Who's In Charge Here?

By
Jay A. Smith

Introduction
When I began this project in 1995, I thought that it would simply be two or three pages at
the most. At that time, I really had no idea of how prevalent this belief is, and how much of my
own thinking was influenced by this teaching. As I write this, in 2007, my realization of just
how merciful and wonderful God is, has changed immensely.
It is my firm hope and prayer that you will read this book with the idea that there are still
things to discover. There are millions of people who have gone to church all of their lives, and
they assume that what they have seen is all there is. What I mean by this can be explained by
looking at a story that happened in my family. One of my daughters was about four years old at
the time. She came into the room as I was spreading cream cheese onto a bagel. She had never
had a bagel with cream cheese on it before, and I asked her to try it. She said no thank you.
Knowing that she would probably like it, I insisted. She resisted. Eventually I threatened to
punish her if she didn't take a bite, and so, with tears in her eyes, she took a small bite. Since
that day I have been forced to share my precious cream cheese with her far more than I would
have preferred.
I know from having been a teenager, and from raising teenagers, that they usually think
they understand everything, and that what they know is all there is. I don't think that they are
necessarily aware of this belief, but everything they do is based on their own short life
experiences. This is normal, and we all are guilty of doing this to some extent, but many times it
can be tragically unwise. When we, as most humans do, evaluate things based on our own small
frame of reference, we sometimes walk away from blessings we never knew we missed. As the
saying goes, "You can't judge a book by it's cover".
Let me tell you another story that will illustrate what I mean. Once upon a time a
wealthy man decided to try an experiment. He found a very large stone, and he set it in the
middle of a busy road. Now, this was back in the time before cars, and so everyone walked
wherever they went. Well, so people walked past this stone, and even though it was in the way
no one bothered to move it out of the way. Eventually a new trail was worn into the ground
making a path around this stone. One day a man came by and saw the stone and said to himself
"This stone is in the way, I should move it out of the way." So, he put his shoulder to the stone
and found that it moved much easier than he thought it would. Furthermore, when he looked
down at the place where the stone had sat, there was a bag full of gold coins.
When we look at life from the point of view that we have nothing left to learn, or if we
are afraid of looking foolish, we can walk by precious blessings, never knowing we missed them.
When I started this study ten years ago, I just thought I would "look under a few rocks" just
to see what was there. Now, I see that I am only beginning to understand the depths and heights of
God's love and mercy toward us.

jay a smith
Plentywood, MT 2007
 Addition to the Introduction

Beginning this project again, in 2015, 20 years later, I am struck again by how huge this
subject is.
I am truly overwhelmed by the whole thing, and I must apologize for my inability to be
able to express things as I wished I could.
Originally, I had hoped that someone would come along and help edit, and show me how to
author this subject correctly. No one has stood up to help, and so I must continue to
persevere, before this thing eats me alive.

jay alan smith

Independence, Missouri
January 2015
 "Why do you now insist on heading for another disaster?
A disaster that will destroy not only you
but also your children and babies?"
Jeremiah 44.7
(Contemporary English Version)

Chapter One

Communication
I once heard a man talking about brainwashing.
He said that the simplest way of doing this is to change the initial foundation of belief.
As one way of illustrating this, if you are familiar with shooting a gun, you know that very
small errors in trajectory can result in huge errors at the target. So, in the same way, in order to
brainwash someone, all you have to do is create a small error in a person's foundation of belief.
The foundation of anything, is what that thing rests upon. Just as your house must have a
foundation, everything you believe is also built upon some sort of foundation.
In order to demonstrate brainwashing, this man told a story.
He said, "One day a man left home jogging. He jogged a little ways, and turned left. He
jogged a little ways and turned left again. He jogged a little ways and turned left, and jogged back
home. When he got home there were two masked men waiting for him. Who were the masked
men?"
If you were not brainwashed, you could answer this question. Most people, however, are
brainwashed and cannot answer the question. Most people are wondering why two masked men
would be waiting at this guys house, and why would they be expected to know who they were.
The foundation needed in order to understand this is that "home", in this case means home
plate on a baseball field.
Once you understand this, then, if you know anything about baseball, you are able to
understand that the "masked men" are the umpire and the catcher.
By changing, or at least creating a situation where, the initial understanding of something is
incorrect, it influences everything that comes after. In this case, all the author did was use the word
“home”, without explanation, knowing that the predominant majority of people will assume that he
means a house. By leaving out the descriptor of “plate”, he can influence most, if not all of his
hearers.
Religion and Philosophy are influenced in exactly the same way.
Most of us are "brainwashed" without ever even knowing it, and it affects the most
important areas of our life.
Chapter Two

the Sovereign God Theology

There is a religious doctrine, known as the "Sovereignty of God" which states that God is
in control of everything. This doctrine says that everything that happens in our world, is all
part of God's Master Plan. This doctrine is also referred to by some theologians as the Theology of
Providence, and referred to by Evangelicals as "God is in control".
These people believe that if you are sick, it's because God is teaching you something by that
sickness. If someone dies young, they say that it's because that person was going to sin later in life,
so in order to prevent this from happening God "allowed" them to die early, before they could mess
up their afterlife. Or, if children starve to death, it's because God has a plan that we can't see or
understand, because God "works in mysterious ways."
If a baby is born deformed then it's all part of God's plan and we should never question it.
Loretta Lynn sang a song about this which I am told, sold very well in the United States.
There is another group of people that I will call "prophetic". These people can see that
the way God interacts with us, sometimes, has patterns and deeper meanings than are normally
observable in other events.
While this is exactly true, they then make what I believe to be a wrong conclusion, and that
is that God orchestrated everything.
My belief is that God is not only able to use our mistakes, but He does it so well that we
think He made the whole thing happen, start to finish.
The problem with believing that God is in control... is that deep down we know there is
something wrong with that picture.
We instinctively know that this thing we are going through was not sent by a loving God...
and yet our religion insists that this pain is somehow a good thing.
Atheists take this to one extreme, believing that the idea of a good, omnipotent God is
preposterous, based on the condition of the world. Some Calvinists take this to another extreme,
believing that everything that happens in life is manipulated, and controlled by an omnipotent
puppet master.

Extrapolation
Let me take a "rabbit trail" here if I may. To me, one of the most destructive things in
life is the way that people take facts and then extrapolate them into their own conclusions. Let
me illustrate this by a silly example.
The sky is above us, and clouds float in the sky, and birds fly through the sky, so then...
(here is the extrapolation) that must mean that clouds create birds.
Of course this is ridiculous, but we think the same type of thing all the time, especially in
religion. We make many conclusions in Philosophy and religion that are just as flawed.
I think we have to be careful not to speculate past what is stated clearly in scripture.
When the Bible says something, we have to resist the urge to say, "Therefore, this means that..."

Trust
Let me say, at this point, that I think there is a group of people who say "God is in
control." But what they really mean is, "I prayed, and I trust God, and so I believe He can make it
all work out, because since He's God, He can take care of my situation."
This is not a wrong attitude to have, but when it is expressed by saying “God is in control of
everything”, you are actually saying something you don't really believe.
God fixing a situation, is not the same as saying that He caused the situation.
This confuses the issue and helps to promote a wrong way of thinking.
 Sovereignty
It is true, and a fact, that God is the Sovereign King.
The word "sovereign" means, "the supreme power or authority..."
It also means, "Independent, and free from external authority or influence."
(Funk and Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedic Dictionary 1972)

In this sense, it is absolutely true that God is sovereign.

The key for us to understand though, is that God, as the omnipotent sovereign, has chosen
to limit His own authority on Earth.
Chapter Three

The Plan
God created all things, and they were good when He created them. However, after God
created Man, God gave authority over the rest of His creation to His other Creation, Adam.
God created man in his own image, and gave him certain privilege and responsibility.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and
female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply,
and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
(Genesis 1:27-28)

“What is man, that you think of him? The son of man, that you care for him? For
you have made him a little lower than [elohim], And crowned him with glory and honor. You
make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet:"
(Psalms 8.4-8)

It is my belief that God created us as someone who could be a friend, and a companion for
Himself. A friend can not be forced to be a friend. In that case he would be a slave.
Love, given to a creature without will, is not love. It is pity.
Love given against someone’s will is not love. It is tyranny.
Love must be freely given, and freely received, or, by definition, it cannot be love.

Love
The Bible says that God is love. (1 John 4) Apparently, it is not something He does, but
rather it is something that He is. If that is true, then it is impossible for us to understand God,
unless we can understand what love is, and isn’t.
The book of 1 John goes into a lengthy discussion about God, and His love. I do not want
to take the time here to discuss everything in 1 John, but I would recommend a thorough study of
that book in order to understand God, and love.
1 Corinthians 13 is another source which goes to great lengths to help us understand the
attributes of “love”. In this case it uses the word “Charity”. Charity is the act of selfless, giving
concern for another person.
As near as I am able to understand, Loving someone means that you value that person, that
you care about their well being. If you love someone, you are invested in causing that person to
succeed, and for their satisfaction in life. These are the values that I see demonstrated and spelled
out in scripture.
C.S. Lewis has described it this way, “Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for
the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.” (God In The Dock by CS Lewis)

Provision
In the story of Adam and Eve, we can see God providing everything that Adam could ever
want or need. God provides Adam with food, clothing and housing, but He also sees fit to provide
something for Adam to do. This is interesting.
It would appear that man needs something that gives him purpose, in other words, a job to
do. So, He gives Adam a task, (Genesis 2.15)
then He give him a restriction. (Genesis 2.17)
And then, God provides for Adam, a choice for companionship,(Genesis 2.18).
God brings all the creatures to Adam, but
 “ for Adam there was not found an help meet for him“. (Genesis 2.20)
So, then God creates, from Adam, a completely unique creature, as a companion.

Why would God give Adam a restriction, that is, something to “not do”, unless he had a
choice to disobey? Why not just stick with, "You can go anywhere and do anything in the garden"?
Having a choice between good, and good, is not really a choice, it is a preference.
According to the creation of Man, it appears that food, warmth, companionship, purpose,
and the freedom to choose appear to be built in to the design of man.
If this is true, then Love could never deny man any of these things.
Therefore God, who is love, could never deny any of these things to man.

Loving Kindness
This is the Hebrew word “chesed”. This word appears 241 times in the Old Testament. A
study of this word will show that loving kindness desires to provide what is needed, and to treat
others with value, and respect. Love, therefore, is a covenant word, coming from the practice of
making a covenant, or agreement, of mutual benefit.
We can see this “love” being illustrated in the life of David, in his relationships with
Jonathan. In the story of Mephibosheth, in 2 Samuel, David shows “kindness”, and takes care of
Mephibosheth’s food, housing and clothing, simply because of who his father was.

The Law given to Moses continues to show that in order to live a “Godly” life, it is
necessary to value those around you. The Law seems to be centered around demonstrating respect
for God, and for those who live around you.
It is my opinion that one of the reasons God gave the Law to the Israelites, was because
they had lived in slavery so long, they had forgotten how to be free. Freedom requires cooperation
and trust. Without love, or covenant responsibility, communities cannot survive.

Obedience
And so, God created a situation where mankind could give, and receive.
He gave them a choice. The choice is this... If you love, and trust God, you will obey what
He tells you.
Adam and Eve had full access to everything in the garden. The only restriction was that
they could not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Their choice was... Trust God, and obey... or distrust God... and lean to their own
understanding.
Eve believed that God was not truly loving, and she believed that God had held something
back from her, something that she needed. As a result, she took matters into her own hands, and
forged ahead, brainwashed in the belief that she knew better than God, what constituted her
happiness. So, by this act of treason, Adam turned their authority over to satan, by being obedient
to satan's direction. (Genesis 3)

“Don't you know that to whom you present yourselves as servants to obedience, his
servants you are whom you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?"
(Romans 6:16)

Adam trusted his own judgement, and he trusted satan, more than he trusted God.
Chapter Four

Humility
Many of us feel like we are being humble by believing that we don't deserve something.
Even though we don't deserve the blessings of God, since He gives them to us freely, we do
have the right to accept them. Not because we are anything special in our self, but because He
makes us special.
Having an attitude that we don't deserve the gifts of God, actually prevents God from being
able to bless us. True humility receives, even though it doesn’t deserve it, because it humbles itself
before the greater authority. Humility is submitting to what God says, not what we think.

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you
in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."
(1 Peter 5:6-7)

This is true humility, knowing that we don't deserve it, but accepting it, simply because God
said we deserve it, for no other reason than because of His Grace.
This verse indicates that humility is demonstrated by "casting our care upon him". If we
continue to keep our cares, and insist on worrying about our situation, we demonstrate our lack
of trust in God, and we are acting as though it is our responsibility to solve our own problem.
In essence we make ourselves into our own source, or in other words, our own god.
This is what Adam and Eve did. They believed it was their responsibility to solve their
problem, essentially telling God that He was not necessary.

Righteousness
Because God has made us "righteous", we do deserve His blessings, and we can

"come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of
need." (Hebrews 4:16)

There is a story in the book of Second Kings, that I mentioned earlier, that illustrates
humility and God's grace. The story begins in chapter 9. King David had made a covenant with
Jonathon, and so when Jonathan was killed, David wanted to bless someone who was related to
Jonathon, in order to honor his covenant. They looked for, and found this young man named
Mephibosheth, who was the son of Jonathan.
Mephibosheth was crippled, but David blessed him because of his father, and so for the rest
of Mephibosheth's life he was taken care of and blessed. Not because of what he could do, just
because of who his father was.
In the story, David says that Mephibosheth would wear the king's clothes, and eat the king's
food, for no reason other than that he was the son of Jonathon.
In the same way, God blesses us because of what Jesus did, not because we deserve it.

What if Mephibosheth had said, "No, I don't deserve to be taken care of. I am crippled and
I can't work, so I can't accept your charity!"? Would that be humility, or pride?

Mephibosheth was smarter than many of us, and chose to humble himself under the
mighty hand of the King, and so he received what he did not deserve.
 Chapter Five

Responsibility
So, when Adam fell, was that all part of God's Grand Scheme?
If so, then wouldn’t that mean that God is ultimately responsible for Adam's sin? If that is
the case then that would make God the Author of Original Sin, and it seems like it would be unjust
for God to hold Adam accountable for something that was out of the man’s control.
If Eve's deception were all part of the Plan, then it seems to me that would make God the
Father of Lies. Some people actually believe things like that. The Mormons believe that Eve
thanked God for causing the fall of man, saying "Were it not for our transgression, we never
should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our
redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient."
(Genesis 4.11 Inspired Version by Joseph Smith 1974 edition)

You might say, "Now wait just a minute there, that's not what I mean!"
And I would say "No, it is probably not what you mean, which is the reason this theology,
of God being in control, is double-minded and dangerous!"

Calvinists, or at least some of them, believe that Adam and Eve really did not have a choice
in all of this. They seem to believe that God manipulated them, or that He somehow forced them,
to eat the fruit.

This way of looking at things has infected virtually every area of our lives, and most of us
don't even realize it. But, when you begin to look around, you can see these insidious ideas have
permeated almost every area of religion and philosophy. We have become so used to them, and
have been taught them for so long, that “up” sometimes feels like “down”.
Many people see God from this perspective, and it causes them to doubt His existence. This
causes many people to become Atheists. It seems to them that if God was all-powerful, then He
would not let things be in such bad shape, and so He must not be there at all.

Beginning at the Beginning

Now that I have gone off on a couple of "rabbit trails", let's get back to the beginning.
Genesis chapter one explains the details of God's relationship with His creation, Adam. To explain
this relationship we have to go back to where it all started.

(Genesis 1.26) "Let us make man in our image...".

The word "image" in the Hebrew language, means " a representative figure". Webster
defines a “representative” as "one that represents another as agent, deputy, substitute or delegate
usually being invested with the authority of the principle."

While you're thinking about that, let's look at something else.

The rest of this verse goes on to say " ...after our likeness ". In Modern English we might
say "just like" instead of "likeness". We could correctly translate what God said here in this verse
as, "Let us make Man to look like and be, just like Us."
It seems to me, that we can see from this verse that God wants us to look, and act, just like
Him.
(Genesis 1:28) “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply,
and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
 We can see from this verse that God is not the only one in control. This verse seems to
indicate that God has also given us control, and based on this, everything in our world is supposed
to be under our control, everything except other people.

The next day, God gives Adam a “don’t”, and tells him in Genesis 2.16 – 17, “But of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die.”

What would the point be of telling Adam, “don’t”, if there was no consequences?

And then what would the point be of having a consequence, if there was no actual
consequence? In other words, if there was a price to be paid, but no one ever actually paid that
price, what would be the point of having one?
And then if the price does get paid, but the payment leaves no one left to enjoy the result,
because no one ever survives the payment.
It seems to me that it would have been just be a lot easier for God to say,
“Here is a garden... go have fun.”
There was a purpose, a very important purpose, for God giving Adam a “don’t”. By giving
Adam a “don’t”, He created “choice”.

The Law of Choice.

This Law says, “Here are two options. You may pick whichever you choose, but each has
it’s own set of consequences.”

This is the underlying explanation of almost everything that God does, in relation to us as
individuals. It is also why it is sometimes hard to understand why some things happen, that seem to
be contradictory. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, the good die young, evil prospers
and we have trouble understanding why.

FreeWill
Deuteronomy 30:19 says,
" I call heaven and earth as witness this day against you, that I have set before you life and
death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live:"

Notice that God does not say here, "I have chosen for you..." or "It will be decided for you."
God specifically seems to be saying that the decision is up to us.

In another place the Bible says,

"...choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served
that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but
as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
(Joshua 24:15)

In the story of Adam and Eve, it seems significant that nothing was decided for them either.
Adam and Eve made their own choices, based on the Laws that God had established for them. God
told them to take care of the Garden, and to not eat from one of the trees. If they had trusted God,
they would not have violated His rules.
They decided they were smarter than God, and so they chose their own way.
 When Adam sinned, he gave away the authority that God had given him, of having control
over his world. When Adam fell, he allowed satan to have authority over him, and as a result
Man's environment took control over him, as well.
We can see this happening in the third chapter of Genesis.
"And unto Adam he said, Because you have listened unto the voice of your wife, and
have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it:
cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life; Thorns
also and thistles shall it bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field; In the sweat of
your face shall you eat bread, till you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust
you are, and unto dust shall you return. "
(Genesis 3:17-19)
This reveals the whole purpose for Jesus coming to the earth. He came in order to pay the
price for us, so that we could be returned to the previous state that God had in mind for us. That
state of Eden, where there was no death, and life was without struggle.
God sent Jesus to pay the price for which none of us are qualified to pay for ourselves.
Think about this. If Adam had been able to pay the price for his own disobedience, what
would that look like?
The price, spoken by God, in Genesis 2.17 was death.
So, if Adam had said, “Okay, go ahead and kill me, I deserve it”,
What about the next guy, and the next guy?
Where does it stop?

And besides, if Adam was dead, then what? No more people.

God had a better plan.

God had a plan that included a surrogate, someone who would be able to pay the price, and
yet still survive somehow. No mere mortal could do that. This was something that could only be
accomplished by someone who could somehow survive the experience.
It also has to be something that people can freely choose, or disregard, or else we are right
back to where we started.

the Master of the Vineyard

In Matthew 21.33, Jesus tells the story of a vineyard owner who leases his vineyard to
farmers. These evil farmers took control of the land, even though it belonged to the vineyard
owner. The farmers did have a right to the land, but only for a certain period of time. They had
certain obligations to the landowner, but because they were dishonest, they tried to get away from
their responsibility.
In more modern language, you could think about this as though your bank loaned you
$10,000 dollars. You signed on the dotted line and said you would pay them back.
But when it came time to pay up you said, "Forget it, I don't want to pay the money back!"
When the Collection agency showed up at your front door, you ran out the back door.
What is the bank going to do now?
They are going to come with the Sheriff and take everything you own, and auction it off to
pay the debt. And then you will probably go to jail.

I believe that this is the story of our world, captured for us in Matthew 21.

God, as the vineyard Owner, leased the Earth to Mankind.

 God owns the Earth, but there are things going on here that God is not in favor with.
The reason for this is because God put mankind in charge, here on Earth.
There are many things going on in the Earth, which have nothing to do with Gods will
because of this.

The Earth's owner, God, will come back eventually, and when He does, He will get rid of
those evil tenants, just like in the story.
Chapter Six

A Kingdom Divided
Here are a few things for us to consider...
If everything were under Gods control, then we would never need to intercede for others
in prayer. If people are supposed to be sick, because God gave them that sickness, then they should
not go to the doctor. People should accept their sickness, since it's God's will, and enjoy their
misery, because after all, wouldn't it be a sin for us to try to change God's will? If God wants me to
be sick, then I would be opposing His will by trying to get well. If God made me sick, then I
should just wait for Him to decide when I need to feel better.
If it was God's will is for you to have a headache, then you should not be taking aspirin to
cover the pain. At least in my opinion, if that pain was sent by God, (that is, if He is in control of
everything), then you are resisting His will by not allowing yourself to suffer.
If a man had cancer, but he believes that the cancer was given to him by God, why would he
take radiation, and other treatments, since God gave it to him?

In Mark 16.17 Jesus said

"these signs will accompany those who believe; by using my name they will cast out demons... they
will lay their hands on the sick and they will recover."

Why would Jesus say such a thing, if God were the one who put the sickness on them?

Why would Jesus want you to be out of God's will?

You may remember that Jesus was casting out devils one day, and the people said that the
reason He was able to do this was because He was in "league with the devil".
(Matthew 12 / Luke 11)
The Sovereignty of God Theology says the same thing, but instead of saying that God
is in league with the devil, it says that the devil is in league with God.

I have heard many preachers say that the devil is "on God's leash".

Jesus answered His critics by saying,

"every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation".

He continued by saying, "if satan cast out satan, he is divided against himself, how shall
then his kingdom stand? ".

Matthew 8.16-17 says Jesus cast out the spirits with the Word, He did not cast out the spirits
by satan, and when He healed all the sick He said it was... "that it might be fulfilled... Himself took
our infirmities and bare our sicknesses."

The consequences of disobeying God’s law brings consequence, but it not a “punishment”.
Punishment, by definition means “Retribution”, “vengeance”, “revenge”. Punishment is a form of
judgement, and if we understand what Jesus did by His death and resurrection, then judgement has
been completely done away in our life. Jesus took our judgement on Himself, on the cross, and
“saved” us from our selves.
You are not being punished, or judged, or receiving “vengeance” by being burnt when you
touch a hot stove. You received the consequence, of placing flesh in a position where flesh is not
intended to be. Excessive heat is destructive to flesh, by it’s nature.
 To bring a fish out of water, and expect it to live, is like expecting to survive the
consequence of sin. You cannot live without God, anymore than a fish can survive outside of
water. If you persist in your rebellion against God, you will die, not because God is punishing
you, but because you tried to live outside of your proper environment.

The Nature of God

Once you understand the Nature of God, you will never misunderstand which part God
has in any situation ever again.
There is not one time in scripture that records Jesus putting sickness on someone to teach
them something. Not one time where Jesus told someone they needed to keep their sickness a little
longer, in order to accomplish some great work in their life.
Think about that, Jesus never once in His ministry told someone that they should stay
sick in order to teach them something.
If God didn't work that way in Jesus' ministry, why would we believe He works that way
in our lives?
1 John 3 says
" everyone who does what is right is righteous".

If we really believe that God is the one who put sickness on someone to teach him or her
something, then it would seem that we should follow His example. If God is righteous, and He, in
His wisdom, puts cancer on you to bring your family closer together, then it would seem to me that
we probably should too. Right?
If God pokes out people's eyes and makes them blind in order to teach them to listen
better, then perhaps we should too? Right?

No, not right!

Someone might say "What about the time when Paul made someone blind?'
This story is in the 13th chapter of Acts. A Sorcerer was standing in the way of the
Gospel, and in resistance to God. If you read the story you will see that, once again, these are
consequences of sin, and it was not in order to teach the sorcerer anything. All Elymas had to do
was to repent of his evil, and he would have been healed. The blindness came as a result of
planting the wrong kind of seeds, seeds of disobedience to wisdom.
The wages of sin is death, blindness is a form of death.

If you place yourself in front of a truck, you will get run over.

If you jump off the roof, you will fall.

Elymas placed himself in front of, and in opposition to, the will of God.

That's the same thing that got Lucifer thrown out on his ear, because he placed himself in
opposition to truth.
Truth is itself, and cannot be altered without consequences. Lying is sin because it is
destructive. You cannot lie without being burnt, just like putting your hand into a flame. Not
because you are being punished, but because fire and skin cannot occupy the same space at the
same time.

The Comforter
Jesus makes it very clear, in John 14, that the Spirit of God is the teacher and comforter of
His children, not punishment, or suffering. The world, on the other hand, cannot be taught by the
Spirit, because the Spirit does not live in them. This means that, like an animal, they have to be
taught by consequences of their actions.

“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not
in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” (Romans 8:7-9)
Chapter Seven

Suffering
There are two kinds of suffering, according to scripture.

(1). The first kind of suffering is the consequences, or what the Bible calls the “wages”, of
sin. Our disobedience to God is the definition of sin, and the wages, or the consequences of that sin
is death. God said to Adam, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of
it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
(Genesis 2:17)
Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and as a result they received the consequences of their sin,
which was death. Not only their spiritual death, which was the separation from God, but
eventually, their physical death as well.
God did not send them out of the Garden in order to teach them something. He sent them
out of the Garden to prevent them from eating of the Tree of Life, which apparently would have
trapped them in this fallen state.

(2.) The second type of suffering is persecution.

Persecution can be defined as the attack of the enemy, and from people, against the children
of God, because of who they are, and what they believe.
This comes in many forms, ranging from rejection to murder.

Exercise
Of course, you must understand that this idea of suffering does not include the idea of
exercise. Exercise is not suffering, no matter how much it feels like it.
Every animal on earth enjoys a certain amount of exercise, and if you watch young animals,
they run and appear to "play" when they exercise. They seem to enjoy it.
People are the only things on earth that torture themselves on purpose.

There is a saying, “no pain, no gain”.

This statement can be misleading. Not all pain brings gain.
There is a kind of pain that you feel when muscles are stretched, but there is another kind of
pain when the muscle is stretched too far.
In spiritual things the same thing can be true.
Yes, it is true that we are stretched and strengthened by some types of spiritual pain. There
are other times though when we experience pain that damages, and causes trauma. In those cases
we must realize that the pain was not caused, or condoned by God. When we know that, then it
becomes possible for that pain to be erased by the loving kindness of a wonderful Father.
As long as you believe that this pain was caused, or approved, or allowed by God, you will
see Him as an abusive Father.
You will be forced to deal with your pain, using your own strength and resources.
You will never be able to allow God to heal your pain, as long as you believe He approves of it.

“That which does not kill us, makes us stronger."

Friedrich Nietzsche

Nietzsche was a Philosopher during the 1930's. His ideas were used by Adolph Hitler to
help give the German Nazi party credibility. It makes perfect sense, that Hitler would agree with
this philosophy, once you think about it. If this idea is true, then Adolph Hitler and Genghis Kahn
were wonderful people, who provided the proper environment for optimum growth. To a certain
extent they may have even believed they were doing good. They killed and tortured, and so they
provided people the best opportunity for realizing their true potential and growth.

In thinking about Nietzsche, if his philosophy were true, then that would make Mother
Teresa the anti-Christ because she devoted her life to helping to relieve the suffering of people.

Farming
This idea that suffering promotes growth makes no sense agriculturally.
No farmer would agree for a second that if his crops were allowed to suffer that they would
be better. No rancher would agree that if his cattle suffered through a hard winter that they would
be stronger.
Except in very unusual circumstances, the person who has "suffered", is almost always
weaker from the experience. Usually, these people carry infirmities with them for the rest of their
lives. Some of the people who survived the Concentration Camps of WWII have spent their whole
lives with certain areas of infirmity, even though they have lived relatively normal lives since then.
We have an epidemic of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), in the United States as a
result of people experiencing suffering. PTSD is common among men who have been in combat.
Someone who has suffered trauma is almost always very fragile emotionally, and physically,
sometimes for a very long time afterward.
In addition, PTSD creates a type of imbalance in a person, and they become "unstable" in
the sense that emotions sometimes become uncontrollable, for that person.
A flower that is stepped on never grows back better than it was, and when a horse has a
broken leg he is usually killed, because the leg will never heal properly.

The Trials of Job

Many people at this point will say, "Well, what about Job? God gave the devil permission
to torture Job".
Just for the sake of argument, let's say that you are right, that God "allowed" Job to be
tortured. What was the purpose for Job's suffering? Was it to prove to the devil how wonderful
Job was? Some people will quote this Bible verse, (Job 1.8)
“Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and
an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?"
All right then, so let’s ask the next question,

did it work?

We read that God says to Job in chapter 40,

“Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him
answer it."
And then Job answers,
“Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth."
“Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes".

It appears that what Job learned out of the whole experience was that he didn't have a clue,
and that he didn't have a proper understanding of God.
So, that sort of does away with the whole, “Isn’t Job just the most wonderful guy, so that’s
why he deserves to be tortured”, thing.

All right then, so let's ask the next question,

 did God send all of this suffering to Job in order to humble him?

My perspective is that if Job were prideful, and needed humbling, the consequences of his
own pride would come to him of their own accord. God would not need to send it. The Book of
Proverbs says in the 16, chapter, verse 18 that,
"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."
God would not have to send satan to humble Job; Job's own pride would cause him to be
humbled. The consequences, (which the Bible calls “wages" ), of sin, and pride, is death, and it
comes as a consequence, not as a punishment.
Job would eventually reap the consequences of what he sowed, just like everyone else does.

So, why did God let satan attack Job?

The same reason God lets satan attack you.

Because of the choices you are free to make.
When we make unwise choices, we reap the consequences of our actions.
Many people justify their discomfort, and claim to be "like Job" by saying God put it on
them to teach them something, or they say that God is somehow "glorified" by their sniffles.
If you were to ask these people what they had learned from their discomfort, many would
not be able to tell you.
There are some who did learn things in their times of trouble, but the question has to be
asked, "Was that the only way to learn that lesson, or was it the only option that you gave God to
use, because you were too stubborn to learn it any other way?"
Did you have to touch the stove, to see if it was hot?

The Thorn
Someone might say, "Why did Paul have to suffer then?"
I believe there is a huge difference between sickness, disease, and discomfort for no reason,
and being given a choice, by God, to suffer, in order to accomplish a goal.
Acts 20:22-23 “And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the
things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that
bonds and afflictions abide (wait for) me.”
Then Paul says, “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself,
so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus,
to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24)
Paul knew what was coming, and he chose to go through those things, anyway.
God actually sent prophets to Paul, warning him, ahead of time. Agabus says to him,
“”Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle,
and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up
to Jerusalem.
Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to
be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." (Acts 21:11-14)
In the case of Paul, he was asked, and given a choice, for the purpose of preaching the
gospel. Paul's troubles came because he was preaching the gospel to people who didn't want to
hear it. Paul's trouble came from persecution, not from God.
Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:11
"Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what
persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me."
Notice Paul says God delivered him; God could not have delivered Paul from Himself.
 The Thorn In The Flesh
In mentioning Paul, someone will say, "Yeah, but Paul had a thorn in the flesh, and God
wouldn't take it away."
The Bible says that the "thorn" in Paul’s side, was “the messenger of Satan", not the
messenger of God. (2 Corinthians 12:7)
Next, it does not say that the Lord would not deliver Paul, it says
“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in
weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Grace
I think it is important right hereto stop and look at the word "grace".
This word "grace" in the story of Paul’s “thorn”, is the same word used in this verse, in the
book of Acts, "But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved,
even as they." (Acts 15:11)

The word shows up again in this verse,

"And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to
build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." (Acts 20:32)

Please allow me to list a couple more verses.

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all
sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:" (2 Corinthians 9:8)

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:"
(Ephesians 2:8)

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)

Looking at these verses, (and many more that I didn't want you to have to wade through)
they all seem to indicate that grace is much more than what we traditionally think it is.

I believe, based on my understanding of the scripture, that Grace is the favor of God, that
gives us the ability to be His sons and daughters.
The grace of God is the ability to be everything, and do everything, that God asks
us to do. Look once again at Hebrews 4.16, did you notice that it said, “...find grace to help..." ?
Grace gives us the ability to “abound to every good work".
(2 Corinthians 9.8)

Grace is, by everything I can find, the favor, and ability of God, working in our favor. I
don't see anywhere that it is simply the ability to endure something like pain.
Jesus said He brought "abundant life", not just patient endurance.

So, what was God saying to Paul? Was God saying, "No!" ?
I think God was saying, "You have My grace, Paul, you don't need to ask me to take the
thorn away, you can take it away yourself. I already gave you My grace, (My Ability and Favor) so
use it. My power lives in you, and is at your command."
 God's Attack Dog
I don’t believe God ever uses the devil as his attack dog.
Why would God cast the devil out of heaven, if this was the case? Wouldn’t God just give
him a corner office, where He could call him out every once in a while, to go give someone a
“thorn in their flesh” in order to teach them humility?
Jesus said He saw, “Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” (Luke 10:18)
No mention of satan being sent to the kennels, to wait to be called upon, for teaching
humility.
Chapter Eight

Joseph
I would like to take a moment to address something that always comes up during this
part of the discussion. Someone always wants to point to Joseph as an example of how God
orchestrates the circumstances on the earth to accomplish His will. They quote Joseph when he
says,
“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as
it is this day, to save much people alive." (Genesis 50:20)

There are so many things wrong with the idea that God caused Joseph's suffering, that it
is hard to know where to start, but maybe we can start by asking a few questions.

1) Did God place the blood lust in Joseph's brother's hearts?

2) Did God ordain slavery?

3) What was it that Joseph learned by his experience, that he could learn no other way?

4) Did God place the lust in Potiphar's wife?

5) Did God inspire Potiphar's wife to lie to her husband?

6) Did God anoint Potiphar to throw an innocent man into prison?

7) What was the purpose for Joseph's suffering in jail?

8) Is it God's will to convict innocent men of crimes that they did not commit?

9) How does Joseph's suffering qualify as "godly suffering"?

10) Was it God's will to torture an old man like Jacob, by allowing him to believe his son was
dead for over twenty years? What purpose did this accomplish, if it was?

11) Was it God's will for Joseph to be left in prison, and deserted by those he had helped and
befriended? Why?

12) If God was going to send Joseph to Egypt why didn't He just say, "Joseph, go to Egypt."
That is what He did with Jesus' father, Joseph the carpenter. (Matthew 2.13)

I do believe God was involved here, but I don’t believe it was in the ways most people think
of. Here is the part, that I believe, God played in this story...

1) God gave Joseph prophetic dreams.

2) God preserved Joseph from his murderous brethren.

3) God was able to speak mercy into Reuben's heart.

4) God prospered Joseph while he worked for Potiphar.

5) God taught Joseph about faithfulness.

6) God preserved Joseph from being executed, when he was accused of seducing his employer's
wife.

7) God prospered Joseph in prison.

8) God delivered Joseph from prison

9) God gave Joseph favor with the Pharaoh

10) God gave Joseph the interpretation to the dreams.

One last thing to note about the story of Joseph. If you read the book of Acts, you will
notice something interesting in the 7th, chapter.
During Stephen's sermon found there, he mentions Joseph, and he says in verses 9 and 10
"And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, And
delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh
king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house."

Did you notice what inspired Joseph's brothers, who are referred to here as " the
patriarchs"?
Stephen says they were "moved with envy".
This disagrees with the traditionally accepted understanding of Joseph's trials, that God
caused all of these things in order to save everybody from the famine.

One last thing. Also notice in this verse that Stephen says,
"God was with him and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and
wisdom... "

I am not aware of one single reference in scripture that says, "and God was with him, and so
he suffered and was poor". There is a reason for that.

It is interesting to me, that in the story of the “rich young ruler” spoken of in Mark 10, the
young man appears to assume that keeping the commandments automatically leads to prosperity.
He tells Jesus, in verse 20, “all these have I observed from my youth.”
This story seems to indicate that this young man has great wealth, and the inference is that
he got that wealth by obeying the commandments.
Malachi 3.10-12 were verses that every Jew knew from the time of their 12th birthday. I
doubt any Torah believing Jew believed for a moment, that worshipping God was a useless act.

The whole point of having a “god”, is in order to give you an advantage in life. I doubt
anyone ever worshipped any pagan god, believing that they were going to get worse fortune by the
act. What would be the point? If you are going to worship something, you want to get something in
return.
 Most pagans believed, at a minimum, that they could keep some bad things from happening.
By their worship, by appeasing the storm gods, or to keep the demons from hurting them, by things
like “jack of the lantern”.
Others did it in order to obtain power. Power to control other people, and the events of life.
Still others worshipped because they wanted their crops to grow, or their children to
survive.
And some did it just because some of the pagan practices were “fun”.
But... nobody ever worshipped a pagan god so they could be mistreated, beat up and robbed.
You have to be a Calvinist to think something like that.
Chapter Nine

Gold, Silver and Clay Pots

Now for the subject of refining and testing.
Some people have said that our trials and persecutions come from God, in order to "refine"
us in the same way that precious metals, like gold, are refined by heat.
One minister I knew used to say, "We all have to go through the fire." He was referring to
this scripture... “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ:" (1 Peter 1:7)
This is one of the verses that has been used to say that it is God's will that we suffer,
because in the end it will be better for us. In fact, some have even said that true growth is
impossible without trial.
Let's take a closer look at this verse.
"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold..."
Notice that Peter is saying that Faith is more precious than gold, not that it is gold, and then
he says,
“...though it be tried with fire..."
This seems to me that he is saying that faith is precious, but even if it is tried it will survive.
I do not see it saying definitely that it must be tried, only that if it is tried, that it, “...might
be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:"
In addition, Faith, according to Ephesians 2.8 and Romans 12.3, seems to be a gift from
God, and not really needing to be “tried”.
"Faith" is the ability to believe.
James talks about when your faith is “tried”, that the result is patience. The faith itself is
not on trial, it is your use of it that is on trial. As you witness the result of trust, you are able to be
patient, because your “faith” is strengthened, having seen that God was faithful. The next time you
have a “trial”, you will be able to remember how the last one turned out. (James 1.3)
Faith is really nothing more than our solid belief. It’s not really a religious word, even
though it has been made into one. Belief is “tried” when something comes along to make you
doubt, but it doesn’t come to make you doubt... so that you can believe better.
That’s a contradiction in terms.
An oxymoron.
Trials can be turned to a positive, but that is not their purpose.
Trials come in order to destroy, not to strengthen, your faith.
The way that God intends for our faith to be strengthened, and for our walk to become more
like Him, is laid out pretty clearly in Romans 12.2. Paul says, "And be not conformed to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
In Ephesians 5:26 He says,
"That he might sanctify and cleanse it [the church] with the
washing of water by the word,"
The Bible is covered up with scripture that talks about learning, and growing, and becoming
more like God through "the Word", never by trials, or sickness.
Pretty much the entire book of Proverbs says that.
 Works
Now, having said that, your “works”, on the other hand, are a completely different matter,
altogether. 1 Corinthians 3:11-13 says, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones,
wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because
it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.”
To compare our spiritual situation to metals, or to pottery, is to say that we have impurity in
us. In terms of our flesh, and our works, this is, of course true, but our spirit, once we are born-
again, is perfect. Our spirit never needs refining.
1 John 3:9 “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him:
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
The reason for this is because that person's nature has been changed. Even though they may
"sin", or make mistakes, they do not desire to constantly sin, they usually don't enjoy their sin, and
there is usually regret attached to it.
Romans 8:1-11 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of
the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the
Spirit the things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because
the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the
body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up
Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

When a person is "born again", he no longer seeks to sin, even if he is unable to understand
or control those desires. His flesh may insist on it's way, but there is a person inside that grieves at
the things which the flesh enjoys.
Hebrews 10:14-17 “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the
covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of
God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of
God is holy, which temple ye are.”

But then, we have the assurance that if we “Walk in the Spirit" (Romans 8.1),
then, as Paul says in the book of Galatians, we “shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."

The "flesh" is what needs to be purged, but this can be done painlessly by allowing the
Word of God to do the work. “If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we
are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world."
(1 Corinthians 11:31-32)
 I understand this scripture to say that if I admit my faults, and accept forgiveness, then I will
not have to go through the suffering that the "world" goes through. The "world" are those who
refuse to receive the free gift of salvation. This places them in a situation of having to be their own
god, and there is no lonelier place than that.
So, basically, if someone is being purged by fire, it's because he chose to do things the hard
way instead of God's way. It’s very possible that the person being purged by fire probably was the
guy that had to touch the stove to see if it really was hot.

Sanctification
On this subject of sanctification, in the book of John, if you look at the seventeenth chapter
and the seventeenth verse it says,

“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."

The word ‘sanctify" means, according to Strong's Greek Dictionary, "to make holy, i.e.
(ceremonially) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate: --hallow, be holy, sanctify."

Notice especially the word "purify" here.

This verse records Jesus asking God to purify us, not through trials and tribulation, but
"through" the "truth". He then says that God's "... word is truth."

If I understand these verses correctly, we are not purified by suffering, but by the word of
God.

Purity
Gold only needs to be refined by fire if it is impure. If it has foreign substances within it,
those are the things that are removed by the refining. But it’s also interesting to note that if you
have too much heat, your gold will turn to ash. The very thing that refines and purifies, can also
destroy.
Fire does not exist in order to refine, it exists in order to destroy. That is the purpose and
function of fire. It exists as a force which converts solid forms into a gaseous form.
Fire removes the solid, organic parts of wood, and reduces it to smoke and ash.
That is it's job.
It is only by restraining, and controlling the fire, that something positive can come from it.
Since God is able to turn evil to good, He is able to use even destructive things for a good purpose.
This means to me that trial is not good, but it can be turned for good.
Yes, it’s true that fire can refine you, but it can also destroy you.
Why go through the fire when there is an easier, and less painful, way to go?
If you have impurity in you, repent and you won't have to go through the fire of refining.

Gold, Silver, Wood and Clay

“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and
of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour." (2 Timothy 2:20)

Using this verse, some people have said that God made certain people to be useful, but other
people He created to be junk. By those interpretations, God has a desire for certain people to be a
vessel of gold, or “honor”, but then He made others to be a vessel of “dishonor".
 However, interestingly, the very next verse says,

“If a man therefore purge himself from these..."

What is Paul talking about here?

Purge himself from what?

In the earlier part of this chapter Paul had been speaking about things like

“strive not about words to no profit,"

“shun profane and vain babblings",

and to “depart from iniquity."

Paul says that if we purge, or in other words purify, that is remove these things...
that is, the striving about useless things, profanity, babbling, iniquity...
then we can and will be
“a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every
good work."

So, we can see here that God intends for everyone to be a "vessel of honor", and it is by our
own choice of allowing these "things" to remain in our life and personality, that determine whether
we become a "vessel of dishonor", or not.

Once again, Freewill seems to be the theme, and the choices are ours to make, whether we
will be obedient, or to be disobedient, and reap the consequences of those choices.
Chapter Ten

"God will not give us more than we can bear."

Some people say, "Well, God gave me this burden, and God must think that I can bear this,
so I guess this is just my cross to bear."

The scripture that people use in order to say that God won't give you any more than you can
bear, is 1 Corinthians 10.13. In fact, many people think that is exactly what that verse says.
Here is what it actually says ...

“God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able..."

The rest of the verse goes on to say...

" but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

The way to escape from temptation is Jesus.

Jesus came in order to be our "savior".

That is His job.

By definition, a savior is a "way of escape".

The truth of the matter is that He knows you can't bear it, which is why He sent Jesus to die
for you.
If you could save yourself, you wouldn't need a savior.

Where did the temptation come from, then? Did God send the temptation as a way to
double check to make sure we got the point of the lesson He was teaching us?

The book of James tells us...

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with
evil, neither tempts he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust,
and enticed." (James 1.14)

God is not the one giving you the temptation that you need to bear; He is the one who
provided the “way of escape."

Testing
Someone once said, "God will not tempt you, but He will test you."

This is not totally true, either. The only “test” you will ever receive from God is the test of
Obedience.

When God gives you a command, you are "tested" as to whether or not you will obey Him,
or try to go your own way, in the same way that Lucifer and Adam did.
 So, where does testing, and trial and temptation come from?

James explains that our temptations come from our own "lust", which is a desire, and we are
seduced by the idea that what we want is good, even though we know it isn't. We are deceived, or
self deceived, and so we give room for that desire to be fulfilled, just as Eve did when she allowed
herself to believe that the fruit was something she needed, even though God said it would be bad
for her.
Most of the time, our choices act like seeds in our life, that we plant either by choice, or
ignorance, and then those desires grow within us, like a plant does.
In the exact same way, we can choose to allow God word and will to grow in us, and it can
overtake those weeds and produce good fruit in our lives.

Sowing and Reaping

In Jesus' story of the Sower, in Mark 4, He says that God's word is like a seed that is sent
to go into our hearts, and then it grows.
“He said unto them, Know ye not this parable? And how then will ye know all parables?
The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when
they have heard, satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their
hearts.
And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard
the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but
for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they
are offended."
When the word of God comes into our life, as we hear those seeds about truth, then those
thoughts and ideas grow. However, because satan doesn't want us to grow, he comes to steal God's
word out of us. His desire is to keep us in bondage to the lies of our lusts. In that way, he can take
us prisoner, and we are our own jailer. He comes immediately, in order to steal the seed before it
has a chance to put down roots. It's always easier to kill a small, new plant, than it is to kill a
mature plant with strong roots.

Mark 4 goes on...

"And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of
this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word,
and it becometh unfruitful."
Here we can see that the worries and anxieties of life can get us distracted, and actually
"choke" us in our ability to think straight, and to hear the wisdom of God. But if we can avoid
letting the seeds of truth become stolen or choked, then those seeds will produce good things in our
life.
Jesus finishes His teaching like this, "And these are they which are sown on good ground;
such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some
an hundred." (Mark 4:13-20)

Suffering, temptation, persecution, and testing then, we can see is the attempt of the devil to
kill those seeds of the word.

The Bible says that scripture is the thing that reproves, corrects, and instructs, not the
Persecution, or temptation. Paul says it this way, in his letter to Timothy,
 “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 unto all good works."
(2 Timothy 3:16-17)

If we choose to be disobedient then, or another way to say it is to lean to our own

understanding, believing ourselves to be smarter than the manufacturer, we will receive the
consequences of our actions.
Another way of saying that is, If you touch the stove after your mother tells you not to, you
will be burned. Consequence of our own action, not God trying to teach us something.

It’s Not My Fault

Someone might say, "What do you mean, I didn't do anything! Stuff just happens!"
If you saw a weed growing up in your garden, would you say that weed just happened, or
would you say that it was planted somehow?

Isn't it true that the weed, even though you didn't do it on purpose, was planted somehow?

Maybe it came in the seed packet you bought at the store.

Or possibly it just blew in on the wind.
Regardless of how that weed seed got there, it did not "just happen". In addition it will
never leave until you, or someone else, pulls it up and throws it way.
Chapter Eleven

the Powers That Be

One of the issues that comes up usually in this discussion, is the idea that "all government is
God ordained." The scripture that seems to say this is Romans 13.1. This scripture states,
"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the
powers that be are ordained of God."

If we look at this scripture in it’s context, the verses previous to this one indicate that we are
to try to get along with everyone else as much as possible. In addition it makes it clear that if we
have a problem with someone, that we are not to try to "get back" at them. Paul goes through the
entire 12th chapter admonishing us to get along with each other, and to forgive, and to submit to
those we are supposed to submit to. The majority of the chapter is about how to recognize that
everyone has a place and a function within the “church”. After all of this, he finishes by saying
“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21
Then, after all of this, he talks about being subject to “higher powers”

The use of the word "higher powers", and “powers that be" in chapter 13, do not refer
necessarily to all of the governments that exist. Additionally, in verse 3 the word "rulers" is
actually being used as an example, not as a reference to the "higher powers".
I believe Paul is making a reference to the “higher powers" within the church, not
necessarily to the secular government. He would be saying, in that case, that we would submit to
those within our church that have heard the call and have been ordained by the leadership,
following Godly ideas and instruction. I do not see anywhere in this scripture that Paul is saying
that we should follow madmen like Hitler, or Nero, or Stalin, just because they happen to be in
charge at the time.

What does this mean to you and I?

All True power comes only from God, because God created power. God is omnipotent, and
He has chosen to share His power and authority with men, by freewill. There are however, kinds of
power and authority which are perversions of true power. There are some types of power which
simply exist because of the nature of man. For instance there is "reference power", that is the kind
of power a person has by knowing things other people don’t.
There is "charismatic power", the kind of influence a person has because they have a
magnetic personality.
There is power that is obtained by intimidation.
There is power that can be obtained by bribery.
There is power that can be obtained by deception.
Many different kinds of power, and authority.
But, true authority can only be obtained only from God, however I am unable to see how
this could possibly mean that all power and authority that exists came from God, or is in agreement
with His will.

The Reformation
Here is something to think about.
Most people, who are not Catholic people, have a belief that the Reformation was a good
thing.
 Here is the problem with that though... the Pope, was at the time of the Reformation the
"higher power". Martin Luther defied the Pope and started the Reformation essentially in
rebellion to the higher power.
You can see the conflict here can't you?
How could God be honoring both sides of this apparently very important theological
matter?
It's questions like this that people look at and think, "This doesn't make sense", and I think
they are right.

Blind Obedience
If we were to take the conventional interpretation of Romans 13, which states,
"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers"
then David, Jesus, Peter and many others shall
"receive to themselves Damnation" (Romans 13.2)

Here is a short list of some of those.

(1) Jesus called Herod, who was the ruler of Galilee, a "Fox", indicating that Herod's authority
was inferior to Jesus, and He defied him. (Luke 13.31)

(2) John rebuked Herod openly, who was the civil "power", and John was beheaded for it.
(Mark 6.18).

(3) In Acts 5.29 Peter and the other Apostles "answered and said we ought to obey God
rather than men". This came at a time when the ruling authority had ordered them to cease
preaching about Jesus. This is a case of open rebellion against the “higher power”.

(4) Daniel disobeyed the king's order against prayer, and was thrown in with the lions. (Daniel 6)

(5) Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to the image set up by the king, and were
put into a furnace to be consumed by flame. (Daniel 3)

(6) Rahab disobeyed the local government of Jericho, by giving the Hebrew spies sanctuary.
(Joshua 2)

(7) David refused to submit to Saul, who was Gods Anointed at the time, and did not allow
himself to be executed. (1 Samuel)

(8) Moses' mother defied the Pharaoh's will by not killing her son Moses. (Exodus 2)

(9) In Philippians 2.15, Paul calls the nation perverse and crooked.
(How did the Nation get that way?).

(10) Colossians 3.17 says, "do all in the name of the Lord Jesus". Is it possible to obey an
immoral, ungodly law in the name of Jesus? Chapter 2 goes on to explain how we should
submit to the authority in our life, "as unto the Lord and not unto men".

(11) Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of the desperate evil of the government.
(Does this mean that God set up the government, and subsequently destroyed it? )
(12) Peter preached to Gentiles, which was unlawful for a Jew. (Acts 10.28)

(13) Abram went to war with Chedorlaomer the king, a ruling power, and defeated him.
(Genesis 14.5)

(14) Elijah defied Ahab and Jezebel, the king and queen. (1Kings 17, 21)

(15) Elijah defied the King of Samaria, and burned up part of the army. (2 Kings 1)

(16) Elisha defied the King of Syria (2 Kings 6)

(17) Elisha defied the King of Israel, and called him a “murderer". (2 Kings 6, 7)

(18) Stephen says in Acts 7.7 that God would judge "Egypt for mistreating the Israelites.”
(Did God make the Egyptians mistreat His people, and then punish them for doing what
He told them to do?)

(19) David ate the "hallowed bread" (1 Samuel 21) which was not lawful for him to do.
(Matthew 12.3, Luke 6.4, Mark 2.26)
 the Firstborn from the Dead
God's perfect Son, Jesus, disobeyed practically every religious law of His time.

Here is a list of some of the times that Jesus did not obey the “higher powers"...

(1) He violated the Sabbath, by healing on that day.

(2) He allowed His disciples to harvest food, on the Sabbath. {Matthew 12}

(3) He allowed His disciples to eat with unwashed hands. {Matthew 15}

(4) He "blasphemed" by making Himself equal to God. {John 5}

(5) He consorted with sinners. {Matthew 9}

(6) He rebuked the Scribes and Pharisees. {Matthew 23}

(7) His father, Joseph, left town rather than submit to Herod who wanted to murder Jesus.
{Matthew 2}

(8) Jesus forgave sins, which only God can do. {Matthew 9, Mark 2, John 8}

(9) Jesus refused to stone an adulteress to death, who was caught in the act. (John 8)

(10) He spoke face to face with a Samaritan adulteress. {John 4}

(11) He ate dinner with a tax collector. {Luke 19}

(12) He allowed an unclean woman to anoint His feet. {Luke 7}

(13) He allowed Himself to be touched, and allowed virtue to flow out, to minister to a woman
with an issue of blood. (By Law this woman should be stoned just for being there.)
{Matthew 9}

(14) He threw the moneychangers out of the Temple. {John 2}

(15) To top it off, Jesus taught that His disciples should eat His flesh and drink His blood.
(John 6) This was in direct violation of Hebrew Law.

No wonder the authorities of his day wanted to assassinate him.

Practically everything Jesus did was against the religious law of His culture.

Rebel with a Cause

The book, Fox's Book of Martyrs, is about hundreds of people who were killed and tortured
for believing in God. Were they disobeying God by not renouncing their faith? Was it God's will
that they be tortured by the "powers that be"?
Right here we have a conundrum.
If the Christians were obeying the government, they would have had to deny their faith.
 If it was God's will for them to suffer, but it was also His will to obey the authority, then
what should they have done? No matter what they did they would be wrong.
This is the exact tactic Adolph Hitler used against Christians during World War II.
He would get some Christians to go along with him, by reminding them that they were
supposed to submit to government. Then he would use these Christians to convince others.
It seems like every tyrant, has manipulated Christians who didn't understand the nature, and
will, of God, and convinced them to submit to tyranny for the sake of their faith.

Am I saying that God condones rebellion?

Of course not.
But rebellion against who?
Rebellion against evil, is obedience to Christ.
I am not saying that we should rebel against the government simply because we don't like
the rules. That would be ridiculous.
But, this does mean that as we submit to the government, follow the laws which are in
agreement with truth, God then is empowered to act on our behalf, because of our reliance upon
Him. Even if we follow governments which are corrupt, which ask us to do things that are
oppressive, (like carrying a soldiers burden one mile, as the Jews were forced to do by the Roman
government), we can rest in our relationship with the Ultimate Authority, that He will eventually
bring about justice on our behalf.
The point here is not rebellion, the point is that we can not blindly obey, believing it's all
part of God's Plan, when governments act according to their own devices.
There is a difference between rebellion, and not going along with the program.
Some of the guards in the concentration camps, of World War II, may have thought they
were submitting to the "higher power" by committing war crimes.
We must recognize when the laws are Godly, and when they are not.
Just because a government exists can not mean that God put it there, if right and wrong
mean anything.
Chapter Twelve

The Perfect Will of God

There are only three chapters in the Bible where you can find God's perfect will.
The first two chapters of Genesis, which is before the Fall of Adam, and the last chapter of
Revelations, when the kingdom of God has been restored to the Earth.

The rest of the Bible is about sin, and the consequences of it.

God does not deal with everyone in exactly the same way, according to our definitions of
what that means. He sees us at all times as individuals, with our own choices. Everyone agrees that
you can not go to heaven just because your mother is saved, but we seem to forget that this
principle is universal with God.
Since we are not familiar with "covenant", or "testament", it's easier for us to lump
"mankind" into a group that God would be dealing with.
We must learn to understand that God is able to deal with billions of people individually. It
seems like we sometimes sort of think that He just mixes us all up in one big bowl, so to speak.
God has always made Himself available to anyone who would trust Him, including
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. (Jeremiah 27)
This is why, I think, there is so much confusion.
The paradox for most people is that if God is all-powerful, and all-good, then how can He
allow bad things? Since it is difficult for many people to reconcile this idea, they make up these
ideas that either there is no God, or that somehow something that is bad is really good.
Because of God's effort to bring us to a place where we will allow Him to work out His will
in our life, there is love, relationship, protection and provision available for all those who will
accept it. But, if you refuse the gift, it can't work on your behalf.
It is my understanding that this is what the Jews in the Pre-Roman world, by and large,
believed. They believed God was their shepherd, because they had chosen to be His people.
The covenants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were in full play, at all times, and in all events.
In addition, before Abraham there was the covenant with Adam, and after that God made a
covenant with Cain, and then later with Noah. There have always been contracts between God and
men that dictated His actions on earth.
It is not that God is not all powerful, it is that He has chosen to give us some of that power.
God always deals with men according to law. He is total justice, and He cannot violate the
law in the slightest way. God never cuts corners, and He never makes arbitrary exceptions. He
cannot do anything other than what is lawful.
God never cheats, ever.
This is the reason, I believe, for Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection.
If God could just act arbitrarily, He would never have had to send Jesus to suffer.

He is not a Tame Lion

The greatest lie in the earth, is the one that blames God, for what the devil does.
Sadly, it is usually the Christians that spread this lie the most.
The great writer, and theologian, C.S. Lewis wrote a book called the Last Battle.
In this story he tells about a time which parallels the end of the earth.
There is a character in this story named Aslan.
Aslan, a lion, is Lewis' metaphor for Jesus, who is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
Horrible things are happening, and Aslan (Jesus) is getting the blame.
The people say, "Well, you know, he is not a tame lion."
 They mean by this that Aslan can do anything he wants to, because He is in charge. If he
wishes to do bad things, it must be for a good reason.

I believe that C.S. Lewis saw our time when he wrote this story.
From my perspective, bad things happen mostly because the Body of Christ is helpless and
inactive, but then we like to blame God for those things, and say He did it for some good reason.
To teach us something.
I heard someone once say that God caused the Holocaust in Nazi Germany, in order to
make the Jews go home to Israel. They say God caused this tragedy, in order to fulfil the
prophecies.
This, to me, is unthinkable cruelty, and blasphemy. Furthermore, it demonstrates ignorance
of the true history of that time. But the people who say these things are good people. They love
God, and yet here they are, through ignorance of the word of God, saying things that are lies from
the pit of hell.
The reality is that, because God is giving, and all wise, He is able to "make all things work
together for good" (Romans 8.28)
But, it does not mean that He sent such terrible destruction, for some good reason.
It simply means He was able to use the circumstances, which already existed, because of
our choices, to accomplish His will.
He knew it would happen before it did, and He planned for it, but that is much different than
saying He caused it.

Yarash
Psalms 37.11 says,
"the meek shall inherit the earth."

Yarash is the Hebrew word translated "to inherit". The definition by Strong's is...
"to occupy (by driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place)... to seize, to rob,
to inherit,".
Most of us probably do not understand this scripture fully.
The word "meek" means "depressed" or "humble". The idea is that when we submit our
will to someone else, we come under his, or her, authority.
Meek does not mean “wimpy”, it simply means to submit.
When we submit to God by being meek, He gives us His authority in the earth. Those who
are meek, and submit to God's authority, literally "inherit the earth", because they are "mighty
through God to the pulling down of strong holds". (2 Corinthians 10:4)
This is the inheritance that we as the church are supposed to be walking in, but instead we
seem to be sitting on our hands saying, "Well, God will take care of everything. God is sovereign,
He will do whatever He wants to, whenever He wants to."

God put the authority to rule and reign in our hands.

Paul says that God has limited Himself by turning all of His authority over to His Body.
Ephesians 1:18-23 “... that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the
riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the
working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and
set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and
might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is
to come:
 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the
church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all”

Scripture indicates that we are supposed to be walking with authority and power, just as
Jesus did while He was on the Earth.
God has given us paint, a paint brush and a ladder, and He has told us to paint a wall.
Instead of painting the wall, we stand around begging Him to do it for us, or we blame Him
for it not being done.
Chapter Thirteen

Belief
What is faith? Strong’s Concordance defines faith as, “persuasion, i.e. credence; moral
conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance
upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such profession; by extension, the system of
religious (Gospel) truth itself:--assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.”

“Faith in God” is the same as saying “Belief and trust in God that He exists and that He will
do what He said He would do”. That’s my definition, anyway.

Mark 11:22-26
"And Jesus answering said unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That
whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be removed, and be cast into the sea;
and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he said
shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he said.
Therefore I say unto you, whatever things you desire, when you pray,
believe that you will receive them, and you shall have them.
And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any: that your Father
also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your
trespasses."

Why is it so important for Faith to be an element in the process?

If we Break down what Jesus said in this case, He stated...

"... whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be removed, and be cast into the sea;"

It would be nice if we could just stop right there, and not have to read the rest of the verse.
There are people who even accuse some ministers of saying this very thing.
They say that people who believe in faith think that we can just say "abracadabra", and stuff
happens. But that's not what the Bible says.
That scripture goes on to say,
" ... and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he said shall come to
pass; he shall have whatsoever he said"

One reason that Faith must be part of the process is that God can not violate His Law of
FreeWill. If God were to allow to come to pass the things that you said, the things that you did not
deep down believe, then that would be going against your will.
This can be a good thing, as well as a problem. What if saying something like “I’m just
dying to go see that movie”, was something you believed? You would be putting spiritual forces
into motion that would be trying to bring your words to pass.
This is something that has been said by many faith preachers, and it is partially true. The
main reason they bring it up is because as you constantly repeat things, subliminally your soul is
affected, and saying things like that eventually builds spiritual cancer cells in our soul. The more
you say something, the more you are encouraged to believe it. The more you believe it, the more
you allow the spiritual forces at work to bring to pass that belief, for good, or bad.
 If we refuse to receive, in our subconcious, what God has for us, He will never force us to
take it, against our will.
Sometimes we aren’t even aware that we don’t believe things, and that we are trying to
believe, or trying not to believe. This can be the cause for grief, and is the cause of some forms of
mental disease.
Many of us are trying so hard to not accept what we deep down know to be true, and this
can cause an imbalance of reality in our minds sometimes.

The Bible says it another way. Mark 7.13 says that we can make "the word of God of none
effect through" our "traditions".

I believe what this scripture is saying is that by our traditions, that is... by the way we
believe and act, we can make the will of God completely useless in our lives.

God is trying to do things for us, but He can not go against our will.

Scripture tells us that in Nazareth, Jesus "did not many mighty works there because of their
unbelief". (Matthew 13:58)
.
Your will is completely attached, and inseparable from your believing.

God refuses to violate your will, and will not do anything that goes against your belief. We
can know this by many other scriptures that speak about believing. In addition it must be
understood that “trying to believe”, is not the same as actual belief, or in other words “faith”. God
will not force anything upon you, against your will, including heaven.

You must believe it, before He has an open door. God respects you, and your will, so much
that He will not violate that will. We don’t realize sometimes that we believe the way we think we
do. When you do believe though, you empower all the powers of heaven to bring to pass your
desire. God wants you to have everything you can dream and desire, but he can't give it to you
until you allow yourself to have it, and until you are mature enough to receive it, without it
destroying you.
It should be stated, quickly, (how exactly do you state something quickly?) that God cannot,
and will not, give you something just because you desire it. God can not give you things that are
destructive to you, so, if you desire things that are destructive to yourself or to others, you can be
sure that He is not going to be the one providing it.
If you believe you don't deserve something, then for God to give it to you would be going
against your will. He would be forcing something on you, rather than giving you something. A
gift must be received, never forced, upon someone.

Please understand, that when I say that God is waiting for us to believe, that is not truly an
accurate statement. God's will is already known, and Jesus purchased that will on our behalf.
Technically, asking God for anything is a waste of time, because He has already provided
“all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his
own glory and virtue;" (2 Peter 1:3)

The reason we are not receiving is because satan is stealing our blessings, and
it is our believing, or in other words our "faith in God", that stops the evil one from being able to
continue his theft. Belief is not something we can really “try” to do. It is something that we either
do, or do not do. We can work towards becoming convinced, by adding evidence, but ultimately
there comes that moment when we stop trying to believe something, and we step into actual belief.
That stage of trying to believe, is generally known as “hope”.
 Faith and Works
If you believe something, then action is given to that belief.
This is what James is talking about, when he says “faith without works is dead”.
(James 2.20)
If someone comes into the room and says, “the building is on fire”, then if you believe
them, you will have the “works” of getting up and leaving the building.
This work is a fruit of your believing. It does not help you believe, it is an action,
predicated upon your belief.
If you believe God has healed you, then what things look like on the outside really don’t
matter, because you are convinced that the outside will change.
Some people would say this is a form of denial, but I disagree. Denial is a form of trying to
believe, by pretending to believe, when deep down, you really don’t.
Belief is characteristic by it’s absence of effort. Your works, when you believe, are
instinctive. You are at rest, because you are thoroughly convinced.
The secret to walking with God is to recognize that He is like a shepherd, and that you are
like a sheep. You can’t figure it all out, and so, because you trust Him, you are able to rest in that
truth.
Hebrews 4:9-11 “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did
from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief.”

Let’s enter into that place where we can recognize God’s nature. Realizing that He loves
us, and will guide us, as we surrender to His will, but not being deceived into thinking that God is a
manipulator, or puppet master.
Trusting God, and believing that He can use circumstances to bring good out of evil, is far
different from believing that He is controlling evil people and circumstances.

Let’s recognize that every person we meet, is precious, and that they have a God given right
to choose. If we can remember these things, we will be able to avoid being tempted into being
tyrants, and manipulators, because we will desire to treat others the same way we have been
treated.
Last Words
In closing, let me just say that I hope I have not frightened you into thinking that you are
totally on your own in this world. If I gave you that impression, please re-read this book.
No one can live in any type of victory without the grace of God, actively at work in his or
her life. God is the one who gives us the ability to live within His will, and we are the ones who
choose to stop the will of God in our life.
God is merciful, and is apparently able to overcome a great deal of ignorance, but no matter
what, you should never believe that God caused, or even approves of the pain in your life.
Jesus died and paid an awful price to deliver you from your suffering.
To blame God for your suffering is a little bit like blaming the President of the United
States because you had weeds in your garden.

If you are still not convinced, that’s okay.

I was a Mormon, and I know how this works.
You have been given pat answers to the hard questions, and even though, in the darkness,
alone at night, you have your doubts, you still feel like you can't give in to those doubts.
You say to yourself, “Toe the line and stand strong, because you are correct, no matter what
it feels like. Besides, they persecuted the prophets too. There is always resistance to the truth.”
The pain that you have gone through, and will continue to go through will seem senseless,
but you will convince yourself that it is all working some eternal glory. The beauty of this is that it
really is working an eternal glory, just not in the way that you think.
You will probably, like I did, take comfort in the fact that you are one of the chosen ones,
and so you will soldier on.
Someday, as you are crying out in agony from the loneliness and fear, the light will come
in, and reveal the truth. If you are like me, you will have a hard time believing it was so simple.
The love of God will shine through your pride, and dispel the smoke from your eyes. In
that moment you will have to deal with the grief, of the lost time, and pain suffered for no reason.
But, do it anyway, because that grief is the best thing that will ever happen to you, and you will be
able to lay down all your preconceived ideas, and see the truth for what it is.
One day, as I lay on the floor, banging my head on the floor, begging God to change me, to
fix me, He said, “Son, that’s not how this works.”
You have to make the journey.
There are no shortcuts, and God is not in a hurry for you to “get there”.
It’s a process.
None of us have arrived. We’re all on the same journey.
It’s alright for you to believe otherwise, because eventually, as you continue to seek truth, it
will be revealed to you.
Truth Seekers always find what they are looking for.
Knock, and the door will be opened.

Everything is foreseen, but freedom of action is given"

the Talmud
Appendix 1

Plato’s Republic
I have reprinted a portion of Plato’s Republic here, to bring to your attention the views of
the philosophers, and thinkers, a thousand years or so before the theologians of our time came up
with these Calvinist ideas.
Of course, the idea of God being in control of everything is ancient. Plato points out that
the stories of Zeus indicate this kind of belief, in receiving both good, and evil from God.
Here, then, for your consideration, is an excerpt from the book...

God is always to be represented as he truly is, whatever be the sort of poetry, epic, lyric or tragic, in
which the representation is given.

Right.

And is he not truly good? and must he not be represented as such?

Certainly.

And no good thing is hurtful?

No, indeed.

And that which is not hurtful hurts not?

Certainly not.

And that which hurts not does no evil?

No.

And can that which does no evil be a cause of evil?

Impossible.

And the good is advantageous?

Yes.

And therefore the cause of well-being?

Yes.

It follows therefore that the good is not the cause of all things, but of the good only?

Assuredly.
Then God, if he be good, is not the author of all things, as the many assert, but he is the cause of a
few things only, and not of most things that occur to men. For few are the goods of human life, and
many are the evils, and the good is to be attributed to God alone; of the evils the causes are to be
sought elsewhere, and not in him.

That appears to me to be most true, he said.

Then we must not listen to Homer or to any other poet who is guilty of the folly of saying that two
casks

Lie at the threshold of Zeus, full of lots, one of good, the other of evil lots,

and that he to whom Zeus gives a mixture of the two

Sometimes meets with evil fortune, at other times with good;

but that he to whom is given the cup of unmingled ill,

Him wild hunger drives o'er the beauteous earth.

And again

Zeus, who is the dispenser of good and evil to us.

And if any one asserts that the violation of oaths and treaties, which was really the work of
Pandarus, was brought about by Athene and Zeus, or that the strife and contention of the gods was
instigated by Themis and Zeus, he shall not have our approval; neither will we allow our young
men to hear the words of Aeschylus, that God plants guilt among men when he desires utterly to
destroy a house.

And if a poet writes of the sufferings of Niobe--the subject of the tragedy in which these iambic
verses occur--or of the house of Pelops, or of the Trojan war or on any similar theme, either we
must not permit him to say that these are the works of God, or if they are of God, he must devise
some explanation of them such as we are seeking; he must say that God did what was just and right,
and they were the better for being punished; but that those who are punished are miserable, and that
God is the author of their misery--the poet is not to be permitted to say; though he may say that the
wicked are miserable because they require to be punished, and are benefited by receiving
punishment from God; but that God being good is the author of evil to any one is to be strenuously
denied, and not to be said or sung or heard in verse or prose by any one whether old or young in
any well-ordered commonwealth.
Such a fiction is suicidal, ruinous, impious.

I agree with you, he replied, and am ready to give my assent to the law.

Let this then be one of our rules and principles concerning the gods, to which our poets and reciters
will be expected to conform--that God is not the author of all things, but of good only.

That will do, he said.

And what do you think of a second principle? Shall I ask you whether God is a magician, and of a
nature to appear insidiously now in one shape, and now in another--sometimes himself changing
and passing into many forms, sometimes deceiving us with the semblance of such transformations;
or is he one and the same immutably fixed in his own proper image?

I cannot answer you, he said, without more thought.

Well, I said; but if we suppose a change in anything, that change must be effected either by the
thing itself, or by some other thing?

Most certainly.

And things which are at their best are also least liable to be altered or discomposed; for example,
when healthiest and strongest, the human frame is least liable to be affected by meats and drinks,
and the plant which is in the fullest vigour also suffers least from winds or the heat of the sun or
any similar causes.

Of course.

And will not the bravest and wisest soul be least confused or deranged by any external influence?

True.

And the same principle, as I should suppose, applies to all composite things--furniture, houses,
garments; when good and well made, they are least altered by time and circumstances.

Very true.

Then everything which is good, whether made by art or nature, or both, is least liable to suffer
change from without?

True.

But surely God and the things of God are in every way perfect?

Of course they are.

Then he can hardly be compelled by external influence to take many shapes?

He cannot.

But may he not change and transform himself?

Clearly, he said, that must be the case if he is changed at all.

And will he then change himself for the better and fairer, or for the worse and more unsightly?

If he change at all he can only change for the worse, for we cannot suppose him to be deficient
either in virtue or beauty.

Very true, Adeimantus; but then, would any one, whether God or man, desire to make himself
worse?

Impossible.
Then it is impossible that God should ever be willing to change; being, as is supposed, the fairest
and best that is conceivable, every god remains absolutely and for ever in his own form.

That necessarily follows, he said, in my judgment.

Then, I said, my dear friend, let none of the poets tell us that

The gods, taking the disguise of strangers from other lands,

walk up and down cities in all sorts of forms;

and let no one slander Proteus and Thetis, neither let any one, either in tragedy or in any other kind
of poetry, introduce Here disguised in the likeness of a priestess asking an alms

For the life-giving daughters of Inachus the river of Argos;

--let us have no more lies of that sort. Neither must we have mothers under the influence of the
poets scaring their children with a bad version of these myths--telling how certain gods, as they say,
'Go about by night in the likeness of so many strangers and in divers forms'; but let them take heed
lest they make cowards of their children, and at the same time speak blasphemy against the gods.

Heaven forbid, he said.

But although the gods are themselves unchangeable, still by witchcraft and deception they may
make us think that they appear in various forms?

Perhaps, he replied.

Well, but can you imagine that God will be willing to lie, whether in word or deed, or to put forth a
phantom of himself?

I cannot say, he replied.

Do you not know, I said, that the true lie, if such an expression may be allowed, is hated of gods
and men?

What do you mean? he said.

I mean that no one is willingly deceived in that which is the truest and highest part of himself, or
about the truest and highest matters; there, above all, he is most afraid of a lie having possession of
him.

Still, he said, I do not comprehend you.

The reason is, I replied, that you attribute some profound meaning to my words; but I am only
saying that deception, or being deceived or uninformed about the highest realities in the highest
part of themselves, which is the soul, and in that part of them to have and to hold the lie, is what
mankind least like;--that, I say, is what they utterly detest.

There is nothing more hateful to them.

And, as I was just now remarking, this ignorance in the soul of him who is deceived may be called
the true lie; for the lie in words is only a kind of imitation and shadowy image of a previous
affection of the soul, not pure unadulterated falsehood. Am I not right?

Perfectly right.

The true lie is hated not only by the gods, but also by men?

Yes.

Whereas the lie in words is in certain cases useful and not hateful; in dealing with enemies--that
would be an instance; or again, when those whom we call our friends in a fit of madness or illusion
are going to do some harm, then it is useful and is a sort of medicine or preventive; also in the tales
of mythology, of which we were just now speaking--because we do not know the truth about
ancient times, we make falsehood as much like truth as we can, and so turn it to account.

Very true, he said.

But can any of these reasons apply to God? Can we suppose that he is ignorant of antiquity, and
therefore has recourse to invention?

That would be ridiculous, he said.

Then the lying poet has no place in our idea of God?

I should say not.

Or perhaps he may tell a lie because he is afraid of enemies?

That is inconceivable.

But he may have friends who are senseless or mad?

But no mad or senseless person can be a friend of God.

Then no motive can be imagined why God should lie?

None whatever.

Then the superhuman and divine is absolutely incapable of falsehood?

Yes.

Then is God perfectly simple and true both in word and deed; he changes not; he deceives not,
either by sign or word, by dream or waking vision.

Your thoughts, he said, are the reflection of my own.

You agree with me then, I said, that this is the second type or form in which we should write and
speak about divine things. The gods are not magicians who transform themselves, neither do they
deceive mankind in any way.
I grant that.

Excerpt taken from Plato’s Republic in the Public Domain.

Appendix 2

The Five Points of Calvinism

These doctrines have been placed into an acronym known as T.U.L.I.P.

T.otal Depravity – That man is incapable of understanding, or responding to God.

U.nconditional Election – That God picks and chooses which persons He will call to himself.

L.imited Atonement – Jesus only died for the ones He picked, not the whole world.

I.rresistable Grace – That if God calls you, you will not refuse.

P.erseverance of the Saints – Once called, or saved, always saved.