The Time Of Joshua

WED., JUNE 21, 2000, 8:52 AM
OFFICE, PULLIAM

Your small group gathered this morning to consider that time in human history when Joshua was “My Man”. It was a time in the story of My “chosen people”, the Jews, when they needed another Leader. Moses had done a fine job, insuring that his dramatic parts of the story would be remembered and his stature ( 9:01 / 9:04 ) increased over the years. So I, the Lord, picked Joshua and hence he “became” the Leader. (No need for elections… I did the “electing”!)

The task was to return My people to their “promised land”, “flowing with milk and honey”. The small problem was that the land was occupied, not by “My people”, but by other humans, created by Me. But I, as Yahweh God, seemed to have little regard for these, who “sought after other gods”. I was both a jealous God and an impatient God. I seemed to want just My people to prosper and to help them in eliminating their enemies.

It seems strange to you… that if I am the same God, then and now, why would I speak so differently now, in comparison with then? Not only do I not eliminate, by some violent means, people who do not accept Me as the Triune God of Christianity, I say I still love and guide many of these. I tell you I have allowed My chosen people, the Jews, to lose many of their number before World War II in violent, tortuous dying. But then, as a recompense for their persistence in faith, I “worked it” so that Israel was reestablished, and they, who this time had been the “trampled upon” ones, were again in the Promised Land “of milk and honey”.

In Joshua’s time I was Yahweh, the One, True God Who favored the Jews. I told Joshua to tell his people to shout, at the walls surrounding Jericho. They did, and, with “My Help” the walls came tumbling down. And all the people inside, soldiers, but also women, children, and animals, were slaughtered, and I seemed to approve.

You see that I don’t seem to still have… or want to use… such powers when the human population needs to have its growth slowed or stopped. I seemed to be more willing (and able?) to act, in Joshua’s time, when there was need to eliminate people. Instead, in your “modern world”, you have developed many means to prevent “tragic” loss of human life or to react to crisis so that there is a minimum of lives lost, for any reason.

I have come to the earth as Jesus, displaying much more love and compassion and feeling regret (though I wasn’t really surprised) that these original people of Mine would not accept Me as their Messiah and actually crucified Me for claiming to be Him, Who they were expecting.

The confusing matter for you is whether I truly am a different God now… a “better God”… or whether I Am just Supreme in being the best God for the time and situation. In other words, instead of “Being the Same, Yesterday, Today, and Forever” (in motivations and actions) I Am the Supreme Adapter, using My Power when I feel it is appropriate, but letting “man’s inhumanity” be dominant in many situations… not acting as readily and as violently as I did in the Time of Joshua. Luckily, for you, I Am willing to come to you often with words of analysis of what you experience.

The time of Joshua was a simpler time, with fewer humans and cultures that were less complex, socially and technologically. I have allowed the developments which make this time different from Joshua’s, and I do tend to look at the positive side, as I urge you to do. If you look primarily at the down-side, every “time” can be seen as “worse than the rest”. So I tell you that, despite some of these apparent “tales of woe” I have enjoyed all of the “times” with humans… and I shall continue to do so.