I never stopped to think that Saul was a terrorist until this devotion. Thank you for this perspective on Saul.

Way to go Eric. At least you capitalized the "G" in God. First step toward being a believer, recognize who He is!

Liked the devotion. Still pondering the comment by "Erik"? I personally like that I have free will?

Okay, just a little over the line with that comment, Erik. Had to remove it. Thanks.

I love Paul's story. To a certain degree, his story is our story. Until we accepted Christ we were all terrorists against God.

No, Erik, it's not too close to home. (For those wondering, we deleted another of Erik's comments.) As you can surely ascertain after this amount of time, we are willing to allow a lot of debating over the many issues brought up by the devotion of the day, including comments that are in complete opposition to what this ministry espouses. But when you start saying things that we feel are pure blasphemy against the Lord God Himself, that's where we draw the line. Merry Christmas and we truly pray God's blessings for your life during this season of joy.

Erik - First, God doesn't believe in athetists.

Most importantly, he loves you as much as he loves anyone else.

Praise God for this transformation of Saul to Paul!

As we know, there is a spirit in this world that is against God. It manifests itself in many ways -- the terrorist who blows up a bus full of Jews or wants to kill Americans for their support of Israel; the guys at Columbine who killed their classmates and specifically sought out Christians to kill; the teenagers in the news this morning who robbed and severely beat a grandmother, who earlier in the day bought a vacuum cleaner from one of them and then was nice enough to let him in her house to use the phone. It all makes it impossible to deny that man left unchecked can perpetuate the worst kind of evil acts.

I also believe the same spirit of evil is the driving force for some atheists. I don't mean to say that atheists cannot be good people (the world's definition of good). There are atheists that simply do not believe in God, and that is the end of that. They may lead as moral a life as a good Christian in some areas, and do not purposely wage war against God. There are others in the "new atheist" movement that say that God (or for them, the idea of God), and those that believe in him, are actually the cause for most of the suffering in the world. While they may not go out and murder or steal, they will do everything they can to lead others away from God. The bottom line is they are angry at God and his believers and have no problem saying something blasphemous or offensive. They place Christians in a similar category as Islamic radicals. Christopher Hitchens and those of that ilk are the spiritual leaders for these folks, and this is the world view that produces comments like the one that was removed earlier today. As I said the other day, I pray that those who follow these people will look carefully at their own motivations for making such comments.

When I opened today's devotional this morning and saw Eric's posting I was offended, but decided to wait and see what RFTH did with it. Thank you. It was indeed blasphemous. People have the right to believe whatever they choose, but they don't have the right to enter a place of worship and defile it. My Lord and Savior is the farthest thing I could imagine from a religious terrorist. There is no argument that terrible things have been done by many claiming to be acting "in his name", but true Christians reject them.

If there ever was a religious terrorist, it was Mohammad. And, to this day terrorist acts are being done by way of his example his teaching, and in the name of his god. But every day, there are muslims coming to faith in Jesus Christ at great peril to themselves and their families. We should all pray for these new brothers and sisters in Christ.

God indeed should be able to transform the life of a religious terrorist although I do not understand why He does not do so. That is from my perspective. However, I think that He has quite a task ahead of Him in respect of the present crop of terrorists who claim to be of the Muslim faith and don't appear to have an ounce of compassion towards anybody who is not of their faith. These terrorists have chosen to interpret the Koran to suit their own means. If you are not a Muslim, you are an infidel and thus a legitimate target. At least, this is my understanding. Never mind any "collateral" damage that may be caused by their explosives and machine guns.

Oh, how I look forward to a world filled with peace throughout without wars, crimes and evil. That is my dream; it certainly is not reality.

Could we really extend love to these terrorists so that they eventually begin to feel the same way as those who do not believe in violence? I cannot see this happen in the short term.

I have been emersed in a study series on the Sovereignty of God. When you believe in the absolute sovereignty of God, then you can only come to the conclussion that nothing happens outside of his divine will. This includes everything; the rising and falling of nations; the rising and falling of men; natural disasters; natural order. In fact if one stray molecule operates independent of the sovereignty of God, then God is not Omnipotent or sovereign.

The preceeding statement just flys in the face of what the modern sophisticated educated man is willing to believe. They protest that's not fair, or that's not MY God; my God wants everybody to be saved. But I have become convinced that it is true. I have also become convinced that God is absolutely just, full of mercy and grace, and that he is incapable of evil himself. If you find this confusing, I would suggest A.W. Pink's "The Sovereignty of God", A.W. Tozer's "The Attributes of God", R.C. Sproul's "The Holiness of God" to name a few.

I am sure that many of you will take issue with this position, because I used to myself. When you take this position, you find yourself saying why would God allow such things? I did. I railed and bucked like Job. And then, like Job, I learned to "put my hand over my mouth" and listen to God; to trust that his plan is the perfect plan; to understand that he does not need my advice on how to run the universe. As the the hymnn says, "nothing in my hands I bring, only to thy cross I cling". In fact the only thing I bring to the transaction of justification is my sin.

So what does this have to do with today? I personally think we are getting ready to go through some times as a country unlike anything we have ever experienced, and I think that those who make it through with their souls intact will be those who trust completely in the Sovereignty and Holiness of our God.

Grant: I think that God is completely sovereign, but I also believe that God wants everyone to be saved. That is clear from scripture. You can easily reconcile the two. Even though God gives man free will to make his own choice, he is still in control. I can grant my children the freedom to make their own choice in certain areas and let them live with the consequences. That does not mean I am in control. I chose to allow that, so I am still sovereign in that situation. I believe that is how it is with God and man's free will.

Grant and RickY, you have touched on a subject I have really struggled with. Thank you both for your comments and insight. The Bible talks both about the elect of God and that He wants all to be saved. I know that the Holy Spirit draws people to have an interest in Jesus so I do not understand why if God wants all saved why He does not draw people equally to Himself. Some remain unsaved or else there would be no reason for hell to exist. So I think there is some factor that we are missing in the equation that it is not our time to know. I think we need to treat all people as if they have the potential to be saved but God is the only One who knows for sure if the person is one of the elect. I agree with you, Grant, that our nation and others are about to go through a sifting. I would be pessimistic except for the faith I have that God will see us through. We all need to pray for greater faith.

Janice: I believe God wants to have a relationship with all people. That is clear. Now, he could certainly will that to be the case, but that would take away the meaning of the relationship. You can't will someone to love you, or it is not really love. The best you can do is make yourself known, without being coercive, and leave the decision up to them.

The whole debate on who the elect are centers around whether we can answer without God first changing our hearts. But, if God has to change our heart before we can repent, then that would mean he only changes the hearts of some. That is not consistent with the God I know from scripture. I personally believe that all are capable of turning to God and repenting. Scripture says God knocks and if we answer he will have fellowship with us. Some will answer and some will not, but that is our choice (based on the free will that God grants us). Of course, while we are all capable of making the choice to repent, we are not capable of living a sinless life, but we can choose to accept his gift of salvation. That is when the real changing of the heart begins. I believe the elect are those that seek God's grace, and with God being omniscient, he knew who the elect would be before the beginning of time.

Thanks, RickY, for your comment. I am really thinking about what you wrote. It is a very hopeful and generous approach to the idea of election. When I consider someone like Judas and his role and knowing that he had to do what he did to bring forth the Father's plan for Jesus then it makes me think that Judas was one who was chosen to not be one of the elect. But I guess what you are saying is that God the Father knew beforehand the heart of Judas and therefore he was used to carry forward the plan. And God sure made something good come out of something bad! Thanks for your effort in trying to help me think more thoroughly on the subject of election.

Janice: I don't know if you'll make it back to this devotion, but if you do, that is exactly my belief. In addition to God knowing the future, I believe he also has something called "middle knowledge", which means he also knows what would happen with someone in any given circumstance. Scripture says that God placed us in the place and time when we would most likely seek him. As you say, God knew the heart of us all, and that also means how we would act in any circumstance. There are some that would never choose God, other than Him forcing them to, or purely for their own selfish reasons. So, he raises some up to fulfill his plan, such as he did with Pharaoh or Judas. He knew Pharaoh would harden his heart every time He showed him mercy. He knew the heart of Judas, and how he would act given the circumstance.