Problems with the Simple Foreknowledge View

Some have proposed a model of divine foreknowledge which allows them to avoid the dilemma of affirming either that God creates people for the purpose of sending them to hell (Calvinism) or that he creates them without certain knowledge of their fate (open theism). In this alternative view God knows that certain individuals will be damned but cannot on this basis refrain from creating them. This is called “simple foreknowledge,” for it holds that God simply knows what will take place but cannot alter it in the light of this knowledge. The fact that God foreknows what will occur does not increase his control over what occurs.

This view is somewhat different from the classical Arminian position, in which divine foreknowledge was understood to increase God’s control over what transpires without denying human freedom. The original disagreement between Arminius and Calvinistic contemporaries concerned whether God predestines the elect on the basis of his foreknowledge of their faith, as Arminius held, or foreknows the elect on the basis of his having predestined them. The Arminian position presupposes that God acts responsively to his foreknowledge. Thus, he foreknows who will believe and then predestines them.

The simple foreknowledge position denies that God can respond to his foreknowledge in this way, thus avoiding the problem of God creating individuals he knows will go to hell. In this view, God’s act of creating people is not affected by his knowledge of what will become of them. It is as though God possesses “insider information” but must buy and sell as thought he did not. For the same reason, this view does not require divine reason behind every event that occurs. God eternally foreknows each particular evil that will ever take place, but he can do nothing about it.
There are a few problems with this view. First, this and every other version of the Exhaustively Definite Foreknowledge doctrine cannot adequately account for the many passages of Scripture that depict God as facing a partly open future. Indeed, in one respect the simple foreknowledge perspective fares worse than classical Arminianism or Calvinism. Whenever Scripture emphasizes God’s foreknowledge of future events, it is to exalt his sovereign control over what is to come, which is exactly what the open view promotes.

Second, while the simple foreknowledge position avoids some difficulties by denying that God can alter his behavior in response to his knowledge of the future, it invites other difficulties. How can God respond to anything? With all Christians, defenders of simple foreknowledge want to affirm that God sometimes intervenes to bring about events that are more in line with his will. But if God can’t alter the future that he knows is coming, how can he respond to this same future when it becomes present? In the simple foreknowledge view, God must first experience events in the present as though he had no foreknowledge and then foreknow what he experienced and how he responded. In other words, his foreknowledge functions as a sort of “hindsight.”

One might be inclined to pity God if this is his predicament. From all eternity he has seen what is coming—the cosmic war, the horror, the pain, the suffering, the unending plight of the damned. And he can even foresee how he will respond to these tragedies once they occur. But he cannot do anything ahead of time to avoid them. He’s hopelessly locked into an unending vision he can do nothing about.

Third, this understanding of divine foreknowledge is irrelevant. In this view, God’s exhaustive foreknowledge doesn’t make any practical difference for God or for us concerning the flow of history. Everything proceeds as thought God did not possess Exhaustively Definite Foreknowledge. Indeed, if we hold to the pragmatic criterion of truth and insist that a belief must be able to make a conceivable difference in life to be meaningfully affirmed, then simple foreknowledge must be dismissed.

—Adapted from Satan and the Problem of Evil, pages 88-90

The Finished Work of the Cross

The blame and shame game played by religion is a shameful game for people who claim to be believers to play because it doesn't just accuse that people are guilty of DOING wrong, it actually accuses people of of BEING wrong and therefore lower than a snakes belly, not worthy of being loved, respected, deserving of dignity or consideration...unfit sinners not loved by  God, good-for-nothing-nothings and that is a lie of the devil! The finished work of Christ on the cross dispels the lie of religion that says people are "unworthy" and "shameful."  The finished work of Christ on the cross stands as the beacon of people's amazing worth to God, how much He loves people and how deserving people are to be loved, and respected!

The finished work of the  cross says God loves and accepts people even sinning-sinners in the midst of their sin...thus, the cross not only assures us of God's love but puts to death any lies or accusations that people are unworthy, shameful, or rejected..for the finished work of the cross proves people are worth dying for, the finishes work of the cross proves we're not rejected even at our worst, the cross proves Jesus is not ashamed to be counted with the transgressors. And thus the cross forever silences those voices of religious accusations.

The finished work of the cross shows that His love is a unconditional love, a love that does not take into account a wrongs done, a love that keeps no record of wrongs, a love that says of His killers, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing."

Religion majors on people's wrongs...Grace sees past peoples wrongs to the hurting inner man, so in need of understanding and the tender loving care of his loving Father God.

The finished work of the  cross' clarion call shouts over the aeons of eternity, He created you for Himself and you are His very own offspring... worth His dying for! You are worth His very own life. You are so special and beloved and accepted in His sight that He rather died so as to have a relationship with You. You are in His heart,  His thoughts forever. He is forever on your side, forever for you, and will never leave you or forsake you. He will never turn you away from His presence. You're everything to Him, and He will never let anything keep you from enjoying sweet communion with Him for ever and always, there ain't no devil going to get you"

The finished work of the cross forever stands as proof of God's love and people's value to Him in the face of any accusation or lying voice of religious blame and shame or condemnation...for He says you are worth His dying for, you are loved no matter what wrong you have done, He will never love you any less no matter how often you fail, He's for you, on your side, to do you good, no matter what, forever and always.

Jesus is committed, faithful, His love is unconditional, nonjudgmental, generous, self-sacrificing and people-centered...PURE LOVE! The finished work of the cross is your proof that it is so!

Fall From Grace People

When the full understanding of God's Grace becomes a reality in your living, you will be inundated with  religious rules and regulations of religious people, that Paul names as, "fallen from grace" people.

If there is one thing that riles the wrath of the religionist, it is the far reaching effect of God's amazing grace and love, they can't see God's Grace and Love "reaching to the highest star or to the depth of the lowest hell." They cannot see it as "unconditional." This wrath stirred in them may be due to the lack of God's Grace and Love in their lives, and in the preaching of their perverted gospel of mixed law and grace.

From one side of their mouth they will tell you that God is a God of love and grace...while from the other side of the same mouth they say, BUT...both these statements come from the same heart. A divided heart that speaks both good and evil...if the Spirit of Christ is in that heart...this kind of talk should not happen. The divided heart of the religionist will weep and pray for the sinner to come to the alter for salvation, and in the same breath consign them to hell fire at a future time if they do not.

If you are a grace living believer, never lose sight of the fact that the religious spirit of the religionists ever seeks to bring you into bondage of religious ideologies, notions, rules and traditions that would regulate, control, and dispense God's love and grace only to those they deem worthy...the sinner that they can convince to accept salvation, as they, from their divided heart, heap the wrath of God on the sinner who don't.  You live in a religious world that equates God's "grace and love" with with an act of obedience to the keeping of religious rules...conditional love...while God's love is unconditional. You will always be the target of the grace-plus or the graceless people who, enraged by your acceptance and understanding of God's amazing grace in you, will condemn and accuse you of being a heretic.

But don't fret...Jesus was hated and ultimately crucified by overzealous religious people for being graceful, loving and being a friend of sinners. This kind of opposition from the religious self-righteous assures you of the reality of His life within you.

But don't fret...Jesus was hated and ultimately crucified by overzealous religious people for being graceful, loving and being a friend of sinners. This kind of opposition from the religious self righteous assures you of the reality of His life within you.

Why Did God Allow Evil

Is it possible to force people to love? Powerful people may be able to force others to do just about anything. Through psychological or physical torture, they may succeed in forcing them to curse their own children to deny their faith. They may even succeed in forcing others to act and say loving things to them. But no one can force another person to actually love them.

But God created us, someone might respond, so he need not coerce us to love him. He could simply create us with an unquenchable desire to love him. In this case we would choose to love God simply by virtue of how we were created. I suggest that this supposition also conflicts with our experience.
Consider this analogy: Suppose I were able to invent a computer chip that could interact with a human brain in a deterministic fashion, causing the person who carries the chip to do exactly what the chip dictates without the person knowing this. Suppose further that I programmed the chip to produce “the perfect wife” and inserted it in my wife’s brain while she was sleeping. The next morning she would wake up as my idea of a perfect wife. She would feel, behave and speak in a perfectly loving fashion. Owing to the sophistication of the chip, she would believe that she was voluntarily choosing to love me in this fashion, though in truth she could not do otherwise.

Would my wife genuinely love me? I think not. Proof of this is that I (and hopefully all husbands) would eventually find this “love” unfulfilling. I would know that my wife was not experiencing these loving feelings or engaging in this loving behavior on her own. In reality, I would simply be acting and speaking to myself through this sophisticated computer chip. My wife’s behavior would not be chosen by her, so she would not really be loving me at all. She would become the equivalent of a puppet. If I want love from her, she must personally possess the capacity to choose not to love me.


If God desires a bride made up of people who genuinely love him (see Jn 17)—who do not just act lovingly toward him—he must create people who have the capacity to reject him. He must endow agents with self-determination. They, not he, must determine whether or not they will love him and each other. And this, I submit, explains why God created a world in which evil was possible. If love is the goal, it could not be otherwise. God chose to create a world in which evil is possible only in the sense that he chose to create a world in which love is possible. The possibility of evil is not a second decision God makes; it is implied in the single decision to have a world in which love is possible. It is, in effect, the metaphysical price God must pay if he wants to arrive at a bride who says yes to his triune love.

Think for a Minute

Think for a minute about this question:

If you see a person drowning do you…

1. jump in and save them, no questions asked
2. stop and ask them how they got into that situation in the first place
3. throw them a book that teaches them how to swim
4. chastise them about not knowing how to do the breast stroke

Now apply this to Christianity. If a person is in need of healing, or freedom from whatever, what would you do?

Sadly, many Christians will say salvation is a gift, yet their actions show they believe we all need to earn it. That is similar to a person doing either 2,3, or 4 when they see someone drowning. To a person needing freedom they will say things like:

-“well you can’t get healed until we know how you got in this situation in the first place.”

-OR they say, “come to this course, or go to that seminar first and learn how you can be healed.”

-OR they say, “you should know better! You made your bed so you’ll have to sleep in it now!”

And it’s because of this kind of thinking that many Christians can’t understand why so-and-so (who leads an ungodly lifestyle) got healed, while Mr. Brown (who is the most moral Christian in the church) has been suffering for years.

The difference is: that sinner realizes the gift he’s been given. He is not looking at whether or not he deserves to be healed, he is only concerned with the fact that he just heard that God loves… him and he believes it.

But Mr. Brown has been looking at his own life rather than looking at Jesus. Mr. Brown is ‘stuck,’ like many Christians are, wondering why he hasn’t been healed. He may not realize it, but he is waiting to earn his gift. He has quoted many scriptures on healing (memorized several), fasted and he is a faithful member of his local church. So, why was the sinner healed and not him? Because the sinner believed God, while Mr. Brown believed in his own Christian accomplishments. One received the gift he was given while the other didn’t believe God really wants to give it to him. His own self-righteousness has created his unbelief.

“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law then Christ died needlessly.” (Gal. 2:21)

Pastor Joseph Prince from New Creation Church in Singapore says, “in the New Covenant there is nothing for us to do, but there’s everything for us to believe.”

God made the New Covenant with Himself so it’s impossible that it will be broken. All we need to do is believe that what He did is enough.

God says, “I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more.” (Heb.8:12, Heb.10:17, Isaiah 43:25).

In these verses we see that God says He wants us to believe that we are forgiven.

He wants us to keep on counting on His forgiveness.

But more often than not I find that we don’t believe God isn’t dealing with us through our sin. I hear people say things like, “I did ____ and now ____is happening.”

What we are really asking when we say these things is: did God mean what He said? Will He really remember our sin no more?

Yes! He really means what He says. But the enemy knows, once we believe God, he’s (the enemy) in trouble. So, he crafted a clever way to keep us from believing God by using the covenants against us.

Like the first covenant in the garden. God told Adam not to eat of the fruit of one tree. All the other trees he could eat of, but not the one. So, the devil used that one small commandment against Adam and tempted him to disbelieve God.

We also see this happened with the Old Covenant law (see Romans 7).

But the New Covenant is a covenant of grace. In the NC all we need to do is believe that God is merciful and that He remembers our sins no more. God is so confident is this Covenant that He God put a safety mechanism in it. He says He will write His laws on our hearts and put it in our minds (Jer. 31:33). This means you are transformed from the inside out.

When a person is truly counting on their forgiveness, they’ll realize God has given them a new will and new desires. They see it as an assurance that they will never abuse God’s grace. They will never use their forgiveness as a reason to continue in sin.

A person who is more conscious of their failures is not counting on their forgiveness. They are counting on their own ability to sin. They are only aware of a “broken fellowship with God”, because that is what they’ve been taught.

If you’re only conscious of sin it’s impossible to be aware of His forgiveness through love, and you will live in bondage and in error.

1 Tim 4:1,2

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.

We think this means that this person has sinned so much they can no longer feel their conscience pricking. But the Scriptures paint a very different picture. Look at the word “sear” in Greek.

Strong’s 2743

kautériazó: sear with a hot iron (cauterize)

(A perfect past participle): whose souls are branded with the marks of sin,

i. e. who carry about with them the perpetual consciousness of sin

In conclusion, if you count on the fact that you’ve been forgiven, then it changes you. It transforms you inside out. The more you count on the fact that you’re forgiven the more you get a sense of God’s love.

I can tell you ‘God loves you, God loves you, God loves you’ but it might mean nothing to you. BUT if I can convince you that God has forgiven all your sins (past present and future), then I guarantee you will know God’s love because the love of God has been demonstrated through His forgiveness.

The more you know you’re forgiven, the more you’ll feel the love of God. The more you feel the love of God the more your heart is filled with love. You’ll love God because He first loved you. And you will no longer desire the things you used to.

Sin will be gone.

Addictions will broken.

Fear will be obliterated.

All because of His love.

And you’ll love people around you. It will be a normal response. You won’t feel like you’re in and out of fellowship with God if you sin. But you’ll freely receive the healing and freedom He has paid for and you’ll freely give it away.

Knowing this will keep you from burning out or becoming discouraged while living in the supernatural. Because the gifts of the Spirit are just that; they are gifts. They cannot be earned which means they aren’t a stamp of approval on your life. If you understand the Gospel, the rest is easy!

How to Live the Abiding Life

Michael answers the key question: HOW…?  Every Christian who hears about and decides to want to “abide” is faced with this “how?”  Soak on what Michael has to say, and begin to REST and TRUST and RELEASE CONTROL and DEPEND in the One you say you are trusting to have forgiven you of your sins and will one day take you to Heaven to be with Him for all eternity.  Which is more difficult?  Christ forgiving sin and giving us eternal life in Heaven, OR taking care of us for a few years with some simple life situations (for Him) here on Earth?  Well, amen.

HOW TO LIVE THE ABIDING LIFE

…The “how-to” of abiding begins not with a work, but with an attitude to be maintained.  We live in an attitude of abiding, deeply aware that He is our life.  First, we are to be constantly mindful of our true condition were we to be outside of the Vine…

…Coming to know oneself and accept the fact that in one’s body dwells no good thing is not easy, and often is accompanied by much suffering…The first step, then, is to know ourselves and carry the attitude of absolute dependence that comes from this knowledge throughout the day.

Second, each of us must take his place as one who believes.  Believing is not so much work as it is rest, not so much activity as it is receiving, and not so much what is immediately reaped as patience in the wait prior to obtaining.  Faith is waiting on God to provide in quiet confidence, something that every living creature fathoms except man, who must learn it.  Faith is enjoyable waiting and easy resting.

Third, we are aware that the abiding life is not a feeling, but an awareness.  One of the great secrets of the Christian life is that when one is filled with the Spirit he generally feels nothing, since it is the natural and normal way of life…Abiding is knowing that He is keeping us even when we cannot keep ourselves.

Fourth, we take our place as the creatures and give up our tendency and desire to play the role of the Creator.  We understand that we are His creation and with full confidence expect Him to maintain us.

Once we have taken our place as the creatures, next we resolve to live only one moment at a time…

…Life is only to be lived one moment at a time, being faithful in each to experience His life.  God will then give succeeding moments wherein we are abiding and full of His life, and these moments will soon turn into days, and finally into a lifetime of living out of the joy of the Master’s presence…Ask only for the grace that you need today…

…Each day begin with this simple confession: “This day, Lord, I thank You that I am in You and You are in me.  Thank You that no matter how I feel, I abide in You.  Thank You, Lord, that it is not a position I must struggle to maintain, for You have put me there.  This moment is all I will be concerned for.  I accept my position of abiding with joy.”

There isn’t much more I can say other than what I expressed in the introduction to today’s writing.  It still boils down to REST and TRUST and RELEASE CONTROL …and DEPENDENCE (albeit those are four things we don’t do so well most days) and…to do so “one moment at a time”, “moment-by-moment.”  Oh, yes…don’t forget, the WAY is BY GOD’s GRACE (His doing it through us…see 2 Corinthians 12:9-10).  Hallelujah!

- Mike Wells

Add a ONE to all your ZEROS

How many times in life have you had someone say something so simple and seemingly so minuscule…that turned out to be so profound?  Michael shares one of those moments in his life that turned out to be so profound.  Enjoy this one…then make sure the One is in front of all you are counting on!

Day 2

Add a One to All Your Zeros

Jesus said to him, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” --John 14:6

While I was in India speaking at a school, one of the dorm parents asked to talk to me. He turned out to be a great blessing to me as he sat sharing about so many things. He had been a Brahman, one of the elite of Hinduism, worshipped as a god. He had always been taught that there were many ways to God, and yet he began to wonder, “Do I have the right way?” It was this questioning and the Holy Spirit that had brought him to Jesus. Once he confessed his faith, he was banned from going to his house, and after sixteen years, his father died without reconciliation. He is now tolerated and allowed to visit his house, so long as he does not stay. He really does not care, for he has found Jesus. The most interesting point he made was about writing on a chalkboard his qualifications for being a Christian. Under talent he put zero. Under ability he put zero. Under intelligence: zero. Under people skills he put zero. In every category, he put a zero. He looked on the board and all he had written was a line of zeros. Then a man said to him, “Let me show you something. All you have are zeros, six to be exact. Now we will add one to all the zeros, the only ONE that matters. We will add Jesus to all your zeros.” The man then put a one at the front of all the zeros and said, “See? When I added the ONE to the front, where Jesus belongs, your zeros have now become one million. Add Jesus to your zeros and your weaknesses become your strength.”

Beautiful!  Simple, yet so profound!  Just add the One to the front of all I am counting on, and I now have strength in all my weaknesses!  Hallelujah!

Man is so conceited to think he can be “something,” isn’t he?  Ooops, that includes you and me.  Oh, my.  Well, amen.  Now I know better. 

The question always is:  Will I admit I am a zero?

Michael gave me one of these little tidbits one time: My IQ is not much.  I’ve never had it “figured,” but I know it can’t be much.  But God gave me the Mind of Christ when I was Born Again, and now I can draw upon His IQ of one hundred million kazillian.  Pretty good, huh?  Thank you, Lord, for this magnificent gift. 

Oh, yeah…I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me.  Thank you, Lord, for this magnificent gift.

He is the One who at the front makes all my zeros become something.  Amen.

- Mike Wells