God is the Perfect Absence of Evil

God is the Perfect Absence of Evil

Purpose of this page:

• Show that God is the perfect absence of Evil
• Reveal the consequences of God’s perfection on your life

The topics to achieve those purposes are:

LinkText to go to Topic

Topic 1: God is the Perfect Absence of Evil LinkText

Topic 2: Begin at the Beginning LinkText

Topic 3: Continue to Better Understand God LinkText

Topic 4: The Reasons People Complain About God
Are the Same Things That Demonstrate God’s Perfect Goodness LinkText

Topic 5: There is No Mystery – Anymore ………….. LinkText

Topic 6: The Reason We Might See God as Evil is Due to Thinking God is Anything Like Humankind. LinkText

Topic 7: The Perfection of God LinkText

Topic 8: The Difficulty in Dealing with Perfection LinkText

Topic 9: God’s Word is Precise and Easily Understood LinkText

Topic 10: Structural Problems Resulting from Changing God’s Perfect Word LinkText

Topic 11: Perfection, Justice and differentiating Christians From Those Claiming Christ but distant from HimLinkText

Topic 12: What Does Truth Mean to You LinkText

Topic 13: The size of the problem and its importance approaches Infinity LinkText

Topic 14: Summary LinkText

Topic 1: God is the Perfect Absence of Evil

God is the perfect absence of evil. If you properly understand the scriptures you will know this. If you listen to “people” there will be some using their comparatively frail logic and lack of understanding of God’s word to proclaim God is evil. They go on to say they would reject God if they ever came face to face with Him for the evil He has done. This is particularly “atheist speak” yet most in the religious world also fail to respect the perfection of God. They may not say He is evil, but instead of respecting His perfection, they take God and His word casually and with great liberality.
The atheists are implying they are more benevolent than God as they would not allow suffering. They argue God is not all-powerful or He could have avoided the suffering of humankind. They have defined how God must be and any other way does not fit their definition of God. The suffering and perhaps future punishment arguments are typically their most powerful reasons for being atheist.
“Christians so-called” essentially deny God by changing His word and so the largest bodies of “Christians so-called” namely, Catholics and Protestants will share the same fate with atheists inasmuch as neither have God. Admittedly, this is difficult to grasp because of their long histories and many members, but not difficult to understand from the scriptures – thus very, very sad!
The truth is, “God is the perfect absence of evil.” It would also seem appropriate to say that God is perfect in goodness as goodness exists because evil is absent. Understanding God in His perfection will help bring clarity to your life. It should be obvious that God is the absence of evil from an overview of scripture. On this page we will bring some help in better understanding the importance of God’s perfect goodness and thus the seriousness of God’s message.

Here is God creating humankind with the purpose of sharing His Divine Nature and indicating He wants all to succeed. This does not sound like evil. Here is God, Himself perfect in every way and needing to identify those who are the opposite of evil to share eternity. Here is God in the process of making the determination of good versus evil and humankind universally being evil inasmuch as all have sinned. Here is God in His perfection needing a solution to sin and it will require the suffering and death of His beloved Son. God, being the perfect absence of evil “sacrifices” His Son to allow some to share in the Divine Nature. Suffering and evil are NOT always synonymous, and Jesus would not in any way be evil, but would suffer to allow evil (sin) to be forgiven. It is hard to see any evil in God, but the opposite. We see His goodness and His love and yet looking at the world we see suffering and because God is responsible for all things, God must have placed evil into the world. This is weak, circumstantial logic and inconsistent with what we see in God. How can God having done all these wonderful things be evil – very inconsistent, and God in His perfection is not inconsistent.
Basically, all we are left with to “prove” God is evil is that there is suffering in the world. We will see that God allows suffering yet did not initiate suffering, but it is the result of limitations He placed on Himself necessary to achieve His purpose. We will also see that God’s perfection demands retribution for evil. Although His goal is sharing the Divine Nature, those rejecting God in this last age meaning rejecting His Son will be rejected by God. This all says life is very serious and you need to understand life’s meaning. Thus, it may be helpful for some to better understand God and that He is indeed the perfect absence of evil.

Topic 2: Begin at the Beginning

Let’s begin at the beginning – Adam and Eve. The account in Genesis reveals that Adam and Eve lived without any suffering and this was apparently God’s plan. God gave them one instruction in terms of something they were NOT to do. That is not to eat from the tree in the midst of the garden. Following their disobedience God indicates to Adam and Eve that suffering would now exist. Suffering is associated with sin and this model holds true throughout time. Sin caused two other things to come into play, previously not in existence, namely, 1) physical death and 2) spiritual death. Every person would physically die and the spiritual relationship that existed between God and man/woman was gone. God and sin are not compatible. However, here is God (the Father) who wants humankind to succeed and He promises a solution in Genesis 3.15. He would provide through woman one who would bring about the reconciliation. Now, move forward about 4000 years and we have in the Son of God, the solution to sin. God’s Son must suffer – bruise to the heel, which would be the terrible suffering and death of God’s Son, who became man for this purpose. God does not like suffering, and He did not bring it, but His Son would have to suffer. Jesus would live without sin but carry the weight of all sins allowing those who obeyed Him to have their sins covered, forgiven. Suffering made its entrance because of sin and as mentioned not being part of humankind’s existence until that time.

At this point we have those saying, He is God, all powerful couldn’t He do all this without suffering? The answer to this question is NO! We know this because God who abhors evil and is the absence of evil yet is allowing it and, in His perfection, there must be a reason. God does not directly state the reason, but the scriptures provide enough information to reach something, understandable. People do not need what I am going to suggest, they need the truth and obey and live it and trust God. Nonetheless, for your consideration I will provide the following:
God created humankind to share His Divine Nature (2 Peter 1.4). However, it might be obvious that unless His creation were able to make choices. They would be no more than robots and there would be no meaningful worship or association but only programmed, forced responses. This seems to be at the core of this issue of suffering – properly understood. Adam and Eve are created with a free will. How would they do in relation to one very simple rule? As previously stated, they would fail, although they had no needs, no suffering, and everything desired was provided. God places this one restriction and allows Eve to be tempted and she fails, and Adam follows. Everything changes for them from pain in childbearing to the difficulty in physical work. There were no problems of any kind for Adam and Eve before sin, but now the world was different, and they would have limited lifetimes. The worst of things was their separation from God. At the end of their physical lives, God would not be there. This meant they could not partake in the Divine Nature. God knew and would reveal that all would sin that is, make decisions to violate the law of God. Going forward from the time of the first sin there would be other laws from God. These would be disobeyed, and sin would fill the world.

Someone says if there were no laws there would be no sin and of course, that would be correct. God will not share His Divine Nature with just anyone and it appears that He CANNOT share the Divine Nature with evil. God’s purpose to share is the reason for “existence” of everything. Humankind created in God’s image (one aspect of being in the image of God is a spiritual nature) is the object of the test to determine those that qualify. The stage is the physical world. So, here we are spiritual beings locked in a physical body, locked in a physical world and locked in a time domain. This describes the conditions for our test. There would be laws and life would not be easy, but God would be able to differentiate those for heaven by their own choices.

Free will brings the potential for evil and it is not from God, but poor choices made by humankind. God remains the absence of evil but allows suffering in the process of fulfilling His purpose. God can do all things and to determine those souls worthy He had to limit Himself. This idea of providing free will is more complex to understand in terms of what it required from God and I cannot do it justice. It is easy to understand free will from our point of view, simply we have the ability to choose – do what we want. God controls everything in physical terms down to the depths of the sub-atomic level and infinitely beyond our possible understanding. Nothing exists without Him and that means everything is in His control. God creates humankind in His image and that includes free will and now suddenly humankind can cause all sorts of problems and God will not (or cannot) interfere with their choices. What could go wrong? Obviously, a great deal, but this is the cost of sorting out good from evil among His creation.

Note: Again, this not in any way doctrinal as though you need to believe it. This is something that is possible from what God has revealed. The truth regarding God’s nature is clearly one of perfection and goodness and what is suggested is consistent with what has been revealed. It is for you to consider that conclusions which might be drawn from observations of God’s word may not be correct. It is easy to understand the gospel message and come to trust God, believe God. In this regard there is no concern of accuracy in terms of what God requires. People get into trouble when they try to go beyond what is revealed. It may appear I have done a little of that here to justify certain statements such as, “God is the perfect absence of evil.” However, on this page we will show this statement in no way goes beyond the scriptures but is apparent throughout God’s revelation. Additionally, it is a necessary inference and can be seen in the ways God describes His nature. We will also address the frivolous thinking of those who blame God for human suffering. If I do this well then it can help some to better understand God as He has truly and purposely revealed Himself.

Due to God’s perfection in everything, He has some built-in limitations. We might say built-in by perfection of a being who is the absence of evil. God says it is impossible for Him to lie. How can that be? God can do anything. However, being perfect and perfectly absent from evil He cannot lie and thus is limited. God does not bring evil or suffering to anyone, but in the framework of people’s free will and “poor” choices there can be suffering. Ultimately, to satisfy perfect justice God tells humanity there will be eternal punishment. God does appear quite constrained by His perfection as a result of providing free will to humanity. In some way perfect justice brings with it, eternal punishment. Similarly, perfect justice for those with their sins covered brings eternal life.

Some persons see evil in God, but they really DO NOT KNOW. God knows the outcome of evil for each person and does all He can within His limitations to help people succeed. The most significant thing would be His promise in Genesis 3.15 that would restore the opportunity for sharing in the Divine Nature (heaven, reconciliation with God). Along the way, God would do various things of a supernatural character that demonstrated His power and confirmed Jesus as His Son and confirmed the word of God delivered by the Holy Spirit. God is on your side wanting you to succeed and His word is perfect in conversion, but requires a person seek Him with their whole body, soul and mind – a significant free will decision. The method of doing this is consistent with Hebrews 11.6 (as well as other places). The first nine words of that verse tell you faith is a requirement and if you know God’s word you know faith originates from the word of God (Romans 10.17) or as the scriptures indicate that which is perfect. Then if you are going to have an association with God you must believe that He is. Also, you know that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Hebrews 11.6

6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

God tells His creation to fear Him and people in opposition to God use this as a reason to deny God, even His existence. In truth God knows there is a great advantage in fearing Him in terms of eternal success. There is a continual bombardment by people turning the goodness of God into something evil. In this case of “fear God” it is just pride such as, “No one threatens me.” Yet to another person who is seeking truth, seeking heaven they see the love of God.

2 Peter 3.9

9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Solomon had an amazing life as the wisest man, but had seriously stumbled and was overcome with pride and lust. Near the end of his life he realized all was vanity (Ecclesiastes 1.14) and concluded:

Ecclesiastes 12.12,13

13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.
14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.

Instead of being offended by God when He indicates you should fear Him, you should consider that in some way this is in your best interest. God tells you why that is, namely that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1.7).

God, in the framework of His perfection realizes the terrible cost of failing in life and is doing all He can to help people succeed. Jesus tells us that only a few will succeed (Matthew 7.13,14), and it will always be their choice. God is not evil in any way and God will not fail in His purpose, but in fact will succeed with those who fear God and keep His commandments.

Sin ushered in suffering, physical death, spiritual death and apparently there were other changes such that the character of the world was different. I do not understand this, but with God’s oversight before sin I do not think Adam and Eve would be in danger of earthquakes or other natural disasters or attack from animals and that certainly was not the case following their fall. You would be right to think a lot of things happened as a result of sin. Yet God remains unchanged and the perfect absence of evil. The one thing that can be observed in the scriptures is God’s love for humankind.

In life there are many tragedies and there is considerable suffering. It is obviously true that the innocent suffers and, in this world, by observation, often more so than the “guilty.” Although, I may not fully appreciate the heartbreaking suffering of an innocent person, especially a child I do know this is not an evil brought by God. I also know that one of the seven things God hates is “hands that shed innocent blood” (Proverbs 6.17). In the context of the things I know, it seems GOD cannot interfere to end suffering with an exception of His response to prayer received from those in His body. There is a picture developing about God’s nature in relation to evil and that is why praying to God is limited to those “in Christ” or those righteous (not self-righteous). They CAN reach God through their relationship with Christ, their advocate. The prayers of others need to be related to seeking God and getting into a relationship with Christ and then a person can make a whole range of requests to God.

Note: Accessing God by the means of prayer is not as the world and the world of religion have defined it. It is not complicated, but one needs to take what God says about prayer and not change it. See this post on Miracles, Healing and Prayer.

Indeed, with God nothing is impossible UNLESS God makes it impossible for Himself. It is logical that if God were evil, nothing would be impossible as He could lie. I cannot think how or why an evil God might be limited or want to limit Himself. The problem is that being the perfect absence of evil, He CANNOT accept evil, or share with evil, e.g. the Divine Nature / heaven. He CANNOT provide free will then in the midst of humankind’s existence take it away. He CANNOT determine who is worthy for eternal life without a test. Let me say again, I do not understand the complexities of God and if I have some of this wrong, it does not matter. The truth is God is not in any way evil and He wants you to succeed. It might be obvious to anyone that they should not be assigning evil to God because they really do not know. However, those that do assign evil to God possess one thing God also hates, “A proud look.”

Topic 3: Continue to Better Understand God

Suffering becomes an important part of God’s test in terms of how people respond. God does not interfere, and although suffering generally carries a negative implication it can also be critical for some to come to a better understanding of life and truth. In fact, it seems without suffering humankind would never understand the seriousness of life. It is quite amazing how suffering or great difficulties can bring bitterness and despair to one person and resolve and strengthening of convictions to another. God’s is looking for those with the latter characteristics.

People understand punishment as God describes it in physical terms because all have an awareness of suffering. God points to the benefits of sharing in the Divine Nature and encourages the fear of the Lord to help each person’s understanding of Him. There is a very strong incentive to live right to achieve heaven and avoid eternal loss.

Suffering and the fear of God play their part in a world of sin that will help some live differently than in lust and pride. God is gracious inasmuch as He limits the lifetime of people and for some that means limiting their suffering. Age generally brings suffering and the last chance to wake up to do something about your eternity. By observation age seldom brings a willingness to change in relation belief systems, but as the old saying, “they are set in their ways.” The scriptures teach that today is the day of salvation and that is because you have no guarantee of tomorrow.

God’s purpose to share His Divine Nature is based on “free-will good choices” and due to God’s love there is allowance for error (God’s Son) to cover bad choices. In God’s perfection there is perfect justice and that means God’s promises will be kept such as the assurance of eternal life AND assurance of punishment for a failed life. The failed life means “NOT inheriting the kingdom of God.” Here are two verses of many that indicate these truths. Interestingly, this first verse tells us a great deal about life.

Titus 1.2

2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began,

Just fourteen words in the verse above and we learn God has promised eternal life and it is our hope. God reveals He cannot lie – that should tell us God is not evil. Finally, in the midst of this wonderful promise that will allow us to partake in the Divine Nature, He tells us the promise was before time began. This tells us time, which we cannot imagine being without, that is our solid base of living, at one point did not exist. Then we might think of Genesis 1.1, “In the beginning God.” Of course, this is the beginning of time, of creation, of living existence, of living intelligent existence in the image of God and of the test.

The following verse is one of many that describe things that are in opposition to God that is, represent evil. They are all things we recognize, and God warns us to avoid them for indeed, those that practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5.19-21

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

You see, both the glory and the punishment come from your choices. God provides the opportunity for sharing the Divine Nature, but it is your decision to participate just as in God’s Justice those who fail (bad choices) will not inherit the kingdom of God. There are so many things which I do not understand (nor do I need to) except maybe some at a high level. I can say eternal life is beyond imagination in terms of goodness and the opposite is true for those who fail to achieve it. The world of the present existence is a place “in-between,” where there is hope and God is not far off. In fact, God is present in His children as sin is not there – they are in the body of Christ – His spiritual church – had past sins forgiven. Those who fail in life will be without hope of eternal life and thus without God for eternity. This is the punishment, namely, to exist without God and that is much different than in our “in-between” earthly existence where hope exists. Indeed, God is the absence of evil and sharing in the Divine Nature is the “place” to spend eternity. There are many different expressions of the eternal absence of evil such as:

Revelation 21.4.

4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed

God frequently tells His children (those ‘in Christ”) to endure the present afflictions and in 2 Corinthians to achieve the eternal weight of glory or in Romans to endure the sufferings of the present time for the glory which shall be revealed in us.

2 Corinthians 4.17

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,

Romans 8.18

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Sufferings and afflictions entered the world with sin and will have no place in eternal life. God will be transferring those remaining faithful “in Christ” from a world where evil exists to a place where there never has been or will there ever be, evil.

Note: It was just mentioned that God does not interfere with the terrible things that are happening in the world. It should be noted that God did interfere directly Himself or through others in the process of fulfilling Genesis 3.15. This did not interfere with the free will decisions of any person. Although it MAY have influenced them (to make good or bad decisions).

God’s actions were needed in the free-will system inasmuch as God was assuring that Jesus would come through the lineage as predicted. In God’s plan the Israelite’s would not remain in bondage to the Egyptians but needed to escape that situation. Moses would be used to facilitate that release and God would perform certain miracles. There would be various discrete times when God would be involved to keep the process of Jesus coming in the time God planned. Finally, Jesus would come, and He would do certain things to confirm who He was and finally He would in obedience complete the mission as the Father directed.

Hebrews 5.8,9

8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him

Now, we have reached the last age and only one interaction with God remains. The Holy Spirit has guided the apostles into all truth and confirmed the word of God. Jesus had so directed this, telling the apostles that the Holy spirit would guide them into all truth (John 16.13). The Holy Spirit fulfilled that directive before the end of the first century and now we have that which is perfect, the completed word of God. Indeed, there are no more Divine interactions that affect the course of humankind since somewhere near the end of the first century. God’s perfect test of humankind will come to an end, and all things physical will end “immediately” following the return of Jesus in the air. Every knee will bow, and Jesus will take those being saved first from the graves and then those alive at His return to be with Him forever. The judgment will occur for those that remain.

It helps our understanding of God to realize that He is the absence of evil. It is a component of His perfection and just like we cannot understand how He creates everything just by saying it, we cannot in our limitations fully appreciate the part human suffering plays in God’s purpose – at least not very well. So, faith is required but that faith can become sight for those who love the Lord. The single event that should tell you of God’s love is the sacrifice of His Son. Here the suffering is very grievous for the Father and He “brought this on” because of His love for humankind. In some way you might see the perfection of God and His absence of evil in all the scripture, but especially in this extreme act of love. Suffering is a part of God’s plan and present since the first sin and God wants you to have a fear of the Lord because for you, life is all about the soul and nothing else. God wants you to win your battle with sin.

There were people who asked Jesus why the blind man (John 9) was in such a condition from birth and Jesus said that the glory of God might be revealed in Him. How could anyone know that? Well they could not unless God revealed it. They wanted to know if it was His fault or that of His parents. There is much we do not know or understand or need to understand and so we make bad assumptions. We would do better if we tried to understand God instead of letting our pride draw conclusions. Jesus would heal the blind man and then the glory of God was revealed in this action. You mean this person suffered blindness all these years just for this event? Yes, those at that time and to this day learn something about God and about life from this incident. God used suffering for Pharaoh and the Egyptians as part of the Israelites escape. God used the blindness of this man to demonstrate Jesus’ relationship with God.

God will be perfect in justice, perfect in keeping His word and we are fortunate that unlike the ones who call God evil, that He is indeed the absence of evil. There remains the certainty of evil befalling those who die in their sins, but it is not because God is evil, but that people choose to reject the Son of God’s love. They will be the object of God’s wrath because they are evil (sin not forgiven) and cannot spend eternity with God.

Note: The atheist might be a nice person, but he/she is arrogant, whereas they claim to be reasonable and logical. However, how can they know the intentions of God, the wisdom of the ages, the complexities beyond their comprehension of a truly perfect being, full of goodness and integrity? They declare God is evil and provide a few observations as evidence and try to bring others down the same path. In rejecting God’s existence, while raising their own stature they are the picture of arrogance. They never understand the exceedingly high level of their arrogance since they reject God’s existence. They stand in direct opposition to the creator and with essentially no meaningful argument. They are no different than the leaders of the world’s religions whose “crime” is the changing of God’s word. Their “transgression” is worse in view of the fact they should know adding to and taking away from God’s word is exceedingly wrong and thus are similarly arrogant as the atheist.

One thing I found about arrogant persons is insecurity about what they are defending. They have great arguments if they are skilled defenders of their position, but in some way have doubts. When you reach the area where they are concerned (doubt), they can become very hostile. Their arguments have flaws or things not considered and perhaps things that have always been of concern. Atheists and false religious teachers share this trait. Otherwise, they can be the most pleasant of persons. In writing this I might be considered arrogant, but that is not necessarily the case. If you are respectful of God’s word and thus would not change it and will follow it even if painful you have the truth and there is no reason to be concerned, just thankful.

 

Topic 4: The Reasons People Complain About God Are the Same Things That Demonstrate
God’s Perfect Goodness

The scriptures if studied indicate God is the perfect absence of evil. Obviously, this is something not understood by the antagonists, but they see evil in the God of the bible in many things. Theirs is a conclusion coming out of some observation, limited knowledge of scripture and limited logic. The limited logic might look like: “There is evil in the world, there is suffering and if there is a God (all powerful), He is responsible.” Or are there any other possibilities? The real issue is that many people in their finite minds have in pride defined the way God needs to be. They see God defines certain things as sin and those who transgress them or participate in them will be penalized. We have hatred, we have punishment and thus we have, “God is evil.” If we look at the various bible passages that characterize God, God would NOT appear to be evil but very much the opposite. Do these things below “paint” a picture of evil or goodness?

• God desires to share His existence
• God needed to limit Himself to have people succeed
• God suffered the disappointment of humankind’s disobedience
• God had His Son suffer the terrible death to open the door to reconciliation
• God defines the way people should live and these things are characteristics of honorable, kind, selfless persons
• God’s concern for those who are in Christ as seen in His advice
• God’s expectations for those in Christ relative to treatment of others:
  o Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself
  o Matthew 25.35-45, the responsibility of each child of God
• God requires a person show mercy and forgive all those who have offended them
• When Jesus points out the things that bring blessings to people, i.e. happiness these are not things the world would view as bringing them happiness, but these are noble, honorable and humble things.

How can God be evil and display these admirable, loving characteristics? Obviously, the things people see as evil in the world are not a reason to claim God is evil. There is something missing, but those prejudiced people have their conclusion and the last thing they want is the truth. So, where is the evil?

There are a number of things that those who are careless with God’s word use to say God is evil.
They are:

• God hates
• God threatens
• God is to be feared
• God allows suffering
• God punishes

As mentioned, I would be unwise to make excuses for God. God needs no excuses, but I suggest some things that can be helpful to those who might be or have been confused by those who promote God as evil. God is perfect, and I absolutely know from all scripture of His goodness, of His absence of evil. One reason people might be confused about some of the things mentioned above would be that they do not understand God as He has revealed Himself. Another reason would be that the concept of perfection, which is a characteristic of God is not appreciated. Another reason might be that the basic purpose of God in relation to His creation is not understood. Yet, without knowledge of these things a person is bold enough in foolishness to claim God is evil. They can convince others via their ranting, but not anyone who has a love of the truth.

All the things above make God, well, God. They are related to God’s purpose, to God’s love for His creation and His attempts to convey the seriousness of life to humankind. People’s free-will negative response to God’s laws are emphasized in terms of how they will keep a person from inheriting the reward. There is an emphasis on the need to respect what God has delivered as truth and that is why God’s hatred of certain things (lying, which is often associated with changing what God delivered) is pointed out to humankind. In the background of God’s perfection there is judgment and justice. God in His goodness does not hold back the result of failing in life. There is an interaction between sin, suffering, God’s purpose, God’s absence of evil, free-will and the need for God to limit himself to achieve His purpose that is alluded to on this page.

It would be incredibly wrong for anyone to draw the conclusion that God is evil from worldly observations of suffering and picking and choosing scriptures at random. It is an especially pathetic conclusion in consideration of the truth apparent from scripture of God’s goodness. God is good and severe and that is all in the framework of His perfection. The severity is associated with perfect justice as the result of “falling.”

Romans 11.22

22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness.

Topic 5: There is No Mystery – Anymore
God’s goodness seen in His complete revelation
God fits all things perfectly together as evidence
Clearly This is the Last Age

God revealed the mystery that was even withheld from the prophets. The world of “Christian so-called” religion likes to use the terminology, “the mysteries of the faith” or “God works in mysterious ways” but there is no mystery. That is, no mystery in terms of what humankind needs to know to succeed. There is no mystery regarding sin and how the world will end and Christ’s return and the judgment. Those in the body of Christ (His spiritual church) understand perfectly from God’s final revelation all these things.

Ephesians 3.9-11

9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;
10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,
11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Note: The church referred to is the spiritual church that was in the eternal purpose of God and now the manifold wisdom of God is written on their hearts (not literally, but guides their choices) of those added to Christ’s body (His church)

The only mystery is the mysterious nature of humankind’s created religions. God is revealed to easily know He is the opposite of evil and that in God there are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Yet with little pieces of information not understood evil men and women want to blame God – a very bad and proud and costly error.

Colossians 2.2,3

2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,
3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

God has provided all we need to know, and Peter describes that knowledge as, “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” There is no longer the mystery described since Genesis 3.15. Of course, God reveals that which we need, but graciously reveals various other things, especially about Himself – things that can be helpful. There remains hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that we will never know, although for those that succeed in life some or all of that might be revealed. God told humankind back in Deuteronomy 29.29 that, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever.” We have a gracious and loving God that has shared the image of His likeness, His purpose and revealed all we need to succeed and then even more.

Topic 6: We Might See God as Evil if we think God is anything like humankind

I would suggest that a wise person, with a reasonable understanding of scripture would look at the following ……

• God hates
• God threatens
• God is to be feared
• God allows suffering
• God punishes

…………… and see love, concern, justice, warning and if very astute see how God’s purpose “plays out” to get the desired result. These things interact in a free-will existence with God limiting Himself as part of accomplishing His purpose. God might be considered evil if He hid the fate of those who failed in life, but His perfection (His goodness) would not allow Him to do that. It is interesting that those who claim God is evil present their cases from one-side without a full picture such as what is done on this page. Therefore, they prove where evil originates and continues to exist, namely in the hearts of selfish, greedy, proud men and women.

If you look at God and think of God as a person you see God’s hatred, threats, fear, suffering and punishment and you think these are not good things. In fact, you might even say they are things originating from persons who are evil. God is not a person and does not have the motives of persons exhibiting these behaviors. His motives are pure and can be understood in terms of His purpose and they are all honorable.

James 3.16,17

16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

God contrasts the characteristics of self-seeking, envy with bringing confusion and evil. On the other hand, God’s wisdom is first pure and then further characterizes His wisdom as peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy.

God reveals there are things He hates, provides threats to the disobedient, “requires” fear of the Lord, allows suffering, and will bring a final eternal punishment. God is not A PERSON exhibiting these “evil” characteristics, but God is the creator with as suggested pure motives, things that help a person to succeed. God declares you need a love of the truth that you might be saved. It is easy for people to twist God’s goodness into evil if they want to discount God, but those who love the truth will accept nothing less than the truth AND God’s word is truth.

Of course, one may want to discard God because of the things just mentioned such as the difficulty of life (suffering), the “requirement” to fear God, to live avoiding the things God refers to as sin, to have a fear of the Lord and the potential of eternal punishment. So, it is easy to assign evil to God. It is reasonable to dislike suffering and look at the scriptures (if accepted) as keeping you from “what you want to do and how you want to live.” The better you understand God and His purpose the more you see God’s perfection in the test devised to allow that purpose to be achieved. If you want to succeed, then look at God’s focus and make it your own – namely life is about the soul and very personally your soul.

In our human justice systems, we do not consider justice as evil, but humankind attempts to bring fairness to those who have been wronged. These man-made “courts” usually are considered as good not evil. However, their judgments can be wrong and so can the punishments. God’s justice system is perfect and not evil, and the punishments fit the “crime” perfectly.

Note: We should not think of God as a person. Such an idea has us thinking of God much less than perfect. Apparently, some think they can even negotiate with God or that He might make mistakes. Indeed, God explains we are in His image and to understand this you need a good idea of all scripture. Of course, we do not look like God, God is a Spirit. You can look at various pages of Heaven Coach where you can understand what it means to be created in the image of God. In short it means like God we have a unique personality, we have an intellect and thus can be creative, we have the ability to make choices and we are eternal – having a spiritual/eternal component. These things make us different than other living beings of His creation. In this shared image with God, we are just infinitely less in every respect, for instance in our intellect.

Topic 7: The Perfection of God

One of the real tragedies of seeing God as evil to any extent is the damage it does to those who believe that lie. God in His goodness wants men and women to seek Him and if taught He is NOT the loving God that provides answers and hope they are being misled. Atheism unloads this lie on people and they might believe it, especially if it is what they want to hear. Some may just stop seeking God. The truth is God is perfect in every way and all knowledge of things beyond this realm comes only from God. Yet, for some extremely strange reason a person believes another human being in relation to the next life. They do this because they like what the person says and maybe it is something very simple like, “if there is a God that was good, there would be no suffering.” I wonder how many people have fallen for these one-liners, of which there are many. The scriptures are clear that some did not receive a love of the truth that they might be saved (2 Thessalonians 2.10), and Jesus pointed out, “They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” You are responsible for your choices. You can follow some man or woman who possess zero knowledge of the here-after or follow the perfect, loving God who has provided that which is perfect. It is always very important that you do NOT listen to me or any person in spiritual matters but understand what you believe.

Equally disrespectful to God are those who believe in God and usually recognize God as being the opposite of evil, BUT for some reason fail to comprehend God as perfect in everything. Consequently, they treat the word of God casually and/or infuse their personal beliefs and teach their private interpretations. This is so prevalent that there are many hundreds of fundamentally different teachings in the “so-called Christian” communities. Amazingly, none of these groups teach the truth albeit they all use the bible.

Astrophysicists, in explaining the origin of the universe like to use the word singularity, or a “single point” of infinite density and gravity associated with the emergence of our universe. This is used as a necessary invention to explain how the universe came into being some 13.8 billion years ago. It turns out God is the singularity, but in a different sense. In the word of truth God makes it clear it must be His singular way.

Note: Not to confuse, God explained how creation occurred and it is nothing like the crude suppositions of humankind that ends up failing to answer the question of WHY ANYTHING EXISTS. Thus, here comes the scientific singularity. This is equivalent to or the code word for, “we do not know.” It used to be called the primordial soup.

There is just one God, one creator and one path to success and you can know it and understand it. Those gods, those religions that are different will bring failure and you may go through life content with things that are not true. There is considerable deceit in the world and the religions of the world are masters of destroying the souls of men and women. Indeed, it takes a love of the truth to succeed.

Topic 8: The Difficulty in Dealing with Perfection

The tendency to think of God as a person causes a great deal of problems when it comes to obedience. We could list all the ways God is perfect, but it is easier to say He is perfect in everything. It is not surprising that the completed word of God is referred to as that which is perfect. God explains His perfect word in various ways such as do not add to it or take away from it. If you see God as being like humankind then you might believe there can be some “give and take,” especially if it is reasonable, maybe under certain circumstances and perhaps using good logic. However, this is not the case and the ‘so-called Christian” religions are the result. Unfortunately, changes to God’s word destroys the effectiveness of the gospel message. Fortunately, the additions / subtractions / changes / private interpretations are so massive they are easy to determine. These aberrations / errors are not discussed in detail here but throughout Heaven Coach and Catholic’s Question. The net result is that Catholicism and Protestantism are of no value, but in fact destructive to the soul. Above, we alluded to Galatians 5.19-21 which is a list of works of the flesh that will keep a person out of the kingdom of God. In God’s perfection all of these belong in the list and you need to take each seriously. There are no mistakes and you should not think in terms of the degree of involvement of each, but that they are all to be avoided.

Much of the modern world is accustomed to fairness (actually apparent fairness) and there are retrials, appeals and all sorts of things in attempts to be fair. Now in the true court of afterlife you are dealing with perfection and there will be no mistakes. Those who look at God’s requirements in relation to sin and have “trouble” with them do not understand that putting these things out of your life is just the beginning. Once you come to grips with sin in your life via repentance and do what God requires to have your past sins forgiven you need to live, keeping all the commandments of God. You need to live, being a light to the world. When you do all these things until death you are barely worthy of heaven (1 Peter 4.17,18).

The “so-called Christian” religions (primarily Catholic and Protestant) do not preach the gospel (but a changed gospel). Your road to success in life begins by getting into Christ and these religions mislead people and they are NEVER ADDED to His spiritual body. God in His perfection says there is one way, one faith and defines that way/faith as being in Jesus, exactly as revealed in the word of God. There can be no deviations from that path. God means what He says and these “so-called Christian” religions have essentially no respect for God’s word and thus no respect for God.

Topic 9: God’s Word is Precise and Easily Understood

If God’s word is precise and easily understood, why isn’t everyone “in Christ?” The reason is THEY DO NOT WANT TO BE BADLY ENOUGH to live for Christ, and their choices prove this. There is no question that living in accordance with the will of God is not living selfishly. You might imagine in a world where everyone wants more that choosing to live for Christ and the gospel instead of living for themselves would be a problem. Yet, some do that and pass God’s test.
Let’s look at Matthew 16.15-19 and you might understand this verse is the basis for the Roman Catholic church and their concept of a pope. It would be easier to teach that all fish fly at 30,000 feet and all birds swim at 1000 fathoms under water than to justify a pope and Catholic church from these verses. You can look at any of the following to understand the deceit of Catholicism.

• Apologists the Art of the Lie
• Catholic Conversation
• Catholic
• The Fall of Catholicism and Protestantism in One Simple Lesson
• Exceedingly Foolish Catholicism
• Foundations

It turns out like all scripture that Matthew 16.15-19 teaches something very important and that is also explained in the material listed above. The point here is that God in His perfection does not create complexity or confusion. It is overwhelming to realize all the evil that has come from the Catholic church. The evilest thing is the cost to souls.
Although different, Protestantism is equally destructive to souls and below are some pages providing clear understandings of how that happened.

• Apologists the Art of the Lie
• What Believe Means
• The Gospel Message
• The Word of God
• God Revealed 1
• God Revealed 2

Protestantism fails because it tried to reform Catholicism instead of restoring the first century authorized gospel message. The result is that Protestant follow people like Martin Luther, John Calvin and others from hundreds of years ago. They are told they are following the scriptures, but that is far from the truth.

Atheists and agnostics pay the penalty (being influenced) by those who changed the word of God because they believe those of Catholicism and Protestantism are at least somewhat representative of what the Bible teaches. In fact they are the opposite of the doctrines of the Bible. Atheists use the dominant religions and their pathetic histories (often to this day) and the scriptures (misunderstood) to build a case for the non-existence of God. They blame religion for the evil in the world and often all the wars – this would be to some large extent, correct. The part they miss is that these religions have no connection with God – but are in opposition to God.

Let’s look at another example in scripture of the precise nature of God’s perfection in relation to salvation. The Holy Spirit guided the apostles into all truth (John 16.13) and the prime directive since Genesis 3.15 has been the reconciliation. In Acts 2 we have the fulfillment of Genesis 3.15 allowing those first obedient souls to be reconciled. It would be a process that would be repeated throughout the remaining history of humankind. Jesus had told His apostles that they would bring the gospel message to the world.

Matthew 28.18-20

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

We can see throughout the New Testament how the message is carried by the children of God as a prime responsibility and how this is the local church’s mission.
We are talking about the perfection of God and specifically the word of God and how precise it is and how we have no right to change it. Many have changed it and at the cost of billions of souls. We will look at Paul’s conversion and that of Cornelius to show the importance of doing exactly as God directs. We talked about God limiting Himself as part of the process to accomplish His purpose. In these two examples of conversion, we can see how God limited Himself in terms of the process provided to the apostles for reconciling persons to Him. Specifically, God followed the conversion process delivered by the Holy Spirit. First, let’s look at Paul (who was the enemy of Christians) as he traveled on the road to Damascus and how God followed the process because it was the right thing to do. Paul was not saved on the road to Damascus at the appearance of Christ. He was told by the Lord, arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do. In Damascus, Ananias came to Paul following the appearance of the Lord to Paul and instructed him as recorded in Acts 22.

Acts 22.16

16 And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Jesus did not directly save Paul, but the process had been set by God that the children of God would bring the message. Upon Paul’s obedience, his sins were forgiven, and the Lord added him to his body – the church. Peter had a similar instance when God would guide him to Cornelius to say words by which Cornelius could choose to obey. God of course, knew of this good man (Cornelius), but did not act directly to save him. The God-designed process was that gospel needed to be preached and people will make choices.

God is perfect in every way and that includes the details of how one is saved and how they are to live. See Conversions of the New Testament. When God specifies how, why and when something is to be done it eliminates all other how’s, why’s and when’s. The perfection of God brings certainty to God’s assurances in relation to living godly and receiving the crown of life.

Note: Jesus being a Jew did the right things expected of a Jew as found in the law even if the Jews at that time were failing to do those things. The baptism of John (the Baptist) was in affect and Jesus would Himself be baptized by John. It would not be for the forgiveness of sins (Jesus had no sins) but to fulfill all righteousness. It was the right thing to do and even Jesus would follow the process.

Although God’s word is precise and easily understood, error creeps in as the wisdom of men and women find ways to justify changing the message.

This is the amazing thing – people need the gospel message. “So-called Christians” have God acting directly through the Holy Spirit in salvation – as one might expect the message they bring is also false. This interaction of the Holy Spirit in the process of salvation has become a “hallmark” of the “so-called Christian” (Protestant) churches. Once error creeps in it tends to multiply and many of the things people want “to see in God” they invent (add to the word of God) and become part of their religion. So, in addition to the direct action by the Holy Spirit, there might be some sign or miracle or even a direct calling from God. It cannot be said enough that God is perfect in everything – no mistakes. The process of God to save people from their sins is perfect and non-changing. There must be no changes to the pattern or it has no value. In the conversions of the New Testament do you see the Holy Spirit acting on the hearts of those being saved. Of course not, but the gospel is preached, and people make choices. A significant part of your test involves doing things God’s way and all you have standing in your way is pride, because you have a better way (or more than likely you were taught a better way, which you embrace).

Note: A person becomes Catholic most typically by being baptized as a baby and later being “confirmed” and receiving their eucharist. Adults wanting to join the Catholic church receive certain training then the “sacraments of initiation” which include baptism, confirmation and their eucharist. These inventions are incredibly far from the authorized method of conversion. The result is no relation to God through Christ, but a serious travesty.

Protestants like to associate the Holy Spirit directly with the salvation of souls, even selecting specific persons. They arrive at this conclusion because the scriptures associate conversion with the Holy spirit. However, you will never see an example of the Holy Spirit acting directly on a person for salvation in the New Testament, but those associations are through the word which the Holy Spirit delivered to the apostles and confirmed.

That is for example:

• faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (delivered by the Spirit)

and

• you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever

There are however, two cases where the Holy Spirit participated directly in bringing the message. The Holy Spirit brought the gospel message to the apostles (Acts 2) and in the second case (Acts 10) brought an awareness (all nations) regarding its application. These two instances can be referred to as the baptism of the Holy Spirit and are the only instances of this phenomena. Jesus indicated the apostles would receive power from on high and this was what He promised them when He said the comforter would guide them into all truth. They received this power on the same day they preached the gospel message for the first time. In this process they were enabled to preach the truth in relation to forgiveness of sins.

The second instance was at the first conversion of a gentile, specifically Cornelius and His family. This second “baptism of the Holy Spirit” allowed the apostles (to that point only Jews were converted) to embrace this very amazing thing that gentiles were also fit for the kingdom of God. Even in these miraculous cases it was not the Holy Spirit directly bringing the message of salvation – the message was as promised to the apostles. The message first came to the Jews (Acts 2) and then later to Cornelius (Acts 10). In both cases it was Peter that first spoke the gospel message that needed to be obeyed as directed by the Holy Spirit.

Throughout the scriptures God is precise and in many cases He provides considerable information to help humankind with their understanding. As with all things God perfectly delivers the truth commensurate with His purpose. It appears He does this to help those who love the truth to gain a better understanding of Him AND life AND what is coming. God does this for a very good reason, namely, to help those “in Christ” to remain faithful and as the scriptures say to grow in the grace and knowledge of God. Salvation and the requirements are explained accurately as are the events just discussed regarding the bringing of the gospel message. Although most consider the scriptures as coming from men/women and often label them silly or ridiculous, God’s children can see the wisdom of God and can have a wonderful understanding of life. The following is an example of how God fits everything together in His word and thus a person with a good heart comes to understand God and have perfect assurance in God’s word as the truth. The following verse indicates ALL will stand before the judgment seat of God and of course is accurate. One might find some inconsistencies or have some questions in relation to All standing before the judgment in view of some other verses. Nonetheless, the statement remains the truth. In this case we will see God providing additional information that brings more clarity. God does not always bring this additional clarity except it would be fair to say that for things related to salvation the clarity is overwhelming.

2 Corinthians 5.10

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Then the verse below talks of Jesus return in the air and taking those who are His both in the graves and those alive when He returns. After this follows the judgment of all others.

1 Thessalonians 4.16,17

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

It would appear that the statement in 2 Corinthians 5.10 is incorrect because not all will be judged. However, one might wonder why those “in Christ” would need to be in judged since their sins have been covered. Yes, they sinned, but do not need to be judged. Those sins are gone in the eyes of God. Even though this makes sense it might confuse some – so there are things we may not understand.
However, in this case God does clarify with the following revelation.

John 5.24

24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Thus, we learn of an exception to all being judged inasmuch as some have no need of judgment. Their righteousness has been established “in Christ” who happens to be the judge. This information immediately might make one think that all those going to judgment are not going to succeed. This is certainly a reasonable conclusion and not inconsistent with scripture.
God does warn those in the household of God (in Christ) regarding judgment and for a very good reason – namely they need to be faithful until death and God’s expectations for them are very high.

1 Peter 4.17,18

17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
18 Now, “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

One point this should make to those who do not believe in God or are not “in Christ” is how very distant they are from the truth and thus from heaven. I like to use the analogy of a stadium that has a running track and many seats for spectators and finally just outside the stadium many more people. The scriptures use the idea of a race to win the crown.

Hebrews 12:1

1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

2 Timothy 4.7,8

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

1 Corinthians 9:24

24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

In my analogy those on the track running the race are those “in Christ” added to the body of Christ by the Lord Himself. In the stadium are those who believe in God, perhaps those referred to as “so-called Christians” but they are just watching because they have not been added to the body. They are in the stadium, but not in the race. Then those outside the stadium have little interest in the race but live their life for themselves believing at the end they will no longer exist. This analogy is discussed in detail in, “Apologists the Art of the Lie” go to topic 40 of that page for the stadium analogy.
Again, the point is that the race is difficult (those in the race are scarcely saved) and will require their best effort to win. God wants those who are in the race not to slow down or rest. They need to bring the truth to which they have been entrusted to a lost and dying world. You can see Demas turning away from God because He loved the world, you can see Jesus in the parable of the seed seeing those responding to the word of God, but then being strangled by the cares of the world. One of the powerful statements from Jesus is the warning in Luke.

Luke 9.62

62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Jesus said to save your life you must lose it and live it for Him and the gospel. God’s children gladly take on the task in relation to souls and must even in the midst of inevitable difficulties remain faithful until death. Those in the stands and outside the stadium need the message and are exceedingly far from succeeding in life and life is short.

We are saying God’s word is precise and easily understood for those who love the truth. Obviously, if you have other motives you will find what you want to find.
There can be confusion, not from God, but from men/women who carelessly handle God’s use of the word, “BELIEVE.” Protestantism is largely built around the private interpretation of this word (believe) in relation to salvation. You can understand this by reading “What It Means to Believe.” The very short version of that page would be to say, “that those who truly love the Lord will do all He commands and for the reason He says.”

God in His perfection allows us to understand there are no mistakes in the scriptures, there will be no mistakes in the judgment and gives us every reason to trust Him. The scriptures explain God loves us and we love God by keeping His commands.

Note: Peter indicated we have all things that pertain to life and godliness. God’s perfect word provides what we need. Those who want to prove God’s word is not perfect will convince themselves just as those who love the truth with an attitude of seeking God will find the truth. There is a lot of silliness in what people conclude or wrongly assume or privately interpret from the scriptures and it may just be a delusion from God associated with their pride/selfishness. I do not know, but I do know a person will never succeed with an attitude of proving God wrong as opposed to one of seeking God and truth. It can be noted that some with a good heart have set out to find problems with the scriptures and surprisingly have found the scriptures validated God as the God of the bible.

Topic 10: Structural Problems Resulting from Changing God’s Perfect Word

When the foundation is wrong, so is everything else. All manner of error and mischief follow. How can one like a priest or pastor help anyone when they do not have the truth, even their advice is terribly wrong. So many problems occur when the fundamentals are wrong, and it begins by indicating people have a relationship with Christ when they do not. Problems brought to “religious leaders” may have an answer that “hides behind God is love” and that opens the door to many errors. A successful life requires having a relationship with God through Christ and that requires the truth.

If you always rightly divide the word of God, and always remain prayerful and diligent in relation to handling the word of God; You can be bold and correct in saying that no Catholics, no Protestants, no Muslims, no Mormons, no Buddhists and none of the other human-devised religions can help anyone to heaven but to the precise opposite. They will all be lost as none bring the gospel message that all people need. They are all exceedingly distant from the truth and in various ways support the growth of evil while growing their religious organizations. This has been going on for a very, very long time and is one of the unfortunate reasons few have doubts regarding the authenticity of their beliefs. That is, they believe in the long history and well developed teachings more than the word of God.

Throughout “Heaven Coach” and “Catholics Question” the evidence from the word of God is provided to justify these sad conclusions. The helps at these sites only exist to counter-attack the lies of these human-invented religions. These are the lies grown out of humankind’s disrespect for the word of God. We might even say grown out of a failure to take seriously the word of God. We might also say grown out of a dislike for the doctrine of God that limits what people want in their physical lives.

Nonetheless, there is truth and there is error. Life is about the soul and only about the soul. You can identify God’s truth as exceedingly simpler than the practices invented by humankind that are called by various fabricated names.
God’s local church does not engage in the public battle against the sins of the world. Their goal is very singular and aligned with the requirement to preach the word of God, very specifically preach the unchanged word of God. They gladly devote time to provide answers to questions in relation to the beliefs of those who are seeking instruction.

1 Peter 3.15

15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

God’s children understand that the word of God eliminates all the various religions of humankind. God provides truth and that means other things are not true. There is a path defined for a person to become a child of God and that eliminates all other paths. The church is defined and built by Jesus (adds the obedient) and it is spiritual and there is none other. The way to live is defined by God and there needs to be no conversation about how one can live differently. You might see the simplicity from God and even realize the complexities brought by the inventions of humankind’s religions and thus their uselessness. It is not that hard to see these things, but perhaps very difficult to “come to grips” with the enormity of the error and the size of the groups that support the error. This is just another place where you need to have a great love of the truth more than your love/respect of people who may seem so “nice and concerned” but do not have the truth.
We are talking about God and that there is no evil in Him. It is apparent that there is evil in the religions of humankind and not just the frequent actions of those groups but in their teachings if they are not true. Is there anything more evil than misleading people in relation to their eternal souls?

Topic 11: Perfection, Justice and differentiating Christians From Those Claiming Christ but are distant from Him

There is an overwhelming serious aspect to your life and it is, “without truth you will fail.” Paul in preaching would say that, “knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men.” Someone might think this means God is evil, and the prejudiced mind will jump at anything they can to prove themselves right. Paul understood the seriousness of the message and all the beauty of it and “on the other hand” all the terror of being lost. No one except God can be perfect in love and justice. If you love the truth you will understand God as He reveals Himself and not jump to unfortunate conclusions.

There are many reasons the world exists in such incredible lies – such as Religion.
Of course, the strong desires related to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life invariably will have association with lies.
At a more generic level it is the greedy, power hungry, selfish desires of humankind that result in a world where deceit is common. The place of relief and sanity might be, should be religion. However, the “religions of humankind” are all born out of lies and often behind the lies are selfish gains.

The history of the Catholic Church is filled with the greatest of immorality among their popes, priests, and monks and they were able to continue their lewd lusts by maintaining their power over people. They became the most paranoid of any group the world has ever seen and it was displayed in their treachery. These early periods of Catholicism were periods where many of their doctrines were developed and all without any authority other than their own, and the motivation was usually to preserve their power. The doctrines resemble the rantings of paranoid men and include earthly often physical penalties for just about anything that could potentially derail their power over the people. Their miracles were to validate their association with God – many were invented by their hierarchy, but most originated from the suggestive nature of their teachings, working on the minds of the most vulnerable of their members.

Catholic influence over individuals eventually faded away due to the availability of the scriptures. The Catholic Church had for centuries enjoyed influence and control of various nations even ordering them to punish, torture and even murder Catholic heretics. Finally one by one those nations rebelled and were no longer “puppets” for Rome. In any case, Catholicism was left with many doctrines which were difficult or impossible to defend. It is beyond amazing that Catholicism exists today, but only does so because of complacency and their skilled apologists supporting the lies. Protestants protested the evil in Catholicism and tried to reform it. They did not realize the Catholic Church never had any association with God, but was from the beginning the opposite of the truth in every way. Protestantism needed to abandon all aspects of Catholicism and follow the scriptures, but they kept many of the Catholic teachings. I have lumped Catholicism and Protestantism into “so-called Christians” due to their similar distance from the truth. It is easy to differentiate them from those “in Christ” for anyone who has a love of the truth.

As you come to the truth you will understand the SERIOUSNESS OF GOD in relation to lying and how lies especially in relation to the message from God, i.e. changing the word of God is most destructive to souls. One thing very clear from scripture is the hatred by God in relation to lying and the consequences for all liars. God’s hatred does not constitute any evil, but He hates these sins because they will destroy souls. As you participate in the things God hates you become the object of God’s wrath.
You can look at the seven things God hates from Proverbs and lying stands out in its frequency. It is relatively easy to see an association with lying with each of the seven.

Proverbs 6.16-19

16 These six things the LORD hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
17 A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
19 A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren.

Then look at how God closes the scriptures when near the end in the book of Revelation there is a condemnation of all liars.

Revelation 21.8

8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

People do not like the God of the bible for His definition of sin and for the associated punishment. The proud will never get past those issues and are exactly the people God DOES NOT WANT for heaven and indeed they will not obey the gospel. It is interesting – here is the gospel message that saves, and it is available to all and those God does not want to share the Divine Nature will of their own choice not respond to the message. Yes, with a little thought you can see once again the perfection of God. Perfect God, Perfect message, Perfect Test to accomplish His purpose.

An example might help you to understand the difference between those “in Christ” and the “so-called Christians” that wear many different names (e.g., Catholics, Protestants, etc.).

Note: Before the example which is done to show how those in the Lord’s church differ in relation to the “so-called Christians” we will state the fundamental difference. Those “in Christ” are part of the Lord’s body, the spiritual church, which Jesus said He would build. They were added to His body by Christ Himself when they obeyed the gospel. They associate with an independent local church with those who were also added to the body by the Lord. “So-called Christians” have never obeyed the gospel and thus were never added to the body of Christ by the Lord.

The distinction is whether or not one is “in Christ.” A person is in Christ and continues to stay there as they continue day after day to live in accordance with the will of God. The Lords local independent churches as defined by God are quite different than “so-called churches’ of the world. The Lords church is very obviously different in their simplicity, their organization, their worship and their mission. Those “in Christ” still from time to time fall short, but they have an advocate with the Father and thus the possibility of forgiveness. They have a singular rule book and are quite different than the “so-called Christian churches” inasmuch as they respect the perfection of God’s word. They respect God. The Christian churches of the world become involved in discussing, debating everything in the word of God. They become as 1 Corinthians 1.18-21 inasmuch as they deeply analyze the word of God as opposed to accepting the clear meaning. God defines some things as sinful and indicates such shall not enter the kingdom of God. The “so-called Christian churches” debate every sin and decide its seriousness, maybe even quantify those things as to degree of seriousness and may even declare some are not a problem. All these “churches so-called” have a relationship with the world and under that influence continue to make changes to the word of God. God’s children accept sin as sin and live according to God’s direction and require no modifications. This distinction of those who are “in Christ” and those who are not is easily made for those that love the truth.

Life is not about all or any of the world’s problems but is only about the soul – individual souls. This is where God focuses His children – preaching the gospel, while the religions debate every issue.
The gospel provides the real answer to sin and consequently the problems of the world. It is not the work of the Lord’s church to be involved in worldly related matters. God knows that His church needs focus on their mission and not on the many things that could perhaps be associated with the mission. Those “in Christ” PREACH THE WORD. The growth of error is often the result of losing focus and “suddenly” the church has a different or many different missions and often the message changes.

If you were able to make the distinction between the way the “so-called Christians” appear to fit into the world versus how God’s children act relative to what God authorized, then you did well.
The only way one can understand God and spiritual things is if He reveals them. If we talk about abortion, or homosexuality, or murder or lying, or any other sin the emphasis is on the solution to sin and that is a very individual thing. The answer lies in the gospel message and how to live going forward “in Christ.” Here is the terrorism in the world and here is the solution – the gospel message. Here is drug addiction and the answer is the gospel message. Evil and new forms of evil will continue under different names, but the solution is always the gospel message. This is why it is wise to realize that life is about the soul and absolutely about nothing else. You can understand this if you know that is all you will have when you die or when Christ returns and ends the world. The one thing that will matter will be, “did you die having a relationship with God’s Son?”

Sin is sin and God is clear that those “in Christ” preach the word as the solution to sin. Those who truly want heaven, accept what God defines as sin and seek God and forgiveness. God being perfect has designed the perfect test to differentiate good from evil. God knows that those who can overcome sin the way He has defined it will be suited for sharing the Divine Nature. You might ask, could there be a better way? The answer is no – again God is perfect in His plan to fulfill His purpose. God in creating free-will beings knows how people can stumble, miss the mark and knows of the difficulties in overcoming – overcoming those things He defined as sin. His plan exposes the true character of a person and by THEIR CHOICES they will be glorified or condemned. Certainly, the test exposes pride, just as it does humility. There is no doubt the test will be difficult and often we are fighting the things WE WANT versus God’s way. Again, this is why Jesus said in order to save your life you need to lose it. This means not living life for yourself, but as He says for Him and the gospel. Then Jesus completes this thought by indicating what is the value of gaining the whole world and losing your soul. Consider God’s perfection in His word and that there is nothing trivial in the gospel message. The Lord’s people honor God knowing the seriousness of Jesus saying you need to lose your life to save it and thus, live accordingly. Do you think that persons in the religions world know that God means what He says and living simultaneously for themselves and for God is impossible.

Topic 12: What Does Truth Mean to You

The truth means almost 2000 years have passed since God finished His part with humankind leaving only Christ’s return, the end of all things physical and the judgment. The world is in a crisis that they do not recognize. It is an individual crisis resulting in failed life’s. It would be fair to state that few realize the seriousness of their condition. The religions of the world have brought the confusion. These religions are strongly in opposition to what God intended as a result of changing His word. God has done many things to promote, encourage people to live in a way that will allow them to share in His Divine Nature. It begins by obeying the gospel and exceedingly few take this step because of “RELIGION.” God does not control the thoughts and actions of humankind – that is, does not control their choices.

God is indeed the perfect absence of evil, but free-will humankind is full of selfish motives, greedy and cannot see beyond the next pleasurable thing (moral or immoral).

Note: Moral pleasures may mean many things and are seemingly harmless. However, people fill their life with constant pleasure considered moral and never have time for God. Indeed they live their lives for pleasure and never seek truth, God and fail in life.

The physical world is headed for a painful future without God being honored and few care or will believe the problems are due to God’s absence. God’s absence here is a reference to an absence of truth in the lives of the people – largely the current situation. Although, the world will be increasingly unpleasant for the vast majority, the real problem will be the surprise they face when their life ends or when Christ returns.

Now, since life is about the soul there is, as always hope for individuals. The truth remains and any who love the truth can find the final peace that God offers.
There is something very pathetic here and it is there are a lot of people who appear to be are quite wonderful and many that could be – but are not. Unfortunately, the quite wonderful people will not succeed in life unless they are “in Christ.” The way the world judges people is always with limited information like observations, conversations and people can be viewed quite favorably from such analysis. This seems quite good and people go optimistically forward in life and “all is well.” However, life is ultimately about the spiritual and your spiritual well-being is determined during your physical life by your choices. God has perfect knowledge of each person and knows everyone needs the forgiveness available through His Son.

We have pointed to how God hates certain things and at the core of these hated things are those who lie, those who mislead. The cost is souls. You need to understand what you believe. The things you need to know to achieve heaven are simple and that is one way to differentiate truth from error. At the end of the day people believe other people instead of God and think what they are taught by someone is consistent with God’s message. Seldom, if ever is it.

Note: One of those things that seems so incredible is all the centuries of religious invention involving many billions of people. The prayers, the tears, the joy, the music, the honors, the cruelty, the unfairness, the councils, the daily worship, and the list is “never-ending” and all totally in vain. The only glory was to men and women. Every Catholic action, every Protestant conversion brings those people closer to a terrible end. Atheists look at the evilest of things and blame God and God deserves none of the blame. So, religion creates or supports atheists by the evil religions have committed and their inconsistency. It is difficult to put a price on changing the word of God, yet the things mentioned are “just the tip of the iceberg.” The damage is ultimately to souls – eternity lost.

What truth means to the atheist

If you are atheist, you might be influenced by religion that you thought had something to do with God, but it does not. You might have been negatively influenced by the self-righteousness of Christians, but those truly associated with Christ you may know nothing about. The lifestyle that is truly Christian might even be appealing because it has an understandable purpose and a clear logical path to a successful life – heaven. However, some of the more fundamental reasons for being an atheist will remain such as God’s rules, the need to have a fear of God and punishment for failing in life. Those things (you do not like and in fact you do not understand) need to be weighed against the opportunity for heaven.

One thing the atheist ought to re-consider is basing their objections of God on human suffering. Then leaping to associating evil with God. On this page we have presented an alternative that is consistent with what we know about God. It is much more complete than, “there is suffering and therefore we must reject God since He brought this evil.” Understanding God can only be done correctly from what He reveals of Himself. There is a strong case suggested (on this page) from scripture that helps you to understand God as being the complete absence of evil. This includes His actions that imply His goodness and why in the process of achieving His purpose there were certain ways God has limited Himself. God needs no one to explain that He is the perfect absence of evil. I am only suggesting these things to show what some see as logical conclusions are based on rather “incomplete knowledge” and not necessarily even reasonable inferences. As an atheist, consider that human suffering is not a good reason to reject God. Similarly, the science used to support a no-God possibility is limited to what God designed into creation and is minuscule, insignificant compared to God’s creative ability seen by speaking everything into existence and creating time. God provides a reason for our existence instead of the ultimate conclusion of science that there was this singularity – meaning we have no idea why anything exists. If you realize that the religions which are blamed for much of the world’s evil including wars have nothing to do with God, then the “bad religion” reasoning for no-God is greatly weakened. In fact, you might be left with, “In the beginning God.” After all, God points out in Romans 1.20 that you can “see Him” in the creation and that is solid evidence. You need to see that God is the God of the Bible, which properly understood is more potent and meaningful to humanity than the physical universe we observe.

Romans 1.20

20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

The profound reasons to be atheist are typically not these things used to justify their beliefs (like human suffering, religious history of evil), but the nature of the God of the bible. Specifically, things required to succeed in life that limit how people want to live and the associated poor outcome for those who reject God’s way.

It is astonishing how God is the absence of evil and to such an extent that it is hard to comprehend. He is the pinnacle of goodness and how far from the truth are atheists thinking God is evil, the source of evil. His goodness results in our existence, our opportunity for sharing in the Divine Nature. In order for humankind to have the possibility of succeeding in consideration of making bad choices He even places limitations on Himself, He willingly offers His Son to suffer the terrible death and He endures many disappointments in humankind. God’s test was perfectly devised to achieve His purpose allowing those with a good heart to see God’s love. Yet others will “look around their existence” and in their pride and shortsightedness turn God’s goodness into reasons for rejecting even His existence. The thing that differentiates these two views is the truth, which only comes from God’s word. Like the “religions of the world,” atheists are diametrically the opposite of the truth about God and life.

God’s children have no special plan for converting Atheists, but simply preach the gospel to all. Atheists or anyone working in opposition to God receive the same message. It is not necessary to address the specific issues of the various belief systems. Although, it usually occurs in questions asked and God’s people oblige as much as possible. The truth is just the truth, and needs no special version for one group or another. Atheists are “one with the world” and will not understand God and His purpose. They do not understand the purpose of God or the unimportant nature of science. They continually try to deny God by their reliance on inconsequential science. They look to find problems with the scriptures involving various historical, archaeological contradictions and these are typically impossible to prove or disprove and are just distractions from what they need. Nonetheless, every atheist soul has value to God and thus to those carrying the message every soul is of equal concern. God has a focus on the soul, on good versus evil and on each person gaining a relationship with His Son.

What truth means to those “so-called Christians”

If you are a “so-called Christian” and that typically means you are convinced that you are a Christian then it might be difficult to accept that those who taught you and perhaps many more before them have promoted things that represent a changed word of God. You might find it “hard to swallow” that the influence of your family and friends was the best they knew, but not the truth. In the case of the “so-called Christian,” it is doubtful they will realize these things because they are satisfied with their current situation and it seems right. There are two verses that might help, although the whole of scripture rejects the doctrines of Catholicism and Protestantism.

2 John 1.9

9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.

Matthew 7.21

21 Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Both verses have to do with those who acknowledge Jesus as God’s Son but have no relation to Him because they do not follow the doctrine of Christ. If you place your confidence in, “there are so many who believe as I do, and they are “good people,” then that is the wrong reason.
There is great confidence in “God is love” in a way that God will look past my shortcomings. Also, many receive support in believing that they are once saved and always saved and/or that following the pattern of their religious beliefs will somehow be enough to get them into heaven. The truth and for the reasons found throughout the scriptures indicates they are not even in the race. The deceit is so overwhelming, so sophisticated that you need a love of the truth to overcome the religions of the world.
It is quite amazing that those who call Christ their savior – the “so-called Christians” miss the most basic aspect designed by God for their success. That is, they never hear the gospel message or heard it but rejected it. Yet, strangely they believe in the gospel message, but are unaware they follow a changed gospel message. Thus, they never obey the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and never understand they MUST DEVOTE their lives to Christ and the gospel.

What truth means to Mormons and Muslims

If you are a Mormon, you believe that Joseph Smith found problems with the Protestant religions of his day and the character of the people in those organizations and decided like Mohammed (much earlier) that he would change the word of God and create new book(s). If those two were exposed to the truth and saw how people truly “in Christ” lived they may not have gone as far off course as they did. However, both had serious problems in terms of morality and especially Mohammed in terms of an evil and murderous spirit. These groups are alien to God and their followers have been heavily indoctrinated. Both religions are so distant from the truth (nonsensical) that with a little effort their members could break free. In both cases, there are dangers to their physical well-being – in one case deadly and the other being ostracized. Nonetheless, they need to find a way to free themselves. Like everyone else the truth will set them free from sin as well as destroy the teachings of these humanly designed religions.

What truth means throughout the ages

Humankind has defined various ages and they are not very exact but overlap and are rather subjective. Religious beliefs are frequent characteristics that define some of the ages as are things like diseases and invention and what was believed to be enlightenment. The thing missing throughout the ages (if we consider the ages since the time of Christ) is the truth. Truth has an enormous impact on society and especially if enough people can see the truth of God’s word and live that way. During the first century, while the word of God was being completed some were changing it. Century after century God’s word would change and religions would be developed that were very far from the truth. God did not interfere as religious hierarchies made rules and claimed they were associated with God. In the midst of all the religious deceit and often cruelties and at times murders there was still truth, but seldom if ever noticed by history. God’s word survived and that is how truth survived even among only a few. The changes that were made by humankind’s religions were only rarely to the text itself (and those are easily “spotted”). The changes were made by other books, letters, councils, that defined the various religion’s doctrines. The bulk of those materials were rules for the religion and generally based on private interpretations of scripture. God had promised heaven and earth would pass away, but not His words. Therefore, today and throughout history the truth has been there and the only thing keeping it hidden is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4.3,4). In other words, hidden by the things of the world that you want more than gospel message.
The local church does not have a “public voice” as they purposely have no authority to do anything except evangelism. Thus, there are no political interests or attempts to do anything except follow the moral laws of the land. There are only a relatively few in the body of Christ in a world of billions. The mission of the local church made up of those in the body of Christ (added by Christ Himself) is evangelism exactly as in the first century.

It should not be hard to realize that the world of religion is confused due to the many variations. That would seem obvious; however it is much harder to believe that YOU have also been fooled. Usually this means you need to realize that behind the deceit is centuries of lies due to changing the word of God. The scriptures indicate a love of the truth is required because there is a lot to overcome in terms of all the things people are taught. So, you are this person who wants heaven and not one who is happy with someone saying you will go to heaven. You need to be assured. Here is how:
First, take the unchanged word of God (the bible, without the private interpretations) and obey it. Continue in truth and learn what God has provided to assure your success. Realize that Catholicism and Protestantism provide no spiritual solution but provide apologists to maintain your submission to their teachings.
Read some of the following and understand the evil of humankind’s religions – namely the loss of your soul. Remain faithful (obedient) in your life and receive the crown of life (Revelation 2.10).

• Atheist Dilemma
• Fear and Understand God
• Will Only A Few Achieve Heaven and if so, Why
• End of the World
• Conversions of the New Testament
• Life Will Never Be The Same

There are many more pages and posts that provide the truth by emphasizing rightly dividing the word of God that are contained at Heaven Coach and Catholics Question.
Specifically, at heavencoach.com and catholicsquestion.com. The webpages are helps but the source of truth is always studying from your bibles without any external inputs or prejudices.

Get your questions answered and take God and His word seriously. You can understand God as He has revealed Himself in the scriptures. People sit on Sundays in “so-called Christian” churches and listen to many things, but never get the gospel message. This is because their organizations oppose the truth, while you think you are receiving the truth. Those organizations probably believe they are providing what you need. Generally, their opposition to truth has a strong historical background founded in error and followed by a history of apologists defending the lies.

Here is a good thought you can capture, and it is that you can break loose of the history of lies that indeed will keep you from succeeding AND SUCCEED in the only thing that matters. The truth is very “freeing” because it is so certain, so perfect and answers all your questions and all your concerns. You will find out that God is perfect in justice, in love and since He cannot lie there will be assurance in relation to your soul. You will be able to know with certainty that God can perfectly manage all of your concerns.

Topic 13: The size of the problem and its importance approaches Infinity

The world is in a mess spiritually – meaning most will be lost. A very high percentage of “so-called Christians” think the next life will bring them to a better place – it is the most significant reason for their devotion. The atheists think they go out of existence and perhaps most people just have no idea. There is no more important thing in your life than your eternity and eventually you will understand this – understand this NOW!

We have God who is perfect in every way and because of that we CAN know the outcome before our end. God has precisely revealed the ending (except for its timing) as well as what a person needs to succeed. That is why a person can look at Catholicism, Protestantism, Mormonism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and all the others and say they do not contain what a person needs to achieve heaven. There is truth and error and all the human arguments in defense of error are meaningless. They are typically not arguments but excuses. Things like, “all these people cannot be lost,” or “God’s love will cover the mistakes,” or “people were misled by trained professionals and thus not their fault,” and the list of excuses can be never-ending. When we talk about these false religions that have held so many in their grasp (control) for so long and yet there is still truth. It is sin that brings a bad ending and these religions do not bring a solution for sin, but in fact may suggest or claim they do. If we look at Catholicism and Protestantism they are both physical institutions and have no solution for the spiritual problem of sin. Another way of saying this is, “neither have the doctrine of Christ.” Both claim a relationship with Christ and both have massacred the gospel message. Somewhere “along the line” they did not take seriously the word of God and changed it. The simplicity of God’s plan became the complexity of men and/or women’s inventions.

An accurate understanding of God’s perfection is that God cannot save you separate from His word. God is limited by His perfection, His justice, and in His inability to speak anything except the truth. Knowing this, He does all He can such as indicating success can be found in, “fear God and keep His commandments.” God knows the following is true and may appear threatening to humankind, yet these events will happen exactly as indicated.

2 Thessalonians 1.7-9

7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,
8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

God knows all the things that keep a person from inheriting the kingdom of God. If you come to a correct understanding of God you will not waste your time being concerned about the details of any of the things God defines as sin, except to avoid them. You also value the time you have realizing it is short and desire to use it in service to God.
Instead of focusing on the truth people need, religions provide something people can accept and if possible not too far from their current belief. Deviations from the truth are not considered serious since many believe they can rationalize their actions, their choices and perhaps due to circumstances will be approved and achieve heaven. This type of thinking fits the leniency, the flexibility, the liberalism of the modern world. The truth of life as relates to your eternal soul is quite different. Here are some examples of God proclaiming truth and it does not change with time.
In the verses below, you should see God’s seriousness in relation to sin and the consequence for disobedience and if you are wise you will see God’s love.

1 Corinthians 6.9,10

9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5.19-21

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

James 4.17

17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Sin stands between you and success in life and God provides a solution to sin and it is simple. There is nothing simple about the “so-called Christian” religions with their hierarchies and rule making. Indeed, those who believe heaven is easily achieved are very far from the truth. Instead, God wants the best and that requires the truth and a sincere dedication to living God’s way and you might observe that is a pattern seldom seen in the “world of religion.” Thus Jesus statement regarding the narrow path, the difficulty and the FEW.

Topic 14: Summary

There is a great deal that can be learned about life if we look at the scriptures in view of God’s Perfection and His Complete Absence of Evil.
Here are some things:

• Our existence comes from the benevolence of God and we are fortunate in His goodness.
• The vehicle God uses to communicate in this last age is His word and, in His perfection, we can be certain that it has come down to us correctly one time and is unchangeable without serious consequences.
  Luke 21:33
  33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
• In His perfection, we can be certain that changing God’s word is seriously wrong and since God associated a result with an action then changing that action will not produce the desired result.
• God delivered the nature of the local church via the Holy Spirit and God does nothing frivolously and thus He is serious about what was delivered. For instance, the organization must be exactly as delivered, the qualifications must be met for Elders and Deacons. The mission must be as directed and no more and no less.
• Everything in scripture needs to be taken seriously. Sin is defined, and forgiveness of past sins follows precisely the pattern designated. In fact, one can look at the examples of New Testament conversions and see how that pattern is repeated.
• Most of those calling themselves Christian have no association with Christ and the root cause is they follow a “changed or privately interpreted word of God.” Often these people do not ARGUE THE SCRIPTURAL MERITS of their beliefs when “conflicts arise” but suggest doubts in God’s ability to deliver His word accurately by inspiration through men. Or, they argue that there can be different valid interpretations. The problem is they do not understand the perfection of God in everything.
• God created the perfect world to accomplish His purpose. He provided exactly the right test that will allow perfect differentiation between good and evil.
• God’s test to be meaningful required a number of things that might seem to be “unexpected (from God).” Understanding God as perfect and perfectly free from evil will help. Things such as God’s inability to do certain things and in every case, these are things where God needed to limit Himself. Such as:
  o He cannot lie (this is a built-in limitation as He is the absence of evil)
  o He gave up control of His creation. God controls everything, every “atom” in the physical world, everything in the spiritual and just everything that we have no idea about. Yet, He provided free will to humankind to fulfill the purpose in the framework of His perfection – thus giving up control.
  o He allowed His Son to suffer and in fact commanded Him to do so (Hebrews 5.8).
  o God’s desires would not always be realized in order to fulfill His purpose. For instance, He wanted all to share in the Divine Nature.

There is an apparent cost to God required to fulfill His purpose. God becomes vulnerable inasmuch as the things He wants (like all to succeed) and things He would not like, for instance the suffering of His Son, and His disappointment in those who blatantly reject His Son.
All this because He is perfect and without evil and wanted to share the wonder of His Diving Nature with others.
If we look at the “other side of the coin” those who conform to His will and are dedicated in service even unto their personal detriment; they must be incredibly appreciated.

Note: The things mentioned on this page in relation to God’s nature are derived from a good understanding of God’s revelation to us. It is not important that we understand the how’s and why’s of God. It is important that we do not change the word of God in relation to the only way a person can achieve heaven.

Some things are certain such as the clarity of God’s purpose, of His commands, of His plan, of His requirements for salvation and the church. These things represent a reasonable, simple to understand and consistent picture of God and the meaning of life. It is interesting and should be “an awakening” that independent local churches can preach the same thing when their only rule is the bible. God’s children are certainly not perfect but get the essentials right (gospel message) and then everything else can be easily understood and validated in its consistency and how everything fits perfectly together.
“So-called Christianity” has evolved from the first century to be something that is not in any way supported by the scriptures. This “Christianity” is complex and diverse in its names and teachings. These organizations effectively confuse their members and the world in relation to the truth. All this coming from an inability to respect the word of God such that it is not changed. Catholics rally around their pope to make sense out of their ever-changing doctrine, while Protestants find some synergy in a mental acceptance of Christ.
Atheists and “so-called Christians” both suffer from how people have privately interpreted scripture. There is another thing that significantly influences the beliefs of both of these groups, but differently. Let’s look at three verses and then describe the mess that occurs confusing so many. As usual, you need to take God seriously – He means what He says.

Jeremiah 29.13

13 And you will SEEK ME AND FIND ME, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Hebrews 11.6

6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who DILIGENTLY SEEK HIM.

Acts 17.27

27 so that they should SEEK THE LORD, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

God is providing something very basic you need to understand. As usual, this is something that should have been taught and been a core understanding for all those who want a relationship with God through Christ. Simply said, you need to seek God and NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. Atheists will never get to the truth because they do not seek God and in fact they work to discredit His word. People in their sincere, diligent efforts to find God grow in the knowledge of God and they have their minds opened to the truth. They are seeking God and this is essential to finding Him. The person that is not spiritual does not discern the things of God and that is why seeking God and finding Him will always be a process that begins with a strong desire to find God and be successful – heaven. Then it grows into something where faith becomes sight and a person’s ability to serve God improves, albeit gradually.

1 John 4.18
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us.

2 Peter 3.18
18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In this process of growth, fear is being lessened and faith is indeed becoming sight. You see everything in God’s word fitting together and you continually gain a better understanding of God. Faith was initiated by seeing the invisible attributes of God (understood by the things that are made) and then from God’s word learning God’s purpose. Gradually God and His wisdom is better understood and there is certainty. One thing every child of God understands about faith is how the assurances from God are always tied to continuing faithfulness.

On the other hand, God differentiates man’s wisdom from His and indicates His wisdom is foolishness to “natural man” and how spiritual discernment comes only from the things of the Spirit of God – God’s word.

1 Corinthians 2.13,14

13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Protestants and Catholics violate this most basic of principles. The pattern for salvation involves the gospel message being presented and people responding, SEEKING what they must do. In reality most Protestants and Catholics are born into families and consequently associate from youth by effective parental and clergy instruction. Protestants and Catholics in different ways “suggest” God will or may contact them (maybe through the Holy Spirit) and it may be different or even separate from the gospel message. God is contacting them (not really), seeking them (not really) – because this is not the pattern. It is the pattern the Jews wanted (a sign) and that people in general want. Atheists even may mention requiring certain evidence to believe in God. Protestants may believe the Holy Spirit is selecting the person for salvation and/or even guiding the person into various endeavors. Catholics have their external miracles even appearances for instance from Mary that in some way interact with people in promoting Catholicism. There have been no miracles since the word of God has been confirmed somewhere near the end of the first century. This includes no appearances by Mary or anyone else. This is because God has delivered that which is perfect – His word. God’s part in terms of achieving His purpose has been accomplished. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have completed their parts leaving only Jesus to bring an end to all things at the end of the age.

Note: Of course, God is still there to be sought, the Holy Spirit is still there in the sense He delivered the word of God and Jesus is still there adding those to His body in obedience to the gospel and is the advocate with the Father for His body. The work they set out to accomplish has been completed. God saw that Genesis 3.15 was fulfilled in bringing Jesus through the lineage, Jesus fulfilled the promise in obedience to the Father and the Holy Spirit delivered the word of God and confirmed it. Again for emphasis, there remains one thing to be completed and that is Jesus returning in the air bringing His spiritual body (His church) to be with Him forever. This will initiate the end of all things physical and the judgment.

For clarity, it might be said that those who do not seek God will not find Him. In the process of seeking God you might come across the gospel message and that would be the best thing. Now it becomes, how serious are you about heaven, about truth. People, who “care less” about the truth end up finding all sorts of problems with God and the bible. God’s design to accomplish His purpose is perfect and indeed comes from God’s absence of evil. It is evil to be unappreciative of all that God has done for you in Christ. Again, I will mention that you can see God in creation and should consider it the stage for God’s test of those in His image. You should expect perfection in the test that allows God to be error-free in selecting those to share His Divine Nature. Failing in life means making bad decisions and to lose out on sharing the Diving Nature would seem “unbearable” because the reason will be your pride and selfishness.
God does not respect private interpretations of scripture (2 Peter 1.20,21) but provides a singular message and any variation from it does not produce the result God wants for you. God, being perfect and having delivered that which is perfect will not accept any other path to heaven. We are not used to dealing with perfection and thus envision all sorts of variation can be found acceptable but that is not the case. This is an important outcome of dealing with God and His perfection. It should wake up a person to the seriousness of every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Satan tempted Jesus by trying to get Him to accept some suggestion, a seemingly insignificant thing that would have helped Jesus in His weak, hungry condition. Jesus responded man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Matthew 4.1-4

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.
3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

The important thing here is the emphasis on God’s word as the way to live. Jesus tells His apostles prior to ascending into heaven that all things written about Him were fulfilled before His death.

Luke 24.44

44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”

Matthew 5:18

18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

This is the perfection of God, even in a world where humankind has a free will, all was fulfilled. This should once again bring you to the seriousness of God’s word in your life. Everything God says in relation to sin and its consequence will be found true.

Romans 3.4

4 ….. let God be true but every man a liar ….

Everything God says about the coming end of all things at His return will come to pass exactly as is specified in the word of God. Everything in your life that you thought was so important will be meaningless in an instant. In that instant your physical existence will end and your opportunity to do the right thing has passed. It will be a moment of great joy for those who succeed and a moment of great terror for those who fail. It will be a moment where the differentiation spoken of in 2 Corinthians 4.18 becomes reality that is seen (temporary) things are gone and (unseen) eternal things are now what remains.

2 Corinthians 4.18

18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

One might think there is nothing I can do about that, but that is the point your eternity is in your hands. At least your success or failure in life is in your hands until that instant.Despite a world that wants to find evil in God as a potential excuse why humankind is evil and even suggest there is no God because He is evil. That is because the most apparent, likely God is seen in the Bible and He is evil. However, our creator is absent of anything even resembling evil. As we have shown evil originated from choices people make that oppose God’s laws. The free will God provided humankind is in the background of evil’s existence but only when poor choices are made. Indeed, we all make poor choices and thus God provided a way of recovery in His Son. Strangely, some will reject God’s solution in favor of how they want to live. If you understand life then you see no evil in God and know evil comes from the poor choices people make. Yes, innocent people suffer from the evil choices of others and often those choices have a long history. The absence of evil in God leaves Him filled with love and justice and all the characteristics of perfect righteousness.