For this piece, I am using the definitions I found online for:

(a)Control: to exercise restraint or direction over; dominate, command

(b)Sovereign: supreme power or authority.

Where in scripture does it say God is in control? I looked, but couldn't find any place in Scripture where is said this specifically. Old Testament writers seemed to imply it with "God made them do this or that" kind of terminology. However we live in the New Covenant, so I wanted to see what Jesus said about it, though he also lived in the Old Covenant era, He introduced the  the New Covenant in which we live. 



I guess the impetus for this blog is the fact that I’ve been hearing that statement from a lot of different sources lately. One recent place was in a devotional, it was a good devotional, even though the word control might have been a little misapplied. A better word might have been the word sovereign. But we like the statement “God is in control” …. why?

Maybe it's because....

• It’s catchy, bumper sticker
• There are songs about it that are nice to listen to
• Good teachers taught us about it
• It gives security in a troubled time.

And if we are honest, however, it also provides peace by indirectly letting us off the hook regarding responsibility of confronting social and cultural, political hot topics and injustice. This choice is definitely not made consciously, I'm sure, but it doesn't change the fact that the more it is postulated that God is in control the less responsibility we feel to do anything about what's going on around us.

But it doesn’t make any sense. If we take the reasoning to its conclusion one can understand how atheists are born, why folks stop praying, stop attending church gatherings, why the world is in the mess it’s in. Why the church today is operating at a subnormal level of effectiveness. Reasoned out, the idea that God is in Control means everything is by his design, right?  Creation, invention, good, bad, evil, the situation at the border, disease, corruption …everything is by his design. If he were in control, Adam and Eve would never have eaten from the tree of Knowledge. We would not have free will. We would be puppets and he the one holding the strings. God would have firmly held those reigns…but he didn’t.

“But He works everything out for our good!” is a common response. Let’s look at that too, while we are at it.

For whom? For whom does he “work things out for good?” What does the rest of that verse in Romans say? “…for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Those who love God…who is that? According to John 15 it is those who abide in him, follow his commandments who love Him. What are his commandments? This also gets misquoted too. Some say the 10 commandments…remember, that’s old Covenant. We live in the New Covenant.

 What are the commandments according to Jesus? John 15 also tells us: ““This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” Notice it does NOT say “as you love yourself” that would be using yourself as a measuring rod, what if you woke up one day not liking your recent choices and therefore not love yourself very much? Can we then not like our neighbor? I think not. NO, the commandment is to use the Love of Jesus for us as the measure. These are the people who “love God” they obey Christ. He is Lord of their life. And because they obey, they make good choices, and those good choices work out for good.

In addition, because of the idea that “God is in control” Christians have separated themselves believing God will take care of the sinful people and we just keep being Christian where we are and that’s enough. Another half-truth and more misapplied scripture about being separate but holy. If we investigate the matter further, however it was more about a tax break (501-C3) if preachers kept politics out of the pulpit. Now why would the government want that? To remain in control, of course. Unlike God, they don’t mind being puppet masters over people. And Christians are formidable when they make a clear sound regarding what is Scriptural, just and true.

 Matthew 16 says the gates of hell cannot withstand the Church Jesus is Building. So, preachers didn’t touch politics and were/are rewarded tax-wise. It also keeps the people happy not to make any waves and the people pay their salary. Does this make them a hired hand (John 10)? In some cases, I think it does end up being like this.

So, the world systems continued to do what they sinfully do and spiraled right down the moral drain of debauchery. Then what? Then the theories of “End times” came around and we excused ourselves once again believing that it was “all just going to get worse” and there wasn’t much we could do…but God was in control, so we’ll be alright… Incidentally, the early Church scholars and preachers never taught or even discussed "End Times, Rapture, etc" This didn't come about until after the second World War.

I sound harsh, I suppose, but I spent too many years thinking this way to ignore it.

If we read carefully we will see End times or Last days that the Apostles  and Jesus spoke of culminated at the end of the Old Covenant around AD 70 with the sacking of Jerusalem. It was horrible according to the historical records of Josephus. Look them up if you want. There are free online resources. There has never been a time like that since. The last days are behind us…that was the Old Covenant ending (Jerusalem destroyed, temple burned, AD70, Matthew 24) and the New Covenant beginning. Jesus was speaking in the present tense about the present generation of his time who asked him the question, "when will this happen?" (Matthew 24) It follows right after the woes (judgments) in Matthew 23. It is a follow up conversation.  The only way to throw Matthew 24 and Revelation of Christ Jesus into the future is to read Scripture through 21^st century lenses and misapply the context and audience…reading Scripture though the lenses of today’s “main-lies” news sources. Jesus did not speak in "double meanings," either. He was quite direct when he told the disciples that it would happen in their lifetime. Did He lie? Was Jesus a false prophet? NO. It all happened as he said it would.

The Last Day, the day Christ return is before us, Jesus is coming back, but not until there is something to come back for which is the Church functioning as she is supposed to be, designed to be, empowered to be (Read your bible). So, He waits on her as she waits on Him. But He’s done all He is going to do, so what is the Church waiting for, exactly?

All this to say, God is SOVEREIGN, not in Control. I think most who claim the statement about God in Control mean "sovereign" because when they explain what they mean, they are describing sovereignty, just as the devotion did that I referred to earlier. However, accuracy in our words is important if the church wants to make a clear sound. We need to be speaking the same language and not some muddied mess. God’s Sovereignty allows for choice. God builds with Family, with covenant, with Faith.