FREE WILL

Two small words with such magnanimous meaning. In the midst of all the confusion that is going on in the world right now, I thought we should read about a subject that is as simple as it can be. Yet, it has a great effect on everyone’s life every single day.

Our first example from God’s Word on the subject of free will covers the most influential subject in all of history. First, I need to explain to you that the true God has given every man and woman and spiritual beings, free will. Simply put, this means that everyone has the option of deciding one way or deciding the next. You must remember that the true God never oversteps a man’s free will. A person has the decision to obey God or not to obey God. Obviously, there are serious consequences to the man who does not choose to obey God. The key word is ’choose.’

In an attempt to set up for you a firm foundation about what this teaching entails, I must speak to you about the god of this world.

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. -- II Corinthians 4: 4

God’s Word clearly establishes who is the present god of this world. Many people find it hard to believe that this is true. Do you think that the true God would let things get out of hand as they are in this world right now? The devil only steals, kills, and destroys.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: -- John 10: 10a

If you are studying God’s Word and the teachings that I present to you, you should have no trouble understanding the first two Scriptures that we covered. The world is in chaos right now and it is my opinion that we are headed for the end quite soon. If you don’t believe that, that is your right to do so. And there is a perfect example of free will. I choose by free will to believe that this present earth is coming to an end. You choose by your own free will not to believe that.

I wanted to make sure that you are focusing on the god of this world in preparation for the main example about which I am going to go over in detail with you from the Old Testament. I mentioned to you before that every created thing has free will. I also mentioned to you that spirit beings have free will and you will see that they do. I might as well get more specific so that you do not misunderstand this teaching. The devil and all his devil spirits have free will. God set it up like that and I’m not about to question God. Now let’s get to our main point as our first example in this teaching. It concerns how the devil rebelled against God Almighty. I want to let the Word speak to you.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! -- Isaiah 14: 12

The Lord was speaking unto Lucifer, who when created, was second in power to the true God. He was a great Angel of light and stood with Michael and Gabriel. These were the three most powerful Angels that God had created. But something had happened to Lucifer. Remember, of course, that all of these Angels were created by God with free will. Lucifer had become quite a problem and he had fallen from heaven. He was cut down to the ground and what he did was to weaken the nations.

You must ask yourself at this point, “How did this happen”? But first you must understand that God Almighty does not want robotic love. He wants people and His angels to love Him because they want to – because they have free will to love Him. Some choose not to love God. In this country today, there are many people who are walking away from their church. Churches are actually trying to bring in people from different countries to fill all the vacancies of the pastors. How can these people walk away from their church? Surely, you know the answer by now. They have free will and they will always have free will to stand for the true God or not. Most of these people have left their churches because they do not have or understand the rightly divided Word of God which you have in front of you right now. They are confused and there is no love of God. They are lost, so they give up and they leave their faith. Lucifer apparently did something similar, but he apparently appeared to have a very good reason. Watch what Lucifer said next to the true God Almighty who created him and gave him his power.

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the star God (as the text says): I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; Isaiah 14: 13

Lucifer had free will so he decided to rebel against the true God. He got on the biggest head trip that there ever was and he told God that he would ascend into heaven and he would exalt his throne above God’s throne. This is what pride can do to a person. Pride is often misused in the English language. Pride is basically fear. Since Lucifer was second in power to God, he told God that he was going to be greater than Him. He told God that his throne would be greater than God’s throne. Big mistake. So there was a mutiny in heaven and guess what happened. One third of the angels decided to side with Lucifer and that makes up the devil spirit kingdom that operates today. Most people don’t believe that but they go out and buy Ouija boards and Ohhhhhhhhh! Whooooo! Isn’t that fun? I used a Ouija board when I was very young and I almost lost my life more than once. Devil spirits are what work in a Ouija board. This is just one small example of the activity of devil spirits in this world today. This is why I am putting this teaching in the category of Dealing With The Adversary. This teaching might scare some people, but it is the truth. Many people do not understand that the state of this world today is a result of devil spirit activity. Covid has resulted because people have rejected the true God Almighty. I could put it this way: We have brought it upon ourselves. If there is one thing that the true God cannot stand it’s putting any other gods before him. What God’s do we put before God? Gambling - the use of drugs - obsessions with sports - extremes drinking alcohol - lust or sexual desires - Should I go on? I’m asking you if you want me to go on. You see I have free will. I can go on and on about this subject or I can stop right now. I believe I’ve made my point so I, by my own free will, will stop. You have free will to continue reading this teaching or you can stop at any time. Now I know that you understand free will. The example that I am using above had the greatest effect on our lives and on this world even to this day. But Lucifer made a decision. He decided to go up against God Almighty. How much of an idiot can you be? Watch how Lucifer continues to ramble on in the very next verse. You see, when you are full of pride, you keep shooting off your mouth because you’re trying desperately to convince others that you are right. Some people just can’t stop shooting off their mouth. I am going to give you an unusual example of this after we discuss this Scripture.

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. -- Isaiah 14: 14

All that I’m trying to show you is that even devil spirits have free will. We all have free will. Look at what Lucifer was saying to God. He said I will ascend above the heights of the clouds and I will be like the most high. His own pride, lack of self-control, lack of thinking, brought him to this point. It has been said and I agree that power corrupts. This is an amazing example of the first time that this happened in the spiritual realm. Because of what Lucifer did, we are living in the second heaven and earth right now. After our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ returns, he will take care of Satan once and for all and we will be living in the third heaven and earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, where there is no pain and suffering and where death has been destroyed. Old Lucifer will be running around in the Lake of brimstone and fire being burned day and night for his mutiny against God. What a great day that will be. We will take a look at what God said to him after he ran off his mouth.

Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. -- Isaiah 14: 5

God said to Satan that he would be brought down to hell - he would be dead and buried. This will all come to pass with Jesus Christ’s second return. The devil was defeated after Christ was raised from the dead. That is why we need to study God’s Word. His Word is the only thing that defeats the devil and all of his devil spirits. Now God gave every man and woman free will to believe God’s Word or to reject it. It simply startles me as to why everyone does not believe in a life by the principles that God has set in his Word. I just can’t understand it. It makes no sense to me at all. Does it make sense to you? The adversary influences people to live by their five senses and to reject the Word of God. In this manner, he does overstep a man’s free will. If he possesses a person, then he obviously controls them. As I said before, God never oversteps a man’s free will, but the devil, when he possesses a person’s mind – he does overstep free will. This is a principal or teaching that you must not ever forget. I am only believing that you have learned about the first crucial example of free will. Unless you know the Word of God, as I have said many times, you risk being controlled and influenced by the devil and/or many of his devil spirits. I should also mention at this point, that all devil spirits also have free will. Now we are going to go into some other areas of the Word that talk about free will.

I am not going to quote a ton of Scriptures here, but I will tell you that you should be very familiar with the fact that Paul went to Jerusalem against the Will of God. You should know the record in Acts that clearly illustrates how God went out of His way to stop Paul from going to Jerusalem. But Paul, using his five senses, for reasons that are unknown to me, said he was going to Jerusalem and nothing was going to stop him. I surely do not look for faults in great men of God, but possibly God put this record in the Bible to warn us that we can be fooled at almost any time by the god of this world. I am going to do a teaching in the near future called “Tricks and Traps”. We will all fall for some of the Devils tricks and traps at some time in our life. When you know you are out of fellowship, get back in fellowship as soon as possible. That’s why I John chapter 1 was written.

I had a young lady who was supposed to come to a fellowship in our home. She was all excited about it and I felt she was overexcited. I wrote her an email trying to get her to settle down a little bit. By her own free will, she turned on me and practically told me to go to hell. I saw this happen many times in a believer’s life. People blow hot and then they blow cold. Satan and his devil spirits got to her and got to her mind and influenced her that coming to a fellowship was a very wrong thing to do. I was slightly naïve at the time and her letter to me came as a shock. I thought we were good friends and I was wrong. Honestly, I was hurt very badly and it stayed with me for a long time. What eventually is going to happen to this person? She will be brought down to hell. I tried my best to communicate with her and she would not listen to a word I had to say. This is what you need at times to reinforce your emotions concerning people that you witness to. You are not to look at emotions. The reason this person wrote back to me what she did is because she was afraid of something. Remember, the believers only enemy in its least common denominator is fear. Why did I write that letter instead of leaving everything alone? Because I learned something a long time ago and it is very important that you learn the same thing. You never let spectators run your performance. I found it so strange after this happened that I remember her former husband making a point to say something to me. And he seriously warned me about her and at the time I could never understand why. But I found out. You cannot look at things with the five senses – you have to look at things from a spiritual point of view.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. -- II Timothy 1: 7

If you look closely at the verse, you will see that it says a spirit of fear. The enemy has a spirit for every emotion that you can imagine, but fear has the greatest impact on most people. When I was first witnessed to, the person doing the witnessing was somewhat convinced that my friend was receiving what he was saying more than myself. It was I who decided to go to a fellowship and pursue what this person was saying. The person doing the witnessing was surprised that my friend was not the one who came. He thought, probably by his five senses, that my friend was receiving what he was saying about God. But in essence, I was the one. By the way, I tried to warn my friend about going to a fellowship and you know what he said to me? He said well if they could learn the Bible from this one man then I can do the same thing. Pride – which has its root in fear. I also warned him later on about his girlfriend who used to look right into my eyes as he was kissing her. I told him about her and I told him to be careful. I had no use for this woman after that. He wound up marrying her, going to only one fellowship, and getting divorced. His wife took his child and almost everything he owned including ½ of his trucking company that started with his father. He was living alone in a job that he hated. He was supposed to get back to me and we were to get together. He never called me. We both had free will whether to continue on our journey to learn God’s Word. I said yes and he said no.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. -- John 10: 10

Do you remember your old English courses in high school? We many times did something called compare and contrast. The above verse does just that. You either want to follow a god that steals kills and destroys or you want to follow what Jesus Christ said that he would give you - a life that was more than abundant. You need to make your own choice. You understand now that you have free will. Make the right choice. Also, do not forget the following – never forget it.

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. -- II Corinthians 11: 14

You should know what this means without even giving it a second thought. The enemy can transform himself into looking just like an angel. I see a lot of this on television where people look so young and so vibrant and are selling some product that’s a bunch of bull shit (excuse the terminology). It happens every day. It’s happening right now. This is how Satan deceives people by appearing to be one of God’s true Angels. This is how the devil gets you to make incorrect free will decisions – decisions that will eventually destroy your life. Quickly, I will say to you that when you are tempted, is it always wrong. I wanted to get that in this teaching somewhere. Let’s look at the next Scripture.

Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. -- II Corinthians 11: 15

This Scripture just repeats what I said to you after verse 14. It’s not a big deal if the devil’s devil spirits are also transformed as the ministers of righteousness. I should tell you at this point that the devil uses his devil spirits to do most of the work for him. There is a spiritual world. Ironically I have stated that the fact that people go to séances and use Ouija boards proves to me that there is a devil. Isn’t that something? But what is this devil going to do? He is going to work on your head to convince you that what I said is just not true. I had a Major in the State Police in a capital city that said to me with: “There is no devil.” He also said to me “How can the devil be the God of this world?” He was a member of one of the largest religions in the world today. A religion that is based on pagan beliefs and pagan rituals. I have absolute proof of this. No, I will not tell you which one it is. This man was a total fool and he was tricked by Satan and Satan convinced him of what he believed. His daughter and myself had the most beautiful relationship I had ever had with another human being. She told her parents that I had made her the happiest she ever was in all of her lifetime. Her parents destroyed and ruined it by pressuring their daughter in ways that I care not to even mention. You need to be strong if you are going to walk with the true God Almighty especially in this day and age, because as I said before, I believe it’s coming to an end. But remember:

YOU AND GOD ALWAYS MAKE A MAJORITY IN EVERY SINGLE SITUATION

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