God is sovereign. He is sovereign according to the dictionary meaning of the word. He is supreme ruler, independent, no one tells Him what to do, and no one controls Him.
Religion however has developed its own definition. That God controls everything and that nothing happens without His permission. This is not true at all. God is not controlling everything that is going on. And He doesn’t want to control everything.
He wants us to be in charge of the earth and to control what is going on here.
This sovereignty teaching is probably the worst heresy in the body of Christ.
James1
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
James tells us to rejoice when we go through various troubles and trials. Why? Because if we stay in faith we shall develop our patience and the end of this is we shall be perfect and mature lacking nothing. This is a perfectly reasonable and sensible suggestion.
There’s no point in getting depressed and sad when you are going through trouble because that achieves nothing. But being joyful and positive achieves a great deal because it teaches you to trust God and depend on God and wait on Him. you develop in patience and your faith grows stronger when you depend on God in trouble. This is the point James is making.
However, religion has interpreted this passage to say that when you get in trouble rejoice because it is God who has given you this trouble in order to develop you faith and to perfect you. Nowhere in that passage does it say that God is the one giving you trouble and trials and tests or that the trials and tests develop you and perfect you. It doesn’t say that. And yet almost everybody believes that. It has been taught for centuries and has become a deeply enshrined doctrine in Christianity.
But think about this. If you really believe that God is the one giving you trouble and trials to test you and develop you. If you believe that He is the one giving you sickness and poverty and ruining your life for some purpose of His then you should fully submit to these things otherwise you will be going against His will.
You shouldn’t go to the doctor or take medicine to be healed, or go to work to prosper. You will be fighting against God and what He is doing in your life. You should not do anything contrary to your troubles and problems because you will be going against God’s will. If God is trying to kill you, let Him kill you. Don’t resist. Submit to Him.
12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. 13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 16 Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
According to Strong’s lexicon the word for tempted in verse 13 means to test, scrutinize, entice, examine, and prove. Thayer’s lexicon defines it as to try, to test one maliciously, craftily to put to the proof his feelings or judgments, to try or test one’s faith, virtue, character, by enticement to sin, to solicit to sin, to inflict evils upon one in order to prove his character and the steadfastness of his faith.
This verse tells us that God does not do any of the above to us. He doesn’t test us maliciously, He doesn’t inflict evil upon us in order to prove our character and the steadfastness of our faith. If these things come upon us, they are not from God.
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Jn10:10
It is the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. God is not the thief. If it is killing, stealing and destroying your life, it is not God. God comes to give life. Some claim that God uses troubles, tragedies and problems to teach us, train us, correct us and develop us but this is also false.
2Timothy3
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
God uses His Word to correct us and instruct us that we may be mature and well prepared unto all good works. His Word is sufficient to accomplish this. The whole of Psalm119 is written to show us the all sufficiency of God’s Word. God uses His Word. He doesn’t use troubles and problems and trials and afflictions. You can prove this by just looking at the people that have suffered the most. Are they the most mature, well developed, effective, successful Christians? Not really. They are usually the angriest, bitterest, most broken people around. James further explains that troubles come primarily from us and our selfish lusts and pursuits. Not from God.
Verse 16 and 17 warn us not to err in this. Only good and perfect gifts come from God. God is a good God. God is good, God is always good, God is only good. And yet this is one of the biggest errors in Christianity today. We have ascribed bad and evil to God. And this error has had tremendous repercussions as we shall see later.
This sovereignty doctrine is just an easy doctrine for us to believe because it takes away all responsibility from us. Everything is God’s fault. He is the one to blame for everything. If we were to use our brains and think about this, it is a stupid doctrine to believe. God is a good God. Only good things come from God. If it is good it is God. If it is bad it is not God.
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isa5:20
There is a doctrine propagated by religion that evil and bad stuff is actually good for you. That it is God training you, blessing you and showing you how much He loves and honors you. This is stupid. And this is what God warned us about. Calling evil good and good evil.
Deut28 tells us what the blessings (good) are in verses 1 -14 and what the curses (bad) are in verses 1568. We don’t have to guess what they are or define them on our own.
Romans8
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
28 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.
This verse doesn’t say that all things happen for good for everyone. It says they happen together for good to those who are interceding together with the Holy Spirit and are operating in God’s will. If we believe the stuff we say about God there’s no way you can trust, love, like or serve Him honestly. If you believe He’s responsible for the wars, earthquakes, murders, rape, tragedy etc. If there was anyone like that, he would be in jail, none of us would associate with such a person. We would even kill him. We can only believe such garbage if we don’t think of God as a person.
If you believe that God is the one who kills babies, makes people to be born deformed, crippled, deaf, blind, makes people sick, causes tragedies that kill millions of peopls and so forth then you will hate and despise Him in your heart regardless of what you say with your mouth.
This has caused people to hate and stay away from God. When they hear us say this stuff they just go the opposite direction. They don’t want to associate with a God who loves them so much He may kill their child or their spouse to wake them up so that they can seek God. They don’t want a God who may make them sick so that He may get some glory. A God who will make them poor, miserable and failures so that He may teach them patience. A God who will curse them because of the sins of their grandparents and parents. This is a popular doctrine of generational curses that is prevalent in the church today.
We have done the world a great disservice by telling them that God is the source of their troubles and tragedies. He causes earthquakes and floods that kill millions of people. He causes plagues, wars and all manner of tragedy. We have told the world that when a person dies it is God who has called them regardless of how they died and their age. All of this has significantly hindered our evangelism. There are millions of people that have rejected salvation because they are angry at God for the tragedy that has happened in their lives and in the earth. They blame God for this because they were told that it was God’s will and that He caused it or allowed it for some reason or the other. All in the name of a false sovereignty teaching that absolves us from all responsibility and makes everything God's fault.
Thank you for sharing. God is great, God is always God, always excellent and forever omnipotent.
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