Monday, March 24, 2014

He Could Care Less?

Is the Bible Literally True?
No, of Course Not!
Most people could care less whether it is or it isn't. If you're reading this, however, you probably care at least enough to read this.

To me, the Bible is important. It is for me the sacred story of the origins of my faith. In light of this, I could no more feel as if it were unimportant than a follower of Hinduism would feel the Bhagavad Gita is unimportant.

I do not believe, however, that the Bible is a Divinely-dictated book or a sacred text without error.

That was the beginning to an article by [Dr. Steve McSwain] on [The Huffington Post] that was published on [March 14, 2014], and I highly recommend reading the rest of the article—regardless of whether or not you currently could NOT care less about what Dr. McSwain has to say.  For you should care a lot about what others have to say about our Heavenly Father and the trueness of His Holy Scriptures.

Alas, do you not find it quite telling that such a learned person as Dr. McSwain could open with such a stupid line?  For it is could not care less—not could care less.

No, I do not mean to be insulting—certainly not in regards to messing up a line.  For I do it quite often, and it upsets me greatly when my mistakes are not realized until after they have been published.

Nonetheless, the use of stupid is most appropriate when someone knows not what they are saying, much in the same way as when someone is in a drunken stupor.  Such is the case with this article by Dr. McSwain—be assured.

Yes, historical accounts of significant events by mere human eyewitnesses are important as educational resources, but do we not have a tendency to see what we want to see (and read what we want to read)?  Subsequently, it is entirely possible for two different people to see vastly different things when watching an event unfold before their eyes, and even in cases when two different people see the same thing and write exactly the same things about it, two different people can read those accounts and come to (sometimes drastically) different conclusions.

Therefore, how can anything contained in our Heavenly Father's Holy Bible be of any great significance if it is merely a collection of ancient stories by people not so unlike ourselves?  More importantly, how can we truly understand what His Holy Scriptures are meant to convey without the witness of His Holy Spirit to explain what is truly what?  This is what Dr. McSwain is missing.  May it not be his fault.

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Monday, March 3, 2014

Destination: Known

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. [Romans 8:29 NIV]

Some (quite a few, actually) have been led to believe in John Calvin’s view of predestination.  If you are not familiar with it, Calvin asserted that our Heavenly Father created some for glory and all others for destruction.

It is argued that Romans 8:29, along with the rest of the passage, supports Calvin’s view.  For it is written: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.  What, then, shall we say in response to these things?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?  It is God who justifies.  Who then is the one who condemns?  No one.  Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 8:28-39 NIV]

Of course, it could be also argued that the passage supports the Doctrine of Universal Reconciliation, which is that all of mankind will be reconciled with our Creator someday.  For if nothing can separate us from the love of our Heavenly Father, then nothing can keep us separated from Him.

It all depends upon just who are us—does it not?  Another passage in Romans makes it quite clear that it is not everyone.  For it is written: I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel.  Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.  Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!  Amen.  It is not as though God’s word had failed.  For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.  Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children.  On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”  In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.  For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”  Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac.  Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”  Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”  What then shall we say?  Is God unjust?  Not at all!  For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”  It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.  For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”  Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.  One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us?  For who is able to resist his will?”  But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?  “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”  Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?  What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?  What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?  As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”  and, “In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”  Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.  For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”  It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”  What then shall we say?  That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal.  Why not?  Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.  They stumbled over the stumbling stone.  As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.” [Romans 9:1-33 NIV]

Hmm, what was the promise made to Abraham?  Was it not that all nations would be blessed through him?  For it is written: So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.  Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”  So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. [Galatians 3:6-9 NIV]

No, that cannot be right.  For faith in our Creator (or even His Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ) would be irrelevant if no one is given a choice of who they want to belong to.

Alas, the points and counterpoints on this issue could go back and forth until the time for this world to end comes to pass.  For whom from among us has the wisdom to naturally understand what our Heavenly Father has wanted to accomplish in this world?  Yet, have not many of us been given opportunities to experience it (to a certain extent) for ourselves?

Be assured that I have—both the good and the bad of it.  For Arlynda and I look forward to celebrating our twentieth wedding anniversary on the fifteenth of April this year, and the relationship I have been allowed and enabled to have with her has been so very good.  Ah, but before she was placed in my life, my heart had been shattered into a thousand pieces far too many times for my comfort by ladies, who did not want me to have and to hold until death did us part.  Furthermore, I have three children by two of those ladies, who do not want me as their earthly father.

No, it should not be thought that I needed to experience all of those bad relationships before I could fully appreciate the good one I now have.  For how could I have been so miserable before without having much of an idea about what a good relationship should be like?

Yes, there is a big difference between knowing about something and actually experiencing it up close and oh so very personally, and it is because of all my bad experiences that I can more fully understand where the wrath that our Heavenly Father will pour out upon the wicked, come Judgment Day, is coming from.  For I have been allowed and enabled to feel the excruciating pain of rejection.  In fact, I still am in respect to reaching out to those I have been given to help with truly having a very close and personal relationship with our Heavenly Father—only to often have what I have been given to say to them summarily dismissed before it has been fully presented.

The work that I have been called to help with would certainly be so much easier if it could be taken not so personally, but how is this possible?  For when you offer your heart to another, there is a risk of it being torn asunder.

Not so when it comes to our Heavenly Father’s heart.  That is, if it is indeed true that He created some for glory and all of the rest for destruction, of course.

So, what justifies the wrath that He will pour out upon the wicked, come Judgment Day?  After all, if it is indeed true that they were created for destruction, what reason would our Heavenly Father have to be so angry with them?

To those who will want to humble themselves enough to accept it, the absolute truth of the matter is actually very simple.  For our Heavenly Father created all of mankind to give Himself opportunities to receive a very special kind of love from us.

It is the same kind of love that I have been allowed and enabled to receive from my longsuffering wife, Arlynda.  For she has never seen me physically healthy, which has kept me from earning a good living while we have been married.  In fact, she has earned much more money than I have the past twenty years, and yet, she delights in being married to me!

This is what our Heavenly Father wants from us, despite it appearing much more likely that most (if not all) of us were created to be the objects of His scorn—certainly not His affections.  For even what we would naturally consider to be the best of lives in this world is nothing in comparison to the glory of the worst of lives in His Kingdom of Heaven, and He could have placed all of us in His Kingdom of Heaven to begin with.

Is that not what He did with the angels?  Were they not created without need of clothes, shelter and food?  Were their bodies not created to be incorruptible by disease and decay?  Therefore, how much more valuable to Him must be the kind of love that He can receive from us after He has made us live in this world as we naturally are.

Of course, in order for the kind of love that He can receive from us to be of the most value, it must be accepted that our Heavenly Father has actually did all that He has done.  For there would be nothing to give Him the full benefit of our considerable doubts about if He had nothing to do with our plight in this world.

It is in respect to our Heavenly Father truly being in full control of all that happens that there is some truth to predestination, which is what Romans 8:28-39 is actually addressing.  For who becomes financially rich or poor is entirely in His hands, which also applies to who lives a physically healthy life and who does not [Job 12:13-25], with it all depending upon what He wants to accomplish in and through each individual [Isaiah 46:8-13].

Be assured that what our Creator most wants to accomplish in this world is for each and every one of us, on an individual basis and without exception, to want to accept Him as truly being their own Heavenly Father and to want to truly be one of children by faith.  For it would not accomplish His purposes to force anyone to spend all of eternity with Him in His Kingdom of Heaven as an heir to all that is His in glory against their will, and if they had no choice in the matter, the kind of love that He could receive from them would be of far less value than if they were given the freedom to reject the love that He has always had for them.

Yes, it is naturally inconceivable to most that the Creator of all that exists (apart from Himself, of course) would purposely subject Himself to all of the anguish that He truly has.  I know that I would not naturally want to love someone when I knew that they would break my heart, but unless it is conceded that our Heavenly Father must not care, it must be accepted that this is exactly what He has done.  For if it is indeed true that He is all-knowing, it has to be true that He has known since before He created Adam and Eve just who would and would not want to accept Him as truly being their own Heavenly Father and want to truly be one of His children by faith.

Quite sadly, far too many in the Christian community have been led to believe that our Creator only loves those who love Him.  Does this not require some more thought?  For if Heavenly Father can actually be that cold-hearted, just how wonderful could spending all of eternity with Him really be?  Besides, it is written: We love because he first loved us. [1 John 4:19 NIV]

No, it is not a matter of injustice.  For our Heavenly Father has the right to do with what He has created for His own good pleasure as He sees fit—even by the corrupt legal standards of this world, but what does it tell us about His heart if He is indeed capable of creating so many for destruction, without any opportunity to be saved from having to face what we all deserve to receive in the end, which is eternal spiritual death [Romans 6:23]?  Moreover, what does it say about your own heart if this is okay with you?

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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

THE GOD BOX

Taking Measurements
It has been often said that God cannot be put in a box.  This comes from the widely-held belief concerning Him being far beyond our natural comprehension, which is true.

On the other hand, it should not be believed that there is no way for us to get to know Him in a very close and personal way.  For He is well able to allow and enable even a small child to know and understand everything that He wants them to about Himself.

Just to be clear, I am talking about our Heavenly Father, who is the Lord God Almighty and the Creator of all that exists (apart from Himself, of course), and I am here to contend that He actually does fit in a box (so to speak).  In fact, He fits quite nicely.  For there are four aspects to our Heavenly Father that can be thought of as being the four corners of a box that holds everything about Him and the righteousness of all of His most awesome ways.

Of course, it may very well be that I am certifiably insane.  For who in their right-mind would dare to profess to having sufficient knowledge and understanding about such—right?  If you believe this to be true, I hope you will want to help me see where I have went off of the rails, but in any event, since this is a very short book, it should not prove to be much of a waste of your time.  Be assured that I hope it will actually prove to be of great help to all who will be drawn to read it.

The First Corner
(Absolutely Perfect)
As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.  For who is God besides the Lord?  And who is the Rock except our God?

I would normally start off with another corner, but it was brought to my attention that the other three will not matter a whole lot to someone who does not understand what our Heavenly Father wants to accomplish in this world.  Of course, many have been led to believe that there is no need to understand when one has enough faith, but since the kind of faith that truly is of our Heavenly Father is not blind, nor deaf, much more can be understood than what most in even the Christian community dare to consider.


Moreover, our Heavenly Father wants us to understand so much more than what most assume.  For what is naturally enough for us is not nearly enough for Him—be assured.

So, let us start off with the absolute truth of the matter truly being that our Heavenly Father is absolutely perfect in all of His most awesome ways, and there is no greater proof of that than what He wants to accomplish in this world.  For the reason why He created us to live in this world as we naturally are is for the purpose of giving Him opportunities to receive a very special kind of love from us.

Now, that would be certainly special enough if it was a matter of need, but part of our Heavenly Father being absolutely perfect in all of His most awesome ways is that He is absolutely holy, which means that He is absolutely complete in Himself and without need of anything.  Therefore, we exist in order to provide Him with something He wants, which makes each and every one of us most precious in His sight.

Yes, from our own ground-based points of view it seems much more likely that He created most (if not all) of us to be the objects of His scorn—certainly not His affections.  After all, just how precious can millions of starving and abused children be to Him when He apparently just sits upon His throne in His Kingdom of Heaven and does nothing to deliver them out of circumstances that they had no choice but to be in?

Be assured that even the great suffering in this world is all part of His plan.  For it is relatively easy to love someone when everything is going well in a relationship, but it takes a very special kind of love to want to hang in there when nothing is really all that good.

It all depends upon the other person, of course.  For wanting to hang in there with someone abusive, who keeps breaking their promises to change, often ends as a very sad story (to put it mildly).

Be assured that it is vastly different with our Heavenly Father, and He does indeed promise to more than make up in the world that is yet to come for the hardships we have been subjected to in this world.  For it is written: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. [Romans 8:18-21 NIV]

The Second Corner
(All-Powerful)
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.  He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses.  Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him.  For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.  The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.  But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. [Psalms 33:6-11 NIV]

Our Heavenly Father’s promises would ring as hollow as political promises made on a campaign trail far too often do if He is not really all-powerful.  For stuff happens—right?

It certainly happened in the Garden of Eden.  Well, at least that is what I have heard, and maybe you have, too.  For it has been widely taught that sin was never meant to enter into this world.  In fact, almost every doctrine of almost every major Christian denomination is based (in one or another) upon that premise.

To be perfectly honest about it, I cannot imagine why anyone in their right-mind would want to believe that our Heavenly Father’s plan went terribly awry in the Garden of Eden.  For if that is indeed true, who is to say that it could not happen again, and if it could happen again, just how secure can eternity really be for any of us—regardless of how much faith one may want to have in Him?

Yes, it can be argued that it is not a matter of wanting to believe that things went horribly wrong in the Garden of Eden.  For that is just what happened.  Says who?

Be assured that it has not been our Heavenly Father.  For He says that the absolute truth of the matter truly is that He is all-powerful, and that this means He is in FULL control over ALL that has happened in the past, is happening in this day and age, and will happen forevermore.

No, nothing can happen unless it is in accordance to our Heavenly Father’s will, and this includes even what we naturally consider to be bad.  However, this does not make our Heavenly Father bad.  For what we naturally consider to be bad, He means for His glory and our ultimate good by giving us opportunities to give Him the full benefit of our considerable doubts, such as trusting that what happened in the Garden of Eden was all part of the plan He set in motion long before He laid the foundation for this world.

Of course, most on the Arminian side of Protestant divide contend that our Heavenly Father being all-powerful is a moot point.  For they have been led to believe that He does not interfere with our freewill.  I wonder what the Prophet Jonah [Jonah 1:1-4:11] and the Apostle Paul [Acts 9:1-19] would have to say about that?

Those on the Calvinist side of the Protestant divide lean in the opposite direction, and some lean really hard.  For they have been led to believe that our Heavenly Father created some for glory and all of the rest for destruction, with none of us being given a choice of where we would want to spend all of eternity.

As with so many other things, the absolute truth of the matter lies between the two extremes.  For we do have freewill, but it is actually quite limited.

In fact, it is only in respect to the choice each, who reach their own age of accountability, is given to make concerning whether or not they want to truly accept Him as being their own Heavenly Father, which most certainly includes the acceptance of His only begotten Son, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, as being their own personal Savior, that we can be sure of there not being any true interference involved.  For it would not fulfill His purposes to force anyone to spend all of eternity with Him in His Kingdom of Heaven as an heir to all that is His in glory against their will.  For it is written: “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” [Joshua 24:15 NAS]

The Third Corner
(All-Knowing)
The Lord knows all human plans; he knows that they are futile. [Psalms 94:11 NIV]

Yes, it is naturally inconceivable that the Creator of all that exists (apart from Himself, of course) would subject Himself to all of the agony that He truly has, but He insists that it is well worth it.  For He knows how it will all end, and great will be His joy when the time comes for Him to gather all of His children by faith unto Himself to spend all of eternity with Him in His Kingdom of Heaven as heirs to all that is His in glory.

There are some in the Christian community who do not believe that our Heavenly Father really knows what is yet to come.  Oh, they give Him credit for having a pretty good idea on account of being intelligent enough to calculate all of the possible endings in much the same way as a super computer would with access to enough pertinent data, but that is not the same as actually knowing what is yet to come.  By the way, that is called the Doctrine of Middle Knowledge, if you are interested.

Others believe that our Heavenly Father really does know what is yet to come on account of already seeing it happen.  Put me down as being in this group.

No, I cannot explain how our Heavenly Father can actually see into the future—certainly not in scientific terms.  Alas, I suppose I should have paid more attention to the Star Trek episodes where someone traveled back and forth through time—huh?

In all seriousness, believing in our Heavenly Father not being bound by the natural laws of physics is purely a matter of faith until He takes you on a trip like He did the Apostle John, with the New Testament Book of Revelation being the written account of that.  Hey, it could happen.

Yes, it can be argued that our Heavenly Father does not need to really know what is going to happen in the future to make confident predictions if nothing can happen unless it is in accordance to His will, but if this is indeed true, how could He know what names to put down in His Book of Life before He created any of us?  Hardcore Calvinists would argue that this serves as proof of predestination, but does this not make our Heavenly Father out to be a cold-hearted monster?  Um, is it just me or do you also find it rather curious that only those who want to believe they are one of the chosen few bound for glory find the Doctrine of Predestination acceptable?

Be assured that the absolute truth of the matter truly is that our Heavenly Father has known since the very beginning who would and would not want to truly be one of His children by faith.  For it is written: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. [Psalms 139:13-16 NIV]

The Fourth Corner
Always-Present
Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.  If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Despite what has been so widely taught in His name, the absolute truth of the matter truly is that our Heavenly Father is always-present (omnipresent).  Simply put, this means that He truly is everywhere all of the time.

I do not know how our Heavenly Father can do this.  I just know that He can, and not just by blind (nor deaf) faith, neither.  For He has personally assured me of the absolute truth about His omnipresence, and it all makes perfect sense to me. For everything that exists is actually an extension of Himself (in one way or another). 

As it turns out, the real reason for why our Heavenly Father chose to partially hide Himself from our physical sight is that He wants us to want to love Him for the right reason.  For if we could actually see Him in all of His glory, many would naturally bow down before Him because of being too afraid not to while others would naturally bow down before Him out of greed for personal gain.

No, that is not beyond our comprehension.  For there have been billions of examples of people under the rule of heartless authorities meekly going along with their totalitarian programs because of being too afraid of being killed if they did not.  Our Heavenly Father would quickly move to assure each and every one of us of the absolute truth of the matter truly being that He is full of goodness and mercy, of course, but there would still be far too many who would naturally be too afraid of His awesome power to want to truly draw near to Him.

A good example of those who would only want to bow down before our Heavenly Father out of greed for personal gain is a fairly recent marriage between a billionaire and a lady of spectacular beauty.  For when asked by a news reporter at the public announcement of their upcoming nuptials if she would be marrying him if he was not so rich, the lady smiled and asked the reporter, “Do you think he would be marrying me if I did not look like this?”

It is on account of being led to believe that our Heavenly Father is too holy to be in the very presence of sin that makes some literally scoff at the idea of Him really being everywhere all of the time.  Others are much more comfortable with thinking of angels being near while far too many simply do not want to think about it all.

Tragically, the 800-pound gorilla bathing in the baptistery is that the main reason for why far too many in the Christian community do not want to accept that our Heavenly Father really is always-present is that this would mean that He does not need them to seek and to save the lost in this world until the time for His return comes to pass, and that would make them be of far less value to Him from their own ground-based points of view.  Aside from the shame, the great tragedy is that all who want to think more highly of themselves than they should will not be exalted by Him, come Judgment Day.

No, it is not at all true that our Heavenly Father is too holy to be in the very presence of sin, and a careful read of the first two chapters of the Old Testament Book of Job should serve as written confirmation of that.  For if it was possible for Satan to twice stand before our Heavenly Father while He sat upon His throne in His Kingdom of Heaven, who from among us could possibly be more sinful than the devil himself?

Okay, much has been made in certain theological circles about the Book of Job probably being nothing more than merely a story based upon ancient Hebrew oral traditions—certainly not an actual account of a period of time during the life of a real flesh and blood person by the name of Job, but all doubts can be dispelled by just listening to what our Heavenly Father has to actually say about it, as well as everything else.  For He has been talking to each and every one of us (on an individual basis and without exception) since we were in our mother’s womb.

Alas, our Heavenly Father really has been oh so very near to all of us in this world, but far too many quite simply just don’t want to believe it.  Quite sadly, this is nothing new.  For it is written: “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.  To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’  All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations.” [Isaiah 65:1-2 NIV]

Attaching the Bow
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” [Matthew 7:7-11 NIV]

Be assured that the absolute truth of the matter truly is that what is contained in the God box (the actual one—not just this book) is a very special gift from our Heavenly Father to us all.  For it is a gift of Himself, and all He wants from us is to be truly accepted as being our own Heavenly Father, and for us to want to truly become one of His children by faith.

Quite contrary to what has been so widely taught in our Heavenly Father’s name is that He does not expect us to prove ourselves worthy of His favor, and a quick connecting of some dots should prove that this is indeed true.  Well, at least to those who will want to humbly accept it.  For if it is indeed true that our Heavenly Father is our Creator and all-powerful, no one can do anything without Him allowing and enabling them to, and if He is indeed all-knowing, He would know everything that there would be to ever know about everyone long before He brought each individual into existence.  Furthermore, if He is indeed always-present, He would be actually there whenever anyone did anything.  So, how could it be possible to prove anything to Him if He is indeed all that He says He is?

Yes, that is an awful lot to swallow, and what makes it much worse to many is that part of truly accepting our Creator as being our own Heavenly Father and to want to truly become one of His children by faith is truly accepting His only begotten Son, who is Christ Jesus, as being our own personal Lord and Savior.  For it is quite natural for us to want to believe that we can make the grade on our own, and it certainly does not help that the devil and his demons are allowed to tempt us with thinking that we can be our own god.

Ah, but our Heavenly Father could not be absolutely perfect in all of His most awesome ways if He did not know what He was doing, nor had the power to accomplish all that He desires to.  Be assured that all who will but want to truly have a very close and personal relationship with Him will know, which goes far beyond merely having a great amount of faith, just how perfect our Heavenly Father truly is.  For that very special gift of Himself includes being made acutely aware of His Holy Spirit always being with us, and those who will want to truly listen to what He actually says is absolutely true will hear Him remind them often of the absolute truth of the matter truly being that what was true for the children of Israel long ago also applies just as much to them.  For it is written: The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” [Jeremiah 31:3 NIV]