GIP Library icon

The Bondage Of The Will The Bondage Of The Will

The Bondage Of The Will Order Printed Copy

  • Author: Martin Luther
  • Size: 1.84MB | 307 pages
  • |
Download Read Online
Continue with
Google Twitter
Email Register
LOG IN TO REVIEW
About the Book

In "The Bondage of the Will," Martin Luther argues against the idea of free will and asserts that human beings are inherently unable to choose salvation through their own actions. Luther critiques the teachings of Erasmus, defending the doctrine of predestination and emphasizing the importance of faith in God's grace for salvation. The book is a key text in Protestant theology and a foundational work in the debate between free will and predestination.

Isobel Kuhn

Isobel Kuhn In high school and in college, Isobel Miller was vivacious, pretty, smart, athletic, and known for her skill on the dance floor. She had been convinced by one of her teachers that only superstitious people believed in the truth of the Bible anymore; she loved talking about abstract ideas with the intellectual crowd, and disdained the faith of her parents. Influenced by the poems of Thomas Hardy, she saw life as meaningless and dark. Her response to finding out that her boyfriend had been dating another girl was to contemplate suicide. Only the thought that her father would believe that she had gone to hell stopped her at the last minute from killing herself. That night, as she lay back down in bed, the words of Dante, “In His will is our peace,” came to her mind. She prayed, “God, if there be a God, if You will prove to me that You are, and if You will give me peace, I will give You my whole life.” (Repp, xvii) From then on, Isobel began her search for God, though it took several years for her fully to commit her life to Christ. She wavered between God and the world, but slowly gave up her addictions to card-playing, theater and movies, romantic fiction, and dancing, which she loved. A passion to know God had taken possession of her heart, driving out all other delights and desires, and impelling her towards a search for truth and meaning in life. Moving towards Missions After graduating from the University of British Columbia in 1922, she spent a year teaching school while living at a boarding house in Vancouver, British Columbia. During that time, she also attended a night class at the Vancouver Bible School and formed the habit of daily Bible reading. Gradually, she had come to trust in God’s faithfulness and his willingness to answer her prayers, influenced by Howard and Gertrude Taylor, the biography of the early life of J. Hudson Taylor. She had also met several missionaries of the China Inland Mission (CIM) and had begun to wonder whether God wanted her to join the CIM. After hearing J.O. Fraser speak at a Bible conference about his work among the Lisu people in China, Isobel pondered his sobering words about their bondage to fear of demons, and prayed over his solemn call for people to dedicate their lives to helping the Lisu come to know Christ and grow in him, even though Fraser warned that it would entail hard work and sacrifice. Her sense of a divine imperative to take the love of Christ to the women of China came while reading the second volume of the biography of Hudson Taylor, Growth of a Work of God. Isobel’s growing sense that God wanted her to go to China to serve under Mr. Fraser with the Lisu only deepened when he stayed for a few days in their home, invited by her father. Her mother, however, could not abide the thought of her daughter becoming a missionary. Though chairman of the Women’s Missionary Society in her church, she feared that Isobel would never get married if she went to the mission field; that the family would lose face if she had to ask people for money; that she would throw away a bright future and a comfortable and secure life. J.O. Fraser had warned her that Satan would oppose any attempt to obey God in order to expand the kingdom among unreached peoples and taught her to pray, as he did, “If this obstacle be from Thee, Lord, I accept it; but if it be from Satan, I refuse him and all his works in the name of Calvary.” The CIM required two years of Bible school before going overseas, but Isobel did not have the funds to attend Moody Bible Institute, which she and Fraser thought would be the best place for her. Then, one of her best friends, who had saved all her money to go to Moody, found she could not become a missionary, so she offered to pay for Isobel’s training. Her mother’s refusal to allow her to attend Moody remained an obstacle, however, until they learned that a young man whom her mother had wanted her to marry announced that he would be entering Moody that year, so she granted permission for Isobel to attend also. As it turned out, the man later changed his plans, but Isobel was already a student at MBI. When she stepped off the train in Chicago, she was met by Dr. Isaac Page, “Daddy Page,” an old friend of her parents who had, years before, said that he was praying that God would send her to China as a missionary. He and his wife had served there with the CIM for many years before returning to Chicago. Finding out that she didn’t have enough money to buy winter clothes, he gave her enough for a warm coat. She later worked in the school cafeteria as a waitress to earn money for personal needs. When J.O. Fraser warned her that Satan would oppose her moves toward the mission field, he gave as an example the possibility that she would hear news that one of her parents was about to die, and she would want to rush home. He counseled her to pack her bags, but wait until definitive word had come the next day. In fact, that actually happened when a telegram arrived, saying that her father had been mortally injured in an accident. Isobel get ready to leave, but also asked for further information before booking a ticket home. It turned out that his injuries were minor, and she could stay at school. She did learn that her mother died, however, and grieved that she had never given permission to Isobel to become a missionary to China, until someone told her of a note that her mother had written to a friend saying that she had come to believe that this was God’s will for her daughter. At Moody, she met a young man name John Kuhn. Their friendship grew into a deep love as they spent time together in prayer with other students committed to foreign missions and on double-dates with good friends. Still, she wasn’t sure John was the one God wanted her to marry, so she did not commit herself to him. He sailed for China in October 1926, while Isobel was still studying at Moody. After graduating from Moody Bible Institute, Isobel went to Toronto for the CIM missionary training school. Finishing her training there, all she had to do was meet the CIM Council and be accepted by them for deployment to China. She was totally surprised when a Council member told her that one recommendation letter had described her as “proud, disobedient, and resentful,” and that they could only accept her conditionally, pending her growth in Christian character. She returned to Vancouver to live with her father and brother, earning her keep by doing housework for them. For Christian service, she worked as advisor for the Girls Corner Club, a group of Christian businesswomen who banded together to evangelize the working girls of Vancouver. She organized a singing group for them and, leading with her guitar, took them to various venues in the city to sing Christian songs to young women and others. Meanwhile, she inadvertently learned that the writer of that recommendation letter was a former teacher of hers who had asked her to spy on the other students. Isobel had refused, and this letter was the teacher’s revenge. Still, she was urged by a friend to take the letter seriously, and to ask God to cause her to grow in humility, charity, and submissiveness to his will. Correspondence between her and John kept crossing the Pacific, until one day his letter contained a proposal of marriage. She was to respond by cable which, after more prayer, she quickly did. Now they prayed that he would be assigned to Yunnan, the province where Isobel was convinced God wanted her to serve among the Lisu. When his designation was changed from Gansu to Yunnan, they believed even more fully that they were meant to live and work together as missionaries. Finally, she and other women going to China with the CIM sailed from Vancouver. On the journey, she was told by Miss Ruth Paxson, a noted Bible teacher, that when she lived in China, “all the scum of your nature will rise to the top.” Since she wasn’t aware of any “scum” in her heart, she just filed the comment away for future reference. Early Days in China Arriving in China, she spent the first year devoting herself to language study in Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan. John was stationed not far away in Chengchiang. They waited the year that the CIM required before new workers could marry, and then were joined together in a ceremony attended by virtually all the foreigners in the city on November 14, 1929. Immediately, they moved to Chengchiang, where John had found a little place for them to live. Their upstairs “apartment” was very small, and quite open to passersby to look into if the folding doors were open; if they were closed, it was “like living in a wooden box.” (Repp, 35) They had hung their motto on the wall – “GOD FIRST.” From then on, she would have many opportunities to put that resolve into practice. When the first Chinese women came to visit, Isobel cringed as a baby boy stained her new brown rug. Then she had to decide what was going to come first for her: an attractive living room, or a place to share with the Chinese. She discovered that the women were covered with bedbugs, fleas, and lice, and she shrunk from them. She remembered Miss Paxson’s warning about the “scum” of her nature coming forth, and had to pray, “Lord, make these souls more important to me than anything else.” (Repp, 36) After some time, she found that she could forget the bugs and love the women. She found it harder to cope with the laziness, dishonesty, and insubordination of their cook and her husband, but John was reluctant to let them go, for he and the husband had been friends. The cook was not the true Christian she had pretended to be, however, and finally Isobel could take it no longer. After John allowed her to dismiss the couple, housework became a heavy burden for Isobel. They prayed earnestly for a trustworthy housekeeper, and finally Mrs. Chang showed up needing a job. She became a trusted helper and eventually believed in Christ. Slowly, Isobel was learning how to face difficulties with prayer, just as she had at home. Months later, J.O. Fraser directed them to go to Tali (now Dali) where they would run the mission home and help new workers become established. While John preached in surrounding villages, Isobel studied the language, taught a Bible class for women, and served as hostess for visiting missionaries. They also assisted ten new CIM couples in settling in. Near the end of their first year in Tali, Isobel discovered that she was pregnant. Kathryn Alice-Ann Kuhn was born April 10, 1931; Isobel nicknamed her Rynna. Two and a half years after they had come to Tali, when they had both passed all the rigorous CIM language examinations, J.O. Fraser assigned them to work among Muslims in the valley of Yungping. As they had expected, the Muslims were not very receptive to the gospel, though they were not inhospitable. Isobel herself visited every village on the plain and shared the gospel with women. They were pitifully poor and illiterate. Not enough villagers believed to form a church. Isobel wondered why God still had not sent them to serve among the Lisu, who so desperately needed missionaries. Mr. Fraser told them that he didn’t think she was strong enough to handle the hardships of life and travel in the mountainous terrain of Lisu territory. He would re-evaluate their situation after furlough. Though disappointed, they tried to trust God. Then they learned that Isobel was going to have another baby and realized that they couldn’t have gone to Lisu land with a new infant. Not long afterwards, while John was away preaching, there was a flood, and Isobel had to help move some heavy trunks up to the second floor. The next day she began to feel pain in her abdomen; a few days later, she suffered a miscarriage. When John returned, he could only try to comfort her by saying that God must have something better in store for them. The next day, a letter from Mr. Fraser arrived. Trouble had arisen in two Lisu villages, where the local Chinese warlord was angry with them for refusing to grow opium. CIM missionaries Allyn and Leila Cooke had decided that he would go and live in one village and she would remain in their home in the Oak Flat district, in order to afford some protection, if possible, to the Lisu. This situation being unsustainable, Fraser directed the Kuhns to make the journey to the Salween Valley to relieve the Cookes and help with the ministry to Lisu there. After an arduous journey over very high mountains on narrow and dangerous trails, during which Isobel suffered what she thought was dysentery, they arrived at Mrs. Cooke’s home, where they were warmly welcomed, not only by the missionary but also by Lisu Christian leaders. Isobel at once noticed several of these strong, handsome, and faithful men, who had dedicated their lives to serve Christ. A month-long stay was enough to convince her that God had indeed called them to serve among the Lisu, and that she was hardy enough to handle the primitive and often perilous conditions in which they would live and work. Carrying in as many supplies as possible, they again traversed lofty mountains and crossed treacherous rivers to return to the Cookes’ former house, where they settled into what would become their lifelong service among the tribal people. On the way, they were met and then joined by a Lisu girl named Hormay, who became their faithful cook and helper in the following years. Life and Work among the Lisu After a brief stay in Pine Mountain Village, the Kuhns were asked by the Lisu Christians to move to Oak Flat Village, since the Cookes had moved on to another location. John and Isobel alternated itinerating into the surrounding villages to teach the Bible and evangelize, Isobel being accompanied by Hormay and her daughter Kathryn until it became clear that such trekking in wild country was not good for the child’s health. After that, a Lisu man went with her. Since his name was the same as her husband’s, Isobel called him “Teacher John” to distinguish between the two men. Teacher John asked her countless questions about the few New Testament scriptures that had already been translated into Lisu. When her husband took Teacher John with him on a long journey, Isobel came down with a fever; red patches and blisters covered her face. Hormay had gone to care for her dying father, but Job, a Lisu leader, visited several times a day, and the Lisu Christians came to sing to her and pray for her, but to no avail. When she returned, Hormay tried her best to nurse Isobel, but she was only getting worse, so Job ran for six days to Baoshan, whence he fetched two CIM nurses to return with him to Oak Flat Village. They decided that Isobel had contracted erysipelas, a skin disease, and saw that she had been, in effect, starving herself, as a consequence of insufficient nourishment for several months. They carried her back to the CIM mission home in Baoshan, where she recuperated for three months. When she returned to Oak Flat Village, she decided that they had not taken enough time to care for themselves. If they had planted a garden months before, they would not have been without food when the heavy rains caused famine. With Lisu Christian help, they also built a better house, since missionary friends told them that their Lisu-style shanty was not a healthy place for them to live. Slowly, Isobel was learning how to balance her zeal for ministry to Lisu with the realities of being a foreigner, a wife, and a mother. War Years The Kuhns went home on furlough in March 1936. When they returned a year and a half later, Japan had already started attacking China, but they were able to make to Yunnan, far to the southwest. Isobel’s first huge disappointment came when she was told that her daughter Kathryn would have to go to the CIM’s Chefoo School, far away in Yantai, Shandong Province, rather than to the school in Kunming, which was much closer. Her mother’s heart broke when Rynna left for school. Who would take care of her? When could they see her next? How would her girl take being separated from her parents for so long? Isobel gradually learned to think about God rather than about her own grief, and to turn her attention to someone else in need rather than focusing on herself. Another shock hit Isobel when Mr. Fraser assigned John to be assistant superintendent for all of western Yunnan Province. They would live in Baoshan, far from the Lisu Isobel loved so much, and she would not be able to engage in Bible teaching, which she loved and which she did best. On her monthly day of fasting and prayer, God comforted her with the words, “The LORD your God in the midst of you is mighty. At that time I will bring you again … when I turn back your captivity before your eyes.” (Zephaniah 2:27, 20) Trusting that God would take her back to Lisu country, Isobel went to Baoshan happily. Less than two months later, Fraser assigned them “temporarily” to Oak Flat Village again, where the leaders had run into difficulty and needed missionary help for a while. While they were there, in order to provide training in the Scriptures that they saw the Lisu evangelists greatly needed, the Kuhns began what would become a major part of their contribution to Lisu work, the rainy season Bible schools. These three-month intensive sessions brought Lisu evangelists from far and near to Oak Flat Village, where they were taught a variety of subjects, including music. They loved to sing the hymns they had been taught, with Isobel accompanying them on a small organ. Hormay both helped with the translation of the rest of the books of the New Testament and typed out portions of the Scriptures for the students to read and have before them during the classes. On weekends, despite the incessant rain, the evangelists went out, two-by-two, to villages in the surrounding mountains for practical service and also to have some ministry to complement the constant study. After the first rainy season school had concluded, news came of the sudden and totally unexpected death of J.O. Fraser. Isobel grieved the loss of “her friend; her adviser; her spiritual father; the one who had first told her about the Lisu …” (Repp, 81) To console her heart, she thought of Fraser’s wife Roxie, and immediately wrote her a letter, in which she said, “Times like this are when we just have to bare our face to the tempest and go on without seeing clearly, without understanding, without anything but naked faith.” (Repp, 81) For the next several years, the Kuhns alternated between travel throughout Lisu territory and settled times of intensive Bible schools during the rainy season and in periods of good weather also. Encountering illness, deep and apparently irresolvable conflict and resentment within and between clans, hard and unresponsive hearts, and other obstacles, they wrote letters home asking for their friends to pray, just as J.O. Fraser had done. They gave themselves to prayer as well, of course. When breakthroughs that were nothing short of miraculous occurred, they rendered praise to God and told their prayer partners of what their intercessions had been used to accomplish. On more than one occasion, Isobel would learn later that a few faithful old ladies had prayed at a certain time for a breakthrough, and that God had worked a miracle at precisely that moment. Throughout her stay among the Lisu, Isobel, as the manager of the household, had to train, guide, supervise, and often disciple young women and men who served as cook, housekeeper, goatherd, and in other capacities. Sometimes, as with Hormay, the relationship was smooth and delightful. Other helpers, however, proved unruly, insubordinate, unteachable, and generally annoying to her, greatly testing her patience, Christian love, and faith. Repeatedly, however, fervent prayer was used by God to change lives that seemed incorrigible. Lisu believers also came alongside her and assisted in the process of bringing out the latent abilities of a few apparently “hopeless” servants. She actually saw them as part of her family, and referred to them affectionately her “Lisu children.” Isobel loved teaching the Bible, but she also offered English lessons, classes on reading and writing Lisu, hymn singing, and baby care. The Lisu loved to sing, having been trained from the beginning to sing in parts. Isobel translated hymns for them, often for an upcoming Bible school. In these ways and others, she comforted herself during long periods when John, as superintendent, had to travel to distant stations to visit missionaries. Living in a valley, she longed for the mountain vistas that itineration would afford, but she soon realized that her presence was needed as a buffer between the Christian Lisu, who had refused to plant opium, and the Chinese overlords who oppressed them, as well as their pagan fellow tribesmen. The local Lisu deacons had to handle the matter in John’s absence, but they also asked Isobel to write President Chiang Kai-shek for relief. Even after the president’s letter arrived forbidding the planting of opium, the magistrate refused to enforce it, even altering the wording of the letter on public placards, and continuing to threaten the Christians with punishment if they did not pay more taxes in lieu of opium money. Isobel wrote many letters home begging for prayer, the Lisu prayed together, and finally they were delivered from this burden. The Rainy Season Bible Schools were a highlight of each year, with dozens coming from distant villages for intensive instruction by John and Isobel. Isobel thanked God as one student after another went on to faithful service. On the other hand, grief overwhelmed her when an older and very faithful Lisu leader died, followed not long afterwards by a promising young graduate of the Bible Schools. As with her household, Isobel took several of these Lisu men into her heart as beloved brothers and coworkers, whose loss she could barely endure. When Hormay’s husband came with the news that she had died, Isobel wondered how God would raise up more workers to take the gospel to the many thousands who had still not heard. The Japanese invasion in 1939 kept the Kuhns from visiting Kathryn at Chefoo School, but the Rainy Season Bible School was held anyway. This time, Isobel decided to hold a school just for girls. Overcoming considerable opposition, she did so, with very encouraging results. With the deacons’ approval, annual Bible schools for girls during the Chinese Yew Year holiday were conducted thereafter. Graduates of the men’s schools would now find it easier to find women with a biblical education suited to their role as wives of pastors, evangelists, and deacons. After December 7, 1941, Americans and British, both adults and children, were taken into internment camps by the Japanese. Isobel’s heart churned with fear at the thought of what the Japanese might do to her little girl, but happy letters from Kathryn assured her that they were being treated kindly. J.O. Fraser’s widow Roxie was acting as a surrogate mother, so her daughter was being lovingly cared for. Isobel had other worries, however. An infected tooth forced her to go to Kunming for treatment. When the tooth was pulled, she discovered that she had been close to death, for the poison would soon have spread to her entire body. Meanwhile, Japanese troops were advancing on every front, raining bombs on civilians, destroying roads, and inflicting terrible atrocities upon women. Their onslaught kept her and John separated for months at a time. When John finally returned to Oak Flat Village in the Salween Canyon, he and Isobel were invited to a lavish dinner by the general commanding the Chinese troops defending that part of the valley. To their surprise, the general asked John and Isobel, who spoke both Lisu and Mandarin fluently, to mobilize the Christian Lisu to assist the Chinese in resisting the Japanese offensive. Pagan Lisu had already been helping the enemy, and the Kuhns knew that the Japanese commander had announced that he would destroy all Christian churches, so they readily agreed. From then until their second furlough, Isobel and the Lisu church leaders persevered in holding Bible Schools for men and girls (who were now regularly being taught what Isobel called “mother-craft” as well as the Scriptures), despite long absences while John traveled with the Chinese army or to visit missionaries, shortages of vital supplies, illness, deaths among their beloved Lisu, the coming of another baby (Daniel), torrential rains, and frequent bouts of loneliness and near-despair. They named 1944 the “Year of Impossibles” because, looking back, they could see how, when they faced seemingly insuperable obstacles, God had guided, provided, and protected them in answer to prayer. Furlough and Return The Kuhns were greatly relieved to learn that Kathryn had been repatriated to the United States and was staying with CIM missionaries who were old friends. A long and difficult journey in wartime brought them back to the United States, where they were re-united with Kathryn, now thirteen, after years of being apart. After six months of deputation, they settled in Dallas, Texas, where Isobel recuperated and then wrote another book, Nests Above the Abyss, about Lisu Christians. Just when she felt she had settled into a comfortable home and family situation, the war ended, passports to China were again available, and the CIM ordered all superintendents back to the field a year ahead of their wives. Isobel remembered their motto, “GOD FIRST,” and committed her husband and her family to God once more. A year later, she left to join him, taking three-year-old Danny with her but leaving Kathryn behind again to stay with their old friends in Pennsylvania. This separation nearby broke the hearts of both mother and daughter. When John returned to the Lisu, he found that the war had caused not only physical, but spiritual damage. Some believers had died; a few others had fallen away from the faith. They had much to do in rebuilding the discouraged and scattered churches. They also found that bandits, many of them connected with the Communists, infested the area, sometimes supported by the local warlord. Communist strategy included sending in bandits to terrorize a region, then the Red Army to offer peace and order. With John gone much of the time, Isobel had to trust God to protect her and Danny and to allow them to continue the ministry to the Lisu. Despite external threats and internal discord among the Lisu believers, they resumed the Rainy Season Bible Schools (RSBS), and started Bible clubs for boys and girls, as well as Sunday school teacher training. Though happy to see the zeal of the students, they were crushed when the new village headman, a former church leader who had turned into a greedy pagan utterly unlike his beloved predecessor, sought repeatedly to intimidate the Christians into accepting an unbeliever as schoolmaster or even pastor in various villages. Sometimes without John, and supported by only a few Lisu men, Isobel had to stand up against him. Though his case seemed hopeless, she did not give up on him, but prayed that he would repent and return to the Lord. Because she was threatened often and bandits were heard near her house, the Lisu Christian men took turns sleeping in her house with a gun each night that John was away. Finally, Oak Flat Village became too dangerous for them to live in, so they moved across the river to Olives at the invitation of one of the most trusted Lisu church leaders, who built them a house. Still, perils abounded, as the fighting between Communists and government troops intensified, while bandits, including cruel pagan Lisu, terrorized everyone. On several occasions, when her Lisu friends urged her to flee to safety with Danny, Isobel waited upon God for guidance. God seemed to speak to her through his Word, so she stayed put, much to the amazement of the Lisu, whose faith was strengthened by hers. When they heard that the provincial governor had surrendered all of Yunnan to the Communists, however, they knew the time had come to take Danny back to the United States. Before they left, however, the Lisu church leader who had apparently left the Lord and had been such a cruel and evil headman, returned to the church, publicly confessed his sins and asked forgiveness. Convinced of his sincerity and regeneration, the believers, including Isobel, welcomed him back into the church. Home and Back Again The Kuhns knew they had to leave soon, but could not go before holding another Rainy Season Bible School, which turned out to be a great success. Still, they agreed to have John stay behind to teach the new believers, while Lucius, one of the most faithful Lisu believers, accompanied Isobel and Danny to Burma. After a perilous journey through a snow-clogged mountain pass, they were safely in Burma, whence – though not without several tests of faith – Isobel and Danny were able to begin the long trip home. They travelled to Illinois to see Kathryn, now in college, then moved into an apartment in a little town nearby. She was fifty years old, tired from more than twenty years of pioneer missionary work fraught with difficulties and dangers, and ready to settle down into a normal, quiet life. That was not to be. John returned home in 1951, after being forced out of China at the point of a bayonet, and then having gone to Thailand to survey the tribal areas in the regions bordering China, where the CIM, now reorganized as the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF), was planning to dispatch missionaries to work among the unevangelized. He was full of enthusiasm because he had discovered at least 5,000 Lisu who had never heard the gospel. They would have to learn Thai and begin an entirely new life and ministry, but Isobel had been reading a book by Amy Carmichael that contained a phrase about mountaineering, “Climb or die.” She knew that God wanted her to keep pressing on, following the footsteps of Jesus wherever they led. To remain where she was would entail spiritual death. 1952-1957 For two years, the Kuhns worked among the Lisu in the mountains of Thailand. Isobel served as a hostess of the CIM base in Chiangmai, providing a home for new missionaries studying Thai, workers departing for tribal areas, and missionaries needing rest and recuperation. She also made trips into the mountains, both to explore new areas with John and to help women missionaries settle into tribal villages. Though the Lisu dialect in Thailand was different from that in China, she could still communicate the Scriptures to them. New hymns which she introduced to them were warmly received, and soon they were singing like the Lisu in Yunnan. In 1954, Isobel was diagnosed with cancer and had to return to the United States for treatment. During the next three years, she expanded further the writing ministry begun years before on furloughs, when she had written Precious Things of the Lasting Hill, Above the Abyss, and Second Mile People. After her escape with Danny from the Communists, she composed Stones of Fire, the story of Lucius and Mary, Lisu believers whose lives had been so intertwined with hers. Feeling stronger after initial cancer therapy, she now published her most famous works, Ascent to the Tribes, about the CIM’s work among tribal people in North Thailand; Green Life in Drought Time, describing the experiences of Dr. Rupert Clarke and Arthur Matthews, the last two CIM missionaries to leave Communist China. Finally, By Searching told of her early years, and In the Arena recounted her life as a missionary in China. These gripping books have influenced hundreds of thousands of readers, including the writer of this article. As in years past, she continued to send vivid prayer letters to the many Christians who had become faithful prayer partners; contributed articles for Spiritual Food, a magazine for Lisu who had fled to Burma; and maintained an extensive correspondence with Lisu Christians who were continuing to serve God amidst fiery trials. All this writing required strict self-discipline amidst constant weakness. Isobel never wavered from her reliance upon God each day, drawing upon him for strength and believing that God “only chooses what is best for me … When He allows an evil, it is for the purpose of bringing greater blessing than if it had not happened.” (Repp, 163) Following in her parents’ footsteps, Kathryn joined the OMF/CIM and sailed for North Thailand in 1955, fully aware that she would not see her mother again. John was always at her bedside in Isobel’s last months, when they could finally enjoy extended time together. Isobel Kuhn died March 20, 1957. Reflections Isobel Kuhn is known to us because of her many writings, but she represents thousands of missionaries in China and elsewhere who made “God First” their life motto, and who gave up everything else to serve him. A formerly shy and reserved girl, Isobel became a gifted Bible teacher; born and bred in a comfortable home, she had described herself as “a stay-at-home body by disposition and a veritable slave to physical comforts. Travel never attracted me, for it meant strange faces and strange ways – in others words, discomfort.” (By Searching, 43) After she became compelled by the love of Christ for lost souls, however, health, comfort, safety, social prestige, even “normal” family life took second place to what she thought was God’s will for her – the evangelization of the countless people who had not heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. Time and again, Isobel suffered from profound sorrow, grief, and perplexity about God’s providence. Always, she returned to the Bible and its promises of God’s presence, power, provision, and plan to bring greater good out of whatever sufferings she endured. She demonstrated extraordinary courage, perseverance, and love for the Lisu believers, whom she called her “children,” and with some of whom she developed deep bonds affection. Even John’s long absences were to a degree compensated for by the loyal companionship and tender care of several Lisu Christian men, whom she cherished and loved, without any hint of impropriety. Many have questioned the CIM policy, shared by many other mission societies, of sending children to far-off schools, causing both parents and children heartache and grief, but the alternatives available to them seemed to offer no choice at the time (though some in other missions, like Nelson Bell and his wife, educated their children at home). Whether the CIM practice of having women preach to men and teach them accords with Scripture is another issue that could be discussed. Clearly, however, Isobel sought to equip men to lead the Lisu church, and never usurped their authority. “By their fruits you shall know them,” said Jesus. The hundreds of thousands of Lisu Christians serving God in Yunnan today in a strong and vibrant church testify to the devotion, skill, spirituality, and prayers of those missionaries and the ones who upheld them in prayer. Sources Isobel S. Kuhn, In the Arena. Chicago: Moddy Press, 1958. Isobel Kuhn, By Searching: My Journey Through Doubt Into Faith. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1959. Gloria Repp, Nothing Daunted: The Story of Isobel Kuhn. Greenville, SC: BJU Press, 1994. Based upon letters of Isobel Kuhn as well as her books, Ascent to the Tribes; By Searching; In the Arena; Nests Above the Abyss ; Precious Things of the Lasting Hills; Second Mile People; Stones of Fire, published by OMF Books.

election and predestination and the free will of man...

"Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Genesis 12:1-3 This is God's introduction to a man, whose name is the greatest name in the Old Testament record, Abraham, the father of the faithful, and the father of the great miracle nation, Israel, and the example in Scripture of true saving faith. No other man is better known, more loved, than Abraham the friend of God who "believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness." Together with his son, Isaac, his grandson, Jacob, and his great-grandson, Joseph, these four men dominate the entire book of Genesis with the exception of the first eleven chapters. Only eleven chapters of the Old Testament are required to relate for us the first two thousand years of human history on this earth. (Genesis 1 to 11.) All the rest of Genesis (chapters 12 to 50) are occupied with the record of the lives of these four men, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, covering a period of time of approximately only four hundred years. Notice carefully, only eleven chapters to tell us all we know about the first two thousand years of history, including creation, the fall, the flood and the tower of Babel, but thirty-nine chapters to relate the history of only four men living within a period of only four centuries. Supernatural Design This is not a mere coincidence, but a divine, supernatural design and purpose. Believing as we do in the supernatural, verbal inspiration of the Scriptures, we believe this emphasis on these four men contains a very important revelation. Where God spends a great deal of time in revealing in His Word a certain record, we may be assured that it is of unusual importance. And so we are led to ask, why so much space devoted to these four men? Remember, eleven chapters to the history of Abraham, five chapters to the history of Isaac, twelve long chapters to Jacob, and eleven chapters are devoted to the record of the life of Joseph. There are at least two reasons for this extensive Bible record concerning these four representative men. The first three men, father, son and grandson, were to be the progenitors of a supernaturally called nation to be miraculously preserved, around which God would weave the entire history of the world to the very end of time, even the nation of Israel. The nations had utterly failed in the days of Abraham. Adam had fallen, the world had become corrupt, and God had destroyed it with a flood, but even after the flood, man soon again turned from God and the days of wickedness before the flood repeated themselves. The knowledge of God would soon be forgotten except for a divine plan by which the truth might be preserved and through which the Lord might reveal His plan of redemption. And so he abandoned the nations, gave them up, and instead He chose one man to become the father of a new, a peculiar nation, a miraculous, a separated, covenant nation to be the channel through which God would preserve the knowledge of the one true Jehovah, through whom He would give the revelation of the Scriptures and out of whom according to the flesh would be born the Saviour of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. This nation is the nation of Israel. The entire Old Testament with the exception of the first eleven chapters is occupied with the history of this one single nation; the other nations being mentioned only as they had dealings with the nation of Israel or came in contact with them. Almost one-half of the New Testament also deals with the history of this same people of Israel. Through this nation God gave us our Bible, practically every bit of it. The entire Word of God with few exceptions was written by Israelites, and by Jews. This nation which sprang from these four men, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, therefore, gave us our Bible and preserved for us the knowledge of the true Jehovah God, and gave us our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, a Jew, of the seed of Abraham and of the tribe of Judah. The Apostle Paul sums it all up for us when he, in speaking of this nation, says in Romans 9:4 "Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen." Romans 9:4-5 The Plan of Redemption This then is one reason for the prominent place given in Genesis to these four men through whose descendents, Israel, God's revelation came to the world, and by whom He was to give us our Christ and the Word of God. But underneath this purpose lies a deeper meaning and a still more wonderful purpose. The Bible is preeminently the Book of redemption. From Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 the aim and the goal, the purpose and the end of all revelation is to make known God's plan of salvation and redemption for ALL men. All other things are secondary to this one primary aim. The histories, the genealogies, the wars, the records of men and nations, all have some bearing upon, and have something to do directly or indirectly with the revelation of God in redeeming mankind through the work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Redemption Everywhere If we but look closely, we will find this purpose of redemption on every page of the book. It begins in the first chapter of the Bible in the history of the creation of the earth. Seven days of creation are recorded. It begins with a world barren and waste and in darkness, which of course, is a picture of the sinner, created in God's image, but through sin having fallen and lying in utter darkness. The first day records light being created by the Word of God. This is symbolic of the regeneration of the sinner, the beginning of his spiritual life through the spirit and the Word. On the second day God separated the waters on the earth, and the waters above the earth. This is the first result of our salvation—separation of the earthly things from the heavenly. Then comes day number three and it records the creation of vegetation and fruit, pointing to the next thing in the believer's life, fruit-bearing, reproduction of its own kind, which of course, is soul winning. On the fourth day the sun, moon and stars are set in heaven to shine upon earth. This speaks of Christian testimony. We too as believers are already seated in the heavenlies in our position, but we are to shine continually upon the earth. On the fifth day God created birds and fish. Birds defy the pull of earth's gravity and soar toward heaven, and this speaks of Christian victory, overcoming the pull and the gravity of the world and earthly things and living in the heavenlies. The sixth day is the creation of cattle and man, and speaks of service, and then follows the seventh day of rest, which is the goal of the believer, perfect rest and peace, in Christ. This is the picture of redemption, in the very first chapter of our Bible, from death and darkness in sin, through the successive days of growth in grace until we find perfect peace and rest in Him. This is in the first chapter of the Bible. The first creation is a picture of the New Creation. We have taken all of this time in this first chapter to show that the aim and the purpose of the Bible is to make known the plan of redemption, and what is true of this first chapter is true of every single part of the Bible. Somewhere, underneath the historical record, hidden in the seemingly meaningless geneologies, you will find Jesus and the plan of redemption. The Four Patriarchs Now return to our four patriarchs. That is why God called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Joseph, to reveal through the history of these men and through this nation which came from them, God's wonderful plan of redemption and salvation by grace. And so these four men are God's own revelation of how He brings about this redemptive purpose. We would refer you in this connection to Romans chapter 8. In Romans 8, verse 28 we have this familiar verse, known to practically everyone: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 Here is the basis of our redemption, "called according to His purpose.'' That is our foundation. It is pure grace, and the grace of God alone. We are saved basically, primarily, because God purposed it long before,we were even born. Our salvation, then, is rooted and grounded in the sovereign grace and purposes of Almighty God. Then follows the explanation of this purpose. Why did He purpose to save us, after all? Now I know that there are some who would say, to save us from hell, which of course is wrong. Others would say, to take us to heaven when we die, but this again is wrong. These are mere incidentals in God's real purpose of salvation. Listen to Paul as he tells us why God purposed to save us: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate" Romans 8:29 We want to stop here for just a moment in the middle of that verse. Why did God predestinate the believer? To save him from hell? To take him to heaven? Not at all. Listen to what Paul says: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." Romans 8:29 Here, then is God's great purpose. He wants us to be like the Lord Jesus. That is His ultimate goal, that is His desire. Salvation from hell, going to heaven, are a part of this process of making us ultimately like the Lord Jesus Christ, and to make the believer finally like the Lord Jesus is a process of testing, trials, defeats, victories, as we see so wonderfully and marvelously illustrated in the lives of these four men, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Then Paul goes on to give us these four steps in verse 30: "Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Romans 8:30 You will notice that we have here four definite steps, and we would suggest that you fix them thoroughly in your mind. Predestination Calling Justification Glorification Our salvation begins with God in His sovereign predestination. This is the foundation of our redemption—the sovereign purpose of God in our election. Next we have calling. This is redemption in preparation. Those whom He predestinates He calls, and so He prepares them, so that they should hear this gospel call and receive it. This is God's redemption in the preparation of the believer. Then follows justification. This is redemption in operation. Those who effectively hear God's call are now justified, and then follows glorification which is redemption in its consummation. These then are the four steps: The Foundation—God's predestination The Preparation—God's call to salvation The Operation—Justification by faith The Consummation—Glorification to be ultimately like the Lord Jesus Christ. Four Steps and Four Men I do not know whether Paul had Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph in mind when He wrote this verse on the four steps of salvation: predestination, calling, justification, and glorification, but the parallel is so striking that we sincerely believe that we have in the history of these four patriarchs these same four steps wonderfully illustrated. Abraham illustrates divine predestination. Living in a heathen land, a member of an idolatrous family, God in sovereign grace chose him and elected him to be the father of the faithful, passing by all the rest of his family. Isaac illustrates the calling of the believer. Though his brother, Ishmael was older and beloved of Abraham, God said, No, this shall not be thine heir, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Isaac, then, illustrates divine calling. Jacob illustrated justification. Jacob the rascal, who cheated his father, robbed his brother, connived with his mother, and ruined his uncle, was nevertheless justified in spite of his unworthiness, because he believed God's promise. This is justification. And then Joseph, glorification. Despised and sold by his brethren, he is exalted on the throne at the right hand of the King of Egypt, and here is God's plan of redemption in these four men. Predestination, calling, justification, and glorification. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. What a wonderful plan of salvation, what a marvelous Book, what a miraculous Bible, what a wonderful redemption! In our next message we shall continue this glorious revelation. Chapter Two "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Hebrews 11:8-10 The four greatest and most prominent names in the book of Genesis are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, the progenitors of the nation of Israel, through whose descendants God gave us our Bible and our blessed Saviour. But the underlying principle in giving us the history of these four men in detail was to reveal God's wonderful plan of salvation. This plan of redemption is summed up by Paul in Romans 8:30 as follows: "Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Romans 8:30 Four steps, beginning in the eternal purpose of God and ending in our eternal glorification. These four steps are once again: Predestination Calling Justification Glorification These four steps give us the foundation, the preparation, the operation and the consummation of our salvation. Abraham is the example of sovereign predestination and election; Isaac of effectual calling; Jacob of justification; and Joseph a great type of glorification. Predestination We take up now the subject of predestination as illustrated in the life of Abraham, and unfolded in the Scriptures. We approach the subject with both confidence and great fear. We approach it with confidence because we are sure what we shall say is the Word of God, and with fear because we realize that so many people are prejudiced against this revelation of Scripture and because it is so grossly misrepresented and tragically misunderstood by men. We approach the subject, therefore, with a prayer that we may make this doctrine very clear and that He may give those who hear an open mind, and faith to believe what God has to say. The Bible definitely teaches predestination and election, clearly stating that God has from eternity elected a company who will be saved and spend eternity in heaven. These elected ones He has predestined to become like His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:29). Passage after passage might be quoted but we shall give only a few, which will illustrate our point. We begin with Jesus' own words in John 15:16. Speaking to His disciples, our Saviour says: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain..." John 15:16 Here our Lord plainly states that He Himself had chosen them personally to be His Disciples, to bring forth fruit. In Romans 8:29 Paul says: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son." Romans 8:29 In 1st Corinthians 1 Paul says this: "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; That no flesh should glory in his presence." 1 Corinthians 1:26-27, 29 We give one more passage in this connection from Ephesians, chapter one and verse three: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. 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. " Ephesians 1:3-5, 11 Without attempting any explanation at this time, we merely point out that these facts from these passages indicate the following: The Bible teaches that God has chosen, elected and predestined some, and not others. This choice of God was made before the worlds were created. This election was not based on any good which He saw beforehand in those whom He chose, but entirely by His unquestionable, sovereign purpose of grace and wholly because He willed to do so and because He is sovereign. No Need to Argue Now it will, of course, do no good to argue about this. It is the clear teaching of the Word of God. It will not do us any good to ignore it either, for it can do no good to deny it. It will not help to reject it just because we cannot understand it. There it is in the Word of God, my friend. You can take it, or leave it. But you say, does not the Bible teach also that man must choose for himself? Does not man have a free will also? Yes, indeed the Bible teaches also that we have a will, and that we personally must make a decision and a choice or be forever lost. We must believe in order to be saved. We are coming to that later on also, but right now we merely want to show that the Bible does teach a sovereign, elective purpose of God of all who shall be redeemed. But again, you will say this is a contradiction. Sovereign election and man's free choice do not harmonize. That does not alter the fact the Bible teaches both. It is only a contradiction in our own minds, for there can be no contradiction in the mind of God who made this revelation. But again, someone will ask, I cannot understand all of these deep truths. We are not required or asked to understand it, but we are asked to believe it because God says it. We are to believe both. We are to believe in God's elective purpose, and also believe that we personally must "will" to be saved, or we shall be forever lost, for both of these are clearly taught in the Word of God. To reject election and accept only man's free will is a denial of God's sovereignty. To accept the truth of election and reject man's free will is to deny God's Word and His invitation to all, "Whosoever will." Cannot Understand But, you say, I cannot understand it. You never will! If you did, you would understand the Almighty Himself. But there are thousands of things that I cannot understand. I cannot understand how God could create a universe out of nothing, but I am expected to believe it. I cannot understand the Trinity, but the Bible teaches it. I cannot understand the virgin birth, but I must believe it in order to be saved. I cannot understand how one Man could die for another's crimes and sins, or how a hell-deserving sinner could be justified. Nobody can understand those things. Man knows of no way to justify a transgressor. We can pardon men, and we can condone their sin, we can forgive, but we cannot justify a criminal. But God can, and God does and God will. I know not why God's wondrous love To me He hath made known; Or how unworthy, Christ in love Redeemed me for His own. But I read it in God's Word and I believe it, Yes, I believe it. Fully believe it. I read it in God's Word and I believe it, And that is all I need to do. Man's Free Will Yes, man himself, indeed, must come, he must believe, he must will to be saved in spite of the fact that God has already elected those who will be saved. The Bible says clearly: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 It says again: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 And again: "Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Revelation 22:17 Yes, indeed, God does the electing, and that happens to be God's business, and only HIS responsibility. But YOU must do the believing. That is YOUR responsibility. Understand it? Of course not. But believe it? Yes, indeed. It is true that only those who are elected will come, and God knows who they are. But listen, it is just as true that those who come are also elected. God calls, but you must do the answering. Notice how Jesus places these two truths right together in John 6 and verse 37: "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me." There, indeed, you have sovereign grace and election. But there is more to this verse, and Jesus, therefore, continues: "And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37 There you have it, then, my friend. The Father draws, but you must come. There are hundreds of examples of this in the Scriptures, many of which we shall refer to in our coming messages. But think for a moment again of Abraham who is the great example of divine election. He was a pagan idol worshipper in a strange land, the Ur of the Chaldees. He was no better than the rest of his family, yet God chose him from among many, many hundreds and thousands of others, and called Abram. That was God's part, and then we read that Abram obeyed and answered the call: "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, OBEYED." Hebrews 11:8 God CALLED, but Abraham did the obeying. The Lord God is calling some of you this very moment. Will you answer the call, and come. Then, my friend, you are one of God's elect, for "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Philippians 2:13 But you will answer and say, "Can't I do anything at all? Am I totally helpless to do anything toward my salvation?" Listen, my friend, that fact itself is the greatest reason in all the world why you should come to Him, if He alone is able to save you. If you could do it yourself, you would not need Him at all. The very fact of your own helplessness is the greatest reason and argument for turning to the only One who can and who is willing to save you. But you insist and ask me again. If I am elected I will come and if I am not elected, I will not come, and I cannot come. Yes, that is dogmatically true. BUT listen, let me ask you a question. Are you saying that as an excuse for not coming, and so place the blame for your damnation on God? Or are you sincere in your question? Let me ask you this. Would you like to know whether you are really one of God's elect? Would you like to know at this very moment? You can find out before another minute passes. If you will heed His call right now, and call upon Him to save you, you ARE one of God's elect. Why not find out this very moment. Forget your objections, stop trying to understand. Don't bother with God's part of the matter, but come as you are and if you do, then Jesus says: "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37 And again: "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:13 Yes, indeed, God does the electing and that happens to be His business, and, therefore, we can leave it safely with Him. He will not make any mistakes. But, my friend, YOUR business this very moment is to receive the free gift which God offers to "Whosoever will may come." Do your part and then rest assured that the Lord will do His part and keep His promise who said: "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Revelation 22:17 "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31 Chapter Three The Bible clearly teaches the doctrines of sovereign election and predestination of the saved by Almighty God. The word, election means "to choose" and predestination means "to determine beforehand." The word "predestination" is a combination of two other words, the word "pre", meaning "before", and the word "destiny", simply means that the destiny is settled and determined beforehand. But the Bible also teaches with equal clarity the free will of man and the positive necessity of receiving salvation through a personal act of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The election is the part which God has already done, believing is the part which man must do himself. Now we make no attempt either to explain or to harmonize these two. We merely state them as facts which are taught in the Scriptures, and then emphasize the fact that man must do his part in believing, in the full assurance that God is righteous and just and true in whatever He does. To try and understand this and reject this truth because you cannot understand it is only to be lost. Our only salvation lies NOT in understanding God, but in believing what He says. Independent of Works We now take up once more the matter of sovereign election. God has elected His chosen ones from eternity and Jesus says: "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." John 6:39 This election is all of grace; that is, it was not because He saw beforehand any merit or goodness or excellence in the ones whom He chose. He did not choose them for their superior goodness, but just and only because He chose to do so according to His own purpose and unquestioned will "that no flesh should glory in his presence." God is Omniscient Now if any are inclined to object to this truth or to question its justice, let us remember one simple fact. God is absolutely sovereign. He can do as He pleases, and no creature can question His action for one moment. This is a basic, fundamental truth. If God is not sovereign, then He cannot be an absolute God. Then the second thing to remember is that God is also eternal. God is a timeless being. He has no past, no future, but lives in the eternal present. He existed from eternity before there was even time or matter. With God all things future, therefore, are already as if they had already happened and transpired. This brings us logically to a third observation. God is also omniscient. He knows everything, past, present, and future. He knows the numbers of the hairs of our head, and knows every sparrow that falls to the ground. From an eternity past He knew every detail which would ever come to pass into the eternity of the future. Otherwise, how else could He plan anything? God must be omniscient and know all things, or cease to be a sovereign God. He must be omniscient or we cannot trust Him, for then He might be surprised by events which He did not foreknow and foresee, and thus become a being of chance and not one of destiny. The Bible declares this for the apostle James says in Acts 15:18: "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." Acts 15:18 And David said in the great 139th Psalm which we may well call the Psalm of God's omniscience: "Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." Psalm 139:12, 16 And the writer in Hebrews, writing first of the written word and then the living word, The Lord Jesus Christ, says this: "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Hebrews 4:13 Many, many other passages might be quoted, but these I am sure, are sufficient to show that God knows all things from the beginning. This must be so, for He made all things, and by Him all things consist. God is perfect in every one of His attributes, and therefore, perfect in His omniscience, knowing from eternity everything that would ever happen in the future. Foreknowledge and Election This brings us to the point of our subject. Since God knows everything from the beginning, He also knew from the beginning who would be saved. He foreknew each and every one who would ever believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He also foresaw everyone who would not believe. Certainly then there can be no objection to God electing those who should believe, and not electing those whom He knew would NOT believe. The apostle Peter, in writing his first epistle from Babylon to the scattered believers states this as follows: Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father..." 1 Peter 1:1-2 Notice that very carefully, ELECT ACCORDING TO THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD. Now there are those who tell us that God elected before He foreknew. And because He had elected them, He foreknew that they would believe. Then there are others who take the other side of the argument, and say, No, God first foreknew who would believe and then He elected them. Now this whole argument is definitely silly. One cannot precede the other in order of time for God is timeless. These both happened in the infinite, eternal past of God's life. Since God had no beginning but always was, He therefore, always foreknew and the saved were always elected. We cannot separate the foreknowledge and the election of God. They always were together. It is like the spokes in a wheel. When you turn the wheel, which spoke begins to move first? Why, you say, that's a silly question to ask. Of course, it's a silly question, but no more foolish than trying to argue whether in God's predestinarian plan election or foreknowledge came first. That is splitting invisible hairs. An Illustration The farthest we can go with our finite understanding is to accept Peter's statement, that since God foreknew who would believe, He could elect those whom He did foreknow. If you would rather change the order, that is your privilege, of course. It is still a pound to me, and 16 ounces to you. Let me give an illustration to help you in understanding this. Suppose on a very hot summer's day twenty boys are playing in the field behind our home. They are hot, tired, thirsty, and weary. So I say to Mrs. De Haan, I'll get some ice cream at the drug store, and some cold root beer. You get some cookies and we'll invite all those boys to come on our porch for ice cream and cookies. So I go to the store for the ice cream and when I return, my wife has twenty plates and twenty glasses arranged on the table on our back porch. I look at these twenty glasses and say, "You can take eight of those glasses and plates back in the house, for we are only going to need twelve." But she says, "There are twenty boys out there, and you invited all of them to come, didn't you?" And I reply, "Yes, I invited all twenty, but I happen to know that only twelve are going to come. The other eight will refuse. One will say, I don't like ice cream, and another says, I hate old man De Haan, and another, I don't believe they have any ice cream, and another one, it's all a joke. They're only fooling us. Still another says, there's a gag somewhere. We'll pay for it somehow in the end. Still another one says, I can't imagine why that old tight-wad wants to be so liberal all of a sudden." Eight of them have an excuse, and will not come. "How do you know only twelve will come?" says Mrs. De Haan to me. "Because I happen to know every one of those boys. I know their thoughts, their sentiments, and their reactions." Now, of course, this presupposes perfect knowledge on my part, perfect knowledge of just what each boy is going to do. Of course, I do not possess that perfect knowledge. But just suppose that I do, and having this knowledge, then it would be very easy for me to place only twelve dishes on the table, then invite all twenty boys to come, and lo and behold, only twelve of them did come. That was because somehow I foreknew which ones would respond. Now may I ask you, if I invited all twenty, have the eight which do not come any excuse at all? Can they blame me? Oh, but they say, "We saw there were only twelve plates, not enough to go around, so we thought it was not for us." But that's no excuse. You did not know who they were for. But I knew they were only for those who would come, and who would respond. Now I realize that this parable falls short of fully illustrating the situation, but it goes as far as our finite, human understanding can go. God's invitation is to all. Yet, God knows that all will not come, and He knew who would come and who would not come. It would be very simple then for the Almighty to choose and prepare a place at His table for only the elect, and make no provision for others. There is plenty for all, but no use putting it on the table and wasting it for those who will not partake of it. "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God," says Peter. That is the nearest that we can come to understanding this great truth of election and predestination and the free will of man. But remember, I prepared the table for the boys, but they had to come themselves. I did not drag them in. I invited all of them, each one in good faith. It is all just and right, there can be no objection and no excuse and no blame put upon anyone else. So it is with God's invitation. He too says: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Isaiah 55:1 "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near." Isaiah 55:6 He invites you now to come to His table of salvation. You too are weary and discouraged. You fear the future, you are concerned about your sins, and dread the thought of meeting God, maybe before you realize. Listen, then, someone is calling you, and listen carefully: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 What did I hear you say? Does He mean YOU? Of course, He means you. He says, "Come all YE that labour and are heavy laden." He invites ALL, and that includes you too. "Whosoever will may come." But again you say, if I am not elected, what then? Well, then you just won't come. But forget that part and listen to this: If you do come then you are one of God's chosen ones, then you are one of the redeemed. Now wouldn't you like to find out right now where you will spend eternity? Would you like to know your sins are all forgiven, your past blotted out, and you are now God's child and on the way to heaven? It's up to you NOW. You can know upon the immutable promise of the Word of God. Receive Him where you are. Don't struggle anymore, don't try to understand it, but believe it, and answer His gracious invitations: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 "Come, all ye weary and oppressed, O come and I will give you rest; I'll bid your anxious fears depart, For I am meek and lowly in heart, And I will give you rest. Come, ye that feel the weight of sin, And I will breathe sweet peace within; I'll lift the burden from your heart, Forgiveness I will freely impart, And I will give you rest. Ye that labor and are heavy laden, come to Me, Come, come; come, and learn of Me; My yoke is easy, My burden is light, Come, come, come, and I will give you rest." Chapter Four God's people in all ages are called God's own elect. The word, "elect", means "to choose some and not to choose others." An election presupposes both winners and losers, those who are elected and those who fail to be elected. Now in human elections, men choose the candidates, but in divine election God is the One who chooses His own. Election has to do with our relationship to God Himself. We are elected to be the children of God. But the word, "predestination", while grounded and based on the same sovereign will and purpose of God has a slightly different meaning. Predestination has to do with the "why" of our election. We are elected to be saved, and then He predestinates these elect ones to ultimately become like His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Election then has to do with our position; predestination deals with our character and the development and growth of the elect unto perfection into the image of Christ. This is an important distinction. The Bible does not say that we are predestinated to be saved, primarily, for that is the work of election, but predestination is the method, decided beforehand, by which these elected ones will finally be perfected. A few Scriptures will illustrate this. Referring again to Romans 8 we read: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 Notice carefully the wording here. These are "the called of God according to His own purpose." These are the elect, and for them God has prearranged a process whereby all things which happen will work toward the end of that one definite purpose in the life of that particular elected individual. All of our experiences, sorrows, trials, disappointments, distresses, griefs, and troubles, all have a definite purpose in making us what God has determined we shall finally be. This purpose is given in the next verse: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son." Romans 8:29 We are elected to be saved; we are predestinated to become in the end like the Lord Jesus. This is a long, and sometimes, painful process, but He has determined it, and He will accomplish it. So all the experiences of life for the Christian are God's way of carrying out His plan, to make us like His Son. Another clear passage is found in Ephesians 1: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." [That is predestination.] Ephesians 1:3-4 And so Paul continues: "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself..." Ephesians 1:5 Stumbling Stone This doctrine of sovereign election and predestination has been a real stumbling block to many believers. Because they were unable to reconcile it with the clear teaching of the Bible about man's free will, they reject it, in whole or in part, or ignore the inescapably clear teaching on this important subject. Ignoring the passages which deal with this subject does not do away with them. They are still there, just as surely as the many passages which teach the responsibility of man, and the necessity of personal faith. They are both in the Bible, whether we understand them or not. It is God's infallible Word. Before we are saved, we have only one responsibility, and that is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If we do this, then we are saved. If we don't, we are necessarily lost. Then after we have been saved, then we learn from the Bible the glorious truth that our salvation was already God's work and the work of the Holy Spirit, and not ours at all, for "...it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Philippians 2:13 It is like a train which travels on two rails. The one rail is sovereign grace, the other is human responsibility. They never meet, they never come together, but they are both necessary to keep the train on the track. Remove the rail of man's free will and try to run on only the rail of election and you will land in the ditch of fatalism and hyper-Calvinism. Reverse it, and remove the rail of sovereign election and grace, and you wreck yourself in the ditch of a religion of human works and hyper-Armenianism. Keep your wheels on both tracks. Examples of Election We began this series by referring to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. We return to them now, for this illustration, and for some examples of the sovereign grace of God in election. Let us look at Abraham first. Was he saved because he chose God, or because God chose him? God found him in Ur of the Chaldees. Joshua tells us that Abraham lived in a heathen land, his family were idolators, without God. In Joshua 24:2 he says: "And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods." Joshua 24:2 Here then was a whole nation of idolatrous Chaldeans, in darkness and without God. And yet the Lord passes all of them by, and goes to one single family, the family of Terah, Abraham's father. He passes by all of them in this family, except one single man, Abraham, and chooses him alone and ignores all the rest. This indeed is sovereign election. God did not see in Abraham anything at all better or more excellent on the basis of which He chose him, and not the others. There was nothing in Abraham which determined God's choice, but the reason He chose father Abraham lay entirely in God Himself, in His own sovereign purpose and will. This is still more clear in Deuteronomy, chapter 7, verses 7 and 8. Speaking to Israel, Moses says this: "The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers..." Deuteronomy 7:7-8 Why God chose Abraham and rejected others, why He chose Jacob and rejected Esau, why he chose Israel and rejected Egypt, is answered only in the hidden counsel and purposes of God's own sovereign will. Jacob as an Example Or let us take Jacob as an example, although we might say the same of Isaac whom God chose to call rather than his brother Ishmael. Jacob surely had nothing in himself to commend him to God for any special favor. Jacob is the rascal of the four patriarchs, he is the conniver, the schemer, Jacob who cheated his brother, lied to his father, conspired with his mother, and ruined his uncle Laban. By comparison, Esau was a gentleman, home-loving, considerate of his aged father, and even forgiving of his brother Jacob when he returned from his exile. Why then did God choose Jacob? We do not know why, except that God was pleased to do so for some reason which He himself knows. Certainly it was not because of any good qualities which Jacob had, for God chose Jacob before he was even born. Consider carefully what Paul says about Esau and Jacob in Romans 9:11. Paul is illustrating God's sovereign grace in election, and says this: "For the children [Esau and Jacob) 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; It was said unto her, The elder [Esau] shall serve the younger [Jacob]. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Romans 9:11-13 Now you may object and argue all you wish. There it is in God's Word, as plain as the nose on one's face. This is in perfect accord with the record in Genesis 25, where God says to Rachel, the mother of these two boys: "The one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." Genesis 25:23 And Malachi adds his testimony in Malachi 1:2, speaking to Israel: "I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau..." Malachi 1:2-3 Surely it must be plain to everyone that God's part in election is sovereign and no creature can question His dealings. Instead, we must believe His Word, for to understand it, we repeat, we never shall. For here we come again to the other fact, equally clear and plain, it is still man's responsibility to believe God, to receive Christ, in order to be saved. No argument can change God's Word, for we must simply face the facts, God chooses His own, but we must choose to receive His offer of salvation. The election then becomes God's private business; the believing is your own personal responsibility. Why then not believe on Him, now, and receive Christ as Saviour? Don't make the fact that you cannot understand what an infinitely wise God is doing, an excuse for losing your own soul. The Crippled Child Allow me to illustrate. I take you to the home of a young lady, blind, crippled and dying. This condition is no fault of hers whatsoever. She was born that way. Over fifty years before she was born, her grandfather in a drunken moment of passion contracted a terrible disease. He transmitted this to his daughter at birth, and she again transmitted it to this little girl. She is in this condition by no fault of her own. Now it doesn't seem right and just, but it is a fact and we must face it. No one can deny it. The child rebels and struggles against her fate. She moans, "Why must I suffer like this? What have I done? I can't understand why this can happen to me and not to someone else. I did not choose my grandfather or my mother." All these cannot help her. All these excuses are of no avail. The fact is, that wholly apart from any choice of her own she is a cripple, while other children who also had no part in choosing their parents are strong and well. So far it is a dark picture. Her destiny was settled before she was even born. But now I come to her and say, "Listen, child, you can be made well again. I have brought a great, renowned specialist, a great physician who has healed thousands, and never has had a failure. He is here and will heal you completely, free of charge, if you will give your consent." What would you say if this person now would refuse to accept the services of the doctor until she could understand the why and the wherefore of her condition. She says, "No, I won't accept him until I can understand why God should let me suffer like this when it is not my fault at all." Now wouldn't that be exceedingly foolish? The thing for her to do is to forget everything and immediately accept the offer of restoration. If she refuses, then her condition becomes HER OWN fault. It is now HER own responsibility. Before, we might blame another, but now it becomes a personal responsibility. Is this not a picture of you, my friend? You were born a sinner because your first father, Adam, sinned. You had no choice in this matter; you were not physically there, but you did come into the world with the disease of sin and under the sentence of death, predetermined before you were born. Now that just happens to be a plain, simple fact which cannot be denied. You may rebel against it all you want, and become bitter, because it cannot be understood. But now listen. The great physician, Jesus, has come, and He offers to save you, to save anyone who will trust Him. It will, therefore, do no good to refuse Him because you cannot understand why you should suffer for Adam's sin, because you cannot understand election, predestination, foreordination, the trinity, and a thousand other things. If you do that, He cannot help you. Forget all that. To refuse is to put the whole responsibility on yourself, and you cannot blame God at all any more. He has made full provision, and now you will be lost because you have refused the remedy. And so we plead with you to face the fact, the reality of the condition in which you are, and that right now you can be saved if you will take Him as your Lord and Saviour, for He says: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isaiah 1:18 Chapter Five Psychologists and psychiatrists tell us that we act as we do and we are what we are because we respond to impressions which were fixed before we were even conscious, before we had the power of choice, yea, even before we were ever born. They tell us the impressions of infancy, the feel of a mother's breast, the touch of her hand upon your head, as you lay as an infant in her bosom, the alarms, the fears and the scares, all made impressions which would determine your actions and reactions later on in life. They talk of suppressions and inhibitions and escapisms. How much truth there is in many of these speculations of mental experts I do not know, but I do know one thing; most of what you and I are today WAS decided before we had the power of choice or before we were born. This is true physically, mentally, and emotionally. It is surprising how much of what we are, we are not by any choice of our own at all, but it was all determined beforehand entirely apart from and beyond our will or our choice in these matters. I wish you would notice a few things which we are that we did not choose to be. Your Sex You are either a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, a male or a female. Are you what you are by choice or by predestination? You, of course, all know the answer. You were not consulted at all about these matters. You came into the world, male or female, and you can do nothing about it. It was predetermined before you were even born. The moment the first two cells were joined at conception we are told that sex was already unalterably settled. And this is true of everything. Why were you born in a Christian land and not in heathen darkness? Why were your parents Christians and not pagans? Why were you born in a respectable family, and not in the home of the drunkard, the thief or the hoodlum? You had no choice in these matters whatsoever. You were not consulted about any of these things. Yet all of these factors have made you what you are today without your choice. You are a believer today not so much because you accepted Christ as because you were born and raised under circumstances and conditions and influences, where you heard the Word and were told the gospel. You had no choice in those preliminary matters. If you had been born in a savage tribe as millions of others are who too had no choice in the matter, in a land where the gospel was never heard, you would not be a Christian today. Surely you received Christ and believed His Word, but only because in sovereign grace you were born where you could hear and receive the gospel. You had no choice in these preparatory conditions under which you came into the world. But that was all settled for you, your nationality, in what country you were to be born, and even what religion you would come in contact with from your earliest youth. Physically Predestinated Physically, you also are what you are by predestination; that is, it was all settled outside your choice, and your destiny in a large degree was determined for you. You are either white or Negro, Chinese or English, Dutch or French or something else, because your parents were, and they again because of their parents, and so on and so on. The color of your hair, your eyes, your skin, your stature, your sex, your temperament, were all determined before you were born. Did anyone consult you in the matter of the color of your eyes? Did you have a choice whether you would be tall or short, homely or good-looking, have big ears or little ears, a big nose or a pug nose; even your voice. Some are bass, some are tenor, and some are soprano. Ah, no, my friend, in these matters we have no choice whatsoever. We are what we were when we came into the world by a predestined set of circumstances. Emotionally True This is true emotionally. Your emotional make-up is entirely received through your ancestors, for generations back. Some of you have quiet, even temperament, some of you have excitable, quick tempers, fiery, cool or rash, reckless or restrained. These emotions may be trained and checked, to be sure, and suppressed, but they never change. Peter always remained the impetuous Peter, and the affectionate John remained the affectionate John. Mentally True Also This is true mentally as well. Some people come into the world with keen minds, others with dull minds. Geniuses are born, not developed. Why have you been endowed with an alert, keen mind, and clear mentality, while another born in the same family, from the same parents, is an idiot or an imbecile, or a moron? Was it because you had any choice in the matter? Again, we must answer, No. I can only accept to be what I am because it was all determined before I was even born. Now, of course, we may train and develop and bring out the most in these faculties, but we certainly cannot increase the mental powers which were there from the beginning. We cannot make a genius out of a person born stupid. We cannot train something which does not exist. We might go on and on in this way for it reaches into every realm of our entire being. However, we have taken all this time to show you that the doctrine of predestination is true, even in our physical, mental and in our emotional life. It is a most humbling truth which casts us into the dust, when we realize that we have nothing in ourselves that we can boast of. One who realizes the truth of predestination can never be a proud individual. You will always have to be humble. If I am more successful than someone else, it is nothing to boast of for if they had been me, the case would have been reversed, and I had no choice in being what I am, but I am what I am, and he is what he is, because he was born that way. What I have done with the faculties and the talents with which I was born is quite another matter, which of course, is our responsibility, on which we will be judged. But we shall certainly not be judged by how we were born, but what we have done after we were born. You were born a sinner, my friend, not by choice, and therefore, God will not judge you because you are a sinner, but because you refuse the remedy which He has provided in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Spiritual Predestination We have outlined all these facts so that you may see that predestination in the physical, the mental and the emotional, is a fact, and nothing that we are to stumble over. No one can deny it. Whether you think it just or unjust makes absolutely no difference, for it is a fact that must be faced. Why then object to the Bible teaching of election and predestination? Again, you may rebel and struggle and deny or ignore it, but the fact still remains just as true as it is in the physical, the mental, and emotional. We have already referred to Romans 9, the great chapter on sovereign grace. In it Paul discusses the fact of grace, and uses the nation of Israel as an example. He points out that God chose the nation of Israel, not because of any superiority or excellence in themselves, but instead, He chose them that He might reveal what God's grace can do with an utterly unworthy and rebellious nation. And that is true of the individual of which the nation is used as an illustration. God has chosen the poor, the unworthy, the vile, so no one could possibly boast that God chose them because they were better than others, but instead to exhibit what the grace of God can do with the vilest and the most wretched and the meanest, that "no flesh should glory in His presence." Turning now to Romans 9, once more, God calls attention to the father of the nation of Israel and says, concerning Jacob and his brother Esau: "For the children 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; It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Romans 9:11-13 The language in this passage is clear. God chose Jacob and rejected Esau. And the reason which He gives is because of His own purpose in grace and God's election, and all of this was before Jacob or Esau were ever born. Now that seems on the surface to be unfair, for then Esau never had a chance. Now Paul anticipated that objection and in the next verse states it for us in these words: "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid." Romans 9:14 No! indeed, says Paul, we may not question God, and so he adds in the next verse: "For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." Romans 9:15 There you have it, my friend. You can take it or leave it. That is what God has to say. It is still His Word, and to prove it Paul calls attention to the case of Pharaoh, the oppressor of Israel. "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. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." Romans 9:17-18 Now I hear you say, If that is true, then how can God blame the lost for being lost after all. If it is God's will to elect only some, can he change God's will. Again we turn to Paul, for he has already anticipated the answer in verse 19: "Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?" Romans 9:19 Will you find fault with God and question what He does? Will you call God to an accounting to tell you why He chooses as He does? After all, who are we to question God? Our business is to bow before His sovereign will, not to accuse him of unjustly dealing with us. And so Paul continues in the next verse: "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" Romans 9:20-21 Paul seems to say, "Who are you to find fault with Almighty God? You, a puny, little speck of dust, a helpless creature, an insignificant creature of a few fleeting days, finite and rebellious, sinful and wicked, you, you little insignificant man, who are you to question the eternal, omnipotent, sovereign Almighty Creator? God does not have to give an accounting to you at all." But here comes the wonder of wonders. Though God has a perfect right to send all men into the pit of hell forever, and damn them into the pit for eternity, He has nevertheless provided a way whereby such rebellious sinners can be saved. There is another truth in Scripture, the truth of the necessity that we who have no claim whatsoever to God's mercy and grace can nevertheless be saved by His love. As clear as the doctrine of God's sovereignty is the revelation of His invitation that "whosoever will" may come and may be saved. Since God is sovereign, is there anyone else who is better able to save us? Since I am utterly helpless to save myself, what better reason in all the world is there for me to flee only to Him who alone can save. Do not say, I am helpless so I can do nothing about it. Rather say, because I am helpless, I will go to the only One who can help me. Though God can in justice send all of us into the pit of perdition forever, He has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the Cross that you and I and anyone who will acknowledge their sinful helplessness and His loving, sovereign grace may be saved. He calls today: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 Certainly if God had not done all that He did at Calvary in giving us His Son an offering for salvation, there might be some excuse for blaming God, but now that He has opened the way and called you, for a personal decision, leaves you without an excuse in the sight of Almighty God. Listen to His call once again: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Isaiah 55:1 Come now, and be saved. From Election and Predestination and the Free Will of Man: A Scriptural Study of the Doctrine of Sovereign Grace and Human Responsibility. Five Radio Sermons by M. R. DeHaan. [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Radio Bible Class, 194-?].
Book Cover
The Jelly Effect: How To Make Your Communication Stick
by Andy Bounds
Book Cover
The Reason For God: Belief In An Age Of Scepticism
by Timothy Keller
Feedback
Suggestionsuggestion box
x
About Contact GIP World News © 2026 God In Prints
Terms | Privacy