A Calvinist 5 pointer ironically said, "It takes a lot of stretching, twisting and turning of the truth to make it look false." True. You have to write many volumes to do that. And indeed Calvin has done that.

But by reductio ad aburdum we can see the truth plainly for what it is. Are we robots or puppets? Are we automatons that God is controlling and dragging us either to heaven or hell even as we discuss and knock each other up on the head?

No doubt God is sovereign and He can order our steps like in the above diagram if He wants to, because He is omnipotent. But there are a lot of “if-else conditions” in them where our freewill plays an important role. I believe it is not all mechanical like that. God does the ordering/predestining (Romans 8:29) only for good men (Psalm 37:23). But we know that God will not strive for more than 120 years in order to sanctify a person (Genesis 6:3). That is fundamental. Take for instance just our tongue; it is a fire, who can tame it? (James 3:6). "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders (Matthew 15:18-19). Therefore it is only after He searches our heart through tests, trials and tribulations and knows that He can indeed entirely sanctify us (1 Thessalonians 5:23) using love as His means, within that allotted one hundred and twenty years, that He predestines us. Because even though we may be clean through the new birth, none of us become good suddenly, in order for God to decide in our favour to order our steps or predestine us.

To tame us, He will not manipulate us with His omnipotence. Not because He cannot, but because we cannot withstand His omnipotence. He strives with us in His unfailing love, which at times is tough. And today, His love primarily comes to us in the form of the Holy Spirit, which is His Word of counsel and comfort (John 6:63; etc). His Word is infallible if and only if we receive it. Therefore freewill is always taken into the equation, to either receive that prophetic Word and walk in it, or reject it. God’s love is unfailing like His Law but weak as it were through the flesh, in which we still wallow sometimes. God will not allow temptation to come to us no more than we can bear. He will show us a way of escape. But we have to take that Word of counsel by exercising our freewill to get out of that temptation. Flee from it like Joseph of old.

Therefore, we have a say or a part to play in our destiny. But all through that taming, striving, electing and finally predestining/ordering process we have to bare our heart to His searching eyes for Him to know us (Psalm 139:1,23-24). And not all do that. We do not examine ourselves, let alone allow another, especially a man of God, to examine us. In this grace period, He will not enter into our heart without us opening the door of our heart to Him (Revelation 3:21). And He will not stay there one moment beyond our welcome. The moment we sin willfully we grieve Him (Ephesians 4:30). At a point we will have grieved Him so much that we have virtually put Him out--quenched Him (1 Thessalonians 5:19-20).

That man whose heart is like a soil of thorny bushes, which choked the Word by giving it no room, has quenched the Holy Spirit (Matthew 13:22; John 15:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20). These people God will begin to harden and they are on their way to hell. But God can graft him in again if only He repents. But the Word of God says in Hebrews 6, it is impossible to bring him back to repentance. For, he would be crucifying the Son of God all over again, subjecting Him to public disgrace.

If you find yourself anywhere close to such an apostasy, know that you have to pay for your own sins. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness for sins (Leviticus 17:11). But as for the sacrifice of Jesus, there is no more of it left for willful sin but only a fearful expectation of judgment and the fury of fire (Hebrews 10:26-31). The only remedy (if any) is the precursor to the baptism of fire--a remedy that i have designed especially for the apostate. Those who follow up with this, have shaved off their heads as a sign of confession that they deserve to burn in hell fire, beginning with their hair. They acknowledge that they are a type of Joshua, “a brand plucked from fire” (Zechariah 3:2). They have to pray and hope that God would be merciful to them. This is not a quick and easy solution. The precursor like its predecessor (Water Baptism) is an appeal to God for a new conscience. It is a peace offering.

Today if you hear His Word, harden not your heart. Again, here is the alert: He who confesses the truth in the congregation, has confessed Christ (cf. John 14:6; Hebrews 2:12). Christ will also confess him before the Father and His angels and will not wipe his name from the Lamb's book of life (Matthew 10:32; Revelation 3:5).
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© 2006-2015 Caleb S. Motupalli

~Most of our problems will be solved if only we yield our freewill to the Lord's will.~