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My heart was really stirred this last month. I attended a meeting where an old friend of mine was ministering. He had been through some terrible things that nearly destroyed his faith. He became bitter and angry at God for the things that had happened. When I heard him, he had humbled himself and was again loving the Lord and excited about the future. Praise the Lord! However, in the process, he had come to believe that it was the Lord that caused all his problems. He had resigned himself to the “sovereignty of God.”
I believe this is the worst doctrine in the church today. I know that this is a shocking statement and is near blasphemy to some people, but the way sovereignty” is taught today is a real faith killer. The belief that God controls everything that happens to us is one of the devil’s biggest inroads into our lives. If this belief is true, then our actions are irrelevant, and our efforts are meaningless. What will be will be.
If we believe that God wills everything, good or bad, to happen to us, it gives us some temporary relief from confusion and condemnation, but in the long-term, it slanders God, hinders our trust in God, and leads to passiveness.
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
The word “sovereign” is not used in the King James Version of the Bible. It is used 303 times in the Old Testament of the New International Version, but it is always used in association with the word “LORD” and is the equivalent of the King James Version’s “LORD God.” Not a single one of those times is the word “sovereign” used in the manner that it has come to be used in religion in our day and time.
Religion has resulted in the invention of a new meaning for the word “sovereign,” which basically means God controls everything. Nothing can happen but what He wills or allows. However, there is nothing in the actual definition that states that. The dictionary defines “sovereign” as, “1. Paramount; supreme. 2. Having supreme rank or power. 3. Independent: a sovereign state. 4. Excellent.” None of these definitions means that God controls everything.
It is assumed that since God is paramount or supreme that nothing can happen without His approval. That is not what the Scriptures teach. In 2 Peter 3:9, Peter said, “The Lord is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” This clearly states that it is not the Lord’s will for anyone to perish, but people are perishing. Jesus said, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat” (Matt. 7:13). Relatively few people are saved compared to the number that are lost. God’s will for people concerning salvation is not being accomplished.
This is because the Lord gave us the freedom to choose. He doesn’t will anyone into hell. He paid for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2; 1 Tim. 4:10), but we must choose to put our faith in Christ and receive His salvation. People are the ones choosing hell by not choosing Jesus as their Savior. It is the free will of man that damns them, not God.
People virtually have to climb over the roadblocks that God puts in their way to continue on their course to hell. The cross of Christ and the drawing power of the Holy Spirit are obstacles that every sinner encounters. No one will ever stand before God and be able to fault Him for withholding the opportunity to be saved. The Lord woos every person to Him, but we have to cooperate. Ultimately, the Lord simply enforces the consequences of people’s own choices.
God has a perfect plan for every person’s life (Jer. 29:11), but He doesn’t make us walk that path. We are free moral agents with the ability to choose. He has told us what the right choices are (Deut. 30:19), but He doesn’t make those choices for us. God gave us the power to control our destinies.
Typical teaching on the sovereignty of God puts Jesus in the driver’s seat with us as passengers. On the surface that looks good. All of us have encountered the disastrous results of doing our own thing. We desire to be led of the Lord, and teaching that nothing happens but what God wills fits that nicely. However, the Scriptures paint a picture of each of us being behind the wheel of our own lives. We are the one doing the driving. We are supposed to take directions from the Lord, but He doesn’t do the driving for us.
Man has been given the authority over his own life, but he must have the Lord’s direction to succeed. Jeremiah 10:23 says, “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” God created us to be dependent upon Him and our independence is at the root of all our problems. As if it wasn’t bad enough for man to try to run his affairs independently of God and His standards, it has been made even worse by religion teaching us that all our problems are actually blessings from God. That is a faith killer. It makes people totally passive.
James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” This verse makes it clear that some things are from God, and some from the devil. We must submit to the things that are of God and resist the things that are from the devil. The word “resist” means, “Actively fight against.” Saying “Whatever will be will be” is not actively fighting against the devil.
If a person really believed that God is the one who put sickness on them because He is trying to work something for good in their life, then they should not go to the doctor or take any medicine. That would be resisting God’s plans. They should let the sickness run its course and thereby get the full benefit of God’s correction. Of course, no one advocates that. That is absurd. It is even more absurd to believe that God is the one behind the tragedy.
Acts 10:38 says that Jesus healed all those who were oppressed OF THE DEVIL. It was not God who oppressed them with sickness. It was the devil. It’s the same today. Sickness is from the devil, not from God. We need to resist sickness and, by faith, submit ourselves to healing, which is from God through the atonement of Christ.
I know someone is thinking, What about the Old Testament instances where God smote people with sickness and plagues? There is a lot I could say about that if I had the space, but a simplified answer to that question is that none of those instances were blessings. They were curses. God did use sickness in the Old Testament as punishment, but in the New Testament, Jesus bore our curse for us (Gal. 3:13). The Lord would no more put sickness on a New Testament believer than He would make us commit a sin. Both forgiveness of sin and healing are a part of the atonement Jesus provided for us.
Deuteronomy, chapter 28, should forever settle this question for all who believe the Word of God. The first 14 verses of Deuteronomy 28 list the blessings of God and the last 53 verses list the curses of God. Healing is listed as a blessing (Deut. 28:4). Sickness is listed as a curse (Deut. 28:22, 27-28, 35, 59-61). God called sickness a curse. We should not call it a blessing.
Knowing that God is not the author of my problems is one of the most important revelations the Lord has ever given me. If I thought it was God who killed my father when I was twelve, and some of my best friends before I was 20, if it was God who had people kidnap me, slander me, threaten to kill me, and turn loved ones against me, then I would have a hard time trusting God, if He was like that.
On the contrary, it is very comforting to know that God only has good things in store for me. Any problems in my life are from the devil, of my own making, or just the results of life on a fallen planet. My heavenly Father has never done me any harm and never will. I KNOW that.
I am not saying that there is nothing to learn from hardships. Most of you reading this article have come to the Lord because of something in your life that overwhelmed you and caused you to turn to the Lord for help. That situation was not from God regardless of the results. It was you turning to the Lord and the faith you placed in Him that turned your life around, not the hardship.
If hardships and problems made us better, then everyone who has had problems would be better for them. Those who have the most trouble would be the best. That simply is not so.
Let me illustrate this with a story about my son, Joshua. When he was only a year old, I was loading lumber on a large truck in the heat of a Texas summer. I had Joshua with me, and he was having a big time playing in the lumber yard. By mid-afternoon, he was tired and sleepy and started to lie down in the dirt for a nap. I knew his mother wouldn’t like that, so I put him in the cab of the truck to lie down and take his nap.
He had been wanting to get into that truck all day, and when I put him in there, he revived. I had to roll the windows down because it was hot, and Joshua was leaning out the windows and waving at me in the side view mirrors. I told him to lie down and even gave him a spanking, but he didn’t take heed. He leaned out the window too far, fell out of the cab, hit his eye on the running board and landed on his head.
I ran up to him, prayed over him, and held him until he quit crying. Then I told him that was why I told him to lie down and go to sleep and not lean out the window. I used that situation which caused him pain, to teach him, but if Joshua would have been like the sovereignty teachers of today, he would have gone out and told all his friends that his father made him fall out of that truck to teach him to obey. That’s not so. I did what I could to restrain him. I would be very hurt if that’s the way Joshua thought I was.
Likewise, I don’t believe it blesses our heavenly Father for us to blame Him for all the problems that come into our lives. Sure, He will comfort us when we turn to Him in the midst of our problems, but He doesn’t create the negative circumstances that hurt our lives.
God is sovereign in the sense that He is paramount and supreme. There is no one higher in authority or power, but that does not mean He exercises His power by controlling everything in our lives. God has given us the freedom to choose. He has a plan for us. He seeks to reveal that plan to us and urge us in that direction, but we choose. He doesn’t make our choices for us.
In many instances, it is our wrong choices that bring disaster upon us. In other cases, our problems are nothing but an attack from the devil. In some cases, natural forces of an imperfect world cause us pain. Our tragedies are never the judgment or correction of God. Jesus came to give us abundant life. The devil came to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). Don’t ever get that confused. If it’s good, it’s God. If it’s bad, it’s the devil.
This is a fundamental doctrine of Christianity that must be understood properly if you want victory in your life. Believing that God controls everything renders a person passive. Why pray and believe for something better? Whatever God wants will come to pass. That simply is not true.
The Lord is the answer to all our problems. He is not the problem.
If you would like more ministry on this pivotal point, please order my teaching entitled, “The Sovereignty of God.” There is much more detail on the teaching than I was able to put into this article. This teaching will change your life.
I suggest that after you listen to it that you share it with someone else. I really believe that confusion on this subject is how Satan pushes his will off on most people. This teaching could change someone’s life.
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Comments
Crickets! Chirp Chirp.
I disagree with many of the things you posted in your article. I'm sorry you deleted all my comments and all of Samuel Sanders's comments as well, without notice to me or anyone else. But I kept a copy of them. They were not inflammatory and were civil. They were merely my alternative opinions and were good points of discussion to consider. I can't repost them here because you since warned me that we are only to discuss "things we were taught in the PFAL class and what we were taught in The Way Corps." In case anyone wants to see them feel free to text or call me (813) 404-9795.
Thanks for this article, Steve. Well thought through and presented.
In the paragraph that says,
"I know someone is thinking, What about the Old Testament instances where God smote people with sickness and plagues? There is a lot I could say about that if I had the space, but a simplified answer to that question is that none of those instances were blessings."
I always viewed those instances, with the Hebrew idiom of permission, when it says "God smote." The people that endured the wrath were living in the adversary's realm. The adversary had influenced them so much that they walked in darkness, bringing their demise upon themselves. The adversary had free rein to smote the crap out of them. That's what he does: steal, kill, and destroy.
The same happens today if we step outside the umbrella of God's protection. I'm not saying dire circumstances don't happen to you when you are under that umbrella. Bad things happen to everyone. When those dire circumstances happen, if we look at it from God's perspective, we can envision the end from the beginning and the deliverance we know we will receive and the glory and praise we can give to God. A good example is in Acts:
Acts 16:24-25 [Paul and Silas], having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
Paul and Silas were in prison, jail! I know how that feels. I didn't go to jail, but I did go through fingerprinting and a mug shot. I was devastated! And my leadership, who took me to the court hearing, drove me home and didn't say a word! Not one word! No encouragement! Nothing like, this will not matter in eternity! Or, you are now in the ranks of Martha Stewart to make me laugh! He just let me wallow in my despair! I know I should have renewed my thinking like Paul and Silas, but a little help would have been appreciated! Anyway, I have grown since then, and a teaching by Tiki Honkanen gave me this perspective that I use today!
God bless! Love you!
Our Creator is the Architect of the universe and the Author of life! The greatest expression of His loving nature is the order and balance of His work plus the truth that He provides guides for us to navigate His creation successfully. The design of life and His will are inseperable. When we make decisions contrary to His will life is out of order and balance.
Sin is that departure or deviation from that will, which results in consequences rather than benefits. Successful living requires proper maintenance, vigilance, circumspection, and effort. Knowing His will and applying it keeps us in balance and order with His design. No one understands human nature better than the Author of life.
One apt analogy might be how a bicycle functions. If the tire pressure is not optimum, it won't go as fast and the rubber will wear faster. Should the spokes be allowed to drift out of tension and alignment, the ride won't be as smooth and the bearings will wear prematurely. If the seat height is adjusted wrong, the rider will not be as comforable and leg stroke will not be most efficient or powerful. All these elements are the responsibility of the owner to steward. Failure to do so results in consequences, some immediate, some come later, but come they will. One could erroneously blame the designer, or curse the device, but the culprit is the operator, the steward.
God has not left us without instructions for living in alignment with His purposes, from the very beginning. When we begin to think we know a better way to live, we deviate from His loving design of order and balance. The blessings of God require living life according to His design. The hazards, difficulties, and consequences in life are avoided when we faithfully follow His will. That requires study, obedience, diligence, and effort, every moment of every day, in every thought, word, and deed.
Salvation (wholeness) is both spiritual and practical, eternal, and day by day. Too many Christians revel in Jesus Christ being their Savior, but struggle with the Lord part. Our calling is to be a child of God, but we are exhorted repeatedly in the scriptures to WALK WORTHY of that calling, every moment of our new life.
Thanks for the article. Too many in the Church have this belief. Somehow God is out to get them when things go awry. Most of the time it's their own decisions that get them there. I can see it plenty of times in my own life. God is sovereign, because He still takes me back when I turn to Him. Sooooo good. I've been enjoying Andrew Wommack for sometime. Especially on walking with the Lord, hearing the voice of God, and speaking in tongues.
You too, Alan, have been a outspoken voice to "confront and correct", for the sake of the Word.
While others may not often agree with you, at a minimum you are not hesitant to speak "the truth in love" according to the Word as you see it. I, for one, appreciate that example of boldness.
Thanks for coming out on Father's Day, Alan!
Thanks for sharing the Wommack article. He has a lot of good insight about walking with and for God as an individual and within the church body. I admire his willingness and grace to confront and correct error where he sees it. Only truth sets people free.
Hi, Thomas Hemingson. Thank you for the "Thank you."
Although we have never met, I enjoyed your description on your Way Corps page:
Thank you, Thomas! God's very best to you and yours on Father's Day.
Samuel,
I took a look at the Amazon summary of Miller's $91 book ($251 in hardback), "Resurrection and Reception in Early Christianity".
Here is what it says (emphasis mine):
Since most won't afford this book, I thought the Way Corps might appreciate the summary.
Thank you.