Hi J___,

I will go line by line through this letter and give God’s Word and contrast God’s Word with the carnal minded reasoning of your friend. Your friend, as I myself once did and all carnal minds do, fails to see the difference between the ability to choose based upon the causes he himself admits to in this letter, and ‘free’ will, without the influence of any outside cause. No one in his right mind would deny that your friend can choose to drink either orange drink or Pepsi. But for your friend to deny that God is the cause of that choice and already knows what that choice is before he ever makes that choice is blasphemous. God does know, because God is the great Causer of all things which you, or I or your friend will ever do. The same is true for every other person who lives, has lived or who ever will live.

If any of us has an uncaused ‘free’ will then why are we told:

Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

According to the carnal reasoning of your friend, this scripture is a lie. According to the false teaching of your friend, which also happens to also be the same doctrine of all orthodox Christian denominations, the truth is that “The preparations of the heart and the answer of the tongue is [ actually from our free will].”

Again consider the Truth contrasted with the teaching of your friend and orthodox Christian teaching:

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Your friend and all orthodox Christianity denies this truth. Here is how they would rewrite God’s Word. “The Lord has created all things good and man’s free will has created evil men forcing upon God a ‘day of evil.'” This lie of the Dragon and the beast which is within your friend and within all orthodox Christianity, denies the Truth of this next scripture also:

Isa 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me [ where is anything about man’s fabled ‘free’ will in these verses?]:
Isa 45:6 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 [ Where is this ‘free’ will?].
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

In other words:

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first [“first,” not ‘only’] trusted in Christ.

Orthodox Christianity teaches us just the opposite. ‘Evil,’ we are lied to, ‘is the result of your own choices.’

In the National Cathedral, immediately following the bombing of the World Trade Towers, Dr. Billy Graham, a man many Christians consider to be one of the most prominent spiritual men of our day, proclaimed before all the world that Isa 45:7 was a lie. “God does not create evil!” proclaimed Dr. Graham. I for one choose to believe God’s Word over the words of Dr. Graham and over the words of all orthodox Christian ministers. But I choose so for the same reason they choose not to believe those words of God. You and your friend and I and all of orthodox Christianity, believe what we believe because “the preparations of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.” It is definitely not from some unscriptural ‘free’ human will. Man’s will is so easily influenced because we were created so weak and carnal. Yes, that is how we were created “in the Potter’s hand.”

Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen [“In the Potter’s hand] in iniquity; and in sin did my mother [ Creator] conceive me.
Jer 18:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 18:2 Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
Jer 18:3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 18:5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

Your friend and all of orthodox Christianity would answer, ‘Absolutely not!’ to the Great Potter. ‘What are you saying? Are you saying we are nothing but a puppet on a string?’ is their constant retort to this question by a Potter who informs them that they are deliberately marred in His hand. But what says the Great Potter to man’s beastly claim to some fabled ‘free will?’ Is man indeed a ‘puppet on a string?’ No, the Great Potter gives man no such dignity as a puppet: “Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.”

Dr. Billy Graham, Hank Hanagraff, Pastor Adrian Rogers, Pat Roberston, Paul Crouch and all of God’s widely acclaimed ‘great men of God’ need to get with God and inform Him of their ‘free will,’ which God just seems to have forgotten about in all these and all other scriptures that appear in His Word on this subject.

Jer 10:23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Again orthodox Christianity argues with their own Creator that ‘It IS in man himself to choose what steps he will take. It IS in man to freely decide whether to obey God.’ What happened to that orthodox Christian teaching of man’s ‘free will’ here in this verse? Where is the scripture for such a doctrine? Is it to be found in these Words of Truth?

Pro 20:24 Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?
Pro 21:1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

No, it is not in those verses either. So where is the scripture for the doctrine of the free will of man? Surely here is a verse which proves beyond any doubt that God has given man a free will:

Jos 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

And what are we told the people “chose” to do?

Jos 24:16 And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;

Is this not surely a Biblical example of the exercise of man’s ‘free will?’ The entire orthodox Christian world point to this verse and proclaims that that is exactly what it proves. But what do the scriptures say about Israel’s choice?; “God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods.” Here is the Truth once again straight from the Word of God concerning this subject of man’s will to do good and to obey God:

Jos 24:19 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.

Why can they not serve the Lord? The answer is always consistently the same:

Jer 10:23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Why is it that man cannot choose to serve God? Did not Israel just do so? It surely appears that Israel chose to serve the Lord. But what really happened? What was the Truth of Israel’s choice to serve God? Here is the truth from the Word of God:

Deu 5:29 O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!
Deu 31:28 Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them.
Deu 31:29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.

“You will do evil… after my death you will corrupt yourselves?” What became of Israel’s self proclaimed ‘free will choice,’ “God forbid that we should forsake the LORD…?”

Though orthodox Christianity is unaware of this truth, our Creator is well aware that He has not given them “such a heart, that they would fear me.” “To them it is not given…”:

Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

How can God say “It is not given to them to understand,” when in reality, according to orthodox Christianity, that choice is not God’s choice to be making. “Not given to them to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven?” Where is room for so much as the thought of ‘free will’ in a statement such as that?

Getting back to your friend’s “free will” to drink orange juice instead of Pepsi, let’s look at some others who, like your friend, thought that their thoughts were their own free, uncaused thoughts. These men certainly did not think that their thoughts that were caused by the Great Cause of all things. Yes, even our choices of what we will eat and drink, just as the ideas of these men, are caused thoughts. “He works all things after the counsel of His Own will.”

The men I refer to are the brothers of Joseph. The thoughts they entertained were these:

Gen 37:19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
Gen 37:20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

Joseph’s brothers would never have admitted at this point that their evil thoughts and desire to slay their brother was “of the Lord.” This is not a discussion about whether to drink some sheep’s milk or some grape juice. This is a discussion about whether to take the life of their own brother. Ruben and Judah finally convince the other nine brothers to make some money on the sale of Joseph instead of killing him. Thus they spared his life. But whose idea really is this entire scenario? Your friend and the entire orthodox Christian World, along with its icon, the great Dr. Billy Graham, have a beast sitting on the throne of God. God’s throne is in the hearts and minds of His people. But as their rhetoric belies, a beastly ‘man of sin,’ who “receives his power and great authority from the Dragon,” sits on God’s throne in “God’s temple, whose temple ye are” and denies that God “works all things after the counsel of His Own will.” Nevertheless, the Word of “God is true and every man is a liar.”

Here now is that word for all who can receive it:

Gen 45:4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God:

This revelation followed many months of tormenting his own brothers for their own good. Joseph’s brothers were compelled to “worship at his feet” and were “tormented in the presence of the Lamb:”

Gen 42:6 And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.
Gen 42:7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
Gen 42:8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.
Gen 42:9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
Gen 42:10 And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.
Gen 42:11 We are all one man’s sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies.
Gen 42:12 And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
Gen 42:13 And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.
Gen 42:14 And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies:
Gen 42:15 Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
Gen 42:16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.
Gen 42:17 And he put them all together into ward three days.
Gen 42:18 And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:
Gen 42:19 If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
Gen 42:20 But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.
Gen 42:21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
Gen 42:22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
Gen 42:23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.

Joseph’s brothers typify today’s orthodox Christians, who to this day despise those who are favored by the Father because they bring to their Father the evil report of their brothers who are taking advantage of their Father’s flock:

Gen 37:2 Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.

Their “evil report” had to do with something that occurred while they were “feeding the flock.” The word translated ‘report’ denotes ‘slander’. Joseph’s brothers were no doubt slandering their father. So it is today. Those given the charge of the welfare of God’s flock have “an evil report.” It falls the lot of today’s Josephs to bring to their Father their evil report. When this is accomplished, the Father sets his elect apart from all of His other sons with a “coat of many colors.” This coat is required clothing for all those who “come out from among” their Babylonish brothers with their bad report concerning the keeping of the Father’s flock.

This coat represents the fact that God favors those who are faithful to His word. These are those who admit that “God is the savior of all men [ even those who wanted to slay Him, but] specially [ at this time] of those who believe [ and are faithful to His Word- I Tim. 4:10]. These are those who give freely the word to others and do not abuse the flock of their Father. And these are those who, regardless of the consequences, bring to their Father the evil report of their brothers who are abusing the Father’s flock. If we refuse to wear this garment and endure the hatred of those who have not been given this garment, then we are denying Christ and He will also deny us before the Father. It was Joseph’s garments that made him so despised by his own brothers. But it was more than that. Those garments represent the fact that God Himself favors His elect and intends for His elect to rule over their brothers who are “called but are not chosen.”

Gen 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
Gen 37:4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.
Gen 37:5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. [ The more revelation God gives His elect, the more they are hated by their brothers who see no need for an elect to be chosen from among the called]
Gen 37:6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:
Gen 37:7 For, behold, we [ the called and the chosen] were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
Gen 37:8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
Gen 37:9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
Gen 37:10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
Gen 37:11 And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

Christ relates this same story and condenses it all to one short verse:

Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

Joseph’s brothers represent the many called but not chosen Christians. Like the Corinthians they are more into the gifts than the Giver.

1Co 1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes [ our] brother,
1Co 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called [ not chosen] to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
1Co 1:5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
1Co 1:6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
1Co 1:7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Yet what does Paul confess to these “sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints” Corinthians?

1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

These “Carnal… babes in Christ.. neither yet now are able to bear…” the Truth that “many are called but [ only] a few are chosen.” They believe that salvation lies in denominational affiliation:

1Co 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul [ Protestant]; and another, I am of Apollos [ Catholic]; are ye not carnal?

The very thought of a God who “works all things after the counsel of His own will” is especially offensive to these carnal Christians who think that it is their free will that will decide whether they follow Paul or Apollos. The Truth of course is that even if they do join a denomination and decide to “kill you thinking they do God a service,” they do so only because “It was not you but God who sent me here,” as Joseph reveals to us all.

O. K. Now for your friend’s letter.

J____ wrote:

Hello,

I am having a debate with a fellow that sent me this email. Hoping you can help me out by writing something in response. I greatly appreciate it! Here it is.

Hos 6:7 (NASB) But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously against Me.

According to God, Adam broke the Covenant.

Which God knew in advance Adam would do because He “made him subject to vanity, not willingl y [ on Adam’s part] but by reason of Him [ God], who subjected the same in hope [ of a resurrection in which “all will confess that Jesus is Christ to the glory of God”].

Jesus brought a new one.

What is evident from Scripture is that God lives NOT in our restrictive chronological timeline, but He lives outside of time and can see my birth and life and death at a glance.

Adam did not surprise God by sinning, I accept that.

So you admit that God knew in advance exactly what Adam would do and was in reality “working all things after the counsel of His Own will?”

Remember, sin is not an invention of God or man. Sin as we know is an ancient word describing how we miss the mark as it were. Sin is nothing more than a failure to obey. Sin is not choosing to obey and follow after righteousness. Adam chose not to obey. Because he could.

Adam, as with all who are in him could choose nothing else. The very meaning of the “first man Adam… is of the earth earthy,” meaning that Adam was marred in the Potter’s hand with an earthy, carnal corruptible mind. He and Eve committed every sin known to man before they ever touched the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

1Jn 2:16 For all [ sin] that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

It was Eve’s natural carnal mind that she had been given by her Creator, that caused her to listen to the lies of the serpent and to exercise the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life” before she ever touched the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They did not become naked after that. Eating of that tree simply made them aware of their already, from the hand of their Creator, naked sinful condition:

Psa 51:5 Behold, I [ the first Adam] was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother [ Creator] conceive me.

Can’t you accept, that your incredible statement about us having no free will is just wrong? It is totally wrong. If we had no free will then we are not responsible for sin and God would need to apologize to the people of Soddom and Gommorah and re- instate those destroyed cities. He would need to apologize to those who never entered Noah’s ark.

And what do you make of this scripture? Has God given you the eyes to see this verse of scripture?

Eze 16:55 When thy [ Jerusalem] sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

You do not believe that Sodom will be “returned to her former estate” along with Jerusalem and her daughters? Do you? So who now should your friend believe? Should he believe your carnal, unscriptural reasonings, or should he believe God’s plain statements of truth that Sodom and Her daughters will be returned to their former estate when Jerusalem and her daughters are returned to their former estate? Who do these verses say was the greatest sinner? Was it Sodom or was it Jerusalem? Are you still so sure that “God needs to apologize to Sodom?” Could J____ possibly be right and could John have a better solution than your idea of God apologizing to Sodom? Could it possibly be true that Christ…

1Jn 2:2 … Is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world [ including the sins of Sodom and her much more evil sister Jerusalem?].

Could it be that you are right and we, as Joseph’s brothers, are not responsible for our sins? Could it be that God sent us into sin, that “many people might be saved alive” as you will see in the resurrection of Sodom and Samaria along with their much more wicked sister Jerusalem? Could it be that God is true and every man is a liar?

1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially [ NOT exclusively] of those that believe.
1Ti 4:11 These things command and teach.

Do you “command and teach that “God is the savior of all men?”

If we have no free- will then we need to empty every prison and apologize to the prisoners as they leave. We need to exhume all those who have been executed for crimes and give them a pretty funeral. If we have no freewill, then Hitler was just a poor unfortunate soul.

You obviously see no personal reason for Paul’s telling us:

Rom 9:11 (For the children [ Jacob and Esau] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated [“While he was in his mother’s womb, having done neither good nor evil”].

You don’t believe that do you? You think that Esau was evil because of his own decisions. You believe that both Esau and Joseph’s brothers and Pharaoh, and King Saul and King Ahab and Judas and Hitler could somehow have chosen of their own free will to thwart the predestination of Him “who works all things after the counsel of His Own will?”

We all have a free will. If we had no free- will we wouldn’t be having this debate. Everything you say, I would agree with and vise versa. There would be no war, no strange political notions, no splits in marriage and no splits in the church. Even a game of chess would be desperately boring with inevitable outcomes.

So then you don’t believe this verse of scripture either do you?

Pro 16:33 The lot [ Or chess game] is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.

You just do not like Bible verses like that do you? Why don’t you show J____ a verse which says that the outcome of such things as “lots cast into the lap” and the outcome of chess games are beyond the scope of God’s concerns? Where exactly now is that verse of scripture? There seem to be a plethora of Bible verses which tell us that God works all things after the counsel of His own will, that He is aware of every sparrow that falls to the ground, that the very hairs of our heads are numbered by God, but you want us to believe that He cannot or else has chosen not to know what I will choose to do tomorrow because that would be an infringement upon my fabled “free will.”

You confuse God’s ability to see the beginning from the end – and His foreknowledge of everything!

And with our ability to choose and take various paths within the timeline we inhabit.

It is not J____ who is confused. It is you, who refuses to kick the beast of your fabled free will off of the throne of God in your heart. So long as you can continue to convince yourself that God’s ability to see the beginning from the end, and everything in between, is something less than Him “working all things [ good and evil] after the counsel of His own will,” that beastly ‘man of sin rests comfortably where Christ should be as the sovereign in the affairs of men. But you refuse to give up that idol of your heart. To you God just sort of works around our ‘free will.’ It wasn’t really God who sent Joseph as a slave into Egypt. It was really Joseph’s brothers’ ‘free will.’ But God was able to somehow work around their evil free will. Why is it that if indeed we have this ‘free uncaused and uninfluenced will’ that not one person out of all the billions who have ever lived on earth, has ever freely chosen to serve and obey God?

Why is it, that there are many people I know, who were once addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes, criminals; all coming from the sewer who are now praising God and are the pillars of their church and community? They had the free will to attend a meeting. They had the free- will to sit through the preaching. They had the free- will to stick their hand up when the call for salvation came at the end of the night. They had the free- will to choose to follow Jesus.

I have also been at meetings where a person is reduced to tears, but still won’t accept the Saviour.

So then you don’t believe these words of our Savior do you? You believe that He was lying when He made these statements don’t you?

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [ Greek- drag] him…
Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you…
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

You don’t agree with Christ do you? The only reason we are saved is really because of our own free will choice to accept Christ as our Savior. So in reality Christ did not choose us we chose Him. Christ has it all backwards doesn’t He? The truth be known Christ can do nothing with out the assistance of our own free will? Is that right? Is that really the way it is accomplished? We choose Christ He does not choose us, unless we first choose Him with our own free will?

A very old friend of mine used to be a miner. He was also the local secretary for the Communist Party. If you think eastern block people can be staunch communists, then you want to meet the old commies from Scotland. They are brutally loyal to the cause.

Anyway, he got saved. Started preaching eventually and became quite an evangelist. He had for years been asking his own old dad if he would accept Jesus as saviour and Lord. His dad always said no. One day, Dan was walking up the street with his dad. God spoke to Dan. He told Dan to ask his dad again if he would accept Jesus as saviour.

Dan obeyed the Lord’s request. He said, Dad, The Lord has asked me just now to ask you, if you will accept Jesus as Lord and saviour?”

His dad replied, emphatically, “NO.”

Immediately, his dad dropped down dead on the spot.

Dan used to always tell that story and the moral of it was, “you can ignore my requests, but you can’t ignore God’s”

God had willed that Dan’s old dad should go to heaven and be with the saviour, but Dan’s old dad refused God, and will now be paying the price for that refusal.

I’m having trouble finding one verse of scripture for which you do not have a carnal anecdote and reason to refuse to believe. This story tells me that you have virtually no use for this verse of God’s word:

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die [ did you freely choose to be “in Adam?”], even so in Christ shall all [ including Dan’s old dad] be made alive.
1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially [ not exclusively] of those that believe.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us- ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

I guess that story about Dan’s dad just nullifies all these verses of scripture. I guess that in reality Christ’s propitiatory death only covers our sins if we of our own free will choose Christ in this life. J___ will have to decide whether to believe you or all these plain statements of God’s Word.

The point is, he had the choice. He had the choice! God has given us the freedom to choose.

How does your assertion here stack up against these words of our Lord?

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [ Greek- drag] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

God’s spirit “drags us to him.” Where is ‘free will’ in that verse of God’s Word?
So, if as you assert so emphatically “God has given us the freedom to choose,” then it really was Joseph’s brothers who came up with the idea and executed the plan of sending Joseph into Egypt. They had a choice? And that choice was free of any outside influence? Is that what you are asking J____ and me to believe? Should we believe you or should we believe this:

Gen 45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God:

and again:

Gen 50:20 But as for you [ Joseph’s brothers], ye thought evil against me; but God meant it [ the very evil that Joseph’s brothers thought was their idea] unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Right now I choose to submit this reply to you. Then I’m going to stand up and go to the kitchen. Then to the fridge. Then I will pour myself and my son a drink of orange juice. I might change my mind when I get there and have Pepsi instead. I just can’t say, because my freedom to choose might be swayed by whatever looks the best when I get there.

“Your freedom might be swayed by whatever looks the best when you get there?” That sounds a whole lot like Joseph’s brothers to me. This is quite an admission on your part. “My freedom might be swayed by whatever looks the best when I get there.” You don’t sound all that ‘free’ to me. You admit that you can be “swayed by whatever looks good when you get there?” Could God possibly be involved in any of that swaying? Is He even capable of such a thing? Take a look at this verse:

Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood [ our own free will], but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

It is what is in heaven that sways the will of every man who has ever lived. But you don’t believe that simply because “to you it is not given to see the mysteries of the kingdom of God.” God himself has deceived you into believing the false doctrine of “free will.”

Eze 14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

You don’t believe that, do you? So then of course you won’t believe this verse either:

1Sa 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

Did Saul choose these moves of God? Or was Saul, like Pharaoh, “raised up for this very reason?”

Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

Where was Pharaoh’s ‘free will?’ What could king Saul have done to resist the will of God?

Then I might watch the highlights of the Formula 1 in Melbourne on TV.

Psa 119:45 (King James Version) And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.
Isa 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
1Pe 2:16 (New American Standard Bible) Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.

So true freedom is being a “bondslave of God.” How does this verse stack up to freely deciding to “watching the highlights of Formula 1 in Melbourne?”

We have the right to be bondslaves of God, if we choose.

I have a free will!

I’m just going to have to decide; will I believe you, or will I believe Christ?

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me drag him…
Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.

It’s a clear choice. I will indeed make a choice. But my choice will be no more of “flesh and blood” than will yours. No, though it appears otherwise, just as it did to Joseph’s brothers who thought their evil thoughts were of their own free will, the truth remains:

Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

You need to read After The Counsel of His Own Will. It may open your blinded eyes to the way God actually “works all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11). It is obvious that the beast is securely on the throne of your heart at the time of the writing of this e- mail. God’s word tells me that this lie you believe is just that:

Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

I hope that all these verses of scripture of which you are obviously unaware will give you pause and cause you to understand that the “vessel of clay [ Adam and all who are in him] that was in the Potter’s hand was marred.” It didn’t choose to be marred. It was marred while “in the Potter’s hand.”
I hope this is of some value to you and that you come to see that the multitudes who came to hear Christ thought they were getting the truth from Christ, when in reality He was speaking to them in parables to keep them from ever, in this age, being able to see and understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

That is just one more verse shooting down the ability of these people to resist the will of God which was “I speak to them in parables because it is not given to them to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God.”

2Ch 20:6 And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest [ not] thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand [ is there not] power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

I pray that God will give you eyes to see and ears to hear his Word. Many who believe they are hearing God’s voice are blinded by His parables. While that is my prayer on your behalf the Truth remains:

Eze 14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

That ‘destruction,’ will endure until “Thy sisters Sodom and Samaria are restored to their former estate.”
I believe those words. Do you?

Mike