Mr. Nielsen, I'm sorry I did not see your post, and I also cannot always reply as<br>quickly as I'd like to, not that you asked me to. The Scriptures you quoted, <br>I Kings 22:23 and Ezekiel 14:9, were not shown in their whole context. Both<br>these scriptures are in the context of discipline and punishment for sin. God did<br>not lie, but permitted an evil spirit to exact punishment. God can and does <br>utilize evil at times for His own purposes. The verses before Ezekiel 14:9<br>of that chapter are stating how idolatry will be punished. God had warned the<br>people against it and told them to turn from it. He told them what would happen<br>if they did not. They refused to listen. Evidently false prophets were prospering--<br>the people in general and their governmental leaders set a welcoming environment to be deluded. Ezekiel 14:7-10 is concerning discipline and<br> punishment for this sin.
Evidently, God will entice false prophets only in a<br> qualified sense when an individual continually, willfully rejects His Word and <br>admonitions. God allows this continuance of deception, finally, so that the<br>individual's self-deception is complete; he's deceived by his own continual<br>obstinate self-will. God has given us a free will. When people willfully and<br>continually refuse the truth, He lets them pursue their own inclinations and <br>gives them over to falsehood, pursuing sin and its consequences<br>(Ezekiel 20:39). This is the wrath of abandonment in the two scriptures you<br>quoted and in Romans 1:18. God has manifested Himself to us, but "And<br>even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over<br>to a debased mind,..." (Romans 1:28). Also, see Romans 1:21. "...and with<br>all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not <br>receive the love of the truth
that they might be saved. And for this reason God<br>will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all<br>may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in<br>unrighteousness" (II Thessalonians 2:10-12)--these scriptures in II Thessalonians<br>are referring to "the" Anti-Christ, but is applicable here also.<br><br>As far as the scriptures you quote concerning virgins who are seduced or taken<br>by force--Exodus 22:15, 16 and Deuteronomy 22:28, 29--we are not Israel and<br>do not live under a theocracy. Of course, those who do not believe in biblical<br>scriptures as the Word of God, in its plain sense, will probably find little <br>meaning in this, but from the perspective of those who do believe as this, you<br>did you bring up something that needed clarification. By the way, I do not <br>believe you can "push" (nor should you, but it should be able to be presented)<br>Scripture on anyone--the conviction
comes to one's heart--this is why there's <br>no such thing as "forced conversion," those are contradictory terms; it would not<br>be a true conversion.<br><br>Kind regards,<br><br><Scimitar><br><p> __________________________________________________<br>Do You Yahoo!?<br>Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around <br>http://mail.yahoo.com