The REBELLION of the MAKE BELIEVER AGAINST GOD’S WORD

God’s righteous judgment results from the sin of rebellion of each professing Christian who refuses to grow up. This rebellious spirit within the Believers in The Christian Church does not appear to reject God and His solution for sin by the atoning work of Jesus Christ as their Savor in their individual lives, but what Make Believers reject and rebel against is obeying the full and the complete authority of God and His Word in their lives thus making Him Lord God and Master over their lives. So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.” (1 Samuel 15:22-23) NKJV (1)
(1) Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. (Exodus 19:5) NKJV
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TRUE BELIEVERS MUST READ GOD’S WORD and OBEY HIS COMMANDS.
What does God mean when He commands you to obey His voice? He connects obeying Him to directly obeying His Word. This can only be done by your continuously reading and discerning of His Word and putting It into practice in your daily life. He puts it very plainly, if you do not obey His Word, He will reject you! God says in another place, But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. (Jeremiah 7:23-24) NKJV
God is commanding you to obey and walk in His “WHOLE WAY.” He is not giving you a choice! So, what is your problem? The secular humanistic worldview of modern man has increasingly become belligerent/confrontational, concerted/determined, and frenzied/ demented against anything or anyone except himself, and his own profane secular humanistic worldview is part of the rebellious sin that is also the same worldview of way too many Saints in The Christian Church. God says that if you have this profane secular humanistic worldview, you’re going backward rather than forward. How many times have I heard someone complain that, “I just cannot seem to get ahead. The faster I go, the farther behind I get?” Why is man – saved or unsaved – so spiritually unteachable?
While Christians must learn to live in the physical world, we are not to remain part of it! This is not easy!!! But by faith, it is quite simple to do because God has provided for us the necessary spiritual supernatural warfare weapons that are divinely powerful for the overthrow and destruction of the profane secular humanistic worldview. Our spiritual supernatural warfare weapons are not physical warfare weapons that murder and destroy human lives but are of a spiritual supernatural nature that enables us to overthrow and destroy spiritual supernatural demonic mental strongholds giving daily victory to those who partake of them. Our new spiritual supernatural warfare weapons include using the Scriptural knowledge and wisdom of God and His Kingdom here on earth to refute the knowledge and wisdom of the kingdom of the world and its god – Satan. (2)
(2) I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:2-5) NKJV
(2a) But even if our Gospel (the glad tidings) also be hidden (obscured and covered up with a veil that hinders the knowledge of God), it is hidden [only] to those who are perishing and obscured [only] to those who are spiritually dying and veiled [only] to those who are lost. For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers’ minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) AMP
(2b) [Your sins] In which at one time you walked [habitually]. You were following the course and fashion of this world [were under the sway of the tendency of this present age], following the prince of the power of the air. [You were obedient to and under the control of] the [demon] spirit that still constantly works in the sons of disobedience [the careless, the rebellious, and the unbelieving, who go against the purposes of God]. Ephesians 2:2) AMP
(2c) We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. (1 John 5:19) NKJV
(2d) Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. (James 3:15) NIV
We do this by learning to keep the thoughts of our heart pure and focused on Jesus Christ rather than dwelling on the so called pleasures of the sins of the world. (3)
(3) And now, brothers, as I close this letter, let me say this one more thing: Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about. Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9) TLB
(3a) Shun youthful lusts and flee from them, and aim at and pursue righteousness (all that is virtuous and good, right living, conformity to the will of God in thought, word, and deed); [and aim at and pursue] faith, love, [and] peace (harmony and concord with others) in fellowship with all [Christians], who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Timothy 2:22) AMP
(3b) For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” (Matthew 15:19-20) NKJV
(3c) Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21) NKJV
(3d) And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome, Until they were filled (permeated and saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness, iniquity, grasping and covetous greed, and malice. [They were] full of envy and jealousy, murder, strife, deceit and treachery, ill will and cruel ways. [They were] secret backbiters and gossipers, Slanderers, hateful to and hating God, full of insolence, arrogance, [and] boasting; inventors of new forms of evil, disobedient and undutiful to parents. [They were] without understanding, conscienceless and faithless, heartless and loveless [and] merciless. Though they are fully aware of God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them themselves but approve and applaud others who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32) AMP
As I have shared, I am a nuts and bolts type of guy. That means I am always trying to figure out things. My favorite saying was, “There is more than one way to skin a cat.” i.e. more than one way to figure out how to make something work. When I became a Christian and started to read the Bible, the first thing I looked for was “LOOPHOLES” in God’s Word. Loopholes being gray areas in Scripture that I could manipulate for my benefit i.e. I could so twist God’s Word to have It say whatever I wanted It to say. Guess what? I could not find one in all of the Bible!!! Every time I thought that I had found a loophole, God would reveal connecting and supportive Scripture that placed my supposed loophole in proper perspective with full revelation as per His truth. (4)
(4) The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the [whole] person; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure and bright, enlightening the eyes. The [reverent] fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even than much fine gold; they are sweeter also than honey and drippings from the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is Your servant warned (reminded, illuminated, and instructed); and in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his lapses and errors? Clear me from hidden [and unconscious] faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then shall I be blameless, and I shall be innocent and clear of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my [firm, impenetrable] Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:7-14) AMP
What did all of these loophole eliminating Scriptures reveal to me about God from His Word, our Christian Bible? God is Omnipotent i.e. in and of Himself, He is all powerful above and over all things and can do as He pleases. (5) God is Omnipresent i.e. as Spirit, He is able to be everywhere throughout the universe and beyond at once but that does not mean that He necessarily has to reside in anything except His adopted Born Again children. God is SPIRIT!!! (6) God is Omniscient i.e. God in His power has ALL knowledge and wisdom. (7) God is a God of love. (8) God is the only true, living loving God of truth. (9) His Word is true. (10) He does no wrong! He does not need to repent! He does not lie! (11) God does not contradict Himself. God is never wrong. God never has had to say OOPS about anything He made in His creation although He may have come close. (12) God is omnipotent/all powerful and is Sovereign over all things which means that what He says is true and that He can deal with and do whatever, whenever, and to whomever as He wills to obtain His overall desired and predestined results! (13)
(5) I am the Lord, and there is no one else; there is no God besides Me. I will gird and arm you, though you have not known Me, That men may know from the east and the rising of the sun and from the west and the setting of the sun that there is no God besides Me. I am the Lord, and no one else [is He]. I form the light and create darkness, I make peace [national well-being] and I create [physical] evil (calamity); I am the Lord, Who does all these things. Let fall in showers, you heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness [the pure, spiritual, heaven-born possibilities that have their foundation in the holy being of God]; let the earth open, and let them [skies and earth] sprout forth salvation, and let righteousness germinate and spring up [as plants do] together; I the Lord have created it. (Isaiah 45:5-8) AMP
(5a) ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You. (Jeremiah 32:17) NKJV
(5b) And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power…(Hebrews 1:3) NASU
(6) God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24) NKJV
(6a) Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me; Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You. (Psalms 139:7-12) NKJV
(7) “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?” (Romans 11:34) NKJV
(7a) that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:2-3) NKJV
(8) We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16) NASU
(9) But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation. (Jeremiah 10:10) NKJV
(10) Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. (John 17:17) NKJV
(11) “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19) NKJV
(12) When the Lord God saw the extent of human wickedness, and that the trend and direction of men’s lives were only towards evil, he was sorry he had made them. It broke his heart. (Genesis 6:5-6) TLB
(12a) Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.'” (Hebrews 3:10-11) NKJV
(13) I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings. (Jeremiah 17:10) NKJV
MAN USES HIS INTELLECT, INGENUITY, and TECHNOLOGY to ANSWER GOD and HIS WORD.
I believe that man through his intellect, efforts, and developing technology cannot in any manner eternally circumvent any of God’s preordained plans that take place in time and history, but I have to give him credit! Man keeps on trying to cast himself as having the intellect of being in charge of his future – to make things happen according to his plans. How does he do this? By using something called “TECHNOLOGY” which I define as man using his superior knowledge to develop mechanisms to use God created resources to develop and accomplish the desires and needs of his heart. I continually marvel at the intellect of man and the ingenuity of how he uses existing resources to keep bringing forth new inventions which result in new consumer products affecting our lives. The trouble with technology is that it produces both things that help people and society and things that produce sin and degradation into the societies of the world.
The implementation of technology first surfaced when, “Cain built a city and named it after his son Enoch.” (Genesis 4:17b) AMP The use of the word city indicates this development contained more than just a few huts or tents and was a sanctuary for many people who believed as Cain who mistakenly considered himself a Believer but in reality was the original Make Believer who was eternally condemned as an Unbeliever. (14)
(14) Then Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, You have driven me out this day from the face of the land, and from Your face I will be hidden; and I will be a fugitive and a vagabond and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. (Genesis 4:13-14) AMP
(14a) [And] not be like Cain who [took his nature and got his motivation] from the evil one and slew his brother. And why did he slay him? Because his deeds (activities, works) were wicked and malicious and his brother’s were righteous (virtuous). (1 John 3:12) AMP
Cain’s use of technology in constructing this city – his putting down foundations – literally his putting down permanent roots in the world was in direct violation of the judgment that God conferred on Cain, “You shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth [in perpetual exile, a degraded outcast].” So Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod [wandering], east of Eden.” (Genesis 4:15-16) AMP
Cain was the first of a large group of peoples who put down their roots into the world and the things of this world. Notice that God placed Cain in the land of Nod which means wandering. This means that just because Cain or anyone else decides to put down immovable roots in a particular region does not mean that God will not uproot them at His time and pleasure. The story of our righteous brother Lot and God’s judgment of him as a True Believer – he never forsook his righteousness – and his Unbelieving wife are examples of a Biblical Christian Worldview and a secular humanistic worldview. (15)
(15) And He (God) condemned to ruin and extinction the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes [and thus] set them forth as an example to those who would be ungodly; [Genesis 19:24.] And He rescued righteous Lot, greatly worn out and distressed by the wanton ways of the ungodly and lawless — [Genesis 19:16,29.] For that just man, living [there] among them, tortured his righteous soul every day with what he saw and heard of [their] unlawful and wicked deeds — Now if [all these things are true, then be sure] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly out of temptations and trials, and how to keep the ungodly under chastisement until the day of judgment and doom, And particularly those who walk after the flesh and indulge in the lust of polluting passion and scorn and despise authority. Presumptuous [and] daring [self-willed and self-loving creatures]! They scoff at and revile dignitaries (glorious ones) without trembling. (2 Peter 2:6-10) AMP
(15a) But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:26) NKJV
(15b) Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. (Luke 17:32-33) NKJV
(15c) Lot’s character is revealed by the major decisions which he made throughout his life. He chose to pitch his tent with the worldly SODOMITES, seeking riches and a life of ease rather than a path of obedience to God. He prospered for a while, but this decision eventually led to his humiliation and the tragic loss of his wife and other members of his family. (From Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
We are at an interesting place in time and history today. At the beginning of human history at the Tower of Babel, all of man had the same language and as such God said they could accomplish whatever they could imagine. In other words, all of man using his superior intellect and applying his ingenuity through technology and acting as one entity could accomplish whatever he wanted including becoming a one world government and establishing a one world religion, but was this God’s time and place in history for this to happen? NO! So God confused their language. (16)
(16)And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” (Genesis 11:6-7) NKJV
Now man has used his superior intellect to develop computer technology to circumvent what God confused. As you watch the proceedings at the United Nations, you see that all the delegates from around the world have their language instantly translated to them so they can act as one body in trying to govern the United Nations – ultimately the world and its problems.
You can go to your local “Radio Shack” and buy all of the components for a solar powered computer and with the right software having worldwide internet, you can communicate with another person in another part of the world on their solar powered computer speaking a different language and be able to have that person’s computer decipher what you are communicating in written English and be able to supply whatever you might be requesting. Man using computer technology has ultimately but only temporarily circumvented God’s confusing of man’s language to bring forth a one world government and a one world religion, because we are now at the time and place in history for God to bring these entities into being! (17)
(17) “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. (Revelation 17:12-13) NKJV
(17a) And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will [be the very ones to] hate the harlot (the idolatrous woman); they will make her cheerless (bereaved, desolate), and they will strip her and eat up her flesh and utterly consume her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to carry out His own purpose by acting in harmony in surrendering their royal power and authority to the beast, until the prophetic words (intentions and promises) of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman that you saw is herself the great city which dominates and controls the rulers and the leaders of the earth. (Revelations 17:16-18 AMP)
Is God able to do this? (18)
(18) Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’ (Isaiah 46:10) NKJV
(18a) Indeed before the day was, I am He; And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?” (Isaiah 43:13) NKJV
MAN IS NOT NOR EVER WILL BE in ANY WAY, SHAPE, or FORM “GOD!” (19)
(19) [Their chastisement will continue until it has accomplished its purpose] for My people are stupid, says the Lord [replying to Jeremiah]; they do not know and understand Me. They are thickheaded children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge [and know not how]. (Jeremiah 4:22) AMP
(19a) Every man has become like a brute, irrational and stupid, without knowledge [of God]; every goldsmith is brought to shame by his graven idols; for his molten images are frauds and falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are devoid of worth, usefulness, or truth, a work of delusion and mockery; in their time of trial and punishment they shall [helplessly] perish. The Portion of Jacob [the true God on Whom Israel has a claim] is not like these, for He is the Fashioner and Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance — the Lord of hosts is His name. (Jeremiah 10:14-16) AMP
(19b) Surely I am too brutish and stupid to be called a man, and I have not the understanding of a man [for all my secular learning is as nothing]. I have not learned skillful and godly Wisdom, that I should have the knowledge or burden of the Holy One. (Proverbs 30:2-3) AMP
(19c) Every man has become stupid and brutelike, without knowledge [of God]; every goldsmith is put to shame by the images he has made; for his molten idols are a lie, and there is no breath [of life] in them. They are worthless (emptiness, falsity, futility), a work of delusion and worthy of derision; in the time of their inspection and punishment they shall [helplessly] perish. Not like these [gods] is He Who is the Portion of Jacob [the true God on Whom Israel has a claim], for He is the One Who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance — the Lord of hosts is His name. [Jeremiah 10:12-16.] (Jeremiah 51:17-18) AMP
We are all pretty much the same in our rebellious sin nature of wanting to do things my/ your way. When God’s Word through His Spirit speaks to you, reveals, and convicts you there is a better way to do things in your life if you will follow His Way, what is your SECOND response? Not your FIRST response because your first response is the reaction of your spiritual conscience convicting you knowing what God is revealing to you is correct, true, and is the best for you. But as you think about this spiritual insight, your profane secular humanistic worldview brings forth your second response of how you can and are going to maneuver God’s recommended change in your life which is sin on your part (20) and will require God’s continued discipline towards you on His part. (21)
(20) But the man who isn’t a Christian can’t understand and can’t accept these thoughts from God, which the Holy Spirit teaches us. They sound foolish to him because only those who have the Holy Spirit within them can understand what the Holy Spirit means. Others just can’t take it in. But the spiritual man has insight into everything, and that bothers and baffles the man of the world, who can’t understand him at all. How could he? For certainly he has never been one to know the Lord’s thoughts, or to discuss them with him, or to move the hands of God by prayer. But, strange as it seems, we Christians actually do have within us a portion of the very thoughts and mind of Christ. (1 Cor 2:14-16) TLB
(20a) And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed, And say: “How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction! I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! (Proverbs 5:11-13) NKJV
(20b) I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can’t. I do what I don’t want to-what I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I am breaking. But I can’t help myself because I’m no longer doing it. It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am that makes me do these evil things.
I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn I can’t make myself do right. I want to but I can’t. When I want to do good, I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. Now if I am doing what I don’t want to, it is plain where the trouble is: sin still has me in its evil grasp.
It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin.
So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free. (Romans 7:15-25) TLB
(21) And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:5-8; 11) NKJV
EXAMPLES of MEN WHO TRIED to THWART the PROVIDENCE of GOD.
There are numerous Biblical examples of man’s profane secular humanistic worldview, actually too many to list, but we have four good examples of just such maneuvering that will further reveal to us how God in His Sovereignty and Providence uses situations, circumstances, events, trials and testing – His stumbling blocks/obstacles – to reveal and accomplish His Way and Will in any individual’s life. (22)
(22) “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. (Ezekiel 3:20) NKJV
(22a) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2) NKJV
(22b) “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9) NKJV
At the beginning of this book, I discussed God’s ouster of Satan from heaven as a profane thing and what that meant in CHAPTER 1. I made the statement that the sole purpose for God casting Satan to the earth was to provide man with both physical and spiritual mental choices and from those choices making a decision as to whom he was going to worship and serve – Satan – the god of this world and the things of the world known as a profane secular humanistic worldview, or the true living loving God and the things of God known as a spiritual supernatural Kingdom of God Biblical Christian Worldview. I will share four Old Testament examples each illustrating the choices which are available to a person and one’s decisions and actions which opens the spiritual door for Satan to become involved in man’s life. (23)
(23) All these things happened to them as examples-as object lessons to us-to warn us against doing the same things; they were written down so that we could read about them and learn from them in these last days as the world nears its end. (1 Corinthians 10:10) TLB
Of course, our first clear example of God’s Sovereignty and Providence in the affairs of man is found in the very beginning of man in the Biblical account of Adam and Eve, their predestined meeting with the god of this world, and how the serpent/Satan deceived and enticed them to disobey God’s commands which gave them a profane secular humanistic worldview causing them to sin. (24) We have their God given consequences that resulted from their sinning, (25) and God’s remedy for their sin by the shedding of blood to acquire and purchase the forgiveness of their sin restoring them to their original state of holiness and righteousness. (26)
(24) The Temptation and Fall of Man (Romans 5:12-21) Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'”
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. (Genesis 3:1-7) NKJV
(25) To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:16-19) NKJV
(26) Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21) NKJV
(26a) In fact we can say that under the old agreement almost everything was cleansed by sprinkling it with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (Hebrews 9:22) TLB
Next, I want to go to the oldest son of Adam and Eve and the brother of Abel – Cain. If any human had the privilege of the knowledge of a spiritual supernatural Kingdom of God Worldview, it was Cain! He had an intimate relationship with God! He walked and talked with God!! HE KNEW HIM INTIMATELY!!! But yet he was so much into himself i.e. his heart and mind was so proud, so hardened, and so opposed to God and His counsel that whatever God tried to use – situations, circumstances, events, trials, and tribulations – made no difference to his profane secular humanistic worldview. Cain was so puffed up in himself i.e. he had his own way of thinking and excuse for everything. Are the lost souls/sinners with the world’s worldview any different today?
I am sure that Adam and Eve had shared their testimony with both Cain and Abel as to their personal experience with God in the Garden of Eden, but when Cain and Abel sacrificed to God, Abel’s righteous heart and mindset complied with a fat offering which required killing and destroying of an animal resulting in the shedding of blood – bringing forgiveness of sins, (27) but Cain’s arrogant and sinful heart and profane secular humanistic worldview caused him to sin against God’s righteous requirements by offering a grain sacrifice. (28) God presented Cain with different situations, events, and circumstances giving him opportunities to repent, (29) but each time Cain’s stubborn heart, belligerent profane secular humanistic worldview, and his increasing frustration and anger caused him to renounce God and His holy and righteous requirements. This frustration and anger reached its apex when Cain allowed Satan’s influence over him to cause him to kill his brother Abel making him Cain a murderer. (30) At every turn of God induced events and by Cain’s rebellion, he continued to dig himself deeper into unrepented sin and eternal separation from God. (31)
(27) ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’ (Leviticus 17:11-12) NASU
(28) And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. Genesis 4:3-5) NKJV
(29 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7) NKJV
(30) You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (John 8:44) NKJV
(30a) Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. (1 John 3:15) NKJV
(30b) Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. (Genesis 4:8) NKJV
(31) [And] not be like Cain who [took his nature and got his motivation] from the evil one and slew his brother (Abel). And why did he slay him? Because his deeds (activities, works) were wicked and malicious and his brother’s were righteous (virtuous). (1 John 3:12) AMP
Cain’s true character and profane secular humanistic worldview are revealed when he lashed back at God when He asked him where his brother Abel was saying, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9) NKJV
Now we come to the maneuvering of the profane secular humanistic worldview. God lays out Cain’s punishment, (32) and immediately Cain has an excuse trying to entice God to pity him, And Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” (Genesis 4:13-14) NKJV
(32) So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.” (Genesis 4:11-12) NKJV
God did take pity on Cain, And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.” (Genesis 4:15) NKJV But Cain’s sinful hard heart and profane secular humanistic worldview caused him to go from a Make Believer to an Unbeliever – one who is eternally separated from God – when he made the unpardonable decision to separate himself and his family from God and His Providence and settled in Nod the “Land of Wandering” by putting down roots to raise his family by his own intellect and strength. In modern day language, we can say that Cain gave God “the bird.” Cain believed that he could control his destiny which is a spiritual lie. (33)
(33) O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge” — which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you. (1 Timothy 6:20-21) NASU
(33a) The Family of Cain. Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son — Enoch. (Genesis 4:16-17) NKJV
(33b) But these men revile (scoff and sneer at) anything they do not happen to be acquainted with and do not understand; and whatever they do understand physically [that which they know by mere instinct], like irrational beasts — by these they corrupt themselves and are destroyed (perish). Woe to them! For they have run riotously in the way of Cain, and have abandoned themselves for the sake of gain [it offers them, following] the error of Balaam, and have perished in rebellion [like that] of Korah! [Genesis 4:3-8; Numbers 16:1; 22:1-24:25.] (Jude 1:10-11) AMP
Our third example is God’s calling of Moses to lead His People – the Israelites – out of the bondage they had in Egypt and into their promised land. Listen to Moses’ excuses/ maneuvering for why God should not use him and then watch God’s foreknown and now revealed truth about that situation and how far amiss Moses was in his thinking – his profane secular humanistic worldview.
But Moses pleaded, “O Lord, I’m just not a good speaker. I never have been, and I’m not now, even after you have spoken to me, for I have a speech impediment.”
“Who makes mouths?” Jehovah asked him. “Isn’t it I, the Lord? Who makes a man so that he can speak or not speak, see or not see, hear or not hear? Now go ahead and do as I tell you, for I will help you to speak well, and I will tell you what to say.”
But Moses said, “Lord, please! Send someone else.”
Then the Lord became angry. “All right,” he said, “your brother, Aaron, is a good speaker. And he is coming here to look for you and will be very happy when he finds you. So I will tell you what to tell him, and I will help both of you to speak well, and I will tell you what to do. He will be your spokesman to the people. And you will be as God to him, telling him what to say. (Exodus 4:10-16) TLB
Even with Moses lame and misguided excuses, God will undo his profane secular humanistic worldview filling it with such spiritual supernatural wisdom and leadership to the point that Aaron will see God’s Sovereignty and Providence through Moses.
Was Satan somehow involved in contributing to Moses’ profane secular humanistic worldview through the excuses that he fabricated to God? First of all, Moses tried to lie to God about his ability to speak clearly! (34)
(34) You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (John 8:44) NKJV
Scripture clearly shares with us that, “So Moses was educated in all the wisdom and culture of the Egyptians, and he was mighty (powerful) in his speech and deeds.” (Acts 7:22) AMP
Secondly, when God shared with him how He would enable him to achieve what He had ordained, Moses still tried to wiggle out of it saying – “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.” (Exodus 4:13) NIV Thirdly, God had saved him from death as an infant and destined for him to be nurtured and educated in the Egyptian society/culture for him to be able to be in position when the time came to confront Pharaoh to lead His People out of Egypt – he indeed was powerful in speech and deeds – God’s man of the hour.
Fourthly, Moses not only tried to undermine God’s mission for His People but he unwittingly tried to negate the gifting and calling of God on his life for the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt. I believe that God foreknew all of this and His use of Aaron to be Moses’ mouthpiece and sidekick was necessary for Moses to survive not only the conflict and confrontation with the Egyptians but also later on with his own people. (35)
(35) Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” (Exodus 3:9-12) NKJV
(35a) Moses Before Pharaoh. So the Lord said to Moses: “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. (Exodus 7:1) NKJV
(35b) So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. (Exodus 4:16) NKJV
(35c) And the Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he went and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed him. So Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him. Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in the sight of the people. So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped. (Exodus 4:27-31) NKJV
Our last example of how God uses situations, circumstances, and events, trials, and tribulations – His stumbling blocks – to accomplish His Way to those who refuse to willingly submit to Him to accomplish His plans is found in the Book of Jonah. While the experience of Jonah was certainly traumatic to him, God’s Sovereignty and Providence over him and his profane secular humanistic worldview has to me, humorous overtones.
Let’s look at the overview of the Book of Jonah and the unraveling of events about his life:
Chapter 1 – Jonah tries to flee from God. God called Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh to proclaim to it that God knew of their wickedness. But Jonah in his profane secular humanistic worldview had other ideas and sought to flee from God by boarding a ship heading towards the city of Tarshish.
God’s Sovereignty and Providence in the lives of His offspring. God caused a great and fierce storm that threatened to break apart the ship. Each sailor called on their gods to save them but nothing worked. Meanwhile, Jonah was down below decks sound asleep. The sailors decided to cast lots to discern who might be responsible for their plight and of course the lot fell on Jonah. I say of course because we know from Scripture that God is involved in each and every decision of our lives which includes the casting of lots, “The lot is cast into the lap, but the decision is wholly of the Lord [even the events that seem accidental are really ordered by Him]. (Proverbs 16:33) AMP
The sailors assess their dilemma. The sailors figured out that Jonah was running from his God, and they tried to figure out how to escape their predicament. Jonah suggested they throw him overboard because he knew that God caused the storm, and He would cause it to cease if they did so. The sailors prayed for his God not to hold them accountable for what they were about to do, and they threw Jonah overboard. Because of their prayer, God caused the storm to cease which caused the sailors to greatly fear God so they offered sacrifices and made vows to God.
Chapter 2 – Jonah’s fish tale. God appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah and entomb him for three days and nights. During this time, Jonah repented, offered a rambling and feeble prayer acknowledging God as his Savior. God commanded the great fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land.
Chapter 3 – God’s persistence with Jonah. God commanded Jonah a second time to go into the great city of Nineveh proclaiming to them the great destruction that He was about to bring upon it. The people of Nineveh including its king believed in God and when the king heard Jonah’s proclamation, he ordered an all inclusive fast for the people, animals, and fowl. Because of the people’s demonstrated faith, God relented and abandoned His plan to destroy this great city. God’s action caused Jonah great displeasure and anger! By his actions, I do not believe that Jonah had a real change of heart i.e. he was not a willing servant of God’s to go on the mission that God sent him.
This brings us to chapter four which reveals a side of God not shown in too many places in the Bible. We all know that God has a sense of humor – just look at you and me, but His using situations, circumstances, events, trials, and tribulations that declared His Sovereignty and Providence over Jonah in chapter four is hilarious!
Chapter 4 – Jonah’s pity party with God. Jonah in his profane secular humanistic worldview was very angry because Nineveh had repented and God relented from destroying them. Satan’s ulterior motive is now revealed in the depth of Jonah’s defeatist mindset and what he truly believed and desired for his life. (36)
(36) The thief {Satan} does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I {Jesus} have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) NKJV
Jonah challenged God to pass favorable judgment on him for the “tremendous ef-
fort and sacrifice” he gave in his service to God {tongue in cheek here} because
he knew, “that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant
in loving kindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O Lord,
please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”
(Jonah 4:2b-3) NKJV
To me, the only insight that Jonah has in his situation is his profane secular humanistic worldview. He does not have any insights about the God of life and His love for him and his fellow man and their salvation, but this is about to change as God reveals His spiritual supernatural Kingdom of God Biblical Christian Worldview.
God challenges Jonah. Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. (Jonah 4:4-5) NKJV
God’s Providence over Jonah. The Lord God prepared a gourd vine/plant and made it to grow up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head and to deliver him from his evil situation. So Jonah was exceedingly glad to have the protection of the plant. God then supplied a cutworm when the morning dawned the next day, and it ate into the stalk of the vine and it withered and died. God then caused a sultry east wind when the sun arose, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah so that he fainted and wished in himself to die saying, “”It is better for me to die than to live.” (Jonah 4:8d) NKJV
God sets Jonah’s profane mindset on God and the things of God. Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!” But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left — and much livestock?” (Jonah 4:9-11) NKJV
Can you see the Sovereignty and Providence God used in the numerous situations, circumstances, and events to bring Jonah to do and understand His way and will? Do you have faith to believe the happenings to Jonah in the Book of Jonah? Or to you is it just a fairytale, a myth, maybe even a half truth? The contents of the Old Testament were written for our sake to use their example for encouragement and hope in God. (37)
(37) For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. (Romans 15:4) NKJV
(37a) TITUS Greeting. Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, (Titus 1:1-2) NKJV
GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY and PROVIDENCE WILL STAND.
Can you see and understand the workings of your profane secular humanistic worldview in your life versus the foreknown and predestined plans that God has for your life in His spiritual supernatural Kingdom of God Biblical Christian Worldview? Will you allow God His Sovereignty and Providence over your life? Take heart – Jesus has made a way for you to accomplish His purpose yet having His peace! (38) You can change your profane secular humanistic worldview! God will work it out for you. (39)
(38) Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.] (John 14:27) AMP
(39) And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) NKJV
This is the sign of spiritual maturity in your life when you as a “Spiritual man try all things [he examines, investigates, inquires into, questions, and discerns all things], yet is himself to be put on trial and judged by no one [he can read the meaning of everything, but no one can properly discern or appraise or get an insight into him]. For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart.” [Isaiah 40:13] (1 Corinthians 2:15-16) AMP
I know that we are saved by grace, and we must have the faith to believe it. But God’s Word with Its Ten Commandments is our guide for the living of our lives, and through our willingness to submit to Its authority brings us to the maturity level in our lives to be a True Believer. The True Believer is commanded and obligated by God to reach out to Believers, Make Believers, and Unbelievers with God’s truth and guide them into true salvation, so they arrive at a spiritual supernatural Kingdom of God Biblical Christian Worldview through their true faith in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, Lord God, and Master. (40) True Believers must continue to obey God and His Word in our lives and ministry and through proper teaching and discipleship we can help Make Believers and newly converted Unbelievers to discern and choose to turn from the false teachers and doctrines of the world that has kept them in bondage to sin and encourage them to repent. (41)
(40) Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15) NKJV
(40a) When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
“Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul.” (Ezekiel 3:18-21) NKJV
(40b) Dear brothers, if a Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help him back onto the right path, remembering that next time it might be one of you who is in the wrong. Share each other’s troubles and problems, and so obey our Lord’s command. If anyone thinks he is too great to stoop to this, he is fooling himself. He is really a nobody.
Let everyone be sure that he is doing his very best, for then he will have the personal satisfaction of work well done and won’t need to compare himself with someone else. Each of us must bear some faults and burdens of his own. For none of us is perfect! (Galatians 6:1-5) TLB
(41) The Great Apostasy. Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, (1 Timothy 4:1) NKJV
(41a) But the just shall live by faith [My righteous servant shall live by his conviction respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, and holy fervor born of faith and conjoined with it]; and if he draws back and shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight or pleasure in him. [Habakkuk 2:3, 4.] But our way is not that of those who draw back to eternal misery (perdition) and are utterly destroyed, but we are of those who believe [who cleave to and trust in and rely on God through Jesus Christ, the Messiah] and by faith preserve the soul. (Hebrews 10:38-39) AMP

All unrepentant, rebellious Make Believers are diametrically opposed in their beliefs and lifestyle to the True Believer Born Again Christians who have willingly surrendered to God, His Word, the leading of God the Holy Spirit, His gifting them with a discerning spirit, and the multitude of Godly counsel/teaching available to them in their worship and service of Him. The lifestyle of the Make Believer reflects their lack of respect for the complete authority for God, His Word, and Its place in their life. They seek to continue in the unrepentant sins of their former lifestyle under the guise of their faith in Jesus Christ (42) and are part of Babylon the Great – the false whore church which will conspire with the beast in a one world religion. (43)
(42) Error and Greed. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. (1 Timothy 6:3-5) NKJV
(42a) Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21) NKJV
(42b) Do Not Love the World. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17) NKJV
(42c) WHAT LEADS to strife (discord and feuds) and how do conflicts (quarrels and fighting) originate among you? Do they not arise from your sensual desires that are ever warring in your bodily members? You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your desires go unfulfilled; [so] you become murderers. [To hate is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned.] You burn with envy and anger and are not able to obtain [the gratification, the contentment, and the happiness that you seek], so you fight and war. You do not have, because you do not ask. [1 John 3:15.] [Or] you do ask [God for them] and yet fail to receive, because you ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives. Your intention is [when you get what you desire] to spend it in sensual pleasures. You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God. Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love? [Jeremiah 3:14; Hosea 2:19 ff.] (James 4:1-5) AMP
(43) For God will put a plan into their minds, a plan that will carry out his purposes: They will mutually agree to give their authority to the scarlet animal so that the words of God will be fulfilled. (Revelation 17:17) TLB