freewill

Is there anything that can’t be taken away from you?

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.- Viktor Frankl in “Man’s Search for Meaning”

Viktor Frankl was an Austrian Jew and psychiatrist that survived the Nazi concentration camps and wrote about the experience in “Man’s Search for Meaning”. It is a powerful book that describes the conditions of life as a prisoner almost certainly facing death. You can read it for free here:

Man’s Search for Meaning- Viktor Frankl- Archive.org

Among the many powerful lessons learned was that a person can endure almost anything if he has a reason to. And, people can be conditioned to accept almost anything.

But the discovery he made about always having a choice really struck me. He related how a prisoner being marched into the gas chamber- seemingly with no choices left- can still choose the manner in which they walk in: Either in denial, screaming, begging, crying or in dignity- with a “prayer on their lips”.

I have never read a more stark and elemental description of freewill. Your options- the choices you can make- are always limited, and can be taken away completely, but your freewill cannot.

This was explained remarkably and surprisingly well in one of my all-time favorite movies, Trading Places, with Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd. Two old commodities traders made a bet about nature versus nurture, and conduct a sociological experiment by “swapping the lives” of their Harvard educated manager and a street hustler.

After the euphoria and novelty of finding himself an executive with a limo and a townhouse with a butler wears off, the former hustler, Billy Ray Valentine, wonders what is up with all this. He asks his butler, Coleman, what’s the deal. Coleman, who knows the plan but can’t tell, likes Billy Ray and advises:

Just be yourself, sir. Whatever happens, they can’t take that away from you- Coleman to Billy Ray Valentine in “Trading Places”

That always stuck with me. It was a well-done comedy, but that gem was unexpected. Your circumstances- and thus your choices- can drastically alter, but your freewill can’t be taken.

Freewill and choices are intertwined and hard to separate sometimes. You exercise your freewill with the choices you make. Choices have consequences:

Texas Blind Salamander

The Texas Blind Salamander decided long ago to live in a pitch-black cave. Because there was never any need for eyes- they eventually lost them. Choices can affect freewill. The blind salamander can still exercise his freewill and decide to live outside the cave- but it would be a deadly choice.

The salamander still has freewill- stay in the cave and live or leave the cave and die. That is why it is important we align our will with God’s will.

And that’s what it is all about. Using our freewill to choose God, to choose Godly things. The freedom to choose is a gift that cannot be taken away. Every minute of every day we make choices.

I always thought this line from the Rush song Freewill was profound:

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice- Neal Peart in “Freewill”

Your freewill cannot be taken, but it can be surrendered. Don’t let that happen. Once surrendered, it is hard to get back. Don’t give in to helplessness and hopelessness.

Choose God and be truly free. No one can take that away from you.

Luke 12:4- And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

Matthew 10:28- And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

submit

“When the Mahdi comes, he will kill all the dogs and swine, break all the crosses, and throw all the gays from the top of the minarets.”  Many Muslims believe this very scene will play out in the End-times. (The Mahdi is the Muslim entity that ushers in the Apocalypse.)

As I  pointed out in a recent post  Which is it? there is an undeniable contradiction  between the beliefs of Islam and virtually every constituent group of the Democrat party. Muslims hate gays, feminists, liberals, Hollywood, and actual pigs and dogs- the ‘most unclean of all the animals’ ( Hello PETA!).

Yet the Left resists any attempts to acknowledge anything negative about Islam and viciously attack any critics of Muslims as racists, hypocrites, and Islamophobes.

Do you remember the Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan? He went on a personal jihad and killed 13 and wounded over 30. The warning signs were there- just as they were with the San Bernardino shooters, the Pulse nightclub shooter and many others. What was the military’s response? “As horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse,” the Army’s top officer General George Casey said.

If you want to know who rules you, see who you can’t criticize. (The word Islam means submit). You have our thoughts and prayers, but don’t make them Muslims feel uncomfortable under any circumstances.

Submit.

The entertainment industry is the most glorious band of hypocrites you will ever witness. These are wealthy people who produce songs, movies, and media that promote and portray the most cinematic High Definition psychopathy’s, perversity, and just plain deranged evil that “creative” minds can produce. Misogynistic lyrics. Graphic violence against women and children. Profanity, immorality, depravity.

And as regularly as a bowel movement, some representative(s) of these deviates appears and shakes a finger in your face and lectures you about the decisions you are making. Condemns you and your beliefs. Mocks Christians and conservative traditional values. Even better, many of them claim to be strong believers, doing the Lord’s work at every opportunity, showing us the way. (If they corrupt you, they get rewarded.)

And we can’t get enough. We buy everything they got.

Submit.

Think about what our politicians have decided for us. Abortion good. Atheism good. War good. Debt good. Government good. MS-13 are the ‘children of God’.

School prayer bad. Privacy bad. Peace bad. Christians bad.

Submit.

Muslims hate Hollywood, gays, our government, and military. They have a stated desire to kill everyone of them. Yet, these same hated groups defend and protect the “religion of peace”. Why? Because they want you defeated and they love everyone they believe can do it. Because they want you dead and will defend anyone who shows an ability to do so.

Matthew 4:8-9  ⁸Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; ⁹ And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

It is about control and power. If you can be controlled, you give up your power. Fall down and worship me, give me your power, give me your soul. Submit.

It is about making good people submit to evil people. They believe it makes them powerful.

It is making humans- God’s image and likeness- submit to machines and demons. They think they can take your power and rule over you.

It is the spiritually strong submitting to the spiritually weak. They believe they can take your power and make themselves strong.

It is about conditioning you to submit to evil. To submit to the Beast and the anti-Christ. To believe you must submit to survive.

It is about Christians submitting to Satan. He believes he can take all the souls and all their power and become mighty to defeat God.

It is about seizing everything from God and putting his throne above the throne of God- make Him submit. Control Him, rule over Him, kill Him. That is the Devil’s plan.

God’s plan is freewill. It is about taking upon the name of the Lord and overcoming. It is a choice.

Matthew 11:  ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

The way of Jesus is the way of peace and love, rest unto your soul. One way promises ‘submit or die’. The other way promises ‘love one another and find life.’

Do you choose life or will you submit?