading with one of my friends to accept Christ before he died; you know what he told me? I know the gospel and IF I am saved I will bring my community to this faith, BUT I just can’t submit to Christ. Would someone be able to give me an answer to this? 

God the Spirit must draw a person. The conviction must take place within the heart before he could feel penitence. The seared conscience must be softened by the Spirit of God to receive anything of the Lord. The same sun which melts the ice hardens the clay! Before the Lord could save me, for many months precious Holy Ghost was brooding over my soul. I just couldn’t bear the weight of my sin. The Pangs of conscience and the weight of sin was crushing me to the point of giving up on life. But then the mercy of God reached for me and God orchestrated a situation in my life and by His Spirit changed my life forever. Tell me what did I do to save myself? The Spirit of God was continually brooding in my life awaiting the word from heaven, to bring light into my life; that I would seek life and truth – the GRACE of God found me and washed me and clothed me with the robe of the righteousness of Christ; after quickening me through His Spirit – Eph 2:5, He dealt to me the measure of faith and activated my WILL to follow Him – To them that have obtained like precious faith through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ  – 2 Pet 1:1.

Faith is the precondition of knowledge – Anselm (one of the most profound thinkers of the Middle Ages) – He simply believed knowledge cannot lead to faith, and knowledge gained outside of faith is untrustworthy.

And this “knowledge” (epignosis) is the antonym of “darkness” (Choshek – ignorance). Without being endowed with the gift of faith, you cannot have access to epignosis. The gift of faith precedes the knowledge of God.

The purpose of knowledge was to strengthen faith; the pursuit of knowledge was “faith seeking understanding” Augustine and Anselm

By doubting, we come to enquire and by enquiring we reach truth – Abelard

First, Christ must open a heart to listen (whose heart the Lord opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul – Acts 16:14), then comes the gift of faith, which paves way for the knowledge of God.

When the day-star arises in a heart – 2 Peter 1:19 – he imparts the required faith too – until then, we were shut up unto the faith – Gal 3:23,25 – but when faith came, God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith – Rom 12:3 – obtains like precious faith – 2Pet 1:1 – For Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ – John 1:17.

“I frequently hear persons exhorted to give their hearts to Christ…But that is not the Gospel. Salvation comes from something that Christ gives you, not something that you give to Christ. The giving of your heart to Christ follows are the receiving from Christ of eternal life by faith.” Spurgeon

The reason why it is vital to abide in Christ – John 15:4 – is that He could work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure – Phil 2:13. He which hath begun a good work in us would be able to perform it until the day of Jesus Christ – Phil 1:6. He the Spirit shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver (Malachi 3:3). The reason why we need to be led by God is that we possess a temporal body in which the law of sin and death still reigns – Rom 7. To prevent any takeover by the evil entities this total control of the Spirit of Christ is vital. Things will be different when He will change our vile body and fashion it like unto His glorious body – Phil 3:21. Then we shall be like him (1 John 3:2) – reigning with Him, even judging angels – 2 Tim 2:12/Rev 20:6/1 Col 6:3 – He hath made us kings and priests unto God the Father and we shall reign on earth – Rev 1: 6/5:10

The seed of the word gets sowed everywhere: on the wayside, on good grounds, and where thorns and thistles are covered with. But not all receive the word – that which fell on the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up – which means, they do hear the word of the kingdom, but because they understand it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catches away that which was sown in his heart (Matthew 13:19/Mark 4:4); some after receiving gladly when afflictions and persecution arise for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended – Mark 4:17; some having received the seed of the word, quickly sprouts but because it fell upon the rock and there is not enough soil for the root to run when the sun comes up or trouble hits, it withers away; and some which fell among thorns are they which hears the word and the love of the world and pleasures of life choke them to unfruitfulness; some which fell on good grounds are they that get to experience life – Mark 4:18-20. This is a naked truth.

Know that there are good seeds and bad seeds – Matt 13: 37-39. The world is the field and in it are children of the kingdom (the elect – the sheep) and the children of darkness (vessels of wrath – the goats) – the wheat and the tares. You cannot transform a tare into wheat, can you? If not, then why do you assert that God is not just in saving all? The tares are sown by the devil – Matt 13:25,37-39. And at the harvest time, the tares will be separated to be burned. Now I understand why God said, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated (Rom 9:13); Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother – 1 John 3:12 – Ye are of your father the devil (John 8:44/1John 3:8,10). Jesus knew they were the TARES. The wheat: like lambs among wolves (Luke 10: 3).

These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear (they grow together – Matt 13:28-30): clouds they are without water, carried about of winds (they resemble the wheat but are empty shells); trees whose fruit withers, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever – Jude 1:12,13

Men by nature, hate light but love darkness – John 3:19. My friend whom I spoke about, who passed away in his early fifties, he loved the world and its pleasures so much that though he knew the truth, which means though the seed already fell inside the heart – I would assume in a thorny and thistle environment or a stony ground, which must have choked the precious seed.

Even after we have come to Christ, our soul needs to be kept by Christ – 1Thess 5:23. Paul said, to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not (Rom 7:18) – We must understand that this was the situation Paul had confronted even after being born of the Spirit of God. We should not forget the fact that, regardless of our stance in Christ, there is a law (of sin and death) in the members of our body, which war against the law of our minds in order to bring us again into captivity – Rom 7. If Paul speaks this as the state of the redeemed, one could imagine the state of those dead in trespasses and sins? – Eph 2:1/Col 2:13. For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Phil 2:13).

Compel, not Invite: The Lord said, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled (Luke 14:23). If you invite people they have a propensity to refuse but compel. Because the fall of man broke man in every respect. Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men (2 Cor 5:11). He is LOST – IRRECOVERABLE. But is there anything too hard for the Lord? To God, the redemption of the soul of man is precious (Psalm 49:8). He that hath no rule over his own spirit (the state of man) is like a city that is broken down, and without walls (Pro 25:28). The souls of men have become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

When Christ found us, we were without strength – Rom 5:6. The conscience of man though still show some sign of his goodness, which it possessed before the fall, it has lost its tenderness and is utterly fallen/defiled – Titus 1:15. If that be the case, what is the state of the will of man be? It too is tainted and has gone astray. The fallen nature, means, that which was in order is in a chaotic state or put out of order. Jesus brought “Shalom” = life and peace = Destroyed the authority that established chaos / Jesus Christ destroyed the one that created all chaos – Heb 2:14/Col 2:15/John 16:11/ 1John 3:8/5:19/2Cor 4:4 – which didst weaken the nations – Isaiah 14:12/ Ezek 28: 13-Gan 1:2-Isaiah 14:12

Jesus prayed to the Father: I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were (Predestined – chosen in him before the foundation of the world – Eph 1:4 – whom he did foreknow – Rom 8:29), and thou gavest them me, and they (the elect) have kept thy word (John 17:6) – And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed (Acts 13:48)

When you say that it was by choice or by the free will of man that one comes to Christ, I beg to differ. I believe in choice when it comes to the obedience of faith – Rom 6:17. Even then, it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Phil 2:13). Paul said, Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily (Col 1:29) – In essence: Christ (that Great Spirit – 2Cor 3:17) that liveth in me (Gal 2:20) – maketh it all happen. The Son quickens whom he will (John 5:21).

The Bible is clear in this: No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost (1 Cor 12:3) not by your free will you choose to say but by the Holy Ghost. A man is justified by faith alone – Rom 3:27,28 – and this faith is ascribed to – God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith (Rom 12:3). Where is the boasting then? 

The truth is, a sinner in his condemned state cannot love God unless he is pardoned or justified freely. His heart is hardened by sin, and his mind and conscience is defiled. And unless the grace of God quickens him first, he is not in a state to come to GOD. How can a sinner upon whom the wrath of God rests come to Him without the GRACE of God, which is CHRIST JESUS through whom alone we have forgiveness and acceptance? B.V. Thomas

We chose God! You loved him first and then He loved you! Really? I wouldn’t dare say that. I can only say that the goodness of the Lord alone had led me to seek God. 

I did not choose God, but the goodness of the Lord found me and then I followed Him. Even Jesus had to rely on the eternal Spirit to offer himself without spot to God – Heb 9:14 – Why? Because he took upon himself a sinful flesh to condemn sin – Rom 8:3/Phil 2:8/Heb 2:17/4:15

Was it not the Lord that chose the twelve Apostles? And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matthew 4:18,19).

Abraham, a heathen, an idol worshipper was called by God. He never knew about Yahweh until God appeared unto him. And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God (Genesis 17:1).

Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve? (John 6:70) – I have chosen you out of the world (John 15:19) – Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you (John 15:16)

According to as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4)

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate (Rom 8:29).

God hath chosen the foolish things (1 Cor 1:27)

Ye are a chosen generation (1 Pet 2:9)

Ananias told Paul, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth (Acts 22:14)

Whom did God call? Whom he did predestinate (determine in advance by divine will – whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate – Rom 8:29 – God foreknew who would believe on the Son of God – 1John 5:9-12 – and them He chose or predestinate), them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified (Rom 8:30)

Of course, I believe in the choices that we make. As human beings, we have a propensity to choose only evil. For our hearts are desperately wicked. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts (Psalm 10:4) – if that be the case, then how on earth can one seek God? A lost sheep must be found – John 10:15,16. We were LOST, weren’t we? Don’t you understand? Means, apollumi = destroyed fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), dead, marred, perished.

Well, because I was raised in a Pentecostal background and the seed of the word of God was sown in my heart from childhood; not to mention, my mother’s fervent prayers, I could say that had led to my salvation. Otherwise, I would be dead by now. In India, we have a lot of religions. The Hindus insist that their three hundred million gods are the real ones. If I was raised in such a religious background I would be following their gods; if I was raised in a Muslim background I would believe in Allah only. It is an election or the grace of God that saves people. Maybe there is something within the human heart that triggers God’s hand to draw a person to Himself through Christ. We don’t know that yet. And it’s not our’s to know that for now. I believe it is the tug of the Holy Ghost within the heart of man that causes us to seek God in the first place. Or every soul gets a chance in life to repent or to seek the truth – which is why it is being said, that He commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30)! But as I’ve explained before, the state of the heart of man is crucial. And for the TARE, there’s no chance of redemption. They are the vessels of wrath! Rom 9:22

Bible says, For when we were yet without strength (willingly ignorant too), in due time Christ died for the ungodly (Rom 5:6). Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: (Eph 4:18). So, For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Eph 2:8). 

Whether you like it or not: there are vessels of wrath fitted to destruction and there are vessels of mercy – Rom 9:22-23. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off (Rom 11:22). Don’t you know that the goodness of God leads us to repentance? (Rom 2:4)

Salvation was the prerogative, privilege, and potential act of God alone – Athanasius

God subdued and brought my heart to docility                                                                       God subdued my heart to teachability – John Calvin

When you hear the word of God, faith comes to you to respond – Rom 10:17. How this faith was made available? Through Christ – Faith came  – Gal 3:23. It wasn’t present before! When the sower soweth the word – Mark 4:14 – The seed is the word of God – Luke 8:11. And because it is a gift of God and by grace alone, a soul is saved – it is the Spirit of Christ that opens the heart of man to receive – because of the propitiative/redemptive work of Christ, the promise of the Spirit was made available – without the intervention of the Spirit of God in the hearts of men, none could be saved. The convicting or the convincing work is of the Spirit of God. It is purely God’s goodness – Rom 11:22 – and His Mercy – Rom 9:13-27 – shown towards a vessel that results in his/her salvation. God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8).

David said Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity (Psalm 32:2)

Elect of God: choose (someone) in preference to others for salvation – Rom 8:33/Rom 9:11/Col 3:12/1Thess 1:4/Titus 1:1.                                                                                                 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father (1 Peter 1:2).

This “is how the Arminian would pray who believes in “FREE WILL”

Lord, I thank thee I am not like those poor presumptuous Calvinists. Lord, I was born with a glorious free-will; I was born with power by which I can turn to thee of myself; I have improved my grace. If everybody had done the same with their grace that I have, they might all have been saved. Lord, I know thou dost not make us willing if we are not willing ourselves. Thou givest grace to everybody; some do not improve it, but I do. There are many that will go to hell as much bought with the blood of Christ as I was; they had as much of the Holy Ghost given to them; they had as good a chance, and were as much blessed as I am. It was not thy grace that made us to differ; I know it did a great deal, still, I turned the point; I made use of what was given me, and others did not—that is the difference between me and them.” 

Is it MORAL liberty or SIN domination? 

If Jesus Christ saved us from the power/control of Satan and the dominion of sin (total depravity) and from this present evil world – Gal 1:4, it then means that an unsaved man does not possess an iota of moral freedom in his being (he wallows in sin – he is dominated by sin – a sinner do evil a hundred times – Ecclesiastes 8:12 – every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually – Genesis 6:5 – God sees the fallen man as a prisoner of the earth – Lamentations 3:34); it then means that the sinner never holds the power of real choice, the ability to determine the course of his thoughts and volitions – because he is under the power of Satan/darkness – Acts 26:18/Col 1:13/Heb 2:15 – and he does only what his father, the devil does – John 8:44 – and willingly are ignorant of (2 Pet 3:5).

We once committed sin, we took pleasure/wallowed in sin. We were once darkness – Eph 5:8 – Sin which is still present in my members once controlled me/reigned over me – Rom 7:23 – sin hath reigned unto death – Rom 5:21 – so death passed upon all men – Rom 5:12,17. But now after coming to Christ, the sin shall not have dominion over you – Rom 6:14 – Why? Because sin got condemned in the body of the flesh of Christ – Rom 8:3 – and the sting of death is sin – 1 Cor 15:56.

Now after coming to Christ, we receive the power to cast down imaginations (we see that we were weak before and that sin had dominated), and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor 10:5). You had “free will” to choose? What’s the point of bragging about ‘free will’ when a sinner is a bond slave, sold under sin? Rom 7:14

A slave has a master and that master decides everything. The slave is his legal property and is forced to obey him. Likewise, sin was our master once.

I believe the man was created with a “free will” but what I am trying to say is that that capacity to do right and to choose good was lost in Adam when he transgressed. That ‘will’ gets activated in Christ, but still not fully free, because of the mortal body which we are clothed with. Now Christ has to live in us through His Spirit to lead us as a Shepherd so that the inherent sin would not impede and jeopardize the work of God that is begun in us. For God hath begun a good work in us, has He not? (Phil 1:6) Paul said, Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me (1 Tim 1:12). Who enabled him? Not that he chose him, but by the enablement of Christ – according to his working, which worked in him mightily (Col 1:29) – He said, he labored more abundantly than they all: yet not him, but the grace of God which was with him (1 Cor 15:10). Where is the boasting then?

Now the free will of man, which was in some measure lost in Adam gets revived in Christ. We could see its evidence throughout the New Testament – 1Pet 5:2/Philemon 1:14/John 6:21/Heb 13:8/2 Col 8:3,12 etc…

Here’s the big one: 

Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: For that, ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice! in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil (James 4:13-16)

If the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil doing (1 Peter 3:17)

And this will we do, if God permits (Hebrews 6:3) – for the will happens in the head, and the head is Christ. 

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God (2 Timothy 1:1)

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine (John 7:17)

Tell me now where your will stands?

A son is totally dependent on the Father and he can do nothing on his own – John 5:19.

Even the will of the Son of God was totally surrendered to the Father. Peace be, unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so, send I you (John 20:21). And as he is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17). Jesus prayed, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done (Luke 22:42) – The will of the Son of Man held no prominence; so should ours’s be. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, ‘O’ God (Heb 10:9).

He taught us to pray likewise: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so in the earth (Luke 11:2)

Now tell me, where does our will fit in?

Why we were called sinners in the first place? Because of the kind of nature we possessed, right? SINFUL NATURE! Wild by nature – Rom 11:24! Why are we now called the righteousness of God in Christ? 2 Col 5:21. Simply because the nature of Christ is now being implanted within us or being grafted into His nature, into a good olive tree, to be precise – Rom 11:16,24. The spirit that we received from God is created after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness – Eph 4:24/John 3:6

“A man’s free will,” “avails for nothing except to sin.”                                                       “To will is of nature, but to will aright is of grace” – Augustine

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Eph 2:8) – For the grace of God to be operative in a person, first the recipient must be administered with faith. This measured precious faith – 2Pet 1:1/Rom 12:3 – when gets dispensed to a sinner elect, it incites the grace of God, whose effect would be justification unto life and the washing of regeneration by the eternal Spirit.

Furthermore, only the power of God’s grace could restore in some measure the free will lost in the fall of Adam’s race. Grace cannot be received by an act of human will or even cooperated with (synergism)—it must be given as a gift – Augustine 

In Christian Theology, the teaching that there is a kind of interplay between human freedom and divine grace, which is known as “synergism” – or those who hold that salvation involves some form of cooperation between divine grace and human freedom – this understanding is in opposition to Monergism, which holds that God works through the Holy Spirit to bring about the salvation of an individual through spiritual regeneration, regardless of the individual’s cooperation. 

What does the Bible say about Israel and the New Covenant? The Lord says I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: AND they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn (Zechariah 12:10). Millenniums have passed, yet their “free will” is showing no sign of seeking God. It is clear that they can’t – for within, they are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness (Matthew 23:27). They are here depicted as not merely dead but mere dry bones, which means beyond the point of being restored. But then, is there anything too hard for the Lord?

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.

And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? 

And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Ezekiel 37:1-3

Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, AND ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon this slain, that they may live.

So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.

Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

And ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,

And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.  Ezekiel 37:4-14

IF THIS WAS THE STATE OF THE NATURAL BRANCHES – ROMANS 11:21,24 – ONE COULD IMAGINE THE STATE OF THE GENTILE SINNER! WE WERT CUT OUT OF THE OLIVE TREE WHICH IS WILD BY NATURE, BUT ISRAEL WAS PART OF A GOOD OLIVE TREE. 

“The Spirit of grace, therefore, causes us to have faith,” he wrote, “in order that through faith we may, upon praying for it, obtain the ability to do what we are commanded.” Augustine of Hippo