The Old Testament Offerings part eight

 The Israelite nation, liberated from slavery in Egypt, represented the entire human race whom God will save either by His grace or by His fiery wrath against evil. The deaths of the Egyptian firstborn and the drowning of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea represented all of the spiritual dead that Christ will cast into the lake of fire. Most of the priests represented those humans who will obtain salvation by grace except that some rebellious priests represented the apostates within Christianity.

The half shekel of silver that the Lord commanded all of the Israelites above the age of twenty to pay for their redemption represented the living souls and spirits of all humans whom God will raise from the dead in Revelation 20:5. Exodus 30:11-16. The half shekel of silver could not represent salvation by grace because God provides grace without works. Ephesians 2:8-9. The half shekel of silver represented the good works that God has given to all living humans that He will recover and raise from the dead for Him to recreate. John 5:28-29; Revelation 21:5. These resurrected living humans will give their good works back to God, who gave them to them in the first place, and He will give them rewards for their good works when He recreates them to live righteous lives on His recreated earth. Revelation 22:11-12.

God commanded that the half shekel of silver should not be paid by anyone under twenty years old. God commanded that the second generation of Israelites should conquer the Promised Land. This second generation represented all humans who would obtain salvation by God's grace. All of the first generation of Israelites, except for Joshua and Caleb, died in the wilderness which represented all who die while not in a state of grace. The Promised Land did not represent Heaven. The Promised Land represented the state of grace and sanctification, but every believer must fight the forces of evil well to win a personal victory over sin and evil in their own lives. Believers saved by grace who win the victory will achieve a state of rest while in the state of grace. Hebrews 3:7-11; Hebrews 3:17-19; Hebrews 4:9-11. But those believers who fail to fight evil well and who do not find rest from the fight will nevertheless never lose their state of grace. Christ has promised that He will cause all living humans saved by grace to become thoroughly cleansed and forgiven before He allows them to enter into Heaven. Ephesians 5:25-27. The whole book of Joshua represents the battles that every believer saved by grace has with the forces of evil in their own lives. Hebrews 4:1-11.

The Old Testament Offerings part seven

 In Leviticus 6:8-13, God informs all humans that the burnt offering symbolizes God's salvation of every living human who does not get saved by grace. The priest put on linen clothes which symbolized the purity of Christ. He recovered the ashes from the burnt offering and put them in a clean place. This action of the priest symbolized that God will use His fiery wrath against sin and evil to dissolve every living human not saved by grace, recover their "ashes" which symbolized the elements of their good and living natures, and put their "ashes" in a clean place which symbolized that God will recover their good elements for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth. The priest changed his clothes before he carried the ashes to a clean place which symbolized that God will recreate every living human not saved by grace with the earthly righteousness that He gave to Adam and Eve. I Corinthians 15:40. God commanded the priest to never let the fire go out which symbolized the eternal lake of fire that will forever burn the dead and evil natures of all humans who do not get saved by grace. II Peter 3:9-13; Psalm 75:3; I Corinthians 3:11-15.

God commanded that other types of offerings be made by the priests, but they all were directly connected to the sin offerings and the burnt offerings which alone God gave for the forgiveness of sins. The meal offering was made without leaven, which symbolized sin, and with salt, which symbolized God's preservation of every living human that He creates and loves. The absence of leaven symbolized the purity of Christ which is absolutely necessary for the salvation of all living humans. God commanded that salt be added to every sin and burnt offering to symbolize that God will preserve the living souls and spirits of all humans. Leviticus 2:1-16; Psalm 36:6; Mark 9:49-50. God commanded the priests to eat some of the meal offering and some of the other types of offerings to symbolize that all living humans who spiritually partake of the blood and water that Christ shed on the cross will obtain salvation by grace, and all living humans who partake of Christ while confined to the regions of death will obtain a living resurrection for God to recreate to live on His recreated earth. Matthew 26:26-28; John 6:53-58; John 6:63; Hebrews 2:9; Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5.

God commanded that the priests make a peace offering in connection with both the sin offerings and the burnt offerings to symbolize the peace and joy that God will give to all living humans saved by grace and to all living, resurrected humans whom He will recreate to live righteous lives on His recreated earth. John 14:27; Revelation 21:1-5.

God commanded that the priests make a trespass offering in connection with both the sin offering and the burnt offering to symbolize the fact that any sin against one's fellow human is also a sin against God. Leviticus 5:1-19; Leviticus 6:1-7. Most trespass sins were done through ignorance which meant that the weak, living nature of humans sinned because of the influence of their evil natures. But God will turn even a cruel and deliberate sin, which is wholly evil, into a sin of weakness if a person truly repents and begs God for forgiveness. I Timothy 1:15; I Corinthians 6:9-11; Luke 22:61-62. But all that is wholly evil in humans, which is spiritual death, God will separate from all living humans in the end of the world, and He will cast it all into the lake of fire because it never repents. Matthew 12:31-32; John 16:7-11; Matthew 13:36-43; Matthew 15:13; Hebrews 2:9-15; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:11-12. Jesus' prayer to His Father from the cross in Luke 23:34 ensures that God will forgive every sinner who repents of their sins that nailed Jesus to the cross, and God will eventually cause all living humans to repent and believe. But that deliberate evil that the Devil injected into the inner beings of every human that attempts to murder God on the cross and never repents, God will separate from every living human in the end of the world and cast those spiritual deaths into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15; Matthew 12:31-32; John 12:31-32; I John 3:8.

The Old Testament Offerings part six

 Aaron, who as High Priest symbolized Christ, symbolically put all of the sins and iniquities of all the Israelites on a live goat and sent it into the wilderness. Since the Israelites symbolized the entire living human race, then Christ must remove all of the sins and spiritual deaths of all living humans for Him to cast into the lake of fire. Leviticus 16:20-22; Revelation 20:11-15. The live goat symbolized Christ's descent into Hell and His resurrection from the dead victorious over all sins and evil. John 16:33; Revelation 1:17-18.

Even though the priests offered sacrifices for the whole nation, every individual Israelite could request that a sin offering or a burnt offering be made for them for the forgiveness of their sins. If two turtledoves or pigeons were brought to the priest, one would be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. This indicated that both types of offerings were efficacious for the forgiveness of sins. This fact indicates that a higher form of salvation by God's grace, and a lesser form of salvation by God's fiery wrath against sin and evil, Christ would accomplish through His suffering and death on the cross, His burial, His descent into Hell, and His glorious resurrection. Leviticus 12:8. God promised every faithful Israelite who kept His commandments, including the sin offering and the burnt offering, an eternal life on His recreated earth. Deuteronomy 4:40. God also promised that "the strangers will be joined with them," which can only mean that every living human who has done some good in their lives that God gave them to do, He will resurrect to a recreated life on His recreated earth. Isaiah 14:1; John 5:28-29.

Some people have lived very evil lives on the earth. But no living human has ever been totally evil. If they had been, they would have been demonic and incapable of doing any good whatsoever. God creates living humans in His image which means He puts some good into them, and all humans do at least some of that good. Genesis 1:31. Even the maniac of Gadara was not totally evil because the good part of his nature ran to Jesus and worshiped Him. Luke 8:28. Even Judas Iscariot was not wholly evil because he suffered remorse and tried to repent, but he could not repent to God. Matthew 27:3-5. God will eventually cause every good and living soul and spirit on the earth or confined to the regions of death to repent and believe in the Lamb of God of their own free will. Revelation 5:11-14. God will dissolve their lives by His fiery wrath to separate their good lives from their evil natures which are foreign to them. Psalm 75:3; I Corinthians 3:11-15. God will recreate their good lives to live on His recreated earth, and He will cast their evil, dead natures into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:1-5. The living souls and spirits of humans who deliberately practiced evil will receive few rewards and a demoted position in their recreated lives on the new earth. Because God will be able to recover only a small amount of goodness from evil people for Him to recreate to be righteous, these living humans will possess completely different personalities than their mostly evil personalities that they had on the old earth. John 12:25. Those who "hate his life in this world," which means they will hate their sins and evil within them, will be those who will be likely to repent and believe in Christ and obtain salvation by His grace. John 5:24; John 3:3.

The Old Testament Offerings part five

 God gave both the sin offering and the burnt offering back to the Israelites just before their exodus from Egypt. Both sacrifices were for the forgiveness of sins. Exodus 12:1-13; Leviticus 4:20; Leviticus 5:10. At that time, the Israelites symbolized the entire human race who would ever live, and all other people who practiced idolatry and child sacrifice symbolized total evil and all of the devils from Hell and Satan as well. The priests offered both the sin offerings and the burnt offerings for the salvation of all the Israelites which also symbolized the salvation that God would provide for every human who would ever live. But God commanded the High Priest once a year in October to bring only the blood of a sin offering into the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and sprinkle that blood on the Mercy Seat above the Ark of the Covenant. This action by the High Priest symbolized that only humans who would become washed in the blood and water of Christ and saved by grace will God allow to live with Him in Heaven forever. Leviticus 16:2; Leviticus 16:13-17; Leviticus 16:29-34. When Christ died on the cross, God rent the veil of the Holy of Holies in the Temple to symbolize that all living humans saved by grace could then enter into Heaven to live there with God forever. Mathew 27:51.

But the blood of the sin offering that the priest sprinkled on the horns of the brazen altar in front of the Tabernacle, and that he poured out at the bottom of the altar, and the fat he burned on that altar, and the rest of the sacrificed parts of the animals that were burned outside the camp symbolized God's lesser form of salvation for all humans who did not get saved by grace. Hebrews 13:10-14; Leviticus 16:17-28; Hebrews 2:9-14; I Corinthians 15:22; I Timothy 4:10; John 12:31-32. The sin offering and the burnt offering which the priest made outside the Tabernacle were inextricably connected, but the blood brought into the Holy of Holies by the High Priest alone symbolized God's salvation by His grace given to all humans who would repent and believe in Christ while still alive in the flesh. Christ is that perfect High Priest. Hebrews 9:22-28.

The sin offerings and the burnt offerings that the priests made outside the Tabernacle symbolized God's use of His fiery wrath against sin and evil to save all of humanity who do not get saved by grace. All living humans must repent and believe in order to be saved by God's higher and lower forms of salvation. God must consign all living humans who fail to get saved by grace to one of the three regions of death after they physically die. Revelation 20:13; Hebrews 9:27. But God will cause all living humans confined to the regions of death, and those who live on the earth, to repent and believe in the Lamb of God of their own free will as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. The fiery wrath that God uses to cleanse them of all sins and evil must also contain the cleansing blood and water that Christ shed on the cross. Hebrews 9:22. For this reason, the sin offering and the burnt offering were inextricably connected. I Corinthians 3:11-15 describes God's salvation of  "every man" who does not get saved by grace. God must save all living humans because His Love cannot fail. I Corinthians 13:8. God must cause all humans to repent and believe of their own free will to prove that His Love is real. Enforced love cannot be real.  God cannot lose anything He has ever created and loves. Ecclesiastes 3:14. God promised in Revelation 21:5, "Behold, I make all things new." This promise can only mean that God will save and recreate absolutely everything He has ever created that has become sullied by sin and evil, including all living humans. II Peter 3:9-13; Romans 8:18-23; Colossians 1:15-23; Romans 11:36; John 5:28-29; Psalm 75:3; Isaiah 45:20-25; John 11:25; Matthew 13:36-43; Matthew 15:13.

The Old Testament Offerings part four

God gave back to the Israelites the sin offering that He first gave to the whole human race when He killed the animal and clothed Adam and Eve with its coat. Genesis 3:21. God also gave back to the Israelites the burnt offering that He first gave to the whole human race when Noah made the first burnt offering sacrifice of animals. Genesis 8:20-21.

God destroyed the entire, evil human race in the great flood except for Noah and his family who found grace in God's sight. Genesis 6:8. God was not angry with these evil humans. God realized that they had not become evil because they sinned. They only inherited spiritual death through intermarriage with the fallen Adamic race. God grieved that He had to destroy all these evil humans in order to cleanse His world of all the huge amount of evil that they had brought into it. Genesis 6:5-7. But God cleansed them of all their sins with the water of His Word at the same time that He killed them. But even though God cleansed them of all their sins for which they were not responsible, He still had to confine their weak spirits to the regions of death because of the spiritual death that still clung to their inner beings. But after Christ took their spiritual deaths upon Himself on the cross, the Spirit of Christ came to them and preached the gospel to them. They all believed which will enable Christ to use His fiery wrath against evil to liberate their living souls and spirits from their spiritual deaths. I Peter 3:18-22; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Hebrews 2:9.

The burnt offering of the lamb that God gave to the Israelites, He first gave to Noah after the flood. Genesis 8:20-21. The burnt sacrifice cannot be made without the sin offering. Christ had to shed His blood and water on the cross to save by His grace before He could dismiss His Spirit to descend into Hell to save the rest of humanity. When God gave the burnt offering to Noah, He did not mention the sin offering. God gave the sin offering to Adam and Eve to symbolize salvation by His grace, but He gave the burnt offering to Noah to symbolize His lesser from of salvation for the rest of humanity.

God specifically told Noah the reason that He gave him the burnt offering. When God killed the entire, evil human race in the flood, He had to send their living souls and spirits that He had created in His image to the regions of death because they still retained their evil natures. God's judgment of them grieved Him because He had not, at that time, provided any form of salvation for their living souls and spirits. They existed in constant danger of eternal separation from God. God cannot lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Psalm 36:6; Romans 11:36. God gave the sin offering to the Adamic race through Seth only, not to the evil humans whom He destroyed in the flood.

But God provided for the lesser salvation of all living humans who do not become saved by grace when He gave the burnt offering to Noah. God told Noah that He would remove the curse of the ground "for man's sake" even though the hearts of all humans would be filled with evil. This promise can only mean that God will liberate all living humans from the curse of the ground which are the regions of death. Revelation 20:13. God also told Noah that He would never again "smite the living." This promise can only mean that God will never again kill all living humans with no plan for their salvation. These prophesies can only mean that at some time in the future, God will use His fiery wrath against evil, symbolized by the burnt offering, to liberate all living humans from the cursed ground for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth, and He will cast their separated, dead and evil natures into the eternal lake of fire. Genesis 8:20-21; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:1-5; John 5:28-29; I Corinthians 15:22; Matthew 13:36-43; Matthew 15:13; I Timothy 4:10. I Corinthians 3:11-15 speaks about "every man," not just humans saved by grace, and God's Word means exactly that which it states.

The Old Testament Offerings part three

 God commanded the Israelites to burn all parts of the lamb that were left over after the Passover. This command meant that Christ would accomplish the salvation of the entire human race. God gave a burnt offering to the Israelites that symbolized Christ's descent into Hell to leave behind there all of the sins and evil of all humanity that Christ bore on the cross who failed to get saved by grace. Psalm 16:10. Since, at that time, the Israelites represented the entire human race, then God's command that they all eat some of the roasted lamb symbolized that God will cause all humans to spiritually partake of the body of Christ by faith for their eventual salvation. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14. The burnt offering, which must always follow the sin offering, were both given by God to symbolize forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. Leviticus 1:4; Leviticus 4:20; Leviticus 5:10. The burnt offering also symbolized that God will use His fiery wrath against evil in the end of the world to dissolve the systems of every individual human confined to the regions of death in order to separate their repentant, living natures that He created and loves from their dead, evil natures that He will cast into the lake of fire. I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15.

All living humans who become saved by grace, Christ saved at the time that He shed His blood and water on the cross, but that salvation does not become actual until the Holy Spirit imparts that blood and water to the inner being the moment those humans repent and believe while still alive in the flesh. I Corinthians 6:11. In a similar manner, the Spirit of Christ left behind in Hell the sins and evil of all humans who did not get saved by grace when He rose immaculate from Hell to reanimate the perfect, dead body of Jesus who rose immaculate from the dead victorious over all sins, evil, and death itself. Revelation 1:17-18; I Timothy 6:13; II Timothy 1:10; I John 3:8; I Corinthians 15:22. But that lesser form of salvation does not become actual until all living humans confined to the regions of death repent and believe in the Lamb in a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. At that time in the end of the world, God will use His fiery wrath against sin and evil to dissolve the systems of every believer within the regions of death in order to separate their living souls and spirits for Him to recreate from their dead and evil natures that He will cast into the lake of fire. Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:26-31; Psalm 75:3; II Peter 3:9-13; I Corinthians 3:11-15; I Corinthians 15:22; Luke 20:38; II Timothy 1:9-10.

The Old Testament Offerings part two

 God will cast only the evil that He has cursed into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15. In Genesis 3:14-21, God did not curse Adam and Eve. God cursed only the Devil and the ground that holds all evil and spiritual death. God promised Eve that she would be "the mother of all living," and in light of Luke 20:38 and Ecclesiastes 3:14, God must forever save all living humans whom He creates and loves. I Corinthians 13:8. The only difference happens to be that God will provide a higher form of salvation for humans saved by His grace and a lower form of salvation for all other living humans.

God killed an animal and shed its blood to clothe Adam and Eve with its coat. God gave this first sin offering to symbolize that the coming Savior that He had promised would shed His blood and water on a cross to cleanse and forgive all living humans who would ever repent and believe in this Savior while still alive in the flesh. This sin offering symbolized God's salvation by grace. Genesis 3:21; John 5:24. All living humans saved by grace obtain a home with God in Heaven forever. I Peter 1:3-5.

God gave this same sin offering to the Israelites just before He liberated them from slavery in Egypt. At that time, the Israelites symbolized the entire living human race that God will liberate from slavery to the Devil. Pharaoh and his people, who worshiped evil gods, symbolized the regions of death which holds all evil. The deaths of the Egyptian firstborn symbolized the spiritual death that God will remove from all living humans. Exodus 11:4-6. God commanded that the Israelites kill a perfect lamb, which symbolized the sacrifice of the coming Lamb of God, put its blood on their lintels and doorposts which symbolized the shape of a cross, and the death angel who killed the firstborn would pass over them. God commanded all of the Israelites to roast the lamb and eat some of it. God also commanded that the rest of the lamb should be burned before the morning. These commands symbolized that eventually God will save the entire living human race, some by His grace and all others confined to the regions of death in a great worship service just before the final, general resurrection when Christ will reveal Himself to them, and they will repent and believe that He is the Lamb of God who alone can save them. At that time, Christ will use His fiery wrath against evil to dissolve the individual systems of every one of these believers in order to separate their dead, spiritual natures for Him to cast into the lake of fire from their repentant, living natures which He will recreate to live on His recreated earth. The Israelites had to have symbolized the entire living human race because God gave them both a sin offering and a burnt offering to save them all. Exodus 12:1-13; John 6:47-51; John 11:25; Revelation 5:11-14; Psalm 75:3; II Peter 3:9-13; John 5:28-29; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Isaiah 45:20-25; Isaiah 66:22-24; Genesis 8:20-21.

The Old Testament Offerings part one

 In the Old Testament, God commanded that two types of offerings be made for the forgiveness and remission of sins; that is, a sin offering and a burnt offering. Both of these animal sacrifices symbolized all that the coming Savior would do to save the entire human race from all sin and evil. The sin offerings symbolized the blood and water that Christ would shed on the cross to save by His grace all who would repent and believe in Him while still alive in the flesh. Revelation 1:5; I John 1:9; Genesis 3:15; Genesis 3:21. The burnt offerings symbolized the descent of Christ's Spirit into Hell to leave behind there all of the sins and evil of the rest of humanity that Christ bore on the cross. Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:26-31;  Genesis 8:20-21. The innocent Spirit of Christ rose from Hell to reanimate the innocent and perfect body of Jesus, transformed His physical body into a spiritual body, and raised Christ from the dead victorious over all sin, evil, and spiritual death itself. I Peter 3:18; Revelation 1:17-18. Since Christ has "abolished death" as II Timothy 1:10 clearly states, then spiritual death can have no more power whatsoever over any living human. Since the gospel has also "brought life and immortality to light," then every living human whom God has created and loves must receive some form of salvation. John 1:9; Luke 19:10; Luke 20:38; John 11:25. Jesus clearly taught in John 5:28-29 that in His final Judgment and general resurrection in the end of the world, he will raise all of His good and living souls and spirits from the dead, and He will cast their separated, evil natures into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15. Even the most evil human cannot be totally evil. All humans possess a good, living soul and spirit that God puts into them when He creates them in His image. Genesis 1:27. Even Judas Iscariot displayed some goodness still left in him when he felt remorse and tried to repent for his betrayal of Jesus. Matthew 27:3-5.

No verse in the Bible (KJB) teaches that if a person rejects Christ until his physical death, then his living soul and spirit will be lost from God's Love forever. John 11:25 flatly contradicts this doctrine. I Corinthians 13:8 also contradicts this doctrine. Ecclesiastes 3:14 clearly teaches that God can never lose anything He has ever created and loves, as does Psalm 36:6. Jesus taught in John 12:46-48 that He would not judge unbelievers while in physical form in the world because He came "to save the world." Christ cannot fail to do whatever He says He will do. In verse 48, Jesus taught that in His last Judgment, only dead unbelievers will be judged by His Word. In Revelation 20:11-15, "the books were opened," which can only be the Word of God, and only the evil dead will be judged by God's Word and cast into the lake of fire, not living humans whom God will raise from the dead in Revelation 20:5.

In Mark 9:44, 46, and 48, Jesus did not teach that living humans will ever be cast into an eternal lake of fire. He taught that their "worm" would be in the lake of fire. The Bible (KJB) uses the word "worm" to refer to the dead and evil natures of humans that God will separate from all living humans for Him to cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15. When Jesus taught this, He probably referred to Isaiah 66:22-24 which teaches that God will raise all living humans from the dead in the end of the world, and they will be able to observe their own "worms" in the eternal lake of fire. In Isaiah 14:9-11, God prophesies that when He casts the Beast into the lake of fire, only the dead will be there, and he will be covered by "worms." God commanded the Israelites in the desert to eat all of the manna that they gathered in one day and not leave any of it until the morning. The manna symbolized the good life that God gives to every human, but when they disobeyed God and left some of it until the morning, "it bred worms and stank," which symbolized spiritual death which the Devil has injected into all humans similar to the eggs of the worms which had to have come from the air. Exodus 16:18-20; John 6:31-33; Luke 20:38; Psalm 36:6.

Witty Inventions part three

 Eve displayed the evil side of her nature when she gave the forbidden fruit to Adam because she selfishly desired to ruin him as well. When Adam sinned, he displayed the good side of his nature when he sacrificed his good life in order to be with Eve and protect her. But when Adam sinned, the Devil also attached evil to his inner being because he deliberately and knowingly disobeyed God. Adam's sin was much worse than was Eve's because she had been deceived both when she ate the forbidden fruit and when she gave the fruit to Adam, but Adam knew full well what he was doing. All humans have inherited their evil nature from Adam. Romans 5:12; I Timothy 2:14; I Corinthians 15:22. All humans sin because of weakness, but some humans who happen to be especially good never commit deliberate evils. The Bible (KJB) clearly teaches the difference between sins of weakness and deliberate sins in Numbers 15:24-36.

The inner being of every human contains a good and creative nature created in God's image and an evil and destructive nature injected into them by the Devil. The evil nature of humans, also called spiritual death, can influence the good nature and cause it to sin. But God can and will cleanse, save, and forgive the good nature of humans of all its sins upon repentance and faith in God their Savior. God will also purge the spiritual deaths of all people. God has a plan to cause all humans to repent and believe of their own free will which will be necessary to prove that God's Almighty Love cannot fail. I Corinthians 13:8. God cannot fail to save whatever He loves. Some humans will be cleansed and saved by their faith in the shed blood and water that Jesus shed on the cross. All humans whom God will have to confine to the regions of death because they did not repent while still in the flesh, He will cause to repent and believe of their own free will when He visits them in a great worship service in the end of the world. Only love freely chosen can be real love. At that time, God will use His fiery wrath against evil to thoroughly cleanse the repentant, good natures of all humans confined to the regions of death, separate their forgiven good natures from their evil and dead natures, recreate their good natures to live on His recreated earth and cast their dead natures into the lake of fire. All of the Old Testament sin offerings symbolized salvation by God's grace, and all of the burnt offerings symbolized salvation by the fiery wrath of God against evil. Genesis 3:21; Genesis 8:20-21; Revelation 1:5; Matthew 26:28; I John 1:9; Revelation 5:11-14; Luke 23:34; John 11:25; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 20:11-15; I Timothy 4:10; II Peter 3:9.

Because of their evil natures, humans invent false systems called sin. But they really only reinvent false systems originally invented by Satan. Satan proved to be very clever in his ability to entice humans to self-destruction through such false systems as "excessive pride," excessive excitement," "excessive pleasures," and "excessive greed for power and wealth." The Devil also added "addiction" to all of these false systems in order to cause many humans to be unable to repent while still alive in the flesh. God gave humans and the Devil their due when He called all false systems "witty inventions" in Proverbs 8:12. Psalm 99:8; Psalm 106:29; Psalm 106: 39; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Romans 1:30. God even admits that one can "enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." Hebrews 11:25. But all sins result in suffering and self-destruction. Romans 6:23; John 5:14; Luke 15:12-16. The Devil hopes to use evil to annul the good and living natures of at least some humans, but God will cause the Devil to fail when God saves all living humans whom He loves. John 12:31-32; I John 3:8; Hebrews 2:9-15; I Timothy 4:10.

Because of humanity's flawed nature, humans can also make mistakes which are not sinful, such as harmless mistakes in arithmetic. But God uses such mistakes to remind humans that they all have a flawed nature. Some humans are so prideful that they cannot admit that they make any mistakes, even in arithmetic. God even allowed humans to write flaws, and even contradictions, into His written, Holy Word in order to demonstrate their flawed nature to them even when they write His Word. Hebrews 8:7-8; Ezekiel 20:25; Matthew 19:8. Nevertheless, God's Holy Word (KJB) can only be inerrant and infallible because it reveals the whole truth about human nature and God's grace, mercy, and Love. John 8:32. God's Love shines through every word in His written Word, even in those scriptures that reveal the evil and sinful nature of humans. II Timothy 3:16-17.

Witty Inventions part two

 Even the basic emotion called "hatred" can be useful in a good system if that system is used to combat evil. God hates evil, and therefore because Lucifer refused to repent, God dissolved his system with His fiery wrath, recovered all of His good ideas that He had put into his system, and exiled him to earth as a completely evil and empty system called Satan. Sin and evil actually do not exist in any positive sense. For this reason, the Bible (KJB) always calls sin and evil "vanity" which means both excessive pride and absolute emptiness. Isaiah 40:17 refers to evil as being "less than nothing," which can only mean absolute nothingness. Sin, which means inner goodness affected by evil, can be cleansed and forgiven by God upon repentance and faith. But evil itself can never be forgiven by God because it never repents. All of God's creations have become infected with sin and evil, but God has determined to cleanse and forgive all sins in His creations because He will cause it all to repent and believe, and He has also determined to use His fiery wrath to dissolve His entire creations, purge it of all evil and recreate it all to be righteous. That which God did to Lucifer, God will do to His entire creations. Proverbs 6:16-19; Ezekiel 28:14-19; Matthew 12:31-32; II Peter 3:9-13; Psalm 75:3; Revelation 20:9.

Exiled to earth, Satan became a negative consciousness. Negative consciousnesses, which the Bible calls "devils" somehow escaped from a nonexistent place called "the bottomless pit" under the cover of darkness to infect Lucifer and cause him to rebel against God. Negative consciousnesses seek only to destroy positive reality created by God. Positive consciousnesses can only think in creative ways. For this reason, positive consciousnesses cannot understand how a negative consciousness can non-exist and yet exert a destructive effect on God's creations. The Bible calls this condition "the mystery of iniquity." II Thessalonians 2:7.

God gave the Devil his due when God called him "subtil" in Genesis 3:1. This word means to be very clever and ingenious. Unlike the devils who only seek to destroy in mindless ways, such as with the maniac of Gadara, Satan somehow became intelligent enough to invent false systems that entice humans toward self-destruction. Satan invented false systems comprised of God's good ideas called "lies" by which he enticed Eve to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit. The Devil made Eve believe that she would obtain a good system called "a better life," but when she disobeyed God, the Devil became able to attach evil to her good, inner system which would cause her to become unable to avoid sin. Sin is the attachment of evil to goodness. Because of Adam's fall, the Devil became able to attach evil to the inner beings of the entire human race. Satan hopes that that evil will be able to reduce human inner goodness to absolute nothingness which will annul a part of God's creations and thereby prove that God's Love cannot be Almighty. The Devil believes that if he can find a weakness in God's Love, then he can find a way to murder God and take His place. Genesis 3:1-7; John 8:42-47.

Witty Inventions part one

 The entire world, and the universe, happens to be made up of good and false systems all of which comprise basic and irreducible ideas. God created all of the good systems that rule the universe, such as the laws of physics and life, based upon the original and eternal Ideas in His Mind. All of the false systems in the universe result from a misuse of God's true Ideas invented by the forces of evil. God's Infinite and Eternal Set of Ideas can also be called the Word of God. John 1:1 (KJB). The Infinite Contents of God's Mind happens to be One with the Almighty Power of God. John 10:30 (KJB).

Only God can create good systems which are always true and beautiful and useful in good ways. Any being less than God, such as angels or humans, cannot create anything. But humans can invent good or false systems both of which always comprise good and basic and irreducible ideas borrowed from God's Infinite Set of Ideas. Every good or false systems, when thoroughly analyzed, will be found to be composed of basic and irreducible ideas. Every good system invented by humans, such as representative government or automobiles, always prove to be useful in creative ways. False systems, such as tyrannical government or the misuse of automobiles, always prove to be destructive or useless. The difference between God's good, created systems and human's invented systems happens to be that God's created systems comprise His original Ideas, whereas human's invented good and false systems only comprise ideas borrowed or stolen from God's Infinite Set of Original ideas. God's Original Ideas are always Absolutely Perfect, whereas borrowed or stolen ideas become less than perfect.

One of God's fallen angels, named Lucifer, became the first being who invented false systems by misusing God's good ideas. At the time of Lucifer's rebellion against God, God did not know that false systems could even exist. God can only have an infinite knowledge of all that is good and loving. Lucifer took one of God's basic ideas called "excessive" which can be useful in good systems. For example, since God's Love is Infinite, then that system can be called a good system of "excessive Love." Lucifer put the good idea called "excessive" together with another good idea called "pride" and invented a false system that caused him to rebel against God. When God delights in His creations, that happens to be a good use of the idea called "pride." But when Lucifer applied the false system called "excessive pride" to himself, he got the evil desire to murder God and take His place. Isaiah 14:12-17.

A Philosophical and Spiritual Conversation with Betty part ten

 Betty: So how did Jesus hold up on the cross?

The Theologian: Just before Jesus died on the cross, He cried out to His Father and asked Him why He had forsaken Him. Read Matthew 27:46. No doubt, the Devil thought when he heard that that Jesus had broken and would sin, and that would give the Devil the ability to murder God. But the Devil did not know that Jesus meant by His cry that He was dying the very spiritual death of all humans which is eternal separation from fellowship with God. No evil human or the Devil could kill Jesus. Jesus voluntarily died as an innocent human in every guilty human's place. Read John 10:17-18. When Jesus gave up His Spirit to the care of His Father, His innocent body died because of the effects of the sin and evil that He bore. Read Luke 23:46. In addition, spiritual death means eternal separation from fellowship with God. So the Spirit of Christ had to descend into Hell bearing all of the sins and evil of all humans who would not become saved by grace as if He would be there forever. Jesus had already saved all humans who would be saved by His grace by washing them clean of all sin and evil with His blood and water that He shed on the cross. Read Matthew 26:28 and Revelation 1:5. Jesus gave up His Spirit to the care of His Father which meant that God could exert His Almighty Power to raise His innocent Spirit from the regions of the dead leaving behind there the sins and evil of all humanity not saved by grace. Read Luke 23:46. The Holy Spirit reanimated the the innocent body of Jesus, and He rose from the dead victorious over all sin and evil. Read Revelation 1:17-18, Psalm 16:10, and Acts 2:25-31. The Devil wanted living humans whom God had created and loves to be eternally separated from God because of their sins and evil, and thereby defeat God's Love. But God made an eternal, loving sacrifice of Himself for every living human so that he could eternally separate their sins and spiritual deaths from their living souls and spirits whom He creates in His image. In other words, God succeeded in effecting an eternal spiritual death, but He did it in a way that allowed Him to separate and rescue every living soul and spirit from that spiritual death. The Holy body of Jesus could not decay because He also was completely innocent of all sin and evil. Upon His resurrection, God gave Jesus a spiritual body that could become His Spirit or His eternal human body as He wills. Read Luke 24:36-39. Christ chose to remain in human form so that He would forever be the eternal life of all humans in their spirit, soul, and body. Living humans saved by grace will enjoy an eternal home with Him in Heaven, and all humans that He will raise from the regions of the dead will enjoy a recreated life on His new earth. Read Hebrews 2:9-15, I John 3:8, I Peter 1:3-5, Revelation 20:5, Revelation 21:1-5, I Corinthians 15:20-28, John 5:28-29, I Timothy 4:10, I Timothy 6:13, and II Timothy 4:1.

Betty: So God succeeded in purging all sin and evil from His entire creation so that He could recreate it all to be wholly righteous.

The Theologian: God told us that He would do that from the beginning. God called Adam and Eve from their hiding place to fellowship with them again by which He meant that He would never allow the sins and evil of the entire human race to ever separate their living souls and spirits from His Love forever. God promised them, and all of humanity, that He would become their Savior who would defeat the Devil, and who would purge all sins and evil from all of His creations, especially all living humans. God cursed the Devil and evil only which meant that sin and evil were His enemies, not living humans. He promised Eve that she would be the mother of all living humans, and since God cannot be the God of the dead but of the living; "for all live unto Him," then He must save all living humans from spiritual death. Read Genesis 3:1-21 and Luke 20:38. Revelation 20:11-15 clearly relates that God will cast only dead humans into the lake of fire, not living humans whom He raises from the dead in Revelation 20:5. In Revelation 21:5, God clearly states, "Behold, I make all things new." Since God created all things, including all living humans, then He must preserve and recreate everything that He created in the first place. Read Romans 8:18-23, II Peter 3:9-13, Psalm 75:3, Colossians 1:15-23, and Psalm 36:6. When God preserves something, how long does He preserve it?

Betty: Oh Wow! Praise the Lord!

A Philosophical and Spiritual Conversation with Betty part nine

 Betty: So how did this Savior accomplish His salvation of the human race?

The Theologian: God revealed in the prophecies of the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament that He would become a perfect man who would take the sins and the evil of the whole human race on Himself on a cross and thereby purge all sins which cause spiritual death and spiritual death itself from all humanity. When Jesus said that He came "to save the world," He meant exactly that which He said. God cannot fail to do that which He says He will do. Read John 12:47. This perfect man called Jesus would shed His blood and water on the cross to purge all sins and evil from all humans who would believe in His power to save them by His grace while they were still alive in the flesh. God saved Adam and Eve by His grace when He shed the blood of an animal to symbolize the coming Savior and clothed them with its coat to symbolize this type of salvation. Read Genesis 3:21, Matthew 26:28, and John 5:24.

Betty: So how did this Savior save the rest of humanity?

After bearing the sins and evil of all humanity on the cross, this Savior voluntarily gave up His life and physically died. He died as if He would be permanently dead and forever separated from God's Love. But He commended His Spirit to His Father when He died. Read Luke 23:46. Jesus' Spirit descended into the regions of death carrying with Him the sins and evil of the rest of humanity that Jesus bore on the cross. The regions of death are in the ground that God cursed. Because the Spirit of Christ can only be perfect and Holy, and therefore, does not deserve to be in the regions of death, then the Holy Spirit was able to leave behind there all of the sins and evil of the rest of humanity. The Holy Spirit proved that He left all of the sins and evil of the rest of humanity behind in the regions of death when the Spirit reanimated the perfect, dead body of the Savior in His grave and resurrected this immaculate Savior from the dead victorious over all sins and evil. All of the Old Testament burnt offerings symbolized the salvation of the rest of humanity who did not get saved by grace. Read Genesis 8:20-21, Psalm 16:9-10, Acts 2:26-27, and Revelation 1:17-18. When Jesus proclaimed His victory over all the regions of death, He could not have meant that He was only partially victorious. Christ had to be absolutely victorious over all sin and evil.

Betty: But if this Savior bore all of the sins and evil of all humanity on a cross in order to remove it all from humanity, how was He able to bear it? How was He able to rise immaculate from the dead?

The Theologian: The Holy Spirit created a human body in the womb of a virgin named Mary. This means this human could not sin. This baby did not inherit the spiritual death which causes sin from Adam. The Holy Spirit infused every cell of this perfect human with God's Spirit, and therefore, this perfect human became both God and man at the same time. Read John 3:34. This Jesus, who has forever been with His Father, has always had complete power over all sin and evil, but He had to prove it because doubt had entered His creations after Lucifer's rebellion. Read John 20:24-29. The Devil desires to hold the entire human race in permanent death because they are all infected with spiritual death and guilty of sins which he knows that a Holy God can never accept to be in His creations. Had the Devil succeeded in his desire, he would have proven that God's Love for the living humans that He created in His image could not be Almighty, and such an event would demonstrate a weakness in God that the Devil could learn to exploit in order to find a way to murder God and take His place. Read Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-38, John 3:34, and John 8:44. God engenders faith by the elimination of doubt. Because God creates every human in His image, He puts a latent faith into their souls and spirits. Read Romans 12:3.

Betty: So this Savior, who was and is God in human form, was named Jesus. How did He bear all of the sins and spiritual deaths of all humans on the cross?

The Theologian: Jesus was a completely innocent human. Innocence is a part of God's Almighty Power. Because Jesus possessed an Almighty Innocence, sin and evil could not overpower Him. The Devil happens to be so totally evil that he believes that innocence is weak and can always be ruined, like he ruined Eve. The Devil thought that Jesus would not be able to bear the enormous weight of all of the sins and spiritual deaths of all humans on the cross. The Devil believed that Jesus would be forced to succumb to evil and sin, and that event would give the Devil the right to hold His Spirit in Hell and His body in the grave forever, and thus he would succeed in his desire to murder God. The Devil's attitude accounts for the fact that evil people today always consider good and innocent people to be stupid and easily exploited. Read Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13.

A Philosophical and Spiritual Conversation with Betty part eight

 The Theologian: God warned Adam and Eve that if they sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, they would die that same day. When they sinned, they became weak which allowed Satan to inject spiritual death into their inner beings which is the unreality that attaches to all false combinations of real ideas which in their case was their sins. At that time, the whole world became infected with unreality. That same day, Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together to hide their nakedness, and they hid from God when He came to visit them in the evening. They became ashamed of the unreality that now attached to their inner beings. They did not directly feel the unreality, but they did feel that their innocence and their acceptance by God were now equal to the real idea of nothing. Their actions displayed their spiritual deaths. They felt that they could no longer fellowship with God because they knew that their Holy God hates all evil. Separation from God because of the unreality of evil constitutes spiritual death. Read Genesis 2:17, Genesis 3:1-8, Romans 5:12, and II Corinthians 4:4.

Betty: So what did God do about their spiritual deaths?

The Theologian: When God came to visit them in the evening, He called them out from their hiding places and talked with them again. By doing this, God demonstrated that He did not desire to lose fellowship with their living souls and spirits that He had created in His image. God also demonstrated that He had already forgiven them. God only needed to find a way to thoroughly cleanse them of all sin and spiritual death so that He could fully fellowship with them again. As God talked with them, He revealed to them and Satan the future method He would use to cleanse them and save them, and the rest of humanity, from permanent spiritual death and the sins that cause it. God desired to save all of humanity from the power of the Devil. Read Genesis 3:1-13 and Mark 11:25-26. Would God ask humans to do anything He would not do Himself? Read Luke 23:34.

Betty: So what was the method that God would use to cleanse and save them and humanity from sin and permanent spiritual death?

The Theologian: God cursed Satan and the ground which held the bottomless pit from which evil had emerged to first infect Lucifer and then through Satan the whole human race. God did not curse Adam and Eve, and by extension all of their descendants, because He still loved their living souls and spirits that He had created in His image. God knew that the fallen human race could not save itself, but He could. God promised Adam and Eve, and by extension the whole human race, that He would send them a future Savior. God spoke to the Devil when He said this, and Adam and Eve heard Him. God told the Devil that this Savior, who would be the seed of the woman only which meant He could not inherit spiritual death from Adam, would be injured by the Devil but he would survive, and this Savior would crush the Devil's head, meaning He would permanently purge the Devil and all evil from all of His future recreations. The fact that God spoke directly to the Devil and allowed Adam and Eve to overhear Him demonstrated the fact that God's wrath would always be directed against Satan and evil itself and never against living humans whom He creates and loves. Although God gave temporary, earthly punishments to Adam and Eve and all of their descendants, He also promised Eve that she would be the mother of all living, and since God can never lose anything He has ever created, and He happens to be the God of the living and not the dead, then God actually promised Eve that He would save the entire human race from permanent spiritual death. Read Genesis 3:14-21, Ecclesiastes 3:14, and Luke 20:38.

A Philosophical and Spiritual Conversation with Betty part seven

Betty: But we can be fooled can't we? I mean some humans think it is all right to use destructive systems to attain their goals.

The Theologian: These kinds of people are usually atheists either in their consciousness or in practice. They have adopted the false system that means it can be good to practice evil. The evil in them has caused them to become confused about the difference between good and evil. They believe spiritual goodness is useless, and spiritual love does not exist. They believe that somehow they can invent their own form of goodness by the deliberate practice of evil.

Betty: But what causes their confusion?

The Theologian: The spiritual death within all humans, which is totally evil, has caused all humans to become somewhat confused about the difference between goodness and evil. The Devil does not want humans to ever attain a clear distinction between goodness and evil. All humans equate destructive and useless systems with the real idea of nothing. Some humans fail to realize that one of the uses of the idea of nothing is that it indicates the destructive or useless effects of the unreality contained within all false systems. Even humans who know that all false systems are destructive or useless only realize the unreality in false systems in a subconscious way. Humans who believe that destructive systems only equal the real idea of nothing also believe that those destructive effects become nothing in the past. This false system causes them to reason that destructive systems can be used to eliminate any system that they believe prevents them from achieving their goals that they consider to be good. But false systems indicate more than just the real idea of nothing. The real and useful idea of nothing indirectly indicates the nonexistence of unreality which adheres to all false combinations of real ideas and experiences. The ghost that you saw was not real in its false combination of real ideas and experiences, not in the real idea of nothing that only indirectly indicated its unreality. Yet, in some mysterious way, unreality can have destructive and useless effects in reality. Satan has confused some humans into believing that destructive systems only equal nothing which means that they have no effects in the future. Therefore, they reason that destructive systems can be used to achieve goals that they believe to be good. If humans should realize that the only effect that unreality has in false systems resides in its attempt to annihilate goodness, they would also realize that false systems can never be used to achieve systems that they think will be good. Only God knows exactly how to use destructive systems to eliminate other destructive systems which would ensure the continued existence of good systems. Read Isaiah 40:17.

Betty: So what did God do about sin and spiritual death?

A Philosophical and Spiritual Conversation with Betty part six

 Betty: But when I saw the ghost, it was a false combination, but it was not a sin was it?

The Theologian: No, it wasn't. Although Satan introduced false combinations into the world, some false systems happen to be merely mistakes or illusions, not sinful but all of them are useless. Mistakes in arithmetic are one example unless an engineer's mistake in his calculations later causes the collapse of a bridge that kills people. In such a case, the engineer may not have sinned unless he was deliberately careless, but the result would be a false combination which contained an unreality that caused a destructive effect. Such an event would be Satan's fault since he happens to be the inventor of all false combinations. All false combinations which always contain an unseen unreality acts like a black hole in reality that causes all of the destructive and useless effects in the world. Just like black holes in space use gravity to pull real stars into it, the unreality contained in false combinations attempts to destroy and annul reality.

Betty: What does the Bible say about false combinations and unreality?

The Theologian: The Bible (KJB) constantly refers to sin and evil as being vanity which means both emptiness and excessive pride. Total emptiness means the absolute nothingness contained in all false combinations. Excessive pride was the false system that introduced absolute nothingness, which is unreality, into God's creations. Lucifer used the good idea called excessive which can be useful in some real combinations and the good idea called pride which can also be useful in some creative combinations to invent a false system called excessive pride that caused his rebellion against God. For that reason, God dissolved Lucifer's good system, recovered all of God's good ideas that He had used to create his good system, reduced Lucifer to an absolute emptiness which is a negative consciousness called Satan, and exiled him to earth. Read Ezekiel 28:13-19. The Bible also accurately describes absolute nothingness and unreality in Isaiah 40:17 and in Job 10:21-22. Since the idea of nothing has to be a good and useful idea, then absolute nothingness, which is unreality, has to be less than nothing. Also, within the shadow of death, which can only be a bottomless pit, no positive consciousness can be created which can distinguish the difference between light and darkness.

Betty: So Satan introduced spiritual death, which is evil and causes humans to sin, into the inner beings of humans in his attempt to annihilate the image of God in them and prove that God's Love is weak. Yet, you said that mistakes may not be sinful?

The Theologian: Satan always uses false combinations in destructive ways. But since we humans have become aware of the difference between good and evil, we can make some mistakes which we can render harmless such as mistakes in arithmetic or the illusion of a ghost. But we can recognize false combinations as being equal to nothing which means that they are always either destructive or useless. But because of our knowledge of the good, we can employ a good system of being able to recognize that useless and destructive systems need to be discarded. Yet, because of our lust for excessive pleasure and our greed for wealth and power over others, humans will often employ destructive systems in our attempt to attain our goal of becoming little gods. We can use false systems because we have been injected with the unreality of spiritual death which causes us to sin.

A Philosophical and Spiritual Conversation with Betty part five

 Betty: So how did we humans ever learn about unreality?

The Theologian: God defeated Lucifer's rebellion, stripped him of all of the good and real elements that God had put into his good system and exiled him to earth as a totally empty, negative consciousness called Satan. Negative consciousnesses seek to annul reality and thereby destroy God's creations, but Satan's desire was somewhat different. Satan's desire was to invent false systems by misusing some of God's real ideas which would produce unreality in God's creations that Satan could hopefully use to annul a part of God's creations and thereby prove that God's Love for His creations could not be Almighty because His Love had a weakness somewhere in it. In other words, Satan believed that God could not be Holy: that is, absolutely perfect. Satan believed that God had to have a little bit of unreality in His holy system. Satan hoped that he could prove that God had some weakness that Satan could use to find a way to murder God and take His place as the ruler of the universe. If Satan could overthrow God, then Satan would have free reign to use all of God's good ideas to invent false systems that might produce excessive pride and pleasures but would in the end prove to be destructive which reduces toward absolute nothingness. Satan can never create anything. The Bible teaches that sin is always a false combination of good ideas that already exist. In other words, sin is always an invention. You can read about all this in Ezekiel 28:13-29; Isaiah 14:12-17; Psalm 99:8; Proverbs 8:12; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Romans 1:30; Job 1:6-12 and Job 2:9 KJB.

Betty: So I get the idea that Satan invented a lot of false systems which he introduced into the world in order to attempt to use the resultant unreality to annul that part of God's creations which turned out to be humans. You spoke before that unreality is like a black hole in a false system. Did you mean by saying that that unreality is similar to a black hole in space that misuses gravity to pull in and annul real systems like stars?

The Theologian: That's right except that Satan could find none of God's creations that could accept his false systems because all of God's animals had no intelligence and free will that could choose to accept his false systems.

Betty: But he found humans.

The Theologian: One day, to Satan's surprise, he found that God had created two humans, a male and a female that God had created in His own image that possessed intelligence and free will. Satan thought that God had made a big mistake because Satan knew that he could certainly get them to choose to accept his false systems and thereby introduce unreality into God's human systems that he believed would eventually annul at least one of them and thereby prove that God's Love is not Almighty.

Betty: So Satan thought that he could introduce unreality into one of God's good systems, reduce a part of it to a false system that would eventually annul it and thereby prove that God has a weakness which would give Satan a future opportunity to murder God.

The Theologian: That is right. God created the two humans, Adam and Eve, in His image; that is, He created them to be good but innocent. The only difference was that, in their innocence, Adam and Eve did not know that they were good. God created a tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and He warned Adam and Eve that if they chose to eat its fruit, they would die that same day. In other words, spiritual death, which is the same as unreality, would become a part of their systems. Satan lied to Eve and told her she would not die if she ate the forbidden fruit, but she would actually become a god. Satan invented a false system of real ideas when he tempted Eve. God calls all such false combinations sin. Eve believed the lie because her free will caused her to think that if she chose to eat the forbidden fruit, she could somehow obtain a better life. She thought she would become more like God. Every element of her sin was real and good. The fruit was good. Her eating it was good, and her free will was good. Even her desire for a better life was good. But as an invented false system, it was disobedient to God, and therefore, it was a sin. Eve gave the forbidden fruit to Adam and he also ate it and sinned. When they both sinned, they became weaker which gave the Devil the opportunity to inject spiritual death into their living systems that he hoped would utterly destroy their good natures that God had put into them and thereby prove that God's Love was weak. Read Genesis 2:17; Ephesians 2:2; Romans 5:12; II Corinthians 4:4 and Genesis 3:1-13. Sin caused spiritual death for all humans, and spiritual death, in turn, causes all humans to commit sins.

Betty: So Satan misused some of God's good and real ideas to invent false combinations that introduced an unreality called spiritual death into the inner beings of all humans.

The Theologian: That is right. Spiritual death attempts to reduce the good and real image of God in every human to unreality; that is, absolute nothingness. Spiritual death is totally evil, and like Lucifer, it never repents. Humans who turn their lives over to evil reduce their good, inner beings toward annihilation, but God will preserve even their puny goodness that He has put into them. Read Psalm 36:6 and Ecclesiastes 3:14.

A Philosophical and Spiritual Conversation with Betty part four

 The Philosopher turned Theologian: We had to have been created by an Eternal and Infinite Consciousness who has established an eternal reality.

Betty: We call Him God.

The Theologian: Yes. Unreality can never create reality. God must exist for reality to exist.

Betty: And yet we have to put up with unreality contained in false combinations. How did unreality get into our universe anyway?

The Theologian: God has an Infinite Knowledge of reality and an Infinite Ability to create good and useful systems that are beautiful which happens to be what goodness and usefulness are. God is wholly innocent. God never thinks about the creation of any kind of false combination because they are not real, and they are useless. God excluded all unreality from His universe. He thought that because it cannot exist, then it has to be impotent. God has an Infinite Knowledge of all that is good and beautiful, but He ignored unreality because that which does not exist can contain absolutely nothing that can be known.

Betty: So I have to ask you again how did unreality get into our universe?

The Theologian: The inerrant and infallible Word of God, which is the King James Bible in English, tells us how that happened. One day God became shocked to discover that His most beautiful angel named Lucifer had rebelled against Him with one third of God's angels that followed Lucifer. God also discovered that Lucifer had been influenced to rebel by certain negative consciousnesses that had somehow emerged from a bottomless pit of unreality that could not exist in reality. Yet, this bottomless pit had somehow produced destructive, negative consciousnesses which are the opposite of positive, creative consciousnesses. Unreality was not impotent. It could produce negative consciousnesses which were wholly intent on annulling positive reality. Exactly what negative consciousnesses could be remains a complete mystery to all positive consciousnesses, including God's. They cannot exist in reality, and yet, they can have a negative and destructive effect on reality. You can read about Lucifer's rebellion in Ezekiel 28:13-19 and about the mystery of iniquity in II Thessalonians 2:7.

Betty: So unreality can influence reality in a negative and destructive way?

The Theologian: Yes, but that fact puzzles positive consciousness since it can only experience and think about that which is real.

A Philosophical and Spiritual Conversation with Betty part three

 Betty: Then how can we know about nonexistence if everything we experience can only be real?

The Philosopher: Our consciousness somehow gives us the ability to use the idea of nothing to indirectly recognize nonexistence even though we never directly experience it. Nonexistence is like a black hole in reality that we can never directly see, but we know is there.

Betty: And that means we can only experience that which is real?

The Philosopher: Everything we experience can only be real just as we experience it. The fact that we can never directly experience unreality means that all we do experience must be real. It is quite impossible for human consciousness to directly experience anything that is not real. In the case of unreality, we can only use the real idea of nothing to indirectly indicate the nonexistence in a false combination even though all false combinations must always comprise real experiences and ideas.

Betty: What do you mean when you say that unreality cannot be directly experienced? How do we know that it exists if we never experience it?

The Philosopher: Unreality actually does not exist at all. That is why it is not real. It is the opposite of reality. Reality exists. Unreality does not exist. Human consciousness has been given the power, through the use of logic, to determine the real existence of certain objects that we can never directly experience. For example, physicists have deduced that certain sub-atomic particles exist even though they have never directly experienced them. They deduce that they exist because of tracks that they leave on photographic plates. In a similar way, we humans use the real idea of nothing to deduce that unreality does not exist, at least in any positive and creative way that we can understand, even though we never directly experience it.

Betty: But how did we obtain this power of our minds to make such a logical deduction?

The Philosopher: We humans were created to experience only reality. One of the true combinations of ideas that we experience in our minds happens to be the power of reason and logic. Logic is a real combination of ideas that allows us to make deductions about the real existence of things we never directly experience or which are hidden in experience. We can also use the power of logic to deduce that false combinations of real ideas and experiences equal nothing which also indirectly indicates the nonexistence of unreality. But we never seem to make this a conscious deduction. It is always a subconscious deduction.

Betty: Then true and real combinations of real ideas and experiences also exists?

The Philosopher: Absolutely. All systems in our world that produce a desired and beneficial result are true combinations of real ideas and experiences. We can name thousands of such systems such as a system of justice, a system of laws and government, clothes, houses, medicine, and even our own lives. The trouble with our true and real systems is that false and destructive systems often attach themselves to them.

Betty: So how does the real idea of nothing relate to such real systems?

The Philosopher: Whenever we humans use our minds to invent true systems of real ideas that produce a desired and beneficial result, we also use the real idea of nothing to exclude from such systems any ideas or experiences that will not work in those systems. For example, if an architect designs a skyscraper to be built solely from steel and concrete, he excludes all wood from his system by equating it with nothing. This exclusion does not mean that he considers wood to be nonexistent. He simply mentally equates wood with the idea of nothing in order to exclude it from the system he has invented.

Betty: So true and useful combinations of ideas and experiences exist which are beneficial systems, and false systems also exist which always comprise real ideas and experiences even though the combination itself always equals the idea of nothing by which we indirectly and logically deduce that unreality does not exist, at least in any meaningful and positive way.

The Philosopher: That is correct. When we say that something is not real, we subconsciously mean that the idea of nothing has annulled reality in that false system even though we can be conscious of the real idea of nothing, but we cannot be directly conscious of the unreality. We mean that the false combination itself cannot be real, never the the real ideas and experiences that always compose false systems.

Betty: But if our minds are geared to be conscious only of reality, how did we ever become conscious of the fact that the idea of nothing can indirectly indicate the nonexistence of reality in false combinations?

The Philosopher: Our minds were created to be able to tell the difference between something and nothing, both of which are real. Since consciousness happens to be the only known power which is capable of making this distinction, then no consciousness, which consciousness means life itself, could have evolved from a consciousless universe. Consciousness must come first. There can be no reality without consciousness.

Betty: Please explain.

The Philosopher: In a universe without consciousness, no means exist which can tell the difference between something and nothing. In such a case, reality cannot exist, and absolutely nothing happens without reality. Such a consciousless universe would be in a permanent state of chaos; that is, a state of absolute nothingness. Certain scientists have discovered that this state of chaos can actually exist, but they call it a superposition in quantum mechanics or a singularity in cosmology. Scientists have also discovered that our universe happens to be filled with what they call virtual particles which actually exist and non-exist at the same time. These virtual particles indicate the consciousless part of our universe. Consciousness exists to separate something from nothing in order to establish reality.

Betty: But if our lives and consciousness could never have evolved in a consciousless universe, then how did we obtain our lives and consciousness?

A Philosophical and Spiritual Conversation with Betty part two

 Betty: So all of my real experiences in combination became an unreal ghost?

The Philosopher: Right. But you called the combination a ghost which means you were trying to make it real.

Betty: But the combination although real was not real?

The Philosopher: The combination itself was not real. All of the elements of the false combination were real.

Betty: But if all of the elements of the false combination were real, then the ghost itself was really nothing.

The Philosopher: That is right. But the nothingness which was the ghost is also real.

Betty: How so?

The Philosopher: The idea of nothing in your mind happens to be very useful in your life, and therefore, it has to be real. You use the real idea and experiences of nothing to separate every individual object and idea in your mind from every other individual object and idea. Unreality is always useless.

Betty: How so?

The Philosopher: That chair you are sitting on is no other chair in the world but that chair. Take yourself for example. You are conscious of yourself as being no other individual in the world but yourself. The word no means nothing. You know by experience that every person in the world is something not nothing, and yet, in order to identify yourself as a separate individual person from all other persons, you have to use the idea of nothing to consider all of the other persons to be in the category of nothing so that you can identify yourself as a separate, individual person. In other words, you know by the use of the idea of nothing that you are not any other person but yourself.

Betty: But could you not use that idea of nothing to consider yourself the only real person?

The Philosopher: You could. That is the philosophy of solipsism. But you use the idea of nothing only as a means to identify yourself as being separate from all other persons. At the same time, you recognize by your real experiences that all other persons are real.

Betty: So your experiences are the same as your reality?

The Philosopher: Right.

Betty: Then if all false combinations of real experiences, such as ghosts or unicorns, only appear as combinations of real experiences then where is the unreality of false combinations if they all equal the real and useful idea of nothing?

The Philosopher: Unreality never appears to consciousness because consciousness can only experience that which is real.

Betty: But if all experiences are real, including the idea of nothing, then how did we ever get the idea that false combinations are not real?

The Philosopher: We try to make all false combinations real, but when we realize by logic that they cannot be real, then we equate them with the idea of nothing which is real. In other words, we can only experience reality. We never directly experience unreality.

Betty: But if we can experience only reality, how did we ever get the idea that a false combination must be unreal? I experienced a false combination of real experiences that I called a ghost. Yet, the ghost was not real. How is that possible?

The Philosopher: You were trying to make the ghost real even though you knew it could not be real. You used the real idea of nothing to indirectly identify its unreality.

Betty: But if everything that I saw in combination was real, including the idea of nothing, then how was I able to say that the ghost was not real?

The Philosopher: The false combination of real experiences was not real. You used the real idea of nothing to indirectly identify the false combination as being nonexistent.

Betty: So even though I experienced a false combination of real experiences, that false combination in reality cannot exist.

The Philosopher: No human consciousness ever directly experiences nonexistence. Humans must always use real experiences and ideas to construct false combinations which always equals the idea of nothing which, in turn, human consciousness uses to indirectly obtain the idea of nonexistence which humans never directly experience.

A Philosophical and Spiritual Conversation with Betty part one

 Betty: I saw a ghost last night, and it really scared me.

The Philosopher: What did it look like?

Betty: It was whitish grey, and it had the shape of a human but without a face.

The Philosopher: Why did it scare you?

Betty: It was so unreal.

The Philosopher: But what you saw was real.

Betty: You mean ghosts are real.

The Philosopher: No, ghosts are not real, but what you saw was real.

Betty: I don't understand.

The Philosopher: You saw something that was partly white and partly grey, did you not?

Betty: Yes

The Philosopher: Was it translucent; that is, could you partly see through it?

Betty: Yes

The Philosopher: And it had the shape of a human figure?

Betty: Yes

The Philosopher: Then everything you saw was real.

Betty: But the ghost was not real.

The Philosopher: The ghost was not real as a combination of your experiences, but each experience that composed that combination was real.

Betty: What do you mean?

The Philosopher: You have seen white before. You have seen grey before. You have seen shapes of human figures before, and you have seen things that are translucent before.

Betty: So the ghost comprised elements of my past experiences, all of which were real experiences. But the ghost may have been merely an hallucination, a product of my mind.

The Philosopher: But if your mind is capable of producing ideas and representations of your past experiences, then aren't those ideas and representations just as real as were the past experiences?

Betty: What do you mean?

The Philosopher: If you took a picture of yourself with a camera, would not that picture be just as real as you are?

Betty: It would seem so.

The Philosopher: If your mind can take pictures of your real experiences and transform them into ideas and representations, then aren't those ideas and representations just as real as are your experiences?

Betty: That would seem logical.

The Philosopher: Then it matters not whether you had an hallucination or whether you saw an optical illusion of light and shadow. In either case, you saw a combination of real ideas or experiences that in combination you called a ghost.

Betty: But why did I call it a ghost?

The Philosopher: Because your mind was trying to make a combination that is not real, real.

Commentary on Colossians 1:20, Revelation 4:11, and Revelation 21:5

 

Colossians 1:20 clearly teaches that God will reconcile all things to Himself in the earth and in Heaven. Colossians 1:16 clearly teaches that God created all things in Heaven and in earth whether they be invisible thoughts and emotions or visible material objects. In other words, God created all things that are real because His Infinite Consciousness makes them all real. There is no reality behind the appearances. The appearances are reality. Absolutely everything of which consciousness can be conscious must be real. All systems which are said to be unreal, such as ghosts or unicorns, nevertheless always comprise the elements of reality. All of the basic, irreducible elements that compose every true or false system must be real, whether thoughts or material objects. Since God created all things, then He created all living human systems from basic, irreducible elements. If any living human were ever cast into the lake of fire, then that living human would become spiritually dead and lost from God forever. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Psalm 111:7-8. Therefore, in accordance with Colossians 1:20, God must someday resurrect and reconcile all living humans to Himself whether they go to Heaven, or He recreates them to live on His new earth.

Revelation 4:11 also clearly teaches that God created all things for His pleasure. If any living human that God created and loves were ever cast into the lake of fire, then that event could never cause a loving God to have pleasure. Such an event would cause eternal grief to God which would contradict Revelation 4:11. In fact, Revelation 20:11-15 clearly states that God will cast only dead humans into the lake of fire. This fact can only mean that every human system contains a living nature and a dead nature. Matthew 12:33-35. In Christ's final Judgment in the end of the world, He will use His fiery wrath against evil to dissolve every human system confined to the regions of death in order to separate their living natures from their dead natures. I Corinthians 3:11-15; II Peter 3:9-13; Psalm 75:3. Because God can only save living humans who repent and return to faith in Him, He will cause all living humans confined to the regions of death to repent and believe in the Lamb of their own free will. God will resurrect all of these living humans from the dead for Him to recreate to live on His new earth. All living humans are forever alive to God. Luke 20:38. All living humans will be reconciled to God whether by His grace or by His resurrection from the dead. Revelation 5:11-14; Colossians 1:20; Revelation 20:5; John 11:25; John 5:28-29.

Revelation 21:5 clearly teaches, "...Behold, I make all things new..." Since all living humans must be a part of God's creations, then God must resurrect and recreate all living humans from the regions of the dead in order to create all things new. God cleanses and recreates the souls and spirits of all believers saved by His grace the moment they repent and believe in Christ. II Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:9-10; John 5:24; John 3:7-8. But "born again" believers will retain their fleshly natures which will cause them to sin. But God will cleanse them and forgive them as they daily repent. God will create spiritual bodies, like that of Jesus, for all believers saved by grace. I John 1:8-9; I John 3:2; Matthew 27:51-53; Revelation 20:6. In the case of Church Age saints, God will cleanse all of the unrepentant sins of the fleshly natures of these saints upon their repentance at the Rapture of the Church, and He will bring spiritual bodies from Heaven to give to them when they resurrect from the dead. Ephesians 5:25-27; II Corinthians 5:1-5. All saints saved by grace will live with God in Heaven. I Peter 1:3-5. God will literally "make all things new."

The World and the Word

                                The Ultimate Trump Card

Many of Jesus' healings and teachings while He walked the earth were symbolic of future events. The maniac of Gadara symbolized the very worst that Satan can do to humanity during the Tribulation period. The Tribulation period will be a time when total evil takes control of the world, and all humans will suffer terribly from war, famine, and insanity. God will allow the Devil to do his very worst to humanity in order to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God's Love can never fail. The maniac of Gadara symbolized the very worst that the Devil can do to humanity, and yet, that spark of the image of God still left in the maniac ran to Jesus to worship Him. Just as Jesus cast all of the total evil of the demons out of the maniac, so He will cast all total evil out of His world, and He will save the living image of God in all humans. The fact that Jesus returned the maniac to his right mind and sent him back to his people to witness about Jesus, so God will recreate all of the living souls and spirits and bodies of all humans to be righteous. Luke 8:26-39. God can use even the Devil to accomplish God's Will.

Jesus taught that He did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. Matthew 5:17. His Almighty Love fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8-10. The law is rigid and cold. A person can force himself to obey the law without loving anyone. The Pharisees and the Sadducees demonstrated that fact when they criticized Jesus for showing love and compassion on the Sabbath. Jesus tried to teach them that love trumps the law. Jesus taught them that David disobeyed the law when he ate the shewbread, but his love trumped it when he gave some of it to his fellows who were hungry. Jesus taught them that the priests in the Temple sometimes disobeyed the law, but they were blameless because they did it in a way that showed their love for God. Jesus informed those rigid and uncaring Pharisees and Sadducees that love can always be shown on the Sabbath, and to prove it He healed the man with the withered hand. Matthew 12:1-14.

One of the most profound statements that Jesus ever made is found in John 7:24. If a human adheres to the image of God within him and lives according to the love and compassion that God put into him, then he will be prone to make righteous and loving judgments in his dealings with others.

If a human realizes that the law was meant to show that he is a sinner in need of God's salvation, then that person will be likely to come to Christ when he hears the gospel to repent and believe and receive salvation by grace. Romans 3:20; Galatians 3:24; Romans 10:17. When living humans confined to the regions of death see the Almighty Love and Majesty of Christ in that great future worship service, they will choose of their own free will to repent and believe in the Lamb. Christ will save them by resurrection and recreation to live righteous lives on His new earth. Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5; Matthew 5:5. God's Almighty Love never fails to trump total evil. I Corinthians 13:8.

The World and the Word

                                   The Ultimate Trump Card

God's Almighty Love for His creations happens to be His trump card that He will play to capture and eliminate every evil play of the Devil. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Proverbs 10:12; I Peter 4:8. This constitutes the central theme of the Bible (KJB). The significant message of Proverbs 10:12 is that God's Love "covereth all sins," not just some sins. I Peter 4:8 states that God's Love "shall cover the multitude of sins" which can only mean the entire, finite set of sins that the whole human race will commit. God intends to save from evil all of His creations that He loves. Romans 8:18-23; Colossians 1:15-23; I Corinthians 15:20-28; I Timothy 6:13; Revelation 21:5. God's Love effected His higher and lower forms of salvation through His self-sacrifice, burial, descent into Hell, and His immaculate resurrection from the dead. John 3:16. The sins and evil of every human nailed Jesus to the cross. But Jesus prayed from the cross that His Father would forgive every one of them. Luke 23:34. Since Jesus and His Father are One, then His Father could never fail to give to Jesus anything for which He would pray. John 10:30.

God's Almighty Love cannot fail. I Corinthians 13:8. God will save and recreate absolutely everything He has ever created and loves. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Revelation 21:5. If any living human were to be ever cast into the lake of fire, then that living person, created in God's image, would be lost from God forever. God's Almighty Love cannot allow that to happen. God will reconcile His entire creation to Himself. Colossians 1:20.

Many believe that salvation by grace happens to be the only form of salvation. Salvation by grace is a free gift. Ephesians 2:8-9. Those who hold to this view contend that if a person rejects God's gift of salvation by grace, then that person will be lost from God forever. This view is wrong for two reasons. First, this view supposes that the puny will of humans can block the Almighty Will of God. God will not give His glory to another, and therefore, He will not allow anything to check His Will. Isaiah 42:8. Jesus prayed that His Father's Will be done on earth to the same extent that He will do it in Heaven. God's Will is to fill Heaven with recreated humans saved by His grace, and therefore, His Will must be to fill His new earth with all other recreated humans. Matthew 6:10; Revelation 21:5.

Second, those who believe that God only saves by grace forget that God's Love, His Will, and His Intellect are all Almighty. Psalm 147:5. God can certainly devise a plan whereby He can cause every living human He has ever created and loves to repent and believe in the Lamb of their own free will. Revelation 5:11-14; Isaiah 45:20-25; Luke 1:37; Luke 3:6; Matthew 19:26; John 11:25. Since God's Almighty Love and His Almighty Will have declared in His Word that He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance," then God must save all living humans with a higher and a lower form of salvation. II Peter 3:9. Who can thwart the Almighty Will of God?

The World and the Word

                                  The Ultimate Trump Card

God promised all Israelites who were faithful to Him and kept His commandments that He would give them the land that He promised Abraham, and He would love them and bless them above all people forever. Deuteronomy 4:40; Deuteronomy 7:9-14; Genesis 17:6-8. God always keeps His covenants. Psalm 89:34. These verses constitute a prophecy that can only be fulfilled following a general resurrection and recreation of the world as recorded in II Peter 3:10-13 and Revelation 21:1-5. These prophecies can only mean that recreated Israel will rule the world, and New Jerusalem will be the capitol of the world. Revelation 21:24 clearly states that "the nations of them that are saved" will walk in the light of New Jerusalem. These saved nations can only be the same people recorded in Deuteronomy 7:14. These people can only be those that God has given a lesser form of salvation because all people saved by grace will have their home in Heaven. Psalm 86:9 also prophecies that God will raise the living souls and spirits of all humans He has ever created to worship Him in a future world.

Jesus Himself prophesied that God will someday effect a general resurrection of the good and living natures of all humans from their graves, and He will condemn the evil natures of all humans. John 5:28-29. God loves every living soul and spirit that He has and will ever create and that He puts into every human. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Psalm 111:7-8. God promised Eve that she would be the mother of all living. Genesis 3:20. God informed all humans that all living humans remain alive to Him and that He is not the God of the dead. Luke 20:38. God will raise all living humans back to life from the regions of the dead. Revelation 20:5. God will cast only the spiritual dead natures of humans into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15. Jesus taught that God will purge only the evil that the Devil planted and that God will save forever all that He has planted. Matthew 15:13; Matthew 13:36-43; Matthew 13:47-50; Matthew 3:10-12.

One day in the future prior to the final Judgment of Christ, God will cause all living humans confined to the regions of death to repent and believe in Christ the Lamb of God of their own free will. Revelation 5:11-14; John 11:25. Every human is a system with a living nature and a dead nature. After their repentance and faith in the Lamb, God will dissolve every human system confined to the regions of the dead in order to separate their living natures from their dead natures. II Peter 3:10-13; Psalm 75:3; I Corinthians 3:11-15. God will use His fiery wrath against evil to effect this dissolution and separation. Hebrews 12:29; Deuteronomy 32:22. God will recreate all of His raised living humans with new bodies to live righteous lives on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:5. All resurrected, faithful Jews will enjoy the greatest blessings from God, and they will live in the nation that rules the world. All other nations of resurrected, living humans will be required to travel to New Jerusalem at times to worship God. Psalm 86:9. God's final Judgment and resurrection constitutes God's lesser form of salvation of all living humans not saved by grace. All living humans who become saved by grace while still alive in the flesh will enjoy God's greatest form of salvation which will be a home in Heaven forever. I Peter 1:3-4.

The World and the Word

                                 The Devil's Dilemma

The Bible (KJB) declares the Devil to be very clever but also very stupid. Genesis 3:1; Genesis 3:14. Total evil results in self-destruction. Proverbs 8:36. Total evil clings to certain false systems of ideas that it knows, or should know, cannot be true. It believes that innocence is weak and stupid and deserves to be exploited. It believes that righteousness can only be temporary, that it all can be corrupted, that everyone has his price. Whenever evil people achieve positions of authority, they exempt themselves from having to obey the rules because they consider themselves to be very special people. Titus 1:15.

Even though God throughout human history has consistently defeated the Devil on every one of his false beliefs, total evil persists in adhering to them. Jesus is the Truth. John 14:6. A holy and righteous and innocent God knows everything that is worth knowing, and through the greatest possible expression of Love which became His self-sacrifice and resurrection, He will purge all total evil and sin from His universe and recreate it all to be righteous. John 15:13; I Corinthians 13:8; II Peter 3:9-13.

Jesus took all the sins of all humanity on Himself on the cross because sin weakens humans to the point that the Devil can inject spiritual death, which is total evil, into them. All humans inherited this condition from the fall of Adam and Eve. Psalm 51:5. Evil in humans, in turn, causes humans to sin. Romans 5:12. Jesus did a thorough job and got rid of it all. Humans sin because of their weakness. God knows that humans cannot avoid sin. All through the Bible (KJB), God displayed compassion, or at least tolerance, toward sins of weakness. God to some degree ignored Samson's sins of weakness until he deliberately disobeyed God by getting his hair cut. Humans can also deliberately and willfully sin against God, and that is the practice of evil. Numbers 15:27-31.

The Devil just could not give up his opportunity to attempt to murder God. God knew he would. Human sins of weakness did not nail Jesus to the cross although He bore them all. It was their evil desire to keep their sins and get rid of God that nailed Jesus to the cross. In that evil desire, humans became complicit with the Devil. Acts 4:25-28. And yet, Jesus prayed from the cross that His Father would forgive every evil human that nailed Him there because, being in the evil grip of the Devil, they did not fully realize what they were doing. Luke 23:34.

The World and the Word

                                The Devil's Dilemma

The Devil displayed his absolute contempt and hatred of Jesus when he tempted Him in the desert. Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13. Jesus had fasted for forty days and nights, and as a man, had become extremely hungry. The Devil tempted Jesus to turn stone to bread and satisfy His hunger. By this temptation, the Devil revealed his materialist philosophy that the only desires in life that matter happens to be only physical desires. According to this philosophy, spiritual needs do not even exist. Jesus rebuked the Devil by quoting scripture that teaches humans that they need the spiritual life that only God can give even more than they need physical food. Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:1-4. Millions today demonstrate the influence of evil in their lives because they adhere to the philosophy that only material needs matter and spiritual needs do not exist.

The Devil then took Jesus to a high pinnacle of the temple and tempted Him to attempt suicide. To effect his temptation, the Devil misquoted scripture that states that God would always protect Jesus; that is, until Jesus voluntarily went to the cross. The Devil reasoned that if Jesus threw Himself down, then the Devil would win whether God saved His life or if Jesus killed Himself. In the first place, if God saved Jesus then He would be guilty of the sin of excessive pride. He would be like a person who boasts about his own powers in the face of death, similar to a daredevil. Jesus never used His miraculous powers to put on a show. Jesus always used His powers for the benefit of others. In the second place, if Jesus committed the sin of suicide, then the Devil would succeed in His murder of God. Jesus overcame this temptation when He quoted the scripture that proves that any temptation of God is a terrible evil because it joins with the Devil's attempt to get rid of God. Deuteronomy 6:16; Matthew 4:5-7.

The Devil then took Jesus to a high mountain and showed Him all of the sinful and evil kingdoms of the world that the Devil controlled. Job:1:7. The Devil then told Jesus that he would give Jesus control of all of these realms of excessive pleasures, excessive evil powers, and excessive greed if Jesus would only worship the Devil. In this temptation, total evil revealed its consistent attitude that everything that is pure can be corrupted. This was a direct, evil temptation of God. No doubt, the Devil lied to Jesus because as soon as Jesus had accepted the Devil's temptation, then the Devil would have promptly murdered Jesus on the grounds that Jesus should have known better than to have stepped into the Devil's evil territory. Jesus countered the Devil's temptation by quoting scripture that proves that if one worships and serves God only, then God will provide that person with an eternal physical and spiritual salvation from all of the resultant horrors that come from the practice of sin and evil. When Jesus told the Devil "Get thee hence...," Jesus meant that He would purge all of His creations from the Devil's influence of total evil forever. Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 10:20; Matthew 4:8-11; II Peter 3:9-13; Revelation 21:5.

After Jesus defeated the Devil and he left, the angels came to minister to Jesus' physical and spiritual needs. Matthew 4:11. This verse proves that God will provide for the eternal physical and spiritual needs of all who will worship and serve Him. God loves all of His creations with an Almighty Love. God created the living souls and spirits that He puts into every human that He creates in His image, which is the image of Christ, and God can never lose anything He has ever created. Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:20; Luke 20:38; Romans 11:36; Ecclesiastes 3:14. The perfect human life of God and His loving sacrifice while on the earth represents the eternal salvation of every living human endangered by eternal spiritual death. God has an Infinite Intellect that can create plans that will cause all living humans to return to repentance and faith and the worship and service of Him of their own free will: some by His grace while still alive in the flesh and all others confined to the regions of death by a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. John 5:24; John 5:28-29; I Timothy 6:13; Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 2:14-15; I John 3:8. The fact that God can cause all living humans to return to repentance and faith in Him of their own free will proves that God's Love can never fail because love by free choice can only be true and real. I Corinthians 13:8. Jesus bore the cross, was buried, descended into Hell, and rose immaculate from the dead to provide for the eternal salvation of every living human that He ever created and loves. Revelation 21:5; Hebrews 2:9; I Timothy 4:10; II Peter 3:9. Who can thwart the will of God?