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Understanding the Love of God

By M. John Allen

Many ministers, evangelists, a and others gush about the L UUUUVVV OOFFF GAAWWD! They give us the impression that somehow all of the principles found in the New Testament are somehow unique to the New Testament, and that the so called God of the Old Testament was some old mean father figure who liked nothing better than to punish people for the slightest infraction.

They have the Father pictured as some mean old man with a little black book, just WAITING to write down the slightest infraction against us. When these infractions add up high enough, this view goes, this mean old God likes nothing better than to consign us to hell to burn for eternity, tormented every moment by the devil and his demons.

But the truth is, for those who care to look, that the God of the Old Testament was the same person of the Godhead who was incarnated as Jesus Christ [Jn. 1:1]. He even went on at one point to state that “no man” had ever seen the Father, yet Abraham and Moses saw God, so it must have been the Logos, or Spokesman of the God Family they had seen.

So, far from being some smart aleck young man who came to annul and change all of God’s Laws, Jesus Christ actually came to magnify them! But that is not the purpose of today’s message. The purpose of today’s message is to show just how much God loves us, and how we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, and thus also show love to God.

It never ceases to amaze me how religious people can sometimes be the most inhumane and unmerciful people on the face of the earth. More wars have been waged in the name of religion than in the name of anything else in human history. More hatred and bigotry rears its ugly head in the name of RELIGION than in any other name! And it’s not just confined to Christianity.

It is a little publicized fact that much of the Muslim world has actually NEVER EMERGED FROM HE DARK AGES! Sure, there are secular regimes such as those in Egypt and Turkey and some other Muslim countries, but there are also some places where religious intolerance is so terrible it is shocking!

IN fact, the lines I am about to write would bring me the DEATH PENALTY in places like Pakistan, Malaysia, and perhaps Saudi Arabia -- and definitely in Iran!

I was shocked and dismayed to get a news item from one of the internet mailing lists I subscribed to that had been clipped from CNN. I was so shocked that I forwarded it to some of our discussion lists here. It was a short story about how a man in Pakistan had been sentenced to death for the “crime” of profaning Islam. All this man had done, apparently, was to become a Christian. A local Catholic bishop was so outraged and dismayed that HE COMMITTED SUICIDE in sorrow over this wrong.

It is apparently a DEATH PENALTY OFFENSE to distribute Bibles in Malaysia, or to convert a Malay to Christianity or any other religion. It must be remembered, of course, that in Europe it used to carry the SAME PENALTY for a person to convert to a church or religion other that he Roman Catholic.

While the Koran makes it quite clear that there “can never be real peace with the infidel,” the Bible is a different book with a different attitude. The Bible teaches us to love our neighbor as ourselves throughout its entire length. The Bible teaches us to treat each and every human being -- even OUR ENEMIES -- in a fair, honest, and loving way. yet the historical record of so called Christianity is often just the opposite. The blood spattered pages of even modern history shows us the reality rather than the ideal.

But God is going to judge us by HIS STANDARD whether we like it or not. He expects certain things of us, and if we fall short, then it could be a real problem for us at the judgment -- and we must remember that there will be no one standing beside us at the judgment seat. Whether we like to admit it or not, we are all alone in measuring up to God’s standard. We can’t blame our minister, our mate, our children, or anyone else for what we do. Ultimately, we each bear our own responsibility to show the love God expects of us.

So before we get into the heart of today’s message, let me ask the people of God’s Church a few probing questions that I hope you will take to heart.

HOW is it showing love to LOOK DOWN on someone else as spiritually inferior?

How is it showing love to JUDGE our neighbor as a “dirty rotten sinner” whom we will have nothing to do with? I have seen this in action. Someone feels that another brother or sister is not living up to THEIR PERSONAL STANDARDS, so they practice “shunning” or “personal excommunication.” They are afraid of being “tainted” by the “wickedness” of this other, and so won’t have anything to do with them.

Now the Bible DOES instruct us to stay away from people who are blatantly disobeying God’s Ten Commandments. We are not talking about that. What I am talking about is shunning someone else because they don’t measure up to the STANDARDS WE, PERSONALLY, HAVE SET!

Maybe we think eating white sugar is a sin against the body. Soon, we view it as a sin for everyone, and use it as a measuring stick to judge others. This is wrong. Or, it could be white bread, white rice, or any other of a number of things we have decided to judge someone else on. Is this right? I don’t think so.

Let me give you one extreme example of something that actually happened. I knew a man in Pasadena for many years who was a friend of mine, but he had a few sins that were pulling him down. One of these sins was fornication. Fornication is wrong, and he paid for his sins in spades [no one ever truly “gets away” with anything], but that was for God to do. However, his roommate had an extremely rigid mindset, having been in the Marines at one point in his life. It’s amazing the extremes to which a militaristic mind will go.

Anyway, this ex Marine had it in his head that eating white sugar and white bread was a sin. When told that Mr. Armstrong put white sugar in his coffee [another sin for some], he simply muttered that “not everyone is perfect.” However, when his fornicating roommate came home one day with a bag of donuts, this man threw a fit. He said “You might as well screw whores in Hollywood as eat those donuts!” This points out perfectly the extremes to which a Pharisaic mind will go to enforce its own ideas of sin and righteousness on others. Christ constantly spoke out against this type of thinking, but it seems that some people -- some VERY RELIGIOUS PEOPLE -- simply can’t distinguish real sins from man made sins.

We must constantly be on guard for this very UNLOVING attitude which is really nothing more than HUMAN VANITY!

God is a God of Love, and as such, He is not willing that any should perish, but that ALL should come to everlasting life! Why do some people get REALLY UPSET when they discover this? We understand that there is no ever burring hell fire [see our library section for literature on this and other issues raised here]. We understand that the VAST MAJORITY OF ALL THOSE WHO EVER LIVED WILL ULTIMATELY BE SAVED! We understand that the incorrigibly wicked who stubbornly refuse to repent of evil when God shows it to them will be VERY FEW IN NUMBER, and that for them it will be a quick death in a fire that BURNS THEM UP FOREVER. Thus, the penalty for their wickedness will be that they will simply cease to exist!

I would think that this would be GOOD NEWS! Further, when it is understood that this is not the only day of salvation, and that all people who ever lived will be given a chance at salvation, either in this life, or in a second resurrection to physical life, that this would be very good news to Christians especially!

You would think that when people discovered that just because someone happened to be born in China, they weren’t consigned to an ever burning hell of torture for ALL ETERNITY, or that Uncle Harry who liked to cuss and drink too much and run around with loose women all his life wasn’t doomed to beating futily at wave after wave of flames for all eternity -- you would think that a Christian, Godly mind would like that idea, and rejoice that these poor souls would someday have their eyes opened to God’s Truth and Salvation -- but no! Most professing so called Christians recoil at this idea! They say that it “wouldn’t be fair,” and that “sinners should get what they deserve.”

When you try to point out that an infant in China who died never hearing the name of Christ could hardly be said to being given a SECOND CHANCE, and that rather, a merciful God is giving him or her their FIRST CHANCE, they will scream and fight and use ridiculous arguments to justify their position that somehow this child’s going to hell is just and that they are “getting what they deserve.” What utter nonsense! But that is the twisted way Satan has conned so called Christians down through history into THINKING! Just what kind of a monster do they think God is? Just what twisted, warped, perverted STANDARDS do they think He has? If God is truly LOVE, then how could He even think of doing such a thing, and how could his alleged followers even think this?

Well, the answer is plain once you understand. God DOES NOT think or act in such an unjust and arbitrary way! THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT GOD IS A LOVING GOD WHO WOULD NOT DO SUCH A THING, BUT WHO INSTEAD WILL DO EVERYTHING HE CAN TO MAKE SURE THAT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US ATTAINS OUR INCREDIBLE HUMAN POTENTIAL! We have MUCH literature in our library on these subjects, so if you need IRREFUTABLE PROOF of what I am saying, I suggest you do some browsing there. In our Library you will find the BEST NEWS that the human race has EVER HEARD -- and yet, paradoxically, you will discover that every time in history that this good news is published, men fight against it and try to suppress it! How amazing -- and how tragic!

So now, let’s get a CLEAR VIEW of what God really means by His Love, starting, believe it or not, in the OLD TESTAMENT! IN fact, I am going to have you read now a few verses for the Book of Leviticus, of all places, that read very much like some statements CHRIST MADE! -- and no wonder, because it was THE SAME BEING SPEAKING IN BOTH PLACES!

Read now Lev. 19:9-18.

Let’s now examine these verses. First, we are told that when we reap our harvests, not to be selfish and reap all the way to the edges of the fields, or to go back to take what was missed the first time. In other passages, it is revealed that this portion is to be left for the poor. it’s part of a built in welfare system to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves. it shows love for our neighbors.

In the next verse, we are told not to lie, heat, or steal from our neighbors. Later, it is repeated that we are not to defraud or rob our neighbors, something which men have liked to do throughout history. it then goes on to say that when someone works for us, we are not to hold back their wages unjustly. They are to be paid promptly and on time! They earned it, so any delay in payment is actually a form of robbery.

We are then told not to show partiality in judgment either to the poor or to the wealthy or strong. It is too bad that our world doesn’t pay attention to this.

Next we are told not to gossip, something that is discussed many places in the New Testament.

The next verse says a lot. It tells us NOT TO HATE OUR BROTHER IN OUR HEART! Sound familiar? Christ said this over and over again. The next part of this verse tells us that if we find our brother doing something wrong, we should go to him personally and tell him what is wrong PRIVATELY. This principle is touch don by Christ in Mtt. 18 starting in verse 15, which I would like you to turn to and read now. Notice how this New Testament principle so called is rooted in the Old. And men to this day refuse to follow these simple instructions.

IN fact, we have a WHOLE SYSTEM based on doing the EXACT OPPOSITE of what it says here! We are urged to “tell the police” or run and tell our lawyers if someone has wronged us, rather than go to the person directly. Modern man wants SOMEONE ELSE to take this responsibility for us, with all of its resultant evils.

In the WCG in years past, this was taken to a ridiculous extreme. People ran to the minister to tattle on the smallest infraction someone else was caught in, or the slightest hurt feeling. They thus became TALE BEARERS, violating the admonition against GOSSIP as well as this statement here.

I saw this years ago, and so I wrote an article on this subject to my local minister. it followed Mtt. 18 closely and logically. It pinpointed the violation f this principle as the cause of one of the church’s major problems. And it was all from the Bible.

Well the reaction I got from this man was the OPPOSITE of what I expected. Rather than tell me that yes, I had hit the nail on the head, he instead told me the following: “It’s dangerous to do write ups like this. In fact, reading the Bible without the aide of church literature could be dangerous and lead you astray. How dare you say that this is a problem in the church! How do YOU KNOW? If there is a problem, God will reveal it to Joseph Tkach, Sr. It’s not your place to be saying things like this. If God wanted you doing write ups, then He would have you working in the Editorial department.”

Obviously, this outburst was ridiculous, and came from a darkened, closed mind. His advice was the EXACT OPPOSITE of advice I had received at Ambassador College, where we had been encouraged to do “write ups,” to help clarify our Bible study in our minds. His statement was also in direct contradiction to what the pastor of that church before him had said previously to me personally. It shows the extent some mere men will go to try and lord it over others. This is the attitude of the hireling and hypocrite I have so often talked about, and which MUST BE CLEANSED from God’s church for good. There are too many ministers and employees who are there JUST FOR THEIR PAYCHECK, and will do ANYTHING TO KEEP IT COMING! These people don’t have a love for the truth, but have a LOVE FOR THEIR PAYCHECKS! Fortunately, God has some LOYAL MINISTERS in the ranks who ARE OBEYING GOD OUT OF LOVE AND DEVOTION TO HIM, RATHER THAN TO A JOB! Soon, God will separate the wheat from the chaff, starting first WITH HIS MINISTRY, and working its way down to the church at large, as the Living Christ prepares His Body for the most important work yet ahead!

The time of final exams is almost over for many, and many have failed. But I thank God that many are also passing, making the grade, and will be there to assist in the greatest Work yet done in human history, just before the terrible Tribulation and Day of the Lord!

God is reinvigorating His Body right this moment. He has called HIS APOSTLE to be a voice CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, PREPARING THE WAY FOR THE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST IN GREAT POWER AND GLORY! May God grant us all eyes to see and ears to hear what He is doing! The Work of warning this world of its impending doom is about to begin now in true earnest!

Getting back to our scriptures, now. Verse 18 tells us not to take vengeance ourselves, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. How NEW TESTAMENT can you get?

Just in this short passage of Leviticus, then, we have a very New Testament approach to life and how to treat our brothers and sisters. And we must remember that Christ said that ALL MEN ARE OUR NEIGHBORS, BROTHERS, AND SISTERS.

God’s laws are not BAD for mankind, but rather, they are GOOD! If we would only learn to follow God and His way of life and give, rather than Satan a and his way of get and death, we would all be so much better off today. Mankind would not be on the brink of self destruction that it is today.

And when you really understand and think about it, all of our modern problems are a manifestation of Satan’s nature as reflected in man. It is the way of vanity, jealousy, lust and greed. It is the way of competition and strife. It is the way of grabbing all one can get for self, no matter what. it is the way that ultimately leads to war, murder, and death!

Sure, Satan’s way can appear good for a shot time, and it will work over a short time, but it, like it’s author, is ultimately doomed to failure and death and destruction. Satan’s way is the way of get, of vanity, lust and greed. Of competition and envy. It is the way of hate, and resentment. It is the way that leads to sorrow, oppression and death.

Many of the so called rich and famous, men who have followed the path of get rather than give, men who have cheated, lied, and stolen their way to the top, who live by the way of pride, envy, competition and strife -- most of these have ended life rich but unhappy. Their families and marriages are a shambles. No matter how much they GET, they only want to acquire more for self, to spend it on their newest lust, having an appetite for physical things and physical pleasures that is insatiable and ever growing and ever more perverted. Some even became so unhappy with their wretched lives that they commit suicide.

Notice the wisdom in these words of the Apostle Paul: “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content [this is not saying that we should not strive to improve our lot in life, or to improve our minds and talents, as this would be contrary to other scriptures, but if life gives us something good or something bad, then we should not worry about it and should trust that God will see us through, as even a blessing can be a trial, notice what follows]: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” [Philip. 4:11-13]

This is not an admonition to sit back and do nothing, but it is an admonition to first realize that apart form God we can do nothing, and that when we get right down to it, this physical world is not all that important anyway. It is the spiritual that is important.

There have been a few successful people in this world who have understood the way of give. Andrew Carnegie was one such, apparently. He said one time, in response to a questioner who asked him how he could continue always to give away so much of his money all of the time, that “I have a big shovel, so I shovel out money as fast as I can. But, God has a bigger shovel, and He shovels it in faster than I can shovel it out!”

This is a very succinct description of the Godly way of give. Another way to put it is when Christ told us that you shall reap what you sew. If you sew wicked things, then you shall harvest wicked things. It’s just that simple. there’s no cheating God’s universal rules of life.

God doesn’t intend His children to live in poverty, filth, squalor,a nd ignorance. God, after all, is a great, supreme KING! Kings live in abundance. God lives in both ABUNDANCE AND HAPPINESS, BUT this is ONLY BECAUSE of His way of life! God is not some old prude sitting there denying us things that are good for us and that will create happiness and well being. It is His will that we ALL SHOULD LIVE ABUNDANT, HAPPY, FULFILLING, AND PRODUCTIVE LIVES! He wants what is BEST for us, but we have to learn that the only way to have what we REALLY WANT is to do it the right way.

God is not telling the rich to give up their riches. He only wants to teach them how to enjoy them more. And one of the ways to do that is to learn the fulfillment of the way of GIVE rather than the way of GET! That’s all!

And to the poor, the down trodden and FAILURES in this life, He WANTS YOU TO HAVE ABUNDANCE IN THE HERE AND NOW, AS WELL AS IN THE FUTURE -- but you can only have it GOD’S WAY!

So even the POOR must learn to live the way that God wants them to live. If they do, then He will start to bless them, both spiritually and physically, in degrees according to how much they have learned.

I had to learn this lesson myself. For years, I had the WRONG ATTITUDE, acting in much the same way as the world acts. I strove to GET for myself. I tried to make plans and ideas one after the other to GET WEALTH, but when I analyzed my motivations, I gowned that it was so I could spend it on my lusts, rather than to GIVE. Once I began to realize that OF MY OWN SELF I COULD DO NOTHING, and that material things in this world REALLY DONT’AMOUNT TO ANYTHING -- once I got my emphasis and mind turned in the RIGHT DIRECTION, and once I ACCEPTED THE COMMISSION THAT GOD HAD GIVEN ME, turning HIS GOALS INTO MY GOALS, then things began to turn around for me. As I immersed myself more and more in the job God had given me, I found that the breaks began to go my way instead of the other way. Life was beginning to work.

You will discover the same thing if you will only surrender yourself to Him. He is waiting to fulfill your wildest dreams, either in this life or in the next, if you will ONLY surrender to Him and do what He wants. By giving up your own life, making CHRIST ITS OWNER, you will then discover that HE GIVES IT BACK TO YOU NEW AND IMPROVED!

So, if the rich man would simply submit himself to God and His ways, he would soon discover true freedom. If he would only learn GOD’S WAY O FGIVE, he would discover that he would become MANY TIMES THE SUCCESS THAT HE IS TODAY -- but witht he ADDED benefit of happiness, joy, and fulfillment in life!

Rich people have problems that the poor can only begin to understand. A rich man NEVER KNOWS WHO HIS TRUE FRIENDS ARE, OR EVEN IF HE HAS TRUE FRIENDS! He doesnt’even know for sure if his wife loves him. There is always the fear in the back of the mind that others are only out to take money from you, or that they like you only because they know you are rich and famous. This is a true and a terrible torture. Some have even in history went so far as to set up another whole life as a regular person just because they wanted TRUE FRIENDSHIP AND COMPANIONSHIP, INSTEAD OF FAWNING SYCOPHANTS!

Many have heard the expression that “it’s lonely at the top,” but so few people really understand this. Even an APOSTLE OF GOD can fall prey to this type of thing, as I believe Mr. Armstrong did. I think in his later years he felt like he was under siege, not really knowing who he could trust and who was just saying what he wanted to hear because of who he was. And his worst fears were borne out in Joseph Tkach, Sr., who betrayed every promise and violated every trust, becoming one of the biggest Judases in history.

Other wealthy or famous people have sought escape in drugs, alcohol, or other vices. In some this is simply a suppressed death wish.

There is one famous song by a famous artist that says, “It’s all the same, only the names have changed. It seems like everything, is only wasting away. A lonely place, where the faces are so cold, I’d drive all night, just to get back home. I’m a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride. I’m wanted, dead or alive. I’m wanted, dead or alive.”

This is really a song of total loneliness and sadness, from someone who is worth more money than most of us could imagine. He is also more famous that most of us could imagine. He is living the dream that so many have had in their fantasies, and which makes many so jealous.

Well, if one truly understand what this is saying, and the reasons behind it, they would not wish a situation like this on themselves in a million years! This is also the same reason any sane person would not wish to be an apostle or prophet or minister of Jesus Christ! IN these positions, your life seems like it’s no longer your own. You never know who is telling you the truth, or who is simply lying. Also, your life isn’t your own anymore, everyone seems to want a piece! And there’s only so much of you to go around! Frankly, this is the reason I resisted the call of God for so many years to become His Apostle. I WAS SANE AND WANTED NOTING TO DO WITH THIS TRIAL -- because, brethren, it is a great trial to be rich or famous or to be in any position of leadership, and those leaders who don’t understand this just aren’t seeing things for the way they are!

When people look up to you, they tend to idolize you and put you on a pedestal. They will act DIFFERENTLY just because of who you are, and that’s a terrible thing!

It’s a terrible thing to know if a friendship isn’t for real, even if it’s been a friendship spanning many years. It’s a terrible thing realizing that people are afraid to speak their minds around you, and might be inclined to tell you only what you want to hear. It’s a terrible thing to be “wanted, dead or alive!” Yes, those who worship their idols fail to understand that there is a real human being there with the same needs as everyone else. They only want YOU, and don’t really care of you live or die, just give them a BIGGER PIECE!

The video that goes along with this song is haunting too. It shows scenes of the triumph of fame, but it also shows the exhaustion and depression. The loneliness and grief are palpable, yet, I dare say, most people who see the video probably don’t understand this aspect of it. it’s a cry for help that no one can see, it seems.

Finally, it mentions that he would drive all night just to get back home. But what is not stated is that THERE IS NO REAL HOME. That’s why he’s a cowboy. He wanders around in the desert, and not even his horse is mad eof flesh, but of cold, hard steel. Is it any wonder that people like this can become alcoholics, drug addicts, or even commit suicide.

God has put me into contact with some famous people in my time, as well as many in the Hollywood crowd of wannabes. I met a very famous movie star in a hotel bar here in Quepos, Costa Rica, a couple of years ago. He was traveling by himself, incognito. IN fact, he had come to Costa Rica just so that he could travel and be by himself. I didn’t react to him like most people would. I didn’t ask for an autograph like ordinary people might and I didnt’try to get anything from him. I simply said to him, “I’m going to treat you like everyone else. I’m not going to ask for your autograph or anything like that. I’m going to treat you like everyone else.”

I happened to be traveling with some Costa Rican friends of mine who were members of the band that was playing that night, and I was supposed to sit at their table. I was sitting next to this movie star at the bar. We talked for a little time, maybe 45 minutes or so, and then I did what almost no American, Canadian, or European would do: I excused myself and said, “Well, it’s been nice meeting with you, but I have to go back over there and sit with my friends.” I think this star was so stunned that anyone would actually treat him just like another man, he followed me over to the table, met my friends, and he spent the entire evening with us!

I have always been a little unusual, I guess. I try not to be a respctor of persons [which the attitude Bible instructs us to have]. I try to treat a janitor with the same respect and dignity that I would treat a famous movie star or business tycoon! I have found that there are times when even a janitor can teach me something. These are things we must all begin to understand, brethren. We must NOT be respectors of persons, and treat the rich and famous differently than the poor! We must treat all men alike! God made us all, and we are all equal in His sight.

But for so many years, I have heard the rich and famous condemned from the pulpit. Sermons rail against their immorality, their greed, their selfishness, etc. etc. It’s as if THEIR SINS are somehow worse than everyone else’s. Well, they aren’t. All of us have sinned, and sometimes those at the top are actually more sad, more depressed, and have a more miserable life than a poor widow lady on a pension. It’s only jealousy that blinds us to this fact.

So let’s strive to live according to God’s way of life. Whatever our lot is in life, let’s pray that God will teach us what we have to learn. Some of us have to learn primarily spiritual lessons. Some of us have all the worldly things we could ask for, but are starved spiritually. Others have very little physically, but might have many o fthe fruits of the Holy Spirit. But in each of these cases, God can help us to learn what it is we have missing from our lives, so that our lives can become the abundant, happy lives God intends us to live. And let us remember not to fall into the trap of being respectors of persons. We each have our own crosses to bear, and we need God’s help to lighten the load and make it bearable so that we can enjoy the happiness Paul talked about. I hope you all have a happy Sabbath!