FOREORDAINED, NOT FORESEEN

If you were enjoying a lazy afternoon by the public pool one day, with nary a soul anywhere around, but then suddenly a toddler who could barely walk came bumbling onto the deck and blazed a path straight towards the deep end, and you didn't jump up and stop him before he plunged headlong into the water and drowned, you could -- and no doubt would -- be convicted of criminal manslaughter at the very least, if not second or third degree murder at the very worst. And rightly so. Would you not agree?

And yet, this is the VERY crime that the Arminian charges the Almighty with. According to the Arminian, God FORESEES that the sinner will not "accept" Christ (another false dogma of the Arminian's unregenerate foul doctrine), and so, unlike the man who intervenes and saves the toddler by the pool, God, according to the Arminian, is not so just. God, according to the Arminian, is guilty of criminal manslaughter at the very least, for God COULD have intervened in such a way as to make the sinner choose him.

Of course, the Arminian might argue that God is not capable of changing the sinner's mind, but if the Arminian doesn't believe that God is capable of changing a sinner's mind -- WITHOUT DOING VIOLENCE TO THE SINNER'S WILL -- then the Arminian's god is not even as powerful as an idol of wood or stone, not to mention the gross theological darkness of such a feeble mind. If the Arminian doesn't believe that God is capable of changing a man's mind, then the Arminian's god is a joke altogether. As is the Arminian himself, only a sad joke, as it turns out, for anyone who has EVER EXPERIENCED the MIRACLE of the new birth and who has thus SEEN Jesus Christ IN HIS GLORY BY THE HOLY SPIRIT (which is true of ALL who are truly born again -- there are NO exceptions),  I say, ANYONE who has ever SEEN JESUS CHRIST IN HIS GLORY BY THE HOLY SPIRIT and who has thus EXPERIENCED the MIRACLE OF REGENERATION, well then, he KNOWS that God can PERSUADE ANY man's mind and will at ANY moment he chooses -- WITHOUT DOING VIOLENCE TO THE MAN'S WILL -- and he knows that there is NOTHING that can stop him. But the Arminian has no clue about this. None whatsoever.

You see, the Arminian's golden rule, and the Arminian's false god, is the dictum that God cannot interfere with man's "free" will (an oxymoron in itself, at least to the genuinely born again Christian with even an iota of understanding, for as Marin Luther correctly observed, since the fall of man, freewill is but an idle word), otherwise, according to the Arminian, God would be unjust if he interfered with man's "sacrosanct" "free" will. Unlike the man at the pool who interfered with the toddler's "free" will by keeping him from galloping fatally into the water, God is not so able. Unlike the man at the pool, God is not allowed to interfere with man's "sacrosanct" "free" will. The man at the pool can, but not God.

Of course, any spiritually awakened soul can already see the corrupt can of worms that the Arminian has opened by coming even this far. Only the blinded, unregenerate Arminian fails to see the implications of his fleshly mind, and just how foul his assertions are at the very outset.

Note this well: in essence and in fact, the Arminian's golden calf is man's "free" will, and make no mistake about it, this golden calf is EVERY BIT as IDOLATROUS as the original. The Arminian's assertion of man's "free" will is idolatrous through and through. And so is the Arminian himself idolatrous through and through, filled to overflowing with fleshly pride -- I CHOSE JESUS, YOU DIDN'T !!! -- for this in the end is the outcome of the Arminian's foul, Satanic doctrine, and so I say, the Arminian is FILLED TO OVERFLOWING WITH WICKED, WICKED, WICKED SATANIC PRIDE -- for NO ONE born of the Spirit -- NOT ONE SINGLE SOUL who is GENUINELY born of God, NOT ONE SINGLE SOUL who is GENUINELY indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, believes that unregenerate men have free will. NOT ONE, for EVERY SINGLE SOUL who is GENUINELY born again KNOWS that his salvation -- INCLUDING HIS FAITH -- was WHOLLY OF THE LORD. WHOLLY, and that he was likewise given a NEW WILL upon the MOMENT of regeneration, another fact that entirely escapes the Arminian, who is wholly IGNORANT of this indelible truth, and something that the Arminian is utterly unable to explain. Why a new will, if the old one was free?  The Arminian has no clue. Indeed, EVERY SINGLE SOUL who is GENUINELY born again KNOWS that his salvation was WHOLLY of the Lord. WHOLLY. There are NO exceptions.

Indeed, he who is born of the Spirit KNOWS this INFALLIBLY, INFALLIBLY, INFALLIBLY, by the indwelling Spirit of Christ, which is why even those who proclaim themselves Calvinists, and who yet allow that the Arminian might still be born again, thus give infallible proof against themselves that they themselves have never been born again, for EVERY SINGLE SOUL who is GENUINELY born again KNOWS that EVERY ASPECT of his salvation, INCLUDING his faith, was UTTERLY BEYOND HIMSELF. He who doesn't KNOW that, and KNOW IT INFALLIBLY, is he who has NEVER been genuinely born again himself. There are NO exceptions. NONE WHATSOEVER. Which is why the Puritans and Great Awakeners were just as dogmatic about it as I am. Take this statement from Bunyan as an example...

Naturally, it is just here -- again -- that the Arminian will demonstrate how feeble-minded he truly is, for it is just here that the Arminian will charge God with being fatalistic; that is, the Arminian will offer up his feeble-minded, fleshly logic that if the sinner can contribute NOTHING to his salvation, not even his faith, then God must be responsible for the damnation of multitudes, that there is no need for evangelism, that preaching the gospel is an exercise in futility, that God just capriciously assigns some to heaven and some to hell, ad nauseam. Such is the Arminian in all his ignominious glory and futility.

As I said, this is just further proof of the sheer ignorance, carnal impudence, and feeble-mindedness of the Arminian. The Arminian is the most blinded, unenlightened, spiritually deficient theologian that ever was, or ever will be. He is akin to the farmer who reasons that there is absolutely no need to plow, sow, water, tend, and gather in his produce since it is God who gives the crops. As ignorant as such a farmer would be, the Arminian is even more so, never understanding that, not only is it God who has ordained BOTH the means AND the end, but that God has likewise ordained that it is THROUGH the means that he calls his elect, and that it is THROUGH the means that God PUTS FORTH HIS POWER IN THE CALLING OF HIS ELECT.

It is the MEANS through which God works; it is the MEANS that God has appointed as the CONDUIT through which God WORKS HIS WILL and PUTS FORTH HIS POWER, and EVERYONE who has EVER been GENUINELY born again KNOWS it, and knows it INFALLIBLY, for it is THROUGH THOSE MEANS that the GENUINELY born again Christian has EXPERIENCED God's POWER, Gods SUPERNATURAL POWER, and thus, in the knowing, the sinner knows that it was GOD'S POWER, NOT his own, that it was God's POWER that indwelled him in the Person of Jesus Christ and that it was God's POWER that worked in him and made him a NEW CREATURE and gave him a NEW WILL, and that his salvation was WHOLLY of the Lord, and that even his FAITH was a GIFT, which is why it is called the faith OF Christ, GIVEN HIM upon the MOMENT of his new birth, another truth that the Arminian is utterly incapable of explaining, but which is something that EVERYONE who is GENUINELY born of the Spirit KNOWS, and knows INFALLIBLY. There are NO exceptions. None. And he who teaches otherwise is the mouthpiece of Satan.

Once again, Bunyan characterized it perfectly --

But since the Arminian has never EXPERIENCED this MIRACULOUS SUPERNATURAL GIFT AND POWER, he knows absolutely NOTHING of its properties, and NOTHING of how it works. Nothing whatsoever.

Therefore, sinner, this gospel truth -- this TRUE GOSPEL -- this TRUE GOSPEL TRUTH makes you MORE responsible than if you truly had "free" will, for you cannot now protest that the way to you is closed.

You see, sinner, if you truly had "free" will, you could miscarry in your way to salvation. If you truly had "free" will, you could fail in your quest for salvation in Jesus Christ, for the power and the sanctity of your quest would lie, at least partially, within your own power, within the scope and bounds and capabilities of your own "free" will, which is exactly what the Arminian ignorantly and unregenerately asserts, and thus, if your power were not great enough, you could justly charge God with not being fair, for you could plead your own weakness against him. In short, you could plead the Arminian's case against God if your quest for salvation ended in vain.

But the Arminian is deluded through and through, and thus the Arminian has no case. And neither do you, sinner.

You see, sinner, you can do NOTHING to save yourself. You can't even BELIEVE on your own. Alas, although faith is the INSTRUMENT through which the sinner comes to God in Christ Jesus, yet even faith -- TRUE FAITH, SUPERNATURAL FAITH, and it is SUPERNATURAL FAITH that the Bible ALWAYS means when talking of SAVING FAITH -- so even FAITH, SUPERNATURAL FAITH, is UTTERLY BEYOND YOU, sinner. You have none, nor can you ever work it up. Not in a million years.

Indeed, TRUE FAITH, SUPERNATURAL FAITH, SAVING FAITH, must be GIVEN you, sinner, or you will NEVER come to heaven. Not ever. George Whitfield's EXPERIENCE is the EXPERIENCE of EVERY SINGLE SOUL who is GENUINELY born again...

If that wasn't YOUR experience, then don't delude yourself and think you're born again, for you are not. Reckon with yourself and perhaps live; delude yourself and perish. Was that really YOUR experience? I mean REALLY? Delude yourself if you will. Wait and see.

So you see, sinner, since salvation is UTTERLY BEYOND you, including your own faith, your own natural faith, you cannot later charge God with inability, for there is a JESUS. Had there never been a JESUS, you might have a case, but there IS a JESUS, and he is RISEN, and he possess ALL POWER in heaven and in earth.

If you have been humbled enough to realize that you have no faith, not TRUE faith, not SUPERNATURAL FAITH, no, not so much as a grain of mustard seed, then fear not, for JESUS is HIMSELF the SOURCE OF ALL FAITH, and the faith of JESUS CANNOT miscarry. If you've been brought to the point of realizing that you have no strength, no, not so much as a dram or an ounce, then fear not, for JESUS CHRIST is HIMSELF the SOURCE OF ALL STRENGTH, and the strength of JESUS CANNOT miscarry. If you've been brought to the point of despair in your quest for truth and peace, then fear not, for there is a JESUS who has ascended on high, far above all principality and power, and who has received gifts for men, including YOU, sinner, if you've truly despaired, that is, and the gifts and the calling of God are not only WITHOUT REPENTANCE, but the gifts of JESUS CANNOT miscarry.

In short, sinner, ALL of the treasures for which you seek -- if you truly do seek (and if you truly do seek, then thank God for that too, for the quest itself was implanted in you by God) -- so if you truly do seek, then ALL of the treasures for which you seek, yea, ALL OF THEM are found in ONE SOURCE, and one source ONLY. You want SAVING FAITH? It is found in Jesus Christ HIMSELF. You want truth? Jesus Christ HIMSELF is TRUTH. You want peace? Jesus Christ is HIMSELF peace. You want rest? Jesus Christ is HIMSELF an ocean of rest. Whoever hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Accordingly, sinner, you will have NO EXCUSE for failure, for Jesus Christ HIMSELF has OVERCOME, and ALL power in heaven and earth is HIS. He HIMSELF is the SAVIOUR, not you or your efforts or your fabled "free" will. No, sinner, JESUS is HIMSELF the Saviour, and he CANNOT FAIL, and therefore, if you call upon JESUS, if you call upon him in TRUTH, no one or no thing can thwart you, for it is not you that battles, but JESUS, and it is written, JESUS opens and no man shuts, and JESUS shuts and no man opens, and none can stay his hand.

If you would attain unto eternal life, sinner, you must be born again. SUPERNATURALLY, MIRACULOUSLY BORN AGAIN, and you will NEVER possess SAVING FAITH until you are. NEVER. It takes SAVING FAITH, sinner, SUPERNATURAL FAITH, to go to heaven, and only Jesus Christ HIMSELF can bestow that upon you. He and he ALONE.

Would you be born again? GENUINELY born again?