A God For Every Season??

THURS., OCT. 26, 2000, 8:46 AM
OFFICE, PULLIAM

You and your morning breakfast group are plowing through 1 Samuel, the fascinating, strange story of Me… and Samuel, Saul, Jonathan, and now David. It appears, from this story, that I was a “somewhat different” God than I seem to be now. You remember the “conservative” affirmation, “Jesus Christ is the SAME, yesterday, today and forever.” Since ( 8:51 / 9:49 ) you now are immersed in these old Testament stories you hear this affirmation in only a mystical way. For I have been… and AM… quite changeable, with different people, in different times and circumstances.

I certainly seem “different” in this story in relation to death. “My men” killed thousands… or were killed by the thousands. In this “struggle” between the Israelis and the Philistines ( 9:44 / 10:00 ) I seemed to be (from 1 Samuel’s perspective) the Yahweh of the Jews and therefore did favor them. But then I perceived the Jews’ response to Me be less than I deserved and wanted, so I let some number of them be killed. Then they would repent… and I would repent, but the struggle seemed to continue.

You see some similarity with the present situation in that Jerusalem area of this earth. The Jews are both besieged and militant about defending their homeland. BUT the “present day equivalent of the Philistines, the Moslems, also see this as their homeland, with its places, sacred, amongst those of the Jews. In Samuel’s time, according to this story, there was a lot of killing, each “side” of the other. Thus far, in this present time there are few casualties, but the “contenders” seem unable to come to a compromise, acceptable to both. Hence the struggle continues, with the everpresent threat of either or both deciding to “finish the other off.”

So you see that as God then and God now I seem to feel differently about killing “enemies.” The Jews could study this story, for it certainly is part of their Holy Scripture and conclude that eventually the Moslems will just “fade away,” like unto the Philistines of that ancient time. But the present day Moslems have a definite faith, with Scriptures in the Koran somewhat like and somewhat different from the “Old Testament.” Each has good reasons not to “give in” to the other. And, I tell you, I am the God of both contenders, so it seems as though I can’t be consistent.

Am I serious, or am I just having fun? You can understand how I could offer “having fun” as an explanation for My actions and motivations in this story, but you also realize that many (if not most) of your Christian brethren would not agree. But you would then pose (wouldn’t you?) the question: am I deliberately causing… or allowing… this loss of life? Or have I given up control, and all this is just happening without any “input” from Me? Or do I not have control, and do I want peace and no such killing ( 10:28 / 10:33 ) but have given up the power I had in Samuel’s time? Hence, am I a “different God” today in situations like those that are part of Holy Scripture?

Know, of course, that I don’t have to justify Myself or My actions and non-actions to you. I am both consistent and adaptable. I am outside of time, so I’m not bound by this “restriction” of earth life. And I am not troubled by human deaths, as some assume I am. Understand that I, as the Jesus incarnation of Me, lived a relatively short earth life (not even half of what you’ve enjoyed, this far), and actually gave it up for you and all of the human population. Yet the way of death was both painful and dishonorable. How’s that for being a Spirit who loves to have fun?

( 10:46 / 10:48 )