“Joshua’s God”

WED., AUG. 18, 1999, 8:35 AM
OFFICE, PULLIAM

I have you put this title in quotes because, while I, Holy Spirit, shall speak of Me, as Yahweh, as I came to Joshua and his people, it still is mystical how I can be thus… and yet also as I am with you. How can I be so different, at different times, in varying places, and with diverse people? I just want you to understand and appreciate that I am the Only God, and there is no way that any of you can limit Me. You can try to make Me a “better God,” but this is, to Me, more of a limitation than an improvement.

There was much killing and much death (seemingly unnecessary) in this Joshua story, and I, as Yahweh, was involved in… and responsible for… much of it. This could be called a tragedy, but it was written as almost an heroic story – enemies being slaughtered (as they defended their homeland from those who would take it) and justice being done for some minor stealing. And you can ask, “What happened to all of the bodies?”, and I’d reply, “That’s of no consequence to you. Just assume that I took care of that… in some mystical way.”

In this story it certainly seemed as though I was the God of Joshua and his Jewish kin. They spoke of “other gods” and felt responsible to challenge these and save the people from false allegiance, mostly by killing them. I did seem to favor, strongly, this one “race” of people. (And, of course, I do put “race” in quotes, for in today’s knowledge there is little racial difference among the people of that region of the earth today.)

You realize that, in the early history of your culture on this continent the white settlers drove out and killed many of the Native American Indians, who considered that they were protecting their lands from invaders. “A good Indian is a dead Indian” was a motto attributed to that time. And your “ancestors,” many of whom were Christian, did prevail, and the Indian population was reduced and degraded.

Then there was another struggle, some 140 years ago, in this land, when some white folks (many of whom were Christian) felt that it was right… My Will… to have African slaves. Those in the north, many of whom also were Christians, opposed this. The South seceded, and there was a war to rejoin the Union. The north prevailed, in a bloody war, on this continent, and thus slavery was declared illegal, as well as immoral. I was presumably on the “side” of White settlers and of Northern anti-slave folk.

But am I also not “with” those who are defeated or who are dominated by more powerful folk? Am I not the God of the underdog, almost no matter what the cause? Or do I change My “support” with circumstances?

In this story of the Jewish people, with Joshua as their leader, I do favor them… even kill for them. But then, some 1300+ years later, this Jewish people rejected Me, as Jesus, My Own special Son, and actually had Me crucified. Then, some 1900+ years further on, there was the Holocaust, with some million+ Jews killed by Germans, presumably in a Christian heritage. Because of this, the Christian victors in WW II gave the land of Palestine to the Jews, despite its occupancy by Arabic non-Jews. And so the conflicts continue.

Am I directly involved in all of this, as I evidently was in Joshua’s time? Am I responsible for the deaths of many Turks in the current “holocaust” of an earthquake? What do I prevent, and what do I cause? Or have I “retired” from active participation, like unto the Me of Joshua’s experience? Am I God Emeritus?