Our God is in control of this world- absolutely in control of it (Ps. 76:10). God, and God alone, is in absolute, total control of the entire universe. We can and should trust Him with implicit confidence in all things, and with all things. The Word of God, the promises of God, the prophecies of Holy Scripture are all utterly meaningless unless our God is the God who rules everything, whose will is always performed, whose purpose stands fast, whose thoughts are irresistible!
Here is the basis of our faith and the foundation of our comfort- Our God is in control- as fully in control of Satan, the demons of hell, and the thoughts and deeds of wicked men as he is of the angels about his throne. We live in a world of woe. We are often tossed to and fro in this world, confused and perplexed by many things. Let us ever rest ourselves in our God.
“All things are of God.” All things are ordered by our heavenly Father for our good. All things are arranged by God’s infinite wisdom and omnipotent arm for his glory. Nothing is beyond his dominion. If the god you trust can be controlled, hindered, or even influenced by you, by Satan, or by all the powers of earth and hell, then the god you trust is no God at all, and you are an idolater.
Our God is not a spectator or even a competitor in this world. He is the Ruler of it. Salvation is knowing him, the only trueand living God as he is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ his Son, the God-man, our Savior (John 17:3). He who is our God is the only God you can trust.
~ by Don Fortner
For the Love of His Truth 
Our God does not rule apparently in many peoples theology. Their language of their faith about the way they understand God is distorted.
Many well-known theologians that Christians look up to and take their words as gospel Truth sow bad seeds. Adrio König is one of those that do not see God as Ruling. With the Twin Towers plane bombs he said God was surprised, it took Him unawares. Then in his Christian dictionary he states that there is something wrong about irresistible grace. “Iewers werk iets nie”. (Die Groot Geloofswoordeboek.) What does the Bible say about God’s sovereignty?
Then the Arminian does not believe God alone, alone is sovereign and believes God alone does not get the glory but man contributes to his salvation and his eternal security. It is the gospel of glory and not the gospel of the cross. In their understanding the devil is most powerful on planet earth and God does not control him or triumph over him, they need to be in offensive warfare to bind a Satan already bound on the cross in the sense that he cannot keep man from redemption and cannot touch God’s anointed Church. God is in complete control over Satan, he created Satan to be in His service. Sin is in God’s service to fulfil His Redemption of His creation. Satan does what God allows him to do and that is to persecute the Church and worse is yet to come and the Christian will experience tribulation.
There are also those that are from a Kingdom Now and Triumphant Glory Church. Christ came in their bodies and they are and will be all powerful in the end time and establish a theocratic Kingdom that will rule over the world and only then Jesus can come back. The twelve Apostles will stand in a row one day to shake these postmodern Church so called Apostles and Prophets hands for what they accomplish in the end times.
It seems that when you do not give God, Soli Deo Gloria then it is another false Gospel. The Five Solae is no longer foundational Biblical principle any more.
Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Solo Christo to the Soli Deo Gloria (glory to God alone)
Nico
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Nico,
Amen and Amen !! “Will worship’ that the Apostle Paul speaks of in Colossians 2:23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
As Don Fortner explains so well “But the most abominable form of idolatry in the world is that which Paul calls “will worship,” the worship of yourself (Col. 2:23). Those who attribute salvation, in whole or in part, to the will, work, or worth of man are the most abominably evil idolaters in the world, for they worship themselves. Freewillism is the worship of self. Legalism is the worship of self. Free-will, works religion makes man his own Savior, for it makes the will, work, or worth of man the determining factor in salvation.
Now hear me well – If your salvation, in whole or in part, is looked upon by you as something that is dependent upon or determined by your will or your works, you are a lost, Christless soul, an idolater. You may talk about God and grace, Christ and redemption, the Holy Spirit and regeneration, but you really worship yourself. You trust in your own decision. Your confidence is in your personal goodness. Your peace is derived not from what Christ has done, but from what you have done. In your opinion the thing that separates you from the damned is not the will of God, the work of Christ, and the call of the Spirit, but your own will, your own work, and your own worth. Read the sermon notes here – http://www.donfortner.com/sermon_notes/19_psalms/psa%20115v01%20Free-will%20or%20Free%20Grace%201042.htm
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God Rules
could I ask u where the Holy Ghost/Holy Spirit fits in Salvation?
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Lou,I believe this will help you in your question.
The Holy Spirit and Salvation
When Paul speaks of the reception of the Holy Spirit by the hearing of faith, he is not talking about a second work of grace, but about the initial experience of grace in salvation. Ephesians 1:13, as it is translated in the King James, has been horribly misinterpreted by many to imply that after sinners are saved, if they are really good, praying, spiritual Christians, then they may receive a higher form of spiritual life by receiving the Holy Spirit. That text in the King James Version reads, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.” That translation might appear to teach that there is an interval between faith in Christ and the seal of the Spirit. But that is incorrect. Ephesians 1:13 would be far more accurately translated, “In whom you also trusted, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.”
In other words, every chosen, redeemed sinner is, by the effectual call and irresistible grace of God the Holy Spirit, granted faith in Christ when he is made to hear the word of truth, “the word of faith,” the gospel of his own salvation accomplished by Christ. And, trusting Christ, he is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. He has sealed to him, that is he is given the conscious assurance of all the blessings of God’s everlasting mercy, love, and grace in Christ (Eph. 1:3-7); and he is sealed in grace, sealed up in infallible, indestructible security in the grace of God (John 10:27-30).
There can be no question regarding this interpretation of Paul’s teaching about God’s people receiving the Holy Spirit, because it is the universal testimony of Holy Scripture that no sinner is saved who has not received the Holy Spirit. All the graces of faith, hope, and love that are wrought in us are the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-24). It is the Holy Spirit who reveals Christ in us, grants us faith in him by the mighty operations of his grace, and assures us of our acceptance with God in Christ (Gal. 1:15; Eph. 2:8; Phil. 2:13; Col. 1:12).
Salvation is the knowledge of the one true and living God as he is revealed in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:3). But there is no possibility of anyone knowing God, knowing Christ, except God the Holy Spirit take the things of Christ and reveal them unto him (John 16:8-14). If we belong to Christ, we have received the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). We have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit. He showed us our guilt, convincing us of sin. He convinced us of righteousness, of righteousness accomplished and brought in by Christ our Substitute. He convinced us of judgment, judgment finished, justice satisfied, condemnation forever removed by the death of Christ in our room and stead at Calvary. It is God the Holy Spirit who has revealed the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ to us (Rom. 3:24-26; 2 Cor. 4:3-6).
This great gift of grace is altogether without our works. We received faith by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:8-9). Our works could never bring it. We received peace by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:1-5). Our works could never give it. We have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit. It is God the Spirit who formed Christ in us in the new birth, making us partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). Our works could no more sanctify us than they could justify us. We have communion with God the Father by the Holy Spirit. Our works could never give us access to him. The Holy Spirit teaches us to pray and helps us in prayer (Rom. 8:26). The law could never do so. The Holy Spirit, as we have seen already, is our seal and pledge and assurance of heaven (Eph. 1:13). The law never secured that for anyone. The Lord Jesus Christ brings his people into rest, which Moses and Joshua could not do, by the operation of the Holy Spirit (Heb. 4:9-10). The Holy Spirit is a fountain of living water springing up in the soul (John 7:36-39). The works of the law are a broken cistern.
The Connection
Clearly, the doctrine of Holy Scripture is that salvation is wrought in us by the power and grace of God the Holy Spirit, without our works. But what is the connection between the hearing of faith and receiving the Holy Spirit, between the hearing of faith and the experience of salvation. It is just this ― “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
Not only has the Lord God ordained who shall be saved, as well as the very time and place when he will work his grace in them, he has also ordained the means by which grace, salvation, and faith shall come to them; and that means is the preaching of the gospel. This is exactly what he says in his Book, God’s elect are “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” And he does not leave us to guess what he means by that. He says, “And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Pet. 1:23-25).
When the time of love has come (Ezek. 16:8), when the Lord God will call out a sinner, he raises up a man to preach the gospel to that sinner and causes their paths to cross by one means or another. He causes the chosen sinner to hear the gospel preached; but the sinner has no ability to understand it. He cannot receive the things of God. They are foolishness to him (1 Cor. 2:14). But when the Spirit of God conveys the gospel to the heart, he comes with it, enlightens the mind, gives understanding, and sweetly, irresistibly, effectually inclines the heart to believe and the will to receive and embrace Christ, as he is set forth in the gospel (John 1:12-13; 6:63; 1 Cor. 2:9-13; Heb. 4:12). Then, believing on the Son of God, having received God’s salvation by the hearing of faith, the saved sinner sings with David, “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee!”
You can read full article here : http://www.donfortner.com/bible_class_lessons/galatians/gal%2011%2003v02%20The%20Holy%20Spirit%20and%20the%20Hearing%20of%20Faith.htm
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A few years ago, a free-will worshiping blogger who consistently seems to get a kick and a certain sick pleasure out of referring to me as a “Calvinist”, wrote in reply to a comment I had made describing the Sovereignty of God, that it is always very wrong to state that God is in control. His ludicrous and anti-Christ reasoning was that, if an unbeliever were to read that God was always in control of all things, it would scare or dissuade them from making a “decision” to “accept” God’s offer of salvation.
I suppose this should come as no surprise, as the god which the Arminian worships is a weak and powerless god who is always on his knees, begging men to accept him and his son, in the hope that sinners will stop sinning and allow him to befriend them. Would it therefore, be any further surprise that the very same will-worshiper regards Dave Hunt, the heretic whom the modern day Arminians idolize, as God’s greatest gift to the church, rather than the ultimate sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?
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Thank you Nico, for reminding me of the previous incident I described, in your comment here.
Thank you also for proclaiming God’s truth in your words:
God is in complete control over Satan, he created Satan to be in His service. Sin is in God’s service to fulfil His Redemption of His creation. Satan does what God allows him to do and that is to persecute the Church and worse is yet to come and the Christian will experience tribulation.
Die enigste ding wat nie in Adrio Konig se teologie gewerk het nie, is die valse god wat hy daardeur voorgestel het. Om ‘n God te aanbid wat deur ‘n gebeutenis soos die aanval op New York omkant gevang of verras kan word, is nie ‘n god wat ek my lewe aan sou kon toevertou nie. Dit is verstommend dat sommige gesiene leraars en skrywers niks van God se Almag, soewereiniteit of die evangelie begryp nie.
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