========================================================================
  WRITINGS OF RICHARD A BENNETT
  by Richard A. Bennett
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A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by Richard A. Bennett,
compiled for study and devotional reading.

  Chapters: 15

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 1.00. Your Quest for God
    2. 1.00000.     Forward
    3. 1.000000.     Preface
    4. 1.01.     Is there really a God?
    5. 1.02.     Is your spiritual guide reliable?
    6. 1.03.     What is God like?
    7. 1.04.     What really divides people?
    8. 1.05.     What is the real problem?
    9. 1.06.     Why are people so misguided?
   10. 1.07.     Does God truly love me?
   11. 1.08.     Where can I find life?
   12. 1.09.     How can I become part of God’s family?
   13. 1.10.     What Next?
   14. S. The Adulation of Man in The Purpose Driven LifeTitle/Content
   15. S. The Purpose Driven Life: Demeaning the Very Nature of God

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  CHAPTER 1: 1.00. YOUR QUEST FOR GOD
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Your Quest for

God

Richard

A. Bennett Founder, Director: Operation Mobilisation CROSS CURRENTS
INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES

Published by:

CROSS CURRENTS INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES

P.O. Box 12201 Dallas, Texas 75225 This module was compiled at the School of
Ministry www.ccsom.org Used by permission of the author.

Dedication

Without the encouragement, the love, the sacrifice and the prayers of my wife,
Dorothy, this book would not have been written. As Paul said of Phoebe, so I say
of her: . . She herself has also been a helper of many . . . and of myself as
well.


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  CHAPTER 2: 1.00000.     FORWARD
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Foreword

I heartily recommend this book, Your Quest for God, for two reasons. The first
is that I know the author! He is a son in the faith, and I have no greater joy
than to hear that my children walk in truth (3 John 1:4 KJ). The second reason
is more objective. Dr Richard Bennett has done a superb job in spelling out
clearly, concisely and convincingly the essentials of man’s relationship with
God. The Bible informs us that God has set eternity in the hearts of men . . .
(Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV). It follows, therefore, that since men were made for
eternity the things of time can never fully and permanently satisfy. There is an
endless emptiness which only God can fill. St. Augustine stated it perfectly
when he declared, “O God, Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our souls are
restless till they rest in Thee.” This book helps us to follow that quest until
we find rest in a living and personal relationship with the Eternal God.

It is my earnest prayer that multitudes will read the pages that follow and heed
the message that unfolds to the glory of God and their eternal good.

Dr. Stephen F. Olford


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  CHAPTER 3: 1.000000.     PREFACE
========================================================================

Preface In our extensive travels, my wife, Dorothy, and I have met many friends
on the highways and byways of life. They have come from many different cultures,
economic backgrounds and educational levels.

We do not believe it was by accident that we met these individuals. Neither do
we believe it is accidental that this little book is in your hands.

Over the years, the most important conversations we have had with our many
friends have centered around our quest for God. Some of the thoughts we have
shared together are contained in this book. The first edition of Your Quest for
God, from which the subsequent revisions were made, was a personal project of
thanksgiving. As Dorothy and I approached our 25th wedding anniversary, we
pondered what would be the most vital way we could express our thanks to God for
His goodness to us.

What better way, we thought, than by writing, printing and giving to 25,000
people a message that would bring them hope and peace. That would be one
thousand for each year of our married life.

God blessed this little labor of love as the book literally found its way around
the world. All 25,000 copies were placed directly into the hands of people in
many different countries. Our greatest joy was to receive letters from those
who, as a result of reading Your Quest for God, found new purpose in life.

Numerous requests came that we translate this book into other languages.
Therefore, we decided to make the first revision of the text for this purpose
with the prayer that many more people throughout the continents of the world
would be helped in their ‘Quest for God.’ As a result, over three million copies
in fifty languages have been printed and distributed far and wide. And now we
also pray that this fifth English edition will bring help to even more readers.
The first two chapters will not be equally relevant to every reader. Chapter one
was written for those people who may question the existence of God. Although
chapter two will be of particular interest to those who have learned to question
everything, it is actually vital to all readers, for it encourages each of you
to evaluate your own beliefs and attitudes.

These preparatory chapters, however, are essential to the overall theme, for
they help establish the trustworthiness of the remaining information. Chapters
three to ten contain basic truths that will help you in your quest for God. So,
we gladly place this new edition in the hands of God to bless as He deems best.

Both Dorothy and I wish to record our thankfulness to God for the love, prayers
and insights of the many special people who have shared their personal
experience of God with us. They are far too many to name. To these friends we
say: “Thank you.”


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  CHAPTER 4: 1.01.     IS THERE REALLY A GOD?
========================================================================

Is there really a God?

There may have been times in your life when things seemed so bleak that you have
not only doubted the love of God but you have also ques­tioned His very
existence. In the Bible, the existence of God is not explained; neither is it
proved. It is simply taken for granted. The very first sentence of the Bible In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1) is an awesome
statement that is both simple and profound. It declares that God is, and that He
is the Creator of the Universe.

Many years ago my wife held a senior nursing position at one of the most
prestigious psychiatric hospitals in Europe. One day a leading psychiatrist, who
claimed to be an atheist, quizzed Dorothy about her faith. “Doctor,” she
replied, “you know I respect you very deeply as an authority in your field. You
are an esteemed university lecturer, and in the medical profession your name is
widely revered. May I sug­gest, however, that before you again claim to be an
atheist, you read the Bible with the same zeal that has characterized your
psychiatric research.”

She then reminded him of several of his patients who had recently been released
from the chronic ward because of the wonderful changes God’s power had made in
their lives. She was able to name one or two who had been so dramatically
transformed that they were already leading productive lives. Dorothy told the
renowned psychiatrist how each of these patients had come to know God in a
personal and vital way. The doctor himself was acutely aware that these
pa­tients had been previously untouched by the latest psychiatric techniques.
Neither as an atheist, nor even as a psychiatrist, could he account for the
phenomenon of their changed lives. This doctor, having just told Dorothy that he
did not believe in God, concluded that conversation by asking her to pray for
him! He also promised that, for the first time in his life, he would start to
read the Bible with an open mind.

After seven weeks of careful reading, the psychia­trist told Dorothy that he was
no longer a professing atheist. However, he still had a problem, for he
rec­ognized that a genuine commitment to God would require a change in his
lifestyle. “My problem is no longer intellectual,” he admitted, “but I find that
I am unwilling to accept the changes that would occur if I were to become a
committed believer.”

After having prayed for our doctor friend for ten years, we finally received a
letter in which he told us of his new-found faith and of his personal
commit-ment to God. We were overjoyed, but not too surprised, because we knew
that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17 KJ).
To help each of us come to know Him, God has placed within our being a deep
inner consciousness of His existence.

Some people may choose not to believe in God, but there has never been a person
on Planet Earth who could not believe in God.

Even in the physical universe itself, God has given many evidences of His own
existence. The deeper that our twenty-first century science reaches into the
secrets of the universe, the more unreasonable it becomes to suggest that all
this came into existence without a Designer. No one would ever suggest that a
space shuttle could soar into space, orbit the Earth, and then land at the
expected moment and location without the combined creative genius of designers,
technicians and mathematicians. Likewise, sunsets and seasons, galaxies and
atoms, the force of gravity and the power of love could never exist without the
planning and design of a Creator God.

Surely it takes a million times more faith to believe that an ordered, perfect
Creation came from a ‘big bang’ than it does to believe in God, the Creator, for
there can be no design without first there being a de­signer.

Even the government that has denied the existence of God has actually expressed
its own confidence in the universe’s being one of law and order each time that
it has sent a cosmonaut into space. Only by coop­erating with these laws could
their cosmonauts have returned safely to earth. Does it not seem strange, then,
that these same people who rely on natural laws reject the existence of a
Lawmaker, the existence of a Supreme Planner?

Again we are all aware of the devastatingly-de­structive power that is released
when an atom bomb explodes. However, it has been calculated that each and every
second the sun releases an amount of power that is equal to 5,000 billion atomic
bombs. And in comparison to the other power-emitting stars, our sun is not even
very large; and we still do not know how many stars there actually are in the
universe. Although billions have been gathered into man’s sight, these stars
could be just the outer fringe of the vast unknown. Today, though, astronomers
recognize that the energy released in some galaxies is billions of times greater
than that given off by our own sun! How could such power exist were it not for a
Creator whose power is without limit?

Indeed, creation introduces us to a God of Design, a God of Law and a God of
Infinite Power. The Bible says: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the
firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto
night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is
not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the
end of the world (Psalms 19:1-4 KJ). For the invisible things of Him [God] from
the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse
(Romans 1:20 KJ).

So, there is no excuse for anyone, anywhere, to deny the existence of God.

Reflecting upon the vastness, the order and the power that God has created makes
many people feel very small and insignificant.

Israel’s King David had that reaction and ex­pressed it this way: When I
consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which
Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou dost take thought of him? (Psalms
8:3-4).

Today, our knowledge of the starry heavens has become vastly increased, for
giant telescopes magnify our vision of the universe by half-a-million-fold and
satellites signal pictures back to Planet Earth as they journey through outer
space. As a result, we too might be tempted to ask the same question as did
David: “How could a God who created all this be interested in little me?”

Fortunately, however, the age of the telescope is also the age of the
microscope. Today, we know that there is also a world in miniature, which can be
seen only through the microscope, and it is just as incred­ible as is the
vastness of outer space. Even light is too coarse to reveal the secrets of this
sub-microscopic realm. What escapes the eye of the scientist’s tradi­tional lab
microscope can be picked up by the electron microscope, which further reveals
the beauty, design, law and power embodied in our infinitesimally-minute world.

So, if you ever wonder whether or not God has someone so small as you on His
mind, listen to the nuclear physicist tell how important real smallness is to
the preservation of the entire universe. Separate the neutrons and the protons
of an atom by just 1/12 tril­lionth of an inch and, instead of matter being
bound in a solid mass, the world would blow apart in a cosmic nuclear explosion.
Yes, smallness is just as important as greatness to the God of Creation.

It is reassuring to know that when we ask the ques­tion: What is man that Thou
dost take thought of him? it is not the size of a man that determines his value.
On the contrary, our personal value to God is predi­cated upon some very
different factors. And God has revealed to us why we are valuable to Him and how
precious we are in His sight.

Though creation itself speaks of a God of design, law and power, God has chosen
another way to reveal Himself as the God of infinite love and mercy, the One who
desires nothing but our greatest good. But if you are to find such a God, it is
imperative that your spiri­tual guide be utterly reliable.

Pause to Consider 1. If you threw a handful of iron filings into the air, would
you expect to catch a Swiss watch when it came down?

2. Could the universe with all of its marvellous and intricate design have just
happened without the Creator-God?

3. Though creation can point you to a Creator-God who has manifested Himself as
the God of design, of law and of power, is creation of and by itself sufficient
to bring you to an understanding of God’s love and mercy?


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  CHAPTER 5: 1.02.     IS YOUR SPIRITUAL GUIDE RELIABLE?
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A dark cave can easily be traversed by one who has entered it with a torch.

Plato Nature is the dim light from the cave’s mouth; the torch is Scripture.

A.H. Strong Is your spiritual guide reliable?

Some time ago newspapers recounted the alarming fact that the tragic loss of
human life in an airplane crash had been caused by a faulty radar signal. And
yet that tragic accident pales into insignificance when compared to what
hap­pens if people put their confidence in a ‘spiritual radar system’ which
directs them to spiritual disaster.

Today there are many conflicting and confusing voices in the world, each
claiming to be a guide to God. How can you know which one to trust? In your
quest for God you cannot afford to be guided by the wrong voice because the
issues at stake are eternal.

British Prime Minister W. E. Gladstone wrote: “The Bible is stamped with a
speciality of origin, and an immeasurable distance separates it from all its
competitors.”

American President Abraham Lincoln once said: “I believe the Bible is the best
gift God has ever given to man.”

Even though many great men of history have in­deed testified to its uniqueness,
the Bible really stands on its own record.

King David was clear about the reliability of his spiritual guide. He said: Thy
word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path (Psalms 119:105). To this very
day people are finding the Bible can be trusted to guide them to God. In spite
of those who have tried to destroy its credibility, the Bible stands as firm and
faithful today as it did in days gone by; it is truly unique among the writings
of the world.

Because people need the assurance that the Bible is both unique and authentic,
God has stamped it with many seals that verify its being ‘The Word of God.’ Both
within the pages of Scripture and also from the records of secular history, an
honest enquirer will find overwhelming evidence to support the fact that: All
Scripture is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16).

If the Bible had been written by one writer, we would not be surprised to find
its theme developing in an orderly and progressive manner. This Book of Books,
however, was not written by one person, but by many different authors from
diverse cultures over a time span of several centuries; yet it contains a
con­sistent, orderly and unique development of the truth about God. That in
itself is most remarkable, more than remarkable—miraculous! In addition,
archaeological diggers are continually unearthing new evidence which further
confirms the historical accuracy of the Bible record. Events that were once
ridiculed as fiction have now been verified by the spades of modern
archaeologists.* Yes, the Bible truly is God’s Book containing God’s message to
all people. In spite of the fact that the Bible is God’s Book, some people are
still ‘turned off ‘ from reading it be­cause of a popular delusion that the
world is divided into two groups: scientists who face the facts, and true
believers who shut their eyes to them. The implication is that a real scientist
cannot be a true believer. Today, however, there are many great scientists who
deny this assumption. Though the Bible is not a scientific textbook, wherever it
does touch on these areas it has never been discredited by established
scientific facts. Instead, in its purpose and design, the Bible goes far beyond
the limitations of science. For instance, science cannot explain why we are here
on Planet Earth, nor can it tell us where we are going after our life here on
earth ends. Neither can sci­ence tell us what life is all about, or even the
real value of a person. No matter how clever (or simple) a person may be, each
one needs divine help to come to know

* For example, in 1868, a German traveller named Klein visited the ancient land
of Moab, which is today called ‘Jordan.’ There he discovered a stone monument on
which were inscribed thirty-four lines written by Mesha, King of Moab. This
inscription was recorded in memory of his revolt against Israel. Both Omri and
Ahab are mentioned in 2 Kings 1:1-18 and again on the monument. In both cases we
are told that these Israelite kings were oppressors of Moab. Many such modernday
discoveries confirm the historical accuracy of the Biblical record. the truth
about God. That is surely why the French philosopher and mathematician, Blaise
Pascal, said: “The supreme achievement of reason is to show us that there is a
limitation to reason.” We would never have reliable answers to life’s most
important questions if it were not for God’s Book.

Now let us consider two strong indications that the Bible is in fact God’s Book.
The first is the incredible accuracy of its prophetic predictions. The second is
the powerful and positive influence that it has exerted in the lives of those
people who have taken its message seriously. The Bible’s Prophetic Accuracy

There is a built-in curiosity in most of us to know what the future holds. And
the Bible reveals some of the most important events of the future, many in
in­tricate and fascinating detail. Now you may well ask: “How can you be so
sure?” To answer this question let us imagine that you are taking a walking
holiday in a country where you have never been before.The map in your hand is
your only guide. Yesterday you found this map to be totally reliable for, just
as it had indicated, you had found a river and then the village where you slept
last night. Today you must decide a new path to take. Before you is unfamiliar
territory, but your map indicates that if you turn left you will go through some
woods to a place where you will find a large lake. Now you would like to see
that lake, so what would you do? I think you would follow the directions of the
map and take a left turn. Surely, the main reason for your confidence in doing
this would be the fact that yesterday your map proved to be an accurate guide in
an unknown terri­tory. It told you what you would find before you got there, and
it was right!

One of the most remarkable proofs that the Bible is the Word of God is its
unique accuracy when it proph­esies future events. In its pages we read many
prophe­cies which, from today’s perspective, we know have been exactly fulfilled
even as they had been predicted hundreds of years before.

These prophecies cover a remarkable scope, em­bracing all the peoples of the
earth, as well as includ­ing very specific details about Israel and the Middle
East. Even more important are the hundreds of predic­tions relating to the
coming of the Messiah. Because many of these messianic prophecies are now
history, we recognize how incredibly accurate they were in some extremely
unlikely details about the Messiah’s birth, life and death. On the basis of such
a track record, it is reason­able (and right) to assume that the future will
unfold exactly as the Bible predicts. And each year, further evidence of the
Bible’s prophetic accuracy unfolds before our very eyes. In fact, to read the
Bible is to read tomorrow’s newspaper.

Dr. Wilbur Smith was a life-long student of the Bible. He took particular
delight in pointing out the detailed accuracy of Bible prophecy. Contrasting the
many prophecies in the Old Testament that speak of the Messiah with the
teachings of others who claim to have the truth, Wilbur Smith noted that
“Mohammedanism cannot point to any prophecies of the coming Moham­med uttered
hundreds of years before his birth. Neither can the founders of any cult rightly
identify any ancient text which specifically foretells their appearance.”

Now we must acknowledge that there are certain so-called ‘prophecies’ which do
not require much in­spiration to be accurate. With the aid of computers,
election-day interviews and historical data, the news media can sometimes
predict the winner of an election before the ballot boxes close. With all the
statistics that are available to them, there is nothing very remarkable when
they ‘call’ the winner ahead of time, and even then they sometimes miss!

However, try asking any news reporter to identify the candidates who will be
running for election twenty or fifty years from now. Ask him who will win, and
then ask him for details about the places where the winners will be born, their
future lifestyles, and even the circumstances that will surround their deaths.
Go even beyond that and ask the news reporter for reli­able information about
what will happen in the Middle East 1,000 years from now. Also ask him to
specify cities that will be annihilated during that long period of time.

Surely you will agree that each time an additional prediction is demanded of
that news reporter the in­credible odds against his being accurate in his
proph­ecy are vastly increased. That is, of course, unless the God of eternity
were telling him about the future; only in that case would we expect the
reporter to know the end from the beginning. And such occurrences as those we
have suggested for our news reporter together with many of even more intricate
detail and covering an even longer time span have been proph­esied in the Bible.
The history of the city of ancient Tyre, for exam­ple, is an incredible
fulfillment of what God predicted would happen to this city.

If you are so inclined, first read the prophecies that are recorded in Ezekiel
26:3-21, and then turn to the Encyclopedia Britannica and other records of
history. In both you will be reading the same story, the first one as prophecy,
and the second one as history.

Prophecy: A long time before the events occurred, God prophesied a turbulent
future for the city of Tyre. He said:

Behold, I . . . will bring up many nations against you, . . . they will destroy
the walls of Tyre and break down her towers. Also, it was foretold that the very
site on which this city of fame was built would be scraped to make her a bare
rock. Even more than that, it was prophesied that they will . . . throw your
stones and your timbers and your debris into the water. But the incredible
details of these prophecies do not conclude with that. God said of ancient Tyre:
. . . you will be a place for the spreading of nets (Ezekiel 26:3-4, Ezekiel
26:12-14). Is your spiritual guide reliable?

History: When you read the historical records, you will verify that when
Nebuchad-nezzar destroyed the old (mainland) city of Tyre, he did indeed break
down the walls and towers just as had been predicted. And later the engineers of
Alexander the Great did scrape the ancient city of Tyre clean and did leave her
like a bare rock. When they threw the rubble of the city into the sea to make a
causeway to the island, it was just as it had been prophesied: the stones and
the timber and the dust were in fact thrown into the water. Yes, to this very
day the ruins of ancient Tyre are buried by the waters of the sea. God said it
would happen and it did.

Though there is a well-known city called Tyre in the Middle East today, this is
not the ancient city of Tyre which was finally destroyed in 1291.

If you were able to visit the site of ancient Tyre, you would see an even more
incredible fulfillment of these prophecies. There you would view a few
fishermen’s cottages clustered together in a little vil­lage, where you would
view fishing boats drifting out to sea and fishing nets drying on bare rocks!
How could human wisdom have predicted this unlikely future for such a thriving
commercial city as that of ancient Tyre?

Peter Stoner compared seven prophecies about Ancient Tyre with the historical
record. After calculat­ing the mathematical probability that Ezekiel’s
proph­ecies would be fulfilled, he stated:

“If Ezekiel had looked at Tyre in his day, and made these seven predictions in
human wisdom, these esti­mates mean that there would have been one chance in
75,000,000 of their all coming true. They all came true in the minutest detail.”

Now let us look at just one of the predictions con­cerning the birth of a baby.

Matthew, a retired government tax official, re­called four of the many
remarkable prophecies that were fulfilled when Jesus was born. In one of them,
Matthew referred to the prophet Micah, who had thundered denunciations against
the phony rulers of his day. Micah’s heart was broken because when he was alive
his nation lacked genuine leadership author­ity. However, Micah saw a brighter
future when God showed him that one day a Ruler would be born. He even
pinpointed the exact birthplace of this coming Leader. But as for you, Bethlehem
Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth
for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days
of eternity (Micah 5:2).

God revealed that the needed Ruler in Israel would be born in Bethlehem
Ephrathah.

Just as Micah prophesied, Jesus was born, not in His family’s home town of
Nazareth, but in Bethle­hem Ephrathah; born there because of the decree of a
Roman Emperor. It was census time and His parents were obeying an imperial
decree. Accordingly, they left home to go to Bethlehem. Surely no one would look
for the Ruler from little Bethlehem, which was Is your spiritual guide reliable?
only one of many Judean towns. The odds against His being born there are
incredible. Yet it happened just as Micah had predicted. And this is only one of
literally hundreds of such amazing prophecies about the life of Jesus.

We read that God declares: The end from the beginning and from ancient times
things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established and I
will accomplish all My good pleasure’ (Isaiah 46:10).

I declared the former things long ago and they went forth from My mouth, and I
proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. . . . Therefore I
declared them to you long ago, before they took place I proclaimed them to you
(Isaiah 48:3, Isaiah 48:5).

History has proved that these prophecies, given by God and recorded in the
Bible, have a 100% accuracy rating. The Bible’s Powerful Influence A second
powerful proof that the Bible is the Word of God is the influence that it has
exerted. Socially, culturally and individually the message of the Bible has
dignified the human race whenever and wherever it has been taught and believed.

Just before the first revision of this book was to go to print, a new friend
visited our home. Together we reviewed the manuscript. Though not readily given
to 19 a display of emotion, he became quite overcome with tears as we read
Chapter Seven. Twice we stopped to bow in prayer and to give praise to the God
whose love we were reading about. Together we thanked God for His patience, His
mercy and for every token of His love in our unworthy lives. As we sensed the
vibrant, vital presence of the living God, we were filled with joy. That day was
especially significant for my friend. Exactly one year earlier, he had been
sitting alone in a luxury apartment which was quite a contrast to the modesty of
the dwelling where we now met. But at that time the beauty that had surrounded
him had given him no joy. In fact, he had such inward despair that he had no
real desire to live. In his quest for personal happiness, he had indulged all
the animal impulses of his manhood. A cocaine habit had cost him a fortune.
‘Downers’ and ‘uppers’, brandy and whisky all had been part of his daily drag.
For years, in Europe and around the world, he had partied with the wealthi­est
of the wealthy, but on that night he was alone. In his solitude, his
memory-induced despondency was now deepened by what he considered to be a
threaten­ing and fearful world situation. For him there seemed no way out. With
grim determination he loaded his twin-bar­reled handgun, held it to his temple
and cocked the trigger. “Just 1/8 of an inch away from oblivion,” he thought,
“then my pain will be over forever.” At that split second (my friend does not
know how it hap­pened) the television program changed. He found himself
listening to a message from the Bible that presented a future of hope. As the
midnight hour ap­proached and quite alone, he fell on the floor before the
living God to ask for forgiveness and mercy.

Because the power of God had so radically trans­formed my friend’s life, the man
before me bore little resemblance to the one I have briefly described. Before
his birth, his parents had prayed for him; and though as a young man he had
studied the Bible, he had refused to take its message seriously. In his world of
affluence and privilege, he had rebelled against God and indulged in incredible
moral license.

Seventeen years before that memorable night when he eventually found God, my
friend had bought a beautiful leather-bound book. It contained blank white
pages. His intent had been to record every significant event of his life from
that day on. And yet nothing in those seventeen years of extravagant and
wasteful living had merited one entry. The fact is that all during those years
my friend, having turned his back upon the living God, had traveled a strange
and unsatisfying pseudo-spiritual journey. It had begun with an interest in the
daily horo­scope and an obsession with rock music and rock con­certs. Soon he
became involved in the occult. Later his fascination with Yoga led to a serious
study of Hindu philosophy and to eventual involvement with Eastern Mysticism.
Nothing that he had experienced during those years had merited a single entry in
his brown leather notebook. Its pages remained white with the ache of emptiness
until that memorable night when he met God. That night my friend recorded his
first entry. I had the joy of reading what he wrote. It is a sacred and
spiritual account of a needy man who was saved by a loving God. It is beautiful
indeed. In great mercy, God had broken through his spiritual blindness and had
delivered him from despair and death by the light of His unchanging truth and
amazing love.

It is because of man’s spiritual confusion like the blindness of my friend that
God has revealed Himself in a book that is called the Bible. If you turn from
the Bible, the only reliable spiritual guide, you will shut yourself up in
delusion and error. But if, in your search for God, you turn to the Bible with a
teachable mind, you will find it to contain all the spiritual light and
direction that you need.

Only through God’s Word can we gain a clear un­derstanding of God as He has
declared Himself. In this Book, we are introduced to Truth itself, to the Word
of God, to the Light of the World.

Lord, Thy Word abideth,And our footsteps guideth;Who its truth believeth,Light
and joy receiveth.

Pause to Consider

1. Are there any other manuscripts or ‘sacred writings’ that can compare with
the Bible in their accuracy in predicting future events?

2. Do you personally know people whose lives have been transformed because they
have heeded the message of the Bible?

3. Have you ever belittled the unique teachings of the Bible while at the same
time you neglected to read it with an open mind?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 6: 1.03.     WHAT IS GOD LIKE?
========================================================================

The problems of heaven and earth, though they were to confront us together and
at once, would be nothing compared with the overwhelming problem of God: that He
is; what He is like; and what we as moral beings must do about him.

A.W. Tozer What is God like? At some time in life most people have asked: “What
is God like?” Though God has given an answer to this question, there are still
those who would rather rely on their imagina­tion and speculation than read in
the Bible what God has to say about Himself.

These people really reverse an important Bible statement. Whereas God said: Let
Us make man in Our image (Genesis 1:26), they say: “Let us make God in our
image.” And so they change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made
like corruptible man (Romans 1:23 NKJV). Every ‘god’ that has been conceived by
man has been totally powerless, and sometimes even grotesque. No matter how
clever a person is, he can never discover the living God by worldly wisdom . . .
the world through its wisdom did not come to know God (1 Corinthians 1:21). If
God could be discovered by human cleverness, He would be too small to be God.
Not only that, but if human cleverness were necessary to discover God, then
those people who may not be quite so clever would be disadvantaged in their
quest for Him. And that is not the case. On the contrary, spiritual wisdom is
available to everybody. It is equally as available to an African ‘stick lady’ as
it is to a university professor, for spiritual wisdom is not acquired by the
academic process. It is available to all people who are humble enough to
rec­ognize their need of God’s help in their quest for Him. But if any of you
lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously (James 1:5).
This kind of wisdom is not worldly but Heavenly. It is the wisdom which none of
the rulers of this age (i.e., rulers who operate by this world’s system) has
understood . . . not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God,
that we might know the things freely given to us by God (1 Corinthians 2:8, 1
Corinthians 2:12). The Bible is not merely a religious thesis; it is pri­marily
the record of how God has revealed Himself to man. And only God can give you the
spiritual wisdom that you need to understand who He is and what He wants to do
in your life.

If you but ask Him, God will show Himself to you through His Holy Word. In our
travels we have found deep spiritual inter­est and insights in what some might
consider unusual places and among unlikely people. For instance, one day we met
a group of young African boys in the bush of Kenya who seemed interested only in
sharing their faith and learning more about the things of God. The equatorial
sun had quickly slipped below the What is God like? horizon, bringing an end to
a long, busy day. As I sat on a rock beside a dusty Kenyan lane to rest awhile,
I heard a movement in the bush. I turned to see a faint ray from the full moon
as it reflected in the large black eyes of an African boy. Soon this 10-year-old
lad was squatting beside me on the rock; we quickly became good friends. Other
boys heard our voices and seemed to come from nowhere to hear what we were
talking about. Their knowledge of the Bible impressed me greatly. “Why didn’t
God let Moses see His face?” my little friend asked. Fascinated by such a
question, I responded by asking young Joel if he could remember the prayer of
Moses before God said to him, you shall see My back but My face shall not be
seen (Exodus 33:23). Moses had not known just how overwhelming it would be to
see the glory of God. However, because God is a self-revealing God who wants to
draw man to Himself, He showed as much of Himself to Moses as the prophet was
able to bear. If God had shown more of Himself, Moses would have been utterly
consumed by the brightness of His presence. Even though God did hide the
fullness of His glory from Moses, when God passed by where Moses was He still
had to shelter Moses in the cleft [crevice] of a rock (Exodus 33:22). Living on
the equator, my young friends were aware that they could not gaze at the
brilliant light of the noonday sun without shielding their eyes. They also knew
that moths were attracted to light on a dark night. When I asked what happens if
the moths get too close to the source of light, their united reply was:

“They get killed.” They were obviously aware of the dangers of an over-exposure
to light.

I tried to think of another illustration that might help them to understand the
answer to their question. All of my new young friends knew of the swaddling
bands that swathed their baby brothers and sisters and secured them close to
their mother’s heart of love and tender care. I then told them of the swaddling
band (Job 38:9) that God has wrapped around the earth.

(Scientists call it the ozone layer. This delicate blanket of allotropic oxygen
filters out the harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. Without the sun there
would, of course, be no life on Planet Earth, but God’s tender care has
sheltered us from an overdose of the sun’s energy and its cancer-causing
effects.) My little friends seemed particularly interested in God’s swaddling
band as I tried to explain in simple terms that it protects us all from terrible
burns. I do not know whether they understood all I said, but their little hearts
tenderly responded to the love and the glory of God and we had a precious time
of prayer together. They evidently knew, in a personal way, that they too
enjoyed the same protection that Moses had been given in his quest for God. And
basic to our own understand­ing of what God is like, the Bible tells us that:
“The Lord our God is ONE Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4 KJ). The oneness of His Person
is a foundational truth.

But, to give us a fuller understanding of what He is like, God has also told us
His names. In the Bible, names are always considered impor­tant because their
meaning is meant to reflect certain aspects of the bearer’s character. Each name
that is used to refer to God has a very special meaning and reveals a unique
facet of His divine Person. In the Old Testament there are three primary names
that are used for God: Yahweh, Elohim and Adonai. Each has a special
significance. Elohim is the first name to be used, and it is mentioned well over
two thousand times. Though the name Yahweh is paramount, there is evidently also
an importance and significance about His name Elohim that God does not want us
to miss. What could this be? In the English language, when we talk in the
singu­lar we speak of one and when we talk in the plural we refer to more than
one. However, though we talk in the plural when we speak of more than ‘one’, the
original Hebrew is more precise. It employs ‘dual’ when refer­ring to ‘two’ and
‘plural’ when referring to more than two. The distinction between dual and
plural (between ‘two’ and ‘three or more’) is very significant. Elohim is the
first name in the Bible used for God. In Hebrew, Elohim—referring to the
Creator-God—is neither singular nor dual but it is in the plural.

“In the beginning God [Elohim] created the heav­ens and the earth” (Genesis
1:1). So, we find, that in the very first verse of the Bible—which is God’s
rev­elation of Himself to man—there is the intimation of a three-in-one and
one-in-three concept of who God is. This tri-unity has sometimes been called the
Trinity.

After the first intimation of God’s tri-unity we come to the record of God’s
creation of man. “And God said, Let Us make man in Our image” (Genesis 1:26).*
Nobody can mistake that both ‘Us’ and ‘Our’ are plu­ral pronouns in the English
language. But, amazingly, in the very next sentence we read: “Male and female He
created them” (Genesis 1:27). Here, it is obvious that “He” can only refer to
one person. So each of these references to God as ‘one’ and ‘more than one’ is
to the God who has already introduced Himself as Elohim. A God such as this is
quite beyond the ability of worldly wisdom to comprehend. So, to help us in our
understanding, God has graciously given “the Spirit who is from God, that we
might know the things freely given to us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12).
Commenc­ing with these initial intimations of what God is like, the Bible
gradually unfolds His mysterious tri-unity. To understand this three-in-one and
one-in-three per­sonality of who God is, will help you to appreciate more fully
His astonishing love for you as you read chapter seven. To help us comprehend
something of the great­ness of His love, God progressively reveals Himself
throughout the rest of the Bible. There we are intro­duced to God the Father, to
God the Son, and to God the Holy Spirit. Yet He reveals Himself to be only, and

* It is important to note that the creation of men and women can never be
equated with the creation of the vegetable kingdom; nor even the highest form of
evolutionary development in the animal kingdom. Not so, men and women were
created in the “image of God” and are therefore a unique creation at the
pinnacle of all God’s marvelous creative acts. Later in this book, this
uniqueness will assure you who you really are. ever, one God. Our human minds
can only grasp the fringes of such a concept. So, because it was impos­sible for
man to reach up and discover the true and liv­ing God, He Himself took the
initiative and introduced Himself to man. The full revelation of God’s glory and
holiness was hidden from the eyes of Moses. However, in the person of God the
Son, Elohim revealed as much of Himself to man as man could bear.

Accordingly in the New Testament we read:

God, who said, Light shall shine out of darkness, is the One who has shone in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
[Jesus] Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Just think of it: when John gazed into the face of Jesus Christ, he declared: We
beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father (John 1:14
KJ).

Later John wrote of this, his personal encounter with God, and only because he
had met Elohim in the person of Jesus, he lived to tell the story!
Neverthe­less, he made it quite clear that his encounter was in fact with the
God of Eternity, the God of Creation, the God of Moses.

Astonishing as it was, this personal meeting be­tween John and his Creator-God
was audible, visible and tangible. That which was from the beginning, which we
have heard, (his audible encounter) which we have seen with our eyes (his
visible encounter) . . . and our hands have handled (his tangible encounter) (1
John 1:1 KJ).

No, the record that we read in the epistle of John is not one of disrelated
impersonal theology. It flows out of his own encounter with the living God.

“How does all this help me today?” you may ask. John is quick to answer that
question. These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full (1 John 1:4
KJ). And, likewise, this book you are now reading is in your hands because a
friend longs that you, too, may have this fullness of joy as you meet the living
God.

John explains: That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you
also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father,
and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy
may be full (1 John 1:3-4 KJ).

Yes, as light is attractive on a dark night, so the Light of God’s Glory still
draws men to Himself. To­day in your desire to know what God is like, you too
can pray with Moses: ‘Show me Thy Glory.

Pause to Consider 1. In your quest for God have you thoughtfully read the Bible?

2. Will you ask God to reveal Himself to you as you read the Bible? A suggested
prayer: “O God, if You are the God who created this universe and who loves me,
please reveal Yourself to me and show me if Jesus Christ is Your Son the
promised Messiah!”

3. Do you recognize that if you are to truly worship God He must be:

Greater than your ability to discover Him by human research; greater than your
ability to fully comprehend Him in your human mind?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 7: 1.04.     WHAT REALLY DIVIDES PEOPLE?
========================================================================

I think I understand somewhat of human nature, and I tell you all the heroes of
antiquity were men, and I am a man; but not one is like him: Jesus Christ was
more than a man.

Napoleon What really divides people? The world of today has been described as a
global village. However, because it is populated by hostile neighbors, this
global village has become an increasingly dangerous place in which to live. On
the surface, it would appear that the problems that divide mankind cover a broad
sweep of politi­cal, economic, domestic and even industrial issues. Though these
problem areas do cause people to be increasingly and depressingly fragmented,
there is an even greater, but less recognizable, reason for the alienation that
exists in our world.

First, let us briefly consider the obvious causes of division among people, and
then focus on the main cause.

Obvious Divisions

Politically: Politicians confront one another with fear and distrust. When faced
with irreconcilable view­points, they hope that military might will guarantee
their nation’s future security.

Meanwhile, concerned citizens raise their voices in favor of peace and nuclear
disarmament. Ironically, those of us who have seen some of these ‘peace’
dem­onstrations on television have witnessed that, in their conduct,
participants sometimes display the very type of passion from which war is made.

Economically: Natural disasters such as drought, fam­ine, starvation and
earthquakes are an ever-increasing problem, particularly in the Third World.
These di­sasters add to the pain caused by the great economic difference between
rich and poor nations. In spite of the goodwill and sacrifice of many people who
try to help, it is a sad observation that all too often the rich become richer
and the poor poorer.

Domestically: It is no secret that today the breakdown of marriage and family
life has reached epidemic proportions. With tears in his eyes, Letsoale said:
“My house has been broken.” I thought he meant that his four-walled African hut
had been destroyed, but I soon learned that this expression of brokenness was
Letsoale’s delicate way of telling me that his wife had left him. Today, too
many ‘houses’ are being ‘bro­ken’, as selfish lifestyles destroy loving
relationships. (However, as we shall see in a later chapter, the love of God is
available to any couple who wish to cement their marriage in a permanent union.)

Industrially: In the workplace we become accustomed to hearing about
dissatisfaction and tension. Early in 1985 the bitterest industrial dispute of
the twentieth century was brought to a conclusion in Britain. Though the strike
and the violent street confrontations ended, lingering resentments and
bitterness continued to be an open sore in labor-management relations and within
the industrial community itself. How different this situation is from the
outcome of the labor-management tensions that were subdued in the coal mines of
Wales after similar industrial unrest in 1904. John Parry told me the story from
first-hand experience. When I first met John, he was a 91-year-old retired coal
miner, totally blind and suffering from a chronic lung problem called Miners’
Disease. Whenever possible, my wife and I visited his humble miner’s cottage in
North Wales. With hearty laughter and vibrant joy, John delighted to recount to
us what God had done in Wales when He moved in conviction and power during the
Revival of 1904 and 1905. At that time both miners and their employers had met
with the living God. As a direct result they had found real togetherness, mutual
trust and respect. What a differ­ence between 1905 and 1985.

John spoke with exuberant joy as he reflected on those days. He recalled that
scores of ‘public houses’ went out of business because suddenly there was no
demand for alcohol. He also recalled going down into the pits with his fellow
miners as they unitedly sang the praises of God. He chuckled as he reflected:
“People still come to see me and ask where the revival was.” Thumping on his
chest he would answer: “I tell ‘em it’s under here and it’s right now!” The Real
Division

Deep as these divisions may be, there is something that divides mankind in a
much more startling and per­manent way. It is a danger that presently threatens
to destroy the tranquillity of many lands. You see, people are ultimately
polarized by their confused understand­ing about God! In His revelation to
mankind, God has never com­promised the truth about His divine Being. Before
Je­sus Christ was born, God promised that He would send a great light to help
people come to know Him as He really is. He said: The people who walk in
darkness will see a great light (Isaiah 9:2). God also gave details as to how
this light would be recognized: for a child will be born . . . a Son will be
given (Isaiah 9:6).

Surely, there would be nothing particularly sig­nificant about that statement if
God had only said that a child would be born. After all, children are always
being born! Indeed, it would have been unimportant to record that a child was to
be born if that fact had not been linked to the promise that a Son was to be
given. And now what was once prophecy is history, for what God said would happen
did happen. On earth a child was born; from Heaven a Son was given. Through the
birth of a child who was the gift of a Son, God sent light to people who had
been groping in darkness. Even to this very day that Light still dispels the
dark­ness and doubt that would otherwise hide God from our eyes. To distinguish
the birth of God’s unique child, and to set Him apart from all others, God
promised that the birth of His Son would be authenticated by a miraculous
‘sign’: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call
His name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14).

How wonderful that His very name Immanuel means ‘God with us.’ And through what
was conveyed by this name, we can begin to appreciate how the good news, as it
is recorded in the Bible, is distinctive from the teachings of all other
religions. Whereas false reli­gions attempt to show how man is to reach up to
God, the Bible is God’s record of how He reached down to man. As recorded in the
Bible, when God established His beach-head on Planet Earth, a virgin was with
child. And that day when the Creator of the universe condescended to become a
part of time and space is now a matter of history: An angel of the Lord appeared
to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary
as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit”
(Matthew 1:20). And later, after Jesus had been born and had matured to manhood,
He further asserted His deity in the presence of hostile skeptics by saying: I
and My Father are one (John 10:30 KJ).

Astronaut Jim Irwin of Apollo XV wrote: “God walking on earth is more important
than man walking on the moon.” Certainly no feat that man has accom­plished in
space can compare with the miracle of that moment when God stepped out of
eternity into time.

After the prophecy that a child would be born and a Son would be given, there
follows a more detailed prophetic ‘résumé’ of this unique Person: “His name will
be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace” (Isaiah
9:6-7). Surely, such an awesome blend of power and purpose would be desirable if
one were to become a successful world ruler. Even in today’s world, we search
for leaders who not only have the knowledge to do the right thing, but also the
power to do it. Some leaders may have known what action should have been taken,
but no leader in history has ever had the power and wisdom to produce a state of
perpetual peace. The Prince of Peace has both the knowledge and the power to
bring permanent peace to this world. One day Jesus will return to rule on Planet
Earth. When that day dawns, every armament factory will be closed; every
unexploded nuclear bomb will be defused, and every border guard and soldier will
be sent home for good!

Man has already demonstrated how hopelessly inadequate he is to govern the human
race. Peace and justice for all must wait for the moment when the Prince of
Peace Himself shall sway the scepter of a universal empire! Then men will hammer
their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will
not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war (Isaiah
2:4). On that peace­ful day: the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the
glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14). There can be no
other conclusion to history that would satisfy the God of eternity. But before
that day of universal peace under the direction of the Lord Jesus, the deep and
real division among people will be clearly seen. And the coming conflict will be
centered around the person of Jesus Christ.

Therefore it is very important that you should be sure who Jesus is, why He
came, and what He did for you when He was here. The book of Genesis and the book
of John begin in similar ways. In Genesis we read: In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). In John we read: In the beginning was
the Word . . . and the Word was God. . . . All things were made by Him (John
1:1, John 1:3 KJ). God, who is called Elohim in Genesis, is referred to as ‘The
Word’ in the Gospel of John. Elohim is The Word, and He clothed Himself with
flesh to walk among His own creation. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
In its complete text this awesome statement reads: In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the
beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not
anything made that was made . . . He was in the world, and the world was made by
Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him
not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on His name . . . And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father), full of grace and truth . . . (John 1:1-3, John 1:10-12, John
1:14 KJ).

Like Moses many centuries earlier and like people of all times, the Disciple
Philip also desired to know what God was like.

Philip made a special request of Jesus when he said: Lord, show us the Father
(John 14:8). Surpris­ingly enough, Jesus answered: He who has seen Me has seen
the Father (John 14:9). Such an astonish­ing reply would make Jesus seem like an
idiot or a deceiver, unless He were God Himself. No one would seriously accuse
Him of either of the first two. If He were not God, He would be the biggest
impostor that the world has ever known. So we must accept that when we look on
Jesus we see God.

It is at this point—the declaration of who Jesus is—that people begin to part
company. In one sense, it is not surprising that when Jesus said: I and the
Father are one (John 10:30), some found in Him the answer to their quest for
God. However, others who could not conceive of the possibility of God humbling
Himself in such a way reacted with hostility. Jesus attracted some, but He
alienated others; though there were those who followed Him, there were others
who plotted His death.

Even in His lifetime Jesus divided people. He clearly stated:

He who is not with Me is against Me (Matthew 12:30).

However, an initial reaction need not be a permanent response.

Let us consider one man who turned from being a foe of Jesus to being His
follower. In his early days Saul, a Jewish rabbi, hated the followers of Jesus
so much that he persecuted them and even consented to their death. But, after
being converted, he spent his re­maining years honoring Jesus as his Lord and
Master. Eventually, he joyfully suffered great hardship because of his loyalty
to Christ. What made the difference? When Saul was journeying to Damascus, he
saw a “great light.” That light was so brilliant that he was temporarily
blinded. Saul intuitively knew, however, that he was in the presence of God.

Using the Greek word for Yahweh, he asked: Who art Thou, Lord? God replied: I am
Jesus whom you are persecuting (Acts 9:5). That day Saul learned that Yahweh and
Jesus are one. This revelation changed Saul from being an en­emy of Jesus into
Paul the Apostle. From that day on, he completely committed his life to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Though he suffered much for his faith, he spent the rest of his
life spreading the Good News that God had visited Planet Earth. The reality of
Jesus Christ in Paul’s life transformed him into the greatest mission­ary of all
times. His letters are full of his convictions that all things were created by,
and for, the Lord Jesus What really divides people?

Christ (Colossians 1:16). As we have seen, the Bible declares that Jesus of
Nazareth is God the Son, not just a son of God as Mor­mons, Jehovah’s Witnesses
and many others believe. Nor was He just a prophet of God as Islam teaches. In
an effort to include the false teachings of such groups many choose to ignore
the revelation that God has giv­en of Himself. This is known as ‘syncretism,’
which is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as the “attempt to combine differing
beliefs.”

Hindus, for example, acknowledge ‘Jesus’ by simply adding Him to their shelf
alongside their many other ‘gods’. We do well to remember that when Elijah’s
God, the true and living God, confronted the pagan idols of Baal, He knocked
them flat on their faces before Him. In like manner every man-made and
man-conceived god must fall before the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is God the Son,
eternally one with the Father and with the Holy Spirit.

Once we understand that Jesus Christ is God, we should have no difficulty
believing in His virgin birth, His many miracles, His death and resurrection,
His ascension into Heaven, and His soon return to earth in power and glory.
Because Jesus Christ is ‘Very God,’ the creator of the universe with all its
laws and life-support systems, He transcends every law that He Himself created
for His own purposes of love and redemption.

Around the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the world is divided. The separated
groups alienated from one another do not consist of the ‘have’s’ and the ‘have
not’s,’ nor the politically strong and the politically weak, nor even nations
with different ideologies. The real division that exists, which was caused when
God visited this earth, is far more fundamental than all of the other issues
that divide humanity. This definitive statement is not an over dramatiza­tion of
the facts, for the Lord Jesus Himself said:

If God were your Father, you would love Me; for I proceeded forth and have come
from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. Why do
you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You
are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He
was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because
there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own
nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies (John 8:42-44). Does it come as
a surprise to learn that just as there is a family of believers whose Father is
God, so, too, there is a family of unbelievers whose father is the Devil? Not
everyone is a child of God. To be in the family of God or in the family of
Satan, these are the eternal alternatives for you and for me.

Regardless of how sincere your belief about God may be, you can still be
‘sincerely’ wrong. It is a lie to say that it does not matter what a person
believes, provided he is sincere. In like manner, you could eat poison while
sincerely believing that it was medicine, but you would still die!

Truly, the human race is divided into two families. Every person belongs to
either one or other of these two families: the Family of God or the family of
the Devil. It is very important that you know to whose family you belong. And
the first step in becoming a member of God’s family is an understanding of who
God is and what He has done in giving us His Son, Jesus. The name ‘Jesus’ means
‘Yahweh is salvation.’ So the angel said to Joseph: . . . you shall call His
name JESUS, for it is He who will save His people from their sins (Matthew
1:21).

Pause to Consider 1. As long as you are sincere, does it really matter what you
believe about God?

2. What is the ultimate cause of division among people? Is it political,
economic, domestic or industrial? Or is it spiritual and eternal?

3. To which one of the two families that the Lord Jesus described do you want to
belong?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 8: 1.05.     WHAT IS THE REAL PROBLEM?
========================================================================

In a deep sense [awareness] of moral evil, more perhaps than anything else,
abides a saving knowledge of God.

Dr. Arnold(Headmaster Rugby PublicSchool) What is the real problem? At the
beginning of the twentieth century many people were very optimistic about the
future of this world. They believed that it was about to enter a golden age of
peace and pros­perity. Many thought that the blessings of this new era would be
seen in every country, even the countries where despair, disease and extreme
poverty had in­flicted indescribable suffering. But in 1914 the sirens of war
sounded throughout Europe. And today, as the twenty-first century unfolds, in
spite of the incredible scientific breakthroughs that we have witnessed, people
no longer seem to talk about a bright tomorrow. Instead, millions worry about
the overkill capabilities of the world’s arsenal of nuclear weapons. The
complexity of both international ter­rorism and national problems cause many
thoughtful observers to conclude that we live in the most critical and
potentially dangerous years of human history. We have already considered the
polarization of people in today’s world. The very fiber of a civilized society
is under attack. What went wrong? In an effort to answer this question, notable
world leaders meet and talk. As they air the issues and lis­ten to each other’s
theories and proposals, the world moves on from one crisis to another.
Regardless of the amount of energy and money invested, nobody seems able to
change the direction that the world is heading. Distinguished statesmen and
politicians, brilliant scientists and scholars, shrewd businessmen and world
bankers, revered doctors and sociologists all contribute their particular
expertise. Still, no answer is found. And from these learned men, there is
seldom, if ever, a reference made to what God declares to be the real problem of
man—the basic problem that must be identified before a solution can be found.
Only God can make us aware of our real problem. And it is at this point that we
often recognize the difference between those who really search for God and those
who only have a religious curiosity.

God said: Let Us make man in Our own image (Genesis 1:26). You may ask: “In what
way was man created in God’s image?” Certainly not in physical likeness, for the
Lord Jesus said: God is Spirit (John 4:24). God does not have arms and legs and
eyes as we do. And this God dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen
or can see (1 Timothy 6:16). An invisible man has never existed. Therefore there
must be something more valuable about people than the bodies they live in! It is
this real person that lives on when the body gives up—the ‘person’ that was
created after God’s likeness. The Bible reveals that God has a mind, emotions
and a will. And it is in these three areas that man was created in God’s image.
Because He is God, however, His intellect, emotions and volition are infinite;
in other words, without any limit. Such is His nature. By contrast, however, man
is finite. Even the brilliant Ein­stein had a finite mind. No man can know
everything, no man can love without limit, and certainly the will of man is not
sovereign in the universe. He is not the master of his fate, nor is he the
captain of his destiny.

Man’s personality, on the other hand, has a spiri­tual capacity in order that he
may know and have fel­lowship with God. That is why the Bible makes it clear
that man is spirit and soul and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

Through his spirit, man has the God-given poten­tial to be intimately related to
his Creator. Through his body, man’s personality (or soul i.e., or his capacity
to think, choose and love) is related to the material world. As long as we note
the Biblical record of priorities which places the spirit first, the soul second
and the body third, all is well! But something went wrong. As a result, for many
people, the order is reversed: the body becomes prior­ity number one; the soul
priority number two; and the spirit number three. Unfortunately in today’s
world, many people’s physical, material and sensual interests dominate their
thinking, their decisions and their af­fections, while their spiritual capacity
lies dormant and dead. So, instead of God being permitted to restore spiritual
life and control the very person He created, He is subordinated, or even
dismissed, to the extent that there can be no communication between these
misguided people and their Creator. The person to whom God is distant and unreal
is actually dead spiritually. On the other hand, the person who enjoys
fellowship with God is truly and completely alive. But God, being rich in mercy,
because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our
transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5). The
problems of this world all began in the will of man. God did not create people
to be like puppets, which are unable to move without the will of another. By
pulling the strings, the puppeteer controls every movement the puppet makes.
God, on the other hand, has given us a free will to behave as we choose. But
with the gift of that will, we also become morally re­sponsible for the
decisions we make. (That is hardly what you will hear from many psychiatrists
who ig­nore Bible truth.) A tragedy of the first order happened in the hu­man
race after man was created. Among the trees in the Garden of Eden there were two
special ones. One was called The Tree of Life; the other, The Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil. (Genesis 2:9). Adam and Eve were told by God that
they could eat from all the trees except from the The Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil. By giving them this choice, a choice between obedience and
disobedience, God made it very clear that He had created man—man and woman—with
a free will. It was up to them whether they wanted to obey God or not. This was
their own, personal decision.

Sadly, Adam and Eve rebelled against the very best that God had made available
to mankind. God knew ahead of time that their decision to be disobedi­ent would
bring to Himself indescribable suffering, and that it would bring pain to all
mankind. But, in His love for His creation and knowing the glory that would
later be available to those who would make the right choice, God has given to
every person the freedom to choose.

Satan, the liar, used his persuasive influence to tempt Adam and Eve to make the
wrong choice. He glamorized the forbidden fruit by suggesting that if they were
to eat it they would be like God. (Satan still suggests that man can be his own
god. But just as God is God and can never be less than God, so man is man and
can never be more than man). However, Satan seduced Adam and Eve into exerting
their will against the will of God. As a result, each new generation of people
is cut off from a vital, personal and intimate fel­lowship with the Creator, for
all are the descendants of Adam. And: just as through one man sin entered into
the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all
sinned (Romans 5:12).

Every cemetery, every hospital, every army and every prison that the world has
ever known is the result of man’s wrong choice at the beginning of cre­ation.
This deadly evil in the human race, which we call sin, is an inborn disease
affecting all mankind. Not only has sin severed man’s true fellowship with God,
but it has also separated him from his fellow man.

But, you and I are not only sinners by birth; we are also sinners by deed. As
far as our birth is concerned, the Psalmist spoke for us all when he said:
Behold, I was shapen in iniq­uity; and in sin did my mother conceive me (Psalms
51:5 KJ). But that sin-inherited condition does not provide an excuse for the
acts of sin that we all have committed. The Bible also states that we are—the
children of disobedience . . . fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the
mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others (Ephesians 2:2-3
KJ).

Yes, we are guilty before God because of our own disobedience. No one else can
be blamed—not a wife nor a friend nor a parent. Even the background we come from
and the environment in which we live can­not be faulted. You are responsible for
your own sin, even as I am for mine. The real reason that we see so much
hostility and division between people is that sin is the common de­nominator of
us all. Sin ties an atheist to a believer and an Arab to a Jew. Sin ties people
in the Third World to people in the industrial world. Sin ties a communist to a
capitalist, a policeman to a criminal, and a feminist to a male chauvinist.
Whether people are prostitutes or preachers, whether they live in the height of
luxury or the depth of poverty, whether they are educated or illiterate all have
sinned, and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). And sin is the basic
cause of all the tensions that exist among men. But Jesus is the sinner’s hope!
He said: I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matthew
9:13 KJ). Whether by a short or great distance, you and I have missed the mark
of God’s holiness. The word ‘sin’ simply means ‘to miss the mark.’ By ourselves
we can do nothing to correct that. It is a vain hope to think that we can find
peace with God either by being good or doing good. It is: not as a result of
works, that no one should boast (Ephesians 2:9). That is why when talking of
salvation, Jesus said: I will have mercy, and not sacrifice (Matthew 9:13 KJ). A
true understanding of the mercy of God brings overwhelming relief to people
gripped by the serious­ness of their personal sin.

Because God is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4), all that He asks is that you
receive salvation as His free gift. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8 KJ). Jesus himself
paid the supreme sacrifice to open the door for a sinner to enter God’s holy
presence. The God of mercy has now made abundant life freely available through
the Lord Jesus Christ. But, because He has given you a will, God will not compel
you to partake of that life. How you respond to God’s offer of His free gift is
a matter of great urgency. God says: now is the acceptable time, behold, now is
the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Now—not some­time in the future after
you have tried to straighten out your life by yourself. Remember that Jesus
said: I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners (Matthew 9:13). To be
honest about your real problem, the problem of sin, is the first step towards
its solution. The arms of Jesus are open to receive you today, wherever you are
and in whatever condition or state you are in. All He wants to hear from you is:
God, be merciful to me, the sinner (Luke 18:13). A Letter from “C Max Prison”
The following unedited quotes were received from a prisoner in the highest
security prison in South Africa.

“The Book Your Quest for God . . . help me to understand the Word of God. I mean
this book help us to find the true way of life. I do believe you understand me.
My friend gave me this book . . . I believe God is creator and he creator all
the universe. I believe God will help me as now I’m in prison . . .”

– Report submitted by Trans World Radio57 Pause to Consider 1. Do you perceive
that today there is something tragically wrong with society?

2. When you are ill, is it vital that your doctor correctly diagnoses your
sickness before giving you medicine?

3. How does the Bible: Diagnose your problem? Prescribe the remedy for your
problem?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 9: 1.06.     WHY ARE PEOPLE SO MISGUIDED?
========================================================================

Now there was a certain man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in
the city, and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great;
and they all, from the smallest to the greatest, were giving attention to him,
saying, ‘This man is what is called the Great Power of God.’

Dr. Luke Why are people so misguided? As a boy, I lived in a part of the British
Isles over which enemy bombers continu­ally flew. It was wartime, and these
bomb­ers were en route to their target areas in the industrial Midlands and
Northern England. My friends and I learned to distinguish the drone of an enemy
bomber from the roar of our own fighter planes. When we saw the searchlights
illuminate an enemy plane in the skies, we became very excited. We knew the
‘Ack-Ack’ guns on the ground or a ‘dog fight’ in the air would some­times result
in a bomber being shot down. With the shooting down of an enemy plane, there was
always the possibility that some of the crew mem­bers would parachute to safety.
To make it difficult for the survivors to find their way and thereby escape and
perhaps return with another load of bombs, the author­ities dismantled the
signposts at the road intersections. Thus there were virtually no signposts on
the roads.

However, we boys knew that outside of town, in Wootten Woods, there still
remained a small signpost at a very insignificant intersection. When we turned
that signpost around and pointed it in the wrong direc­tion, we really thought
we were helping the war effort. We, like the local authorities, wanted to
confuse any unwelcome guests on our shores. Of course, if such a person held a
reliable map in his hands, the fact that there were no signposts would have
presented no problem. Even our boyish idea of turning the signpost around would
not have confused the enemy unless he had chosen to ignore the informa­tion on
his map.

God tells us the kinds of people who, in their quest for God, will be misguided
by a false signpost. To begin with, any person who chooses to ignore the fact
that the existence of this marvelous universe points to the Creator God will
really become con­fused!

Professing to be wise, they became fools . . . And just as they did not see fit
to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind . . .
(Romans 1:22, Romans 1:28). And that depraved mind will worship the works of
creation, instead of the Creator Himself. A clear think­ing man, on the other
hand, will worship his Creator. Thus, if you refuse to believe that God created
the universe, God will give you over to a corrupt mind and let you believe some
wild idea about how the universe came into being. A depraved mind is a deluded
mind!

God also warns that people who refuse to accept the Word of God as truth will
readily follow a decep­tive path, one which will lead to destruction. Indeed,
any person who chooses not to positively and actively love the truth of God’s
Word puts himself in a very dangerous position.

Because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved . . . God
will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is
false . . . (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11).

Once a person has ignored or rejected the truth, he will readily embrace that
which is false.

I well remember once when I tried to find my way home through a dense London
fog. Just to find my way to the edge of the road, I needed all the help I could
get. Even the light of my flashlight could not be seen when I held it out at
arm’s length. God tells us that a strong delusion, which is really like a mental
fog, will accompany the end of this present order of things on Planet Earth, for
the people will have rejected the truth of God’s Word. The disciples of Jesus
asked Him, what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?
Among other things He answered: For false Christs and false prophets will arise
and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the
elect (Matthew 24:24).

Even now you may be saying to yourself: “Well, I am not deceived.” You may even
take pride in the fact that you can easily recognize a false Christ or a false
prophet. But stop for a moment and think about your conclusion. If, because you
have not loved the truth, God has allowed Satan to deceive your mind, you would
certainly not be aware of it. If you actu­ally knew that some false prophet had
deceived you, you would not really be deceived at all. All delusion must be in
the mind, and anyone who is intellectually proud will find it hard to accept
that his mind has been tricked into believing a lie.

There are really two types of people who will resist truth when they read the
Bible, thereby opening them­selves up to the deceptions taught by the world. One
is the person who is intellectually proud and seemingly self-sufficient. The
other is the person who is morally disobedient. But to every person who really
desires to do the will of God, the Lord Jesus has a special prom­ise: “If any
man desires to do His will, he will know . . . whether the teaching is from God
or whether I am speaking from Myself . . .” (John 7:17 Amp).

If you really desire to do the will of God, you may be assured that through the
Bible God will teach you what to believe and what not to believe, and how to
behave and how not to behave.

However, we still must be careful to reject the words of those self-appointed
religious teachers who do not teach the true Word of God, but will instead try
to get you to believe and do the wrong things. In this generation, some of
Satan’s agents who point people in the wrong direction are members of
pseudo-Christian cults. Any person who has chosen to reject the truth about God
the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit—Three in One and One in Three—is
a false prophet. Though such people may quote a few isolated verses from the
Bible, they totally divorce the text from the context and so promote a
non-Biblical religion. You can always detect a false teacher by asking him: “Who
is Jesus Christ?” That is part of the reason why it is so important that you
know who He is. When you indeed know Jesus to be God the Son, even the secret
societies that have such a great camara­derie of helping one another will be
seen as yet another spiritual delusion.* While God may be mentioned in

* Freemasonry is the largest international secret society in the world,
presently boasting a membership of about ten million men around the world.
Though its principles of ‘Brotherly love, relief, and truth’ seem attractive to
many, Masonry is not as harmless as it may appear to the uninitiated. To become
a Mason, each candidate must confess that he is in darkness reaching for the
light. A follower of Jesus already believes he has found the light. Jesus said:
I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness,
but shall have the light of life (John 8:12). The initiation ceremony into the
Masonic secret society is very dramatic and full of symbolism. At that time, the
Masonic candidate is guided away from Biblical concept of God, when he is
introduced to the name of ‘Gauto.’ The candidate is told that Gauto is “the lost
name for God,” and that Gauto is “the grand architect of the universe.” In
theory, any believer in God whether Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish or Christian
can become a Freemason. So Gauto (a man-made concept of God) deflects the
thoughts of the candidate from Jesus, who the Bible declares is the true Light
(John 1:9). Later, when the Mason becomes a Master Mason, he is taught a further
name for God—’Jahbulon.’ This name is really a combination of Jewish and Middle
Eastern names for God. It is derived from JAH for YAHWEH, BUL (a form of Baal)
and ON, which refers to the Egyptian Sun-god. This is a classic example of
syncretism, with its vain attempts to combine differing beliefs. Jesus Himself
stated: If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the
darkness! (Matthew 6:23). such societies, these groups ignore the teachings of
Jesus Christ, who said: No one comes to the Father, but through Me (John 14:6).
The Bible records scathing words concerning those who have a misguided belief
about God. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils
also believe, and tremble (James 2:19 KJ).

Today we are also seeing an alarming growth of activity from the major religions
that deny the God of the Bible. Various sects of the Hindu religion are
attracting the interest and following of many new people. In countries once
known for their Biblical heritage, the basic Hindu philosophy is presented in
the form of Transcendental Meditation or such forms of Eastern Mysticism as yoga
and asceticism. The various cults that have sprung from Hinduism fool­ishly
worship many gods in creation, rather than the God of Creation. And, sad to say,
many deluded minds are more fascinated by a self-exalted ‘Guru’ than they are
with the God of Creation who humbled Himself to visit Planet Earth. The Muslim
world is also displaying tremendous zeal in spreading its faith. Their oil
dollars and their growing political clout enable them to expand their borders on
a scale thought impossible but a few years ago. From one of their most ‘holy’
shrines, called the Dome of the Rock and located on the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem, they boldly deny the very heart of God’s good news. The Arabic
caption surrounding the Dome of the Rock states: “God is not begotten, neither
can He Beget.” The Bible, however, states: For God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but
have eternal life (John 3:16). And spiritual delusion is not confined to the
religious world. The secular world has embraced a humanistic philosophy which
holds that man is the center of the universe and that society’s supreme goal is
the development of man. Humanism is proclaimed in universities, newspapers,
multi-national corporate seminars, popular magazines, and on radio and
televi­sion. ‘Pamper yourself’ is the selfish theme popular­ized by the
advertising world. Humanism, which is nothing more than the wor­shiping of man,
is really not as new a philosophy as some may think. Back in Paul’s day, God
said: They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the
creature rather than the Creator . . . (Romans 1:25). The Lord asks what must
surely be a very humbling question to humanists: Where were you when I laid the
foundation of the earth! Tell me if you have understanding (Job 38:4). It is the
old story. When Satan came to Eve, he posed an impossibility as a possibility by
saying: you will be like God (Genesis 3:5). In our day Satan continues his nasty
work through the deceptive teachings of secular humanism.

Maybe you are a modern youth who is not ‘turned on’ either by the political or
the religious scene. To you, politicians are suspect and religion is irrelevant.

You prefer to join with your peers and look elsewhere for personal fulfillment.
You may think that the life­style described by the lyrics of ‘punk rock,’ ‘new
wave music,’ ‘heavy metal,’ or whatever else is on the scene will give you an
escape from the lonely world in which you find yourself.

You are, of course, aware of the words that you listen and dance to. Though you
might not want to de­scribe them in this way, surely you will agree that for the
most part they are a combination of Satanism, sa­dism and sex. Not infrequently
the horrors of Hell are presented in the music as an attractive alternative to a
supposedly meaningless existence. In an atmosphere that sometimes reaches
frenzied violence, the banner under which these young people unite encourages
them to destroy themselves and one another.

Let me tell you of a place in the city of Los Ange­les. It is a mortuary called
‘The Refrigerator.’ There, 600 bodies, many of them young people, are stored for
three months in the hope that someone will be able to identify them. ‘Anonymous’
tags are tied to their toes. The vast majority of these unfortunates are
eventually buried as unidentified ‘John Does’ in paupers’ graves. Most of them
have come from the drug scene, having acted upon the same message that is
presently being proclaimed from discos and listened to on CD players in millions
of homes. They had followed the wrong signpost. Now, at the end of the road, it
is too late to change. If only they had heard and heeded the words of the Lord
Jesus, Who said: I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly
(John 10:10). And now added to all this confusion is the phe­nomenal growth of
interest in the ‘black arts’. Reliable sources indicate that active interest in
the occult is as prevalent today as it was in what is known as the Dark Ages.
And this occurs in spite of today’s so-called ‘scientific enlightenment’. In the
most unlikely places there are growing numbers of Satan worshippers.
Professionals from the City of London assemble in Kensington to celebrate the
‘Black Mass.’ Witches’ covens have proliferated in Europe as well as in such
remote places as beauti­ful Vancouver Island. The dark practices of ancestral
worship from Africa are being duplicated in spiritistic seances throughout the
world. Various parlor games such as ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ and the ‘Ouija Board’
cater to people’s growing fascination with evil and the supernatural. Such
proliferating phenomena are the result of a superficial spiritual curiosity. In
their misguided quest for God, many people, not only turn from the light of God,
but they also turn to the darkness of the occult for some sort of false, empty
spiritual fulfillment. And all this takes place in what we still call the
civilized world.

We do well to remember what God says about the last days. He warns us about
false prophets and the spurious signs and wonders that would accompany the great
delusion of the end times. In fact, God tells us that there is going to appear a
master of deception, whose sinister deeds will be in accordance with the work of
Satan and displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and
in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing (2 Thessalonians
2:9-10 NIV).

Because of this accelerating interest in false teach­ings and evil practices, it
is not hard to understand why a growing number of nations and communities are
blanketed with the oppressive forces of skepticism, empty resignation and
hopelessness. Satan’s signposts are too many to mention, but you can be sure
that none of them point to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only de­liverer of men.

God’s message, contrary to the world’s dismal portrayal of life, is certainly
not one of gloom, confu­sion and death. His is a message of hope, assurance and
vibrant life as it is found in Christ. As you read the Bible in your quest for
God, the Holy Spirit will always point you to the Lord Jesus Christ, who said: I
am the way, and the truth, and the Life. And there can be no other, for Jesus
continues: No one comes to the Father, but through Me (John 14:6).

God has warned you about the deceptive sign-posts so that you will not be
misguided. He has also informed you about the growing delusion that could cloud
your thinking. Now He gives you this promise:

‘For I know the plans that I have for you . . . plans for welfare and not for
calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come
and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when
you search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found by you, ‘declares the
Lord’ (Jeremiah 29:11-14).

Pause to Consider 1. What kind of a mind will worship creation rather than the
Creator? (Read Romans 1:22-28) 2. In your quest for God, what is the key that
will unlock any intellectual problem you have? (Read John 7:17) Is it your mind?
Is it your desire and will?

3. Has God given you a clear ‘signpost’ to guide you to Himself? (Read John
8:12)


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 10: 1.07.     DOES GOD TRULY LOVE ME?
========================================================================

Many years ago a lad in a Sunday School class in England asked his Sunday School
teacher: “Does God love naughty boys?” and the teacher said, “No, Certainly
Not.” Oh, the unintentional blasphemy of telling a boy that! If God did not love
naughty boys, He would never have loved me! Shakespeare says:

‘Love is not love that alters when it alteration finds’.

G. Campbell Morgan Does God truly love me? Have you ever questioned the love of
some­body who is very important to you? Or have you ever tried to prove that you
love somebody when they did not believe it? In either case, you will know that
there are times when true love can better be expressed by deeds than by words.

Since deeds are so much more powerful than words, God demonstrated His love for
you by what He did when Jesus died upon the Cross. When you understand the
significance of this, you will need no other explanation to help you understand
that God re­ally does love you.

Just after I was converted to Christ, I read the true story of a young bugle boy
and a soldier. They both served in the army during the Boer War. The bugle boy,
Willie Holt, was twelve years old when he was assigned to a tent with seven
godless soldiers. One of these men was called Bill. However, unlike Bill, Willie
was a devoted believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Each night, he knelt by his bed
to silently pray and read his Bible. As he did so, the other soldiers mocked and
cursed.

One day the Colonel-in-Charge called the Com­pany on parade. A thief had been
traced to the tent where Willie and Bill had been assigned. In a desper­ate
attempt to trace the criminal, the Colonel issued his ultimatum to the whole
Company: “My previous warnings have been to no avail,” he said. “Last night the
thief was at it again. Today, I will give the culprit one last opportunity to
identify himself and take his punishment like a man. If he does not respond,
every man in the Company will be punished with ten lashes of the whip upon his
bare back. But if one of you comes forward to take the punishment, the rest will
be spared.”

After a tense silence, Willie stood to attention, stepped forward and said:
“Sir, you have just stated that, ‘if one man comes forward to take the
punish­ment the rest will be spared.’ Sir, I will be that man.” With anger, the
Colonel cried out against the unknown coward: “How can you let an innocent lad
take your punishment?” No one moved. “Then,” said the Colo­nel, “you will all
watch the wretched sight of an inno­cent boy taking punishment for the guilty
man.”

True to his word, the Colonel ordered Willie’s back to be bared, and then the
cruel lashes of the whip commenced. As Willie fainted beneath the bitter blows,
suddenly Bill, unable to bear the spec-tacle any longer, rushed from the ranks
and shouted: “Stop! I am the thief. I will take my own punishment.” Coming round
from his swoon, Willie tenderly lifted his eyes to Bill and whispered: “It’s all
right Bill, the Colonel can’t go back on his word now. I will take all of your
punishment.” And he did!

Young Willie never did recover from the effects of his lashing. But before
Willie went to Heaven, Bill, now a broken man, wept at his bed-side and asked:
“Why Willie? Why did you do it for me? I’m not worth it.” Willie’s answer was
simple and telling: “Bill,” he said, “I have often tried to tell you how much
God loves you but you always laughed; I thought that if I took your punishment,
it might help you to understand how much Jesus loved you when He went to the
Cross to take your place and to die for your sin.” Before Willie went to Heaven,
Bill accepted the salvation so freely offered by a loving Christ. In Christ,
Heaven launched its triumphant rescue operation for lost humanity. And it was
Love—the love of God for each of us—that prompted Christ’s incredible act of
sacrifice and suffering. The Perfect Man

Three crosses were erected on the hill of Golgotha. On two of them, thieves were
crucified. Between these criminals the Lord Jesus was nailed, and there He died.

During his last hours of excruciating suffering, one of the thieves ventured to
express his opinion about the quasi-judicial system under which all three had
been condemned to die. Amazing as it may seem, his primary concern was not for
his own pain-racked and tortured body. Instead, his thoughts turned to how the
Roman judiciary was out of line in condemning Jesus to the same death as the two
thieves. It was this glar­ing injustice that seemed to trouble him. Lucidly and
humbly, the dying thief made three very astute obser­vations as he approached
his final moment.

First: We are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. In that brief and humble
statement, the dying thief confessed his personal responsibility for his crime,
and therefore acknowledged his own personal guilt.

Second: And we indeed die justly . . . In our day when petty-pilfering and even
violent acts of robbery are commonplace, it may be difficult to understand how
seriously such crimes were viewed in the first century. But in three brief
words, the dying thief ex­pressed his conviction that, in his day, his sentence
of death was both legal and just. We . . . die justly.

Third: This man has done nothing wrong. Al­though it is remarkable to read how
the thief acknowl­edged his own personal guilt and how he had accepted the
justice of the legal system, it is quite astonishing to read of his concern for
Jesus, who hung on the cross beside him. This man—this Jesus, the dying thief
ob­served, was guiltless and therefore had been unjustly condemned to die. Being
convicted of his own sin, as he hung upon the cross the thief had no other hope
but to turn to Je­sus. So he then earnestly pleaded: Jesus remember me when You
come in Your Kingdom. Responding, as He always does, to such an honest
confession of guilt and need, the Lord Jesus immediately promised: Today you
shall be with Me in Paradise (Luke 23:39-43). That day, the dying thief, like
all repentant sin­ners who turn to the Lord, was assured of eternal life. He had
turned to the right person—the Lord Jesus Christ—and had asked for His mercy at
the right place—the Cross where Jesus died.

Yes, on that awesome day, in the eyes of one of the dying thieves, the Lord
Jesus was indeed guiltless. However, at a later time two disciples were even
more specific in their observations. They testified that Jesus was sinless. Each
of these disciples, together with the Apostle Paul, recorded his own
personalized testimo­nial to Jesus’ sinlessness.

PETER, a close friend of the Lord Jesus, was known as a man of impetuous action.
Therefore, when he testified to the sinlessness of Jesus, in accord with his
personality, he used an action word: He (the Lord Jesus) did no sin (1 Peter
2:22 KJ).

JOHN also had a very special friendship with the Lord Jesus. Consequently he
frequently had the op­portunity to observe his Lord when he was away from the
critical scrutiny of the crowds. From this vantaged perspective John clearly
testified that: in Him (the Lord Jesus) is no sin (1 John 3:5 KJ).

PAUL, on the other hand, was known as a scholar of some exceptional renown.
Therefore, when Paul, a man of learning and knowledge, spoke of the Lord Jesus
it is not surprising that he declared: He knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). Such
a triad of authentic testimony concerning Christ’s sinless life is most
im­pressive. But some may want to dismiss these astute ob­servations, saying,
“Aha, neither the dying thief nor the apostles Peter, John or Paul, could be
described as objective witnesses. The dying thief was a desperate man and the
apostles were prejudiced by their devo­tion to the Lord Jesus.” Well then, how
about Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judea? Certainly, he was no friend
of Christ. Nevertheless, when answer­ing the accusers of Jesus who had trumped
up a false charge against Him with the intent of securing His death, Pilate
declared:

I, having examined Him before you, have found no fault in this man touching
those things whereof you accuse Him (Luke 23:14 KJ). But what are all these
human testimonials when we compare them with the declaration of God the Father
from His Throne in Heaven? When a person is about to speak at a public
gathering, it is considered right and proper that such a one should be politely
introduced. Likewise, when Jesus was about to commence His own public ministry,
God the Father reserved for Him­self the privilege of introducing His beloved
Son. With a clarion voice from Heaven, the Father announced: This is My beloved
Son, in whom I am well-pleased (Matthew 3:17). The Father knew that while Jesus
had been in this world in human form He had lived as God had created man to
live. Every other person has fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). But
not Jesus! He was perfect in every way. Therefore, when Jesus was about to begin
His public ministry, His Father introduced Him, and it was His Holy Father (John
17:11) who expressed good pleasure at the way His beloved Son had lived. As we
have already explained, the Lord Jesus was never ever less than God. It is
therefore awesome to realize that God had humbled Himself and, hav­ing
condescended to be born through the womb of a virgin mother, had taken upon
Himself the form of man. However, if Jesus as man had not been totally
submissive to His Heavenly Father, He could never have brought undiluted
pleasure to His Father. Yet, throughout His earthly pilgrimage Jesus was always
obedient to, and dependent upon, His Father. Thus His humanity became the
earthly expression of His Heav­enly Father’s holiness, love and purpose in a
world of suffering, selfishness and sin.

Yes, as man, Jesus walked upon the very planet that He, as God, had created.
Although the Lord Jesus was never less than God, for 33 years He showed man how
God had intended man to live. Nothing in the humanity of Jesus ever violated
what God had made man to be. During those years, He was always totally available
to His Father in Heaven. Therefore, the Fa­ther was well pleased when He gazed
upon His own beloved Son, who lived as the perfect man among men. Does God truly
love me?

Guiltless! Sinless! Perfect! To the dying thief and Pontius Pilate, Jesus was
guiltless. To Peter, John and Paul, Jesus was sinless. To the Holy Father in
Heaven, Jesus was perfect. Guiltless! Sinless! Perfect!—And yet He died: died
for us because of His great love for each of us!

Love Without Limit

Now, in your imagination, try to join those specta­tors who viewed the terrible
events of that first ‘Good Friday.’ Around the Cross the crowd gaped. And as
they watched the horrific spectacle, they were con­fronted with a shocking scene
of gory contrast. On either side of Jesus there hung a criminal. Both of these
men were guilty before their fellow-men, and both were guilty before their
Creator God. For them both the penalty of death was required by the law of the
land.

Between these two men, Jesus hung upon His own Cross. In vivid contrast to the
thieves, Jesus was not only guiltless and sinless before men, but He was also
perfect before His Holy Father. Yes, God . . . in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:19)
went to the Cross as a lamb un­blemished and spotless (1 Peter 1:19), and the
substi­tutionary death of Christ for sinners was volunteered by God’s heart of
love. The thieves had to die, but certainly the Lord Jesus did not. Earlier,
when speaking to His critics, Jesus af­firmed: I lay down My life that I may
take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but . . . I have authority to
lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again (John 10:17-18). And when
explaining to His disciples the extent to which His love would soon go, He said:
Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends
(John 15:13).

It was after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus that the Apostle Paul
further emphasized: God was in Christ and that He [God] made Him [Christ] who
knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of
God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Centuries later, the wonderful truth of
Christ’s substitutionary death for our sin was meaning­fully expressed in these
words:

You are my Righteousness,

I was Your sin, You have taken what was mine And given me what was Yours, You
became what You were not That I might become what I was not. A Grain of Wheat
Being very conscious of His impending death, the Lord Jesus opened His heart to
His disciples and said:

Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from
this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Thy name.
To this whole-hearted commitment to the glory of God, His Father tenderly
responded: I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again (John 12:27-28).
But you may be wondering how could the Father be glorified at such a gory scene
as that of a Roman crucifixion?

Before the Lord Jesus prayed to the Father, He had already reminded His
disciples that it is necessary for a germinal seed to die before there can be an
harvest.

Truly, truly, I say unto you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and
dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (John
12:24). As a sinless Man, death had no claim upon Jesus. But, He choose to die;
die a cruel death as a substitute for your sin and mine. And in this way He
would reap an eternal harvest of redeemed people. So the Lord Jesus both tells
of His plan, and to every true beliver he also gives His promise.

[His plan] I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world; I am
leaving the world again, and going to the Father. [His promise] I will come
again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John
16:28; John 14:3). This is wonderful, but incredible as it may seem, in spite of
the Savior’s amazing love for them, some peo­ple will still choose to reject the
forgiveness He offers. Others will remain passive and neutral about His death.
However, whether people actively reject the Savior, or whether they passively
ignore Him, the result will be the same—separation for ever from the only source
of eternal life; eternal light and eternal love. This terrible condition has
been described in these words.

Dying you will die,Will die so great a death,Will die eternally,Be ever dying,
yet never dead.

However, the Lord Jesus died not only to get you out of hell and into heaven,
but also to get God out of heaven and into you!

No, eternal life is not only the assurance of my fu­ture in heaven. The Bible
also assures the true beliver that eternal life is a glorious, present, living
reality.

God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son
has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life . . .
(1 John 5:11-12).

Eternal Life is in a Person—the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He takes His abode
in the human heart, at that very moment eternal life begins.

Enormous Cost At the cross of Christ; the holiness of God, the jus­tice of God
and the love of God all met in one supreme act of sacrifice. There, His holiness
was vindicated; His justice was satisfied; and there, God’s love em­braced
sinful people such as you and me. But the cost to Him was enormous. In his daily
devotional book My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers issued this salutary
warn­ing:

Beware of the pleasant view of the Fatherhood of God which says, ‘God is so kind
and loving that of course He will forgive us.’ That sentiment has no place in
the New Testament whatsoever. The only ground on which God can forgive sin and
reinstate us in His favour is through the Cross of Christ, and in no other way.
Even if we understand this to be true, it is still possible to take the
forgiveness of sin with the simplicity of faith and then forget at what enormous
cost to God it was made ours.

Even though we previously mentioned the selfless act of Willie Holt, there is
really no human parallel to the suffering God endured at Calvary as an
illustration to match His love for us. And through the Spirit-breathed Word we
call the Holy Bible, God Himself draws His own curtain aside to give us a fuller
glimpse of such sacrificing love. Even then, the magnitude of His love far
surpasses the capacity of our limited understanding. However, by reflecting on
such an astonishing act of love, we can begin to appreciate a little of the
length, breadth, height and the depth of the love of God. When Jesus died on the
Cross He suffered for our sins in a three-fold way. On the Cross the body of
Jesus was racked with agony; on the Cross His love was stretched to the
ul­timate; and even more traumatic, on the Cross Jesus was cut off from the
light and the glory and the peace that He had forever enjoyed in His oneness
with the Father. Yes, the sufferings that Jesus endured are really beyond our
human comprehension.

However, as we reflect upon His physical suffer­ing, His emotional suffering and
especially upon His spiritual suffering we will appreciate in a new way the
measure of His love for sinful people.

Physical Suffering: It is really quite impossible to equate the destruction of a
priceless Rembrandt paint­ing with the mutilation of a piece of soiled paper.
Even more so, the death of the perfect man, Christ Jesus, can never be equated
or even compared adequately to the death of any other human being. In the Old
Testament we find a prophecy that accurately predicted the physical
disfigurement that Jesus would later endure. There we are told that His
appearance would be marred more than any man (Isaiah 52:14). However, the
English translation of this phrase does not convey the full force of the
original Hebrew text. In that statement God explained that His beloved Son would
be so brutalized that He would no longer resemble a human being. Such a
mutilation of Christ’s physical form was prophesied by Jesus Himself:

Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the
chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn Him to death, and
shall deliver Him to the Gentiles. And they shall MOCK Him, and shall SCOURGE
Him, and shall SPIT upon Him, and shall KILL Him . . . (Mark 10:33-34 KJ). And
this is exactly what happened! Later Mark described what eyewitnesses had seen:
first they smote Him, then they did spit upon Him, after that they mocked Him,
and finally they crucified Him (Mark 15:19-20 KJ). The Roman scourge that
lacerated the Savior’s body was made of leather thongs, weighted with sharp
pieces of bone or lead. These cruelly tore His flesh on both His back and His
breast. That is why it is proph­esied in the Psalm that the Messiah would say: .
. . they pierced my hands and my feet. I may count all my bones; they look and
stare upon me (Psalms 22:16-17 NS). Yes, the Lord Jesus—perfect in every
way—went to a painful and agonizing death. The callous physical mutilation that
He suffered literally dehumanized His physical appearance. Does that better help
you understand how much God loves you?

Emotional Suffering: Though the physical suffering of the crucified Lord Jesus
is beyond our human com­prehension, that was only a part of His real suffering.
His physical pain only touched the surface of His deep agony. On the Cross Jesus
also experienced great emo­tional anguish. John recorded for us the events of
those dreadful hours But coming to Jesus, when they (the Roman soldiers) saw
that He was already dead, they did not break His legs; but one of the soldiers
pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water
(John 19:33-34).

I have heard medical authorities express their be­lief that the presence of both
blood and water indicated that Jesus died of a broken heart. Some heart
special­ists explain this phenomenon further and suggest that, when the heart of
Jesus actually broke, His blood ef­fused into the enlarged surrounding sac of
the pericar­dium. This would explain the fact that, as the soldier pierced the
Savior’s side, there came out both blood and water. In Psalm sixty-nine, among
other precise prophecies about Christ’s death, we read of a prophetic
fore-shadowing of His heart-rending trauma: Reproach hath broken my heart; and I
am full of heaviness . . . (Psalms 69:20 KJ). Yes, the indescribable emotional
suffering of Jesus literally broke His loving heart. When across His heart of
love there surged the total aggregate of the suffering of the human race; and
when upon His spotless soul—the soul of Him who was separate from sinners
(Hebrews 7:26)—there rolled the unthinkable, unprintable filthiness of hell
itself, the Lord Jesus died of a broken heart. Does that better help you
understand how much God loves you?

Spiritual Suffering: Most people can more readily understand the physical and
emotional suffering of the Lord Jesus than they can His spiritual agony. Yet,
surely, the greatest suffering that Jesus endured was when His eternal
fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit was broken. For three hours of
desolate darkness—from 12 noon to 3 pm—Jesus was forsaken by God the Father and
God the Holy Spirit. During that time, Je­sus—God the Son—cried with a loud
voice: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). On that
startling day, the eternal tri-unity of God’s oneness (which had eternally
embraced indescribable light) was severed. Severed by your sin and mine.
Consequently, when Jesus hung on the Cross, God could not co-exist with the sin
that, in His sinless body He bore, because God “made Him who knew no sin to be
sin on our behalf . . .” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Therefore, it is not surprising that, when Jesus died, this wicked world was
shadowed in eerie dark­ness for three solemn hours.

Well might the sun in darkness hideAnd shut his glories in,When Christ, the
mighty Maker, diedFor man the creature’s sin.

Isaac Watts (1674–1748)

“God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5 kj). The light of
God’s holiness, and the darkness of man’s sinfulness could never co-exist. Just
as darkness will disappear when you turn on a light, so darkness will prevail
when you turn the light off. It was darkness that prevailed when Jesus bore the
sin of lost humanity.

Sadly, this spiritual darkness will also be the eter­nal state of every person
who turns from the light of God’s redeeming love. Darkness that is thicker than
midnight; lonelier than solitary confinement, and longer than time itself. For:
“This is the condemna­tion, that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19 KJ). To
turn from Jesus will result in spiritual darkness and death—spiritual death and
eter­nal death. To turn to Jesus will result in life—spiritual life and eternal
life. The Victor’s Cry The good news is, that as those three desolate hours of
darkness drew to their conclusion, Jesus did not sorrowfully bemoan “I am
finished.” Certainly not! Love’s redeeming work had been accomplished. So now he
triumphantly proclaimed “It is finished” (John 19:30). The price for your sin
and mine has been paid in full. Finished!

Then, having finished His redemptive work, the fellowship of light that the Lord
Jesus had forever enjoyed in the triune Godhead was eternally restored (John
17:5). Now there is nothing left for you or for me to do to pay for sin. And
there is absolutely nothing Satan can do to nullify the completed work of Jesus
on your behalf. The sting of Satan, the viper, has been de-fanged.

Death Conquers The Prince of Death The reason that God clothed Himself with
‘flesh and blood’ was not only that He might die for your sin and mine, but also
that: Through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is,
the devil (Hebrews 2:14 KJ).

Just as David used Goliath’s own sword to destroy the stunned Goliath, so Jesus
took Satan’s own weap­on—death—and used it to totally defeat him. Jesus is the
true emancipator of man—men and women. He is God’s deliverer—the only One who is
able to set people free from the eternal death and spiritual bond­age—the
bondage that Satan had purposed for every person, in his own rebellion against
God who created mankind in His own image.

It was in His human body of real flesh and real bones that Jesus defeated Satan,
conquered death and rose from the grave. Then we read of His ascent to Heaven,
where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us (Hebrews 6:20). For the first
time man—a guiltless, sinless, perfect Man—had entered Heaven. Because of His
death on the cross He has now opened the way for others to follow. In his day,
Charles Wesley was convinced that God really did love him when he wrote “Amazing
love: how can it be; that Thou, my God; should die for me?” But Now is Christ
Risen!

“But the fact is that Christ (the Messiah) has been raised from the dead, and
become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep [in death]. For since [it
was] through a man that death [came into the world, it is] also through a Man
that the resurrection of the dead [has come]” (1 Corinthians 15:20-21 amp). The
late Dr. Sangster was one of the most gifted orators that I have ever heard. He
delighted to use his silver tongue to speak well of His Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. Ironically, before he died, Dr. Sangster was totally unable to speak
because of the cancer in his mouth. Just before going to Heaven, he gestured to
his daughter to pass a pencil and paper. That Easter Sunday morning he wrote:
“Better to have no tongue and a burning desire to shout ‘Christ is risen,’ than
to have a tongue with no desire to shout!” When the Apostle Paul appeared before
king Agrippa to defend himself against false accusations, he drew their
attention both to the suffering and to the resurrection of Christ: “That Christ
should suffer,” he said “and that He should be the first that should rise from
the dead, and should show light unto the people . . .” (Acts 26:23 AMP).

However, before the resurrection of the Lord Je­sus Christ, in the New Testament
it is recorded that other people had been physically raised from the dead. There
was Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus as well as the son of the widow of Nain.
Though Jesus had miraculously restored these people to physical life they all
died again within a few years. However, that is not so with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Today, He is not only physically alive, but also spiritually and
eternally alive. He was indeed the first that should rise from the dead!

How could a tomb of death and decay imprison the Creator of life? Because the
Lord Jesus Christ is the Creator God, He brought life out of nothing. Because,
as perfect Man, Jesus is the Savior God He brought life out of the grave and
pioneered the way to Heaven for every person who would receive Him, by faith. To
them it is promised:

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with
Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-6).

Writing to believers in the city of Corinth, the Apostle Paul reminded them that
they had been saved from the consequences of their sin because they had received
(adhered to; trusted in and rested upon) that Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third
day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Today, every true
believer rests upon the glo­rious fact that “Christ died for my sins; and rose
again, and gives me new life in Him." From Day One to Day Three

Now, you may be wondering, “what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ between the
time He was cruci­fied and the time He rose from the grave three days later?”
Anticipating such a question, God revealed the answer:

What does ‘he ascended’ mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly
regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the
heavens, in order to fill the whole universe (Ephesians 4:9-10 NIV).

Yes, the Bible tells us that before ascending to Heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ
actually descended to the lower regions. After that He ascended to Heaven
leading Old Testament saints (who had died believing) in the train of His
triumph. Today, every true believer is happily assured that the door of death is
really his gateway to glory. Miraculously, Christ Himself has triumphed over
both physical and spiritual death on our behalf.

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death
is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who giveth us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NS).

Appendage—The Bequest of His Love

It is wonderful to know that the Lord Jesus has pioneered the way to Heaven and
that now we can fol­low in the train of His triumph.

It is equally wonderful to know that before His death, in love for His own,
Jesus promised that after His ascension to Heaven He would send the Holy Spirit
to believers on earth. To His disciples He said:

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, “From his innermost being shall
flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who
believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus
was not yet glorified. (John 7:38-39) But now I am going to Him who sent Me . .
. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper . . . the
Spirit of truth . . . it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go
away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you . .
. He shall glorify Me (John 16:5; John 14:16-17: John 7:14).

We have already noticed how God was glorified in the death of His Son. Now you
may ask another ques­tion: “How can Jesus be glorified by sending the Holy
Spirit to you and me?” This question is partly answered by the fact that Jesus
is glorified in the life of each believer through whom the love of God is
flowing. We read: the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through
the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:5). God’s indwelling love—made
real by the Holy Spirit—far transcends the loftiest pinnacle of human attraction
or affection. As by faith you respond to His finished work at the Cross, the
Lord Jesus, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, will begin to love other people
through you. Marvelous! To believe that Christ died for your sins, and then to
give thanks in your heart for that fact, is for you to enjoy the personal
assurance of God’s forgiveness and saving love.

Then, to make your life available to the indwelling presence of the Lord Jesus
Christ is for you to become the vehicle of His love to a loveless world. A
German theologian, famous for his scholarship, was once asked the question:
“What is your most pro­found thought about God?” Astonishingly he replied in the
words of a children’s chorus: “Jesus loves me; this I know, for the Bible tells
me so.”

Yes, God truly loves me! and yes, God TRULY does love you!

O, the love that drew salvation’s plan, O, the grace that brought it down to
man, O, the mighty gulf that God did span, At Calvary!

Mercy there was great, and grace was free, Pardon there was multiplied to me,
There my burdened soul found liberty, At Calvary. A Letter from Iraq

“I was in a Muslim (Scheltey) house. My family taught me how to pray and fast as
a Muslim. I dressed like Muslim women, covering my face so no man would sin if
he looked in my face.

“Because of all this, I had a lot of time with nothing to do. Therefore I used
my empty time listening to many radio programs and heard many Bible messages.
One day I saw my sister-in-law with some nice stickers with pretty colors. Then
I wrote my first letter under my sister-in-law’s address. Your reply contained
the book Your Quest for God.

“I tried to understand what it meant to quest for God . . . In Chapter 7 there
is a question, ‘Does God really love me?’ In particular I stopped at the
paragraph which says: ‘God shows His love for you by what He did for you on the
Cross. When you understand the meaning of the Cross you do not need any further
proof that God loves you.’

“I read this chapter more than 100 times. Then I began to understand without any
doubt that the Cross was the only way for me.”

– Report submitted by Trans World Radio Pause to Consider 1. What is the best
way to prove you love somebody? Is it by what you say? Is it by what you do?

2. How did God prove His love for you?

3. How will you personally respond to God’s love?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 11: 1.08.     WHERE CAN I FIND LIFE?
========================================================================

In the electronic atmosphere of the operation room, every surgeon learns to
identify blood with life. The two are inseparable: you lose one, you lose both.

Dr. Paul Brand Where can I find life?

It was fast approaching the midnight hour. In the middle of a tedious eighteen
hour railway journey, my wife and I were with hundreds of fellow-travelers at
Gare St. Lazare railway station in Paris. We all waited patiently for the
railway official to open the ticket barrier and let us proceed to our train. The
vast majority of those around us were young people. As Dorothy and I mingled
among them, it seemed that every country in Europe was represented in the
throng. Some of the fellows and girls tried to catch a nap, using their
haversack as a poor substitute for a comfortable pillow. While they sprawled on
the stone paving, their friends stood guard and munched a sandwich or sipped a
bottle of water.

During our wait, we chatted and laughed with a number of these young people. In
spite of their youthful excitement, when their facade was down, most of them
were conscious that they had not yet found that illusive ‘life’ for which they
were searching. Before long, our conversation turned to the Person who was
travelling with Dorothy and me—the Lord Jesus Christ! As we talked, some of
these restless and adven­turesome young people opened up and shared with us
their desire to find ‘real’ life. Some hoped it would be in the next city; some
thought it might be in the next friendship; others unabashedly believed they
would expand their life experience in the next drug fix or booze party. Of great
concern to some was the fear of being infected with a deadly disease. In remote
African villages, they call this feared plague ‘the thin man’s disease.’ In
medical parlance it is diagnosed as HIV positive. When fully developed in a man,
woman, boy or girl, it is known as AIDS. The dreaded news of having contracted
this disease is always the same: instant and utter devastation! Around the
world, people know that the terrible affliction of AIDS is a ‘blood disease.’
Whereas the blood stream should be a cleansing river of life, it has become a
contaminated river of death.

I have to admit, however, that though blood is a vital life-giving stream, to me
the sight of blood has always been repulsive. In fact, in a bold effort to
overcome my phobia, I once accepted an invitation to view a surgical operation
from an observation tower at a hospital in London. As the scalpel made its
incision into the patient’s skin, once again I nearly fainted. My doctor friend,
who noticed that I was bathed in perspi­ration and ashen-white, suggested that I
step out of the viewing room. I needed no further persuasion!

But, regardless of a person’s reaction to the sight of blood, life and health
can be restored to a person who is seriously hemorrhaging by giving a
blood-transfu­sion. Today, because of the marvels of modern science, blood taken
from the veins of a healthy individual can later be introduced as a life-giving
river into the veins of a dying or seriously ill patient.

Long before medical research began to unfold the marvels and mysteries of blood,
God Himself de­clared: For the life of the flesh is in the blood . . .
(Leviticus 17:11). Dr. Paul Brand succinctly agrees that blood contains the
essence of life: “In the electronic at­mosphere of the operation room, every
surgeon learns to identify blood with life. The two are inseparable: you lose
one, you lose both.”

However, many people are not aware that, al­though blood contaminations such as
the HIV infec­tion are selective depending upon exposure, there is another
‘disease’ that is universal. Because God hath made of one blood all nations of
men for to dwell on all the face of the earth (Acts 17:26 KJ); this deathly
contamination has afflicted the whole human race. In the Bible, its source is
traced back to Adam, the pro­genitor of all successive generations.

When: the first man, Adam, (1 Corinthians 15:45) sinned, all subsequent
generations, of whatever color of skin, place of residence or station in life,
came un­der the sentence of death. The Bible clearly states: . . . in Adam all
die . . . (1 Corinthians 15:22). Yes, as with AIDS death is carried to the body
through contami­nated blood, so too this contamination caused by sin has been
passed on from generation to generation. If this had not been so, people would
have gone straight to Heaven without passing through the valley of physi­cal
disease and death. But such is not the case.

Thank God, however, that when Jesus was born, a life-giving stream of Blood was
introduced into the human race. This is how it happened. The angel Gabriel told
Mary that she was to conceive and bear a Son and that His name would be called
Jesus. Gabriel also explained to this chaste, unmarried virgin how her
conception would occur. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be
called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). A miracle took place when the seed of the
woman was fertilized by the Seed of the Holy Spirit. In this dramatic event the
Life of God was introduced to the human race. Then, as the babe began to grow in
the womb of Mary, and blood circulated in the embryo, His precious Blood was
unadulterated and uncontaminated. Yes, the Blood of the Lord Jesus was Life
itself!*

Human blood is an incredibly complex substance. Even today, those involved in
medical research con­tinue to discover more of the life-giving secrets of this
miraculous fluid. In simple terms, some of the func­tions of blood in the human
body can be described as: body-cleansing, life-supplying and disease-repelling.
Marvelous as this may be, it is even more wonder­ful to know that God has made
available to you and me a Blood-stream that has similar yet far more miraculous
purposes. And that Blood is there for all those who seek ‘real’ life. For the
sinner, the Blood of Jesus is God’s cleansing agent from sin. For the
spiritually dead, His precious Blood transfuses Life with a capital ‘L’. For the
spiritually alive, the Blood of Jesus is God’s protecting agent from the attacks
of Satan. Of this precious Blood we read: Knowing that you were not redeemed
with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life
inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb
unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19). The Blood: Its
Cleansing Power A while back, the news media reported that a greedy transport
firm had compromised hygienic

* In his book: The Chemistry of the blood, M.R. DeHaan, M.D., quotes several
recognized physiological, obstetric and nursing publications and concludes: “The
mother provides the fetus (the unborn developing infant) with nutritive elements
for the building of that little body in the secret of her womb, but all the
blood which forms in it is formed in the embyro itself. From the time of
conception to the time of birth not one single drop of blood ever passes from
the mother to the child.’ However, commenting on DeHaan’s view, Dr. Robert E.
Coleman in his book: Written in Blood states: ‘Without trying to discredit this
position, [DeHaan’s view that the blood of the human body is formed in the fetus
itself by the introduction of the male sperm, and therefore has no direct
contact with the mother’s body] I think it is only fair to note that other
medical doctors seriously question its validity. However, regardless of the
biological nature of the situation, I see no reason why it should be an issue.
The fact that Jesus was conceived by God would itself rule out the hereditary
transmission of sin when considering the Biblical significance of the Blood of
Jesus.’ requirements. To increase their profit, this firm had utilized a tank
truck to carry poisonous products in one direction and then, unofficially, used
the same tank to carry a fluid food product on the return journey. This resulted
in many people becoming critically ill.

However, in the human body, God has made a mi­raculous transport system that
both carries food to the cells and at the same time scavenges the refuse. And
because of God’s perfect creation, there is no cross-contamination within the
bloodstream. Amazingly, no cell in the human body is more than a hair’s breadth
from a blood capillary. If poisonous products were not eliminated from these
cells, the inevitable result would be disease and death. And that is exactly
what God has described when He explained His method of removing the
contami­nating presence of sin from our lives. Such cleansing is only through
the precious Blood of Jesus: but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son
cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). Further­more, God has said that there is
no other way that our sins can be forgiven, for without shedding of blood there
is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22). The Blood: Its Life-Giving Power

Another function of the blood is to carry the needed water and nourishment
throughout the body to sustain life. If blood fails to reach the cells and
tis­sues of the body, those body structures promptly die. Thus the body dies
when the blood ceases to circulate.

Obviously, the life is in the blood.

Realizing this, we are reminded of the words of the Lord Jesus that so startled
His disciples when He spoke of His own Blood. He emphatically said:

Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life
in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life; and I
will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is
true drink (John 6:53-55).

However, Jesus went on to clarify His real mean­ing. He said: . . . he who eats
My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him (John 6:56). What a joy
it is to understand the true source of spiritual life! The Blood of Jesus was
shed to redeem sinners from their sin. And because of His shed Blood we can now
partake of His shared life. The Lord Jesus explained the true meaning of
drinking His Blood when He said—’I in him’! Marvelous!

Having personally experienced the resurrection power of Christ’s indwelling
presence, believers can triumphantly testify: “the risen Christ now lives in
me!” For such people, the partaking of bread and wine at a communion service is
a simple and symbolic act of thanksgiving and testimony.*

* Sadly, there are millions of people who still persist in believing that the
bread and the wine served at certain ‘Eucharists’ are literally changed into
Christ’s physical flesh and blood. What our Lord intended to be understood as a
symbol of His indwelling life has tragically been understood as a literal and
physical fact. The germinal life-giving power of the precious Blood of Jesus is
miraculously conveyed to the life of the believer by the power of the Holy
Spirit when he is born from above. Yes, basic to every person’s search for life
is the need of a life-giving ‘Blood trans­fusion.’ The Blood: Its Protecting
Power

There is yet another miracle function of the human blood. Not only is the blood
life-cleansing and life-giving but it is also life-protecting.

Fear spread around the world when the bubonic plague was diagnosed in India.
Inter-continental jet aircraft which originated in that country were fumi­gated
and, in some cases, the passengers were tem­porarily quarantined for medical
examination. Lest this killer disease should spread to other countries, a
temporary embargo was then placed on all subsequent flights leaving India.

Even without the threat of bubonic plague there is always a constant bombardment
of the human body by alien and life-threatening germs. But the blood has a
marvelous mechanism of counterattack. It carries in its life-defending stream
antitoxins and other specific substances which defend the system against
bacterial invasion. When such an invasion occurs the white blood cells
(primarily there for defensive purposes) dramatically increase in number and
jump into a de­fensive mode.

How wonderful to know that the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, much like the
marvelous power of human blood, also has a life-protecting ministry. It is the
Blood of Jesus Christ that protects the believer from the constant bombardment
of Satanic forces. In the prophecy about the end-time battle between Satan and
God’s people, we read: And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb
and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life
even to death (Revelation 12:11). You also can over­come the foul advances of
the devil by the protecting power of the precious Blood of Jesus. This victory
of Jesus over Satan was prophesied immediately following the devil’s seduction
of Adam and Eve. Then, the Lord God promised that it would be the seed of the
woman who would cause his doom. And I will put enmity . . . between your seed
and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the
heel (Genesis 3:15). The seed of the woman would crush Satan’s head but not
before that serpent had fanged Messiah’s heel. Yes, it was the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, the seed of the woman, who shed His precious Blood so that:

Through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil (Hebrews 2:14 KJ).

Unlike the illusion-chasing students we met at Gare St. Lazare station in Paris,
many others have discovered the source of real life.

Some time ago, Dorothy and I met with a hundred Ugandans who were assured that
they had found true life. In the precious Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ they
had discovered a heartcleansing, life-giving and devil-resisting power. They
could truly attest that, for them, the old things had passed away and that
every­thing had become new.

Although it was against the advice of Embassy officials in Kenya who had warned
us of impending danger, my wife and I, urged by the Spirit of God, proceeded to
Uganda. God had planned the timing of our protracted seminar with Ugandan
pastors and their wives. As we later discovered, He had also pre-planned our
return flight. (It so happened that ours was the last plane to leave Entebbe
before yet another military coup.)

Immediately upon our arrival at the airport, we sensed an atmosphere of tension
and fear. The confu­sion and dirt we encountered were indescribable. One of the
few cars in the region had been made available for us to drive from the airport
on a road that was still pitted with bomb holes. After a short distance we were
apprehended at gunpoint by unruly soldiers. We didn’t know whether they were
government soldiers, anti­government soldiers or just thugs dressed in soldiers’
uniforms. Remarkably, they soon recognized our driver as belonging to their own
tribe so they reluc­tantly allowed us to proceed without our being robbed or
hurt in any way.

Upon arriving at our destination, my wife and I found the meeting place for our
seminars to be a dark and dirty structure in the middle of a fear-ridden
com­munity. When the pastors and their wives arrived, however, we soon forgot
these surroundings. It was the Lord Himself who graced us with an overwhelm­ing
sense of His glory and His presence. Those meet­ings in Uganda will forever be
etched in our memory as a mountain-top experience of our meeting with the Living
God. With rapt attention, the pastors and their wives sat on uncomfortable
benches for eight hours a day to hear Dorothy and me share God’s truth from the
Bible. As I taught, my wife wrote my outlines on an old blackboard to help the
listeners take notes on trea­sured scraps of paper. Suddenly, there was a
scuffle at the door. Though one of the drunken men with his rifle had been
apprehended at the entrance, his partner had pushed his way through the crowd,
brandishing his rifle as he pointed it at Dorothy’s heart.

“Let’s all pray that this dear man will come to know Jesus,” she quietly said.

After moments which, to me, had seemed like an eternity, my interpreter turned
to me with absolute as­tonishment: “I can’t believe what that drunken soldier
has said—he just said, ‘I want to know this woman’s God.’”

Even as the translator spoke, I saw a sight I will never forget. Whatever the
cause—whether it was an angel compelling the intruder to his knees, whether it
was the awesome sense of God’s holiness and power which had prevailed in our
meetings becoming too much for the drunken soldier, or whether it was a
voluntary act of humility prompting him to openly express his heart’s deep
need—I know not. What I do know is that at that precise moment the barrel of the
rifle slowly slipped downward and then the intended weapon of destruction
dropped to the ground as the soldier fell to his knees. This was no moment for a
well-thought-out after-meeting of instruction! And Dorothy knew it. “Pray this
prayer after me,” she said. Then, step by step she led this poor deluded and
needy soul to the foot of the Cross—to the Savior of sinful men—where he found
the source of all true life through the Blood of Jesus.

Why do I share this experience now? Simply because of what happened next in that
memorable meeting. In our gathering there were many men who might have had every
reason to fear and even hate the in­truder who had so violently made his way
into our meeting. There were those among us whose lives had recently been
threatened. One pastor present had even had his fingers blown off by such a
soldier during an aborted attempt to kill him. But because they knew and loved
the Lord Jesus in a personal way, these very men gathered around him to embrace
him and pray for their new brother in Christ.

Then, without any musical accompaniment, but in glorious African harmony, they
burst into song. My heart is still filled with awe as I reflect upon the words
sung:

Oh, the Blood of Jesus,Oh, the Blood of Jesus,Oh, the Blood of JesusThat
cleanses me from sin.

If only our world leaders could have been with us that day. Surely they, too,
would have witnessed God’s only solution to inter-tribal, inter-racial and
interna­tional conflict: And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself,
having made peace through the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20) . . . And
you, that were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
has He reconciled . . . (Colossians 1:21 KJ).

Yes, only those who have been brought into a right relationship with God, “by
His [Christ’s] blood . . . shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. . .
. much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (Romans
5:9-10).

Pause to Consider

1. Do you really desire ‘life’ with a capital ‘L’? This is the life that the
Lord Jesus described when He said: I came that they might have life, and might
have it abundantly (John 10:10).

2. According to the Bible, where in the human body is life to be found? (Read
Leviticus 17:11).

3. What is the eternal significance of the precious Blood of the Lord Jesus? Are
you trusting in its cleansing power? Are you trusting in its life-giving power?
Are you trusting in its protecting power? The Lord Jesus said: I am the
resurrection, and the life; he who believes in Me, shall live even if he dies,
and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die (John 11:25-26).


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 12: 1.09.     HOW CAN I BECOME PART OF GOD’S FAMILY?
========================================================================

The perfection of an artist’s painting, the radiance of a human face, the
grandeur of a landscape—surely none of these can be adequately described by
sound. Sight is needed.

How can I become part of God’s family?

During the early 1940’s, medical science made great progress in the field of eye
surgery. So much so, in fact, that it had become possible to transplant healthy
corneas from the eyes of some­one who had just died into the eyes of a blind
person. Dr. Sangster told us about his witnessing the results of the first
successful cornea transplant.

Long before sunrise, Dr. Sangster accompanied two people to the beautiful Surrey
Downs in England. One was a lady who had been born blind; the other was her eye
surgeon. Layers of bandages had protected the patient’s eyes from any light on
the days following her operation. Gradually these had been peeled off. Already
she had become aware of a new sensitivity to light and was very excited. And now
before sunrise, the last remaining bandage was removed from the eyes of this
lady who had never seen. That day the sunrise could not have been more glorious
as the morning sun peeped over the horizon. Shadows grew shorter and green
leaves silhouetted their delicate beauty on a backdrop of morning splen­dor.
Birds busily hopped over the dew-drenched turf in search of their breakfast. The
whole scene presented exquisite entertainment for a lady who could see for the
first time in her life. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she exclaimed:
“Oh, you’ve tried to describe it to me but I never imagined that anything could
be so wonderful!” She then sat in silent awe before the splendor of God’s
creation.

How would you try to describe the color of red to a person who has never seen?
Or the drama of a sunset to a person whose eyes have never responded to light?
It would surely be impossible. Words that describe visual beauty can have little
meaning when they fall on the ears of a hearer who has no visual frame of
reference. The perfection of an artist’s paint­ing, the radiance of a human
face, the grandeur of a landscape—surely none of these can be adequately
described by sound. Sight is needed. The same difficulty is encountered when a
believer tries to convey spiritual beauty to a non-believer. Once while talking
to a medical student who was study­ing for his final exams at Guy’s Hospital in
London, I tried to explain the wonder of God’s love. “I just can’t see it,” he
replied. I understood, but pursued the conversation a little further: “No, I
don’t suspect you can, because you are like a man who is living in a dark room.
I know what that is like; I have lived in spiritual darkness myself, but now I
am outside where the sun of God’s love is shining. David,” I said, “if you are
to understand the love of God, you must come out of that darkened room and into
His sunlight.” That day David knelt to ask the Lord Jesus to forgive his sin and
to enter his life. I will never forget what he said as he rose from his knees:
“I never thought it could be as wonderful as this!”

Just as physical sight conveys the beauty of God’s creation to human experience,
so spiritual sight relays the reality of God’s presence, power and love to the
human soul.

After He had ascended to Heaven, the Lord Jesus, speaking through the Apostle
John, gave a startling diagnosis concerning the spiritual condition of the
people in the city of Laodicea. To them He said: You . . . do not know that you
are . . . blind (Revelation 3:17 NKJV). Can you imagine a blind person who is
not aware of his sad state? After the diagnosis of spiritual blindness, the Lord
Jesus went on to prescribe His remedy. Anoint your eyes with eye salve that you
may see (Revelation 3:18 NKJV). And how important that prescription is!
Spiritual blindness requires spiritual eye surgery, which is the work of the
Holy Spirit. The first time you were born it was a physical birth. But that did
not give you spiritual sight and un­derstanding. If you are to find your way out
of spiritual darkness into the light of the knowledge of the glory of God (2
Corinthians 4:6), you need to be born a second time. Jesus said to
Nicodemus:That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’
(John 3:6-7), . . . unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God
(John 3:3). So if you are to see the kingdom of God, you too need to be born
again.

Like every other human being, you were born with a God-shaped vacuum in your
life that cries out to be filled. This spiritual emptiness can only be satisfied
by the incoming and indwelling presence of the Risen Christ. When you receive
Him into your life as your Savior, the purpose and necessity of His death will
be brought to fruition in your life. He did not die just to forgive you your
sins; He died so that your heart could be made a spiritually clean place for Him
to reside. And it is necessary that your sins be forgiven before He can come to
live in your heart.

While talking to a young African believer, I be­came aware of his intense burden
to share the good news about Christ with the young people of his coun­try. The
following week I was to teach the Bible to nearly two hundred pastors so I
invited him to join us. Though we were then several hundred miles from where the
pastors were to gather, I suggested that he travel by bus over the long, bumpy
roads to meet with us. William arrived worn and weary but very happy to be able
to learn more about God and His Word. Wil­liam had not traveled on that
overcrowded African bus just to have a ride! The bus trip was obviously his
means of getting to the conference. His real purpose was what awaited him at the
end of his journey.

Similarly, the Lord Jesus knew that the only way He could ever enter your life
in order to fellowship with you and you with Him would be for Him to provide a
way for your heart to be cleansed from sin. Although the forgiveness of your
sins was necessary, your new life in Christ and your ability to fellowship with
God were His ultimate desire for you. Can you be content with anything less?
After all, this personal relationship with Christ is the very purpose for which
you were created. To know that Christ lives in your heart is to know here and
now that eternal life has already begun. Christ’s indwelling presence brings His
life to your life. And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not
have the Son of God does not have the life (1 John 5:11-12).

Thus, it is not surprising that after my friend David asked the Lord Jesus to
forgive his sin and to enter his life, he exclaimed: “I never thought it could
be as wonderful as this!” But How? When people heard Peter preach about the
life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus, God gave them a desire to know
the Savior. The Holy Spirit did for them what He is doing for you. They listened
to Peter tell them that Jesus was Lord (‘Kurios’—Yahweh) and the Messiah of God.
And this new understanding of who Jesus is produced in them an overwhelming
sense of conviction and of their need of salvation. As they reflected on their
own rejection of, or indifference to, the Crucified One—to the Savior
Himself—the record tells us that they were pierced to the heart, and earnestly
asked, what shall we do? (Acts 2:37).

Peter’s first reply to them was an exhortation to repent. Without repentance,
faith is not real faith; it is merely ‘make-believe’ or ‘fantasy.’ Saving faith
includes both an attitude of trust and a change of at­titude. When in simple
trust you thank Jesus for what He did for you when He died on the Cross, your
attitude towards God and towards sin has undergone a dramat­ic change. It is
only then that the Holy Spirit performs His spiritual eye surgery and your mind
begins to see things from a different perspective. In fact, the mean­ing of the
word repentance is ‘a change of mind.’ So a genuine new-birth experience
involves a basic change of mind regarding God and sin.

Regarding God: Repentance (a change of mind) re­jects every false concept of
God. I have seen people in Africa who, having struggled mightily with the pull
of their old ways and pagan customs, have openly burned their fetishes after
having turned to Jesus. I also have friends who have had to resist great social
pressures, even having to face threats and danger, when they have turned from
religious or social systems that were not true to the God of the Bible. Saving
faith must be rooted in the firm conviction that Jesus is Yahweh—the only Savior
God.

Regarding sin: When, by faith, you enter into your salvation experience, you
will recognize your own sinfulness with sorrow and shame. Your change of mind
(repentance) with regard to sin will mean that you no longer try to ignore your
sin; you no longer try to excuse your sin; and you no longer hope that your
righteousness will save you. Man’s righteous deeds are like a filthy garment
before a Holy God (Isaiah 64:6). But when you turn to Jesus, you will have a
desire to turn away from those things in your life that have been displeasing to
Him.

Imagine an army corporal on leave from his bar­racks. One day he receives two
letters. One is from a friend; the other is from his Commanding Officer. In the
first letter there is an invitation to his friend’s wed­ding, but in the other
there is a command from his su­perior to report for duty. There is certainly a
difference between an invitation and a command. An invitation could be politely
refused, but a command can only be answered either by obedience or rebellion.

Because God loves you and knows that sin will destroy your life, He does not
invite you to repent; He commands you to repent. As Paul concluded his
presentation of the gospel to the philosophers and bystanders at the university
capital of Greece, he said: “but now [God] commandeth all men everywhere to
repent” (Acts 17:30 KJ). And, “all” includes you. The miracle is that when you
turn from your mis­conceptions about God and likewise turn away from your
personal sin, and in so doing by faith turn to Jesus to acclaim Him as your
Savior God, the Holy Spirit will work in your heart both to will and to do (Php
2:13 KJ) what is right in the eyes of God. Thus, God promises to those who truly
repent both the desire to do and the power to perform the will of God. Only then
will your life be transformed and reach its God-ordained potential. As a friend,
I urge you to receive the Lord Jesus Christ without delay. Find a quiet spot
where you can bow before God in prayer. Of course, if you only re­peat words in
a parrot-like fashion, they will do noth­ing for you. The important thing is
that you respond in faith to Jesus, who said: I am the way, and the truth, and
the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me (John 14:6).

Now you may wish to close your eyes and pray a spontaneous response from your
heart, or you may find the following suggested prayer helpful. My Prayerful
Response Oh God, I have not known You and neither have I loved You. But I thank
You that You have both known me and loved me.

I am a sinner, and of myself I can do nothing to earn my salvation. By faith I
now turn to You, Lord Jesus, and ask for your forgiveness! I confess that I am a
sinner and repent of my sin. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for dying for me and for
offering me the cleansing and life-giving power of Your precious Blood. By faith
I now place my life under the protection of that precious Blood.

Please come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and take control of my life.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, that by Your Holy Spirit I have been born again. It is
wonderful for me to know that by Your risen power I am a child of God and will
live with You forever! And he who believes in Him . . . [trusts in and relies on
Him] shall never be disappointed or put to shame (1 Peter 2:6 Amp).

Now, tell somebody what you have just done. Re­member Christ lives in you, and
He is all the strength you need to be able to speak and live for Him:

. . . If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart
that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man
believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting
in salvation (Romans 10:9-10). A Letter from Slovakia

“Dear friends, I have just finished reading the most fascinating book I have
ever read in my life, Your Quest for God. I know I will never be the same again.
The Lord Jesus accepted me and I gave my life to Him. I want this joy to belong
to every one of my friends and so I kindly ask if I could order two more copies
just for lending to others . . .

“Thank you for bringing the Gospel and the gift of salvation in Christ into my
life . . . We never knew that such an excellent book existed.”

– Report translated and submitted by J.A.

Pause to Consider 1. How can you best express your gratitude for receiving a
generous gift? Is it by saying: “please give it to me”? Is it by saying: “thank
you”?

2. Is it your feeling or your faith that gives you assurance that you are a
child of God? For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).

3. Does your faith in the Lord Jesus include: an element of repentance? an
element of thanksgiving? an attitude of total dependence upon Him?

4. Will you now thank God for saving you and praise the Lord Jesus, not only for
what He has done for you, but also for who He is?

How can I become part of God’s family?

There


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 13: 1.10.     WHAT NEXT?
========================================================================

There is nothing—no circumstance, no trouble, no testing—that can ever touch me
until, first of all, it has gone past God and gone past Christ, right through to
me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose, which I may not
understand at the moment. But as I refuse to become panicky, as I lift my eyes
to His and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of
blessing to my own heart, no sorrow will ever disturb me, no trial will ever
disarm me, no circumstance will cause me to fret—for I shall rest in the joy of
what my Lord is. That is the victory of faith!

Alan Redpath

What next?

Salvation is absolutely free! There is nothing anybody can do to earn it. The
Lord Jesus does it all. As you sincerely prayed the suggested prayer (or
something similar), your faith in Christ has made you a true child of God. But
as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God,
even to those who believe in His name (John 1:12).

Most likely you will now be asking the question, “What next?”

Just before Jesus left His disciples on His mission to conquer death and then to
return to Heaven, He said: Abide in Me, and I in you (John 15:4). In those
words, the Lord Jesus explained the essence of Christian liv­ing. From God’s
point of view, the believer abides in His Son—there to be kept and protected
until safely arriving in Heaven. However, from a human perspec­tive, because the
risen Lord also abides in true believ­ers, their family, friends and fellow
workers will be in­troduced to a quality of life that can only be explained in
terms of the indwelling Christ.

Imagine, if you will, a metal poker in a fire. When you look at it, you could
say “the poker is in the fire,” but if you look more closely you would observe
that the poker itself is red-hot and then it would be quite right for you also
to say “the fire is in the poker!” Or, likewise, imagine a cup as it is plunged
into a bucket of water. The cup is in the water, but the water is also in the
cup! When you were born again, the Holy Spirit actu­ally baptized (immersed) you
into the body of Christ.

Now the Bible assures you that: your life is hidden with Christ in God
(Colossians 3:3). Yes, because you have been born again, you are now in Christ.
Marvel­ous! Also, when you were born again, the indwelling life of the risen
Christ was made a personal and glori­ous reality by the power of the Holy
Spirit. Now, you can rejoice that it is Christ in you, the hope of glory . . .
(Colossians 1:27). And yes, because you have been born again, the risen Christ
now lives in you. Wonderful!

Now let us further consider what the Bible actually says about the liberating
impact of this twin truth—I am in Christ and Christ is in me.

I am in Christ For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body . . . (1
Corinthians 12:13). Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptised
into Christ Jesus have been baptised into His death? Therefore we have been
buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness
of life (Romans 6:3-4). For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in
God (Colossians 3:3).

Several years ago I knew a little boy who had leukemia. At that time he was only
seven, and he had to go to the doctor every three months for a spinal injection.
On one visit the doctor asked Daryl why he did not cry like other boys and girls
when the needle penetrated his spine. “Doesn’t it hurt?” the doctor asked. “Oh
yes, it hurts,” replied Daryl, “but, doctor, you don’t understand; the needle
has to go through the hand of Jesus before it touches me.” It is wonder­ful to
know that because you are now in Christ, He is adequate to handle everything
that tests and touches your life! That’s faith!

Just as you received the Lord Jesus by faith, so it is the same principle of
faith that enables you to appro­priate the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ
to meet every demand of life. In other words, your initial act of faith opened
the door for you to adopt a continual attitude of faith. As you therefore have
received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him (Colossians 2:6).

Though you have been born again, God does not expect you to just mimic the life
of Jesus. Millions of Christians have been totally frustrated as they have tried
to do this and always without success. But God tells us of His wonderful
provision for our Christian lives. We have already died in Christ. And being
dead in Christ, we are dead to all the demands and condem­nation of the law.
Therefore, as in the past so now and in the future, we are dead to any hope that
self-effort will meet the law’s demands. Yes, we are dead to every vestige of
confidence in ourselves to live the spiritual life. But, praise God, we are
gloriously alive to all the protecting and enabling sufficiency of the risen
Lord Jesus Christ! The problem arises when we try to handle the temptations and
pressures of life by ourselves. The new believer will find that all by himself
he is just as incapable of living the Christian life after his new birth as he
was before. Warning us about this tendency, the Lord Jesus Christ clearly said:
. . . for apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15:5). In fact, addressing the
foolishness of self-effort, the Apostle Paul actually had blunt words to say to
believers in the region of Galatia. To correct their turn­ing away from God’s
principle of living by faith and faith only, Paul asked a rhetorical question
which was designed to lead to a self-evident answer: This is the only thing I
want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law,
or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are
you now being perfected by the flesh? (Galatians 3:2-3). Of course they began
their new life in Christ even as you did by an act of faith. And it is only by
that same dependent faith that they can hope to: reign in life through the One,
Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17). In Galatia, the vitality of dependent faith had
sadly been replaced by the barrenness of legalistic self-effort. But, thank God,
if you continue to live in dependence upon your new-found Lord, that sad state
of affairs which existed in Galatia need never be your experience.

Christ Lives in Me I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who
live, but Christ lives in me . . . (Galatians 2:20). And if Christ is in you,
though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of
righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in
you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal
bodies through His Spirit who indwells you (Romans 8:10-11). To whom God willed
to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). That
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith . . . (Ephesians 3:17).

You may express your dependent faith upon Christ’s indwelling life by saying:
“Thank You, Lord Jesus; You are everything that I am not. I give You permission
to be what You are both in me and through me.” The astonishing reality of your
Christian life is that God has transferred the responsibility for your success
to somebody else—the Lord Jesus Christ! Je­sus is the only one who is adequate
to meet the tempta­tions and opportunities of life you will surely face. It is
possible for you to be a ‘theologian’ without Christ, it is possible for you to
be a ‘preacher’ without Christ, it is possible for you to be a ‘missionary’
without Christ; but it is impossible for you to be a Christian if Christ does
not live in your heart.

Jesus is the only Person who can truly live the Christian life. Now, by His
Spirit He has miraculously taken up His residence in your heart. Now He can do
through you and for you what you could never do for yourself. He who is pure is
your purity in a world of immorality; He who is Victor is your victory in a
world of temptation; He who is love is your love in a world of self-seeking.
Indeed, He who is the resurrection and the life is now your very own Christian
Life. As you humbly make your life available to the Lord Jesus, who came to seek
and to save that which is lost (Luke 1:1), you now can also trust Him to seek
and to save lost souls through you! Life becomes truly exciting when believers
discover they are a channel of His life to other people.

Remember—though Jesus has returned to Heav­en—He has certainly not removed
Himself from you. When leaving His disciples on earth, He told them:

After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me;
because I live, you shall live also. In that day you shall know that I am in My
Father, and you in Me, and I in you (John 14:19-20).

Now you may ask, “How can all the resources that God has given me in Christ
become real and practi­cal in my life?” That’s a good question. It recognizes
the wide chasm between a faith that is mental and a faith that is experiential.
The question also implies your deep desire for a faith that functions. The
simple answer is that the triumphant life of Christ is released through the
believer in response to thanks-giving. True faith always says, “Thank You.” For
instance, the very best way you can express your saving faith in Christ is to
thank Him that your sins have been forgiven. Now, you can also thank Him for the
fact that He will become to you exactly what you need at the time you need it.
Without faith, it is impossible to please Him [God] (Hebrews 11:6). As you
desire to please Him, live your life of faith with constant thankfulness to the
Lord Jesus for His suf­ficiency in all things. When Peter wrote to Christians
who because of their loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ were suffering
persecution, he exhorted: Sanctify [set apart; magnify; give full reign to]
Christ as Lord in your hearts . . . (1 Peter 3:15). Therein lies God’s open
secret of how to cope when facing persecution for your faith. Be sure that Jesus
is Lord of your life.

You may remember that one of the names of God in the Old Testament is Adonai.
Adonai means Lord in the sense of His being my Master. It is this concept of
Lord God as my Master that Peter used when he admonished believers by saying:
sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. As the Lord Jesus is master of your life
you will enjoy His constant fellowship. Only then will you be truly free to
trust Him with the daily demands and op­portunities of your life. As the hymn
writer, George Matheson, wrote:

Make me a captive, Lord, And then I shall be free;

Force me to render up my sword, And I shall conqueror be.

Contrary to the popular idea of freedom, real free­dom is not found in my having
the right to do what I want. Rather it is found in my having the power to do
what I ought! Remember the words of the Apostle Paul who said: I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me (Php 4:13 NKJ).

During the revival in Northern Ireland back in 1859, thousands of people came to
Christ. Those converts expressed their own personal and serious commitment to
Christ by signing a ‘Commitment of Faith.’ At that time, so many people had such
a life-changing experience of the Risen Lord that the moral atmosphere of the
country was literally transformed.

Although there is nothing meritorious in signing such a document, perhaps at
this time it would be help­ful for you too, to confirm your own response to God
by signing this document on the following pages.

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that
great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make
you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well
pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen (Hebrews 13:20-21 KJ). A Letter from Hungary “Thank you so much for sending
me the Holy Bible together with the book by Richard A. Bennet: Your Quest for
God.

“I finished the book and checked every reference with the Bible.

“Your Quest for God helped me very much to clarify what I should believe and why
I should believe. Now I am a Believer and, with the help of this book, I have
made my life-time commitment of faith.”

– Report translated and submitted by Trans World Radio


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  CHAPTER 14: S. THE ADULATION OF MAN IN THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFETITLE/CONTENT
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The Adulation of Man in The Purpose Driven Life By Richard Bennett

Dear Friend,

Degrading the Gospel to a formulated whispered prayer and finding one’s “true
self” is part of what one finds in Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life
movement. With concern I have written on the true Gospel of the Lord Christ
Jesus, and in its power, precision and light, thus exposing a widespread
movement that is afflicting many souls. This is Part I of a two-part
presentation. Thousands across the world who are deceived by this new “success”
movement of Rick Warren need the true Gospel!

Yours in the grace of the precious Savior,

Richard Bennett

Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life “is more than a bestseller, it’s become a
movement.”1 In the words of the author himself his megachurch program is
“Revival awakening or miracle… Over 12,000 churches from all 50 states and 19
countries have now participated in 40 Days of Purpose. Many of these churches
have reported that it was the most transforming event in their congregation’s
history.”2 “Rick is also the founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community
that serves and mentors those in ministry worldwide. Over 60,000 pastors
subscribe to Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox.”3 On this Webpage he states, “Our
Purpose is to encourage pastors, ministers, and church leaders with tools and
resources for growing healthy churches…Every resource you purchase helps provide
free resources to the over 1.5 million pastors and lay pastors in third world
countries. God has allowed us through your support to reach over 117 different
countries on all 7 continents.”4 The movement is becoming a global empire.

Warren asserts, “God is a global God…Much of world already thinks globally. The
largest media and business conglomerates are all multi-national…Get a globe or
map and pray for nations by name. The Bible says, ‘If you ask me, I will give
you the nations; all the people on earth will be yours.’”5 (Warren, however, has
overlooked the fact that this promise was made uniquely to Christ Jesus, and not
to megachurches seeking expansion). Even the business world is looking on with
awe. Forbes.com in an article called “Christian Capitalism Megachurches,
Megabusinesses” acknowledged that, “Maybe churches aren’t so different from
corporations…Pastor Rick Warren, who founded Saddleback Church in Lake Forest,
Calif., in 1980, has deftly used technology as well as marketing to spread his
message… No doubt, churches have learned some valuable lessons from
corporations. Now maybe they can teach businesses a thing or two. Companies
would certainly appreciate having the armies of nonpaid, loyal volunteers.”6 The
empire of influence of which Warren boasts is echoed by thousands of pastors and
Christian leaders around the world. At least eighteen million copies of his book
have been sold since its release in September 2002. It is now selling in many
translations. Literally thousands of churches have used the book and the
materials that accompany it during special campaigns called 40 Days of Purpose.
The book is divided into forty chapters purporting to explain in 40 days the
five purposes of one’s life. Indeed, the thesis of the book is found on p. 136,
“He [God] created the church to meet your five deepest needs: a purpose to live
for, people to live with, principles to live by, a profession to live out, and
power to live on. There is no other place on earth where you can find all five
of these benefits in one place.” 7

Warren is dead wrong in his list of “deepest needs”. On the authority of the
Bible, the first and foremost need of any man is perfect righteousness before
the All Holy God. It is Christ Jesus’ righteousness alone that God will accept
as a propitiation for any man’s sin and sin nature. This primary need of man is
constantly shown in the Bible but Warren does not even mention this foundational
truth in his list of “deepest needs”. Warren’s quick switch from God’s purpose
to man’s methods falls under the first temptation ever recorded in the Bible.
Satan offered to Eve the fruit as the way of achieving a spiritual purpose, “in
the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods,
knowing good and evil.”8 Warren teaches that God “created the church to meet
your five deepest needs” just as the Roman Catholic Church says, “The Church is
the mother of all believers.”9 Warren, like Rome, has switched from obedience to
the Word and Person of the Living God to submission to a church to achieve one’s
needs. It is the oldest and cleverest temptation known to man.

Warren’s gospel, the root flaw The Apostle Paul showed the need for the Gospel
by the fact that whole the world is guilty before God. He declared, “now we know
that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law:
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before
God.”10 All are “by nature children of wrath”11, guilty before the all Holy God.
To appear before Him, therefore, each needs a perfect righteousness. James
summarizes the whole condition of man when he says, “for whosoever shall keep
the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”12 Guilt before
God shows the need for the Gospel and as such is the basis for the Gospel.
Conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit drives the sinner to trust truly on Christ
Jesus alone, as the publican in the parable of the Lord cried out, “God be
merciful to me a sinner.”13 With Warren, this conviction of guilt is reduced by
psychological terminology to the condition of “unconsciously punishing of
oneself”. He states, “Many people are driven by guilt…. Guilt-driven people are
manipulated by memories. They allow their past to control their future. They
often unconsciously punish themselves by sabotaging their own success. When Cain
sinned, his guilt disconnected him from God’s presence, and God said, ‘You will
be a restless wanderer on the earth.’ That describes most people today—wandering
through life without a purpose. (pp. 27-28)

Rather than sin being shown to be an evil of infinite significance because it is
committed against an infinite Person, Warren’s pop psychology defines sin as
acts of people “sabotaging their own success”. He continues, “God won’t ask
about your religious background or doctrinal views. The only thing that will
matter is, did you accept what Jesus did for you and did you learn to love and
trust him?” (p. 34)

“If you learn to love and trust God’s Son, Jesus, you will be invited to spend
the rest of eternity with him. On the other hand, if you reject his love,
forgiveness, and salvation, you will spend eternity apart from God forever.” (p.
37)

Biblically speaking, it is absolute folly to tell an unconvicted sinner merely
to “learn to love and trust God’s Son, Jesus”. No one can be saved without
recognition of his own sin personally against Holy God, and without turning away
from that sin. So while it is true that the only thing that matters “is to learn
to love and trust Him”, this love and trust is impossible unless the Holy Spirit
has convicted a person that he is a depraved sinner without any hope in himself.
Warren does endeavor to define sin when he states,

All sin, at its root, is failing to give God glory. It is loving anything else
more than God. Refusing to bring glory to God is prideful rebellion, and it is
the sin that caused Satan’s fall— and ours, too. In different ways we all lived
for our own glory, not God’s. The Bible says, ‘All have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God.’” (p.55)

While this is true, Warren still has not acknowledged personal guilt and
personal need for Christ’s perfect righteousness and perfect sacrifice. Warren’s
persistent declarations one’s “selfworth” and “true self”, as we will shortly
document, totally negates what he says about “prideful rebellion”. The book and
movement, on the contrary, major in upholding “self-worth” and “true self” thus
endorsing the very “prideful rebellion” it states is cause of our fall, even as
it was Satan’s. This type of a contradictory statement made by Warren makes it
difficult to analyze the book. While this is so, it is all the more necessary to
do such an analysis. Without the Apostle Paul’s conviction, “I know that in me
(that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing,”14 there can be no true faith in
Christ Jesus, nor even a growth in sanctification before God. The first key flaw
in the Warren’s gospel message is the negation of the very basis needed for
salvation. As the Lord Himself proclaimed, “they that are whole have no need of
the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance.” 15 The heart of Warren’s gospel

Warren’s gospel message gets worse as he proceeds in the book. He assures his
readers, “Real life begins by committing yourself completely to Jesus Christ. If
you are not sure you have done this, all you need to do is receive and believe.
The Bible promises, ‘To all who received him, to those who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God.’ Will you accept God’s offer?”
(p.58)

What Warren has neglected in his teaching of John 1:12 is that the following
verse, v. 13, explains how a person is born again, “which were born, not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Warren
has completely ignored the fact that to receive and believe is not of the will
of man, but of God. It is the grace of God that makes a person willing to
believe, for the heart is changed by God’s power alone. To leave out this
essential point changes the focus from God to man. Such a change of focus from
God to man is lethal to salvation because there is no power within man to change
himself. This grace must come from God. If, however, Warren had taught his
readers to look to God for His grace, he would not have a readymade message that
is marketable. For Warren it is advantageous to leave out “not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”. In leaving out this
essential factor of the Gospel he can in fact propose that which this verse of
Scripture rules out! The Lord is consistent in His Word, “I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have
compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that sheweth mercy.”16 Eternal life is bestowed on a person not because
man begins the work, but it is because God gives salvation out of His mercy and
grace. Such is the written purpose of God. Warren’s written purpose is the
opposite. It begins, he says, with man, “Real life begins by committing
yourself…” But this is a deception for which Warren will have to pay before the
All Holy God. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked…It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God.”17 The power and dread of God’s vindictive
wrath is great. There will be eternal misery for those who teach a false gospel,
their punishment shall come from God’s own hand.

Warren progresses in his bogus gospel message,

“First, believe. Believe God loves you and made you for his purposes. Believe
you’re not an accident. Believe you were made to last forever. Believe God has
chosen you to have a relationship with Jesus, who died on the cross for you.
Believe that no matter what you’ve done, God wants to forgive you.

“Second, receive. Receive Jesus into your life as Lord and Saviour. Receive his
forgiveness for your sins. Receive his Spirit, who will give you the power to
fulfill your life purpose.

Wherever you are reading this, I invite you to bow your head and quietly whisper
the prayer that will change your eternity: ‘Jesus, I believe in you and I
receive you.’ Go ahead. “If you sincerely meant that prayer congratulations!
Welcome to the family of God!” (p. 58-59).

According to Warren’s teaching, it is the prayer that one whispers that changes
a person for eternity. Instead of magnifying the enormity of sin and setting
forth its eternal consequences, Warren says, “Believe that no matter what you’ve
done, God wants to forgive you.” With one sweet lie he attempts to wipe out all
the teaching of the prophets in the Old Testament and the Lord Christ Jesus and
the Apostles in the consistent teaching on the abhorrence of sin and the need of
repentance. In place of the Gospel as “the power of God unto salvation” “in
which the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith,”18 Warren merely
gives a whispered prayer. It is difficult to envisage a greater insult to Christ
Jesus, whose perfect life and perfect sacrifice are the basis of genuine
salvation. The Apostle Paul declares that the righteousness of God is
manifested, “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets.”

19 Before God, sin had to be punished and true righteousness established. God’s
holiness demanded the perfect life and perfect sacrifice of Christ Jesus to
satisfy His wrath against sin. But for Warren, as we had seen, sin is said to be
“sabotaging…success” so the whole concept of perfect righteousness being
manifested before God is totally missing. With the omission goes the omission of
the concept of grace as the means of obtaining that perfect righteousness.
According to Warren’s doctrine, salvation is “bow your head and quietly whisper
the prayer that will change your eternity.” In Scripture, salvation is God’s
action based on Christ’s finished work on the cross that is credited to the true
believer, “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus.”20 God’s direct action shows His grace so that our eyes are fixed
on Him in faith. Understanding Warren’s bogus gospel, and outrageously
presumptuous “welcome to the family of God”, we can but repeat the words of the
Lord, “woe unto you…for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men.”21 By a
false gospel and false assurance of admittance into the family of God, Warren
has excluded further seeking for the truth, “woe unto you…for ye have taken away
the key of knowledge.”22 The Gospel, in which the finished work of the Lord is
proclaimed, is such that it cannot be changed by a lie that ignores repentance
and adds a whispered prayer that insults the meaning and application of
redemption. This replacement of Warren’s purpose for God’s purpose has dreadful
consequences: “though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

23 Christ Jesus the Lord and His Gospel cannot be insulted with impunity. As the
receiver of stolen goods is as accountable as the thief, so one who promotes
such a pretended gospel is as accountable in the sight of God as the impostor
himself.

Self-worth: the Glorification of Man

Basic to Warren’s program is the strong appeal of promised instantaneous results
in the enhancement of one’s imaginations of his own self-worth. What is
completely ignored is the solemn fact that by nature man is a fallen creature,
alienated from the life of God, dead in trespasses and sins, and that his only
hope is outside of himself and in Christ Jesus alone. Although Warren states
that the book is “not about you” (p. 17), the main focus is persistently on
building up one’s “self-worth”. He continually appeals to the reader’s
self-interests. The following are some examples, “The way you see your life
shapes your life. How you define life determines your destiny” (p. 41).

“You are a bundle of incredible abilities, an amazing creation of God. Part of
the church’s responsibility is to identify and release your abilities for
serving God” (p. 242).

“The best use of your life is to serve God out of your shape. To do this you
must discover your shape, learn to accept and enjoy it, and then develop it to
its fullest potential” (p. 249). This equates exactly with the Hinduism in its
teaching, “By understanding your true Self, by coming to know one’s own undying
soul, one then arrives at the knowledge of Brahman itself…”

24 While Warren’s teaching is comparable with Hinduism, the most likely source
of Warren’s teaching is Carl Jung. Discovering one’s “power of the inner voice”
or one’s fullest potential is what Jung taught, “Only the man who can
consciously assent to the power of the inner voice becomes a personality.”25
What is much more serious is that Warren’s teaching has the same basic premise
as Roman Catholicism. The Vatican’s official foundational starting point is man
himself. Rome states,

“It is man himself who must be saved: it is mankind that must be renewed. It is
man, therefore, who is the key to this discussion, man considered whole and
entire, with body and soul, heart and conscience, mind and will. This is the
reason why this sacred Synod, in proclaiming the noble destiny of man and
affirming an element of the divine in him, offers to cooperate unreservedly with
mankind in fostering a sense of brotherhood to correspond to this destiny of
theirs.”26

“Discovering one’s shape accepting and enjoy it developing it to its fullest
potential” is same basic foundation as the Church of Rome and Hinduism have, as
we have already seen, but the same is true also of Islam and Buddhism—all of
them have for their focal point the basic goodness of mankind. Warren summarizes
this basic foundation in the following words,

“If you are that important to God, and he considers you valuable enough to keep
with him for eternity, what greater significance could you have? (p. 63) The
Scriptures, however, depict no such value or goodness within man. Rather the
Holy Spirit teaches that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked, who can know it?”27

“Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh
his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.”28

Warren even goes so far as to distort a Scripture text to uphold his treasured
concept of “true self.” He states, “The Bible says, ‘Self-help is no help at
all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self’”
(p.19). The passage he quotes is a contrived paraphrase of Matthew 16:25 from
The Message. The Lord in fact said, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose
it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” The Lord
clearly taught that we are to consider our lives dead in order to follow Him.
This passage does not teach anything about “true self” or self esteem. Warren
used the counterfeit paraphrase to fantasize that the Lord had spoken of
“finding yourself, your true self”. The craze of finding your “true self”, one
of the hallmarks of the 1960’s hippy crowd, has now made its mark in this
popularized debasing of Christianity.

Self-exaltation “salvation” is worthless This same glorification of man Warren
teaches in many different ways.

“You only bring him [God] enjoyment by being you. Anytime you reject any part of
yourself, you are rejecting God’s wisdom and sovereignty in creating you” (p.
75).

“When you are sleeping, God gazes at you with love, because you were his idea.
He loves you as if you were the only person on earth” (p. 75). But Warren does
not stop here with his adulation of man. The height of his glorification of man
is found in the statement that makes the personal worth of the reader the
purpose of Christ’s death on the cross. In doing so, “self-worth” is pushed to
the point not only of perverting the Gospel but also of insulting the Lord
Himself. Warren states, “If you want to know how much you matter to God, look at
Christ with his arms outstretched on the cross, saying, ‘I love you this much!
I’d rather die than live without you’” (p. 79).

These words “I’d rather die than live without you” are part of a lyric of the
“backstreet boys.”29

These words, put into the mouth of the Lord Christ Jesus by Warren, are a
blasphemy. Christ Jesus the God-man, does not have a love that is dependant on
man. If he had such a dependancy, He would not be God. To teach that the love of
the Lord Jesus Christ is unholy, as Warren has, is both an insult and
irreverence. It exalts sinful man to a position of control regarding the eternal
Son of God. Can such an imagination be anything other than profanity? “He opened
his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name.”30 In Scripture,
Christ’s love and sacrifice were to demonstrate that God is “just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”31 Nevertheless, Warren’s doctrine
makes living with sinful man the centerpiece of God’s purpose. In Scripture, the
focus of God’s purpose was the demonstration of His justice and holiness in the
Person and sacrifice of Christ Jesus. Sinful man was included in this great
manifestation of the righteousness of God as a recipient by grace of the
redemption paid. Warren’s grandiose glorification of sinful man to the extent
that Christ Jesus would rather die than to live without him totally reverses the
biblical message that God does all for His own glory. All is of Him and from
Him, and therefore all is to Him and for Him. He made all creation according to
His will and for His praise. The Lord God Almighty’s purpose exposes the
ridicule, vainglory and even blasphemy of Rick Warren.

Fallen man is depraved in every part of his nature and being, and it is not
within his power to undo his depravity, to save himself or rescue himself. To
try to aggrandize the fallen man, as Warren does, is futile because there is no
moral salvation in man’s worth. A person’s only hope lies outside of himself, in
divine worth and power. Human nature as such is dead in trespasses and sins.
Water cannot flow uphill, nor can the natural man act contrary to his corrupt
nature. All human beings are destitute of the principles and powers of spiritual
life. They are cut off from God, the fountain of life. They are spiritually dead
as a condemned criminal is said to be a dead man. Thus the Lord Christ Jesus
declared, “for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these evil
things come from within, and defile the man.”32 Christ declared, “That which is
born of the flesh is flesh.” He signified that that which is propagated by
fallen man is depraved. If the principle of self-worth and the ability to choose
Christ were true, the conclusion would inevitably follow that those who used
their ability to choose Christ could lawfully boast of their active
participation in their salvation. But the truth is that faith itself is God’s
gift, “for by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it
is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”33 Until one
realizes his personal condition of being spiritually dead before the All Holy
God, one will never properly appreciate God’s grace. Salvation begins not in
self-worth and self-movement but by divine power. Scripture is utterly clear on
this matter: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth.”34 “For it is
God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”35 God gives
life to the spiritually dead will of man by giving His grace. It is the power of
the Holy Spirit that overcomes the pride of the natural man, so that one is
ready to come to Christ to receive life. In the Lord’s own words, “the hour is
coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and
they that hear shall live.”36 As the Lord also explained, “It is written in the
prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that has
heard, and has learned of the Father, comes unto me.”37

“Self-salvation” promoted on the basis of human worth and dignity is ingrained
in human nature. It is found in all man-made religions. It is pivotal to the
message of Warren’s book and movement. Warren’s teachings deny the biblical
truth that man is totally depraved.

Subsequently, he denies the absolute necessity of God’s grace. The relationship
between spiritual death and grace is graphically given in Scripture, “that as
sin has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”38 Without understanding the total
depravity of those to whom the Gospel is given, the Gospel will remain a dead
letter. In leaving out the biblical truth that “there is none righteous, no, not
one”39 and substituting for it the self-worth of man, Warren’s arrogance has
reached a level predicted in the Scripture, “I will ascend above the heights of
the clouds; I will be like the most High.”40

Conclusion

Now that we have documented that a bogus gospel message is given in the 40 Days
of Purpose in The Purpose-Driven Life we are obliged to “earnestly contend for
the faith which was once delivered unto the saints”41, and to “stand fast in one
spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.”42 Through
the Warren movement, multitudes are being deceived on the very meaning of the
Gospel of salvation. Vast numbers sincerely believe that they have received
Christ as their personal Savior while in fact all that they have received into
their right hand is a man-made ritual and “covenant” commitment to a church,
which they have obligated themselves by vow to fulfill. While many of the
articles regarding Warren commend the good things Warren has had to say, they
forget that Lord Himself and His Apostles utterly condemned the presentation of
a false gospel. How can we expect any true revival and the bringing of the
everlasting righteousness of Christ Jesus into the lives of men and women, if we
are not willing to exposed pretensions of him who embraces a “christ” unknown in
the pages of Scripture, who presents a sham gospel and who is willing to commend
the devotees of the apostate system of Rome? He is a deceiver who willfully
defrauds, after all the light of the Gospel of grace has been clearly set forth.
It must not be thought strange that there are deceivers of the Lord Christ’s
name and dignity now, for there were such of old, even in the Apostles’ times.
The danger and evil of departure from the true Gospel is in effect and reality a
departure from God Himself. “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the
doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he
hath both the Father and the Son.”43 . For more information on the false
teachings of Rick Warren, the legion of false teachers he promotes, and the
false translations he uses in his Purpose Driven Life book, I recommend the
documentary book entitled: Who’s Driving the Purpose Driven Church? by James
Sundquist. It is published by Bible Belt Publishers and available at Southwest
Radio Church Ministries at: http://www.swrc.com/offers/index.htm#h616 Or call
Toll Free 1-800-652-1144 Richard Bennett of “Berean Beacon” Webpage:
http://www.bereanbeacon.org Permission is given by the author to copy this
article if it is done in its entirety without any changes.

Permission is also given post this article in its entirety on Internet Webpages.

Endnotes 1 Bruce Ryskamp, president of Zondervan.
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s03110083.htm 10/22/04 2
http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/thebook.aspx 10/16/04 3
http://www.pastors.com/aboutus/ 11/15/04 4 http://www.pastors.com/aboutus/
10/22/04 5 http://www.pastors.com/RWMT/?id=74&artid=3099&expand=1 10/22/04 6
http://www.forbes.com/2003/09/17/cz_lk 0917megachurch.html 10/22/04 7 Rick
Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002) Page numbers
only in succeeding citations.

8 Genesis 3:5 9 Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994), #181 (Emphasis ours.)

10 Romans 3:19 11 Ephesians 2:3

12 James 2:10

13 Luke 18:8

14 Romans 7:18

15 Mark 2:17 16 Romans 9:15-16 17 Galatians 6:7, Hebrews 10:30-31 18 Romans
1:16-17

19 Romans 3:21

20 Romans 3:24.

21 Matthew 23:13

22 Luke 11:52 23 Galatians 1:8 24 Atman and Brahman as explained on
www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/GLOSSARY/BRAHMAN.HTM 12/2/2002 25 The Development of
Personality Collected Works 17 as quoted on:
http://www.sacredsandwich.com/warren_jung_chart.htm 11/18/04

26 Vatican II Documents No. 64, Gaudium et Spes, 7 Dec 1965 in Vatican Council
II The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, Austin P. Flannery, ed., 1981
edition (Northport, NY: Costello Publ. Co. 1975) Para 3 27 Jeremiah 17:9 28
Jeremiah 17:5 29
http://sozluk.sourtimes.org/show.asp?t=ill+never+break+your+heart 11/16/04 30
Revelation 13:6

31 Romans 3:26

32 Mark 7:21-23 33 Ephesians 2:8-9

34 James 1:18

35 Php 2:13

36 John 5:25

37 John 6:45

38 Romans 5:21

39 Romans 3:10 40 Isaiah 14:14.

41 Jude 1:3.

42 Php 1:27.

43 2 John 1:9


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 15: S. THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE: DEMEANING THE VERY NATURE OF GOD
========================================================================

Dear Friend, In the light of the true Gospel in Part 1 of our analysis of Rick
Warren’s “The Purpose- Driven Life” movement, we documented that his “gospel”
consists of a formulated whispered prayer and finding one’s “true self.” In this
Part 2, we highlight God’s true love as seen in the maintenance of His law and
in the manifestation of His justice. In Christ Jesus, God’s love and
righteousness compliment each other. This emphasis on the true love of God is
necessary to reveal the demeaning of this divine attribute that is evident in
Rick Warren’s writings. The involvement with the Catholic Church with the
movement and the connection with Catholicism is also documented Yours in the
grace of the precious Savior,

Richard Bennett Our Web Page is: http://www.bereanbeacon.org The Purpose Driven
Life: Demeaning the Very Nature of God Part 2 By Richard Bennett

There is an underlying feature of Rick Warren’s book and movement that makes an
analysis of it very difficult. It stems from the fact that Warren presents some
basic teaching regarding God’s purpose to glorify Himself and what man should do
in relation to God. The fact that none of these purposes is presented in a
biblically accurate way makes Warren’s work all the more dangerous to the true
understanding of Who God is and His Gospel in Christ. In the first part of our
analysis we documented the way in which the Gospel was vitiated by the
exaltation of man and so called “true self.” This error together the
corresponding neglect to show that man is in fact spiritually “dead in
trespasses and sins” showed that the book is both a hindrance and a deceit. The
most dangerous of heresies have always been those that have been presented in
the context of general basic truth. In this section, too, we must continue to
analyze the saving purpose of God from all eternity in Christ Jesus. Salvation
comes from God to sinful man in and through Christ Jesus alone. The origin of
free grace and eternal purpose of God is in Christ Jesus alone, “Who hath saved
us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began.”1 This elementary truth would not need to be emphasized
were it not for the fact that Warren misrepresents God’s saving love for mankind
as being in a man himself. The nature of God in Scripture is proclaimed to be
All Holy, thus the Bible states “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts: the
whole earth is full of his glory.”2 To inspire utter reverence for God’s nature,
the question is asked, “Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name?
For Thou only art Holy: for all nations shall come and worship before Thee. .
.”3 One of the most flagrant sins of Warren and his movement is the failure to
respect the nature of the Almighty, All Holy God. For example, in his chapter
entitled “Becoming Best Friends with God”, God is portrayed as if He were in
need, “Almighty God yearns to be your Friend!”4 “Yearns” signifies “craves”,
“hankers”, or “covets”, basically meaning He needs to be your Friend. The love
of God, however, whereby He gave His only begotten Son, is totally sacrificial
and giving.

2

It in no way signifies a lack in God. On the contrary, the giving of His only
begotten Son is the total outpouring of His perfect love and certainly not
needed to complete or perfect His love. The fact that God demonstrates His love
to unworthy sinners in no way implies that God needs sinners to satisfy
something lacking in Him! Warren’s terminology misrepresents the nature of God.

Warren builds on this serious error by means of a modern corruption of Exodus
34:14, “He is a God who is passionate about his relationship with you.”5 The
verse should read, “for thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose
name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” The jealousy or passion of the LORD God is
against those who would worship another god. Such worship is utterly condemned.
It is significant that the first part of this verse, “for thou shalt worship no
other god”, is totally absent from Warren’s chapter. Yet when the terms
“jealously” or “passion” are used of God in the Bible, it describes His fervor
for the true worship due to His holy name. It demands exclusive devotion to Him.
By teaching that God has a passion or infatuation with the reader of Warren’s
book rather than a perfect zeal for His Holy Name, Warren has gotten the meaning
of the verse literally backwards. His use of a corrupted and partial Bible text
to depict his notion that God has a passionate devotion to man renders his work
an attempt to flatter men rather than present them with God’s truth concerning
their depravity. Thus Warren teaches as truth the very idolatry that a faithful
rendition of the whole text condemns. This type of Scripture twisting that
degrades the nature of God runs throughout Warren’s book.

Love is not the essence of God’s character apart from His righteousness Warren’s
teaching that God has a saving love for everyone demeans the very nature of God.

Such particular love for everyone is stated to be “the essence of God’s
character.” Warren teaches,

“You were created as a special object of God’s love! God made you so he could
love you. This is a truth to build your life on. The Bible tells us, “God is
love.” (1 John 4:8) It doesn’t say God has love. He is love! Love is the essence
of God’s character. There is perfect love in the fellowship of the Trinity, so
God didn’t need to create you.” (pp. 24-25) This is still another contradiction
by Warren, who had just previously implied that God was somehow lacking. Now
Warren has given his readers the heady notion that God loves each one “as a
special object.” With this type of assurance, the reader has security in himself
and in his sins. According to Scripture, however, we cannot know that we are the
objects of God’s saving love until after we have fled from His wrath against our
sin, repented of it, and turned to put our faith in Christ Jesus alone. Warren’s
type of god, who loves everyone as a special object of His love, is utter
heresy. Love apart from His righteousness is not the essence of God’s character.

Rather in Scripture God’s saving love is always in accord with His
righteousness, “mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have
kissed each other.”6 We must accept God’s love as He himself has defined it
rather than how Warren has presented it! In Scripture God’s love is seen in the
maintenance of His law, and in the manifestation of His justice. In the Messiah
there is a harmony of the divine attributes, love and righteousness. In Christ,
God’s righteousness and peace have kissed each other. In the work of the
Redeemer, God’s love is shown in the Messiah being “wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace
was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”7 The demonstration of God is
love is “that He might be just and the justifier of him, who believes in
Jesus.”8 God is true to His wrath against sin and He is just in His government
to both love and

3 pardon sinners in Christ Jesus. He is just because Christ Jesus’ blood paid
the penalty, satisfying God’s justice. He is “justifier” in that Christ’s
righteousness is credited to believers. But unbelievers remain under God’s wrath
because of their own unrighteousness. In that state they have no reason to
believe they are special objects of God’s love.

Warren’s so-called love of God for unrepentant sinners as “a special object of
God’s love” is an insult to the true love of God because it attempts to redefine
the very nature of God.9 The true love of God upholds His truth, His commands,
His Word, and His righteousness. For example consider the preaching of C. H.
Spurgeon, “O Sinner, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God! Think how
often He has shown His love to you by bidding you come to Himself.

Think how often you have spurned His Word and refused His mercy. Think how you
have turned a deaf ear to every invitation and have gone your way to rebel
against a God of love. Think how often you have violated the commands of Him
that loved you.”10 If Warren wrote and preached as Spurgeon did above, he would
not be as popular with the thousands of so called “carnal Christians” across the
world. However, when the commands of God are preached together with His love,
true conversions are seen as righteousness and peace come together in Christ
Jesus. God’s saving love is always particularized to those who are in Christ. It
is always declared to be in Christ and because of His grace. Thus the Bible
proclaims, “according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him: in love having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself… To
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the
beloved.”11 Without exception, human beings are the objects of God’s saving love
only in Christ Jesus; otherwise, and without exception, they are objects of
God’s wrath! “Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and
strength.”12 God’s focus on Christ is changed for Warren’s focus on man In
Chapter 2, “You Were Not an Accident”, Warren emphasizes God’s sovereignty in
appointing every detail of each person’s birth. Warren seems to equate being
born with being a child of God for he states, “While there are illegitimate
parents, there are no illegitimate children….God never makes mistakes….God made
you so he could love you.”13 Leaping over the huge difficulties such as “the
vessels of wrath” in Romans 9:22, Warren moves to Ephesians 1:4 to make his
case, “according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him.” He teaches a distortion of
its meaning, however. Citing The Message he teaches,

“God’s motive for creating was his love. The Bible says, ‘Long before he laid
down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of
his love.’” (p 24) This corrupt text allows Warren to exclude the true focus of
the Bible text that God’s choice of individuals is “in Christ” and not in
unrepentant people who, Warren teaches, are loved in themselves.

Nowhere in the book does he deal with Ephesians 2:1 nor any of the great
passages speaking of being born dead in trespasses and sin. He totally omits
dealing biblically with the problem of justification. By disregarding this
central issue, Warren utterly fails to acknowledge that Paul is not addressing
people who are loved in themselves but rather to “the faithful in Christ
Jesus”14, telling them of the riches of His grace which are theirs precisely
because they are “in Him [i.e., Christ].” As a magician who with one wave of his
hand changes what one sees, so Warren has with one contrived paraphrase of
Scripture changed “chosen us in him” to read “he had us in mind, had settled on
us as the focus of his love.” With this switch from “the faithful

4 in Christ” to sinful individuals as they are in themselves, Warren has removed
the one Mediator and His redemption as the means by which God’s active love has
procured its goal. In the context of salvation, which is the whole theme of
Ephesians chapter 1, this removal of the Person of Christ Jesus means that
Warren presents a god who has saving love for sinful individuals as they are in
themselves. His god is not the God of the Bible. Outside of God’s choice in
Christ Jesus there is no salvation.15 The love of God finds satisfaction and
delight only in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. His love is not only
particularized in Christ Jesus, but His express purpose is to uphold His own
righteousness, as the Apostle Paul proclaimed, “being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…to declare, I say, at this
time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which
believeth in Jesus.”16 In all things we rejoice that God is almighty and that
there is good news for all who are “dead in trespasses and sins.” In the light
of God’s Word we know, “the gospel of Christ…is the power of God unto salvation
to every one that believeth.…”17 By nature we are all children of wrath, and by
practice we are rebels against the Lord God and His Word. The perfect and just
law of God condemned us all and the Lord God is not responsible to rescue any of
us from His just wrath. Despite our sin nature and personal sin, the Lord God
has given His beloved Son for all true believers. God is the All Holy One. His
holiness is the distinguishing factor in all His essential characteristics. This
is the reason why we need to be in right standing before the one and only All
Holy God on the terms He prescribes. Turn to God in faith alone for the
salvation that He alone gives, by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, based on
Christ’s death and resurrection, and believe on Him alone, “to the praise of the
glory of his grace.”18 The understanding of the Gospel causes us to proclaim in
loving gratitude, “not unto us, o Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give
glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.”19 The consequences of Warren’s
trifling with the Holy and Just nature of God Warren’s saving love applied
universally to all degrades God’s holy and just nature. His love is specifically
“in Christ,”20 and for the express purpose of showing forth His righteousness.
God cannot and will not accept our sin. Thus Warren significantly distorts the
biblical doctrine of the just and holy God and thus disfigures the biblical
concept of the nature of God. If God loved man as he is in himself He would be
unrighteous. Such a concept is sacrilege. “God is light” as well as “love”, “and
in him is no darkness at all.”21 His love is a holy love, as are all His
attributes. In the Scripture His Holiness is every bit as important as His love.
“Be ye holy; for I am holy.”22

Equal to God’s love is His wrath and judgment which produces healthy fear and
awe of the Creator, “despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance
and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to
repentance?”23 A sinner ought not to be comforted by assurances of the love of
God apart from repentance and faith in Christ. Rather a sinner should be
reminded that God hates sinners as Scripture insists, “the boastful shall not
stand before thine eyes; thou dost hate all who do iniquity.”24 “I hate the
assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked.”25 Without Christ
Jesus “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven…”26 God clearly depicts His Holy
and just nature in the pages of Scripture. Great is the guilt of anyone who
makes it seem that God’s saving love is indiscriminate, rather than focused on
sinners as they are in Christ Jesus. The Lord’s glory and redemption in Christ
Jesus are what is at stake, “let us have grace, whereby we may serve God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”27

5 Involvement with the Catholic Church and more similarities

Since Warren’s policy is to implement church growth without respect to biblical
doctrine28, it is no wonder that Catholic Churches such as Saint Michael the
Archangel Catholic Church in Cary, NC are now enthusiastically joining in the
Warren church growth program. The Webpage for this Catholic Church states,
“Having finished the first 21 days of the book, our growing group decided to
push on to the end (so if you’ve already read parts of the book and weren’t able
to join us in November, now’s the time to hop aboard!)…”29 Another example: “In
the Chicago area, more than 200 churches are participating in ‘40 Days of
Purpose’ (some used it as a Lenten series). Among them is St. Walter’s Catholic
Church in Roselle which had hoped 100 people would sign up for small home groups
for the ‘40 Days of Purpose’ program studying Warren’s book. Instead, 700 got
involved.’”30

Warren quotes from Catholic mystic Brother Lawrence, endorsing Catholic
contemplative prayer techniques, which he says are “helpful ideas.” Brother
Lawrence was not only traditionally Roman Catholic but also disseminated
teachings that have similarities with Hinduism in the Bhagavad-Gita, and with
many New Age writers. Warren endorses him and goes on later to recommend “breath
prayers.” He teaches,

“Many Christians use ‘Breath Prayers’ throughout their day. You choose a brief
sentence, or a simple phrase that can be repeated to Jesus in one breath: ‘You
are with me.’ ‘I receive your grace.’ ‘I’m depending on you.’ ‘I want to know
you.’ ‘I belong to you.’”31 For centuries Catholic mystics have practiced
“breath prayers” such as these. They are simply the Catholic form of old Greek
mysticism and akin to the mantras of Hindus. In this same book, Warren cites
approvingly the famous Catholic mystic Madame Guyon (p. 193). He approves also
of St. John of the Cross (p. 108) and the Catholic priest mystic, psychologist
and ecumenist Henri Nouwen (pp. 269- 270). He warmly agrees with Mother Teresa
(pp. 125, 231). These misleading techniques are thus propagated and lead further
into the whole mystic plague that presently is threatening believers. This
plague is the imagination that there is a unity consciousness with God apart
from the Person, unique life and sacrifice of Christ Jesus.32 Warren presents a
mystical agenda, which the world loves and accepts, but which is an abomination
before the Lord God.

Displacement of Pastors and the Consequences The “40 Days of Purpose” campaign
of purpose and community is distinct from other movements we have seen in recent
times. Warren asks pastors to devote their church and their people to an
intensive forty days of reprogramming their understanding of God, Christ, and
how one becomes a Christian. He promises at the end of forty days that the
church will be transformed.

Through his book and the agenda laid out, he teaches for forty days on nearly
every aspect of the Christian life. This type of interference in the running of
a church opens the way for an insidious take-over of that church. In Scripture
the function of pastors is to teach and to be watchmen and guardians of the
flocks the Lord has given to them. “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to
all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers.”33 To hand
over their position before the Lord to another who will for seven weeks teach
his own doctrinal messages based on a multitude of flawed paraphrases of
Scripture is utterly unbiblical. The church is the pastors’ and elders’ charge.
It is not theirs to bring in debased ideas that infiltrate every important area
of

6 the church life. In Warren’s book and movement, God’s absolute sovereignty is
flatly denied as men are counseled to determine their own destinies.

Conclusion

Warren and all who associate with his plans and purposes ought to fear the All
Holy God for, “thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.”34 This
is just one of the Ten Commandments Warren breaks. Another is “Thou shalt not
bear false witness.” Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life, is replete
with fraudulent claims. The fact, however, is that the All Holy God reigns as
proclaimed by the Holy Spirit, “The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble.”35
“The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over
all.”36 The Lord God is ruling with complete dominion, fulfilling His eternal
purpose, not only in spite of but also by means of those who would misrepresent
His nature and that of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His glorious and
invincible Gospel. The essence of sin is forsaking the Lord as truly the
sovereign God and presenting Him as less, in this case a god who has needs and
thereby can be manipulated. The message for our day is the same as ever: if
people do not repent and believe the true Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, they
will die in their sins. If people continue to run after worldly methods to
propagate debased forms of what is called Christianity, they will personally or
corporately experience what the Apostle Paul wrote under the direction of the
Holy Spirit, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.”37 The
Evangelical decline into doctrinal and practical apostasy expressed in sentiment
and fleshly experience should be one of our gravest concerns.

Warren’s book and movement is a vivid example of what is now so popular and
devastating. Hundreds of thousands of souls, likely now millions, around the
world have succumbed to the presentation of a false gospel flowing constantly
from Neo-Evangelical pulpits and presses. Consequently grandiose Evangelical
church buildings, Christian colleges, seminaries, and teaching institutions are
presently overrun with people that have been taught by their leadership to
confuse manufactured human religious feelings with a genuine work of the Holy
Spirit. Multitudes blindly credit themselves as being “born again Christians”
while rejecting the Lordship of Christ and authority of His Word, which are the
marks of authentic discipleship.38 Only a gracious outpouring of the Holy Spirit
to turn the hearts of His people back to Him is the sufficient remedy to answer
the assault on the true Gospel that is before us. Pray then that the Lord may be
pleased in mercy to heal the affliction of doctrinal compromise and subsequent
spiritual blindness that plagues the contemporary Evangelical Church rather than
to permit it to run further into darkness. It is mercy for which we are praying.
Given the age-old pattern of compromising the Gospel to please the world, and
joining hands in the dark with Rome, it is certain that the Evangelical Church
deserves nothing but a more severe dispensation from Lord’s hand. This is no
time to presume upon the grace of God. Rather it is time to pray urgently for
it! The Lord’s glory, Gospel, and promise are at stake! Yet we rejoice that we
have a High Priest over the house of God, the Lord Christ Jesus! “Come now and
let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as
wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but
if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.”39

7 The Lord God demonstrated His love for sinners in the death of Christ. “But
God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.”40 His love is magnified and made illustrious in that His holy love
upheld His righteousness. The biblical Gospel is that the sinners are loved in
Christ Jesus. The teaching of the Apostle Paul gives the exact meaning of the
Gospel, “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him.”41 God’s purpose was that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. As the Lord, who knew no sin of
His own, was made sin for us, so we, who have no righteousness of our own, are
made the righteousness of God in Him. The love we receive from God and our
subsequent reconciliation with God is only through the Gospel of Christ Jesus.
Our great privilege as believers is to be accepted by God, which shows His love
and care for us. God cannot thus accept us, except in and through Jesus Christ.
He loves His people because of His Beloved. “To the praise of the glory of his
grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”42 We take heed against
resting on any worth within ourselves and against any platitudes that change the
Gospel’s focus away from Christ and towards ourselves as special persons.
Multitudes have been so deceived and have perished eternally with a lie in their
right hand. The Lord made the will of the Father abundantly clear when He said,
“this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”43 Where
there is true faith and love of the Lord, there is in the midst of all things a
joy unspeakable and full of glory. “For of him, and through him, and to him, are
all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”44 .

(Part 1 The Adulation of Man in The Purpose Driven Life is on our webpage at:
http://www.bereanbeacon.org/articles/rick_warren_purpose_driven.htm ) Richard
Bennett of “Berean Beacon” Web Page: www.bereanbeacon.org Permission is given by
the author to copy this article if it is done in its entirety without any
changes.

Permission is also given post this article in its entirety on Internet WebPages.

Endnotes

1 2 Timothy 1:9

2 Isaiah 6:3 3 Revelation 15:4

4 Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002) p.
85. Page numbers only in succeeding citations.

5 P. 86. Verse quotation taken from Holy Bible, New Living Translation (Wheaton,
IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1996).

6 Psalms 85:10

7 Isaiah 53:5

8 Romans 3:26.

9 The love God had for believers while they were as yet unrepentant sinners was
in Christ Jesus and not in themselves, “that in the ages to come he might shew
the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ
Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:7) 10 The C.H. Spurgeon Collection, “Sovereign Grace and
Man’s Responsibility”, Sermon #207,

Ages Software

8 11 Ephesians 1:4, Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 1:6

12 Psalms 85:10

13 Pp. 23, 24 14 Ephesians 1:1

15 There is a consistent Biblical teaching that justification is positional
legal righteousness in Christ. Jeremiah 23:6, Romans 1:17, 3: Romans 1:21-22,
Romans 1:4: 6, Romans 1:11, 5 :Romans 1:18-19; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians
5:21; Ephesians 1:6; Colossians 2:10, Colossians 2:3:3; 2 Peter 1:1, and
elsewhere.

16 Romans 3:24, Romans 3:26

17 Romans 1:16 18 Ephesians 1:6

19 Psalms 115:1

20 Ephesians Chs 1 and 2, such phrases as “in Christ”, “in whom”, “in him”, “in
the Beloved” are spoken of 18 times. This is the same in all of the letters of
Paul the Apostle. Likewise the Apostle John consistently teaches that eternal
life in Christ Jesus, e.g. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us
eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” (1 John 5:11) God’s love seen in
salvation is always expressed as being in Christ.

21 1 John 1:5

22 1 Peter 1:16

23 Romans 2:4

24 Psalms 5:5

25 Psalms 26:5

26 Romans 1:18 27 Hebrews 12:28-29

28 For a very insightful perspective on the church growth movement, of which
Warren is cited as a major player at the moment, see
http://www.crossroad.to/News/Church/Klenck1.html 29
http://www.stmichaelcary.org/adulteduc.shtml 11/12/04 30
http://www.saddleback.com/flash/s_PDFs/ChicagoTribuneLivingwithpurpose42504.pdf

11/13/04 31 http://www.pastors.com/RWMT/?ID=71 10/22/04 32 See our article on
The Mystic Plague on our Web Page: http://www.bereanbeacon.org

33 Acts 20:28

34 Exodus 29:7

35 Psalms 99:1 36 Psalms 103:19

37 Romans 1:18.

38 Luke 6:43 - Luke 6:49; Matthew 7:21-27.

39 Isaiah 1:18.

40 Romans 5:8 41 2 Corinthians 5:21 42 Ephesians 1:6 43 John 1:63 John 1:6

44 Romans 11:36


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