By David Dombrowski
Today, I would like us to ask ourselves, as the body of Christ, a question, “Are we being fooled by a fatalistic mentality?” I believe it’s an important question, and depending on the answer, it could affect our future in more ways than one.
This morning, I awoke and peered at my clock to see that it was 3:39am. As I lay there, my mind drifted back to one day in my distant youth that was quite amusing yet also has a more serious element to it. I found a length of thick string, and I got this idea that maybe I could pretend I was a lizard on a leash; so I tied the string into a noose and put it around my neck, wearing it throughout the day. That evening, my older brother Daniel was a participant in a semi-musical performance at his school to which families were invited to attend. I still remember entering the doors of that school, walking beside my mother while a teacher, positioned in the foyer as a greeter, looked at me in shock as I walked by her with that string dangling from my neck.
Once seated in the audience, we witnessed a variety of music and recitations of poetry, but there is only one thing I can vividly remember, and that was a song that brought Doris Day recognition from an Alfred Hitchcock movie, a song that goes like this: “Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be, the future’s not ours to see, que sera, sera, what will be, will be.”
As I pondered my childhood memory, I thought it was a bit strange that the one day I bore a noose around my neck was the very same day of that musical performance. Indeed, it was all silly, but not anymore “silly” than what all of us have been witnessing over the past few years especially, with perhaps dire consequences in store for us.
What Will Be, Will Be
Is it really true that we cannot know the future and that what will be, will be, meaning that our time here on Earth is entirely fatalistic? Most likely, if you are a Christian, as I am, your answer is “no” to both questions. However, from a day-to-day perspective, I think we can all agree that we cannot know what will come our way today, and in that sense, a lot of what happens in any given day is either unexpected or out of our control. But here lies the problem: Does this mean we are to give ourselves over to a fatalistic posture, or is there a more biblical way to engage ourselves with daily living and facing the future? This is actually a broad-sweeping question that could be extensively examined, but in this short paper, let us look briefly at three specifics whereby the Adversary of our souls has undertaken to place us into a fatalistic outlook— namely in the realms of Calvinism, creation versus evolution, and politics.
Calvinism
Volumes have been written both for and against Calvinism, but in the final analysis Calvinism and the Bible majorly conflict with each other. May I offer just one example here? In perhaps one of his most famous quotes, John Calvin said:
By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to life or to death.1
Now, it is important to understand here what Calvin means when he says, “All are not created on equal terms” because he is saying that God has not given mankind a choice concerning our destiny and consequently, we have no free will in the matter. This is “another gospel” than what we find in John 3:16 where “whosoever” may come. It is a gospel of fatalism. But God, in His great mercy and foreknowledge, debunked Calvin’s false teaching centuries earlier through Ezekiel speaking on Calvin’s claim that God does not treat people equally but has already decided every person’s fate:
Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal. When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby. But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby. Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways. (Ezekiel 33:17-20)
People often confuse God’s foreknowledge with “predestination.” They think that because God knows things in advance, He is forcing those things to happen. But God is not forcing the hands of anyone to do evil because God is only righteous and true, and in Him there is no iniquity at all. By the way, the word for predestined is only used four times in the entire Bible, by Paul, and in each case, it is not referring to salvation but rather of what God has prepared for those who are believers in Jesus Christ, a prepared destination, hence the word predestination.2
Yet, in spite of its unscriptural basis, Calvinism is exploding throughout the church today, and we receive phone calls, e-mails, and letters of its destructive force on families and young people whereby some have departed from the Christian faith altogether. However, it was not actually the Christian Gospel, but fatalism, that they were being taught—many times in Christian colleges and seminaries.
Creation Versus Evolution
The creation versus evolution debate has impacted our lives in more ways than we could imagine; and that is why I have included it in our study on fatalism. While for many this may seem to be a trivial topic, the fact is that if there is no Creator, no God, then there is no hope. Paul expressed what a sad scenario this would be like when addressing the resurrection: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1 Corinthians 15:19). Yet over the years (and I still remember it in my youth in the 1950s), we have been fed a steady diet of evolution.
The Bible begins with the words, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). It is in Genesis that we learn of our origin; we learn that God created us male and female; but today, even that is under attack. And sadly, it didn’t take that long in the post-WWII era before God was removed from our schools while students were given drawings of ape-men to look at in textbooks and on posters. An erosion of hope was vaccinated into society as a godless, atheistic religion called evolution displaced the notion of seeking God and giving Him honor. I think of that verse in Micah 6:8 that says, “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” If there is one thing the belief in evolution does to a society, it creates people who become unjust, who are not merciful, and who walk proud and boastful, not humbly or with the love of God in their hearts.
In Romans 1, Paul gives a brief discourse of the rapid decline of a society that occurs when it rejects the notion of a Creator God (as found in the Bible) and worships and serves “the creature more than the creator” (vs. 25) with the result being “vile affections” (v. 26). He speaks of cultures who abandoned God: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind” (v. 28). Paul ends that chapter with a detailed list of how corruption avalanches upon a society that abandons God to include “backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters . . .” (v. 30).
Such as this happened in America, which in turn removed hope; because of this a seed of fatalism was planted in the youth of America and contributed to the confusion, unrest, and sense of hopelessness of the ’60s and ’70s.
Politics
The ’70s were years of transition both in my own personal life and that of the country—the Vietnam War was ending, Richard Nixon was president, and I was attending university. Then I received my draft notice in the summer of ’72 whereby I was informed that I would be serving in the U.S. Army for the next two years. I attended Basic Training in the fall, followed by Advanced Individual Training (AIT), then flown to Germany in the spring of ’73. While in Germany, I knew almost nothing about what was happening in the United States, aside from the fact that a newspaper was available to us that I would sometimes peruse through at break time. Then I learned one day that Nixon was facing impeachment and that it had something to do with what was called Watergate. I later heard that he had resigned rather than face impeachment.
Even though I had not been an admirer of Nixon, I was somewhat shocked to learn that the President of the United States was now, suddenly, referred to as “Tricky Dicky.” And I think for many of us, that time period set a new precedent of distrust in the government. Now, fifty years later, those of us who have been around for a while can see how corruption in government has multiplied itself almost exponentially. And, for many, including Christians, a sense of fatalism has grabbed at the heart and shaken it. There is a sense of hopelessness and “what will be, will be” and there is nothing we can do about it. Even many Christians have succumbed to the temptation of hopelessness in thinking about the future saying, we better just brace ourselves for what’s coming, for there is nothing we can do. But is that the posture God wants Christians to take?
During the twelve years our ministry was located in Montana, we would hear various bear stories—as Montana is both Grizzly and Black Bear country. We learned that there are things one can do to be prepared—such as carrying bear spray (though hunters often preferred to depend on carrying a gun). But, if unprepared when actually encountering a bear, the technique of dealing with either of these bears was different: With the Black Bear, we were told we had the best chance of survival by doing what we could to fight him off (such as raising the arms to appear big or picking up a heavy branch to fight with). By nature, Black Bears are timid creatures who are given to fear—unless their offspring are nearby. With the Grizzly Bear, the intimidation approach typically would not be successful. It is better to wrap your arms around the back of your neck to protect it and play dead, we were told, as there is no way one can fight off a Grizzly, which can weigh well over 400 pounds and standing on its hind feet, can be well over eight feet. Better to play dead, they say, and hope for the best after a possible few sniffs and swats. Also to outrun a bear, you would need to be able to run over 30 mph!
The Bible warns about a massive bear-like and fierce enemy that will someday rule the world—the Antichrist, also known in Scripture as “the Beast.” And we have leaders already with an antichrist spirit. The important thing then is to know what to do and when to do it; that is called walking in wisdom. And where does that wisdom come from? Sometimes wisdom comes from life-long experience, but mostly, wisdom comes from walking with the Lord, reading His Word, and asking Him to lead us through His Holy Spirit.
Receiving the Gospel is the way we enter or begin that walk with God: putting our trust in Jesus Christ and believing in Him, that He died on the Cross to pay the penalty for all our sins and rose from the dead to conquer death thus giving to us eternal life. God then gives us the Holy Spirit to be our comforter and guide throughout the rest of our lives. If you have never trusted in Christ, just remember that Scripture says, today, while there is still a today, is the day of salvation. In other words, the condition of our souls is not something for us to procrastinate about.
As I write this, the presidential election will be upon us in a matter of days. It is a time when we can do something, or we can do nothing. And subsequent to the election, regardless of whoever wins, we can expect some landmark changes – changes for the better or for the worse, for good or for evil.
Some years ago, a Christian told my wife and I, “I’m not going to vote for either candidate for president because both candidates are bad, and both parties are bad; instead, I’m going to write in ‘Jesus Christ’ on my ballot.” However, there are three problems with this approach: First, the timing is bad because Jesus won’t come to rule in such a manner until the Millennium. Second, when Jesus does come to rule, He won’t need to be voted in. And third, casting a vote like this is really the same thing as casting no vote at all. However, there was really no way of convincing this Christian of the flaw of what he was doing. He said that his conscience would not allow him to vote for the lesser of two evils. But could you imagine if you were living in Hitler’s time and your vote was the deciding vote in Hitler losing such an election what that would have meant for six million Jews and millions of others, even though you voted for “the lesser of two evils.”
We live in a country where voting for our political leaders is still an option. There are countless people in the world who do not have that chance. And it seems very likely that as globalism takes hold of one of the last holdouts to freedom—America—we too could be facing the complete disappearance of democracy and the right to vote. I was somewhat surprised and very disappointed that a very recent poll suggests that “104 million people of faith, including 32 million self-identified Christians who regularly attend church, are unlikely to cast their ballots in the upcoming election.”3
The reasons given by those polled indicated a general apathy and distrust of the upcoming election and overall confusion of the issues as projected by the media. May I suggest that much of the general media has been bought out, and a brainwashing effort is underway for liberal gain while simultaneously discouraging, even shaming conservatives from voting. The apathy among conservatives is the fruit of these efforts and is just another form of fatalism infecting our society and paralyzing conservative efforts (such as protecting school-age children from becoming victims of the vicious transgender agenda). May God help us and be merciful to our nation. And may we, as Bible-believing Christians, walk steadfastly in hope and strength, both which the Lord promises to those who seek and desire Him.
Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. (Psalm 31:34)
Endnotes:
- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 3, (Orlando, Signalman Publishing, from the 4th edition, 2009, Kindle edition), Chapter 21, section 5, Kindle location 17221; also available at Christian Classics Ethereal Library (https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.v.xxii.html) as cited in Bob Kirkland’s book, Calvinism: None Dare Call It Heresy.
- Watch an excellent YouTube video by the late Pastor Adrian Rogers on predestination: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBADZEz2n3g.
- Veronika Kyrylenko, “Low Voter Enthusiasm Among Christians Projected to Impact Election” (The New American, 2024, https://thenewamerican.com/us/politics/low-voter-enthusiasm-among-christians-projected-to-impact-election), as cited from the Roseburg Beacon, Roseburg, Oregon.
(photo from istockphoto.com; used with permission)
John J
When you hear “MacArthur,” run faster than when encountering a Grizzly. The Mac is more dangerous (fatal).
Tess
I am glad that you bring attention to the wolves in our midst as in Calvinists. It seems one in particular is very versed in the discernment ministry but at the same time teaches and supports John MacArthur who is a Calvinist along with denying the Holy Spirit gifts. ( may also be the Holy Spirit Himself).
GJ
Ditto on thoughts about fatalism.
Fatalism’s fate… regretting choice when you no longer have one.
If we choose to believe God’s Word… we know “what will be”.
About choice…
If we shun God’s goodness…
“Jockeying” to hedge the “risk of accountability” from engaging the free-will… one casts fear and doubt on the same “ride” hoping they’ll off-set, neutralizing each other. When “both sides of the fence” are played, one is neutered with a double-mind—to exclusively fear and doubt God simultaneously… or man… the “check and balance” of choice is rendered impotent.
James 1;5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. 7 For that man shouldn’t think that he will receive anything from the Lord. 8 He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Isn’t ownership of choice the enemy of duplicity, that’s synonymous with the ecumenical?