In Whom there is no Jew nor yet Greek, there is no slave nor yet free, there is no male and female, for you all are one in Christ Jesus
Paul to the Galatians 3: 28, Concordant New Testament
It's an argument as old as Christianity itself. How is it that God, being all in all and holy, could manage to be in those who we see as behaving badly? I thought of this the other day at the gym where I was treated to someone who obviously was not aware of the proper way to behave amongst others. Are we to see these people as simply sinners awaiting the realization of the Father? Well, if you were to ask the apostle Paul you might just get a pretty straight answer. For it is Paul who speaks to all being one in Christ Jesus {Paul to the Galatians 3:28}. I will take that one step further by saying that all mankind has the fingerprint DNA of the Lord within them. For it is we who were created in His likeness {Genesis 1:27}. Now, growing up in the teachings of the mainstream church, I was led to believe that those who were "Good" people were created in the Fathers image as scripture proclaims. Of course, this opens up more than a few questions regarding those who we see as not being capable of having the Lord in them. These were the "Lost" among us. And it was the lost who were the target of each and every outreach ministry the church could imagine. The lost of Africa, the lost in Asia and even the lost here in America. These lost souls needed to be corralled for Jesus! Never once was it mentioned that these lost were indeed created in the likeness of the Father as we believers supposedly were. I have a few friends from my mainstream church days who spent many a day in countries like Serbia and India taking the message of Jesus to those lost among us. I get it. It seems that the church has separated the Lords children into two separate groups, the brethren of believers and those who knew not the Lord. Of course, this runs contrary to the truth of who we are in Him.
In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you
Johns Account 14: 20, Concordant New Testament
So, are we to believe, as we've been taught, that God is only in those who know Him? If so we must also believe that He has made two separate creations, one saved and one not so much. But the words of Jesus Himself speak to the error of this belief. It is Jesus who proclaims that it is the Father in Whom we live {Johns Account 14:20}. This is not something which we grow into, it is who we truly are. We are in Him! There are no lost among us. There are only those among us who have not had the revelation of the truth of the Father in them. To that point, reaching out to those among us to present to them this truth I believe is a worthwhile effort. But the mainstream church has repeatedly shown that they aren't about that. They are about continuing the effort of saving the lost. Tell me, if God has created all mankind in His likeness, is He two competing spirits? One knowing the truth and the other created against that truth? Of course, anyone who has a rudimentary knowledge of the scriptures knows this is ridiculous thinking. And so we agree that all were created in His image, but some among us are lost as a result? Again, I get it. Many a pastor has pointed to the wicked among us to show the evil of this world. They point to the likes of Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin in order to personify evil among us. But if all were created in the Fathers likeness, wouldn't that include the wicked among us as well? Many a believer would bristle at this suggestion. To them, there is good and evil, and God despises evil. However, if God is all in all as we believe, is He not in both good and evil as well? We cannot simply cherry pick where it is God will manifest Himself. If we believe the scriptures, that He is all in all, then He is in all that we see. We either choose to accept the truth of the Father, or we don't. That will never change who He is.
~Scott~
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