Teachinghearts | The Loving God Of The Old Testament (In Defense of My Dearly Beloved Father) "Explore the Word. Change the World" |
Home | Contact | Become a Christian | Lessons | 700+ New Messianic Prophecies | Modern Science In The Bible

Father (The Old Testament God) | Son (The New Testament God)
--- | ---
Blessing | Curse | Curses Nailed to the Cross | Consumes The Earth | No More Curse
Adam | Sin | Satan as Representative |  | Jesus as Representative |  | Millennium | Hell | Children of God
Creation | Sold and Kidnapped Into Slavery | Ransom Paid (Redeemed) | Rest | Promised Land
Perfection | Rebellion | Submission | Obedience
Reproach • Genocide • Vengeful • Strict | Loving • Forgiving • Merciful | Truth • Justice • Reputation Restored

Pray First
Navigation
Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua YHWH (YHVH) Saving Planet Earth
Resources
Lessons Symbols Glossary Daniel Revelation
Study Help
The Science Of Sin Job. Unjust Suffering Jesus Suffers Nailed To The Cross Ten Commandments God The Origin of Evil
Texts
Genesis

Show Us The Father
Who is this much maligned God of the Old Testament? Philip asked the same question.
Show us the Father. Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us". (John 14: 8)

The Father Is Like The Son (The Same Loving God)
Jesus responded with bewilderness. The Father is just like Me!!
The Father Is Like The Son. Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?" (John 14: 9)
Yes, How can we speak so unkindly about the God of the Old Testament and believe the lies about Him? If you want to see and know the God of the Old Testament, then look at Jesus.
Today we make a false dichotomy between the Hebrew God in the Old Testament and Jesus who was introduced to us in the New Testament. Many Christians speak disparagingly about the stories and laws of the Old Testament to the extent that some have even banished those old books and villified the God who inspired them.
Well the Jesus whom they claim to worship not only claims that He is the mirror image of the God in the Old Testament, He even claims to be THE God who introduced Himself to Moses. He is the God of the Old Testament who sent Himself to deliver Israel as Jesus!
I Am That I Am. Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." (John 8: 58)
I Am That I Am. ... Now they may say to me, "What is His name? What shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; Thus you shall say to to the sons of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you." (Exodus 3: 13-14)

We Love Jesus
Many love Jesus more because He seemed to banish the cruel laws of the Old Testament and even herald a new attitude by God. However, the scriptures say that neither the God of the Old Testament nor Jesus changes.
God Does not Change. For I, the Lord do not change. Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. (Malachi 3: 6)
Jesus Never Changes. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13: 8)
No Variation In God. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. (James 1: 17)
Unwavering. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. and the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3: 17-18)

- Jesus The Savior. Jesus did not come to change the laws of God, He came to reenforce them! He came to make peace with the human race and remove the boundaries between peoples.
  - Love Your Enemies. The Gentiles are no longer your enemies. They are your brothers and your neighbors and as such fall under a different set of laws of Old Testament laws, not new laws.
    Gentile Neighbors. You have heard that it is said, "Love your neighbour and hate your enemy". But I say to you, "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you". (Matthew 5: 43-44)
    Love your Neighbour. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19: 18)
  - Eye For Eye. Jesus appeared to end the harsh punishments in favor of submission.
    The Pacifist Directive. You have heard it was said, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. (Matthew 5: 38-39)
    Tit For Tat. Thus, you shall not show pity, life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. (Deuteronomy 19: 21) Leviticus 24: 19-20 and Exodus 21: 24-25
  - Stoning. He saved a woman caught in adultery by demonstrating that only the sinless deserve to be judges.
    They said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act". Now the law of Moses commanded us to stone such a woman, what then do you say? ...
    But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her". (John 8: 4,5,7)
  - Judging. He took away the right of judgment from the people. As the king under the New Covenant, the law gives Him the duty to establish righteous courts.
    Appoints A Righteous Court. You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your towns which the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. (Deuteronomy 16: 18)
    He did so by taking judgment out of the hands of flawed human beings, leaving it exclusively in His hands.
    Humans Cannot Judge. Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you give, it shall be measured to you again." (Matthew 7: 1-2)
    Jesus is Judge. And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. (Acts 10: 42)
    So God did not change, He just chose His own judges as the law gave Him the right when He formally became King of the earth and dethroned Satan.
- Jesus The Judge and Executioner. Jesus did not change or anul the laws, as the righteous judge, He merely placed all judgment under His control to guarantee justice. At the end of time, He will use these same laws to judge and punish the wicked when He determines who should be classified among the wicked. He is putting all things under His subjection in order to dispense true justice.
  - Hate Enemies. The promise to Eve was that God would put enmity between us and the seed of the serpent. We will hate Satan and the wicked because they will be our enemies who will try to annihilate us. We will cut off their name forever when they come to make war with us.
    Hate your Enemy. No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord ... because they did not meet you with food and water on the way ... You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all their days. (Deuteronomy 23: 3-6)
  - Eye for An Eye. He will take revenge against the wicked.
    » Revenge and Punishment. Jesus did not end the practice of revenge, He merely transferred it into His hands. As God, the laws allow Him this right. As a human, He claims the legal rights of the Blood-Avenger.
    ... Vengeance is Mine, I will repay. (Hebrews 10: 30; Deuteronomy 32: 35)
    ... But everyone must be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. (James 1: 19-20)
  - Stoning The Wicked. He will stone the prostitute and the wicked because He is the righteous judge who is without sin.
    Babylon - The Whore. and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, "Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth". (Revelation 17: 5)
    Immoral Babylon. For all the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.
    Revenge on Babylon (Tit for Tat). Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double for her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.
    Babylon Stoned. Then a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea saying, "so will Babylon the Great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer". (Revelation 18: 3, 6, 21)
    Babylon is paid back double, not just an eye for an eye.
  - Judge and Make War. He will judge in righteousness and make war with His enemies (Revelation 19).
  He does nothing different from the God in the Old Testament. He merely ensured that the name of God will no longer be tarnished by humans claiming to act in His name.
- The Laws Of Jesus. Many people seem to think that Jesus came to abolish the Old Testament and the only law they are obligated to keep is "To Love one another" and we do not need scriptures to do that because they can "follow their own heart as the Spirit moves them". Pedophiles also seem to believe that they are simply "loving children" and they are only "following their heart's desire."
  For decades the only scriptures the church had were the Old Testament. It is the only scriptures that Jesus used. A sinner needs guidance and instruction and God has left us two witnesses, the entire scriptures and the Holy Spirit.
  The Old Testament is rich with information about God and the Messiah and the Plan of Salvation. I hate to hear people dismiss the scriptures as old fashioned, or out dated and abolished. The New Testament does not hold a candle to the superiority of the Old. The New Testament merely records the coming of the one whom the entire Old Testament speaks about. Jesus said every prophet and all scriptures testified about Him. Until you can explain what each prophet and each book spoke about you cannot discard the books. When you see how thoroughly they describe the Messiah, you can never stop reading them.
  - Given by God. All laws are good and given by God.
    God Gives All Scripture. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished to all good works. (2 Timothy 3: 16-17)
    Even though the architect of the curses seems to be Satan, yet God claimed them as His own because He approved them. However, even this law can be good for the righteous. In the laws the sinners have written their own punishment and so cannot blame God in the end. The law also gave God the authority and the framework though which He could dispose of sin.
  - Same As The Old Laws. Jesus' own testimony is that He has not changed any laws and that none will be changed until after heaven and earth pass away.
    The Law Had Not Passed Away. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, Until heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5: 17-20)
  - Debt Paid. Only one law changes when heaven and earth pass away. It is the curses. In fact, it is not because the law has changed but because the people are changed and will never be under a curse.
    New Earth. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. (Revelation 21: 1)
    No Curse. There shall be no more curse ... (Revelation 22: 3)
    People will live in it and there will no longer be a curse for Jerusalem will dwell in security. (Zechariah 14: 11)
  - Stricter (Magnified). Jesus showed the deeper and broader jurisdiction of the laws of the Old Testament. We should love more, forgive more, include more people and be more righteous and more perfect. Lusting in the mind is equivalent to adultery and fornication. Hate is equivalent to murder. The love of power and money is covetousness. It is greed and theft and is the seed of evil.
    The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable. (Isaiah 42: 21)
  - Righteousness By Faith. This is an Old Testament idea not a New Testament invention.
    Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4)
    For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1: 17) also Galatians 3: 11 and Hebrews 10: 38
  - Circumcise Your Heart. At the present time some are introducing laws to outlaw circumcision as barbaric religious practices using medical reasons to justify their campaign. The New Testament seems to replace physical circumcision with spiritual circumcision. However, it is the Old Testament that first required circumcision of the heart because it brings obedience through love of God.
    Forever. And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. (Deuteronomy 30: 6)
    Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. (Deuteronomy 10: 16)
    Internal Circumcision. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. (Romans 2: 29)
    As with all other signs, circumcision is an illustration of what will be done to fulfill the covenant. Jesus would be circumcised or "cut off" for our sins. He is the external circumcision that will bring real internal circumcision.
  - Cleansed By The Holy Spirit. We think that the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost (Shavu'ot) as a brand new idea instituted by God. However, salvation is the same under both covenants.
    Israel Given The Holy Spirit. Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he that put his holy Spirit within him? (Isaiah 63: 11)
    The Holy Spirit Cleansed Old Testament Hearts. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. (Psalm 51: 10-12)
  - Animal Sacrifice. Human Sacrifice. Cannibalism??? God haters rail against the barbaric practices of the Bible. The Old Testament taught the ritual of animal sacrifices as an important part of the process of removing sin. Yet both the Old and New Testament logically claim that this cannot remove sin.
    Useless. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of male goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High. (Psalm 50: 13-14)
    Useless. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. (Hebrews 10:4)
    However, it is the New Testament that appears to introduce atrocities forbidden in the Old. We have a human, God no less, being sacrificed for sin. Jesus also taught that we must eat His flesh and blood to obtain eternal life. This is an act that clearly involves eating forbidden and unclean food.
    Cannibalism. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6: 54)
    Proving that this is symbolic and never happened does not remove the fact that it is God who painted this picture. Why did He do it if it was unlawful and unnecessary and He is careful about appearance and symbols? The answer will be discussed later.
  Jesus reinforces all the laws of the Old Testament. He introduces nothing new.

We Love The Teachings of Jesus
We love the nice, warm, fuzzy things that Jesus says. But everything He said was according to the laws and the will of the God of the Old Testament.

- The Sermon On The Mount. This sermon shows God's care for the poor. In the Old Testament, the anger of YHWH is triggered by the oppression of the poor, the fatherless and the stranger.
- Turning The Other Cheek. This teaching of Jesus is nothing more than the principle of submission in the Old Testament. There, we submit to loved ones and the army of oppression. Here, Jesus said we must even submit to our enemies.
- Forgive. Jesus seems more forgiving than the revengeful God of the Old Testament. One needs only to look at the patient forbearance of God to see that He endured direct assault on Himself for decades and hundreds of years before He acted.
- The Path To Righteousness. Although we hate God for "torturing His Son", we love the obedient Son who carried the cross. We wonder why God made the price of salvation so hard and so cruel.
- The Disadvantaged Life. We are touched by the story of His life. We are shocked at His birth in a stable full of animals, His poverty and His homelessness as a vagrant preacher and His bitter execution. Well, the God of the Old Testament is also badly treated.
  - Unloved. Like Jesus, He was not loved by Israel. They quarreled with Him, turned to other gods and stoned His prophets.
  - Heart On His Sleeves. God said that being married to Israel is like falling madly in love with a whore who cannot remain faithful. Yet God refuses to divorce Israel. Like Jesus yearning for Jerusalem to be gathered under His wings, God yearns for Israel to be gathered to Him.
  - On Trial. God is on trial by the universe just as Jesus is unfairly under trial by the priests. They hired false witnesses against Him and God has many false witnesses spreading terrible lies about Him every day.
  - Abandoned. Just as Jesus was abandoned by all His friends and family, God has been abandoned. In every adversity we blame God. We either blame Him for causing it or for not stopping it or for not protecting us because we are so special. People rarely blame Satan and even when they do, there is an underlying disapproval towards God for not keeping Satan under control. It is never our fault.

The Love Gospel?
In the book of John, Jesus expresses His desire to see the loving unity within the church that will reflect the unity and love that exists between Him and the Father. Our modern culture has redefined the meaning of "love", "loving" and "judging" to encapsulate an attitude towards sin in which we let the lethal infection spread while we happily watch with glazed eyes because it is not loving to be harsh and judgmental. The myth that the "loving" Jesus was tolerant of sin has gone viral among those who cherish sin. They cite the book of John as the "love" gospel that points to this character of God. However, John pictures a very contentious relationship with the people in that they tried to kill Him several times and He called them all sorts of names,

- Jesus Was Not Judgmental. We love to tell the story of the one who challenged the so-called righteous to judge a prostitute. Yet we conveniently forget that when her accusers departed, Jesus told her that she should take the opportunity to stop sinning.
  I Will Not Condemn You. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either.
  But Stop Sinning! Go. From now on sin no more." (John 8: 10-11)
  He had judged her as a sinner, but He was willing to grant mercy. However, being a righteous judge He would have been negligent in His duties if He had not told her that she was doing wrong and that she must stop her wrong doing.
- Jesus Was Peaceful. Many would have us believe that Jesus walked around in a smiling stupor with a soothing monotonous voice at a sleepy decibel and a gentle touch; kissing babies as He campaigned through the streets of Jerusalem to be elected by popular vote for the position of king of Israel. However, the truth is closer to normal. They tried to kill Him and ruin His reputation. He was angry with them and called them unflattering names.
  Controversy and Confrontation. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. (Matthew 10: 34)
  Jesus did not come to be battered into submission by the forces of evil. He came to make war with the evil systems and powers and overthrow their dominion and totally obliterate them.
  - Anger. Jesus was angry at their sins and their callous hearts.
    Cold Hearts After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. (Mark 3: 5)
    They were angry with Him for many reasons.
  - Violence. He threw out the businessmen who were corrupting the name of God with their trade. Twice!
    Throwing Out the Money Changers. The Passover of the Jews was near and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, "Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a place of business." (John 2: 13-16)
    » Violence Against Jesus. They tried to kill Him several times by throwing Him off a cliff and stoning Him.
    Stoning. The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. (John 10: 31)
    Over A Cliff. and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. (Luke 4: 29)
    With the assistance of the Romans they beat Him and crucified Him.
  - Derogatory Names For Jesus. Sometimes the dialogue disintegrated to name calling. Both John the Baptist and Jesus called them vipers.
    Vipers You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? (Matthew 23: 33)
    Evil Vipers You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. (Matthew 12: 34)
    Children Of The Devil. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.
    Children Of A Murderer And Liar. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8: 44)
    That generation would use a lie to justify murder.
    » Derogatory Names. They implied that He did not know who was His father. History tells us that they accused His mother of being a dirty whore. So they called Him an illegitimate bastard who was possessed by demons.
    Demon Possessed, Mad And Insane Many of them were saying, "He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?" (John 10: 20)
    Bastard Son Of A Whore! So they were saying to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also." (John 8: 19)
- Distrust. Jesus was not feeling the love. He was distrustful of them, knowing their motives.
  Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man. (John 2: 23-25)

The Misconceptions About God
Why did we develop such harsh misconceptions about God? We have conveniently forgotten that the Bible teaches that we have an enemy who lives by no rules and respects no boundaries. We have consistently ascribed behavior to God that belongs to Satan because Satan is skilled at rumors and innuendoes and propaganda. Satan convinced many in heaven that he could be god and since he tried to tell the same lie to Eve he must have tried to convince others in heaven that they could also be God. How is that lie working out for you, evil angels?

- Death. We believe that God is only interested in killing us, when the truth is that He is trying to save us despite the fact that we deserve to be separated from Him. It is the separation from God that causes death.
  I Want You To Live! Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, declares the Lord, "Therefore, repent and live". (Ezekiel 18: 31-32)
  God is betting His reputation against all the principalities and powers in heaven that we can be saved.
- Curse. We blame God for the provisions of the curses when the truth is that Satan authored the curses and the curses are the only laws that will be abolished in the new earth.
  - Blessings. God did not create an imperfect world and then abandon it. God created a perfect world and Adam and Eve were beguiled by the lies of Satan and gave it away.
  - The Curse Is On The Earth (Sin). Sin caused death and the curses to be part of the laws of this earth. Death came because God must be physically separated from us. The curse came because Satan wanted to administer the planet under these rules especially because He would have the chance to apply these rules to Jesus Christ when He came to pay the ransom for us.
    In addition to the general degradation of the planet after sin the rules also allow God or Satan to apply the curses to a specific set of people when they are rebellious.
    So while God pleads with us to choose life, Satan is constantly tempting us to chose rebellion, death and the curses. He gets the right to punish us and it is a task he enjoys.
    Choose Life and Live! I call heaven and earth to witness against you today; that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curse. So choose life that you may live, you and your descendants. (Deuteronomy 30: 19)
  - Jesus Christ Suffered The Curses. All the curses were applied to Him before He died. His curses and death were legally allowed to be a substitute for all who will accept this gift by faith (2 Corinthians 5: 21).
  - The Curse Of Cannibalism. Human sacrifice and cannibalism are against the Old Testament law. Their inclusion in the law of curses is proof of the author of the curses and his motives. This feature of the agreement really shows how much Satan hated Jesus. It was the terms of the curse imposed on us by a malicious fiend who hated us and hated Jesus Christ even more. These rules broke the law because they were not authored by the law-abiding God. Angels gave the law (Acts 7: 38, 53).
    God took on these punishments on Himself because it was Satan's desire and Satan's terms of ransom. He would set us free if Jesus would endure all that he could unleash on Him at the cross.
  - The Curses Are Nailed To The Cross (Crucifixion). When He died, he officially abolished the curses for the righteous. However, they still remain for Satan and those who reject Him (Colossians 2: 14).
  - The Curse Consumes The Earth (Millennium). During the millennium the curse will destroy the earth (Isaiah 24: 6). Satan gets to live with his own rules. Like Haman who sought to destroy the Persian Jews, he will be destroyed by his own laws. He unwittingly wrote his own death sentence. At the end it will destroy Satan and the wicked after the final judgment. Then the curse will itself be destroyed.
  - No More Curse (The New Heavens and Earth). Only the blessings will exist as the earth is restored to the original plan (Zechariah 14: 11 and Revelation 22: 3).
- Natural Disasters. The separation from God not only caused us to die, it also affected the entire planet. The original curse causes the slow death and destruction of the planet. Therefore, as the separation persists the planet will get worse and worse, not only because it is growing old but because we accelerate the destruction by our wicked behavior.
  The curse may use natural disasters but not all natural disasters are attributed to the curse being applied to a specific set of people.
  Who Is Responsible For Disasters?
  If God is all powerful, is He responsible for the great evils by not stopping or preventing them or by causing them? Where was God when Adolph Hitler came to power? Hitler thought he had divine protection because he escaped several assassination attempts. Where was God in the great Indonesian earthquake of 2004?
  - Natural Cycle of Life. Disasters happen because of natural physical forces colliding with a local vulnerability. God could intervene by cooling the waters to prevent hurricanes, or strengthening tectonic plates to prevent earthquakes, but He does not. We live in a world in which we and our parents chose to experiment with another leader except God. Elections have consequences.
    Disasters happen because the planet is aging and breaking down and it is not being repaired. God does not intervene in every possible disaster because we told Him that we wanted freedom from Him. God could intervene every time, but we would never understand the consequences of separating from Him. One consequence is that the innocent and vulnerable suffer because the author of the curses is an unjust despot who does not care about justice and righteousness.
  - Human Stewardship. Some of our disasters have been caused by man's own disregard for the environment. God, through nature gives us signs and warnings that these ecosystems are fragile and failing, yet profit and inconvenience always seem to override any common sense response.
    God intervenes by sending warnings for decades as we are observing the malfunctions in the system, but we ignore them hoping that someone else will take the financial responsibility for mitigating the damages while we continue to squeeze out more profit.
    We build in disaster areas on earthquake faults, flood zones and eroding shores. We purposely contaminate the air and water because it is too expensive to do the right thing. What should we expect?
  - Human Greed and Hate. We are responsible for wars and genocide. We see the misery and make excuses. We hate. We want to expand our borders at the expense of others. We want to take the natural resources of other nations without fair compensation. If we can see the misery, taste it, smell it and feel it and suffer from it, profit from it, yet perpetuate it by causing it or not acting, then why do we blame God? Genocide does not happen in a vacuum. We are totally responsible.
    » He's Too Heavy and He's Not My Brother. Hitler succeeded because we all hated the Jews. Many nations turned away refugee ships, limited immigration, and appeased Hitler. Some nations and companies profited by selling worthless life insurance to desperate Jews, using slave labor in their factories or accepting bank deposits which they refused to honor after the war. Communities exploited the Jews imprisoned in ghettos by selling food and water at prices designed to quickly strip them of their possessions. When the war was over, we dumped them in Israel not because we believed in a homeland, but because we did not want them in our back yard. Don't blame God.
    » Corporate Slavery (Oppressing the Poor). Some desperately poor nations are deliberately kept poor by our policies. Colonial power robbed them of wealth and then saddled them with reparation debts at their independence. Then, subsequent foreign super powers acted to support their national businesses by keeping wages substantially low and working conditions like the worst slave plantations by dethroning unfavorable local governments or propping up favorable and corrupt leaders. Through these policies we have a system of slavery thriving outside our national borders for cheap goods. Don't blame God or the victims or a pact with Satan.
  - Wrath Of Satan. The terms of the curse tell us that Satan designed this system and retains the right to break humans so that they can curse God.
    God's answer to His followers who are victims is to remember the story of Job and to remember His Son. We will never experience any pain to which He did not subject Himself. His reason is that we will be eye witnesses against Satan. So hang in there!
  - Wrath of God. Every disaster is always blamed on God's fault or impotence or incompetence. Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 outline the terms of the wrath and suggests that God will cause punishing disasters.
    However, we can tell the difference between a disaster allowed by God and one caused by natural forces. When God acts against a nation, it always takes hundreds of years and is accompanied by several specific warnings. Before the final disaster, God sends prophets to warn the people that they are specifically targeted and He always provides a peaceful alternative if we repent.
    Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. (James 1: 13)
    Noah preached for 120 years while the people ridiculed him. Jonah went to Nineveh and the people repented. Many prophets warned Israel before the Assyrian raid and the Babylonian desolation. God waited over 400 years to drive the people out of Canaan. What else could He do?
- No Sense Of Humor. When it comes to the challenges of the wicked, God seems to use a sense of humor and irony to demonstrate how stupid they are.
  - Idolatry. God thinks that idolatry is stupid because at some point your common sense must tell you that you cannot cut down a piece of wood and use part of it to cook your food, warm your body and then make an idol to worship.
  - Elijah. When the prophets of Baal could not get an answer from their gods after hours of self-mutilation and dancing, he mocked them saying that maybe their god is asleep or sitting on the toilet and is unavailable. Maybe their god is lazy, or incompetent or simply evil. Maybe he is not God!
  - Jesus Christ On The Cross. This is the most terrible crime committed against God by His creatures. Yet, the showdown at the cross seems to be designed with a bit of irony as God stripped Himself of all advantages to enter a one-on-one, hand-to-hand combat with His arch enemy.
    Incredibly, God basically said, "Nail both my hands and feet, blindfold me, take away all my emotional support and surround me with all my enemies. And, while you are at it beat Me to a bloody pulp until I am fainting from exhaustion. Then come and fight Me and I will still beat you!"
- Free Choice. If we wanted to live outside the rule of God He cannot cut us loose and set us adrift for many moral and practical reasons. He is the power source and we are the appliance. We cannot exist without Him. As a moral being He cannot continue to support a rebellious planet where He would justifiably be guilty of supporting our crimes. It is hypocritical of us to expect Him to do so.
  In fact, the current experimental conditions on earth is His attempt at making us choose. However, in the interest of justice, He has to set a time limit to this plan.
  Ultimately, the only choice we have is life with God and death without Him.
- The Unused Power Of God. In the face of adversity we have this tension between the sovereignty versus the accountability of God. We expect God to act as forcefully as our human rulers. Unfortunately, this means that sometimes we excuse evil actions "for the greater good". God cannot make these compromises.
  - God "Allows". Faced with adversity and disappointment, believers will say that God "allows" these misfortunes. This both denies God's culpability and excuses His inaction because of some greater purpose. God did not cause the offense and neither did He use His power to stop the offense. Yet if we say that He needs or "allows" the situation to accomplish His purpose, then we are saying that God needs the proceeds of evil to accomplish the good. This is not true.
    God does not test people with evil or by evil. God interferes to accomplish His purpose, sometimes ignoring our free will. He chased a disobedient Jonah until Jonah submitted. There are better ways to "learn our lesson" than through misery.
    God does not "allow" evil. He submits to our choices. These choices are not executed in a vacuum. What we do affects others. The innocent will suffer and sometimes the guilty will go free.
  - God Is "In Control". Some argue that we cannot say that "God is in control" because this means that when evil conquers good that God is responsible. However, being in control only means that when evil seems to be winning and good seems powerless and ineffective, we must remember that in the end God will win. There is no event that occurs, no matter how devastating, that God will not and cannot both mitigate the damage and give us something much better. God promises justice and restoration in the end.
  - For The Greater Good. God does not operate according to this exception. He can never use evil. Knowing that we will face these decisions, God has set in place systems to virtually eliminate these conditions. However, we will not submit and we are left with broken, inhumane systems holding back a dam that is patched with glue, band aid and paper clips.
    God has an economic system that will eliminate poverty, but we will never use it. God has a moral system designed to encourage respect, honor and love, but we will never submit to it.
    We maintain these unbalanced systems by force, intimidation and exploitation. Concentrating power and control in the hands of the elite at the expense of the powerless masses. Nothing we do is about "people" whom God adores. Instead, everything we do is to amass power and control - just like Satan.
  - Everything Happens For A Reason. This is absolute nonsense!
    Babies are nor raped for any noble reason ordered by God. Families are not killed on their way to church by a drunken driver because God did not delay them for five minutes. You cannot hope to succeed and live a long life if you drop out of school to join a gang. You can hope for a better future and more options if you study and avoid drugs, alcohol, premarital sex and pregnancy out of marriage.
    Most things happen because they are the natural consequence of our actions or the random confluence of events. Sometimes things happen because Satan set the events in motion. Sometimes God intervenes. Most times things happen because of our choices. Our choice or actions are the major reason why things happen.
    What we are sure of is that whatever happens, God can find a way for us to endure.
    We Are All Called To Inherit Good. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8: 28)
    » A Stained Glass Life. Like a beautiful stained glass or intricate patchwork quilt God can take the broken and shattered pieces and craft something so wonderful that it is treasured more than the plain originals
  - God's Plan. This is another overused cliche. It is not God's plan for serial killers to terrify people, for Hitler to be in power, for criminals to get rich from sex trafficking, for people to cause mayhem because of their disobedience. You do not get up in the morning and kill someone because it was "their time to go" because "it is in God's plan" whether you were an innocent person caught in a tragic accident or a guilty person caught in a web of bad circumstances caused by you own neglect and terrible choices. God did not make you an executioner or His weapon of revenge.
  Our free choice allows evil to have the right to exist and God does not use His power to always block evil at this time. So God must let evil have its way as evidence for us. Some still cling to the fruits of evil. Some think that good and evil must coexist in some sort of balance. We do not hate evil enough for God to destroy it yet.
  The crucifixion convinced the powers of heaven that evil is a force that must be eradicated so they expelled Satan. At some point the ravages of evil must convince the people of earth that evil can never be tolerated. Evil does not want to coexist with good and neither should good coexist with evil. Evil makes no accommodation for good. It intends to destroy anything good and even those who subscribe to evil. Evil is not simply at war with good, it is at war with all humans because God loves us.
  God "allows" evil because evil still has the right to exist because we embrace it.
  So the strategy of God is not to eradicate and stamp out every instance of evil when He sees it and before it affects us. God's strategy is to change us and open our eyes so that we can see and hate evil. Evil is no respecter of persons. It will destroy the innocent baby and the young mother just as much as it will destroy the drug-crazed serial killer.
  God has set a time limit for evil to demonstrate its fruits. When the time is complete and when we open our eyes, then God will eradicate it because we will give Him the permission. We will beg Him. Until then, shielding us from the evil gives us a false sense of the magnitude of the problem and we will continue to want to coexist "in balance" with the homicidal monster.
  We love many of the pleasures of evil. If God took us to heaven with this attitude evil will sprout again. He will not erase our love for it by force. We must invite Him in to eradicate this love for evil because we want the monster to be banished forever.

The Case Against God
There are many stories about God's actions that do seem harsh.

- Land Theft In The Exodus. The exodus was just an excuse to rob people of their land. On the exodus and during the first years in the Promised Land, Israel wiped out or attempted to wipe out many nations.
  - Egypt. Any reasonable person has to admit that Pharoah was the dumbest rock in the pile and Israel had the right to escape oppression from slavery. God saved the Egyptians who came on His side and destroyed the army after enduring every provocation.
    » Hardened Heart. God chose a proud man who would not give up easily. God did not harden the heart of a man who wanted to submit. God chose the heart of a man who was rebellious.
  - Self Defence. The fact is that all the nations attacked Israel even when they were trying to pass through peacefully. They all knew what happened to Egypt and how powerful God was, yet they tried to fight Him even when He was not waging war or declaring war.
  - Peace Agreement. Even the land that Israel tried to take, the law required that they first make an offer of peace.
    Terms of Peace. When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace. If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you. (Deuteronomy 20: 10-11)
    Only one nation tried to make peace.
    Peace and War. There was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites living in Gibeon; they took them all in battle. (Joshua 11: 19)
    » Peace or Slavery? You might say that slavery was not a fair trade for peace or that God was hypocritical for taking a nation from slavery only to enslave another nation.
    This was not slavery by being kidnapped. The laws have a path out of slavery.
  » Occupation Of The Land. You might ask what right does God have to murder other nations and take away their lands?
  - Purchased. Abraham had already purchased some of the land and in fact owned quite a lot of it in the south and east. It was famine and slavery that took them from their land.
    In 135 AD it was the Roman emperor Hadrian who removed the people from their land and brought in foreigners to occupy the cities.
  - Death Penalty. The nations that were dispossessed were under the death penalty because they were too wicked. They even received 400-800 extra years of mercy. In a way they actually inflicted more misery on their little ones and the rest of the world because God was being too kind to them. God waited hundreds of years. We torture innocent people in an hour when we simply suspect that they might have information.
  - Murder. God did not murder them. They died in battle when they would not make peace or attacked first.
  » The Battle of Armageddon. Strangely, all these examples are pictures of what happens in the Battle of Armageddon. After the final judgment when the wicked have been separated from the righteous and the wicked admit that the judgment was fair, God still does not destroy them. Instead, God leaves the gates of the city of the New Jerusalem open. This is a gesture of peace.
  However, instead of making peace and asking God to change His mind, even remembering these old stories and requesting that they become servants instead of being annihilated, the wicked attack a peaceful city with unarmed people. God kills them only after they attack Him. He has no choice.
  God's character gives them two options even though it seems hopeless. It points out that the wicked have to start trusting God by treating Him as a righteous God who is full of mercy and compassion. They must make this decision on their own with the evidence they have about God and they must act on it on their own free will.
  - Mercy. Like the Gentile woman, they can appeal to the mercy of God and ask God to give them the crumbs that He has left over.
  - Slavery. They can appeal to the law of slavery. Choosing to be willing slaves who will be treated kindly. Did you know that the Bible says that the disciples of Christ are the slaves of God? God's slavery is not unkindness. He intends to make the slaves His children. However, before we become trusted sons, we must submit like slaves and show obedience, acknowledging that God is the good LORD.
  The Bible says that all the wicked will be lost, none will appeal to God.
  None will make peace with God and surrender.
- Genocide. If we are going to accuse God of genocide you cannot overlook the fact that they were judged and condemned. Pretend for a moment that God does exist and He has foreknowledge. Now appreciate the fact that He patiently tries to plead with nations for hundreds of years. A close study of the events will show the patient endurance of God.
  - Amalek (1 Samuel 15). God ordered Saul to kill the Amalekites, including the babies. What those who accuse God of genocide overlook is that the death sentence was being carried out 430 years after it was first announced. In all that time the nation had never repented and grew worse. In all those years, apparently nobody could be salvaged.
    Death Sentence. Thus says the Lord of hosts, "I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Israel." Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. and the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, "Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated." (1 Samuel 15: 2-3, 18)
  - Amorites. God waited over 400 years before He executed judgment on the Amorites.
    Oppression. God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years." Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete." (Genesis 15: 13, 16)
    During that time He subjected His own people to slavery in Egypt.
  - Ezekiel . Ezekiel shows that when God acts in such an extreme manner it is because He has reached the limits of His patience and He is actually judging us by our own standards. So the Amalekites and Ammorites were guilty of the same crime with which we charged God. They sacrificed their children to Molech and they committed genocide.
    - Righteous Justice. Anyone who is punished deserves it. God has never executed a righteous man.
      God Saves The Righteous. If a man does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing, if he does not lend money on interest or take increase, if he keeps his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between man and man, if he walks in My statutes and My ordinances so as to deal faithfully - he is righteous and will surely live," declares the Lord God. (Ezekiel 18: 7-9)
    - The Innocent. Children will not die for the sins of their parents.
      Personal Responsibility. The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself. (Ezekiel 18: 20)
      Therefore, underaged children who do not know the difference between right and wrong will be restored. One consequence of the restrictions on this world is that it most often makes no distinction between the good and the bad. Everyone suffers, but God will restore what has been unfairly taken away in the end.
    - Repent. The wicked can always repent and live. God is interested in life, not death.
      Mercy. But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all my statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live, he shall not die. "Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked", declares the Lord God, "rather than that the wicked should turn from his ways and live?" (Ezekiel 18: 21, 23)
    - We Determine Our Punishment. We are punished according to our own standards. So, however God behaves towards us, it is a reflection of our own brand of justice.
      We Make Our Punishment. The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with horror, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. According to their conduct I will deal with them, and by their judgments I will judge them. And they will know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 7: 27)
    - A God With His Heart On His Sleeves. We have wounded God emotionally.
      God Has been Hurt. Then those who escape will remember me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols; and they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed, for all their abominations. (Ezekiel 6: 9)
- Baby Killer. The hardest stories to justify are those where God commands Israel to kill everything, including the children. This seems particularly harsh because we assume that children are innocent or lack the capacity to understand. We who live in this era know better. There are child killers, rapists and criminals. Hardened criminals in tiny bodies. However, God allowed the killing of even infants.
  - Everyone Suffers. Children suffer from other random consequences of sin, not only as victims of a judgment from heaven. Babies are born with defects, addicted, develop cancer and die in senseless accidents. Babies are raped and sold for sex. Some are starved to death and others are offered to the gods in human sacrifice. Neither God, nor the principalities and powers act to prevent any of this misery. Nobody is exempt from the curse. The innocent and guilty suffer alike. Perfect and immediate justice is impossible in our situation. It also has serious consequences.
    God should kill bad parents and bad people immediately but He does not.
    If He did the world would be operating under a different paradigm and we would be complaining about something else, fear of the wrath of God and orphans.
    Financial advisors and stock traders would be the top scum of the earth. After God annihilated them it would be bad cooks and those who drink and drive or text and drive. Soon fear would be the new paradigm. Under those conditions people sacrifice children to appease the wrathful gods.
    So our real complaint against God is that He is too lenient on the wicked! It is really not that He arouses Himself every 800 or 1600 years to deal with a planet gone wild or a nation out of control.
    Even if God only rewarded the good and protected only the righteous, then this would also be undue influence and the universe would not have any objective evidence to show whether we obeyed God because we respected His government or if we were afraid or if we wanted good luck for being obedient. So in the wisdom of the plan, everyone was subject to this randomness of events and God tolerated the wicked and the righteous demonstrate faith.
  - No Righteous People. The story of Sodom and Gomarrah reveals a few interesting things. Abraham was also appalled at what God was going to do, and he bargained with God (Genesis 18: 23). So he picked a very low number believing that surely in such a large city there must be at least 50 righteous people. To his surprise God said that He would spare the city for 50. So Abraham began to bargain down to an unbelievably low number. He stopped his bargaining at 10 possibly the size of Lot's family. God did not tell Him to stop at this number. Even Abraham himself must have concluded that such a large city, devoid of any righteous people and deserving the judgment of God, which had never been shown on the earth since the flood, must be hopelessly wicked.
    At the crucifixion we had our answer, God will save the city if He finds only one righteous person. There were no righteous people in Sodom. Even the four that God saved were only marginally good.
    We learned from Jonah and Nineveh that God will spare a city if they repent. Sodom was beyond repentance.
  - Bad Children. There were apparently no righteous children in Sodom either. The scriptures tell us that even the children were part of the mob outside who were trying to rape the men.
    Young and Old. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them". (Genesis 19:4-5 AV)
  - Infants. God swept away infants in the flood and in Sodom. Infants and older children die prematurely even today. We assume that every one in both disasters was lost. In fact it would have been impossible for Noah to care for millions of young children or for Lot to escape with thousands. Since God is just, all those who were killed below the age or accountability or brain maturity will be saved.
  God can restore life to anyone.
- God Murdered His Son (The Crucifixion). When a soldier sacrifices his life by falling on a grenade we call it a selfless, heroic act. When Jesus volunteers to exchange His life for ours and God approves of the plan, we say that a blood thirsty God murdered His Son.
  - Salvation Required A Sinful Act. My only concern about the crucifixion was that if Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, then God had to allow sin to accomplish this task. Even if Judas and the priests did not sin and Satan had to do all the dirty work himself, Jesus still had to be tortured to death on the cross, no matter who nailed Him there.
  - Gethsemane and Calvary. Then God Himself enlightened me. There are no Bible verses which say that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Rather, the Bible teaches that it is blood that atones for sin and Jesus Christ shed His blood voluntarily and without torture in Gethsemane. In another lesson we prove that Jesus Christ atoned for our sins in Gethsemane and then paid a ransom to Satan on Calvary where He was crucified. The crucifixion was Satan's price to free us from slavery.
  - Human Sacrifice. For the same reasons that God did not murder His Son He is not guilty of human sacrifice. He did not atone for sin with the death of Christ but only with the blood of Christ shed in the garden of Gethsemane. Human sacrifice is against the law.
- Supernatural Intervention. God could mitigate the damage by intervening but He chooses to treat everyone the same. God sends rain on both the righteous and the wicked.
  God is allowed to intervene supernaturally, but it is not the rule. Whenever He intervenes it is usually not a situation that causes fear to elicit forced obedience. Almost every salutation by an angel who visits on behalf of God begins with these words, "Do not be afraid". Regular supernatural intervention destroys the atmosphere of free will. We need to choose sides without undue influence from the forces of good or the forces of evil.
  » Covenant Intervention. God could guarantee Israel that if they obeyed His laws they could avoid some of the terrible diseases of the nations because this would be based on knowledge about how to mitigate the damage brought by nature, not on supernatural intervention.
  » Faith Intervention. Only when we demonstrate faith does God seem to have the unlimited right to intervene.
- Vengeful God. The story of Jonah should tell us that God cares about other nations and even the animals.
  Compassionate. Then the Lord said, "You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?" (Jonah 4: 10-11)
  Therefore, if God condemns a nation to death then they deserve it.
- Nepotism and Favoritism. God shows favoritism where He plans to preserve His word and restore His reputation. The group or person to whom He shows favor has valuable information from God for the rest of the world. They were chosen because they proved to be the most faithful messengers of anyone available.
  - God Shows Favoritism To Israel. God chose the only human on earth who would love and obey Him and made a promise to Abraham and his children. The Jews have been entrusted with the sacred written and oral repository of truth. This is what makes them valuable. However, they are valuable as a nation of priests on a mission to find the lost priests.
    If you asked the Jews they would say that this status of "most favored nation" has made them a target of Satan for centuries. While God loved them, He disciplined them harshly when they sinned. The only benefit of the choice seems to be that God will keep trying to reconcile with them because they have the purest form and knowledge of His word.
    » God Loves Gentiles Less. Any Gentile can join into the nation of Israel. The relationship is not based on genetics but on obedience.
    » A White Jesus Refused To Heal a Non-Jewish Woman. The enemies of Jesus ignored the remarkable testimony by Jesus about the faith of Gentiles, morphing this story into a racist lie.
    Remembering that God said that faith is the key to salvation, in almost every story where people were praised for their great faith it was to a Gentile. In fact, the Gentiles are joined to God in the same way that Abraham became the friend of God. It was through faith, or absolute trust in God.
    It is true that Jesus called her harsh names used by the Jews. However, He tested her faith by asking her why He should give the gifts of God to an outcast like her. Her remarkable answer was a testimony to all those Jews around her. She basically said,
    "Even if I am an outcast, I have so much respect and admiration for the God of the Jews it would be my privilege and honor to eat the crumbs that fell off their table."
    She did not complain about her perceived status, she honored God. In the process her status was elevated. She was also a child of God, a priest who would one day represent the true character of God.
  - Jesus Only Came For The Jews. This statement is one of the misconceptions about Jesus Christ and YHWH.
    "Show me one verse in the Bible where Jesus said he is for all mankind. He only says he came for the Jews".
    All Valued By God. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3: 16-17)
    The words "world" and "whosoever" make it clear that the mission of Jesus Christ went beyond the boundaries of Israel on a mission to reconcile the entire world to God. Any perceived favoritism in favor of Israel is based on the fact that Israel was being groomed to be the light to the Gentiles to spread the good news of the love of God and His plans to rescue us. The Gentiles were incapable of that mission at that time because they had not been taught the words of God as given through Moses.
    All Equal in Christ. For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3: 26, 28)
    Jesus was on a mission not only to reconcile Jews and Gentiles, but to reconcile earth with heaven. Therefore, this reconciliation of former enemies, demonstrated in the feud between Jews and Gentiles or Jews and Christians, is anticipated by God as a sign to show the unfallen universe that they can be reconciled with the earth.
    Reconciliation With God. ... God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5: 19)
    Reconciliation With Each Other. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, so establishing peace. (Ephesians 2: 13-15)
    This reconciliation is not based on ignoring the laws of God for "common points of interest" like current reconciliation movements, but the reconciliation will involve embracing the laws of God.
  - God Shows Favoritism To Men. Any perceived favoritism is based on the one perfect Man, Jesus Christ, who must have laws in place to help Him to rescue the woman. All laws giving privilege to men are based on a good and perfect man who has one wife whom he treats with honor and respect.
    » God Hates Women. After analyzing the laws on slavery and the laws that seem to be unfair to women I realized that they were written by a Genius bent on trapping a sadist. It seems to be unfair to women first only because women sinned first. This has nothing to do with being punished because she sinned first, but as the first to fall there were greater claims on her by the enemy.
- Women. We hate the condemnation and degredation of women in the Bible, yet as in many intentions of God this is also abused and misunderstood. Hating what the Bible appears to teach, many modern translations have stripped out all references to gender inequality. In doing so, they totally destroyed the wonderful lesson that God is trying to teach.
  - Gender Neutral Bibles. Every reference to a strictly male priesthood and male responsibility is a law that points to the identity of the Messiah. He would not be a female. The Messiah was a son, not a daughter. All the duties and actions of the Levitical priesthood pointed to the duties of this one man. We can find prophecies about Christ by looking at the laws that specifically require only the male. Gender neutral Bibles destroy this knowledge.
  - The Beloved Bride. Jesus modeled His relationship to the world after women. The church, both men and women, is called His beloved bride. So the male and female relationship was supposed to model the relationship between Jesus Christ and His church. Almost every male has tarnished this object lesson just as Israel has also ruined the lesson that God meant to teach the world through them.
    What is occurring in almost every home and society is not the model that God created. God never intended for men to dishonor women because they are somehow inferior. He intended to model how we can be saved from sin if we submit to Him as God. Incredibly, He won our salvation by submitting obediently like a woman, not by acting dominant like a man.
  - Submission. So, when men model their role by degrading women, they are modeling how Satan forced Jesus to submit. If men and women model the role of God then they would see each other as equals and look in amazement at one who is an equal submits for the accomplishment of a great purpose. Only slaves and children and those who are inferior submit involuntarily and this models the slavery of Satan. The unselfish and voluntary submission of an equal or superior models what Christ did.
  Marriage was never intended to be an arena where the dominant strut around and prove how they can rule over the submissive and make them do their will because of some superior quality or ability inherent in them.
  The perfect marriage will model the actions and decisions of God in the Plan of Salvation.
  When administered correctly, both men and women and children can get a chance to live out the awesome responsibilities and the interplay of duties and the admiration and respect between Jesus and God as they play out their roles in the Plan of Salvation as one who makes agonizing decisions and one who volunteers to submit completely for the benefit of the helpless children.
- Bad Doctrine. Other misunderstandings about God are based on errors of doctrine or prophecy.
  - Unfair. Some teach that God dooms Non-Christians to death because they do not believe in Jesus Christ. However, the truth is that everyone who is saved will be saved because Jesus Christ provided a way for them to be saved, even if they never heard about Him. This is because at birth everyone is given a measure of faith and a conscience which is guided by the Holy Spirit.
    - Christians. They will be saved or lost depending on how they respond to the Holy Spirit.
    - Those Who Never Heard About Christ. They are judged by their consciences which are guided by the Holy Spirit. They cannot be expected to accept Christ if they never even know that He existed.
    - Those Who Reject Christ. If their rejection is based on the misrepresentation of Christians, then they are not guilty. Who could expect the natives of the New World to accept the god of the Spanish while they subjected them to slavery, forced conversion, torture and genocide?
    - Those Who Disobey The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given to everyone at birth. Everyone has a "measure of faith" in God. Everyone who is lost will have one thing in common, they disobeyed their conscience and found a reason to do what was wrong when their consciences warned them that they were in error.
    If people reject Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit because they want to follow the wisdom of their own hearts then they will be lost. Heaven will only be populated by people who choose to hate sin.
  - Torture. The accusation of torture mainly comes from the doctrine of hell fire.
  - Hell Fire and Eternal Torment. It is always amazing to me that Christians love the notion of an eternal burning fire and some even believe that God will throw people in there because they did not accept Jesus although they have never heard about Jesus.
    We have extremes of bad doctrine and misplaced hope and unbelief.
    - Eternal Burning Hell. The wicked will burn alive forever in hell in torture while the righteous live forever in heaven. Proponents are now "proving" this by listening to the tales from the crypt as almost dead people return to describe heaven and hell. The problem is that the Bible warns us to avoid speaking with the dead or those who claim to talk to the dead.
    - Everyone is Saved. The God of love will save everyone. The problem is that if this is true then why did the God of love make us live through the horror of the last 6000 years? Was He using sin as a deterrant to teach us to reject evil before He forced us to conform to His will and accept good? If He was going to do that then why not make us without free will and skip the drama of the last 6000 years?
      » Soul Torture. Then there are those who believe that everyone is saved by recycling their soul between life and death until they learn their lesson. This is both torture and coercion and seems to be devoid of justice or good sense.
    - The Position of Unbelief. There is no heaven or hell or god except us. Heaven and hell are just metaphors for what we experience on earth.

    | Truth | Heaven and A Perfect Creation | Earth Prison (After Sin) | Destroyed | Perfection Restored
    --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
    | Bad Doctrine | Eternally Burning Hell
    Heaven
    | Misplaced Hope | Earth | Punished | Paradise For All
    | God | Life | Death Recycled | Paradise or Spirit Plane
    | Evolution and God | Earth | No Hell. Only a Loving God
    | Unbelief | The Big Bang and Evolution | Earth | Death. No Heaven or Hell or God

    The truth is that there is no eternal hell burning now and there will be none burning forever. Hell fire occurs during a brief period of time after the final judgment, ending before the new world is created on the ashes of the old. The wicked will be burnt up and reduced to ashes forever and will never rise to life again nor experience burning torture forever. This is the only plan that preserves freedom of choice, is just to both the righteous and the wicked and makes any sense.
  On our own, the common sense model that we have developed is to incarcerate and rehabilitate criminals. If the crime is too terrible and the criminal is unrepentant we resort to annhilation by an immediate death penaly or incarceration until death. How could humans be more just and merciful than God?
- The Bad Behavior of Israel. Sometimes the enemies of God blame Him for the wicked behavior of His people. The people of God did many gruesome acts and bad behavior, but this does not mean that God approved.
  What stands out is God's loyalty to them and His own method of showing them that they were wrong.
  - Abraham and Isaac. They both lied to save their lives and God appeared to condone their lies. God threatened Abimelech even though Abraham's fears and lies allowed him to take Sarah. Abimelech was not innocent, he was an adulterer. However, he would not have taken Sarah if Abraham had been honest.
    Just as he convinced Sarah to lie to protect him, Sarah later convinced him to sin to protect his legacy.
  - Jacob. He deceived His father and God probably punished him by allowing him to be deceived.
  - David (1 Samuel 27: 11). David killed a lot of people without the approval of God. Yet, throughout his friendship with God we never get a sense of God's opinion until the end. God could not allow Him to build His temple because his past was too bloody.
    David said to Solomon: "My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the LORD my God. But this word of the LORD came to me: 'You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. (1 Chronicles 22: 7-9)
    This story and others highlight the fact that once God makes a committment and promise, He will stick with you. However, He will not condone your sins. Sometimes it appears that He approves because the scriptures do not record His response, we only see the continued support or the horrible consequences.
  - The Murdered Concubine (Judges 19-20). The tribe of Benjamin raped a woman to death and her "husband" mailed the body parts to the tribes. It is a gruesome story, but God never approved it or ordered it and the tribe was severely punished. The remarkable thing about the story is that God did not white wash the history of Israel.
    And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died. (Judges 20: 5)
  - Prosperity Ministers. They are a disgrace to the name and reputation of God, yet God allows them to live and prosper.
- Religion. Having a religious affiliation and being religious is not a stupid refuge for the emotionally dependent. Being "spiritual" is not a superior position. It is just an excuse for living life according to your own cornucopia of feel-good ideas. Being religious means that you also take into concern the evaluation and the opinions of a deity who has a right to a different point of view by virtue of having more experience and grasp of the problems plaguing the universe. Being religious means that you actually take the position that in the end, the universe is in the control of a friendly face.
  The lazy man's evaluation of the world is to be spiritual. The thoughtful person's evaluation of the world results in picking sides. Right and wrong is not a continuum subject to your personal tastes. There are moral absolutes. A person who uses religion as a crutch is not a thoughtful person. He is the laziest of persons who chooses religion so that the pastor can think for them. I would say that the "spiritual" person has his own self as his own authority and the collective opinion of sinful mortal man is their crutch and their pastors are the greedy pigs who sell spirituality in feel good seminars. At least organized religions have organized charities and organized "do-good" institutions who collectively do more work with longer commitment than the spiritual 'feel-good' devotees.
- The Evils Of Religion. Religion is not the source of most of the evils in the world. Atheist nations seem to be responsible for more deaths per year than religious nations when you calculate the damage that they have done during their short existence. Abortion kills over 1.3 children annually in the United States alone. The atheist nation of China killed millions of full term babies during its "one child" policy program. The majority of these victims were girls who were deemed less valuable and were killed or discarded after birth.
  Religion and religious people have been the impetus behind many breakthroughs, many educational institutions, charities and impetus for social change. People without religion and without a sense of absolutes fill our jails, victimize others and institutionalize greed. Greedy corporations and monopolies and ambitious leaders have inflicted misery on the poor for thousands of years often using the peacefulness and self-sacrifice of religious people to mask their activities.
  God is correct. It is wickedness entrenched in high places that have damaged the earth and its people.
  - Christianity: Crusades and The Inquisition. This is another crime by the church as it forces others to conform to its will. Forcing the minority to accept the gods of the majority has existed in the Roman era, now exists in India and the Islamic nations.
  - Buddhism and Hinduism. Celebrities and others are trying to sell eastern religions as the antidote to the evil bloodthirsty Christians, by presenting themselves as peaceful and non-judgmental. It was Jesus who said, "Judge not".
    » The Hindu Varna System (Castes). It is Hinduism which allows the system of the "untouchables" to exist, ignoring the suffering of humans because fate has made a judgment about them. The first Buddhist I ever met was very devout and he was one of the worst, intolerant and judgmental people I have ever met.
  - Islam: Jihad. The treatment of women, the holy wars against infidels and the deliberate stifling of other religions through laws and intimidation and violence are all negative aspects of this religion despite the efforts to distance themselves from the most violent actions.
    What is hypocritical in this religion is the claim to be more moral, more holy, righteous and pure when they have immoral practices entrenched in their laws. Prostitution, homosexuality, pedophelia and sexual perversion are alive and well dressed up in laws that allow them to be practiced only by men making women and children its victims.
  - Atheism. This is also a belief system. The moral decay of society, the experiments in communism all show that without a sense of moral absolutes man is bereft of any wisdom or common sense or empathy. Religion holds back the tide of evil, while atheism dresses it up in packages labelled as "freedom", "happiness", and "exploring self". The fruit of their labor is addiction, unwanted children, broken families, destruction, sexually transmitted diseases and legalized greed.
  » Conversion. The fact is that all belief systems, including atheists and scientists, want people to convert to their absolutely correct point of view. Unitarian Universalists are just as devoted to making Evangelical and conservative Christians convert to their free, liberal and "more loving" point of view. Atheists want to see religious people convert to their view of life and are willing to ridicule, persecute, mock and marginalize. They may justify this as scientific and common sense and rescuing people from the darkness of religion. The church used the same fervent argument to try to save people from hell. This is the same behavior as religious zealots. Everyone has bloody hands and an intolerant mindset because of the absolute conviction that they are right.
- Slavery. Satan's rule is modeled after slavery. So slavery has existed in all societies since sin came. The Egyptians enslaved the Jews for 430 years. Indentured service was actually a good economic system which exchanged labor for valuables in a primitive economy. In the modern economy we exchange labor for money which we then use to acquire valuables.
  In the colonial era the Christian churches and Christian nations enslaved and killed millions all while going to church and justifying the practice by the Bible. Other nations and religions also practiced cruel slavery.
  However, the truth is that the Bible never justified kidnapping people for slavery. That offense was a death penalty. The Bible also required Israel to redeem their poor brothers and take them out of slavery as quickly as possible. The Bible allowed for slavery through debt bondage, or working off your debt, but limited the period to six years so it was impossible for a debt bondage system to escalate into a generational debt bondage.
  The colonial churches simply pointed to the word "slavery" in the Bible and justified their inhumane brand of slavery.
  » An Orderly Disposition Of Slavery Or Anarchy? It is clear that the Bible teaches that the world fell in slavery to sin and that Jesus Christ came to free us from that slavery. While Jesus was on earth, the Roman empire enslaved most of its population. During the time of Paul, he told a runaway slave to go back to his master and submit. Christian masters were still holding slaves. Why?
  For practical reasons, when such a huge economic system comes to an end it cannot be done abruptly without huge social consequences.
  When blacks were freed in the United States they were homeless and penniless and jobless and without assets. The system merely arrested them as vagrants and sent them back to work on the plantations as prison inmates. Their fate was worse than before. It took over 80 years for the government to even enforce its laws and arrest those who were still holding slaves. Sharecropping at 70% interest and 70-30 crop split ensured that they would be in debt and in poverty.
  What God expected was that masters start treating their slaves kindly and to fairly dismantle the system. The Biblical laws even required the master to provide adequate financial support for the slave to transition to freedom. However, when a slavery system does not anticipate reparation it could be very destructive to suddenly end the system. Paul had to tell the slave to return and admonish his master to be kind. Rebellion and mass revolt would have broken out.
- God Created The Devil. God created a perfect being named Lucifer who abused his free will and made himself corrupt.
  You were blameless in all your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. (Ezekiel 28: 15)
  God is no more responsible for Satan than loving parents are responsible for a child who chooses to become a criminal despite his upbringing, training, guidance and privileges.
  However, unlike mortal parents who do not know the future, since God knows the future isn't He responsible for unleashing a rampaging demon on the universe when He knew that this perfect being would rebel?
  Knowing the future and the infinite amount of choices available because of free will, God must have seen that the problem would eventually arise. Perhaps if it was not Satan it would be another of His created being. So if this was inevitable, then God choose the future that gave the best options.
  » The Best Future. Total perfection forever can be guaranteed with robots and computers properly maintained. But this is a boring, vanilla-flavored, Stepford Wives kind of society where color, taste buds and options are useless. God tried to build the society purely on love, not fear. Fostering love takes time and choice. It cannot be built in. God developed this love by disguising Himself as one of His creatures. When it is revealed who Jesus is, people can look at the relationship they developed with this character who appeared to be an equal and recognize that they can have the same sort of intimacy with the one they honored as God.
  So, given the type of society that God wanted to create, when He alone existed He must have looked into into the trillions of possible futures and picked the best one.
  » Why Did Satan Rebel? My dog knows that it cannot open the door, so she will stand by the door and bark so that I can let her out. I have opposable thumbs, she does not. Despite the claims of evolution to the contrary she cannot wish to grow thumbs and wake up with them.
  As the covering cherub and created being Satan could not possibly be more stupid than a dog. Why did he think that as a created being he could evolve into the position of God? After all, wanting to be God does not make him capable of doing what God does. His mindset is seen in the lies told to Eve, "with the proper knowledge you can become god". One gets the idea that in this theory of evolution he is trying to see if this is possible. There are two possible reasons which reveal why Satan believed this was possible. They show why he hates Jesus Christ and the human race so much.
  - God The King. Before the human race was created all other creatures began with a similar creation event. If they were all created at once or only the earliest creation witnessed subsequent creations then after many generations the vast majority of the population had to accept this by faith based on eyewitness testimony and the reputation of the King. Like Adam and Eve they had to accept God's word that He was their creator, not just their King because none of them witnessed the creative acts. After billions of years and no new creation the population that emerged post-creation may have viewed God in the same way we view an established monarchy. In this kind of historical setting, Satan may have convinced Himself that the throne was not eternal. So he could have convinced others that God was not their Creator but the leader of a dynasty who did not want to relinquish power. This explains why the creation of the earth after the rebellion was such an important act.
    Faced with the rebellion, God determined to demote the principalities and powers in favor of the new creation who would be a living example of true faith that would tenaciously remain loyal to God under the most blistering of circumstances never before faced by any of the former creation living under ideal condition.
    The Old Regime. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2: 15)
    The New Regime. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15: 27-28)
  - Jesus Christ (The Prince Who Became A Pauper). Jesus is God, He was not created. He must have walked among the creation in heaven as one of its creatures, just as He did on earth. He must have been one of the covering cherubs, the one on the right hand of God. He was also Michael, the archangel chief of the army.
    At some point Satan must have become jealous of this other covering cherub because He might have had special access. So God must have explained who Jesus was. Many of the creation must have had a newly found understanding and admiration for God with this revelation. Stupid Lucifer, on the other hand became jealous. Instead of believing that Michael was God clothed like one of His creatures (a touching act), he began to think that as a covering cherub he could also become God, just as Michael must have done. His lie to Eve revealed that he rejected the idea that Michael was always God and thought that God must still be holding secrets. One conspiracy theory that he might have latched onto was the erroneous belief that with the proper knowledge you could become God. He refused to accept the fact that this was not a position you "grew into" or was "born into". Even after Jesus created the world it did not deter this intrepid idiot.
    This special hatred and resentment of Jesus made him jump at the chance to exchange Him for us, if He came in human form. Now the temptation of Jesus can be seen as dripping in sarcasm, "IF you are God, then ..." and "IF you are the Son of God then ..." Failing to corrupt Him at that time, he unleashed his pent up fury on the cross. Yet, first he nailed him fast on all four limbs and stripped Him of all dignity and emotional support. Despite the unfairness he still lost. He thought this position was all about beauty, knowledge and power.
    What a stupid loser!
    Even in this weakened form Jesus still beat Him without the use of power, because He was the God of love.
  - The Human Race (The Children Who Will Become Kings). According to an alternate reading of Psalm 8: 4-6, man was made lower than the angels for a litte while. Therefore, we were destined to surpass the angels. Satan saw this as more proof that one could evolve to something greater and he chose the highest position as his goal.
  » Preventative Measures. After choosing this future, God made a plan to fix the problem created by Satan. God tried to stop His actions by giving him the best things possible. He did the best for the ambitious angel by giving him the highest position among created beings to satisfy his covetousness.
  If sin had not originated with Satan it would have eventually occurred with some other character in another alternate future. If there was an alternate future where sin never existed, then God would probably have chosen it. Therefore He must have chosen this future because it will be the best one of all the futures scarred by sin or it is possibly even a better outcome than any future that would have been sinless.
  If anyone of us will ever complain that we were created as disposable props then God would have excluded us from the timeline. But we will not. The judgment will reveal that we rebelled when we did not have to do so. We cannot blame it on Satan, raging hormones, alcohol, television or bad parents. At crucial decision making points in our lives it will be revealed that we disobeyed the pleas of God and chose to do and to believe what supports our desires. We will agree with God's decisions.
  » The Value Of Free Will. So what does it mean that God "chooses the future". This is not predestination. It means that at certain critical moments in our choices He makes sure that His choice prevails. Like a canoe with oars in the presence of a wave in a great storm He makes sure that the overwhelming force of His decision nullifies ours as He pushes us to safety if we disregard the warning signs and weather reports not to venture out to sea that day. That is guidance, not predestination.
  God continued with His plan of creation knowing that free will was worth the cost and His creation would learn to always submit to His will because He always desires their good. Who can ever look at the roles of Jesus throughout eternity and not admire God or understand His deep affection for His creation.
- Born In Sin (Original Sin). God says that sin will never occur again. So why did God create perfect people who would sin? Is free will incompatible with perfect behavior unless we learned a terrible lesson?
  » Satan (The Cosmic Idiot). Knowing that Satan would covet His throne, God still gave Him the highest position possible for a created being. This was designed to stop his covetousness. This should have satisfied Satan but it did not. Wisdom should have told him that he should be satisfied with the greatest honor and position possible for a created being. Common sense should have taught him that since he was not God and could never be God then he had reached the height of his career potential. However, Satan lacked both wisdom and common sense and the world became victims of a fool.
  I question how is this fair for the children of Adam and Eve who will make choices that will lead to eternal death? They never made a choice while having the full arsenal of protection that perfection and face to face knowledge of God has to offer. They were born in sin. They were born handicapped and sentenced to death without committing a crime.
  Although the righteousness of one man will compensate for the unfairness of being condemned for the sin of one, it still seems unfair to those who will be lost because they never made the right decision while being handicapped by sin. Would they have made a better decision if they were perfect? How could the universe prove otherwise? Lucifer did not.
  » The Population After Sin. What are the possible choices that God could have made about populating the earth after Adam and Eve sinned?
  - Adam and Eve Only (Sterilization). Perfection does not guarantee good choices, but bringing an innocent life into the world under these conditions seems irresponsible. This is why I say that Adam and Eve should have been sterilized or the Plan of Salvation should have been limited to them only while they were childless. The curse required that redemption must come through the seed of the woman. So they had to have children. This child should have been Jesus Christ.
  - Adam and Eve and Children Born Perfect. If redemption is through their children why were all children not born perfect like Adam and Eve? In fact, the only Redeemer found was a Child who was perfect. This Child existed before and chose to come to earth after knowing the hardships and the laws under which He must live. All other children never existed before.
    » One Law for Aliens and Israel. The universe does not operate with different laws for different people. So the perfect Redeemer who volunteered had to choose to be imprisoned and live under the laws of punishment of the condemned.
    If Adam and Eve had given birth to perfect children, then they would have been unfairly imprisoned and forced to live under the devastation of sin without having chosen to live under these conditions. They would be subject to the curse of sin without ever sinning. So a perfect volunteer was needed.
    Since perfection does not guarantee sinlessness, Jesus could still be our representative because He lived with all the pain and disadvantages of humanity with the Holy Spirit as His guide to perfection. This is what is expected of us because we have access to His advantage.
  - Adam And Eve And Children Who Inherit Sin. Born defective, their personal choices show that they do deserve to be in prison. But is it fair to this group? Is it even moral for God to create people who will be lost?
    - The Saved. Those who inherit eternal life will agree that the few years of sacrifice are worth it.
    - The Lost. There are two possible types of lost people, those who enjoyed life on earth and those who experienced only victimization and punishing poverty.
      There are few circumstances under which it would be totally unfair and immoral.
      » Eternal Suffering. Punishment in eternal torture.
      » Diminished Mental Capacity. They were too young or too physically or mentally handicapped.
      » No Chance. There never was a Plan of Salvation that included them.
      So, for the lost, fairness could only be achieved if God had the ability to reach into the future and interview the children of Adam and Eve and tell them what choices they will make given the best of circumstances then they could choose to come to earth and enjoy the pleasures of sin for a moment in the life assigned to them.
      However, this would be evil because God would be responsible for creating people who would suffer for no purpose that was useful to them. It would also mean that God was responsible for creating evil people, unlike Satan who was created perfect.
    - What Was Inherited? Why did the innocent children inherit his weakness for sin? It is clear that we inherited Adam's sin, this is called the doctrine of original sin. Some claim we also inherited his guilt. This would be unjust and unlawful.
      The law says that we must suffer for our own sins.
      Guilt Not Inherited. Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin (Deuteronomy 24: 16)
      Yet in Exodus 34: 7 and the second commandment (Exodus 20: 5) teaches that when the guilty are punished the results will be visited on the third and fourth generation.
      This can be seen in the light of human dynamics where society will not let go of the stigma of scandal. So, not because of God's direction but because of our actions, families suffer the stain of scandal for generations. Since God does not actively stop these activities, He takes responsibility for "visiting the inquity" on subsequent generations.
      However, there is a very practical and responsible reason for this law. He allows these dynamics to continue because we must learn that sin has consequences beyond the borders of the sinner. He is also responsible for warning us about potential danger. So if a particular family has a very defective gene that leads to a higher percentage of criminal behavior, we need to be aware of our choices.
      So we inherited the weakness for sin, but incur our own guilt when we submit to sin.
    » A Vaccine Against Sin. I cannot completely answer this question so I submit to the wisdom of God and look at the testimony of the wicked at the end. They will agree with all the decisions of God and will be ashamed.
    One possible answer to this problem is that God believed that creating life so outweighed this one negative incident in time that it was worth the sacrifice. This will be another reason why He really cannot torture people forever. Apparently even the wicked will agree. So they will not regret that they lived and will be lost, they will regret the wasted opportunity.
    » A Lethal Weapon Against Sin. A principle of science gives us a possible answer. The principle of innoculation against virulent viruses using weakened viruses shows that this strategy works to help the body to defend itself. There is evidence that we were created as the weapon against sin to give evidence of the wisdom of God.
    Jesus Christ is the ultimate faithful and true weapon in this arsenal. He took our weakened form to defeat Satan. We were all created after sin entered the universe, and we were designed to destroy Satan in our weakened form. So our weakened state is not a testimony to the unfairness of God subjecting us to sin and death without any choice or power to overcome. Our weakened state is a testimony to the weapons that God gave us to defeat Satan!
    So one incredible fact that may emerge in the final judgment is how easy it was for us to win simply because we were weak and we simply blew it.
    Truly, God is strongest when we are the weakest and mercy overflows more where sin is the greatest. Incredibly, we simply need to learn to submit to God and believe that we can win, especially when sin appears to be strong in us.
  » Freewill and Foreknowledge. It would be evil and unfair for God to make us knowing that we would not be saved, except under certain conditions.
  - Eternal Burning Hell. This is why eternal torture in an eternally burning hell does not make sense. That would be immoral, especially if we were born defective and unable to resist sin. Since I believe that hell fire is not eternal and the sentence given will be seen as just even by the wicked, then this is not an issue.
  - The Lost. No lost person would ever agree that eternal torture in burning fire is just. So will the lost agree that the brief life was worth it under certain conditions?
    - The Happy Lost. Since they rejected God, their life was only what they expected through the philisophies of life they engineered. They lived and died and enjoyed the in-between. Since they did not care about the existance of heaven or hell or God or absolute values they cannot claim that they were cheated if they had no expectations beyond the here and now.
    - The Miserable Lost. There is no fair scenario for this group.
      So all the lost must at least live with the same limitations and hardships as their peers and had a reasonable opportunity to choose good by at least learning the Golden Rule through personal experience to treat others the way they would want to be treated. They must also learn to love, respect and appreciate what they see even if it is unreasonable to expect them to develop a relationship with what they cannot see or experience.
      People are lost because they choose to rebel. If there is a lost person who lived in misery then that person was a miserable person to everyone around them and took the best from life that he could at the expense of others.
      The evidence will be that it is not poverty or wealth, it is a certain mindset that makes people lost. The evidence also shows that it is not perfection or imperfection or a flawed design that creates this mind set. It is what a person decides within which glorifies himself at the expense of others.
  - A Powerful Helper. He gave us the Holy Spirit to guide our conscience and give us the best chance.
  - No Chance. Since God is just then this option is impossible.
  - Diminished Mental Capacity. It is my opinion that these people can never be lost.
  - Universalism (All Saved). The belief that all will be saved despite their choices makes God immoral for creating us to undergo this horrible experiment when He planned to say "Oops! Never mind! Do Over!" He should have made us perfect and worked out His issues with the rebellious angels. If He did this to make us learn a lesson from sin, then He needed sin and He used sin in the creative process. This would make Him an immoral hypocrite.
    I believe that He must have a better plan to convince the vast majority of us to accept His rule but I do not think that He will save us by overlooking our deliberate rebellion to save us despite our devotion to wickedness and blatant hatred and disregard for righteousness.
- It Is Barbaric And Unfair (Judgment and Hell Fire). The view of many people is that God is a tyrant who is going to kill us anyway if we do not do His will. So they reject the concept of a final judgment and annhilation, even if we are not going to be tortured in hell forever. It is unfair because we were weakened because of sin and we had nothing to do with the initial cause that weakened the human race.
  » The Population After Judgment. You will agree with God when you see the options remaining for the popluation after the final judgment.
  - Immediate Annhilation. God chose to destroy the wicked all at once after the trial in which they are allowed to defend themselves using the same stupid rules by which they lived their lives.
  - Contine As Usual. It would be immoral for God to allow the past 6000 years to continue forever with more innocent children being born under the current system. If God took away all natural disasters and all mental illness and disease and criminal behavior then what you are asking for is what God is offering without heaven. There cannot be a true heaven without also obeying the laws you think are too puritan. You cannot have a perfect physical world with the right to have God protect you while you drink, gamble, party and fornicate as you please. You cannot have sin and expect God to hide the consequences.
  - Sterilization. God could choose to allow the wicked to live after making it impossible for them to have more children. In this way no more innocent children will be born under these conditions. Under this option, the wicked will die off in 100 years, waiting hopelessly as the society ages and their numbers dwindle. Why is this option not used by God?
    The answer is that it is more merciful to execute the wicked than to have them suffer under 100 years in a worse hell of their own making. People assume that without God they can live life and enjoy it as they please. However, without the Holy Spirit and the influence of God the planet would disintegrate into chaos where the violent minority would terrorize the less violent majority. Soon, it would not be a land of free will and pleasures forever. It would be a lawless system without any public services or rules that make civilization function. It would be a place of terror with armed camps, roaming gangs of rapists and murderers. Society would be reduced to forced slavery in order to provide the necessities of life.
  God's solution is the most humane option.

The Case For God
Your criticism of God does not take into account the passage of time or the efforts made by God. Over a period of 4000 years, the number of stories of annhilation are rare and they are preceeded by warnings for hundreds of years.

- Free Will. The administration of the world is a testament to the importance of free will. God does not shield us from the consequences of our behavior and the behavior of others. The preservation of free will has led to this complicated, drawn-out plan to save the world.
- Clever Laws. The laws of the Old Testament show how God has taken advantage of every legal opportunity to ensure that He can answer every charge and argument that Satan will make. The laws on redemption, vows, marriage, women and slavery are key to how God will claim possession of us and disposses Satan.
  - Substitution. It seemed unfair for the sins of two people to be transmitted to their children like a virus, mutated gene or an unwanted inheritance. Substitution seems to punish an innocent while allowing the guilty to escape their responsibilities. However, this unfairness allowed the righteousness of one Man to be substituted for all those who are born again through Him.
    Instead of dealing with our sins individually, God was able to deal with them collectively. It was the fastest and most efficient and fair way to obtain justice. It also dangled a carrot on the end of the stick that Satan could not refuse. He could get a chance to torment the one Person whom He hated the most while He was powerless and in the weakest of forms. He got an opportunity with Jesus Christ in human flesh after He had fasted for forty days and again after He had been physically beaten and mutilated and emotionally devastated and abandoned by God.
  - Kidnapping and Slavery. Satan is guilty of the death penalty because he kidnapped Eve into slavery.
  - Redemption. If Satan says he bought us from Adam, then God can say that he bought us back with the blood of Jesus Christ before the seven years of slavery are over.
  - Jubilee. If God had waited until the year of the Jubilee then God can say Satan has no legal right to us because time has expired and Adam can reclaim His possession.
  - The Earth Is The Lord's. If Satan says that Adam sold the earth to Him before it was redeemed, then the law has a special case that allows ownership of the land to go back to God, not the original family who was given the land (Leviticus 27: 20-21).
  - The Church is A Woman. If the church had been pictured as male, neither God nor Christ would have the right to unilaterally override our decisions. However, the church and Israel is pictured as female who submits to God. The controlling male has the right to annul the vow of a woman on the day he hears about it.
    - Father. As our Father, God annulled the vows of Eve on the day He walked into Eden and found them hiding. He made a covenant to kill the snake and free the woman and her children.
    - Husband. As our Husband, Jesus annulled our vows on the day of the crucifixion when He made the marriage contract (New Covenant). He knew that we had sold ourselves to Satan, but it was only on this day that He had obtained the legal right to do something about it.
    If we had first been given the status of sons instead of daughters and slaves we would have borne greater responsibility for our sins. When we are born again, then we are given the privileged status as "sons of God".
  - The High Priest Is The Blood Avenger. The unique situation of death posed many problems for a universe where death never existed and will never exist again.
    Blood feuds sound so primitive and vindictive, yet in the justice of God, this is the way that the dead can get justice since death wipes out all contracts and rights. The feature of death that annuls all contracts works in our favor in the end, but the inability to seek justice works in Satan's favor unless we make a special law for this temporary situation.
    All unintentional killers must take refuge in the city and will be protected from the blood avenger while the high priest is alive. As our blood avenger and indestructible High Priest and builder of the city of refuge, God can have mercy on us and be the guarantor for us because He will never die and He understands us, having been one of us. He can also take revenge on Satan for killing us even after He has given us eternal life. Satan can never enter the city and he will never acknowledge the status of Jesus Christ.
  - An Eye For An Eye. The law on revenge also gives "life for life", when God took revenge He had compassion instead and He gave His life for our life. He will eventually execute revenge on our real enemy who has caused all this destruction.
  - Slaves. Our status as slaves of sin gave us more victim's rights that protected us.
  - Female Slaves (Exodus 21). The rules are different for female slaves even if she became the wife to a free man while He was a slave. Since Jesus became engaged to the church when He was not a slave of Satan, He can take us with Him when we are redeemed. Since Jesus is a slave of God, His wife must be treated like a daughter or God can give us to His Son as a wife.
  - War With Satan. According to the rules, if we find ourselves still as the legal property of Satan then our only hope of freedom must be to make ourselves displeasing to him and by law he has to allow us to be redeemed. You can make yourself displeasing to Satan by following God and disobeying Satan and working to sabotage his kingdom. God is only too happy to redeem us.
- Picture Language. God communicates His problems and solutions in a variety of methods that will survive over thousands of years. If we approach life with the arrogance that wisdom began with us or in the last 120 years then we are fools. However, if we approach life with humility then we should recognize that others have asked the same questions that plague us and that there is wisdom in looking at what others have discovered whether or not the universe is hostile or friendly. If we assume that the universe is friendly, then we must believe that a friendly God has left His footprints somewhere in time. If that God is wise, His message or language would transcend all time and culture and language.
  - Words of God. God did transmit His written words on Mount Sinai and the oral traditions have been passed down since Adam and Eve.
  - Traditions. Wisdom may be found in our traditions and the treasures of the old.
  - Types and Shadows and Symbols. Since traditions, words and history can be tainted, they are backed up by symbols and rituals which transcend all cultures.
    - Sacrificial System. The promise of redemption had to be portrayed in an ugly picture because it was an injustice to God.
    - Abraham and Isaac. God has to give up His Son but He would spare us.
    - Submission. The Son has to submit from a position of strength and authority. He even had to submit to an enemy.
    - Wounded. God is hurt, humiliated and wounded, yet He does not strike back wildly.
  - The Sample Nation. God left us an example of all the various types of difficulties He solves through His interaction with the nations, particularly Israel. As we examine how He deals with various individuals we begin to get a picture of a very loyal, patient, long suffering and tenacious God.
  You may call the language imperfect and the message mixed, but God sent His Son to clear up the confusion and fine tune our hearing.
  In the Son you will see the many dimensions of the Father. In the prophecies, you will see the uncanny accuracy of the tapestry that God has been weaving for centuries.
  Then you will learn to trust the ancients whom God admired and you will understand why the story of Abraham has captivated over 65% of the world even if their followers remain a poor example.
  Even in God's dealing with Israel you will find a people who represented and honored their God poorly giving you some insights into the dynamics of today as God deals with a planet that represents Him poorly.
  Look at ancient Israel and her neighbours to see yourself. Then have some sympathy for God.
- Been There, Done That. Throughout history God has demonstrated many failed scenarios for establishing righteousness. Jesus Christ was the only successful demonstration of a plan that actually worked under the worst circumstances. The disobedient often offer many scenarios under which they would believe God. Many invent conditions under which they would be obedient, saying, "I Would Believe if ... if God Would Only ...
  For every argument you want to make against the actions or lack of actions by God, He can point to that method being tried and failed in history. So if you want God to ...
  - Prove That He Exists. The people before the flood and the people at the Tower of Babel knew that He existed and they still disobeyed. Satan stood by His side and plotted mutiny.
  - Demonstrate His Powers. He sent plagues to Pharoah and Egypt and showed many miracles to Israel in the exodus and Jesus performed miracles. Yet they crucified Jesus about ten days after He raised Lazarus from the dead. The priests plotted the death after the miracle!
    Israel tried to stone Moses three days after the miraculous Red Sea crossing and Pharoah disobeyed God immediately after He removed each plague.
  - Rule With An Iron Fist. Only tyrants rule with an iron fist usually in an atmosphere of intimidation and fear. The open disobedience is proof of the gentle, patient form of government. The best government is a gentle, benevolent, self-sacrificing ruler who desires free will among law abiding citizens.
  - Solve Our Problems. The Jews were the experimental group for this solution. If God stopped all wars, abolished poverty, hunger and disease why would we obey Him if we were disobedient when He displayed power? Israel was disobedient to Him when they were prosperous. He instituted laws to drastically reduce poverty and we have never obeyed them. How would we appreciate the consequences of sin so that we would react to it in disdain if He mitigated all the damages?
  - Let Us Solve Our Problems. The Gentiles were the experimental group for this solution. We have free will and technology and we are not solving our problems. Only the rich and upper class have truly remined insulated from the deep-rooted problems of this world. We limp from one discovery to the next until we are now running out of room to manage the long term problems. Greed and selfishness prevents us from solving them.
  - Show Us His Character. Jesus Christ came to show us the Father and we killed Him.
  - Get Rid Of His Laws. The problems are not His laws but lawlessness. We live without His laws and poverty, disease, abortions have escalated because of the breaking of one commandment. We are demonstrating that lawlessness will ruin any society. It ruined the people before the flood, the citizens of the French Revolution and the generation at the end of time will descend into moral chaos.
  - Kill Satan. Satan will die, but killing him will not end our desire to sin.
  - Take God To Court. We will have our chance at the final judgment to make our case. There we can try substituting our own laws and judgment as we defend ourselves. God not only says that we will fail, but we will admit that our arguments are stupid.
- Submits to Judgment. God allowed Himself to be judged and He predicts that when it is your turn to judge Him and defend yourself you will acknowledge that He was fair and just even with your own standards of fairness.
  Come to the Universal Court. Gather yourselves and come. Draw near together, you fugitives of the nations. They have no knowledge, who carry about their wooden idol and pray to a god who cannot save.
  Defend Yourselves. Declare and set forth your case. Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me. A righteous God and a Savior. There is none except Me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God and there is no other.
  Acknowledge The Righteousness of God. I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back. That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. They will say of Me, "Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength".
  Acknowledge Your Guilt. Men will come to Him. All who are angry with Him will be put to shame. In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be justified and will glory. (Isaiah 45: 20-25)
  Everyone Submits to Christ. ... for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. (Romans 14: 10-11)
  » Hypocrites. If you plan to challenge God and disagree with Him, He will be able to point to the hypocrisy of your life. So make sure that when you plan to judge Him that you do not condemn your own life with your words.
- Patience. God's patience is not a sign of weakness or incompetence. It is an incredible sign of mercy.
  Mercy. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3: 9)
- An Unbelievable Destiny. Have you ever wondered why it would be fair that former sinners such as prostitutes, pedophiles and murderers should obtain a higher position than an unfallen and loyal citizen of heaven? It could not be that God wanted to show us how much He values us. Our sins are so great that we would be grateful to be potted plants in the kingdom or beloved pets or slaves of a kind God.
  We will achieve those positions not only because of the mercy of God, but because of His wisdom. We deserve it more than anyone else in the universe and we can represent the office better than anyone in the universe, because "the just lived by faith" and by allowing rebellion the unfallen universe did not live by faith.
  We know that we will be kings and priests. We will also be special messengers and ambassadors for God. We may even take over the role of covering cherubs. Who else can legitimately say, "Holy, Holy Holy" and testify legitimately about the love and mercy of God? Certainly not the angels who put God to the test when their life was perfect. No. The honor goes to those of faith who trusted a God who was reproached, choosing to wait and trust until they can judge in righteousness, even though they suffered as innocents in this cosmic warfare.
  If rebellion or the seeds of rebellion ever surface again, this is how the universe will respond.
  - Absolute Trust In God. It is not really that the universe distrusted God, it is that they loved and trusted Satan and could not see what harm would develop if Satan were allowed to continue his experiment. A perfect universe was as naive as Eve but it now understands that sin and evil can develop in a perfect society because sin is deceptive and does not play by any rules and takes advantage of our love and trust and naivite. Sin is not a game with friendly rules. Sin is war.
    So if rebellion surfaces again the universe will never again allow a charismatic person or anyone to override the decision of God and put God on trial again.
    God's statements will be seen as absolute and for our good and He will never be judged again.
  - Ambassadors. We were rewarded with this position specifically because we have the experience. If rebellion surfaces we will be dispatched to tell the story of the cost and the obligation to trust and obey God because we have been recipients of the wonderful mercy of God and the victims of rebellion against God.
  » To The Victor Goes The Spoils. The laws on warfare and claiming possessions show that we will inherit what Satan and the fallen angels gave away. Unless something is under a ban, God allows us to take all valuable possessions from the enemy for righteous reasons - not as a criminal act.
  - Revenge. These are taken as a form of revenge and just punishment.
    Just Punishment. But all who devour you will be devoured; all your enemies will go into exile. Those who plunder you will be plundered; all who make spoil of you I will despoil. (Jeremiah 30: 16)
    All Wealth. And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts. (Numbers 31: 11)
  - Justice: Egypt's Slave Reparations. The spoil was taken as just payment for over 400 years of slavery. Israel fleeing Egypt "Spoiled Egypt", taking their wealth.
    Lend Me My Wages Denied. And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians. (Exodus 12: 36)
  - Unappreciated Wealth. This prophecy about the return of Jesus Christ show that we will take the valuables discarded by angels. Since the old earth will be burned up and recreated, this promise is more than taking the things humans built, hoarded and valued. Those are banned and burnt up.
    Jesus Christ Redistributes The Wealth. Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. (Genesis 49: 27)
    So the only spoil remaining is what Satan robbed from us and what he threw away. Those are dominion of earth, a perfect earth and the positions of all the rebellious principalities and powers of heaven, including covering cherubim.
  - Satan's Ill-Gotten Possession. All that Satan has thrown away, given up or has taken, even the sinners kidnapped in his grasp are ours for the taking.
    The Mighty Pillaged. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. (Isaiah 49: 24-26)
    Satan had the highest position, but coveted something unattainable. This is a valuable position which will go to the human race. Ironically, we will be granted the privilege of sitting on the Father's throne, living and ruling with Him, something higher than Satan's position. So, in a sense we even get what he coveted. God made us in His image, calls us children and then abandons His former capital and comes to our planet to live with us.
- Reconciliation and Restitution. Everyone will be repaid or restored. There is nothing lost or injustice suffered that will not be addressed in the wisdom of God.
  God's "unfair" treatment of you will be seen as your medal of honor and your purple heart when you see how it contributed to the tapestry that is the wonderful Plan of Salvation.

The Problems Of God
Undeserved reproach has been heaped upon the God of the Old Testament by an enemy who was our legal representative for 4000 years. Other misconceptions about God are based on His apparent weakness and inabiliy to deal heavy handedly with sin. How does a powerful Being guarantee justice and fairness when He is under scrutiny?

- Satan. We will harbor misconceptions and disbelief about God if our world view does not acknowledge the existance of Satan or God. We have an enemy who resents rules, loves the limelight and wants to be in charge.
- In The Name Of The Father. In The Name Of Jesus. We often end our prayers with the words "in the name of Jesus" or "for Jesus' sake". The implication is that if we do not invoke these magical words then the Father will not hear us because it is only the love of Jesus that motivates the kind actions of the Father. This attitude must be so hurtful to the Father, because the creatures whom He loves thinks of Him in such an unloving manner. Jesus said there will be a day when you know the Father plainly and you will realize that you can ask the Father yourself because He does not have to ask for you.
  The Father Loves You Deeply. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loves you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. (John 16: 25-27)
  The Entire Trinity Loves You Deeply. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matthew 28: 19)
  So what does "in the name of ..." mean. The name is the summary of your resume. It plainly says who you are. Your reputation is merely the detail list of all the accomplishments that made you worthy of the name. So when we pray in the name of Jesus we should recognize the unspeakable gift of the Father in mortgaging heaven to send Jesus to rescue us by using Jesus as a ransom.
  For God SO loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. (John 3: 16)
  We are not hiding behind Jesus, shuddering in terror as He approaches the Father. The Father would have died to pay the ransom if that was what Satan wanted. But Satan hurt God more by making God give His Son and watch Him suffer alone.
  So when you see the Son you see the suffering of the Father. When you see the love of the Son, you see the love of the Father. So go boldly to the Father yourself. Jesus will not be jealous. It is the relationship He came to build.
- God Is Bound. The circumstances have forced God behind a veil. This is for our protection and for the good of the process.
  - Handicapped. God could not use His powers or foreknowledge to veto His creatures in a decision.
    - Jesus. He surrendered His wealth and powers and was born poor in a stable and was homeless when He began His ministry. At His birth, His mother was handicapped by a ridiculous story that nobody could possibly believe. "God made me pregnant". As a consequence He also grew up with the label of an illegitimate bastard. God gave Himself no advantage in conquering sin.
    - God The Father. Except for supporting the universe, it appears that God cannot use His powers to resolve the crisis immediately. He cannot use His omniscience to unilaterally declare who deserves to be saved and who will be lost. Every decision He makes has to be verified by the principalities and powers who are judging Him. He cannot and will not use His omnipotence to destroy Satan and restart the universe. That would not be a mature way to solve a problem. He would either have to kill the innocent and the guilty, or if he let the innocent live they would eventually become afraid of Him.
    So temporary chaos under a cloud of suspicion seems to be the better choice. In the end everyone will be allowed to judge His decisions.
  - Restrictions. He seems to be restricted to one action at a time. It is as if every decision in the world is only based on two choices. God has one and Satan has the other. We have the free will to switch sides but there is a great deal of peer pressure and propaganda instigated by Satan.
    - Monogomy (One Nation). He deals directly with only those who submit to Him and their family. He could only deal with one group at a time because, even symbolically, God cannot create a divided kingdom. Even when sin divides the nation of God, He must work to reconcile them. When He ruled Israel the Gentiles could be saved if they chose to join Israel. In order to save the Gentiles He had to turn away from Israel. Why?
      One clue is in how the nation of God is symbolized at the end of time. It is a bride. The relationship is that of a monogamous pair. One woman married to one Man and one Man married to one woman.
      The laws about slavery of a female seem to explain this phenomenon. This is why the church has the female gender in prophecy. This is also why the promise was made to the seed of the woman.
      » Earth. Satan seems to be restricted to the same rules. Unfortunately, he tricked Adam and Eve to join his side and all the seed that was in them at that time belonged to him.
      » Israel. Following the same rules God could try to convince one couple to join His side and all the seed in them were heirs of the promise. According to the same rules anyone had freedom to choose to switch sides. So we can join the covenant of the promised people or we can go back to the world.
      This is why He had to let the Jews go in order to save the Gentiles. Israel had filed for divorce from Him and then died. Death automatically annulled the marriage. He made a new marriage contract with the Gentiles. This relationship gets complicated at the end of time when a miracle occurs. The dead wife will be resurrected. How does that affect the monogamous relationship? Fortunately, He is only engaged to the Gentiles. The marriage ceremony is not complete until the Second Coming. This is where the symbol of being adopted as children takes over.
    - Holy Spirit. He could not come in His official capacity or with greater access until Jesus left the earth. Jesus' sacrifice must be made before we can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
      The Next Helper. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. (John 16: 7)
    - Faith. Extraordinary, continuous displays of power seem to be forbidden by either side. The exodus proves that miracles and the physical presence of God does nothing to influence human obedience. Power by either side would only make us more responsible for sin and more confused about which side to join. Satan already feeds our lust even under these restrictions and we seem to be disproportionately drawn to the dark side.
      So faith, free will and reasoning are the approved methods of making a decision in the Plan of Salvation. We cannot be openly pressured by superior beings.
- God Is On Trial. God is being judged and He submitted Himself to judgment instead of annhilating the universe and starting over. As a result He is just as handicapped as Christ was when He became a human being.
  - Impartial Witnesses. All of heaven had taken sides. The best way to resolve the problem is to put the evidence before a panel of impartial witnesses who have no knowledge of the facts.
    Judged By Humans. Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Corinthians 6: 3)
    Judged By Strangers. Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. (Ezekiel 28: 7, 10, 17)
    We are the strangers, the impartial witnesses who will judge and execute him and we will inherit their positions and more as a reward for our ordeal.
    Therefore, we are kept in the dark without overwhelming supernatural interference from either side. To a great extent, our ignorance, confusion, slow learning and frustration all help to make us more credible witnesses. In fact, the skewing of the evidence has made us more angry at God. God sent the nation of Israel to be His witnesses. Then He sent Jesus Christ.
  - Crime Scene. In return, God cannot interfere with the crime scene. Innocent children are born. Terrible crimes are committed and it seems that nobody says, "enough!" Although 6000 years seems slow, it is speedy justice according to the laws of the seven year Sabbaths and jubilee. Slaves are freed every seventh year and everything is restored in the jubilee. It was the time limit set for the jury to hear and see the facts of the case before they are seated for deliberations in the millennium.
  - Verdict. The unanimous verdict is guilty! It will be given by all. The righteous, the wicked and even Satan himself will acknowledge that God is righteous and Satan is guilty on all charges. This testimony will be good enough for future generation who will never choose to rebel.
  - Jury Tampering. It would have been better if we had maintained righteousness during this process, but Satan was not above jury tampering in Eden. His criminal interference provides major testimony against him. Thanks to Satan's meddling we are witnesses to his character. It has left us with so much animosity that we will execute him.
  - Reluctant Witnesses. What gives God and the rest of the universe the right to use us in this way?
    - One Of Us. God did not require from us what He was unwilling to suffer Himself.
    - Innocent. An impartial jury was needed and only God could produce one.
    - Tree Of Knowledge. The jury had to be capable of choosing good or evil.
      » Bad Design? Critics say this is the root of the problem. God should have made us capable of choosing good only. He is responsible for our actions because He made us capable of choosing evil. I explore this further in another lesson, but this is actually a brilliant design.
      Having the capacity to choose good or evil does not make us evil. Knowing how to recognize what is not good and having a filtering system in our brain to understand this gives us more freedom. As we explore objects and ideas and compare them to what is not good we have unlimited possibilities to create good. If we did not have this capacity to mix and match good we would be singing one note instead of arranging symphonies.
      Perfection does not guarantee good choices. Satan was perfect. So the problem does not lie in the fact that we are weak. The problems lie in the fact that we choose not to submit to good.
    - Compensation. We are compensated with the positions of authority which they forfeited.
    - We Agreed. Since God is omniscient He knows what we will choose and He also knows that we will agree with His actions. As incredible as it seems we gave Him that right from the future!
      In the end we all acknowledge that He is just. The wicked will lament the wasted opportunity and acknowledge their rebellious spirit and their spurious arguments when all the facts are unveiled.
    - Random Selection Not Predestined. Adam and Eve and the human race must produce children randomly. God cannot decide who lives or who dies by interfering with the natural process. If He did then He could be choosing a jury in His favor. If He stamped out evil and its consequences before they bore their bitter fruit Satan could correctly claim that there is no proof that his leadership was bad. So a random collection of 8 to 10 billion people in trillions of different possible futures and every combination of experiences and subjected to every unspeakable incidence of horror all conclude that God is just.
      If you think about it the evidence must be compelling. So compelling that even the wicked are grateful for the opportunity, and angered by their own poor choices. Yet in awe of God.
  - The Overpowering Evidence. What is this evidence that is so compelling? The character of God made no other choice possible or honorable. He is an all powerful being, sharing the joy He knew was possible by creating. The maximum joy can only be obtained where real choice is possible. So we have a brain that can choose good or evil. However, a responsible and righteous God should design us so that we will choose good every time. The evidence will be that despite all the handicaps we could have chosen good because the Holy Spirit was available and we were designed to win.
    Satan is taken out of the equation in this basic test. The condemnation will never be based on how we responded to Satan. It is rather on how did we respond individually to God?
- God Gathers Evidence For His Defence. God's power was His handicap. He could not use it and He must allow Satan to have the freedom to make His case. How can God ensure justice for Himself in this poisoned atmosphere?
  » God's Witnesses (Israel). At the final judgment everyone will witness for God and against Satan. However, during the 6000 years of human existance with sin, He chose one nation through their righteous father to collect and distribute the evidence which will clear His name.
  - A Righteous Seed. These are those who intend to trust and obey.
  - Israel. The righteous man spreads his knowledge of God to his children.
  - Torah. It is a written record of the history, the problems and the planned solution.
  - Law And Covenant. These show God's promises and goals.
  - Messiah (Righteous Seed). Jesus Christ is God's ultimate witness. He showed the magnificent glory and character of God in contrast to the malevolence of Satan.
  - The Final Generation. A righteous generation at the end of time is the final witness.
  If the common environment in the world was open and visible interaction with the supernatural world it would only generate an atmosphere of fear where it is impossible to tell who is truthful. This quarantine is an exellent solution.
  » The Chinese Wall. There is another legal theory called a "Chinese Wall" which explains the situation in which we live. When a situation arises which will create a conflict of interest between a former client and a current one or two current clients, then an information barrier is set up to protect the rights of each client. These rules keep staff and files completely separate.
  God set up these two barriers until it was time to defend Himself. In our situation a wall was constructed between heaven and earth as we decide about the character of God. However, God also constructed a wall to defend Himself separating information from Satan and the powers of heaven and revealing it to the people of earth. The environment is administered as follows.
  - Established Rules (The Plan Of Salvation). These are established, documented protocols for maintaining information barriers. Comprehensive rules must be in place before the conflict of interest occurs. There cannot be an ad-hoc emergency plan set up after the fact. God made this plan "before the foundation of the world". It included the terms written in the covenant and the blessings and curses. All of heaven signed off on this agreement and Satan put in the conditions we now know as the curses.
  - Conflict Of Interest (God). God is on trial, yet He has duties as God. He cannot use His power to influence the investigation. He cannot do anything that will unfairly prejudice us. This is the design that prevents a conflict of interest.
    - Reduced Interference. God had to shield Himself. This means that the earth is in a sort of self-sustaining mode. So it is growing old and wearing out.
    - Free Will And Choice. At every step we must be allowed to choose His way or Satan's.
    - Tree Of knowledge Of Good And Evil. God had to put the tree in the garden to give choice.
  - Compliance Officer (Holy Ones And Watchers). They oversee the process. Daniel mentions these powers who can pass judgment. They act in the place of God to ensure justice and to make sure that the goals of the plan are kept and the integrity of the trial is not compromised.
  - Confidential Information (God's Character). This is the truth that we are investigating.
    - God's Character. God's character is summed up in His law. So the conflict presents itself as a battle over rules and regulations. The law is no longer written in the heart. It is external. It must be learned and acquired and chosen. The character of God and the events before the creation are kept secret. We must decide about God based on everything we know since creation.
    - God's Strategy. God's future actions are kept secret. Those who decide to trust Him must choose to cling by faith carrying out His instructions so that they culminate in one grand plan.
    Nothing we need to make a decision for God is hidden. If we cannot understand it is because we do not want to understand. We achieve this blind state by refusing to spend time to study information or investigating with the intention of finding an escape clause.
    Goughing Out Our Own Eyes. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4: 3-4)
  - Clients.
    - Old Client (Heaven). They have a history and a conflict that we cannot quite understand. Although as much as 66% of the angels and 100% of the other creation can testify about the character of God they are not allowed to be here to influence us. Only those who have an issue with God are allowed to be here.
    - New Client (Human Race). We must decide about the character of God from the perspective of hardship and lack of information. We must decide if it is wise to live under the rules of God or make up our own rules.
  - Screened Persons. Those in possession of the confidential information that is to be protected.
    - The Human Race. Quarantined and adrift on the earth, we are first reality show. We are a cosmic spectacle. The longest running drama in the whole history of creation. The earth has almost no information about the issues and people that existed before our creation. We have only been given the information to save our lives.
      The Chosen Race. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: (Ephesians 1: 4)
    - A Righteous Nation (Israel). Out of the milieu of earth God chooses a righteous seed to build a righteous nation who have selected Him by voting "not guilty" through entering into covenant with Him. This is why our conversions must be accompanied by public declaration such as washing in the mikvah or baptism.
    - Prophets. Within the righteous nation, God selected those who would be most faithful is protecting His reputation.
      As each person makes a decision about the character of God and publicly declares their verdict by joining the people of God, they become eligible to have access to the secrets. As a nation Israel was the keeper of the covenant and laws of God. A tiny subset of the children of God are called to be prophects to whom secrets are revealed.
      God's Secrets. The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29: 29)
      Age-Old Secrets. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. (Matthew 13: 35)
  - Securing Information (Game Plan). Information in all its forms must be protected to prevent deliberate or accidental disclosure. It is not wise to give away your game strategy or the enemy can organize a defence and an offense.
    - No Contact (Quarantine). There can be no communication between those protecting the confidential information and the new clients. Heaven and earth are separate. Israel must be separate from the world so that they would not be tempted to abandon or change the instructions of God. Israel can be a light welcoming those who want to join the nation, but they should not be contaminated by them.
    - Non-Disclosure Agreements. One client must agree not to disclose confidential information about the other client that is in his possession. Some secrets are sealed until the right time when they can have their maximum impact. God enters into these agreements with His prophets.
      End-Time Seals. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. (Daniel 12: 4)
    Information was coded as rituals, symbols, laws and types. Within the law and the prophecies God hid the information about the Messiah, the future of Israel and an interesting weapon for the final generation. The science in the Bible makes God valid again in the final generation who have been lured to the side of atheism and rebellion. This evidence had to kept secret until after Satan played his atheist card because he would have taken ownership of it the way he has taken hold of the scientific knowledge given by God over the past 200 years and actually bludgeoned God with His own work.
  - Sanctions. Any breach of the agreement triggers punishment. Satan was thrown out of heaven after he clearly murdered the only perfect human. Since He knew that Jesus was God, all heaven could now see that the conflict that he created was a lie from the beginning. It means that his efforts to corrupt humans was also based on equally dishonorable intentions.
  - Ongoing Education (Torah And Prophets). These is continuing education about information barriers for all staff. For Israel this education was in the laws and feasts passed down from generation to generation since Sinai.
  This situation is excellent for verifying the fairness of an investigation. If two independent bodies working from their own points of view arrive at the same conclusion without interferance or coersion, then we can be more assured that the judgment was correct.
  - Heaven Decides (Crucifixion). At the cross heaven decided that Satan was the criminal.
  - Earth Decides (The Fall Of Babylon). In the final generation, the earth will decide.
- A Safe Universe (Not In My Neighborhood. Not On My Planet). One of the concerns of the universe is how to reconcile the former sinners to the rest of the unfallen creation. We must be tested and proved since they do not have omniscience and the guarantee of God is not enough since God is also on trial. The universe must see for themselves that we deserve eternal life.
  » A Quarantined Planet. One consequence of this is that we are a planet under isolation. Satan and his evil angels have been quarantined with us on the earth. This means that there cannot be visitors from other planets who are searching the universe for evidence of other intelligent life. The entire universe knows that we exist and they are waiting in anticipation for our revelation. So there are no little green men from outer space in cigar-shaped space ships attacking cows and drawing elaborate pictures in isolated cornfields in England.
  The Sons of God. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. (Romans 8: 14, 19)
  All of creation suffers, even the unfallen universe, as they wait for our birth.
  The Entire Creation Suffers. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. (Romans 8: 22)
  » Cosmic Entertainment: A Universal Drama Unfolds. While they are waiting for our maturity, we are each stars in our own reality show. As the future ambassadors of the universe, they get a chance to evaluate us as we grow and mature in the knowledge and love of God. Through us they understand the love that it takes to exercise faith and our hardships and struggles against the onslaught of Satan make us genuine heroes in the Faith, worthy of their respect and support.
  You Are Either A Reality Show or A Freak Show. For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. (1 Corinthians 4: 9)
  They must be confident that we are creatures of the utmost integrity, who respect and love the law. We must be copies of the beloved Jesus Christ who would die for their enemies, obedient to the law and resisting sin to the point of bleeding through our pores (Hebrews 12: 4).
  Some of these watchers even have the authority to judge and pass sentence.
  The Watchers. This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers and the decision is a command of the holy ones, in order that the living may know that the Most High rules over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men. (Daniel 4: 17)
- Representative of Earth. Adam was the official representative on earth until he sold himself and his children to Satan. Satan now had the right to come before God as the representative of the planet because he is the official prince of this world. We learn of this from the book of Job. As our representative Satan accused us.
  And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
  "And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before our God day and night." (Revelation 12: 7-10)
  God solved this problem when Jesus bought us back from slavery to Satan and redeemed us and the planet. Jesus Christ represents us by being our intercessor who advocated for us according to the will of God.
- Slavery Under Satan. Once we came under the jurisdiction of Satan, God had to deal with a planet of slaves and an official representative who hates us.
  - Sabotage. Satan is dishonorable and he will not honor his own agreements. God must, however, remain faithful and true.
  - A Wicked Representative. For 4000 years Satan was our official representative and all He did was to show why we deserve to die while he dug a pit and set traps to make us stumble.
- Unlimited Wickedness. While we look at the world through our own narow perspective, the scriptures say that our enemies are an evil conglomerate of wicked spiritual beings who are using every resource that they have to destroy us.
  Our Opponents. "we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places ..." Ephesians 6:12 (KJV)
  Christ Disarms Evil Powers. Having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, and He has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. (Colossians 2: 14-15)
  » Probationary Time Ends. However, God is not handicapped. His mercy and our free will required some probationary accomodation. This practicality in all things was also written in the law. When God begins a revolution, He gives between 3.5 years to 40 years for the people to adjust before He allows a violent overthrow. There is even evidence that His patience will continue for up to 100 years before He puts an absolute end to the system.
  So, to find great social revolutions that are possibly caused by God look at pivotal events approximately 100, 40 and 3 to 4 years before.
- Not His Best Effort. If the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah will say that there is evidence that would have convinced them then God did not try His best and some generations and nations were more favored than others. This is unfair!
  If Only We Had ... And you, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in you, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. (Matthew 11: 23)
  Since God judges everyone based on the information they have received and the circumstances arrayed against them, then this apparent disparity in advantages will be accounted for in His decision.
  However, the text only teaches that this is what they will say. It does not prove what they would have done. So this is just their attempt to shift blame on a generation that was more stupid than they were.
  Everybody uses the same excuse ... "If only we had ... this or that ... then we would. Boo hoo...".
  Throughout the history of the world every conceivable combination of information, knowledge and opportunity will be demonstrated on many generations and we will find that the one feature that is common to all the saved is that they submitted to the will of God revealed by the Holy Spirit in spite of their opportunities and circumstances. They would be "safe to save" in any generation with their attitude towards God and authority.
  Based on the character of God, it is my belief that He will make a spectacular case in the end by appealing to us as a loving Father and reasonable judge.
- Weak and Incompetent. Instead of a bungling God who stumbles around through trial and error, we find a fair God who seems to be willing to subject Himself to judgment and ridicule as He allows the concerns of His enemies and His creation to be addressed. Fortunately for us, God does not administer His kingdom like a tyrant or even like the strong dominant type. He does not flex His muscles or regularly show off with displays of power in order to intimidate. He will match power with power, obstinance with obstinance. He will react to you the way you react to Him. In a way that means He first judges you by your own rules. God is more like the diplomatic ruler, but not the type of diplomat who compromises or says soothing words to each party so that they hear what they want to hear. God uses reason and wisdom and if the safety of the kingdom will not be jeopardized He will make you "learn your lesson".
  Aggressive. Far from being weak, God acts aggressively when He can no longer wait for the wicked to repent.
  - Samson. God raised up Samson so that He could pick a fight with the Philistines.
    Trouble Maker. However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel. (Judges 14:4)
  - Pharaoh. God deliberately chose a stubborn man so that He had the legal right to act in a powerful way to impress the nations.
    Stubborn. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that My wonders will be multiplied in the land of Egypt." (Exodus 11: 9)
  God did not make these men act out of character. He used sinful men to destroy sin so that it can be said that Satan received a dose of his own medicine and was destroyed by his own schemes.

The Character Of God
By Himself, God is guaranteeing to a hostile universe that the people of the earth can be saved. His holy character is revealed in His law.

- Merciful. Despite all the restrictions to which He subjects Himself, God has steadfastly said that He will save those He knows can be saved. He is fighting for the chance to allow us to demonstrate that we can be righteous if we submit to the Holy Spirit.
  A Covenant of Mercy. Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin;
  Justice. yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generation." (Exodus 34: 6-7)
  Compassionate YHWH. And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion." (Exodus 33: 19)
  Compassionate. For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION." So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. (Romans 9: 15-16)
  Jesus showed mercy and compassion on the woman caught in adultery, and sentenced to death by the law.
  This is not a case of God being arbitrary or playing favorites or even abolishing His laws. Instead it is a statement of mercy by which He legally gives Himself the right to show through His sovereign will that those whom we in our finite wisdom would discard can be saved if given the right opportunities.
- Justice. Many people believe that a "loving God" will overlook their behavior. What they are looking for is a drunken good-time friend like themselves who will party all night and puke in the morning and go out the next night to repeat their behavior. God has to govern a universe and ensure the peace and safety of its inhabitants. Therefore, He must and He will punish criminal behavior and lawlessness.
  God Will Punish Evil. ... I will punish the men who are arrogant in spirit, who say in their hearts, "the Lord will not do good or evil". (Zephaniah 1: 12)
  If God will simply overlook the stubbornness and evil behavior and save everyone despite their choices then the past 6000 years has be a useless experiment. On the contrary, the 6000 years has allowed us to mature in certain ways in which even the angels failed.
  - Free Will. We must learn to make good choices.
  - Justice And Judgment. We must learn to judge fairly, making a decision after we hear all the evidence.
  - Trust. We must learn to trust God.
  - Law Abiding. We must learn to love and appreciate the law, being unwilling to settle for compromise.
- Righteous. God never tempts anyone with evil. If He tempts us to do wrong or gives us to someone else to be tempted, His crime would be no different from the snake in the Garden of Eden or a pimp on a street corner.
  Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. (James 1: 13)
  Apart from the events caused by normal wear and tear of a planet in decline, God does not tempt us with evil and suffering. It is even incorrect to say that He gives us over to Satan so that Satan can administer punishment. He would still be responsible, especially since He is the most powerful and the Creator.
  God will test us with hardship, but He does not give us to Satan. We choose to go over to Satan where we are tempted and tortured. God can simply try to mitigate the suffering. In cases like Job, Satan maintains the right to test us because he is the keeper of the jail.
  » The Purpose Of Suffering. Although we can both teach and learn from suffering, God does not need it to perfect us. However we can take advantage of the opportunity to learn.
  - Proof. The suffering of earth under the control of Satan is evidence about his destructive leadership.
  - Normal Pain. Suffering that is part of the natural experience allows us to empathize with others who suffer. This is why Jesus came in the disguise of humanity. He did not learn about our experience by watching, reading, using divine knowledge and by what He hears. He learned about us by experiencing our life in our shoes so that He can judge by what He knows. A male or a barren woman can never understand the process of pregnancy and childbirth no matter how many movies they have watched, or deliveries they have made or wearing the fake pregnant bellies, or comparisons to comparable pain or experiences.
  - Unjust Suffering. This allows us to experience the suffering and public humiliation of God. In our acceptance of unjust suffering, we vindicate God as we show the universe the type of people whom God risked His reputation to save.
  - Strong Deterrant. It will be a strong motivation to never allow sin to rise again. Whether we lived through suffering on earth or watched the horror unfold from a safe distance as spectators in heaven we can all attest to the fact that this "experiment" should never be allowed again because we have all suffered.
- Truthful. God does not lie.
  Honest. God is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man that he should repent. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Numbers 23: 19)
  Reliable. so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. (Hebrews 6: 18)
  Trustworthy. Now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth ... (2 Samuel 7: 28)
- Faithful. He so wants to identify with us that He even volunteered to experience the worst of our suffering so that He could be a credible advocate and witness for us.
  One Who is Sympathetic. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4: 15-16)
  No matter how many time Israel betrayed Him He has still remained faithful to the covenant.
- Sabbath Rest. He not only gives us rest from our labors, He gives us rest from the slavery to sin.
- Covet Or Steal. Jesus did not covet or steal the position of God. Instead, He relinquished the claim and submitted Himself before His arch enemy who coveted the throne of God and set out to take it by force. Jesus humbled Himself so that He could save those who hated Him without a cause.
  A Humble God. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2: 5-8)
  Jesus honored His Father by submitting to this humiliation so that the Father could redeem us.
- Gifts. He came to give us the gifts that we need to live, not to take away our freedoms.
- Life. He came to give life, not to kill.
- Self-Sacrificing. Jesus Christ will always bear the wounds He received on this earth. At first this constant reminder seems like an unkind act, to remind us of what we did to Him.
  Wounded For Love. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. (John 20: 25,27)
  Surely we must feel guilt and gratitude together? Forever.
  Billions of years in the future, basking in the best that love and community could mean, one might be tempted to think that evil is the domain of the wicked who perished.
  Wounded By Love. And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. (Zechariah 13: 6)
  Surely, if these wounds were caused by loved ones it must have been friendly fire?
  The scars remind us that the greatest and most painful wounds are inflicted by our loved ones. So where sin reigns, anything is possible. But where love is, no price is too high to overcome the impossible.
  This is what His wounds mean. God will pay any price because He loves. Surely we will feel cherished forever.
- Proof Of Love. Finally, through personal experience, I realized that the value of true love can never be known when conditions are perfect or when one is alone. Under these conditions love is a fuzzy, feel-good, cheap, self-serving statement. It is only when love is tested, through long suffering and bitter disappointment that the object loved can realize how much it is valued and the one who loves realizes how much he loves.
- God Is Love. He mortgaged heaven and His reputation to pour out His love on us. He is the source of love.
  A Spring Of Love. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. (1 John 4: 8, 16)
  Inseparable Love. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8: 35, 38, 39)

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8: 28) | Time: 150 minutes Print: 30 pages
Copyright First Created : 25 December 2010. Updated: Author: Laverna Patterson. Editor: Patterson (December 2010)