Hardened Heart

     In the Bible, there are only a few times that Our Lord 'Hardens' some one's heart. So does that mean the individual is predestined to be lost? This was one of the questions that has returned to me over and over, and honestly it is still a question that challenges me. For if an individual can be predestined to hell for actions that he will perform, then how can God be a God of Justice and Grace? If an individual is predetermined to live in heaven, no matter the sin, then how can there be true mercy and grace shown to all and why was it necessary for Christ to hang on the Cross? These are truly challenging thoughts that we try to explain away and more often than not attempt to skirt around than to face head on.
     Let's look at Pharaoh in the time of the enslavement of the Israelites. God sends Moses to be his emissary to Pharaoh's house. He tells Pharaoh that God is commanding him to let the Israelites go. Then the Bible states that God 'hardens Pharaoh's heart'. In other words, God ensures Pharaoh would not listen to them (Exodus 9:12, NIV). My issue with this comes from the fact that Pharaoh does not 'seem' to be able to choose his own path. God seems to have chosen for him and made Pharaoh a puppet to be used until such a time as God's plan came through to it's end with Pharaoh losing his army.
     Also, what about Judas? Was he predetermined to betray our Lord? How could God's plan be completed without the betrayal? So his complicity in this was necessary for the whole of the plan to come to God's desired end, right? Or is there still choice? Could Judas have made a choice? Did Peter have a choice when he was told he would betray our Lord? Or was that also pre-ordained as well? These are the questions that haunt the minds of greater men than me, and yet they still have not come to a simple conclusion...doubt me? Look at all the differing treatises written on the subject of predestination.
     Yet for all this, I choose to believe there is not a predetermined fate for anyone. For me it comes down to this, if I accept that even one person is predestined to spend eternity in heaven or hell, then it cheapens or calls into question the need for my Lord to have been sacrificed upon that cruel cross. Our Father would never have sent His Son to that cross if He had already predetermined who was to live with Him in heaven and who would spend eternity in hell. There would have been no need. God loves all His created children and would not lose any to hell. He therefore was willing to allow His Son to hang upon that cross.
     So how does that play into the hardening of someones heart? Father waits for and longs for His children turn to Him. He is also known as long suffering. Yet, even His patience has limits for He is also known as a God of Justice and Vengeance. When humans are stubborn and prideful, refusing to submit to His will, He eventually allows them to go their own way. This is what happened to Pharaoh. Pharaoh had been seeking the counsel of magicians and began to think of himself as a living god. You see he had been listening to Satan's lies and was deceived into believing that he could stand against God. So when Moses and Aaron came and spoke for God, Pharaoh would not listen because God allowed Pharaoh to believe what he wanted to believe. God had abandoned him to Satan's schemes and delusions. It was Pharaoh's own desires, lusts, and vanity that caused his fall.
     Well that was not what happened to Judas, you say...and you would be right. Judas was tempted by Satan as well though. Satan is the father of lies and deceit. He knows what you crave most and will tempt you with it. Judas was tempted with money. Jesus while on earth taught of the corrupting power of money more than any other subject. Judas had a choice to make, he could choose to sell Jesus or he could decide not to and soften his heart to God. Judas fell to this and sold his master for 30 pieces of silver. The question must be asked,"Did his actions condemn him to hell at this point?" I say no. For if that was so,  then would Peter who also betrayed Jesus and denied Him 3 times cursing, not have ensured his own place in hell? No, I do not believe that Judas' actions to this point would have ensured his condemnation. Judas ensured his place in hell by trying to blame others and by his own hardened heart. It was this difference that allowed Peter to be saved. Peter, understood that he sinned and had repented his sin not hardening his heart to Father. Therefore he was redeemed and Father was able to use him as a Man of God.
     What is the application for us today? Well number one, we are not predestined to be Father's children and therefore we have to always watch out for what we say and do. 1Cor 9:27, Paul talks to this as he discusses the need to continually discipline himself so that he would not become lost. If he, one of the Apostles, was concerned with falling away then how much greater is our need to be on guard against this possiblity. Our nation believes the lie that we are the Greatest Nation that has ever been, and our Politicians believe that they are the elite of our society. This nation was built upon faith in the One True God. He is the God of Abraham and Isaac. We have forgotten this and have moved to remove Him from our lives as Pharaoh did or replaced him with money and lesser gods as Judas did. Either way, we are no longer listening to Father or His Spirit that lives within us. God is a God of mercy and grace but He is also a God of justice and vengence. When someone states that a loving God would not allow good people to be murdered at a theater. I ask, "truly, did he put the weapon in that man's hand and tell him to pull the trigger? No, Satan did that just as he told Pharaoh not to let the Israelites go." Did God not show up in all the outpouring of hope and assistance that was sparked from the event? But we do not attribute that to Father. We say that we did this. God shows up and we say He was not there. Why? Because we listen to Satan's lies, which we have learned to hear and believe in more easily than the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, our leaders are men and women of little or no faith and like Judas are betraying us to Satan. They are listening to his lies and schemes. They are willing to trade our freedoms for 30 pieces of silver. Yet that is not even the saddest part. We The People are just as complicite as those we elected into office. We have the right and obligation to ensure that they adhere to the laws and Constitution that our founding fathers wrote down so many years ago with the guidance of our Lord. We The People have put our head in the sand and hope that because I do not see the danger that it will pass without eating me. We are allowing our rights to be taken away by those who we elected to serve us and we sit quitely by and smile as it happens. I have even heard that some individuals are already saying, "What we need is a benevolent dictator." To that I ask, "what is a benevolent dictator? I have never even heard of such. Name one in history...enlighten me please. Hitler was not one. Napoleon was not. Who can name a Dictator that was benevolent to their people?
     There is no governing system in the world that has ever been founded such as what we have experienced as a peoples and we have been successful as a nation because of our FAITH. Not because of our standing army or navy. Not because of our own strengths or wisdoms. No, Father used 3 carriers in the Pacific to defeat the Imperial Japanese Navy. He used a lesser experienced force to defeat the Axis. What we had was a strong FAITH and belief in Him and His faithfullness. We lost that in the years since. We have not been a nation of Faith but of secularism and hedonism. We are more concerned about our own greed and lusts than following God's laws and commandments.  We need to bring back One Nation Under God before we do not have one nation and God no longer lives within any of it.
    I pray that God will hear those who still believe in Him and cry out to Him.