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James, let me come to you because it is difficult, this question of why does God allow? And there's one here that's come in from Sean from Dartford and it says, Dear Gordon, it's a shame that none of the panel have been able to give a coherent answer.
Genesis 6 .6 tells us that God can change his mind. And he asked, I mean, as a country, I don't know whether you've heard about this little girl called Madeline who's been missing now, I think it's about 12, 13 days.
She just disappeared one night out of her hotel bedroom and the whole country has been praying for her safe return. He says, What about Madeline? Was she predestined to be abducted? What about Hitler?
Was God behind his madness? I think that there is a history that is open such as our salvation and a history that is fixed, Jesus dying on the cross. How.
Do you respond to that? You know, it's interesting listening to the last caller. I've been a hospital chaplain and what you believe about what God's word says about his sovereignty and his power and his purposes will tremendously impact how you go about the work of going into the emergency room, dealing with death.
A lot of people don't know that my second most popular book is on grieving and on handling the death of a loved one. So this is not, I do not approach this as merely some ivory tower theologian. But I also, in response to that email, would have to very seriously look at that brother and say, Do you know what you're saying?
When you talk about openness in that way, there's a whole theology day called the Open View of Theology that, for example, God did not know what was going to happen on July 6th or in my nation on September 10th.
He knew what the plans were but he didn't know whether they'd be successful. He didn't know who was going to die. They actually believe that God did not even know you would exist when he created this world.
And that's a theology that's out there that tries to protect God from the one big issue and that is that God himself says he does what he pleases and he has a purpose. Remember the verse you started with?
God works all things, Romans 8 .28. God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God. Now how can he do that if he is not, in fact, in sovereign control? There are people who want to say, Well, God created and then we of our free will created evil.
When God created, did he not know what was going to result? When God hurled the worlds into space, did he know the end from the beginning? Now, Orthodox Christianity has always said, Yes, God has perfect knowledge of future events.
Well, then you have to answer a question. Does he have a purpose in those events or not? If he created and he doesn't have a purpose, you have the specter of a God who created all this evil for no reason.
I say God has a purpose. I imagine when Joseph sat in that dungeon, he had a lot of time to think, My goodness, what's God doing? Has he lost control? How can there be a purpose in all this evil? His father, the torture that he held in his heart for years at the loss of his son, who he hadn't actually lost.
And yet the scriptures tell us plainly God had a purpose in those things. I believe that we need to have some humility before God. We are but ants before the Almighty God. And when he says he has a purpose, even if we don't know what that purpose is, we need to be the ones who accept that God has said he has a purpose and he has a purpose.
But that requires us to believe in the sovereignty of God. The fact that he has a decree. He is described in Ephesians 1 .11 as the God who works all things after the counsel of his will. Well, is he big enough to answer the questions about little children?
Is he big enough to answer the questions about Hitler? I think he is big enough to answer those questions. OK, let me stop you there.
Hilary, welcome to the program. Thanks for calling with you tonight. What would you like to share? Hilary, are you there? Yes, I'm... Hello there. Welcome to the program. Hilary, I think you've got your TV on or something.
Can you just turn it down for us? Oh, yes,.
Sorry. That's quite all right. Earlier, the London School... the London Bible College was mentioned. That's right. And concerning them, thinking of the scriptures about God's plan and purpose for Israel in the future and the predestination for Israel and the...
They are the real olive branch, and they could be grafted in. But if we become arrogant, we can be torn off. And we believe Israel is... or according to the scriptures, they are being gathered back to the land where Jesus will return, although he loves Arabs as well, and they'll be the one new man.
But I gather that the London School of Economics, who used to be... not economics, I'm sorry, the London Bible College, who used to believe this, have become quite anti-Semitic and are into replacement theology, i .e. the church.
Has replaced Israel. All right. Hilary, unfortunately, Professor Tony Lane has had to leave us, so he's not here anymore to defend himself or to tell us what the college actually believes. So I think you made your point on that point, and I appreciate that.
And we'll have to send him an email and ask him, and if he gives us a reply, we'll show it in a future review program. Pastor Edward, what do you understand about Israel and the plan and purposes of.
God at this time? Well, I know that they are the chosen race, and I believe that when we say that we are the children of Abraham as well, we have been adopted and we have been engrafted in, just like she's saying.
And so we are like adopted Jews, so to speak. As a result of that, what the Bible is saying, that when we have... the Bible says in the book of Psalms 105 verse 15, it says, touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm.
In other words, when we are part and parcel of that Jewish race, we fall under the sovereign power of God, which has to do with his firstborn, which is the Jewish race. And as a result of that, we stand everything to benefit if we are engrafted in.
But just like she pointed out, there are those that if they are not into it, they can be cut off. And as a result of that, I still maintain the fact that it has to do with will. It has to do with your will, wanting to be engrafted in.