Introduction

Not one to shy away from important Christian theology, I felt it worthwhile – if not desperately needed – to attempt and offer an explanation to an oftentimes unattractive controversy within Christendom. That is, the Calvinist/Arminian divide. Books have been written on this subject – Dave Hunt’s What Love is This? being my favorite – but I shall attempt to address and summarize this topic within this one article.

To get us started, and without any commentary, the following is offered as working definitions of the two main views.

Calvinism/Reformed Theology

What Is Calvinist Theology? From wise-geek.com. (emphasis mine)

The basic doctrines of this belief system, formalized by the Synod of Dordt in 1619, are “total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of salvation” (TULIP). Various groups may take a various approach to the five-point model of Calvinism, but the overarching ideas are reasonably consistent and lead to other doctrinal and cultural similarities among Calvinist denominations.

Total depravity, within Calvinist theology, is the belief that humans are inherently sinful from birth and that all human efforts toward improving themselves are basically ineffective. This view is similar to Catholic teachings about original sin but contrasts humanist Christian theological beliefs that humans are able to better themselves. Unconditional election is the view that God elects individuals to be saved based on his own choice rather than on their merits since, according to the doctrine of total depravity, humans do not have merit. Those not predestined for salvation, in most Calvinist views, are predestined for hell.

Limited atonement means that Christ’s atonement covers only the sins of the elect, not of all people. Contrasting theologies, such as Arminianism, may argue that the atonement was on behalf of all people and that a person’s choice to accept or refuse the atonement is what determines whether his or her sins are forgiven. In Calvinist theology, however, a person does not make a choice about whether to be saved but is drawn to salvation by God’s irresistible grace, which is the fourth of the five points of Calvinism.

According to Calvinist theology, because God chooses the elect, he also provides them with strength to persevere in their faith. This doctrine is known as the perseverance of salvation or perseverance of the saints. Those who follow this doctrine believe that a member of the elect cannot lose his or her salvation by turning away from faith, and a person who appears to do so is proved not to have actually been one of the elect.

Calvinist theology is often perceived as a very dark theology due to its emphasis on human depravity and its view that those who are not elect are predestined for hell.

Arminianism

Arminianism | Christian theology | Britannica

Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the Remonstrance (1610), a theological statement signed by 45 ministers and submitted to the Dutch states general. The Synod of Dort (1618–19) was called by the states general to pass upon the Remonstrance. The five points of the Remonstrance asserted that: (1) election (and condemnation on the day of judgment) was conditioned by the rational faith or nonfaith of man; (2) the Atonement, while qualitatively adequate for all men, was efficacious only for the man of faith; (3) unaided by the Holy Spirit, no person is able to respond to God’s will; (4) grace is not irresistible; and (5) believers are able to resist sin but are not beyond the possibility of falling from grace. The crux of Remonstrant Arminianism lay in the assertion that human dignity requires an unimpaired freedom of the will.

A Quick Statement

I’m going to resist going through each definition, one by one, and instead offer up what the Scriptures have to say and then conclude with what I believe to be the correct way of looking at this incredibly controversial and intense subject matter.

Biblical Scripture Addressing God’s Sovereignty

The following are Scriptures declaring God’s sovereignty concerning Salvation. (emphasis mine)

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Ephesians 1:4-5).

“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Romans 8:29-30).

“And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing” (John 6:39a).

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44a).

“And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:46-47).

“And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48).

“In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ” (Ephesians 1:11-12).

Biblical Scripture Pertaining to Man’s Freewill

The following are Scriptures declaring man’s freewill to come to Christ, along with God’s desire that all men and women be saved. (emphasis mine)

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:9-13).

“And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).

“And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40).

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20)

“And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34).

“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21).

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31).

“Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

We even have a short passage that incorporates both God’s sovereign work and man’s freewill regarding salvation. (emphasis mine)

“But as many as received him [man’s freedom of choice in coming to Christ], to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God [God’s work of salvation in bringing man to Himself]” (John 1:12-13).

Dichotomy?

As difficult as it may seem to be, there is no dichotomy or contradiction in God’s sovereignty and man’s gift of freewill. They are both true and can be considered two sides of the same coin. When we focus on the one, we have a tendency to forget or neglect the other. This should not be – we should be able to acknowledge both truths at the same time. Two passages in the gospel of John reflect this truth in regard to the act of “drawing.”

“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:31-32).

Christ “will draw all men unto” Himself so that they can make their own decision regarding salvation through the sacrifice of Christ for man’s sins upon the cross.

At the same time:

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44).

Those whom the Father knows will accept Christ’s sacrifice for their sins on the cross will be drawn to Jesus, and He “will raise him up at the last day.”

Both God’s sovereignty and man’s freewill are in play when it comes to being drawn — Christ draws every human being to His cross, that they make their choice regarding His free gift of salvation, and the Father draws all whom God knows will come to His Son in faith. But both drawings are entirely the works of God in allowing humankind, through freewill, the ability to choose.

Additionally, Christ Himself – being God in the flesh – knew everything of man when He was on the earth at His First Coming:

“Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man” (John 2:23-25). (emphasis mine)

This is a sobering passage of Scripture: “Many believed in His Name… but Jesus did not commit Himself unto them.” Whether or not those that believed in His Name because of the miracles were saved or not is not for us to know; but Christ knows because “He [knows] all men, and need not that any should testify of man, for He [knows] what [is] in man.” Here we see man’s freedom of choice – whether true or false converts – and God’s sovereign knowledge of the validity of that choice.

This is a mighty, sovereign, and omniscient God, indeed!

God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Freewill Are Both True!

God’s sovereignty and man’s freewill are both true and should not be viewed as opposed to each other or in conflict with each other. While we, in our finite and sinful condition, may find it difficult at times to reconcile these truths, we should at least be able to come to the conclusion that regardless of our lack of full understanding in any given revelation, we should never allow ourselves to be discouraged in our profession of faith in the perfect Word of God. Here is another chance for the man or woman of God to just let God be God and trust Him and His ways.

With that said, I do believe we can understand these truths, and I’ll be offering a few ways that may help the reader get a better grasp of the issue.

Calvinism’s Moral Depravity of God

Without hitting on all cylinders against the Calvinist doctrine of TULIP, I would be egregiously remiss if I didn’t assert that Calvinism’s claim that God “picks and chooses” who He will save – and who He sends to hell – is absolutely repulsive and makes God into a sinister monster. They have taken God’s sovereignty and turned it into a license of divine immorality and evil.

I realize that this is harsh, but what I know to be true about Almighty God revealed in Scripture shows Him to have no part in “predestinating” anyone to hell. People will be in hell because they chose to be there by rejecting God’s free gift of salvation through His Son and His sacrifice for their sins. Those who reject Christ’s love and sacrifice reject being under the Creator’s rule and desire to never be with Him for eternity. They are a god unto themselves and, most assuredly, rigorously hate Him and despise and reject His authority over them as Creator.

Bottom Line: Calvin’s God is not the God that I read about in Holy Scripture – not even close.

Digging a Little Deeper

Let’s look at this issue with a little different perspective and consider, first, God’s omniscience – or all-knowing – specifically, God’s foreknowledge.

God’s Foreknowledge

God’s foreknowledge seems to be the key in reconciling God’s sovereignty and man’s God-given freewill of choice.

“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10).

If, because of foreknowledge, God already knows the beginning from the end, then we should expect that before God created, He already knew those He would create and, therefore, would know who would accept and love Him and who would reject and hate Him.

We see this omniscience of foreknowledge in Jesus Himself. When Christ gave His “hard sayings” on His being the bread of life and that men and women must eat of His body and drink of His blood (John 6:22-66), He said the following with a statement of truth concerning His omniscience of foreknowledge:

“But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father” (John 6:64-65). (emphasis mine)

Here we see that Jesus, in His earthy ministry, “knew from the beginning who they were that believed not.” We also see the truth – not to the exception of man’s freewill, mind you – that “no man can come unto [Jesus] except it were given unto him of [Jesus’] Father.” This foreknowledge of who would and wouldn’t come to the Son has always been known of the Father and, by extension, the Son of God with the Holy Spirit “from the beginning.”

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one” (John 10:27-30). (emphasis mine)

Examples of God’s Foreknowledge in Human Experience

I’d like to offer the following examples found in everyday human experience that might help the reader grasp God’s foreknowledge of the choices that mankind makes, through their own freewill, and how they play together with God’s pre-determined consummation of creation. While these examples will be far from perfect, they should help us to see this issue a little clearer.

In the examples below, I’ll be showing a professional job title. This professional, in our analogy, will be playing the role of God. Those who will be working for the professional to achieve his desired goal are representative of men and women having freewill. Through the foreknowledge of their actions, the professional will make accommodations for their choices and, ultimately, achieve the professional’s desired outcome.

The Songwriter: The Songwriter composes his song. He’s a generous and gracious Songwriter, so he allows each musician the freedom of expression. But, unbeknownst to them, by his foreknowledge of those individuals that will perform each instrument in the recording of his song, he makes adjustments in his composition to accommodate for each musician’s techniques, improvisations, and instinctive creative license in order to achieve his objective goal. By the foreknowledge of what each musician would do – both the musicians who would stay true to the composition and those who would improvise – and with the adjustments he made to accommodate all of the freewill decisions made by some of the musicians, the end result will be exactly the same as his original intent.

The Playwright: The Playwright has written his script and determined the story’s end. However, knowing through his foreknowledge – like the Songwriter – how some actors will embellish and improvise their lines, the Playwright makes accommodations and script adjustments for the other characters whom he knew would stay true to the script, to keep his story intact and to come to the desired end-result of his production.

The Architect: The Architect creates his plans for his building project. Nevertheless, he realizes, by his foreknowledge, that some of the contractors and sub-contractors will make mistakes, alter the blueprints due to perceived necessity, and offer their own creative license in the building process. The Architect, knowing all of this, will have already made the adjustments accordingly and/or pre-planned appropriately to, again, come to the desired end result of his original plans and intention for the building project.

In all three analogies, the professional was generous and gracious and allowed those he worked with freedom of choice in the process while still maintaining the integrity of the projects and desired end results.

Applying the Analogies

So, being as God sees the end from the beginning, He has used His foreknowledge in knowing in advance the decisions His creatures will make, and is able to work around those decisions as He orchestrates around other people’s lives in accordance with the freewill afforded to them, and all the other creatures playing out their own choices – good or bad – for billions upon billions of people for approximately 6,000 years now. It truly is mind-numbing when our finite intellect considers the complexity of how God works this all out, and that it was actually all worked out before He ever created!

My earthly mentor, Dave Hunt, put it this way concerning God’s foreknowledge and man’s freedom of choice:

“If God cannot know by His foreknowledge what every person will think and do by their free will, then He is not God. Moreover, the fact that God is able to allow man freedom of choice while still effecting His eternal purposes unhindered is all the more glorifying to His sovereign wisdom, power, and foreknowledge.

“What is future to us may not be future to God: He sees not only our past but our present and future as already having happened. From this understanding, God’s knowledge of what in our experience hasn’t yet happened would have no effect upon its occurrence and therefore would leave us free to choose.”

Faith

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

The Lord has instilled in every human being faith to be used as the individual desires through their own freewill. For example, they may use their God-given faith in everyday experience to trust in doctors, medicine, airplane pilots, safely driving a car to a destination, sitting in a chair, astronomy, counselors, love, elected leaders, politics, etc.

An evolutionist has faith to believe that nothing created something – a belief system devoid of facts and refuted by logic, common sense, and mathematics. Where did their inherent faith come from to believe such absurdity? God, of course; but what they did with that faith was, and is, up to them as they utilized their freewill of choice.

On the other side of the origins issue, people have the opportunity to use their God-gifted faith – as God intended – to recognize the creation’s Creator, their sinful condition, and come to God by accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior. Once they have given their lives to Christ, their faith is increased supernaturally by the study of God’s Word and trusting in His promises.

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

We also see in Scripture that the Lord can increase our faith, if we so desire and petition Him, or He may increase our faith unilaterally. (emphasis mine)

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith” (Luke17:5).

“And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:31-32).

“And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2a).

The Lord is the “author and finisher of our faith,” and He will produce in us what we never could have produced in ourselves. Not that we are inactive participants in this faith – on the contrary – we are absolutely responsible for what we do with the faith that we have been so graciously given. We can squander or repress the faith given to us, or we may achieve much fruit by allowing God’s faith to rule and reign in our lives. As we grow in our love for Christ, our faith naturally grows.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Note, again, that “the fruit of the Spirit is… faith” and that through the Spirit, we are able to exercise the faith the Lord has given us for His glory.

Faith is also a spiritual gift from the Spirit of God. Paul included faith as a spiritual gift this way:

“To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit… But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will” (1 Corinthians 12:9, 11). (emphasis mine)

It’s truly a two-way cooperative initiated by our loving God and Savior, carried out by our willingness to please Him, and culminates in life eternal for the man and woman of God!

Practical Ways of Looking at a Seemingly Complex Issue

Here are few statements I came up with, using many familiar Scriptural words and phrases, that may help the reader to better understand the unity of God’s sovereignty and man’s freedom of choice.

God, in His foreknowledge, knew all whom He would create – all who would accept His free gift of salvation in His Son and those who would not. Those He foreknew would give their lives to Him, He elected to be sons and daughters of God through predestination by His acts of creating and saving.

Every human being He ever created was and is eligible for salvation in Christ through their own freewill. The Lord desires all to come to Him – no exceptions. God, in His sovereignty, though, knows in advance those who will love Him and give their lives to Christ, but this does not negate the fact that God loves all and desires all to be with Him.

These truths will never negate our responsibility in preaching the gospel to all people, nor their responsibility to accept the Son’s free gift of salvation and reconciliation to the Father. For it is through this gospel that everyone has to make their own decisions regarding their eternal fate – for the Holy Spirit convicts all of their sin and, therefore, they who reject Him are without excuse.

Because God foreknew us – before He ever created – and knew we would choose Him with our own freewill and with the faith He would give us (along with the faith He gave to every other person to do with that faith what they pleased), He has chosen and predestinated us to be in Christ through His heavenly calling. Therefore, God created the heaven and the earth, and man in His image and likeness.

Salvation is entirely of God, yet man’s freedom of choice is also a determining factor. But we must remember, when it comes to salvation, that it is the Word of God, His law (Romans 7:7), and the Holy Spirit (John 16:7-8) that convicts men of sin and their need for a Savior, and without this drawing of God, mankind would be incapable of coming to God. In addition, God has granted to each man and woman enough faith to recognize this need of a Savior and to believe in Christ and come to Him for salvation. In all, salvation is the work of God, and our part is merely to believe in God’s salvation through Christ as revealed in His Holy Word.

The truth is that God’s sovereignty and foreknowledge, along with man’s freewill to decide their own fate, are both true. We just have a difficult time, in our human frailty and fallen state, to fully grasp both of these truths in proper context and full knowledge of understanding. But just because we, at times, may struggle with fully understanding and communicating these truths, it doesn’t mean we can’t understand. We can understand through diligent study of the Word of God and the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit.

This is the bottom line of election and predestination: It is because God decided to create – knowing who would and would not come to Him and, most importantly, that it would require His Son to become a man and pay the penalty for mankind’s sins – that election and predestination are even a thing. God didn’t have to create, knowing all that He did. But He did create, knowing all that it would cost Him!

Conclusion

Yes, God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Freewill can, at times, be difficult to fully grasp, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, it shouldn’t be. Everything we have looked at in this study is not in conflict and at odds with each other; quite the opposite, as they are in harmony and complement each other. Both are true, and both should be seen for what they are – essential to man’s salvation.

I can honestly state that I am not, or could ever be, a Calvinist who believes God picks and chooses who He will save and who He sends to hell, and that man is incapable of choosing God through freewill. Neither am I Arminian, who tends to downplay and/or diminish God’s sovereignty, with many denying the Biblical doctrine of Eternal Security – that a person can lose their salvation. Nor would I say that I fall somewhere in between, for both tenets essentially get it wrong. It’s best for me, and I pray for other Christians too, that labels or being defined by a nuanced doctrinal creed need not apply. I’m content with being known, simply and honestly, as a Biblical Christian.

This is the conclusion of the matter: We all would be just an after-thought in the mind of God had He not elected to create us and predestined to adopt us into His family through His Son’s merciful and loving sacrifice – a sacrifice any human being can freely accept and cherish. And, if this were to be the case – that God decided that it just wasn’t worth it and elected not to create – then I would never have written this article, and you would never have read it because both of us would never have existed.

Let’s praise the Lord that He did choose us before the foundation of the world by His act of creating and that we were willing and able to come to His call of lovingkindness through Christ by our God-given freewill and His amazing grace that He extends to all of mankind!

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Being as “we see through a glass darkly,” let us allow God to be God and for us to steadfastly look to these three foundational truths that should guide our lives in Christ.

Faith – Utilize the faith the Lord has so graciously given us, trusting in Him, His Word, and His promises, that we may fulfill the plans of God in our lives and bring in much fruit for His Kingdom!

Believe – Believe every Word of God and that He will accomplish all that He has said He would in His Word concerning us and our living our lives through Him and for Him. Carry out The Great Commission with intense love as we witness to a lost and dying world, proclaiming salvation in Christ Jesus to all who will hear. Believing fully that at our last breath – or in the rapture of the church – we will forever be with our God and Savior!

Trust – Trust in the One Who is trustworthy, leaving “the secret things [that] belong unto the Lord our God” (Deuteronomy 29:29) in His more than capable Hands, allowing Him to be God, for He is worthy. Trust that He will make all things right and that all things will work together for good (Romans 8:28), knowing that eternal life with our Lord is but a breath and a heartbeat away!

Love, grace, mercy, and shalom in Messiah Yeshua, and Maranatha!

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Today’s Omega Letter is a bit off the beaten path from our usual course of discussion. I pray that you will bear with me. Its purpose is to encourage those of you that, like me, have heard the call of the Lord on their lives but don’t believe they are worthy of answering it.

I didn’t want to write this particular message. But there is somebody out there that God intends to hear it. So, listen up!

Last Thursday, Hal asked me to give my testimony at his Bible study. It occurred to me that I don’t do that very often. I avoid it whenever possible. Moreover, I have never offered my own testimony before our Omega Letter fellowship.

The reason, from my perspective, is simple. I don’t like to talk about myself. But I’ve since come to see that as an excuse – my testimony is not supposed to be about me but about what Jesus has done in my life.

I am not worthy of being a minister of the Most High God. I know it. So does Jesus Christ. I went to Him with this argument some years back. He reminded me that I was not the first.

I am not Moses and don’t put myself anywhere near that category, but Moses said he wasn’t worthy. Moses reminded God of what a poor speaker he was. He had other excuses, too. Just like me. (Just like you.)

Isaiah argued that he was not fit to speak the Word of the Lord, saying, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5).

I am not Isaiah, either, but I can make that same argument.

Paul went to the Lord three times to protest his calling, complaining of a thorn in his flesh that rendered him unworthy, asking the Lord to take care of that problem (whatever it was) so that he could be a worthy messenger of God’s grace.

“For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.”

I am not Paul, either. But, like Moses, I don’t see myself as a great speaker; like Isaiah, I realize that I am a man of unclean lips; and like Paul, I know my own ego too well and live in fear that I will forget I am just the donkey upon whom the Message is carried. I know who I really am inside, just as He does.

But the Lord’s reply to Paul is exactly the reply He gave me when I made the same protests:

“And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2nd Corinthians 12:9).

Well, weakness is something I have in abundance…. I am hardly your typical Holy Joe. If you knew me like I do, your reaction would be more like, “Holy cow!” Nonetheless, here is my testimony:

I was born into an Irish Catholic family. We were your typical Irish Catholics. Dad would give us a quarter for the collection plate when he dropped us off in front of St. Michael’s Church, although Dad never darkened the door unless somebody was getting married or buried.

My Dad was something special – I never realized how special until after I myself became a man – by which time it was too late to tell him. (He died while I was in the Marines – I only saw him a couple of times in the last few years of his life.)

There was much bad blood between us. He died never knowing how much I had come to admire and respect him. It is among the greatest regrets of my life.

Dad didn’t have a lot of experience with kids and family. He was orphaned young, spent time in an orphanage before escaping at a tender age and becoming a Depression-era hobo. He ‘rode the rails,’ living in hobo jungles for much of the 1930s. In 1939, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Regiment and shipped out for England.

He and my mother were married in May 1940 during the Blitz. Soon after, she emigrated to Canada, and Dad went off to war. Dad fought in the first Dieppe Raid in 1940, fought in North Africa, was wounded in Sicily, participated in the Normandy Landing on June 6, 1994, fought his way across France, and was among the troops that liberated the Nazi death camps at Dachau.

My parents were married for six years before they spent more than two weeks together. When Dad returned home to Canada in 1946, he had never seen his house. When he entered it, he was 27 years old, and it was the first home he had ever known.

I was born seven years after the war. Dad didn’t talk about his wartime experiences much, but I remember he suffered greatly from insomnia. I never gave the reasons why much thought. Being a kid, it was just how Dad was.

Only once in a great while would he ever mention anything about the war, and then it was usually in vague and general terms. Much of what I’ve pieced together about him comes from memories of those brief comments.

My father worshiped my mother. When she died of cancer in 1963, she was just forty years old. They had been married almost 23 years, but the war robbed them of the first six. When she died seventeen years later, so did the best part of my Dad (or so I thought in the arrogance of youth). But one thing was certain. Without her, he was a man without direction.

I never knew if Dad came to Christ. It is my prayer that he did while in combat. I cling to the old saying, “There are no atheists in foxholes.”

Growing up in the Sixties, I adopted the ‘never trust anybody over thirty’ slogan. When I left home at age 14, I was propelled out the door by the toe of his boot. I saw him only a couple of times from then until I turned 17 and needed his signature to join the Marine Corps.

I barely knew the man he really was, and like most kids, I blamed him for everything. I never finished high school – in fact, I never finished the 9th grade. (I didn’t even get my GED until I was 24.)

When I got out of the Marines, it was as a medical retiree. According to the VA, I was among those vets who contracted soft-tissue sarcoma from exposure to Dioxin (Agent Orange).

(My greatest exposure most likely came when I was stationed at Cherry Point, North Carolina. For part of my tour in the Corps, I was in supply and logistics, and I used to sit on a 55-gallon drum of the stuff to eat my lunch.)

But all it meant to me at 23, and with two kids, was that I had cancer and was expected to die (although I knew that I wouldn’t, somehow. The Lord had different plans for me. I always knew that deep in my heart, even before I was saved).

At about this time, my older sister read a book that caused her to leave the Catholic Church and become a ‘born again’ Christian. That book was Hal Lindsey’s “Late Great Planet Earth.”

I made it my mission in life to reprogram her back to being a ‘good Catholic’ (meaning going to Mass every year at Easter, whether one needed to or not.)

So I grabbed Hal’s book and set out to show her where he (and she) had gone wrong.

Instead, I came to believe the Bible was true. One day, I went to my sister’s church and heard the altar call. I didn’t come forward, but the pastor’s words rang in my ears all that night.

I awoke in the middle of the night, and my bedroom was deathly cold. I could see my breath in the room. There was some kind of malevolence in the room with me – I wasn’t terrified so much as I was gripped with a sense of unspeakable horror.

I put my new pocket New Testament, given me earlier that day by the pastor, under my pillow and finally went back to sleep.

It was the first (but not the last) time Satan overplayed his hand in my life, revealing more than he intended. The next morning, realizing from the experience the night before that Satan was real, I reached the obvious logical conclusion. If Satan was real, so was Jesus. I knew which side I wanted to be on, and it wasn’t Satan’s.

I asked Jesus to save me that same morning and instantly knew that my prayer had been answered. I also knew at that instant that Jesus had a plan for my life. I had received the call to ministry, but I didn’t want any part of it. Being saved was one thing. Being a Holy Joe was something different.

Nonetheless, I couldn’t learn enough about Jesus. I recall locking myself away in my younger sister’s root cellar with a lantern and a stack of commentaries, which I devoured like a starving man.

But still, I resisted the call. I even moved away to Texas (thinking I wouldn’t hear it there).

I resisted for more than ten years, rebelling openly, living my life like a heathen, in the process destroying my marriage and many friendships. I barreled through life like a tornado, damaging everybody who got near enough to be sucked into the vortex.

When I left law enforcement ten years later, I did so as a broken man – both physically and spiritually – and went home to the bosom of my family in Canada to lick my wounds.

A friend set me up with a blind date with the woman who later would become my wife. God sent Gayle to me to straighten me out, although I thought at the time the situation was exactly the reverse.

Gayle was also a Catholic, and we fought some battles royal over salvation by grace vs. salvation by RCC dogma. But, praise God, Gayle also came to know Jesus as her own personal Savior and gave herself to Him.

Meanwhile, my call to His service grew louder and louder, but still, I resisted. I was a man of unclean lips with enough thorns in my flesh to do a passable impression of a porcupine.

When I came home, all I knew was law enforcement, so I applied for work as a federal Customs officer. I went through a battery of pre-employment screening tests.

The first series had 1,500 applicants; the second, the top 500, and so on, until we got to the top 25 of the original group. I scored 7th on that final list. (Two years later, I still hadn’t heard a word from them.)

I don’t recall the details, but I was offered a job by a ministry in Niagara Falls by Peter Lalonde. I think I saw their new program, “This Week in Bible Prophecy,” and contacted them first, but I don’t really remember. What I do remember was that I committed to the job before we even discussed a salary. (When we did, it was minimum wage, and the offer was as a janitor.)

It was hardly what I had in mind, but it was, after a fashion, full-time ministry. Before taking it, I had had the most intense session of prayer I’ve ever experienced before or since, literally wrestling with God about it in my bedroom for an entire day and night. I neither ate nor slept for twenty hours or more. (I didn’t even go to the bathroom.)

I finally agreed with God that I would answer whatever call He gave me, and I would go where He sent me and trust Him for provision. I called Peter and accepted the minimum wage janitor’s job. No sooner had I hung up the phone than it rang again.

On the other end was a nice lady representing Canada Customs, informing me that I was to report to the Kingston Royal Canadian Mounted Police College for training with the Customs Intelligence Unit. I stunned myself by turning it down, saying I’d taken another job.

I’ll never forget her response; “No, no, you don’t understand. This is Canada Customs calling.”

She even gave me 24 hours to rethink it before going to the next guy on the list. That prompted a whole new battle with God in my bedroom, but I knew I had lost that one before I even started. When she called again, I turned it down again, although I could hardly believe what I was saying, even as I said it.

What I didn’t know at the time was that Peter was looking for a writer to help take on the load of writing the TV program since he also wrote everything else plus ran the rest of the ministry, which had some dozen or so employees. A week after I started, he offered me the chance to write one segment.

Within a month, I was writing the whole script. Peter offered me a chance to write a TWIBP “Special Report” about Bible prophecy, which we called “Front Row Seats.” It was very successful, and I was soon the ministry’s head writer. I turned out dozens of such specials, plus the weekly scripts.

A few years later, Peter changed direction from direct ministry to producing Christian-themed movies, eventually even producing the wildly successful ‘Left Behind’ series as ‘Cloud Ten Productions.’

But God didn’t call me to make movies. He called me to ministry, so I resigned.

That same week, I got a phone call from Cliff Ford, who at the time worked for Hal Lindsey, asking me if I would consider coming out to work with Hal in California. (I had met Hal Lindsey a couple of times at prophecy conferences where I interviewed him for the TWIBP program.)

I went out there for a few months to get to know Hal. Hal and I continue to this day to be amazed at how good a fit it was for both of us. We’ve been together for fifteen years now. It has been a deeply satisfying assignment and a blessing beyond description.

From a kid that didn’t finish high school, God brought me full circle to fellowship with the man who, through his book, first led me to Christ. Moreover, God blessed me by having Hal disciple me, putting me through a course of study that Hal says I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else, including Hal’s alma mater, Dallas Theological Seminary.

After ten years of study under Hal’s tutelage, Hal testified at my ordination that I was as well-schooled and spiritually gifted as any ministry candidate he had ever known.

(Please understand, I am not saying that in a prideful way but rather as my testimony of what Jesus has done in my life. I have no more cause to take pride in it than I do to take pride in having a full head of hair. A gift is a gift. The glory goes to the One Who bestowed the spiritual gift, not its recipient.)

I am a most reluctant minister. I don’t like crowds. And I am very uncomfortable in the limelight, much preferring my role as a teacher and facilitator rather than that of the guy up front.

I started the Omega Letter ministry (with Hal’s blessing and encouragement) in part because I could do it from seclusion in my attic.

That is what I’ve most enjoyed about working with Hal. He never pushed me, never insisted that I come out to California for any extended period (other than for training purposes), and allowed me to work with him from the seclusion in my attic via the internet for most of the past fifteen years.

About a year ago, I got another call that changed our lives as we knew them. Gayle and I were driving from North Carolina up to Canada. I do a lot of praying when I am driving on long trips. This trip was no exception, but the calling startled me.

I turned to Gayle and said, “I think God is calling me to sell our house, buy an RV, and go off on some mission for Him. Doesn’t that sound nuts?”

Gayle said to me, “It sure does. I’ve been getting the exact same calling. I thought I was losing it – I was afraid to say anything. Thank God that you brought it up first.”

So, on Good Friday of 2006, we put our house up for sale. The first and only showing was on Easter Sunday. The couple who toured the house put in an offer 27 days later. We accepted it on faith, and the deal closed on July 14.

We followed our leading, and God has provided exactly as He promised He would way back on that day in 1989 when the nice lady from Canada Customs gave me twenty-four hours to think things over.

Things haven’t been easy these last few months – if they had, I would have questioned my calling. Particularly since we set out on our ‘road tour’ – for want of a better name to describe it.

We’ve had our share of bumps and bruises, but I write them off to enemy interference with the mission. (As we accepted this latest calling, I learned from a routine blood test that a blood transfusion from a 1991 gall bladder operation infected me with the deadly Hepatitis C virus.)

I don’t know what God has in mind, but the enemy doesn’t much like it. That’s good enough for me.

As I’ve noted in the past, my voice and God’s Voice sound EXACTLY alike in my head. But I’ve learned to tell the difference. (When it is MY voice, I like what it is telling me to do.)

I don’t know where He will lead us next or even what our mission actually is at the moment. But I trust Jesus. He knows what He is doing.

And to you, whoever God is speaking to right now about your own calling, let me say this. He STILL knows what He is doing.

Of COURSE, you aren’t worthy! That’s why He is calling YOU. To demonstrate His strength through your weakness. That’s why He is God (and you are not).

The time is too short. There is too much to do. Don’t waste as much time as I did. Know that the call is irresistible. The harder you resist, the louder it becomes. And the more painful your rebellion against Him will get.

The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He isn’t going to change His mind. You need to change yours.

Do yourself a favor and don’t fight Him on it. Trust Him, and He will make the way clear.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever” (Psalms 23).

To that one whom the Lord is calling right now, I know that this message is specifically for you. So do you. The sting of my tears as I pen these words is all the confirmation I need. Write me and let me know that you heard it.

And may Our God richly bless us all as we continue in our service to Him. Until He comes.

Amen.

Jack Kinsella went to be with the Lord on March 14, 2013. His articles can be found in the Omega Letter archives at this link.