Am I Still “Amos’ God”?

WED., SEPT. 1, 1999, 8:42 AM
OFFICE, PULLIAM

Amos was a herdsman, whom I called to be a prophet. You were a professor, not notably distinguished, whom I called to receive Teachings from Me, Holy Spirit. I have called many other men and women, even a few children, for different forms of service. And there ae many whom I do not call, some of whom come to Me of their own “free will” and others who go through an earth life paying Me “no never mind.” This may not seem “fair,” but this is the way, I tell you, that “it is.”

As I came to Amos I was a God of vengeance, disturbed by the life styles of My chosen people. My approach, through Amos, was to threaten them with various forms of mayhem and destruction, presumably, to drive them back to reliance on and proper service to Me. It was a “fear approach,” for I made it clear that I had the power to control, to allow, and to cause. I was an angry God… a vengeful God. I was righteous, and they were not. My “harmful” actions would bring them back to righteousness. Am I still “the same God”?

My answer is a ringing YES… and No. I still can cause… and allow… conditions that are harmful and destructive to some persons, places, and things. I also can be supremely forgiving and accepting, with full knowledge that I created humans with much diversity. My basic premise, of course, is that I have created you humans with the freedom to reject Me completely, reject some of My ways and accept others, or live quite fully in the path I have shown, but still with some “sinning.”

Remember that symbolic first story. Adam and Eve were mutually compliant and were quite content to live in the Garden, just as they thought I wanted them to be. So, as the story goes, I created a “talking serpent” who tempted Eve to go against My major (if not only) prohibition. Life in Eden was not what I wanted, however perfect it might seem. They both disobeyed… sinned… and life on this earth was now off on the path I really wanted. I was not forgiving. It seemed to be a punishment.

Then there was competition between sons, and I favored one over the other (in a way vegetarians would reject), and there was the first murder… and the first banishment.

This is a symbolic story, just as is the one featured in News On Earth, here on your desk. Your armed forces “won the war” over Serbia, but with destruction of property, loss of life (mostly “enemy”), and pollution of both land and water that shall be a hindrance to life for many years. It was harmful action, but for “a good cause.” “This is My Father’s world!” But… “what price justice?” Am I involved? Yes, but “how”? I am still Amos’ God, in some ways.

Hurricanes attack human settlement on one of your coasts, and fires rage on the other. An earthquake took many lives and much infrastructure in Turkey. Portions of your country are in drought, a condition with many later consequences. And yet the human population continues to grow. There are many deaths from AIDS, but will this only bring African countries into a more sustainable balance?

I have commented before on my apparent hypocrisy in wanting a more “balanced” earth scene (more Edenic?) and yet still allowing more births and more “modern” ways that damage the environment, immediately to slowly. Am I impotent in the face of these impediments to what I want, here in the earth? Or are the changes necessary already developing, with more “apparent tragedy” off in the future?