Who Rules?

What happened to us? What are we here for? What is our purpose? Where did we come from?

Why is life so hard? What are we supposed to do? Who is responsible? How do we fix this?

Mankind throughout history has always asked these questions. 

There are really only two worldviews: Humanistic and Theistic. One is an outlook attaching prime importance to humans rather than any divine or supernatural possibilities, the other believes in the existence of God… a  god or gods, especially as creator of the universe, intervening in it, and sustaining a personal relation to his creatures. 

Many find their hope in the ‘sciences’ to give us answers. They count on education to deliver these answers to future generations so they can experience a world better than ours.

We look to social sciences – the study of human society and social relationships, and natural sciences – the study of the physical world. We create systems of philosophy, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, and we discover laws of physics, chemistry, anthropology, and biology, as if we could only focus enough, study enough, and learn enough, then surely, we will have all the answers we need.

Then there’s Theology – the study of the nature of God and religious belief.

Some people look to archaeology – the study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains – as incontrovertible proof that the Bible is a piece of fiction. After all, Google shows ‘modern forms of humans evolved about 200,000 years ago.’ And, civilizations about 6,000 years ago. (The oldest Biblical text found to date is only about 2,700 years old.)

Even with a love for math and numbers, I do not find the ‘age of man’ to be any sort of proof against the validity of the Bible.  In fact, if I look at the ‘age of man’, as presented by science, alongside the state of the world today, I see even more reason to pay attention to the stories of the Bible.

It becomes increasingly apparent that our desire to move away from God is heading us in the wrong direction.

• 9 million people die of hunger every year. (Although some of these may be listed as malnutrition, which I guess means that eating mud to fill an empty stomach is not technically the same as hunger.)
• Countries with the highest rates of human trafficking which includes ‘forced’ labor, include the same countries where companies have moved their operations… because the cost of labor is so much less! 😞 Do we even think twice about who was ‘forced’ to create what we buy cheap at the store or on Amazon?  (Did I say ‘cheap’, check to see where those Nikes and iPhones are made.)
• 800,000 people die from suicide every year. 💔
• Between 1960 and 2016, the percentage of children living with two parents decreased from 88 to 69. 😟
• Black Lives Matter, White Supremacists, Racial and Ethnic Discrimination…  are we still identifying by skin color and/or cultural history? Will it remain impossible for us to move forward, together?

No, I do not see any progress in our human solutions.  I think we have had more than enough geniuses… more than enough time… more than enough opportunity to prove the Humanistic approach. Granted our knowledge base has increased greatly, but our wisdom, i.e. how we apply our knowledge reveals our inadequate nature to be ‘good’.

And, when I meet another Godless human, I just want to run back to God and say, “I’m done. I’m ready when you are! 💖 Now would be just fine.”

But He just keeps turning me around and sending me back, saying, “It is not time yet, go back out there and keep shining your light so you can show others the path to me. And do not worry, I’ll be right with you.”

I am talking about the God of Creation. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – the God who selected the twelve tribes of Israel, through whom salvation would be offered to all nations. People of every nation, tribe, and language, are offered hope through the Biblical narrative. Offered, not guaranteed. ✝

Granted, it is really difficult to walk away from human-based solutions; they are marketed so well. We want our children to be strong and independent – to make something of themselves, to be successful, powerful, or at least, to be happy. And we usually push this agenda, even after we ourselves have failed. No wonder our children are lonely and confused.

Why do we do this? God tells us in the very first book of The Bible. We do this because we have been deceived.

Satan is a liar – The first hint we get about Satan… Lucifer… The Fallen Angel… The Devil… is in Genesis, chapter 3.

Now, to see the lies for what they are you have to go back and read chapter 2. God formed man, Adam, from the dust of the ground and breathed life into him. Adam was placed in the garden where God had made all kinds of trees – those that were pleasing to the eye and those that were good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

God saw that it was not good for man to be alone, so God fashioned a woman, Eve, from the man’s side to be a suitable companion for him. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Adam and Eve are both naked when they meet the serpent; the only protection they have is God’s command; so that is where the serpent strikes.

1. Did God Really Say? – This devil gets us to question God’s word.
2. You must Not eat from Any tree? – He twists God’s word so our focus is changed. We forget about the freedom we have to eat from any of the other trees and just focus on the one we cannot have. (Do not think about Pink Elephants!)
3. You will not certainly die. – He scoffs at the negative consequences of sin.
4. For God knows… – He accuses God of evil intent, like God is holding out on you.
5. You will be like God. – He tells us we can be equal to God, break our dependence on Him.

The serpent used this opportunity to introduce sin – the separation of man from God, to create shame that destroys not just our relationship with God but our relationships with each other.

The biggest lie of Satan’s is convincing you that he does not exist.

Maybe you could look again at the hunger and poverty in this world, at all the broken human relationships, the lost and lonely people, the tired and broken single parents, human exploitation, and discrimination. Can you come up with a better cause for this mess than evil?

This, however, is NOT the way God intends to spend eternity. This little blip on His timeline is just Him being patient with us to learn the truth. There is only one way back to the garden and the tree of life and we are not able reach it on our own. He had to come down, take the form of a man, be put to death as a sacrifice for our sins, and be raised again to take His believers with Him. 💖✝💖

It’s not a physical thing. It’s not a human thing. It’s a spiritual thing.

Satan is a spiritual liar. Learn from Eve’s mistake: don’t let him into your head and don’t let him influence your thoughts and actions.  If you bristle at the thought of obedience to God, Satan will fill you with deceptive thoughts until you are convinced that you are your own person, making your own decisions, fulfilling your own needs, that you are strong and independent, when in reality, Satan has just deceived you too, to become obedient to him.