The Good Of The Father (Through His Eyes)

 

Perceive what manner of love the Father has given us, that we may be called children of God!  And we are!  Therefore the world does not know us, for it did not know Him

First Epistle of John 3: 1, Concordant New Testament 

Around the world, people spend, on the average, about 43.77 billion dollars on self improvement.  Here in the U.S. that total is around 13.4 billion annually.  In the eyes of most people, how the world sees them matters a great deal.  I've recently seen this trend through two different perspectives.  First, I have a friend who makes his living as a motivational speaker.  His income is based upon how many people he can get to listen to his confidence building seminars.  My friend is a believer and loves the Lord, but he spends his time instructing his clients how to improve their image in the eyes of the world.  On the other hand, I have a coworker who has recently been through a difficult break up with a former boyfriend.  So much so, that she has somehow based her importance and worth into the opinion of another.  Again, she is not a believer, which might explain how she now sees herself.  Does anyone see anything wrong with these two scenarios?  Now, I admit that I have also struggled with the image of who the world proclaimed that I am.  However, it was not until I was deep into my own fitness journey that I began to realize through the Fathers revelation just who it is that I am.  Of course, the image which God has of me is in no way who the world around me claims that I am.  The apostle John speaks to the truth of this as he explains why it is that those in the world refuse to know the truth of who we are {First Epistle of John 3:1}.  As John proclaims, the world has not seen us as we truly are because it has not known the Father.  For if they had known the Father, they quite possibly would see us for who it is we are.  Now, I have also been guilty myself for not looking upon those around me as the Father sees them.  I believe that this issue is not one based strictly on non believers.  As I said, it was a good number of years before I even realized how it is that the Father saw me.  Yes, I grew up knowing OF  God, but I did not truly know Him.  Had I known Him for who He is, I might have saved myself more than a bit of personal struggles with my own identity.  For through the eyes of the Father I am seen as a son. 

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it was not as yet manifested what we shall be.  We are aware that, if He should be manifested, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him according as He is

First Epistle of John 3: 2, Concordant New Testament 

Just as I had not known the truth of the Father for many years, so it was for the reality of Christ Jesus.  For it was not until the revelation of the Father of His Son in me that I began to know and see Jesus for who He really is.  One of the first scriptures which pointed this out for me were the words of the apostle Paul as he described the truth of Christ Jesus in him {Paul to the Galatians 2:20}.  In the words of Paul, the man they saw each and every day was based upon the false image spoken by the deceiver in the garden {Genesis 3:1-6}.  For instead of revealing to Adam and Eve who they really were in their creator, he instead told them of how they could "Be like God" were they to eat of the forbidden fruit.  Satan reminded them not of who they really were, but of who HE claimed that they could be.  I contend that if Adam and Eve knew the truth of who it is they were in the Father, Satan's plot would have failed.  Yet, having never been faced with the opposite of their identity, Gods creation knew not of who they really were.  In the case of my friends, I believe that their own idea of who it is that they are has been fostered in their imaginations.  In essence, the truth of the Father has not been revealed to them.  Therefore, they have not known themselves as He does.  They have not seen themselves through the Fathers eyes.  As I struggled with my own identity issues in the past, I never once looked at myself as the Father saw me.  Not as an imperfect sinner scorned by many in the world, but as a child of God.  Sadly for many around me, they continue to live in the imaginary reality that their worth is determined by the world around them.  Their eyes have yet to be opened.  When the Father is finally revealed in them, they will see Him, and themselves, as they truly are.  

With Christ have I been crucified, yet I am living; no longer I, but living in me is Christ.  Now that which I am now living in the flesh, I am living in faith that is of the Son of God, Who loves me, and gives Himself up for me 

Paul to the Galatians 2: 20, Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (As One Of Us)

 

Then Yahweh Elohim said: Behold, man has become like one of Us in knowing good and evil.  Now lest he should stretch out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live for the eon.  So Yahweh Elohim sent him out of the garden of Eden to serve the ground from where he was taken.  

Genesis 3: 22-23, Concordant New Testament 

The prevailing wisdom of Christianity tells us that Adam and Eve were evicted from the garden of Eden because they had partaken from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which the Lord had commanded them not to {Genesis 2:17}.  Yet this is but part of the truth of the fall of man in the garden.  Yes, Eve was convinced by the deceiver to take of the forbidden fruit, and she then convinced her husband who was with her and he ate of the tree also {Genesis 3:6}.  Christian theology stops at this point and laments the consequences of "The fall."  Granted, the actions of Adam and Eve went against what the Lord had commanded them, and upon taking of the fruit they knew they had screwed up {Genesis 3:7}.  Something happened in that instant in which man took of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  In that  moment, he knew that what he had done was wrong.  In that moment, he knew that he had gone against what the Father had commanded.  Yet this was but a consequence of his actions.  See, there is a reason that God had commanded His creation not to take of that tree.  For in doing so, man would be faced with the knowledge which had been reserved for the Father alone.  Think about it, how much better are our lives knowing and living in the knowledge of good and evil?  Well, I would suggest that living in this knowledge prevents us from living in the love of the Father.  For when we think of good and evil we immediately think of rewards and punishment.  A good friend mentioned the other day that man cannot know how to operate in the good vs evil paradox, and I would agree.  When we live in the knowing of good and evil, we place ourselves alongside God in the judgement of it.  Think I'm wrong?  Consider our system of rules and laws which we continue to hold people accountable for.  Now, ask yourself, who would you rather have as a judge, God or man?  Remember that with God there is no favoritism, emotions or grudges.  Can anyone say the same about human judges?  So it is that living in the knowledge of good and evil takes away from our life in the love of the Father.  

There is no independent, self-operating self in the universe, except the One who calls Himself the I AM {Exodus 3:14} and says, "I am the Lord and there is none else, there is no God beside Me" {Issaiah 45:5} 

Norman Grubb ~ No Independent Self 

One of the false assumptions made by Adam and Eve in the garden was the deceivers suggestion that they could "Become like Elohim, knowing good and evil {Genesis 3:5}.  In reality, man was already like God, having been created in His likeness {Genesis 1:27}.  However, since he had yet been presented with an opposite to his one true identity, Adam knew not that truth.  The deceiver, perhaps perceiving this, set about to drive a wedge between God and His creation.  Satan knew that he could not physically separate man from God, so he did the next best thing.  He twisted the truth in a way which enticed Adam and Eve to believe in the lie that they could be like God.  Again, Adam could not have known the truth that mankind was already like God.  The result of Satan's deception is that mankind continues to have the imaginary belief that we have been separated from God.  For their part, the mainstream church continues to proclaim this imaginary lie spoken by the deceiver.  So it is that mankind continues to live in the knowledge best reserved for the Father.  How often have you wondered about living in the Fathers love, yet were keenly aware of the wrong things you had done?  This is how I was raised in the theology of the church.  A loving God who rewarded good and punished evil.  I had never taken of that forbidden fruit, but I suffered the consequences all the same.  To live in the love of the Father is to drop our knowing of good and evil into the arms of God where it rightfully belongs.  Ours is not to judge evil nor to reward good.  We live in unity with the Father, we don't function in the same way beside Him {Johns Account 14:20}.  Trust me when I say that there's a difference.  Living in the Father means leaving everything unto Him.  

Religion has actually convinced people that there is a invisible man living in the sky watching everything you do, every minute of every day.  And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do.  And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever until the end of time!  But he loves you.  He loves you, and he needs money.  He always needs money.  He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow he just can't handle money. 

George Carlin 

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (No Hell, No Hand Basket)

 

Not for works which are wrought in righteousness which we do, but according to His mercy, He saves us, through the bath of renascence and renewal of the holy spirit, which He pours out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior 

Titus 3: 5-6, Concordant New Testament 

One of the greatest scams in history has been perpetrated by those in the mainstream church.  It is within these walls that many a church leader has professed the theology that man is either saved or condemned.  Growing up, I recall the sermons based on the fear that if I didn't know God, that a lake of fire and torment awaited me upon my death.  This was enough to convince me to proclaim that I was a believer.  I didn't want to burn for eternity.  So, if my only option to avoid such a fate was to profess God, then I would be the first in line to do so!  Sadly, this continues to be the scam spoken by the mainstream church even today.  There is good and evil, good is rewarded and evil is punished.  The first time that I realized that there might be something more to this was when I was reading through the writings of the Author J Preston Eby.  In his Kingdom series, Eby poses the question if God simply has power over our lives, or if He also, as being all in all, has power over our afterlife as well.  We speak too often of God banishing those who do wickedness into hell.  Yet what we should be preaching is that it is the Father who desires that ALL will be saved {Johns Account 3:16-17}.  If we believe that the Father is all in all, then we must also believe that He has NO limitations.  Therefore, if God desires the wicked among us to be saved after their demise, then it is within His power to do so.  But will He?  I have done some deep pondering on the concept of good and evil and I've come away with the opinion that evil is simply our own misunderstanding of who it is that we truly are.  That's right, wickedness is a mental issue and not a spiritual condition.  Did men like Adolf Hitler know who they were in the Father?  Probably not.  Therefore, they acted out of the belief that they themselves controlled their lives.  This is the false narrative spoken by the deceiver unto Adam and Eve in the garden {Genesis 3:1-7}.  It is Satan who put forth the false idea that we were our own separate individuals, separate from God.  It is the mainstream church which has taken that thinking and ran with it.  

Religion has actually convinced people that there is a invisible man living in the sky watching everything you do, every minute of every day.  And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do.  And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever until the end of time!  But he loves you.  He loves you, and he needs money.  He always needs money.  He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow he just can't handle money. 

George Carlin 

Knowing what I know of the Father now, I will never believe that His arms are so short that He cannot reach beyond the bonds of life as we know it in order to save one of His children.  In the film Come Sunday, the preacher Carlton Pearson is ostracized from the church he has been leading for refusing to acknowledge that there is indeed a hell.  Pearson got it!  In one of the scenes of the film, he inquires of those assembled to decide his fate, "If you could save your own father from hell, wouldn't you?"  I tend to look upon this issue from the Fathers perspective.  Is it not God who has created us in his likeness {Genesis 1:27}?  Has He not breathed into ALL men His breath of life{Genesis 2:7}?  Why, then, is it spoken to millions of believers that God would forsake them when we die?  Is the Fathers love that conditional?  I would say no.  As my mother lay in the hospital in the final days of her life, I spent many hours with her reading scriptures and singing hymns with her.  In my own heart, I knew that she loved the Lord, but I was hedging my bets that God would remember her when she passed.  This was how I was taught things were!  I did not want anything to get in the way of her salvation.  The truth is, her name was already written in the book of the lamb.  God had already secured for her a place in His presence.  I did not realize this truth until after she had passed.  The love of the Father does not deal with fear.  It is His desire that all of His children come to know Him.  His love is deep enough that He will save all of His creation.  

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (Loves Gift)

 He who is not loving knew not God, for God is love 

First Epistle of John 4: 8, Concordant New Testament 

Around the world, people will celebrate this Christmas day.  The tradition will be that we will gather to exchange gifts with each other, which has been the custom for hundreds of years.  If you were new to this society, you might think that this time of year is more about buying gifts than anything else.  Yet all of the gifts which we have ever been given could never equal the one gift which was given to us from the love of our heavenly Father.  This gift was presented to us thousands of years ago in the form of a newborn infant.  In the city of Bethlehem in the nation of Judea, God presented to us His only Son.  Of course, those who gathered to celebrate the birth of this child had no idea of the importance of this event.  How God, out of His never ending love for His children, had commissioned His Son to be the sacrifice for that which we have done wrong.  So it is that Christ Jesus, born in humility, gave of Himself for the sins of the Fathers creation {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}.  It is Jesus who has proclaimed that a greater love has no one, that he may be laying down his soul for his friends {Johns Account 15:13}.  What love has Jesus for us, that He would lay His own life aside for Gods children?  That He would bear that punishment surely meant for ourselves.  For this is the gift of love which the Father has given to us.  Not only for the believer, but for all mankind.  So it is that all of Gods creation may be saved through Christ Jesus {Johns Account 3:16-17}.  This birth of Jesus is not simply the greatest story ever told, but the greatest gift ever given.  

And we know and believe the love which God has in us.  God is love, and he who is remaining in love is remaining in God, and God is remaining in him 

First Epistle of John 4: 16, Concordant New Testament 

I have found that many folks bristle whenever I mention the prospect of universal salvation.  The belief that God will ultimately provide for the salvation of all of His creation.  They point to the belief that all who do wrong must be punished and those who follow God will be rewarded.  I love the Chosen series, and there is a beautiful scene within it that illustrates how the Father and Jesus see good and evil.  As Jesus sits teaching the local children, one of them relates to His of a spat which he had with another boy.  Jesus asks the child, "Well what did you do?"  The boy replies that he pushed the other child as hard as he could.  Jesus smiles and proclaims, "And that is why you were punished."  Jesus then explains to the children of someone else who loves justice...as He smiles and points to the heavens.  Indeed, it is the Father who is the ultimate judge of all.  For man to squabble over who should be and not be saved is not our fight, but Gods.  The author J Preston Eby, in his Kingdom series, explains that our judgement has already occurred.  We have been found guilty {Paul to the Romans 3:23}.  However, through the love which He has for us, God dispatched His Son to pay the penalty for what we have done.  What love has no one, that He be laying down His soul for His friends?  So, that concept of universal salvation isn't as blasphemous as you might believe.  The gift of love which the Father has provided each of us declares us free of sin.  However, like someone ignoring a gift left under the Christmas tree, there may be some who refuse to accept the gift given out of the love of the Father.  This in no way means that they will be forgotten.  For it is the desire of the Father that all be saved.  

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (Who Is This Jesus?)

 He is saying to them, "Now you, who are you saying that I am?"  Now answering, Simon Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Now, answering, Jesus said to him, "Happy are you Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood does not reveal it to you, but My Father who is in the heavens" 

Matthews Account 16: 15-17, Concordant New Testament 

Every year around this time I began to hear differing ideas of the identity of Jesus.  Some people say that He was one of the greatest peace makers known to man, and they would be correct in saying so.  Still others focus on the attributes of Jesus, such as His kindness, love and mercy.  Again, they are correct in describing Him.  But perhaps it is the disciple Simon Peter who said it best.  Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God {Matthews Account 16:16}.  Yet even Simon may have not been aware of the one true identity of Jesus.  For, as Jesus once told His own disciples, "I and the Father, We are one" {Johns Account 10:30}.  So it is that the infant in the manger which we celebrate each and every Christmas season is nothing more than the Father returning to be among His children once again.  This is who Jesus truly is.  As He has proclaimed, He does only what He sees the Father doing {Johns Account 5:19}.  I believe that the true reason for the season is that the Father has once again restored that relationship which was lost in the garden {Genesis 3:22-24}.  Through this infant lying in a manger, the Father will once again move among His children.  As Jesus grows, the Father will experience that relationship which was once lost.  As the angel has spoken to Joseph, "And they shall be calling His name 'Emmanuel' "Which is, being construed, God with us" {Mattews Account 1:23}.  When we look upon Jesus, we see the Father.  Yes, it is Christ Jesus who has given Himself for all {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}.  Yet it is also the Father who lives through Him.  This is Jesus.  

"I and the Father, We are one" 

Johns Account 10:30, Concordant New Testament 

Whenever someone asks me who it is that I think Jesus is, I ask them to look in the nearest mirror.  Usually I get blank stares in response to this reply.  So it is that too many so called believers are unaware of their true identity in the Father and Son.  As Jesus has proclaimed, we live today in union with He and the Father {Johns Account 14:20}.  However, many Christians are barred from seeing this truth due to the traditional teachings of the mainstream church.  Instead, we're taught that there has been a separation between God and His creation due to mans disobedience in the garden.  As the Author J Preston Eby has written, our judgement has come and gone!  We have been found guilty and redeemed by Jesus giving Himself willingly to the cross.  Therefore, there is absolutely NOTHING which prevents Gods children from being in his presence.  Through Christ, we have now been deemed spotless in the eyes of our heavenly Father.  If you were to ask the Father for forgiveness of your sin, He may reply to you, "What sin, my child?"  So it is that one of the basic fundamentals of Christian theology has been ignored.  That being the sacrifice of Christ Jesus for the sin of all mankind.  Jesus did not simply give himself for those sins of our past, but for our present and future as well.  As the apostle Paul proclaims, Jesus has died to sin once for all time {Paul to the Romans 6:10}.  That's it, He gave Himself once for the iniquities of all mankind.  Therefore, I propose that we rethink what we see as the reason for the season.  For the angels of the Lord have proclaimed the return of the Father to be among His children once again. 

And Lo!  A messenger of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of God shines about them, and they were afraid with a great fear.  And the messenger said to them, "Fear not, for Lo! I am bringing you an evangel of great joy which will be for the entire people, for today was brought forth to you a Saviour, Who is Christ, the Lord" 

Lukes Account 2: 9-11, Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (Something Happened On The Way To The Cross)

 

Then Yahweh Elohim took the human and settled him in the garden of Eden to serve it and to keep it 

Genesis 2: 15, Concordant old Testament  

Anyone who has read the beginning of the scriptures knows exactly what happened after the Lord completed His creation.  Mankind found a way to screw things up.  In what has been known in Christian circles as "The fall," man disobeyed the creator and fell for the lie of the deceiver.  That lie was that man could "Be like God" {Genesis 3:5}.  Of course, Adam could not have known at that time that he was created in the very image of the Father {Genesis 1:27}.  In reality, Adam was already like God.  He shared in all that the Father is.  For when we're told that we are created in the likeness of God, we can be assured that we share in all that He is.  Not only was Adam created in the Fathers likeness, it is God who breathed into His creation the breath of life {Genesis 2:7}.  It is God who took from Adam to create a "Helper comparable to him" {Genesis 2:18}.  So it is that we have Adam, created in the likeness of the Father.  Then there is Eve, created from Adam but still carrying the Fathers likeness for herself.  We can assume that this first couple lived and thrived for a brief time in the Lords creation.  That they lived daily in the presence of the Father.  How is it that we know this?  Well, after Adam and Eve took of the forbidden fruit, the Lord came calling.  It's here where we learn that, upon hearing the voice of the Lord, Adam answered that "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself" {Genesis 3:10}.  Take note, because this is the fracture point in Adam and Eve's relationship with God which they shared prior to their believing in the lie of the deceiver.  This is what is known as the fall.  Where mankind, lost in sin, was banished from the garden.  This is the moment which set up the coming of Christ Jesus and the restoration of that relationship which God once shared with His creation.  

"Lo!  The virgin shall be pregnant And shall be bringing forth a Son, And they shall be calling His name 'Emmanuel', "which is, being construed, "God with us," 

Matthews Account 1:23, Concordant New Testament 

For much of the Christmas season, believers all across the world will gather to celebrate the birth of Jesus the Savior.  The belief is that Christ was commissioned solely for the forgiveness of the sin of Gods creation.  I beg to differ.  One of the key moments in the history of the birth of Jesus comes as Joseph is visited by the angel of the Lord to announce to him the coming birth of his son.  The angel proclaims that "They shall be calling His name Emmanuel, which is, being construed, "God with us" {Matthews Account 1:23}.  Now, think back to the final days of man's time in the garden of Eden, how his own relationship with the Lord had been fractured due to his disobedience towards God.  Now, as the birth of the coming savior is announced, we're told that this child will be "God with us."  Yes, the child will save His people from their sins, but He will also restore that relationship which God once shared with His creation.  It is the Father Who, through Jesus, will once again be in relationship with His creation.  It is the Father, through Jesus, who will interact each day with His chosen disciples.  It is the Father who, through Jesus, will once again share in the day to day lives of His creation.  As we read of Jesus interacting with those around Him, remember that this is the Father living through the Son.  This is the union which Jesus speaks of related by the apostle John {Johns Account 14:20}.  Jesus in the Father, we are in Christ and Christ in us.  This is what happened on the way to the cross.  

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 

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (God Among Us)

 All the people were discerning the thunderclaps and the torches and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking.  And the people saw and roved about and stood afar.  They said to Moses: Speak with us that we may hear; yet Elohim must not speak with us lest we die

Exodus 20: 18-19, Concordant Old Testament 

The people of Israel had just witnessed the glory of the presence of the Lord, and they wanted nothing at all to do with it.  Instead of taking the opportunity to commune in the presence of their God, these Israelites cowered in fear at the sight before them.  I cannot speak for everyone, but I believe that this is the very same mentality today which prevents Gods children from recognizing that they live in the presence of the Lord today {Johns Account 14:20}.  It's the mentality which Satan spoke to Eve in the garden {Genesis 3:1-6}.  The belief that they were separated from the God Who created them.  This belief is stressed to this day in the teachings of the mainstream church.  The Lord is holy, and we are but sinners.  That the only way that we can approach the Father is through Jesus.  While it is true that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, it is also true that we live each day in the presence of the Father {Johns Account 14:6}.  Yet far too many believers live their lives like those Israelites of old, in fear of God.  I recently had a discussion with a good friend of mine who reminded me that the relationship which the Father once shared with His creation in the garden had been broken when they partook of the forbidden fruit.  When God called out to Adam in the garden, he responded that he had heard His call but that he was afraid as he was naked {Genesis 3:10}.  This is a far cry from the time before he partook of the fruit, as Adam and Eve walked in the garden and were not ashamed {Genesis 2:25}.  Obviously, something happened between that point and his taking of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  So it is that we have been sold on the narrative that God is holy and that we ourselves are soiled with sin and unable to be in His presence.  

Lo!  The virgin shall be pregnant And shall be bringing forth a Son, and they shall be calling His name "Emmanuel," which is, being construed, "God with us." 

Matthews Account 1: 23, Concordant New Testament 

In a few short days, churches around the world will gather to celebrate the birth of Christ Jesus once again.  They will glory in His immaculate conception and humble beginnings.  For He is the savior which the prophet Issaiah proclaimed {Issaiah 7:14}.  The telling of His birth proclaims that "He shall be saving His people from their sins" {Matthews Account 1:21}.  Consider theses two prophesies concerning the birth of Jesus for a moment: "They shall call His name Emmanuel," which is, being construed, "God with us" {Matthews Account 1:23}.  Also, "You shall be calling His name Jesus, for He shall be saving His people from their sins" {Matthews Account 1:21}.  Saving Gods people from their sins, God with us?  This sounds to me as if the Father is restoring that relationship He once had with His creation.  Through Christ Jesus, God would once again walk among His children.  There is no mention of sin in this new relationship, as Jesus became put that to death at the cross {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}.  Yet, before Jesus even was nailed to that cross, the Father interacted with His creation through Him.  Jesus proclaimed that He and the Father were one {Johns Account 10:30}.  It is the Father who walked the streets of Jerusalem speaking to all who would listen.  It is the Father who performed the miracles for which Jesus is given credit.  This was God once again in relationship with his children.  This is God among us.  As we once again celebrate another Christmas season, we do well to recognize the true reason for the season.  That being our restored relationship with the Father.  

~Scott~