There appears to be some question as to the love that God has for his creation. So many believers, as well as many non-believers, have this impression that God, in some way, is completely responsible for all the bad that is seen the world through. Many share the belief that God, whom some see as this unfair dictatorial deity, uses such events to either punish his creation, to teach his creation some type of lesson, or for some other kind of purpose only known to him. However, the truth of the matter is that God, who is love, truly loves his creation and would never do anything to harm it.

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As we conclude, lets us open our mind and open our heart so that we may see and hear the truths that God is trying to reveal. Because the Church has redefined “the sovereignty of God” to mean, “God is in total control and that nothing happens but that which the will of God allows to happen,” many believers and non-believers as well, have been led to believe that God is somehow responsible for all the tragedies that occur in the world. They believe God is somehow responsible for the daily struggles that so many go through every day, such as depression, fear, worry, anxiety, confusion, doubt, discouragement, low self-esteem, poverty, sickness, and death. They have been taught and truly believe that everyone suffers these things because this is “the will of God.” That old cliché, “God will not put more on you than you can bear,” appears to fall in line with the teachings that God is responsible for the things that happen to us. We must note that the Old Testament scriptures are more likely to be used to support this argument because the New Testament portrays God as a very willing healer and life giver. Most people are familiar with the story of Job and how God has been portrayed in that story. But more importantly, they are all familiar with one of the most often repeated statements that originated from that story by Job.

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Let us continue our efforts to set the record straight about this misrepresentation surrounding “the sovereignty of God” perpetrated by the Church. Again, the Church has redefined “the sovereignty of God” to mean, “God is in total control and that nothing happens but that which the will of God allows to happen.” From our previous commentaries, we found that the devil, who is referred to as “the god of this world, the prince of this world, and the prince of the power of the air” (II Corinthians 4:4; John 12:31; John 14:30; Ephesians 2:2) is actually in control of this world’s system. We also know that Adam delivered this control over to the devil (Luke 4:5-6). The problem is that this misrepresentation has given many a false impression of God and has turned many away from God, all because they believe the redefined “sovereignty of God” definition. We have even coined the phrase, “an act of God” to use whenever there is a tragedy, a disaster, or a catastrophic event that we cannot explain by any other means.

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We know that in trying to set the record straight, we probably created more controversy than we actually resolved and more questions than we were able to answer. We wanted to correct a misrepresentation involving “the nature of God” as well as the misunderstanding and confusion surrounding “the sovereignty of God” and “the will of God.” We realized it would not be an easy task given the fact that the Church has perpetrated the misrepresentation so long that it has become a natural part of the religious culture and given the limitations of the formats we were using. Social media is a great tool to reach the world with the good news of the gospel, but the limitations associated with many social media platforms limit the amount of information that can be conveyed at any single given instance.

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We need to set the record straight. We need to correct a misrepresentation involving “the nature of God” that has been perpetrated by the Church for so long that it has become a natural part of our religious culture. What we are going to say, many amongst you will disagree with, will reject, or even label heresy, but the scriptures say, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32 TLB). It is our prayer that those who have an ear to hear will hear this revelation and be set free. Our revelation has to do with the misunderstanding and confusion surrounding “the sovereignty of God” and “the will of God.”

While it is true, that God is sovereign, with supreme authority and supreme power, able to operate totally independent of any part of his creation, everything that happens does not happen because it is “God’s will” that such things should happen. Religion has redefined “the sovereignty of God” to mean, “God is in total control and that nothing happens but that which the will of God allows to happen.” If there is a tragedy, a disaster, a catastrophic event, or even death, we are quick to say that, “it was God’s will” that these events happened, but are these true statements.

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Getting back to this “wanting to know who this God that we had pledged our life to, that we had chose to follow, to obey, and to serve was” thing, we mentioned the fact that God says, “I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). We went on to mention that what God is today is what he had to be in the days past, and even had to be in the beginning. Could it be true that we have somewhere along the way, gotten a few things wrong about the God that we have pledged our lives to and who we have chose to follow, to obey, and to serve was?

Many have stated that as you read through the events of the Bible and the relationships God had with people, God is progressively revealing himself to man. That appears to be great for man today, but what about all those back in the beginning. Did he leave them short in their understanding of who he was? Did he not impress upon them how he operates? If this be the case, then God himself has given us an advantage over those who came before us. And more importantly, God has shortchanged those who were back in the beginning by not giving them the same opportunity as us.

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For us, “We wanted to know who this God that we had pledged our life to, that we had chose to follow, to obey, and to serve, was?” We believed in God, but there were so many conflicting descriptions that we were totally confused as to what kind of God we were serving and/or what we should be doing to please him. One of the most confusing things for us was the idea that the God of the Old Testament was somehow different from the God of the New Testament. We have been taught that the God of the Old Testament was “a God of wrath,” which is in stark contrast to the portrayal of the God of the New Testament as “a God of love.” We will concede that there are many events in the Old Testament that appear to portray God as this “God of wrath,” but was this an accurate portrayal?

The Old Testament events have been used to show that God is this “angry tyrant,” who was always mad and full of wrath. He is portrayed by these events as a God who sits around waiting for mankind to sin so that he can pass judgment on him, punish him, and then condemn him to hell. According to some traditional teachings, committing any one sin was no different than committing any other sin, they were all treated the same regardless of how hard we tried to classify them based on severity. You see, under this rule, lying was the same as committing murder and the punishment was the same, condemnation. Because of this, many Christians believe that God demands that we live holy and do things righteous in order for us to receive anything from God or even to get God to move in our lives. But again, is this an accurate portrayal?

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“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children” (Hosea 4:6).

According to the scriptures, God says that his people are destroyed because they lack knowledge. This lack of knowledge that God speaks of is not due to the knowledge being hidden or it not being available. No, this lack of knowledge is due to his people rejecting the knowledge. The biggest problem is that so many of us are completely satisfied, feeling totally secure in the knowledge that we have. As long as we believe in Jesus and believe that we are saved, we see no need to deal with the irrelevant or trivial things. We feel that since it has no bearing on our salvation, then none of those irrelevant or trivial things are important. Is it possible that those things that have been dismissed as irrelevant or trivial are important to our survival?

“Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst” (Isaiah 5:13).

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Once, we were asked why we chose to do what we do. We wanted to share, just in case someone else had the same question.

“After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and (by) two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come (was about to go). Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip (bag), nor shoes (sandals): and salute (greet) no man by the way (along the road). And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the laborer is worthy of his hire (wages). Go not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto (near to) you. But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on (clings to) us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto (has come near) you” (Luke 10:1-11).

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