Free Will

Is God free to love anyone He wants?

edit to add: Yes

Do you not know that wisdom begins with fearing the Lord? Have you no fear?

Yes Ace, I have fear! I stood in the middle of the street with my dog and heard the angry voice of God ordering Adrian Rogers to "sit in this chair and watch your Bellevue crumble and be destroyed." That struck fear in me and subsequent revelations have deepened my fear. There will be many ministers there crying unto the Lord for mercy. "Lord Lord, didn't we faithfully preach your word?"


I live with this revelation everyday, Ace, I don't have any confidence in the message being preached from America's pulpits. My voice is not alone in this. Multitudes are crying for the word. They know they are not hearing from the Lord!

Ace, there is not a work of righteousness, not in the least, to merit our salvation. We are saved by grace. It is a free gift of God. He chooses us for redemption and not by any merit on our part. We do not come to him by faith or repentance he comes to us in regeneration. He does not offer us any enablement so that we can approach him. God takes total pleasure in gifting us with his grace. If our testimony to grace implies that we were seeking and we wanted to be saved then we have deprived the father of his pleasure.

Sheep seem to be the meekest of all God's created animals but when one is lost from the fold by straying into difficulties the shepherd has to retrieve it by force. The sheep will not come to him the shepherd goes to it. It will flee it's rescuer. "Not one will be lost!" says the shepherd.

When the seemingly meekest American preacher clarifies the doctrines for this present age, and defines beliefs against the backdrop of modern confusion and a rising generation of Baptists recognize the significance of these biblical doctrines, assume this is their Baptist heritage and own this confession of faith for themselves they should not be surprised when rotten fruit are produced.

Do you not believe that corrupt fruit is produced by a corrupt tree? Do you not believe the woes pronounced unto those who call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter?

Dear Southern Baptist

From the Chairman of the Committee on the Baptist Faith and Message, Adrian Rogers

2. In the context of modern denials of the omniscience, exhaustive foreknowledge, and omnipotence of God, we have reaffirmed the teachings of the Bible and the consistent teaching of our Baptist tradition, as reflected in Article II: "God."
God has all knowledge. He knows all things simultaneously. His knowledge is immediate, without the process of thought, reason, or inference. His foreknowledge of events does not necessarily mean that He predetermined them. He knows the workings of his natural, physical, moral, and spiritual laws which work toward definite ends. Man is free to choose in the light of them, but is responsible for his choices. God knows these choices beforehand, but does not predetermine them. Herschel H. Hobbs, The Baptist Faith and Message (1971), p. 36.


"His foreknowledge of events does not necessarily mean that He predetermined them."
My Jehovah Witness friend says God willfully chooses not to know what our choices are. In fact he says that God does not have that foreknowledge. Adrian Rogers says that God has the foreknowledge but has not predetermined our choices.


Systematic Theology affirms strongly the incommunicable attributes of God. God is without any limitations. He does not submit himself to any limitations. Self-existence and immutability confirms this.


Any thought that denies the ability of God to know or do anything flies in the face of scripture and all who have sought diligently to clarify theology.


Rogers says: "In the context of modern denials of the omniscience, exhaustive foreknowledge, and omnipotence of God, we have reaffirmed the teachings of the Bible and the consistent teaching of our Baptist tradition. . .God has all knowledge. He knows all things simultaneously. His knowledge is immediate, without the process of thought, reason, or inference. " That is a clear concise statement to make.

However his next statement contradicts the first. " His foreknowledge of events does not necessarily mean that He predetermined them. God knows these choices beforehand, but does not predetermine them. " Now he is practically saying the same thing as my Jehovah Witness friend. There are strong similarities of SBC to Jehovah Witness beliefs!

Actually Adrian Rogers knows a fool would be saying what he just said so he acknowledges the source of this absurdity to Herschel H. Hobbs who is dead at this time.

However this absurd and foolish statement has to be said! Why! Why does it have to be said?
Why put the words in the mouth of a dead man! Because this falsehood is the foundation of the next falsehood. "Man is free to choose in the light of them, but is responsible for his choices. God knows these choices beforehand, but does not predetermine them." In order to establish vibrant worldwide evangelism, Baptist tradition has to be disposed and a satisfaction of the demands of modern humanism must take place!

This is the foundation of a false gospel and another gospel foreign to the Bible.

First Cars

My father's first car, Ford Model A and my first, 1961 Ford Galaxie Starliner, 352, four barrel. I changed the two barrel for a four barrel carb.

Tribute To John Mark

On Solomon's blog is a post on "The Passing Of An Unlikely Friend" John Mark who was a familiar commenter on several blogs dealing with Bellevue Baptist. He recently passed away and Solomon has posted an excellent tribute to John. I always liked John Mark and recognized the quality of his comments. He could be jagged and compassionate. I appreciated his honesty. We will miss him. John: rest in peace.

John 'Arminius' Mark

A Blogging Intermission

Several years ago I was driving on Huston Levee road heading south toward Collierville. At that time construction was beginning for a new four lane highway. The old road leading from Macon Road was a winding road with some good tight curves. I was driving my old Bonneville behind these two identical white Cobras. Older men were driving and both were bumper to bumper hanging into the curves. They were not really racing but obviously enjoying their drive. I tried my best to stay up with them knowing that these were two classic cars. Watching these two cars

accelerating into curves and seemingly jockeying for a possible pass was exhilarating to an old man like me who grew up in the sixties with "real muscle cars." I was doing my best to keep up in order to see it all. There are some tight curves in places and these two cars hugged them with ease. My Bonneville fought to just stay on the right side of the road! I had to make a straight path while they stayed in their proper lanes.

Just before Wolf River Road which had just become a four lane intersection both cars stopped side by side at the red light. I came up behind in the right lane. They were talking to each other and throttling those big v-8 engines making the kind of music only a sixties guy would understand. I prayed! Oh did I pray! I ask God, "I am an old man who will not see this stuff anymore. I grew up with these kind of cars. Lord, let these men tromp these engines and smoke 'dem' tires, please." I am trembling with cold shivers as I type this.

The light turned green and they eased off for about four feet and then all hell broke loose as they jammed the pedal to the metal. Both cars surged and squatted as treaded tires bit into the pavement desperate for traction. The rubber screamed in anguish and burning tires smoked underneath. The rear ends twisted as both cars split the air with a roaring of full throttled engines. The precise mixture of air and gas exploding inside cylinders and forced out of manifolds into exhaust pipes made sounds like unto heavenly sounds. It is a man-thing!!

I jammed my foot into the floor of my car screaming like a man gone out of his mind. I could not catch them but man o man did God ever answer my prayer! We hear people say God supplies your needs and not your wants. They don't know squat about my God. There are times that He delights in seeing an old man one more time thrilled out of his mind. I gave God glory over and over and I have not stopped thanking Him for that little pleasure. This morning while driving my old F-150 to work I remembered that day and tears filled my eyes as I thought how much God loves me.

I shared with my manager my experience since he has a love for old classic cars and I told him about my tears and I looked up and there were tears in his eyes. he said, "I know what you mean."

Spare me the retorts. Wasting gas, breaking laws and driving too fast. Poor people who don't have nice cars. Hey I have a God who cares about me and my silliness and just maybe He gets excited about muscle cars!

Man, I am a good looking guy, for a boy who was maliciously assaulted by a pie in the face and traumatized for almost 50 years! What a good God to set me free from that attack and liberate me to be the outstanding man I am today. It is a credit to his grace and moves me to give him my all. I am blessed in appearance and heart! What a great God who chose me before I was hit with a pie, long before that! Before the foundations of the world was laid. He blessed me with good looks, too. Ladies, I am already taken, sorry. What a Calvinist!