Let me ask you... do you think Paul the one whom God used to write most of the New Testament Chose to follow God ???
Paul by his will was out to do evil " thinking it was good "
He was struck down BLINDED by Jesus on the way to kill more Christians. Did God care about Pauls WILL ??? Thanks be to God that he does not. Our will is bound in sin and the Flesh as it is written:
Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Have you not read how Jonah behaved even after being in the whale ?
How he chose to be angry with God for showing mercy to Ninevah !
Did that still stop God from dealing with Him as a Chosen Son ??
I am not saying that men do not have the ability to do wrong... I am saying MEN have no ability to do what is RIGHT without the Spirit of Christ. Men do right things for wrong reasons. They can not give without selfish motives except they be BORN by the Holy Spirit of God.
Gal 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,
16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
Acts 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do
Paul was chosen of God... From his Mothers womb in deed before the world began.
Men make choices but they chose to do what God has ordained from all eternity to happen.
RE>>Those who God choses to put faith in still must decide to follow Him<<
No one can come unto Jesus unless it is granted.. Men often get caught up in Alter calls and "accepting Jesus" but these things either happen after they are already Born again and it is the power of Jesus that has softened them and given them a new heart of it is merely an exercise done in the flesh.
Faith comes before we ever do any so-called accepting of GOD.
=== I don't remember Paul accepting Jesus do you ??? ===
No Jesus chose Paul to Suffer for His sake WHILE he was yet Persecuting His Bride .
Acts 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
Paul did not 'accept Jesus ' he was struck blind by Jesus and had to be led by hand to the City.. In fact that blindness in the flesh returned later in Paul life and was a thorn to him.
Study the Bible ... Look at all the men who "accepted Jesus"
=== That is the Gospel according to the Flesh ! ===
What did Jesus say to the Twelve ??
John 6:70 Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?
Look at the calling of the Disciples... did Jesus ask them to accept Him ?? No he called them and they immediately dropped their nets.
In deed except Jesus grant you life you cannot come to accept or any other thing concerning him. Men are not FREE to Chose Jesus.. They freely do what soever they do but they have no FREE WILL concerning Salvation nor their eternal destiny. |
