The O.T. God… Today

THURS., NOV. 2, 2000, 8:44 AM
OFFICE, PULLIAM

You and your study group continue with Samuel (even as he passed on in Chs. 25 & 28… or did he?), the story of My people, the Jews and their enemies, the Philistines. By today’s “standards” and knowledge this is a simplistic story, for it is clear who Yahweh God favors. So… there are “the good guys” and “the bad guys.” Today there are… and you have knowledge of… many nations, factions, parties, alliances, and “enemies.”

In the present relative peacetime there is much concern about an occasional death in a combative situation. In contrast, in this story there was much killing, most of it being approved by Me… some even done by Me. And when My own favorites acted in ways bothersome to Me I allowed or caused them to be killed. (It would seem, in that cultural time, that both “sides” would end up with more women than men… which then led to the acceptance of multiple marriages for men.)

It is hard for you to resist the notion that I Am a “better God” in this time… that I had to become so with the increase in and diversity of My human population. Yet you find it ironic that there was much more killing in a time when it had to be done hand-to-hand – with swords, knives, spears, and arrows – than is evident now, with many ways of killing in “remote ways” – bombs, missiles… Just accept that it is a different time and circumstance… but I Am still in charge.

When you try to imagine how I, as the Old Testament God Yahweh, would be acting and reacting today, in today’s circumstances, you tend to assume that your culture would be “My favorite.” You consider that, in the mean time, I came to earth as Jesus, preached and lived a message more gentle and less bellicose than in Saul & David’s time, and sacrificially died on a cross for many sins, of yourself and many others. Thus, the Jews, My favorites in this O.T. story, did not accept Me as their Messiah, and I then came to and was “accepted” by Gentiles. And your culture, while having pride in its diversity, would claim to be the “prime” Christian nation.

So, if there needs be some greater loss in human life (to preserve the needed balanced in the ecosystem… which didn’t seem to be a factor in this Samuel story) would I cause or allow this to be from other cultures and minimally from yours? Or is your culture’s sin in maintaining power, in many ways, and in trusting in your own strength rather than looking to Me as the One with power/Power? And, hence, would there be greater loss of life in your culture – My retribution for such sins?

I probably won’t take such action (and consider how many ways there are for Me to cause or allow such to happen), but I do tell you, yet again, that I do want this earth scene to continue as a viable environment for spiritual growth, so there will have to be some sort of “action” in the near future. For I Am, in My many manifestations the One True God, and I can revert to My Old Testament modes at any time.

So… if there were a ballistic missile attack on Southern California, with much loss of human life, it would not be normative to consider and assume that this was of My doing. The O.T. story clearly indicates I did such things (without the modern “killing power”, of course), so… would I do such again? If you suggested this, you would surely not be popular!

This makes you wonder, on quite a “smaller scale,” what the skirmishes in and around Jerusalem signify (other than that two opposing groups – the Jews, the descendants of Samuel, Saul, David, and Jonathan – and the Moslem Palestinians continue to battle for the same territory, important to each and, presumably, to Me, as Yahweh and as Allah.) The actual killing has been minimal, but it could escalate, of course. (If SIU students can be incited to riot and destroy property in peaceful Carbondale, there must be the possibility, at least, that something – some “unique form of Hallowe’en” – could set off action that could bring deaths. Would I be involved? Most would assume I wouldn’t be. I won’t say it couldn’t happen “just by accident”, but I also attest that I still Am the God Yahweh, as well as the God in Christ, Allah, and…