Men Have Free Will

What were God's thoughts, as piece by angel piece,
He fashioned in beauty Lucifer fair?
Would this angel chief maintain heaven's peace?
He knew better; this one'd her fabric tear!
Fie! He knew it, ere the traitor was made!
Did He pause, and gaze, in sudden sorrow.
On this fairest of all, who'd men degrade?
No! He knows twists and turns of tomorrow,
And intended this vile cause of duress,
To test all men through evil to ensue!
He wants men free to choose Him under stress.
By their choice unbribed, His love to pursue!
God created it all, even foul sin;
That it, or Jesus, be the choice of men!

Revelation 12:7-9 describes the war that occurred in heaven, when Lucifer chose to rebel against God in order to wrest His throne away. This was the first sin (remember 'sin' means to disobey a commandment of God), because it took place in heaven before God created Adam and Eve. Ezekiel quotes God as saying that Lucifer's ill-fated attempt was rooted in his pride of beauty.

"Your heart became proud
on account of your beauty,
and you corrupted your wisdom
because of your splendor.
So I threw you to the earth;
I made a spectacle of you before kings."
(Ezekiel 28:17)

The 'spectacle before kings' is not to occur until Jesus returns to earth and Satan (his name was changed from Lucifer to Satan when he was expelled from heaven) is chained after being defeated in the battle of Armageddon. God could have killed Satan after he rebelled, but He didn't; instead He expelled the traitor from heaven to earth and gave him freedom to do his utmost to tempt men to sin rather than to choose to live according to the commandments of God. He could have created man to automatically obey Him, but God doesn't want to be worshiped by automatons that don't have complete freedom of will. Therefore, Satan's power to wrest men away from being followers of God's law actually is provided by the very God he hates! Do you see the picture? You, a man or woman with perfect freedom of choice, are the prize over which Satan and God are battling; Satan is free to lie, get inside your head and tempt you to do the very things your body wants you to do---such as sexual lust, appetite for foods you cannot afford, alcohol, to drown out guilt feelings, etc.---while God merely provides the beauty of His creation in nature and His word contained in the Bible, which you may never read. The battle is one-sided, for sure, but the prize is eternal life in heaven, or eternal disaster in hell.

Every person has free will in making this most important of choices, and everyone must choose while living in this life on this earth! While Satan seems to have the upper hand, God's quiet invitation is found in John 1:12.

"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God."

The passage is speaking of Jesus who lived as a man for a little more than 33 years, and who was actually God Who came in the form of a man, so that all who believed that He was God and that He was resurrected from the dead after being crucified, could become adopted as children of God and receive eternal life in heaven after death. It is your choice to accept or reject.