Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus, 

“⁷ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace  ⁸which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,  ⁹ having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,  ¹⁰ that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.  ¹¹ In Him we have also obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,” Ephesians 1:7-11 (NKJV)

“⁷ In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses) in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor.  ⁸ Which He lavished upon us in every kind of wisdom and understanding (practical insight and prudence).  ⁹ Making known to us the mystery (secret) of His will (of His plan, of His purpose). [And it is this:] In accordance with His good pleasure (His merciful intention) which He had previously purposed and set forth in Him, ¹⁰[He planned] for the maturity of the times and the climax of the ages to unify all things and head them up and consummate them in Christ, [both] things in heaven  and things on the earth.  ¹¹ In Him we also were made [God’s] heritage (portion) and we obtained an inheritance; for we had been foreordained (chosen and appointed beforehand) in accordance with His purpose, Who works out everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His [own] will,” Ephesians 1:7-11 (AMP)

“ . . . until the dispensation of the fullness of time . . .” points to the fact that GOD Who is LOVE is not moved by time because He created time. Regardless of the shortcomings of those created in His image (Genesis 1:26-27), it is impossible for The One who is Omniscient to be surprised about our own free-will decisions contrary to God’s will for our lives. For the Sovereign Lord God Almighty is ever faithful to His plan for us regardless of man’s propensity to work against His always good will, due to the manipulations of the thief who only comes to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10a). Therefore,

• when Adam sat and watched, which essentially allowed the devil to talk Eve into eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17), the LORD’s question to Adam: “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9) had nothing to do with location but everything to do with the fall of mankind.  

• when Noah got drunk resulting in cursing his own son – Canaan while blessing the others – Shem and Japheth (Genesis 9:25-27) which eventually set nation against nation, the LORD made blood covenant with man then blood covenant with Himself that would reconcile by faith every fallen man unto Himself; as exemplified by the call of Abram later renamed Abraham – the father of faith (Genesis 12:1-3 & 15:6-18; Romans 4:16-21).

• when Sarai later renamed Sarah became impatient and decided to “help” the LORD (as if The One who is Omnipotent might require such) it resulted in 12 nations that would live in hostility toward all their brothers (Genesis 16:1-2 & 17:1-21 & 25:12-18).  

• when the daughters of Lot planned incestuous acts, such gave birth to the nations of the Moabites and Ammonites (Genesis 19:30-38; Deuteronomy 2:9, 17-19). Eventually, the nation of Moab decided to hire a sorcerer to curse God’s chosen (Numbers chapters 22-24) and though unable to succeed, facilitated the seduction of some to indulge in sexual immorality as well as idolatry (Numbers 22:1-3).  

• when Jacob who was later renamed Israel (Genesis 32:28 and whose seed brought forth the twelve tribes that comprised the nation of Israel – Genesis 35:23-26 & 46:8-25) convinced his fraternal twin – Esau (whose seed brought forth the nation of Edom – Genesis chapter 36), to give up his birthright for food (Genesis 25:29-34), and by the initiative of their own mother, tricked The Blessing from Esau (Genesis chapter 27); Jacob would experience the harvest of trickery sown at the hands of his mother’s brother. For Uncle Laban consistently tricked Jacob out of his earned wages for approximately twenty years . . . But GOD! (Genesis 30:27-43).  

• when Jacob favored the son of his old age – Joseph, ten of his other brothers hated him to the point of conspiring to kill him (Genesis chapter 37); But GOD! (Genesis chapters 39-41). Joseph said to the ten brothers who previously plotted his demise: “As far as I am concerned, God turned into good what you meant for evil.” Genesis 50:29 (NLT).  

• when Moses who Scripture relays spoke with the LORD God face to face (Exodus 33:11; Deuteronomy 34:10) decided to speak to the rock contrary to manner God instructed, such resulted in him not entering the promised land, though the LORD did allow Moses to view it (Numbers 20:7-12; Deuteronomy 34:1-4).  

• when the LORD God advised King Solomon not to intermarry with women from foreign nations because they’d turn him toward the sin of idolatry, he decided against God’s advice (1 Kings 11:1-6). Such resulted in ten of the tribes of Israel taken from him and given to Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:26-40).  

• when Jeroboam facilitated the sin of idolatry by creating two golden calves for the nation of Israel to worship (1 Kings 12:26-28), the kingdom was taken from him (1 Kings 14:7-16) and his entire household would be no more. 

Now, whereas the LORD God chose the nation of Israel, the United States of America chose the LORD God, even to the point that the original intent of the Founders’ who were men of faith emanated from God’s Word as evidence in The Declaration of Independence. That is, its declaration of independence from the King of Great Britain, delineated therein as tyranny. Yet again we may recognize the handiwork of the devil in the manipulations of these people of faith; only by the work of satan do a people of faith move from its document declaring: “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” to the inhumane enslavement of a people based on the amount of melanin in their skin. For God gave man dominion over the earth, not dominion over other humans.  

Genesis 26-28a (MSG) – “God spoke: ‘Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish of the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of the Earth.’ God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: ‘Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take Charge!”  

The thing about any movement not in keeping with God’s Word (whether such be in thought and/or word and/or deed) is akin to stepping onto a slippery slope which, though by their own free-will decision, a significant number of human beings seem to indulge in blaming God. The fact of the matter, however, is that ignoring the precepts of the Kingdom of God never negates the (self-induced) consequences thereof. Though when we slip, the redemptive work of Christ Jesus has bestowed to them who love God, all things that work together for good: the Word of God which is the Sword of the re-created spirit; the gifts of the Spirit; the Name of Jesus; prayer; and all the power weapons of God that are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). To be clear, it’s our own free-will decisions that result in the production of bad fruit. For GOD who is LOVE gives only good things. As it is written, “. . . I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the LORD is your life . . .” Deuteronomy 29:19-20 (NIV).  

Speak the promise . . . Harriet