All things after the counsel of His own will

God is in total control of all things. He is Sovereign and everything, good or bad, is according to His sovereign will or He wouldn't be GOD.

We tend to forget that when things aren't going our way.

As Kenneth Gentry says in his book, HE SHALL HAVE DOMINION:

"This sovereign control by God includes even the free acts of men. Man has 'free moral agency'. But he cannot do just anything by an act of his will; he is limited and can only act in terms of his nature. Man is not floating about in a vacuum with nothing to 'push against'; he operates within the all-encompassing plan of God. It is up against the plan of God that he gets his'footing'. God's control of man, however, is not 'across the board', as our control of another would have to be. Rather it is a control that cuts across planes: God above and man below. Such a control guarantees man true significance (he is no automaton), while guaranteeing God's true sovereignty (all things issue forth under the direction of His wise counsel). This is not contradiction but mystery - mystery rooted in God's transcendence."

I think that we Christians are so influenced by humanism and false theology and doctrine, that we can't separate it from the true Word of God.

We think that our free will is outside of God's reach and we're free to do what ever we please, even as a redeemed child of God.

The attitude some Christians have makes God look like some "cosmic genie" up in the sky with no real plan for his children or this earth that he created.

But if God is Sovereign, and if He is a personal God, which He is, and we are fallen sinful human beings that, before His Saving Grace were dead (not sick) in our sins, then He has to be in control of everything or life would have no meaning. There would be nothing good because man can only operate according to his sinful nature. It would mean that the evolutionists are right in their assesment of life.

But they are not right. God is good and He works through fallen man.

Hebrews 1:3

Jesus Christ upholds all things by the word of His power.

Colossians 1:17

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Isaiah 45:7

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Jeremiah 23:23-24

Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?

Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

Proverbs 15:3

The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

Acts 17:28

For in him we live, and move, and have our being.

Hebrews 4:13

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.

Ephesians 1:11

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:

Psalm 33:6-11

By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.

The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

Isaiah 46:10

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

Isaiah 55:11

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Psalm 33:4-5

For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.

He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.

Repost

This quote from John Bunyan (1628-1688) is so good, I just had to repost it, even though I posted it on September 27th.

It just makes me want to say, "HALLELUJAH, WHAT A SAVIOR!"

"He cannot, after he has come to the soul as a Spirit of adoption, come again as a Spirit of bondage, to put the soul into its first fear, to wit, a fear of eternal damnation, because he cannot say and unsay, do and undo. As a Spirit of adoption he told me that my sins were forgiven me, that I was included in the covenant of grace, that God was my Father through Christ, that I was under the promise of salvation, and that this calling and gift of God to me is permanent, and without repentance. And do you think, that after he has told me this, and sealed up the truth of it to my precious soul, that he will come to me, and tell me that I am yet in my sins, under the curse of the law and the eternal wrath of God? No, no; the word of the gospel is not yea, yea; nay, nay; it is only yea, and amen; it is so, as God is true (2 Cor.1:17, 20)."

CHUCK BALDWIN ON THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

These Are Not Negotiable

By Chuck Baldwin

October 20, 2010

Archived column:

http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=2484

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote,
"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established
should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly
all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer,
while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the
forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses
and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design
to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is
their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards
for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of
these Colonies."

I would argue that we, like our patriot forebears, have also endured
"patient sufferance." For at least a half-century, we have patiently
endured the erosion and abridgment of our freedoms and liberties. We
have watched the federal government become an overbearing and
meddlesome Nanny State that pokes its nose and sticks its fingers in
virtually everything we do. We cannot drive a car, buy a gun, or even
flush a toilet without Big Brother's permission. We are taxed,
regulated, and snooped-on from the time we are born to the day we die.
And then after we are dead, we are taxed again.

In the same way that Jefferson and Company patiently suffered up
until that shot was fired that was heard around the world, we who love
freedom today are likewise patiently suffering "a long train of abuses
and usurpations." In fact, I would even dare say that these States
United have become a boiling caldron of justifiable frustration and
even anger.

Accordingly, it is incumbent upon us to very seriously and
thoughtfully examine those principles that we absolutely will never
cede or surrender. We have already surrendered much of the freedom
that was bequeathed to us by our forefathers. We are now to the point
that we must define those principles that form our "line in the sand"
and that we will not surrender under any circumstance. Either that, or
we must admit to ourselves that there is nothing--no principle, no
freedom, no matter how sacred--that we will not surrender to Big
Government.

Here, then, are those principles that, to me, must never be
surrendered. To surrender these liberties to Big Government would mean
to commit idolatry. It would be sacrilege. It would reduce us to
slavery. It would destroy our humanity. To surrender these freedoms
would mean "absolute Despotism" and would provide moral justification
to the proposition that such tyranny be "thrown off."

*The Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Men without guns are not free men; they are slaves. Men without guns
are not citizens; they are subjects. Men without guns have lost the
right of self-defense. They have lost the power to defend their
families and protect their properties. Men without guns are reduced to
the animal kingdom, becoming prey to the Machiavellians among them who
would kill them for sport or for their own personal pursuits. As King
Jesus plainly ordered, "He that hath no sword, let him sell his
garment, and buy one." (Luke 22:36) This we will do--at all costs.

*The Right to Own Private Property

Like the right of self-defense, the private ownership of property is
a God-given right that is rooted in the Sacred Text. As God told
Moses, "Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark, which they of
old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in
the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it." (Deut.
19:14)

In fact, the history of Western Civilization is replete with the
examples of free men who were determined (even at the cost of their
very lives) to defend the right to own property. Without private
property rights, men are reduced to serfs and servants. Like chattel,
they feed themselves by another's leave. This we will not do.

*The Right to Train and Educate Our Children

Education has never been the responsibility of the State. From time
immemorial, education has been the right and responsibility of the
family. This, too, has its foundation in the Sacred Volume. "And, ye
fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord." (Eph. 6:4)

Therefore, the absolute right of homeshooling or
private/parochial/Christian schooling must never be surrendered.
Homeschooling, especially, is fundamental to freedom. It is not a
coincidence that throughout history, most totalitarian governments
forbade parents homeschooling their children.

Any government--federal, State, or local--that forbids, or even
restricts, the right of parents to homeschool their children has taken
upon itself the uniform of a tyrant.

*The Freedom of Speech and Worship

Speech and worship are matters of the heart and conscience (Luke
6:45; John 4:24). Only tyrants seek authority over matters of the
heart. But, of course, that is what tyrants do: they seek to control
men's thoughts and beliefs.

Hence, the alternative media is essential to liberty: the Internet,
short wave radio, as well as independent magazines and periodicals. It
is almost superfluous to say that there is no such thing as a free and
independent press among the mainstream news media today. In fact, the
major media more resembles a propaganda machine than it does a free
press.

The same can be said for most of the mainstream churches in America
today. They more resemble havens for politically correct,
Big-Government ideology than they do bastions of Bible truth.
Therefore, home-churches and non-establishment churches are
increasingly requisite to a free people.

*The Right to Determine One's Own Healthcare

The marriage of Big Government and Big Medicine has created a
healthcare monster. Already, the dispensing of medical treatment is
micromanaged by Big Brother in a way that has resulted in skyrocketing
costs and inferior care (and in some cases, even death). President
Obama's universal health care initiatives that are sure to come (in
one form or another) will only exacerbate an already untenable
situation.

Free men and women absolutely have the right to refuse vaccinations
for themselves and their children. Forced vaccinations (of any kind)
are an assault against the very foundation of freedom. Free men have
the right to choose their own physicians, their own hospitals, their
own insurance programs, etc. They also have the right to refuse any
and all of the above.

God is Creator. He is also Healer (Exodus 15:26). Therefore, how men
choose to seek God's healing is a private matter between them and God.
Alternative medicine is a right. Already, our military personnel are
used as human guinea pigs to test a variety of drugs and chemicals.
Public schools also require forced vaccinations. And now the push is
on to force the general population to take the Swine Flu vaccine. At
the current pace, it won't be long until all alternative medicines and
treatments will be illegal and the federal government will be
America's doctor. This is not acceptable.

*The Right to Life

2000 years of Western Civilization have perpetually reconfirmed that
life is a gift of God. Both Biblical and American history repeatedly
honor God as the Source and Sustainer of man's existence. Therefore,
evils such as abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia must be vehemently
resisted. It is bad enough that any government (especially one such as
ours) would legalize abortion, but the concept of FORCED abortion,
infanticide, or euthanasia could only be regarded as a despotic attack
on life and liberty of the gravest proportion. In fact, under Natural
Law, such an attack would remove said government from the protection
of Heaven and would place it in a state of war.

*The Right to Live as a Free and Independent People

God separated the Nations (Genesis 11). Therefore, it is absolutely
necessary that we Americans maintain our independence and national
sovereignty. We simply cannot (and will not) allow ourselves to become
part of any hemispheric or global union.

There they are: seven freedom-principles that are not negotiable. As
Jefferson said, we are "disposed to suffer, while evils are
sufferable." But cross these lines and free men must do what free men
must do: "throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for
their future security."

*If you appreciate this column and want to help me distribute these
editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be
made by credit card, check, or Money Order. Use this link:

http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?page_id=19

FIX CONGRESS!

Congressional Reform Act of 2010


1. Term Limits.

12 years only, one of the possible options below..

A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms

2. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.


Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work.

Happy Birthday Boaz

Yesterday was Boaz's birthday. He turned nine. We had T.J. and Rachel over to celebrate.

He had dirt cake. yum

Reading a card.

He told mom that he wanted a lawn mower, tool set, or a remote control truck.

Well he got the truck.

And the tool set.

TEN

Since this is the first day of the tenth month, I thought this would be a good day to post the Tenth Commandment and the 10th amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

Exodus 20:17

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

10th Amendment

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The people and the States were fearful that the Federal government would try to seize more powers by fraud and bribery.

This amendment is to prevent violations of the Constitution and of the rights of the people and the states.

Seems to me that the government has over stepped its bounds according to the Constitution and that they are in violation of the 10th commandment, which is a whole lot worse.

The government has also violated the 8th Commandment which states, "Thou shalt not Steal."

I'm sure you have heard the line, "Don't steal, the government hates competition."

God's law is the basis of civil law whether we recognize it or not.

Quote:

"Federal funds (free money) destroy state's rights.

Whatever the federal government subsidizes, it controls."

Quote:

"If taxes and usury (interest) did not exist, then government and banker robbery would die."