WHENCE FREE WILL?
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
Free will began with the angels in heaven. God created angels who had free will by which they could decide for God’s holiness forever or decide in rebellion against God’s holiness forever.
Lucifer, the angel of light, plotted mutiny, being joined by other angels in rebellion. With that, God cast them from holy heaven into the eternal hell.
From that scheme onward, as far as angels were concerned, the rebellious lost their free will unto damnation’s fires. Likewise, angels who chose not to be a part of the mutiny, locked their free wills into eternal obedience and adoration of God in heaven.
The next juncture for free will origin was when God created mortal in the divine image. The animal and vegetable kingdoms had been created. Then God created homo sapien. In that apex of creation, free will was implanted. The lower animals worked in instinct; now human was gifted with free will.
In that free will, mortal could decide to obey or disobey God. Adam and Eve obeyed Creator God for awhile. Then came Lucifer, the angel of light, in the form of a serpent. The serpent tempted the First Couple to disobey God. They yielded, by an act of free will, to listen to the serpent rather than continue in obedience to God. In that, sin entered the human race.
The spirit fell. The earthly sphere fell, hence the start of calamities upon the planet as well as the First Couple being cast out of Eden. From that moment of disobedience to the present, the majority of mortals have chosen to travel the road of disobedience. The minority have chosen the road of obedience.
Each mortal, when born, has the capacity to choose for God or choose against God. There is the time in each mortal’s life when he comes to realize the difference between right and wrong.
From that juncture onward till death, free will is activated. The free will can choose for salvation through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross or choose for self and sin, thus yielding an eternity of damnation with Lucifer and the fallen angels.
The Holy Spirit empowers believers to live the life of holiness under God. Yet those believers choose daily to obey that holy God. At any time, they can choose to discount the Way, Truth and the Life for their own self and sin. Free will is operative until death.
After death, the soul’s destiny has been decided. There is no "second chance" for salvation according to the Bible. Our probationary period for choosing eternal destiny is while alive and thinking on the Earth.
After that, we consign ourselves to heaven or hell. In other words, just as the angels consigned their eternities either to eternal fellowship with God or to be a party of Lucifer’s mutiny, thus bringing hell upon their existences, so it is with mortals. When death comes upon the mortal, the soul has already determined its eternal state prior.
When God created homo sapien in the Garden of Eden, that was a crucial moment in Earth time for that free will could actually have the power by which to turn against the Creator Himself. Since then, mortals have had the power to, in so many words, tell God to "go to hell" by their lives of self and sin. Since then, mortals have been equipped by which to bring much pain to the heart of God.
However, those few mortals in each generation who determine to be a part of the righteous remnant bring much joy to the heart of God. Believers who remain true to Christ till the last breath bring much pleasure to the Eternal Heart.
Each mortal decides in this life to activate free will for God or against God. That decision determines where the soul will spend eternity — heaven or hell.
For more: http://conservativeposts.us/ <http://conservativeposts.us/>
Free will began with the angels in heaven. God created angels who had free will by which they could decide for God’s holiness forever or decide in rebellion against God’s holiness forever.
Lucifer, the angel of light, plotted mutiny, being joined by other angels in rebellion. With that, God cast them from holy heaven into the eternal hell.
From that scheme onward, as far as angels were concerned, the rebellious lost their free will unto damnation’s fires. Likewise, angels who chose not to be a part of the mutiny, locked their free wills into eternal obedience and adoration of God in heaven.
The next juncture for free will origin was when God created mortal in the divine image. The animal and vegetable kingdoms had been created. Then God created homo sapien. In that apex of creation, free will was implanted. The lower animals worked in instinct; now human was gifted with free will.
In that free will, mortal could decide to obey or disobey God. Adam and Eve obeyed Creator God for awhile. Then came Lucifer, the angel of light, in the form of a serpent. The serpent tempted the First Couple to disobey God. They yielded, by an act of free will, to listen to the serpent rather than continue in obedience to God. In that, sin entered the human race.
The spirit fell. The earthly sphere fell, hence the start of calamities upon the planet as well as the First Couple being cast out of Eden. From that moment of disobedience to the present, the majority of mortals have chosen to travel the road of disobedience. The minority have chosen the road of obedience.
Each mortal, when born, has the capacity to choose for God or choose against God. There is the time in each mortal’s life when he comes to realize the difference between right and wrong.
From that juncture onward till death, free will is activated. The free will can choose for salvation through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross or choose for self and sin, thus yielding an eternity of damnation with Lucifer and the fallen angels.
The Holy Spirit empowers believers to live the life of holiness under God. Yet those believers choose daily to obey that holy God. At any time, they can choose to discount the Way, Truth and the Life for their own self and sin. Free will is operative until death.
After death, the soul’s destiny has been decided. There is no "second chance" for salvation according to the Bible. Our probationary period for choosing eternal destiny is while alive and thinking on the Earth.
After that, we consign ourselves to heaven or hell. In other words, just as the angels consigned their eternities either to eternal fellowship with God or to be a party of Lucifer’s mutiny, thus bringing hell upon their existences, so it is with mortals. When death comes upon the mortal, the soul has already determined its eternal state prior.
When God created homo sapien in the Garden of Eden, that was a crucial moment in Earth time for that free will could actually have the power by which to turn against the Creator Himself. Since then, mortals have had the power to, in so many words, tell God to "go to hell" by their lives of self and sin. Since then, mortals have been equipped by which to bring much pain to the heart of God.
However, those few mortals in each generation who determine to be a part of the righteous remnant bring much joy to the heart of God. Believers who remain true to Christ till the last breath bring much pleasure to the Eternal Heart.
Each mortal decides in this life to activate free will for God or against God. That decision determines where the soul will spend eternity — heaven or hell.
For more: http://conservativeposts.us/ <http://conservativeposts.us/>
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