Yes—God is absolutely sovereign and has preplanned all history, yet He still permits genuine human free will; Les holds both together even though he cannot fully explain them.
God has laid the whole line of human history out ahead of time and is never caught by surprise, yet He has never taken free will away from man to accomplish His plan. Les admits these two truths are hard to reconcile and says he cannot actually explain it; he simply believes it because Scripture shows it and history confirms it. Over nearly 6,000 years, everything has fallen into place on God’s timetable without God making men or governments robots. The Godhead’s foreknowledge from before creation allowed God to plan for everything while leaving human choices free.
Acts 2:23 — The same verse shows God’s determinate counsel and foreknowledge alongside the free, wicked hands of the men who crucified Christ.
Romans 11:2 — Paul declares God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew, showing God’s foreknowledge operating in Israel’s history without cancelling their free actions.
In Acts 2:23, Scripture pulls the two truths together in one verse: "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." The crucifixion was at once God’s predetermined plan and the free action of human hands. Romans 11:2 also shows God’s foreknowledge of His people, Israel, even while Israel acted freely as a nation. The Bible does not dissolve the tension; it simply states both truths as fact.
Les Feldick consistently teaches that both truths are true. He says God is absolutely sovereign and has laid the whole line of human history out ahead of time, yet He has never taken free will away from man to accomplish it. Les admits the two concepts are hard—even impossible—to fully reconcile, and says he no longer tries to define the line between them. But he believes both are factual because prophecy has been fulfilled to the last jot and history has fallen into place on God’s timetable without God making men or governments robots.
Les says no—God is absolutely sovereign and has laid the whole line of human history out ahead of time. Nothing Israel did caught God by surprise; they operated under free will as a nation, yet everything they did fits His plan. Even the future formation of a ten-nation European consortium and the emergence of the Antichrist are already in the blueprint, because God has everything architecturally drawn up from eternity past.
Les emphasizes that God has never made men or governments just robots. Nearly 6,000 years after man’s beginning, everything has fallen into place according to God’s timetable. Men and nations still exercise free will, making governments, decisions and military moves, and yet the sovereign plan of God still comes through.
Les explains that before God ever created anything, the Godhead could look down through the eons of time and know exactly what every person in every nation would do. That is foreknowledge. With that foreknowledge, God could plan for any contingency because He already knew what would happen, while never taking away man’s free will. Israel is the example: they had absolute freedom to accept or reject the King, and their rejection did not throw God a curve.
Les points to fulfilled prophecy: everything prophesied concerning Christ’s first coming was fulfilled to the last jot and tittle, and end-time prophecy is now falling into place. He also points to World War II as the greatest period in history where God let generals, admirals, presidents and dictators seem to make decisions of their own free will and yet His sovereign will came through.
God's Blueprint for End-Time Nations
Les teaches that the eventual ten-nation European grouping was architecturally planned from eternity past; even though nations act on their free will and latent hatreds, the ten-nation consortium will emerge because the book says so, and the Antichrist will arise from it.
The Fine Line Between Sovereignty and Free Will
Les explains that there is a fine line between the sovereignty of God and human free will, and it is hard to define without crossing over; God is absolutely sovereign, has laid human history out ahead of time, and yet has never taken free will away to accomplish it.
History Falls Into Place Without Robots
Les says the beauty of Bible study is seeing a sovereign God let men and nations exercise free will while everything falls into place on His timetable for nearly 6,000 years; he can’t fully understand how, but it is factual.
Israel's Free Will Did Not Surprise God
Les teaches that God has not cast away Israel which He foreknew; even though Israel acted under free will, nothing they did caught God by surprise, and everything they did fits His plan.
Foreknowledge As the Explanation
Les explains the Godhead before creation could look down through the eons and know exactly what every person and nation would do; with that foreknowledge God could plan for any contingency while leaving free will intact, as seen with Israel’s rejection of Christ.
Architecturally Drawn Up From Eternity
Les says God’s plan is architecturally drawn up from eternity past; nothing takes Him by surprise. He cannot explain how a sovereign God preplanned everything and still left free will, but he believes it because he sees it happening constantly.
World War II as Evidence
Les points to World War II as a period of history where God’s sovereignty is most evident; God let generals, admirals, presidents and dictators make decisions under free will, yet His sovereign will still came through.
God's Blueprint Before Creation
Les says the triune God put everything in motion before anything was created, already having it all blueprinted; men and nations have operated under free will since the beginning, making decisions, forming governments and militaries, yet God’s plan for the ages is still being fulfilled.
Acts 2:23: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
This verse puts God’s predetermined counsel and human free action in the same event, making it the clearest scriptural anchor for the question.
Romans 11:2: God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,
Paul applies God’s foreknowledge to Israel’s ongoing history, showing that their free choices did not cancel God’s knowledge or plan.
Les says the two are hard to reconcile and he cannot fully explain it, but he believes both are true. God is sovereign and has never taken free will from man, and history shows everything has fallen into place on God’s timetable without making people robots.
No. Les teaches that before creation the Godhead knew exactly what every person and nation would do, which is foreknowledge. God could plan for any contingency because He knew what was going to happen, but He never took away the free will of mankind.
Yes. Israel had absolute freedom to accept the King and the kingdom, or to reject it. Their rejection did not throw God a curve because He foreknew what they would do.
Les points to World War II, where God let generals, admirals, presidents and dictators make decisions under free will, yet the sovereign will of God came through. He also points to the fulfillment of prophecy across nearly 6,000 years of history.
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