7. The Scripture

7.1: Faith

The question which the man asks himself is whether God does exist. For that everyone can acknowledge that this universe does exist, while it is a matter of debate whether it was created by anyone and ‘who’ that creator is supposed to be. There are good and valid reasons why God has hitherto not revealed Himself to the whole world (and as a result not given supernatural signs to those that demand it). It is not because God is unaware of such claims, or that He does not hear prayers in general. For the matter is more complicated than that. God in His pure and sincere love created the human race for mutual love. The man has been given free will to make his own choices, to the end that he might love God willingly, truly believe in His goodness, and obey Him with perfect understanding. The human race has really nothing to offer God, except its continual goodwill and gratitude. Even that the offering is found lacking then the thought behind it is what counts. Everything was originally created good, and the man was supposed to have the best life possible. But the rebellion of Adam exposed him to another nature. Now he would both be aware of good and evil options within himself, and need to choose between them. It was Adam that chose to heed the Enemy, and make the latter a part of his life. The Enemy was never powerful enough to challenge God directly and take His place. But Adam willingly went over to the Enemy and chose to give the latter a power over his will, although indirectly, since Adam preferred self-conceit and selfishness above the ways of God. Such corruption would be passed on to the human descendants, so that Adam’s rebellion restricted the potential of the human race and exalted the Enemy at its expense.
                     It all comes down to that which side the man will choose and keep loyalty to. But before any of that can happen then the man must first believe in such possibility in advance. It does not only reach to that in believing in God formally, by calling Him by the right name and approaching God through the religious aspects ascribed to Him. It is also about believing in the truth and the goodness, which defines God and belongs to Him. The man of integrity is indirectly choosing God by practicing the very same things which the faith promotes. It is not enough to flatter God, or by merely agreeing with His ways, at the same time the man is following the selfish and covetous side in himself. The faith in God can correspond to ideology to some extant. For it must first be believed in lofty ideals before it can be worked hard to promote them, in making such ideals come true at last. The man cannot actually see or touch these ideals, originating in himself, but he does still acknowledge them and he believes in that what it does stand for. A similar thing applies with the faith in God. We are not merely acknowledging that He does exist, but we do truly believe that God is truthful and trustworthy, concerning every one of His promises and moral principles. And if we have faith in God then we will also have faith in everything which can come from Him, what God can speak and do on our behalf. So that when we turn to God and obey His commandments then it is because we acknowledge that He is the best person there is, where His goodness is greater than our own perception of it and His ways deliver greater results than our ways. The faith in God helps us to approach Him in the proper way. God knows it best what pleases Him and what He requires from us. Hence we consult with the testimony which God has given of Himself. The faith in God points us to His testimonies, and the other way around. One we have believed and abided by the testimony of God then we know of more things to be reached out for. It can be said that there do not exist many virtues, but there does only exist one virtue, and that virtue does consist in that in heeding the voice of God from within today (now, at this very moment, the present). That to obey the voice of God will lead to every virtue there is.
                     It should be looked upon the alternative, if God would reveal Himself to the whole world, that it might be better understood why that option would never work in the long run. The human race would then only pretend to obey God while He would be watching. But it would never involve any genuine reasons, why the man is supposed to act in such way. It has more to do about covetousness for rewards and fear of punishments, like when selfish children seem to behave in front of the authority while they are never obedient in their attitude. It is not faith, but it reminds of the saying ‘Might makes right’, since it is obeyed God for the sole reason that He possesses the most power in the universe. And people would still continue to covet evil things in their heart and wish for it to happen. The same people would indeed commit a crime if it seemed that they could get away with it, if the crime would not be discovered, or if there would be no immediate repercussions. This is why it would not solve anything if God revealed Himself to the whole world. But it makes much more sense that God does deliberately conceal His presence, so that every person will reveal its true colours, what the person truly wants in its heart and what it does when an opportunity presents itself. It does all come down to that in believing in the rightful claim of the choice and what value it does hold, rather than by being controlled by irrelevant outside factors. It can be a good thing in a bad thing when one does experience an adversity and the loss of prosperity. For such vicissitudes will reveal what persons are true and reliable friends, and what persons prove to be false and treacherous, when it does seem that there is no advantage to be gained from us. For the false people will no longer flatter us and pretend to be friendly, but they will show their true colours and turn against us openly. But the true and reliable friends will continue to be there for us and help us rise up from the ground. When we overcome the adversity and obtain a new prosperity then we choose to share it with them. People who are not there for us in our time of adversity do not deserve to have any share in our time of prosperity. It can be a good thing in a bad thing when we seem to reveal apparent weakness in the eyes of other people, like when we show ignorance in earthly matters, commit casual mistakes, are incompetent, or are clumsy. For that if the people involved prove to be proud and superficial then they will immediately become contemptuous and arrogant in their bearings, as if we were stupid and useless, having nothing to offer them. But the sincere and decent people will rather show us understanding and tolerate us. They will choose to overlook our faults and not hold anything against us. Hence we seek their company above the other. It is through such tests and temptations that it is separated the good from the bad, based on their reactions to the same incident. Even so God makes use of difficult circumstances to determine whether our faith in Him is genuine or not. We should neither slacken our resolve and indulge our self during our time of prosperity, nor become resentful and complain  during our time of adversity. Whatever happens then our personal conviction remains ever the same. It would also not make any sense if God would be doing supernatural signs for the people that demand it, as if God was a mere clown or an entertainer for the unworthy. No decent man would act in such way, by advertising himself what most shamefully in order to become popular, by craving after the approval of hypocritical people, and by doing cheap tricks in order to appease their whims. But all such things belong to the hypocrisy of the world, its foolishness and vainglory. Where there is truth and goodness there is also modesty and discretion. For these virtues are kindred to each other, belong to the same source, and work to the same end. God does seek to convince us about His ways through fair and honest means, by appealing to our sense of decency and reason, when it comes to do the right thing for its own sake.
                     The darkness is nothing more than an absence of light, even as cold is an absence of heat. The evilness is merely an absence of goodness.  Evilness is a mere distraction. Evilness contradicts goodness. Evilness digresses from the goodness. The Enemy encourages the human people to do either evil things or no good things. That to do an evil thing is to do nothing good. That to do nothing good is an evil thing in itself. It does lead to the same destination as all the evil things. The evilness does not have any independent existence. It cannot survive unless God does allow it to happen, and it is unable to do anything without His consent. The evilness has hitherto been allowed to tempt the human race. God makes use of the evilness to test the allegiance of every man. God will tolerate the earth and spare the whole, so long as the earth continues to produce decent men. Jesus Christ has already conquered the Enemy and all the fallen angels, and thereby everything which they stand for and have invented, belonging to the evilness. The devils are already condemned and doomed to eternal punishment. It is now a question about the human race, the choice belonging to each individual. If the man does not acknowledge the rightful king then he will thereby justify the usurper, and even become an accomplice in the rebellion by agreeing to its terms. It is the same thing when the individual does deliberately reject Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour, even that he has come to know about His truth and justice. For that by doing so the man prefers the selfish ways of the world above God’s authority. The world tends to exalt the unworthy and bestow power to the incompetent. The Enemy has been chosen leader of the world by spiritual slaves. The evilness thrives on the ignorance of the human race. The man chooses to make the Enemy powerful in his own life and allows himself to be manipulated. The man does so at his own expense, since the Enemy has everything to gain by parasitizing his life and the man has everything to lose by it. It is like God continues to tolerate the man, while the man continues to tolerate the Enemy in his own life. But it does not mean that God is tolerating the Enemy. The world does belong to the Enemy, with all its erroneous doctrines and inventions. It does not mean that the human race does belong to the Enemy, but it is rather about the ‘image’ of this world, its combined influence working against the goodness. Human beings are more important than anything which belongs to the world. They are more important than that which comes out of them. The person is more important than its misspoken words and mistakes. God is more important than our self-image, and that to do the will of God is more important than our self-interest.
                     The Scripture says next to nothing about specific topics while others are brief and to the point, like the creation of heaven and earth, and the origins of the human race. It is  a matter of controversy when it comes to explain the physical reality in a scientific way, whether the Scripture should be considered a valid source or not. But the Scripture was never meant to fulfill such purpose to begin with. The Scripture is more about the spiritual aspect, like human nature, morality, wisdom, and redemption. God has deliberately left  these and those matters unanswered so we will need to rely upon faith in order to discover it. The faith is the internal source which can unlock every secret and mystery. Hence the Scripture emphasis upon one thing which all others are depended upon and leads to them. It would not make any sense if God would reveal everything in the Scripture, like by coming up with scientific explanations of the universe and its function. The people of that time were in the early stage of human civilization and not ready to receive such knowledge. There was a need for simple explanations for those with simple understanding. This is why it can be ridiculed the people that criticize the Scripture, because they begin at the wrong end, by coming up with anachronistic attacks on its significance. It is written in the Scripture that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It can thereby happen that we are tempted with things that can be seen and touched, while we believe in things that reach beyond our own life. It is confirmed that God does exist and what He is capable of, and that it will continue to apply in the reality, even that all kinds of things can happen to us. This means that our person can change, our state of mind can change, and our lot in this world can change, but the truth will continue to be the truth and we are still under its jurisdiction.
                      It should not be said that the man is able to become perfect and blameless, but only that the man is able to become blameless. The man can avoid bad things (corruption, bad qualities), and yet he does still have his restrictions in regard to good things (good qualities, capability). These good things are beyond the reach of the man, unless God allows the man to become partaker in them. The man can at most approach God with all his heart and ask God to ‘loan’ him good quality for the matter involved. For example it should not be said that the man is being courageous (personally, permanently), but that the man is being courageous while God shares His courage with the man. Let’s say that the man has hitherto been blameless in everything. Because the man possesses pure intentions then he sees God in a pure way, and he acknowledges God’s goodness and mercy in all things. When the man notices people that live in weakness then he only wishes them well and does not hold anything against them. He asks God to be merciful and generous to them, that things might brighten up in their lives and they be shown a way out of their difficulties. Now let’s say that the man fails to be on his spiritual guard, and he yields to sinful desire, and he possesses the will to sin, and he seeks opportunity to make it come true. When the man becomes aware of his blame in that matter then it does not mean that God is being transformed by it into an angry and harsh tyrant, someone who is eager to condemn and punish the man in everything. God is not some kind of idol which is being shaped/re-shaped by the man’s own righteousness or lack of it. When the man finds himself imperfect and frail like other people, and as equally much in need of forgiveness from God; then the man is also meant to acknowledge God’s goodness and mercy in all things. That God is an independent being able to act independently of the man’s own will/mindset. That God is still being motivated by love for us, and that He does things based upon love, and that His love is working inside us and between us. God is being calm and mild when bearing with us (being patient with us), and He is being calm and mild when correcting us, and He is being calm and mild when blowing/swaying our hearts into the right direction during our experienced circumstances, that things might turn out differently/better than we had originally purposed. What can be said about that when we experience ongoing prosperity and/or deliverance from adversity? We should become grateful that the ‘sun’ keeps shining on us, but we should not stop and claim that we are being the ‘sun’ (cause of prosperity). And when God manages to create a lucky/favorable turn of event which saves us from dangers (there would otherwise have befallen a great misfortune); then we should not stop and claim that God saved us because of our righteousness (as if we had deserved it). But we should rather acknowledge that God saved us because He is good and He cares about us.
                     The faith in God is a matter of mutual trust or relationship in good faith. For that we trust that God loves us and is doing everything in His power to help us, even that we cannot actually see God, cannot see what is happening behind the scene, or what is taking place in the meantime before help arrives. God can be slandered by His enemies in our eyes: accused of being untruthful, selfish, corrupt, powerless, coming up with false promises or threats. But we do not need to rely upon the testimony of such intercessors, when an enemy claims that God had said this or done that while we cannot see God for ourselves. For that we can just as well head to the primary source, the testimony which God gives of Himself, that we might know it for ourselves what kind of person He is. We can see God through the personal example which Jesus Christ has left us. It is not God whom changes, but it is rather us whom change and our vision of God with it. For that God is already perfect and at the top, but a change would otherwise only lead downhill. God is indeed all-powerful, but it does not mean that God would abuse His power in some way. God could foresee the fate of everyone and spy upon everyone if He wanted to do so, but it is not the same thing as if God would make such choice. A wise man does not need to possess godly powers in order to know whether specific people prove to be sincere or false, honest or selfish, reliable or treacherous. If the person proves to be so in the present time then it will also be so in the future. Hence God will deal accordingly, whether that person is a friend, fickle, or an enemy. But God must surely abide by a principle, when it comes to trust the person further, which has hitherto proven trustworthy, and bestow that person with more responsibility. There must be some kind of discretion, which prevents obtrusion upon the man’s privacy, although God is still able to watch over us and help us when needed. This is why the Lord takes His leave and returns at an indefinite date.
                     The faith is the supreme means in following God at all times, toward every spiritual victory and progress, regardless that what kind of circumstances the man can find himself in. The human people have been born at different times and places, involving different possibilities and restrictions, human abilities and skills, education and technology. But the faith in God is still always as equally valid and relevant to the human lot, making up for any human restrictions and able to make the best of the situation. A good education might seem to work for the person that is born into a rich country, but it would otherwise be denied to the person that is born into a poor country. It should be looked upon this in context of the human history, since education has not been made accessible to everyone. But faith does originate within the man, regardless of his external circumstances. It is always open for the man to have faith, so that he can obtain good sense and become virtuous, even more so than the educated man. A good education might seem to have all the right words on paper, but it does still not guarantee morality in the person, a wisdom and insight into the human nature. The man can become educated, but he is still fundamentally the same person, as if the education had merely confirmed his abilities or appealed to them, already existent in him from the beginning. The man might come up with different vocabulary, but he is still unaltered in his heart, accustomed to the same desires, presumptions, impulses, and habits. This is why the faith is superior to philosophy and ideological systems, since only the faith is able to bring actual change from within the man and make him bear good spiritual fruit.

The faith is so efficient because it is so simple, unlike human systems that tend to over-complicate things. It is simply believed in God, asked Him for help, and then waited for it with patience. God can overcome any odds, any uncertainty, any problem, any personal experience. God can always help us in a new and unexpected way. A new problem can emerge, but it will still be solved as well. There can appear forth a new threat and a new enemy, but it will only become another victory to us. The faith in God is meant to reach to every factor in our human existence, that God might help us through it, regardless of our internal condition and restrictions. Personal implications do not matter, what kind of person we have become and what we have hitherto done, so long as we will to obey God now and henceforth. It is only sufficient to confess the truth and ask God for help. But our petition does not need to be cleverly phrased or have a ‘perfect’ form, as if it would increase chances for reception. For that God knows us, what kind of position we find us in, and what we really want. It is only required that we should get to the point and state the humble truth. God can do whatever He wishes, whenever He wishes, wherever, and however He wants. It is not our human effort which guarantees reception. It was not because we first tried to become free of flaws (perfectionism) which determined why God decided to help us and deliver us from our troubles. It had everything to do about God’s goodness, His love and kindness in caring for us, even that the Lord would need to go through a lot of troubles to save us. Let it thereby be duly noted that God would either way have heard our prayer, and either way shown us grace, even that we had done nothing whatsoever prior to it. That to be pure in our intentions does help us to approach God in the right way and ask Him for the right things. If the heart is not right then it is made improper requests from God. But that to confess the truth can help set our hearts right and purify our intentions. Hence it is only sufficient to make confession so that the other things will follow as well.
                     When God makes His presence known to us then it does not consist in some kind of overwhelming sensations, like when people take drugs in order to feel a state of ecstasy. It can rather be said that the presence of God is able to benefit us in a discreet way. It might seem that everything is just as silent and peaceful as before, unless that we have already received a benefit in our spirit and felt a change for the better. We can experience an inner peace and some kind of purifying effects in our spirit, which makes us hold our peace, be silent, enjoy the moment, and be contented with our lot.  And the presence of God does quiet down all activity in our mind, so that we will forget all about our personal problems and be eased of all our burdens. It had nothing to do with our human effort prior to God’s presence. But it was because we put all our burdens upon God and allowed Him to solve it on our behalf. After relying on God then all these temptations and problems vanished all of a sudden, and we would no longer become aware about their existence. Everything seems to happen naturally of its own accord, and the blessings are already upon us before we know of it. It is not something which we can produce by our human effort, like by first saying this or that and then something is supposed to be evoked in us. It is rather like the good state solely decides to come over to us and overwhelms us in benefits. There is experienced a good atmosphere, or felt a good spirit in the air. It can be felt a heat in the air, a gentle breeze, or like it is entered into a peaceful sphere. We have not seen the blessings of God, nor touched them like some object, but our life has still taken a turn for the better, with its good sense and stable condition. There are however many men that demand signs from God, and expect some kind of momentary sensation. It does not mean that God does not exist or that He is powerless. But such men have already presumed everything in a foolish way, and looked for God in all the wrong places. When we need something within ourselves then we pray for it. It was previously had a hard time resisting temptation, but now something manages to restrain oneself from it or make one determined enough to reject it. Now it is felt the little strength needed to do the right thing and abstain from corruption. Everything might seem to be the same, and yet something has changed within to resolve the matter just enough. It was neither more nor less than what was precisely needed in the situation. It is prayed that one might have a right motive, a right intention, and a right attitude, in what way is noticed all things and met with them. That one might look upon every person with a pure and sincere eyes, and that one might only wish it well, and be concerned for its welfare, and forbear the person in its weakness. That one might appear outwardly to other people as one is inwardly, being free of contempt and covetousness, having nothing to hide or be ashamed of revealing. That one might not possess the will to sin, neither fantasise about sinful things, nor seek out opportunities to make it come true. The greatest blessings in life are free, and we can be blessed without even realizing it. It is something that we have taken for granted in being ‘ordinary’ and common. It can again be mentioned that when we have difficulty resisting temptation, which thereby becomes a problem to us, so that we confess our frailty before God. It can happen that it is forgotten all about the subjective problem for many days or weeks in a row, until the problem begins to resurface and tries to steal one’s attention. It is like one has hitherto been carried by an angel over all the obstacles on the ground. Now one has been put down on a ground and a devil is again tempting one with the same problem, so that one does need to approach God again and again have a ‘free spiritual ride’.
                     It is confirmed that God can make all His promises come true, and it is only a matter of time when it will happen. It can however be superfluous thing to know about the process involved, what is happening in an invisible way behind the scene, what kind of power God is using in order to help us, or which of His emissary is sent to us. It does not matter so long as we are able to receive God’s help and obtain relief. The only thing required was that we should ask for benefit and patiently wait for it in the meantime. There are good and valid reasons why the divine aid happens in an invisible way. For such information would either way be beyond our control, where even that we knew about then it would still not speed up the process in any way. We are meant to believe that God will hear our prayers and make good things come to pass, according to His initiative and in His own time. But we do not actually control ‘how’ God’s power should appear forth, or ‘when’ it will happen, since it does belong to the jurisdiction of God. It is thereby like we can only reveal ‘what’ we want from God, and perhaps ‘why’ we consider ourselves in need of it, like how it is supposed to benefit us or other people. But we should avoid all needless expectations, like when it is has already been imagined what kind of signs or miracles are supposed to happen. For example then we should ask God to heal our soul and body. But it does not mean that we should expect to witness an angel, an earthquake, or a thunder at the same time. It is because such things are nothing more than superfluous ornaments, completely irrelevant to the actual healing, which could just as well reach us in a simple and discreet way. We would otherwise be creating our own restrictions, and only get disappointed. It is not because God failed to bestow benefits to our life, but we do only have ourselves to blame, for not having bothered to keep our eyes open for the real miracle. When we hope for good things then it is superfluous to imagine what is precisely supposed to happen in the circumstances and/or during human relations. We do not need to trouble ourselves about minor details. It is only sufficient to hope that the situation will change for the better, that things will turn out well in the end and that we will fare well, regarding the greater picture and what is deemed most important. It can be mentioned good health, the well-being of our beloved ones, and that to finish noble and  constructive goals. So we can hope for good things to happen, while we allow God to determine ‘when’ and ‘how’ and ‘through which persons’ it will come to pass. It should not matter where the help will externally come from or by which person so long as help will arrive. God is good and His goodness is being shared to us all. We draw good things from the same good source and make use of these good things for one another.
                     It can apply in the situation that we do not need to ask God for this or that, as if we were really in need of such desirable things and they were able to benefit our life in some way. For that we can very well become healthy and happy without it. These desirable things would either way have led to another kind of troubles and needless cares. This is why it can sometimes only be sufficient to ask God to bless us, according to that what is considered best for our welfare, although we do not know what it is. It is because God knows us more than we do know ourselves, and He knows what is best for us. We do not know if the desirable thing in question will really appeal to us, or if we are really ready for it, since that something unexpected can happen and change our life for the worse. It is thereby more prudent to ask God to do good things to us. The prayer is the wish and God hears our prayer by giving us direct beneficial effects. The very means can be of secondary importance. We do not know what we want, or what our true needs are. But God knows it, and we know that God knows it. So we put our trust in God, that He knows what He is doing. It would otherwise be a foolish thing if we were very picky about the supposed means, while we would utterly fail to obtain any benefits, the end in sight. The means are only important if they are able to lead to good outcome, but it should not be preferred foolish means above the outcome, the very reason behind everything. The faith is about adapting to God and His ways, but we should not attempt to make God adapt to our foolish presumptions and whims. God can bless us as if He would head directly for the outcome, since that God Himself is the means. God did not need to change everyone and everything around us. God only needed to change us; change our attitude about everyone and everything, change our understanding about everyone and everything, change our responsiveness to everyone and everything. That to become a new and better person would lead to a new and better approach. We would make better choices and fare better in our lives.
                     God can indeed help anyone, if the person is willing enough to receive help and to ask for it. God abides by a principle when doing a good act. God is indeed ready to help us and He possesses the ability to do so. But God does not want to force it on us, against our consent. It is not like our faith is able to make God powerful or powerless. But it can rather be said that God is concerned about our freedom of choice, in approaching Him willingly and with a right understanding. Our faith help us to know what God is capable of, and what we can hope from Him if we do things His way. We can do nothing but confirm God’s power. There should not exist any uncertainty which god should be invoked and get all the credit. It would never work out if the man invoked all the ‘gods’ at the same time, since the man would then not know which one of them had been helping him. It would correspond to that in applying many remedies from many doctors against the same disease. But the patient should rather have tested one doctor at a time, and the remedies belonging to the same doctor, so it could be determined the best doctor of them all. The benefits can only be established if the healed person knows its true Benefactor, in giving God the rightful glory which He deserves, in being grateful and loyal to Him, and in serving the greater good henceforth. And there should not be made any half-hearted effort, like when it is constantly changed one’s mind and undertaken everything for a brief time. But it is all about approaching God with our whole heart, fully devoted to all His teachings. Then we can experience it for ourselves, whether it really works in our life. We cannot forgive ourselves. Only God is able to forgive us and purify/heal our soul. It is something which can only be felt from within. Spiritual means are required to heal spiritual wounds. But without God’s presence then no benefit would happen, even if we forgave everyone and everyone forgave us. That which happens outside us is outside our soul. God teaches us to forgive each other if He is going to forgive us all our sins. By being forgiving we are merely confirming His grace in all things, and allowing God to work uninterrupted in us. First we need to forgive one another if we are going to be forgiven within. We come up with a good gesture, and then God responds by benefiting our soul.
                     If we ask the Heavenly Father for anything in the name of Jesus Christ then it will be granted us. It does not mean that it is enough to implicate the name of the Lord to our request, while the actual request proves to be false, selfish, and foolish. It can rather be said that the name of the Lord is about confirming His truth and justice. It is asked for good things as the Lord Himself had done and would do in our position. Therefore will we be successful for as long time as we will obey the will of God, by being noble in our soul, altruistic, generous, charitable and merciful toward one another. It is about acknowledging the leadership of Jesus Christ in all things, especially in that what we need to undergo from within ourselves. And when we pray to God then it is not because we need to remind Him of that in being good, nor are we attempting to change God’s mind. A prayer can be called the minimum effort for the most benefit. We reveal our concerns for others. We pray because our own human means are found lacking. We cannot always see the person we care for and know what it is going through in its life. And we are often powerless in doing anything about it, when it comes to help the person to know the truth, to be able to improve its own life, and overcome temptations from within. This is why the prayer to God makes much sense, as the supreme means in helping the person we care for, even that we are not present with it, even that our human ability is found lacking. It is not like we do first need to say or do something physically for that person before it can be well. But it is only sufficient that God can bless the person and change it from within. It did not involve any confrontation with clever speeches and heroics feats, but God gave benefits directly to the person, as if such blessings had come out from nothing. We pray because we turn to God for that in helping the person we are unable to help. Our only virtue consists in that in knowing whom to turn to and in making our wish known.

The faith in God is the same as faith in the possibilities of the goodness. The man believes in the truth and he keeps seeking the truth until he finds it. Even that the man does still not know the truth about something then he does still confirm that the truth does exist, and that the truth only waits to be discovered. It is exactly the same thing when the man is open for the possibilities of the goodness and he reaches out for them. It is turned to God for the will, the understanding, and the ability to do good. The faith reaches to the man’s attitude, the way he sees everything, the way he understands everything, the way he responds to everything, and the way he endures everything. God can achieve anything and conquer anything within us. God can make our attitude conform to His will. God can draw us nearer to His attitude. The prayer prepares the man’s heart for God. The prayer prepares the man for that in doing the right thing. The man confesses the truth about his situation. The man describes that what is happening at that moment. If the man has a hard time doing something then he simply confesses that it is so and asks God to help change it. The prayer can also reach to the inability in praying. It can happen that the man experience tiredness, lack of motivation, and he does not know what to say at that moment. But the man can still tell God about it. The man is aware about his restrictions and open for changes. It is then waited until God intervenes, whether it would be at that moment or the next time when it is made a prayer. Even if something does not happen immediately then the matter still gets resolved in the long run. The prayer can reach to the man’s will, willingness, interest, motivation, concern for other people, energy, fortitude. The prayer can sharpen these things and make the man fit for the matters at hand. It can help give the man the will to do things. The man discovers the power in himself to do what is needed. The prayer worked, because the man is now already saying and doing the right thing. Something has somehow happened to make it so. Before the man knew it then he was already inclining to it. The man managed to stay long enough to say all the things that he needed to say and remain true about it. God has put His words into the man’s mouth and made the man capable of saying these good things in prayer. God has made the man able to be sincere and mean every word at that moment. God has made the man able to wish well and turn to God for help. Otherwise it would never have happened. Otherwise the man would still have found himself closed within, either unwilling or unable to do so. Hence the prayer can open the man’s heart for the right possibilities and help him reach out for them.
                     First it is believed in the good possibility, and next it is confirmed it by holding one’s peace. By confirming God’s power in getting things done then it is ceased from one’s own human effort in forcing it. When we are being at peace then we let the matter rest (mention it no further and intervene no further). We allow God to do things from His end. We wait until something will somehow resolve the matter. It is God who does all the work. We can at most receive that which God has in store for us. We can at most hold our peace, be silent, be still, and wait with patience until good change happens within us. Before we knew it then the good state came over to us and we were already feeling better, knowing better, doing better, and faring better. Before we knew it then the subjective problems had already vanished and we are now free from its awareness. There is a time that we forget all about our problems and we have our attention on the matters at hand. And when some time has passed then the problems re-appear and try to steal our attention. But later on something happens somehow which makes us again feel better and forget all about our problems. That can be called God’s intervention. That can be called the gift from God. Hence we should acknowledge that we cannot do anything about our internal condition until God will intervene again and change things. We should cease from our own mental effort and simply do nothing within while we are waiting. It can happen that we experience bad mental state, where delusions keep harassing us and symptoms keep re-appearing. God’s interventions can describe itself in this. All of a sudden we begin to meditate on something, as if mental experience was passing through us. And when it is finished then we find ourselves in a different situation. Now everything it quiet and the bad things are nowhere to be found. It can be said that God as a clever healer shifted our attention temporarily elsewhere while He was fighting our battles behind the scene. We should have faith that in due time the good state will come over to us and drive away the bad state.
                                 There is a day before and after the night, and there is night before and after the day. During the day then the time is bright and the man is able to see well enough to go about his business, while during the night the time is dark and the man sees too little ahead to be travelling outside (this applies to the old times, before electricity lightened up the night). This is a natural law which applies half the time and cannot be changed. So that during the night (dark time) then the man should stay at the same place and rest from his labour, until a new day begins and everything becomes visible again. But the man should not try to tell himself during the night that it is still a day (bright time), and not go outside and spend much effort in trying to find his way in the dark, which would make him get lost and too tired when a new day finally begins. The man should acknowledge that the time is always dark during the night and that there is nothing that he can do to change it, so he needs to wait it out. Even so applies to our internal activity, when there is experienced a good state for some time and a bad state for some time, when we forget all about our subjective problems for some time and when they re-appear for some time. It is not like we should keep telling ourselves something ‘positive’ about our mind and pretend like the mind meant something differently with its wrong thoughts, or try to sort out its wrong thoughts during the mind’s persecution of our soul. We should not try to invent/lie something good in order to rouse something good within ourselves, as if we were pretending that there was something bright to be found in this time of darkness. But we should rather acknowledge that now is a dark time within ourselves and we need to wait it out until there will rise a bright time within ourselves. We should keep to the good things which we stored during the bright time (prosperity), and make use of them during the dark time (adversity). We should keep to the good experience and conviction that we had during the good time, and wait patiently during the evil time without adding or changing anything, without being swayed into something contrary to it. For example then we originally had a good time with another person. We should keep to that experience, and wait until we meet that person again as a continuation of it. In the meantime we let the original experience remain still and undisturbed. We do now feel the same way about the person that we felt about the person back then. We do now possess the same goodwill toward the person that we possessed toward it back then. We should not allow the mind to sway us from it when it is looked back, as if there was something less good or something more bad to be seen about it. We should not allow the mind to change our perception of the person in the meantime. But we rather stay faithful to the original experience (bright time) as a silent counter to the conflicting thoughts which can be had in the meantime (dark time).  The time of darkness can also be likened to that when a boat is being driven by a storm or when it is abstained from food in the desert. There is nothing good to be found in that place and it should not be sought to see something good about it. We need to wait until the evil things pass away and be led by the divinity to a different place. If the man finds himself in a middle of darkness, where there is darkness all around him and he cannot see anything on all sides; then the man should simply stay still on the same spot and wait until things will brighten up. The man should not deceive/fool himself into believing that he can make correct guesses and find his way in this darkness, since that it will only make him even more confused which way/direction is what and make him further away from the exit/deliverance. Even so when we experience obsessive thoughts accompanied by internal instability then we should not hurry ourselves in doing something and/or making changes to something. For example we had already been doing something right, but these obsessive thoughts make us see something wrong about it, so that we try to fix the right thing with something wrong which ends up being its wrong replacement. It is made a needless change which is being erroneous, and we later have to spend further time in reverting it. If we lack certainty/conviction about that what is being true and we do not really understand that what we are trying to force through; then it is a good sign that we need to stop and wait the matter out with patience. Hence in the beginning we should simply acknowledge that we do now not know what we are doing, and that we are now in no condition to make sound decisions.
When God is with us then we see the environment as it is and we see other people as they are. But when the devil comes then he throws a dark veil over our heads, so that it makes us see the environment in a dark way and we see other people in a dark way. The external things in question are not really dark. It does only seem so in our eyes while the dark veil is between our eyes and the external things in question. And some time later then God takes away this dark veil from our heads, so that we will again be able to see the environment as it is and see other people as they are. We do not know the timing of these things. We do not know when this dark veil will be cast over our heads, and we do not know how long we will have this dark veil over our heads. We do not know when God will come back and take this dark veil away from our heads. The timing is never the same. One time God came back after ‘this’ length of time, and another time God came back after ‘that’ length of time, and so forth. It is a matter of faith in waiting patiently for as long time as possible, since we never know when God will come back. When it happens that we have dark veil over our heads then we only need to wait it out, since God will either way come back and take this dark veil away. It is a matter of principle, something which God does for free because of His goodness. When it happens that we have a dark veil over our heads (bad experience of everyone and everything) then we should not presume that we did something to call for this dark veil and explain something as its underlying cause (past incidents, past choices). And we should not try to say and do something in order to remove this dark veil over our heads, since that dark veil is like a sticky blanket which will either way not come off. But we should acknowledge the natural laws which God has set and wait until things have come full circle. This bad experience we are having can also be likened to many walls which try to narrow us down in our minds. One wall comes from this side, and when we seek to escape from it then another wall comes from another side, and so forth, until something has managed to narrow us down into a specific wrong assumption and reaction. These illusionary walls seek to confuse us in regard to causality and morality of things. It can seem like we are being punished for seeking to do the right thing, and that we are being rewarded for seeking to do the wrong thing. These walls continue to chase us while we seek to do the right thing, and these walls seem to stop and give us respite when we change our minds (no longer seek to do the right thing). But all of this is being one great illusion. We are still being able to do the right thing and avoid the wrong things, regardless of all this activity in our minds. Even if our head is being sick and we are unable to think clearly; then we are still able to sense things in our hearts and make use of the rest of the body (healthy parts). God is still capable of the ultimate decision through His Spirit in our hearts. It can also be mentioned when an infant is not feeling well and it cries. The infant is having bad experience even that nothing bad is happening in the circumstances. This bad experience is something which comes and goes within. The infant does still not know how to talk, and it does still not understand that which is being said to it. This bad experience involves bad feelings without words. Adults know how to speak and they know what is being said to them. When the devil does cast a bad experience over an adult person then the devil also says something at the same time (thoughts), which makes it look like this bad experience is being caused by the words or the external matter which the words are supposed to reflect/involve. But that is being an illusion, because it is the devil himself which causes this bad experience through/with his presence. This bad experience would have happened either way, whether it would have involved words or not.
                                The evilness strikes from the dark and not from the light. The evil spirit behind thoughts seeks to hide/conceal its own personal involvement from the man, while diverting the man’s attention to everything and everyone else. The man is receptive to thoughts while he considers them to be his own, while he is accustomed/used to hearing them, and while he considers them something casual or harmless in itself. The evil spirit which is whispering these thoughts to the man seeks refuge in the man’s ignorance (darkness) of the cause/maker of these thoughts. But if the man could actually see how ugly and distorted and pale that evil spirit looks like then the man would become alarmed and on his guard, and question the validity of that thought, and have serious doubts of having dealings with such dubious creature. Let’s say that the man is being depressed because some misfortune has befallen his beloved one, or that the man is having worries over a person that he cares for. When the man experiences thoughts which remind him of this then he can consider himself obligated to dwell on these thoughts and torment himself for the sake of other persons. But the evil spirit which is behind these thoughts is being false and hypocritical, where the evil spirit does not care about the persons which he mentions, and he is only mentioning these persons in order to attack the man and to drag the man down with this. Hence the man should become aware of the ugly character behind these thoughts and what is the true motivation behind them, that the man might stand firm in rejecting every indecent mention of his beloved ones, when it is made use of their name as some kind of tool.  A similar thing applies when the man is being conflicted about a person close to him in the past (parent), since that something good had been lacking in the person and it had neglected to do something good back then (guidance and support in the upbringing). The man is being divided what to feel about the person, because even that it can be acknowledged the faults of the person then it cannot be denied the decency it possessed, and even that it be acknowledged the decency of the person then it cannot be denied the faults it possessed. When it is thought about the person then the man becomes immediately entangled with dissatisfaction over the past (lack of preventive measures early on which led to great and many troubles later on), and the man swings back and forth in  either seeing something too bad or too good about the person. The very beginning of these thoughts lures the man into internal instability, during which he cannot think clearly/straight. If we would witness a wicked person deliberately mention bad incidents from the past in order to get to the man, or mention his beloved ones in a bad way in order to get to the man; then we would consider it indeed an ugly and despicable thing, and we would abhor such person and shun dealings with it. Even so we should treat the invisible mind every time the mind mentions something bad from our past, whether it involves misfortune we have experienced or misfortune of those that we care for. Even that it is true that these bad things happened in the past then it is still being irrelevant to that what we are now experiencing, and what is now our attitude, and what is now within our control to change, and what kind of choices we now need to make for ourselves. It is like the bad incident of the past is being a half-truth mixed with a lie, for it is being implicated to the present time in an irrelevant way, thereby making it a lie in whole and a temptation to be disregarded.

It can be discoursed on inner peace. Peace is obtained by making peace with God. Peace is obtained by making peace with one’s conscience. Once on God’s good side then it is experienced peace as its consequence. The heart is fixed, unmoved by the distractions of the mind. The mind can still meddle and interfere. But one does still not receive it into oneself. One does still not allow anything to disrupt one’s internal stability. It is like the head can at most be unquiet and restless while the rest of the body is quiet and at rest. Peace does consist of calmness, silence, and stillness. First it is maintained calmness, by allowing everything within to pass through oneself. It is loosened up and ceased from all further effort/resistance. It is yielded to peace within. It is opened oneself for the good internal state and received it. Next it is maintained silence, by quieting down among everything which is happening within. It is ceased from having opinion about the things within. It is said nothing on one’s own behalf (manual voice), even that it cannot be controlled the activity of the thoughts at the same time (automatic). It is come up with no further reactions and allowed things to wear out with the time. Thirdly, it is maintained stillness, by keeping the same stance in the long run. No matter what happens then is remained at the same internal place, without wandering to the right or to the left. It is looked straight ahead, through all the thoughts getting in front of one’s attention. Finally, it is abstained from all thoughts which keep appearing and re-appearing. Once becoming aware that one is beginning to wander in the mind then one does shift the attention back to nothingness. It is kept one’s distance from thoughts. It is not taken up the thread where it was last left off. Hence even that one does blunder and gets temporarily absorbed in thoughts then one can still keep trying to stay away from it, repeatedly, little by little, until it has finally been obtained tranquility of mind. The mind can be likened to the sea. The thoughts of the mind are like the waves of the sea, sweeping us back and forth. The thoughts of the mind are like spiritual animals passing through, bumping into us here and there. The thoughts of the mind are like giants, constantly moving in front of us and blocking our view. Instead of gazing at that which the thoughts say (and agree with them) then we should rather notice that thoughts are involved and do our best to avoid them. We should with a detached attitude notice the motions in our mind, in what kind of form the thoughts appear to us. All these unpleasant thoughts have to appear to us in a specific way. Every man should find his own description of his mental activity. We should cease to be credulous to the first contact with thoughts. We should rather get familiar with their structure and allow our familiarity to breed contempt of them.
                      The Spirit of God in one’s heart is the true shelter, the true hiding place, the true anchor of the soul. The Spirit of God is located in one’s heart, but it is not located in one’s mind.  One should have the attention on middle point (where the heart and the breathing is), away from the head. It should be spiritually detached the head from the rest of the body. One has to learn to live without the mind. It is like one would be moving on with one’s life and doing one’s daily business, without being in any connection with that what is happening in the mind at the same time. It is lived amidst thoughts, alongside thoughts, without being part of these thoughts, without agreeing with them, without yielding to them. It is like one’s head is being possessed by an evil spirit, when an uncontrollable obsession (spiritual giant) is taking place, which might seem to be irresistible, and yet one can flee to the heart as a hiding place and stay there until all this will pass over. When there is conflict in the head and unwanted thoughts keep coming and it cannot be stopped thinking something bad then it is simply left the head and not intervened there. It is acknowledged that this part of the body is expendable to the rest of the body and that the rest of the body can continue its function without it. It is kept to that what is felt in the heart and followed its personal conviction. It is kept to the understanding which one is given at the moment it is called for, which God has put into one’s heart. It is waited for the inspiration (moving breath) to appear and gotten blown with it while it does last. That to be selfless is to be spiritually untouchable. It is like one’s invisible and silent will/attention/determination is being spirited away from the body, so there is nothing within the body which the mind can notice and grab and squeeze/narrow (attachments, concerns, cares). It is like one’s body becomes dead/stony and motionless to all bad influence.  It is like one’s body becomes something of a ghost, being clear like a glass which can be seen through and having no spots in between, and being air-like so that all things can pass through it without hitting anything, and being so light in weight that it can easily be blown to a safe side and not get stuck, and being so streaming water-like that it can bypass or run smoothly along rough handling. Or that to be spiritually pure and innocent is like being stuffed toy in the form of an animal (teddy bear), which is being so soft that when a strongest giant does repeatedly hit it with a sledgehammer then nothing harmful ever happens to it. Noah’s flood can be likened to a dark tainted water flowing upwardly in our spiritual body (soul), beginning at our feet and finally reaching to the top of our head. It is like we are having bad experience of everyone and everything, both when it is thought about someone or something (whatever the mind gives its attention to), and when our body feels like a shadowy prison or in captivity of death (emptiness). And yet our invisible and silent faith is like a boat which manages to stay above all this bad personal experience, or manages to reach beyond our mind and body. All this bad experience is happening within us, and yet somehow our focus of attention is being spirited away from it. Or our invisible and silent conviction is being so little in itself that our mind and body is unable to grab/catch it and squeeze it. It is true that the man’s head can temporarily shake when he experiences unpleasant/shameful memories, and yet it involves uncontrollable reaction which comes and goes. The man’s soul is still not being hit by it, since he keeps moving on and doing that what he is doing, without stopping and trying to save himself from the unpleasant experience. When it is participated in something constructive and gotten involved in its experience then it is forgotten all about oneself, as if one’s self had ceased to exist. It corresponds to that when we cast all our burdens upon the divinity and allow it to take care of it, so that we are being freed from our own self while we are experiencing things and we can thereby make the most of the present moment. When it is cast one’s burdens upon on the divinity then it is like the divinity does temporarily lend oneself a life with good experience, where it is had natural ‘flow’ within, and where seemingly hard things become easy once it has been begun doing them, and before one knows it then it has already been made progress. When it is entered the rest of God and ceased from one’s human effort then that inner peace becomes the greatest preventive measure against temptations. The inner peace excludes the mind from interfering in the first place. It is not like the matter is about first overcoming temptation and then experiencing inner peace as a reward. The inner peace in itself does overcome temptation on our behalf (automatically).
                                 The peace is a gift from God. God is our means to that in obtaining peace. And God makes us able to maintain peace. The Sabbath (day) is about ceasing all inner effort and to resting for a specific time, that the man might become aware of the uncontrollable thoughts passing his mind and to help him discern the voice of God in his heart (moving-breath). It is the same thing as if it would be spent one day per week upon meditation. It can be agreed with Buddhism meditation to a certain extant. However, one does not have to wait idly for a long time before obtaining inner peace and maintaining it. One does not have to be in some kind of preparatory position and make use of techniques (focus on breathing or parts of the body). It can be treaded a moderate middle path by possessing peace within while the body is being industrious on the outside. When the man is under the grace of God then he is being blessed with inner peace for free, so that there is already a good state over him preventing the bad state from getting his attention. That to be free of selfish desires makes the man spiritually sober for the most part, most of the time, and in the greater matters, which makes it acceptable and bearable enough. Even that the man not does experience complete peace in everything (long meditation)  then he is still being free of all the bad things which could have disrupted his soul and body (uncertainty, craving/obsession, fear, anger, restlessness). The internal condition is already set right and finished by God’s intervention. It falls under God’s jurisdiction and He is the one who takes care of it. So the man can just as well have his eyes on a noble goal and become so involved in it that he forgets all about himself, without trying to change anything in regard to his internal activity. It is a contradiction/hypocrisy when people seek to escape from distractions by relying on meditation techniques, while they still cling to selfish desires and cares of the mind. It does only offer them temporarily relief from distractions while leaving its very cause intact. It is both wanted to do the right thing and the wrong thing at the same time, so that it is experienced inner conflict in the process. It is an unworthy thing when it is sought for inner peace only so that the man might become more focused in selfish pursuits and thereby help him obtain success in it. The man must be willing to deny the wrong things for the sake of the right things, and stick with the same conviction in the long run before finally reaping benefits from it. It can also be spoken against that of coming with beautiful lies or fictional descriptions in order to arouse something good within (during meditation). True spiritual benefits can only come through the truth. We need to wait patiently until the Spirit of God intervenes in our hearts. We need to make morally right choices when it is truly called for, which includes that in rejecting all temptations which contradict it (meantime), and then the truth will work out for us. If we abide by the truth and live for the truth then the truth will set us free. It is had an invisible and unhearable movement/change within. Something manages to further open and soften our heart to the truth, instead of closening and hardening our heart. Something manages to ease and lighten our heart, instead of troubling and burdening our heart. Something manages to still and stabilize our heart, instead of driving/wandering our heart out of its place. In a moment (as if a hand would be waved) our experience is changed into a good one.  The man’s soul can be likened to a spiritual house which has many rooms (qualities, factors). If the man has a specific vice/weakness then it is like he will become troubled every time he enters that specific room (chaos). Every time the man thinks about that factor or show attention to it then he will experience inner conflict. If the man manages to replace a specific vice/weakness with a virtue then it is like that specific room will get filled with peace. Now that part/factor is being resolved. Henceforth the man will remain calm regarding that part/factor in his life, and he is able to move on with his life without looking back. The man is on a spiritual journey his entire life. When it is managed to show faith in the divinity during a spiritual hindrance/opposition then the divinity will overcome it on our behalf, and then we will be blessed with inner rest/peace in that matter. The intended end is to become calm (or at rest) in every matter and every experience. When we are being tempted then it is like an evil spirit does carry us and flies with us into a bad room (bad inner place). When something brings us spiritual relief then it is like an angel of God does carry us and flies with us into a good room (good inner place). When we manage to overcome temptation then that bad room will stay locked and we will not enter it again. We will not again be troubled by the same problems. When we manage to show faith in the divinity then the good room will stay open and we can enter it again. We will be able to maintain the good things in our lives and approach the divinity again for the same good things.
                           It can again be spoken against that of sitting idly for a long time during meditation. It is outside our control when the mind does decide to arouse thoughts in us and how often. It is outside our control when all these obsessions and distractions take place in our mind. It makes no sense that we should stop with our lives and sit idly for a long time every time the mind chooses to intervene in us in a bad way. If some person was following us and saying all kinds of bad things to us then we should not presume that we should sit down and wait idly until we cease to hear anything, since it is entirely depended upon that person alone in choosing to stop speaking to us. Even so we should not presume that we can do something to make these thoughts stop appearing to us and change that what is happening within us. We rather need to keep moving on with our lives and focus upon a constructive goal, while at the same time we are being within still and motionless and waiting (in our hearts). If we are having difficulty withstanding distractions in our mind then it is only sufficient to approach the divinity in a prayer and get straight to the point. We simply let the divinity know that we are having difficulty withstanding distractions in our mind and that we ask it for help in freeing us from its influence. It is preferable to that in sitting idly for a long time while it is tried to do this or that in order to obtain a peace of mind. If we want a peace of mind then we simply ask the divinity for a peace of mind. We do not first need go through great length in resisting countless thoughts and try to change that what is happening within us. The mind will either way lie something new instead of the old thoughts, so it is like this process will continue endlessly and still nothing good will happen within. It is only the divinity which can arouse good things in our hearts and souls. We cannot force the divinity to arouse good things in us when it suits us. Even that we focus upon it in our willpower and make use of earthly methods/techniques then we only end up on deceiving ourselves or being deceived  by our mind. Even that the devil ceases to tempt us for some time then his inactivity is not the same thing as God was now doing a miracle and rewarding us for current effort. Let’s say that the devil has hitherto been attacking us from all sides in our mind, and nothing that we invent and say regarding it manages to make the devil stop his attacks. But the devil can fool us by deliberately stopping his attacks for a short time, to make it seem like our last argument and method were now finally working, and that these inventions of ours could really save us from it. So that we obtain false confidence in things that are being just as vain and transient as all the other things that we have resorted to in our human might. After a short time the devil decides to resume his activity in attacking us from all sides, and when we rely again on these seeming life-saving things then they fail to do anything. These vain and transient things never worked out in the first place. The divinity did never reward us for making use of these vain and transient things. All of this was being one great illusions. A corresponding thing applies to all these tricks and methods during meditation. A none-intervention of the devil is not the same thing as to having found God. Let’s say that the man is being disturbed by unwanted bad thoughts which keep coming over to him and which he is unable to prevent/control. The man does stop with his life and he begins to reason with himself what is calling for such bad thoughts, as if he had done something to deserve them. The man keeps inventing these and those reasons in order to explain it, and he invents these and those remedies which are supposed to appease the mind. But it has really nothing to do with the man himself and what is now his current attitude, and what is now his current choices and experienced circumstances. This is happening solely because of the mind’s malice toward the man. The mind is persecuting the man’s soul. The mind is making use of wrong things in order to steal the man’s attention from the right things. When the man does experience respite (temporary relief or rest) from the mind then it does not mean that one of these invented reasons is being a true explanation, nor that one of these invented remedies is being a true solution in appeasing the mind. Just like this opposition was really being uncalled for and undeserving then its presumed explanation and appeasement is being needless (an irrelevant digression). It should not be participated in the mind’s game in chasing after ‘good’ consequences in the mind and to flee from ‘bad’ consequences in the mind. The mind is an unjust judge which makes it seem like right attitude and right choices do call for bad consequences in the mind, while a wrong attitude and wrong choices do call for ‘good’ consequences in the mind. The mind did never do anything good. The mind makes it seem like good things are happening when it deliberately makes a short pause in its persecution. If the man stays sincere/true and consistent in his conviction then he will keep experiencing opposition from the mind all the time. If the man keeps changing his answers and making guesses, and come up with a temporary pretentious show in order to appease the mind; then the mind can for a short time seem to reward him for it through fleeting sensations and misleading bodily signs. But it will only happen for a short time and the insincere/false man soon finds himself back in the same position. The man is undergoing a spiritual test in his life, whether he will stand fast in his conviction and keep doing the right things he had been intent upon doing before the test, no matter what can change within him.
                             It can be mentioned when seemingly ‘healthy’ and ‘ordinary’ people show prejudices toward mentally ill people. The former people are not being troubled by the thoughts in their own lives, and thereby they consider mentally ill people to be pathetic for being troubled by the thoughts in their lives. All of this is being so shallow and self-centered. The former people are already being self-indulgent slaves to the selfish thoughts in their minds. These people are already despising God in their hearts and not believing that He is capable of anything in their lives. These people are already despising and discriminating those that are not being corrupt like them. These people are already being dictated by pride, contempt, hatred, covetousness, and envy, in the greater matters and most of the time. Instead of confronting the bad thoughts from their mind then they choose to make a compromise and be bribed into compliance, namely by diverting these bad thoughts toward someone else (scapegoat) and say these bad things about him and treat him like a bad person (as if all these false claims were true about him). They seek to save themselves from the mind by sacrificing someone else to the mind (prejudices). The mind does not need to try to force these people into compliance (convince through persecution) because they are already bowing down to the mind in their hearts. The mind does not persecute these people because they never wanted/dared to act contrary to the mind in the first place. They never wanted to become virtuous. They never wanted to cease to be selfish and to resist the selfish thoughts in their lives. Hence these people experience ‘soft’ and ‘indirect’ thoughts, or thoughts that are not being ‘hard’ and directed against them, thoughts that do not ‘grab’ them and ‘disturb’ them. But the mentally ill people keep experiencing aggressive and unpleasant thoughts again and again, and these thoughts are being accompanied by disruptive experience in the body. When a person is being sick then it experiences everything in a sick/bad way. A healthy person does not experience the circumstances in a bad way because it is already healthy. A ‘healthy’ person presumes that a sick person is being pathetic for feeling bad in the same circumstances, as if these ‘ordinary’ circumstances were causing the bad condition, when it really had all to do with the sickness of that person prior to it. The mind is being discriminating in what way it does treat the righteous persons and the wicked persons. The mind accuses/slanders and persecutes the righteous persons for doing the right thing, while the mind does flatter and bribe/support the wicked persons for doing the wrong thing. The mind does fool the wicked persons by pretending to be easy to bear and that its imaginary problems are easy to be solved, as if the wicked persons were in full control of their own mind and masters of it. But all this time the wicked persons were living inside a self-deception (illusion). They are like a caged bird which presumes that it has always been free, since that bird has never tried to move outside the cage and make use of its wings to fly. But if that bird would try to move outside the cage then it would quickly discover that it is unable to do so. The same thing applies to people which have had a selfish attitude their whole lives, and which have never tried to become virtuous in their lives.
                             It can be mentioned when a selfish man is now feeling miserable, and he does look to the past and how everything was supposed to be better back then (nostalgia). But during that time in the past then that man was also being selfish and doing the wrong thing. The difference between the present and the past is that in the divinity had previously been encouraging the man to repent and to do the right thing, which that man was never willing to do consider and act upon. Now the man is experiencing the bad consequences from his wrong choices in the past. The divinity is now punishing the man for his failure to repent and improve. During that ‘time for repentance’ then the divinity chose to hold back the wrath stored up and delay/postpone retribution, while being patient with the man and bearing with him and offering him further chances/opportunities in being redeemed from his selfish way of life. This ‘good old time’ (time of prosperity, golden age) was not being caused by the man’s attitude and choices. Despite all these good experiences or good turn of events which had happened; the man never allowed it to change him in a good way. ‘Nostalgia’ can be likened to that if the man was now having a hangover, and the man looks back to the night before that he had been intoxicated and having a good time. But this hangover would never have happened if the man had not been intoxicated prior to it. It did never involve a healthy living in the first place. Also the time that the selfish man experienced as ‘heaven’ (golden age) was being a ‘hell’ to others (the outcasts). For example the selfish man had once been popular in his youth, but during that time he had been treating his weak brethren as ‘trash’ and ‘pushing them out of the way’ (excluding) and exalting himself at their expense. A time of prosperity is not only about being free of problems and having a comfortable life. It is also about improving as a person and obtaining a spiritual progress. We should not consider our present time to be bad when we are being free of blame and doing the right thing, even that we are having bad experience within and without. Despite all these bad consequences in our mind and body, and despite all these bad consequences in circumstances and from other people; then we did still never do anything to deserve it and call for it. And we should not consider our present time to be good when we are full of blame and doing the wrong thing, even that we are having seeming good/positive experience within and without. All these good things were really being caused by the good attitude and choices of someone else. We only happened to be near when the divinity was blessing someone else, without us having contributed anything good in the situation.

The Gospel of Christ is like an inner constitution for the individual. The same spiritual laws (morality) continue to apply to the human soul, regardless of time and place. The human body is nothing without the soul. The soul controls the body and determines it’s potential, for better or worse. That to be human means that we will experience compassion versus desires, inspiration versus delusions, and peace versus impulses. Such things are indeed impalpable, something which cannot be seen and touched, but it can still be experienced from within. The faith in God is about unlocking His spiritual values, like faith, hope, charity, courage, wisdom, humility, temperance, patience. And where there are spiritual values there are also benefits, like inner purity, sobriety, stability, peace, equanimity, light-heartedness, joy, alertness, and responsiveness. It can of course not be seen and touched that which is taking place in the man’s soul, but it does still not mean that it should be belittled. The spiritual values are the source of everything else. It drives the man from within and determines whether he will obtain success in his undertakings, since it involves determination, good judgment, and the right feeling in the body. The faith is not the same thing as perfectionism, as if we would first need to do this or that before obtaining grace from God. It is rather about acknowledging our human frailty, that we are unable to become virtuous and overcome the world, unless we do first receive God into our life. The only thing required is to believe that God is capable of helping us, that He is concerned for us and is willing to redeem us from our sins, even that we are already imperfect. First did God show us grace and became a part of our life, and next were we able to become a decent person, led by our conscience and only wishing well. This means that God’s presence is the cause, and our personal improvement is the consequence. First God showed us grace and then everything else came by itself, with all its spiritual progress. All the good things are originated from God, and shared with us as free gifts. But we did never have anything to offer in the first place. It is us that are in need of God, but He does not need us in a sense, since God is already perfect and owns everything. It is not good works which are the cause of divine grace. It is not like the man does first need to do something to prove himself and to deserve divine grace, and then afterwards feel himself saved by God. A self-righteous man forces it upon himself to do good deeds, when he is really unwilling to do so and it is not done with a right understanding. That man is still bound to his self, either fearing or expecting something for its sake (ulterior motives). Good works are rather meant to be the consequence of divine grace. Because the man is already saved by God then he is willing to do good works for free. The man simply believes in the value of the good choice, and he feels like doing it, and he is thankful for the opportunity. It is done the right thing because it is the right thing to do. Because God has changed the man and made him into a good person then the man is drawn to good things, he inclines to them, and he aspires for them. Divine grace motivates and encourages good works. It does merely reflect and confirm that what has already happened from within (stance). When it is given alms to the poor or donated to a charity then it is not because we expect to feel good about it afterwards. Because we already feel good and have all our spiritual needs taken care of then we are being grateful enough that we freely choose to help other people. The good work is being straight-forward in itself, that it might benefit the well-being of other people and bring them relief in their difficult circumstances (distress).  We are being freed from the need to seek expensive pleasures/luxuries or remedies/therapy, and we do not need to travel somewhere else to find something good or escape something bad, since there was never any spiritual lack in us in the first place to call for such search. The faith does reach to the man’s love for God and the man’s love for his neighbor. The former is internal, while the latter is external. If we love God with all our heart and all our soul then the intended end/outcome of that faith is peace within. If we love our neighbour as ourselves then the intended end/outcome of that faith is mercy toward the needy/poor.
                           When we invest in the well-being of the poor and the needy then it makes us invest in a spiritual/heavenly treasure. That spiritual treasure does manifest itself in divine luck. There will always happen something good in time to bring us relief in our time of distress. The divinity is capable of creating favourable changes in the situation. The divinity is capable of making a right person be there at the right moment and right place in helping/saving us, which might have seem to be a happy coincidence to us, and yet it was deliberately being planned by the divinity long before it. That to become lucky in a critical situation or regarding our most important needs, that indeed is priceless. It is something which cannot be bought with money, and which no material object can be used to trade/exchange for, and which cannot be equaled to. That to help the weak for free makes the divinity help us for free in our weakness. Also, charity toward the poor and needy is in itself a preventive measure against thieves and frauds/scammers. It cannot be robbed the generous man of his wealth if he has already given away all his wealth to the needy/poor. It cannot be robbed someone who does not have anything to be robbed of. Because the generous man is free of covetousness then he cannot be defrauded by those that appeal to the covetousness of their victims and deceive them with imaginary promises (of acquiring more wealth). Finally, a generous man can be blessed with good taste of things. He does not waste his money upon expensive junk or dull/boring entertainments. Somehow he is able to find the best material in each category (the few things of the best quality), instead of going through everything belonging to one category (which includes all those of poor quality and mediocre quality). The man with good taste manages to make good use of the time, so that he is able to refreshen himself between hard work and continue being focused upon it.
                     The essence of the faith consists in Jesus Christ Himself, and how He lived among us in this world. For the Lord is the living example of the faith, with its principles, accomplishments, and victories. It did not only reach to human dealings, but also to the activity of the soul. The Lord obeyed God in every matter, and conquered temptations in every matter. The life of Christ was perfect and nothing more needed to be added. The man must become like the Lord if he is ever going to do the same things. And that can only happen if the man receives the Lord into his life and is remade in His spirit. First must the man become pure from within before he can speak and act in a pure way. There must come pure intentions from a pure heart. The man will otherwise not offer pure intentions from impure heart. The deeds can only become good if the intentions are good. The deeds can otherwise never become good if the attitude behind it is false and selfish. This is why Jesus Christ is the centre of the faith, the very foundation of everything. For that only His presence is able to change our heart, soul, spirit, and mind. It should not only be looked upon that what the Lord preached and practiced, but also what He never preached nor practiced. The true believers are meant to behave after His good example, even as the Son proved to be noble and altruistic like the Father. The followers can prove to be frail, prone to error of judgment and mistakes. But the Lord Himself can never be blamed for anything. The Lord would have done the perfect thing in our position. And we can also become blameless in everything, if we will only heed His teachings in our heart and apply it to our life. It is a good rule of thumb to ask ourselves what Jesus Christ would have done in our position, or what He would never have done. For that we can be imperfect and guilty of faults, but we do still always believe that the Lord is perfect and blameless. This is justification of the faith, to believe that the Lord is just and able to save us; regardless of that what we have hitherto become and done in our life, and where we are now at.
                     When Jesus Christ carried our sins on the cross then it did not only reach to the external behaviour. The Lord has underwent every bad internal experience of the human people. He has already confronted and overcome every desire of the heart there is, every delusions of the mind there is, and every impulse of the flesh there is. All these bad things passed through the Lord without ever corrupting Him. All these bad internal experiences can be likened to dark clothes which the Lord wore, without ever being part of His own body. The Lord maintained an innocent life amidst all these thoughts and mental symptoms. Hence the Lord has the rightful position to intervene and save us from every bad internal experience. The Lord has already done it, and He can do it again in us all, as many times as He wants. By overcoming all these temptations then the Lord collected every spiritual victory there is. The Lord unlocked every good possibility in his life. All this good sense, good qualities, and benefits are contained in one man. And through that same one man are all things made accessible to everyone. The faith of Abraham reveals the faith of the Lord. The meekness of Moses reveals the meekness of the Lord. The mercy of David reveals the mercy of the Lord. All these Biblical figures from Abel to Zechariah reveal the good qualities which would be gathered together in the child of promise. The Lord does possess the power to share His spiritual victory with us, so that we will reap all the benefits from His victory. It does not only reach to a right answer and an inner strength in order to overcome temptation, but also what happens after it has been overcome them, the final destination. It can be headed directly to that in experiencing the effects of that in being victorious (feeling good).
                      That to be under the grace of God can be likened to the relationship between an infant and its parents. The parents take care of all the needs of the child, and that child does  not have to do anything except to receive good things from them. Even so the divinity does freely choose to share all good things with us, even that we are being so imperfect and restricted, ignorant and incapable. The infant is being breastfed by its mother, where the infant receives nourishment (milk) from the middle-part of her body, where the heart is stationed in between. Even so we are being nourished by the inspiration from the Spirit of God in our hearts. An infant is in ideal condition to watch and listen and learn from its parents, because the infant is like a blank page in its heart and soul. Since the infant has only recently come into the world then there is no old knowledge or accumulated wrong opinions getting in the way of the new knowledge being taught by its parents.  And every time that the infant has a bad experience (unrest) then it cries to its parents, where it makes use of the one and the same thing to let it’s parents know about it, and then the parents immediately seek to comfort and soothe it. A similar thing applies when we are having difficulty resisting temptation and we experience ourselves weak, which we thereby consider to become a problem in our eyes. The only thing required is that we approach the divinity for help and confess the truth about our position. Then the divinity will do something within us to calm us down. It can be said that during our whole lifetime then we are again and again being tested/tempted, whether we will continue to have faith in the divinity to calm us down and make us be at rest, regarding every experience we have within and without. No matter how difficult and unpleasant experience we can be having, whether it stems from seemingly great matters or trivial matters (since we can know it with ourselves that we should not be so troubled by such trivial/ordinary incidents, and yet we cannot stop experiencing awkwardness and restlessness about it); then it is only sufficient to believe that God can lead us through this bad experience. There can be many bad things going on in the world (like war), and yet the infant does not understand what is happening and is not being aware of it. The infant only looks to its parents for comfort. They are the centre of its existence. Even so we should not become troubled about all the wrong things happening in the world, these things which are beyond our control, but instead look up to God and have faith that He is over all these things and able to make things turn out good. Abraham sojourned (had a temporary stay) in many places, without settling permanently in each one. Abraham had faith in that what God promised, and he was willing to travel to the unknown. He kept waiting for further command from God, and while he waited then he was at peace. It does correspond to the spiritual journey within ourselves. When we are being led into a bad inner place, which involves a bad personal experience, then we are not supposed to stop on a temptation and justify it being a permanent (settled) part of ourselves (corruption). We are not supposed to stay long on a temptation, like when it is prolonged its bad influence through our own compliance or needless effort in trying to save ourselves from it. We are rather meant to keep renouncing this bad experience long enough that God deems it timely to save us from it and take us away from it. Hence we stay for a short time on this bad inner place, and God helps us to keep moving on with our lives, until we come across another bad inner place, and so forth. We stay/remain calm and wait long enough for God to intervene within us. In our lifetime we travel through all these inner places of the world (image of the world, under the  power of the Enemy), without us belonging to any one. We keep looking up to Zion, the kingdom of God, which is not of this world. The moral principles of God are our spiritual map, guiding us closer to His spiritual kingdom.

7.2: Human Misgivings

The ‘unbelievers’ can also be scrupulous and have good values, even that they do not believe formally in Jesus Christ, even that they are not ‘religious’. Many of them do still belong to God in their heart, since they obey the good things which are originated from Him. It is thereby believed indirectly in God, through His sense of truth and justice, which is either way meant to be the end of the faith. Such men are not really ‘unbelievers’. But the term does rather apply to amoral people, whom do not believe in the value of the goodness, or in human decency above selfishness. The faithful unbeliever is someone who does not reject Christ, at least not deliberately, although he can reject the religions of the world and belong to none of them. There are however many people whom pretend to believe in God, by agreeing with Him in their thought and words, while they are utterly faithless in conviction and deeds. It is thereby shown faithlessness indirectly, when moral choices need to be made, so there is no context between that which is said and that which is being done. The faithful unbeliever is better than a faithless believer, but a faithful believer is better than a faithful unbeliever. The faithful believer knows about God and how to approach Him, so that God can help him to do the right thing. But the faithful unbeliever relies only upon his human effort, and has thereby more trouble doing the right thing. The man can indeed know the right thing and be willing enough to do it, but he is still finds himself unable to do it. The ability itself is still out of reach. Only those can do right whom it has been given by God. That applies both to the believer and the unbeliever. Supernatural assistance is required against supernatural enemies. There is need for divine benefits to counter and nullify the bad influence which forces itself upon the man internally. The faith in God helps to restrain the man and hold him in balance. And the believer can identify the enemies behind temptations and fight spiritual battles in a proper way. Otherwise the man has a hard time resisting temptations which he fails to understand. Much time and effort can be spent on needless struggle against needless problems (lies, illusions).
                     The Law of Moses is deemed to be harsh. Still, these are the kinds of punishments all of us would deserve for breaking the law. And yet the justice does never stand alone. Justice is always accompanied by the mercy of God. This means that we are indeed guilty of transgressions and deserve to be punished, but it is still within the power of God to pardon us and save us. It is not like God is cheating and breaking His own law, but God has offered His Son to take the punishment instead, as the only lawful thing to be done. The Law is still in full effect, what is deemed to be a crime and that it should be punished accordingly, unless that the Lord directed it to Himself, as if hostages were being exchanged. The people of our times consider the Law of Moses to be controversial. It is not because the law does encourage iniquity, but rather because the punishments seem too harsh. But in the world it is generally agreed what is considered to be unlawful, a crime, a transgression, an offence. It can be mentioned murder, adultery, theft, and false witness. It must of course be upheld law and order, where it is made an example of the transgressor in order to enforce discipline upon the rest, to prevent similar crimes in the future. But if God shows grace to the transgressor then it is because the latter has already repented and assumed responsibility, so he will not repeat the same mistakes and misdeeds. It was not these or those punishments that managed to solve the problem, but it was rather caused by the kindness of God, as superior means in preventing crimes. The justice is the ideal thing to be done, but since the man proves to be frail then he is unable to obey it every time This is why the mercy of God is meant to undo previous setbacks, and make the man again able to obey the justice, so it can be done the right thing henceforth.
                     God knows what truly dwells within each man, and understands his position. The Lord does already understand how we feel, what we are in need of, what we are thinking about, and what we are about to say to Him. He does already know everything there is about our attitude, our motives, our intentions, our premises, and our expectations. The Lord does already know why we are doing this, for what and/or for whom. He already knows what we are trying to do, what we hope to attain, and what we intend to do after having obtained the same. It can apply that the man would have believed in God if he only knew better and ‘how’ to do it. The man might deny Christian religions and organizations, but it does still not mean that he has denied Jesus Christ. Religion is the man’s version of the faith. Religion is the  man’s interpretation of the Scripture. There exist many different versions and interpretations. Even that religions can be a failure and dissapointment then it does still not undermine the Scripture in any way. What the man can touch and make can be corrupted. But the spiritual values of the faith continue to exist pure in heaven, beyond the man’s reach. Hence the man can lose faith in the religions of the world and reject their teachings, at the same time that he continues to be open for God and His words, waiting for them to be revealed. And the man might deny religious delusions, self-righteous interpretations of the Scripture, but it does still not mean that he has denied the Scripture. Many people have given up on the Scripture, not because of the original meaning or the moral value of the teachings, but it was rather because the Enemy tempted them with wrong assumptions. Remember when the Enemy tried to tempt the Lord into casting Himself down from the temple, by quoting a specific place in the Scripture, unless it was put in wrong context. It can thereby apply that the people hate such religious delusions and do not want to become like the false believers, but they mistake the Scripture for being the cause of it. However if the people really knew God then they would follow Him, because they do still believe in His goodness, and have not betrayed God in their heart.
                     The Father and the Son are exactly the same. It can be said that they share the same heart and would have done the same thing in any situation. But many people presume that the Heavenly Father is selfish and harsh while the Son is noble and humane, because of supposable difference between the Old and the New Testament. It is failed to realize that Jesus Christ would have said and done the same thing as the Father, and the Father would have said and done the same thing as the Son. The Lord could just as well have fulfilled the role of the Father in the Old Testament, and the Father could just as well have fulfilled the role of the Son in the New Testament. Both of them are basically the same person, except the differences consist in their roles, and who came before the other. Christ is of course the Lord, and the Lord is often quoted in the Old Testament. So the supposed controversies do also reach to Jesus Christ we know, but not only to the Father. It does not mean that Jesus Christ is guilty of harsh and unfair dealings toward the human race, but it is rather us who are to be blamed for not fully understanding the matter. We do not always know the reasons behind God’s decisions, why God acted in the way He did, and what end He has in sight, regarding the overall picture. This is why we should first understand what kind of person God is, what belongs to His good nature, and what His love is capable of, before it can be explained His intervention in all things. If God is good then His intervention must also be good. God did hard things through love, because it needed to be done.
                     Jesus Christ proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was at hand. It was not the same thing as the end of this world, or that sinners were about to be punished with hell. The Kingdom of God is made possible through the Spirit of God inside the believer. It is a spiritual state where the truth and the justice prevails. The end of the world does not only reach to the destruction of the earth. It can also mean the end of the world’s evil influence, which had once troubled the man from within. There will no longer be any uncertainty and selfish problems afflicting the man. The man will instead become confident, calm, sober, light-hearted, stable, and at peace. It does not make any sense when fanatics claim that God wants us to suffer for our sins. It does contradict the mutual love between persons. That love is originated from God, where He loves us and wants us to love one another in the same way. Fanatics presume that everyone will go to hell except they, but such arrogant and uncaring attitude would never exist unless God was already absent from their life. This means that the fanatics are already spiritually dead, and it is like they see death in all things, since they have rejected God in spirit and the inner life from His presence. God does love us more than we do love ourselves, and more than we do love the fellow man. His kindness and generosity does always surpass our best expectations. Therefore can we obtain comfort in misfortune, since we are in the good hands of God and He treats us better than we deserve. It is only God who is able to justify us and grant us eternal life. But it is not something which we can deserve by our merit, or work hard for with many services. This does not mean that God will condemn everyone and send them to hell, but it does rather explain why God does redeem us from our sins. It is because of God’s goodness alone, and for no other reason. He loves us with His whole heart and effort. It is not like we can assert anything in advance, and demand eternal life from God, but we are rather meant to acknowledge the obvious truth and submit to Him. The everlasting Paradise is of greater worth than this transient earth, and the perfect body of Christ is greater than our imperfect body. It would not make any sense if the imperfect things could deserve the perfect things, or be traded as objects of equal value. So the grace of God is much greater than anything which we can offer to Him. But God does still choose to give it freely to us, as a testimony about His own greatness.

It has already been described the voice of God from within the individual, in what way it does manifest itself. That helps us to know the truth by recognizing its origin. It might seem that we are listening to our heart, but it is really the Spirit of God in our heart. Our heart has already been purified and revived by the Spirit of God. Our heart would otherwise remain spiritually barren, dictated by self-centred desires and too much personal attachment. That to follow the heart without God’s presence is to prefer self-seeking over reasonable counsel and discipline/restraint. Jesus Christ is the very personification of the Truth. This means that the truth is humble, temperate, and discreet, just like the Lord Himself behaved while He was among us. It is in the nature of the truth to comfort us, solve all our problems, dispel all our worries, raise our spirit back to hope, rebuke our folly and errors, and reassure us that God will always be there to watch over us. It is not like the truth would treat us in a superficial and harsh way, by dwelling on our past faults and accusing us of everything. But that can only belong to the Enemy. This is why the man is not supposed to be afraid of the truth, that the truth will reveal something from the past and cause him harm (pain, shame, or loss). For that Jesus Christ is the Truth itself, able to forgive us our sins and make us forget all about the past evils. The truth is meant to deliver us from all evils, so that we can repent, learn from our mistakes, improve our life, and regenerate every wound in our soul. But it is the Enemy that seeks to exploit the past against us and make us dwell on our weaknesses, since that he is wicked and ugly in his soul. It is not the truth that does hurt us, but it is rather our thoughts about it. We fail to notice the truth in its own right while we are concerned about our self-image, a mere illusion and a vanity. It is true that the truth can reveal our faults, but it is also true that the truth is able to pardon us of the same things. So there is always more truth behind every matter, made accessible to us and capable of our deliverance, if we would only believe in its value. The Life moves on, because the Lord is the Life, ever helping us to make the best of the situation, to live in the present time, to let go of our problems, and let the matter rest. The Life itself is being beautiful and forgiving, while the world (or the image of the world) is being ugly and cruel. Since Jesus Christ is the Life itself then the Life is being gracious and merciful.
                             It can be mentioned when we are afraid of doing something wrong, and we are worried that something bad might happen to those that we love. However the Life itself proves to be tolerant and patient toward us in our unintended mistakes and negligence. Even that we can unintentionally do something amiss then no bad consequences do follow. It is like the Life chooses to overlook this and pardon this this time. The Life had already anticipated this, and thereby created favorable coincidences in averting bad consequences (no contact, no recipient). The Life is quick to make us realize our mistakes, and help us to not repeat them, and to take a necessary precaution next time and from now on. These mistakes and negligence will only lead to bad consequence if we deliberately keep repeating them, if we are abusing the grace of the divinity and ‘tempting fate’. We can be grateful that all these fears and worries do only seem to exist in our head. The reality is far more gracious and merciful than the mind’s version of the reality. We can be grateful that all this bad experience is only happening within us, without being in any connection with that what is happening outside us. It is not like we first need to have a good internal experience (feel good and to have ‘good thoughts’) that we might obtain some kind of guarantee that our beloved ones are having it good and that we should not be worried over them. It can apply that when we have bad experience within us, and good things are being denied to us, and we cannot see past this darkness that shrouds us; then the divinity is at the same time being gracious to everyone else in everything. Because we experience all these bad things then the divinity makes up for it by making the opposite thing apply to those we love. We cannot see it happening when we are all alone or our beloved ones are distant from us, and yet this invisible faith leads to all kinds of invisible benefits and lucky coincidences (as preventive measures), when the invisible Spirit of God and/or His angels are working behind the scene. Even that it might seem like we have already done something wrong, and that the matter has already finished in a bad way, and that ‘all is lost’ (an impossible or hopeless situation); then it is still a question whether we take God into account/consideration, that God is still able to do something about this, that God is still able to have the final say in the matter and to a create an unexpected change/movement for the better. We can still acknowledge/confirm that God is able to free us from this bad experience (forgetfulness, no awareness of its existence) or make this bad experience bearable enough for us, that we are at least not being overwhelmed by it and able to maintain ‘good posture’. We acknowledge/confirm that God has already anticipated everything, and that He already has a solution in store for everything, and that He can still show us a way out of this darkness. Also because the mind always lies then we can receive consolation from that knowledge. All these bad things which the mind mentions are not going to happen. All these bad possibilities (fears and worries) can be excluded.
                     Temptations manifest themselves in the selfish desires of the heart, the delusions of the mind, and the impulses of the flesh. It is only the delusions which tempt us with speech, while desires and impulses are more like effects at the same time. All temptations are originated from the mind, although our mind is not alive or evil in itself. It is rather because the Enemy can insert/implant his thoughts into our mind. The Enemy is capable of sending us thoughts and imaginations, as if it were telepathically. There could happen storm at the sea. Something bad could happen at the sea and threaten the human people. The sea is quiet and still, until the wind blows upon it and disturbs it. The human mind is quiet and still, until the Enemy inserts his own thoughts and imaginations into it. It is not really the human mind which is evil in itself. It only seems to be so while the Enemy is tempting the man and making everything seem bad in his eyes. The Enemy possess the deliberate will to tempt the human people, to oppose them, and to distract them. It should not be blamed the scene where the crimes happened. It should rather be blamed the wicked person that committed the crime at the scene. Once the Enemy has been cast out then the mind will become quiet and still again. That to be tempted is not the same thing as compliance, in having already yielded within. That to be tempted by the Enemy is not the same thing as if we had already sinned, or that we had been guilty of selfish desires in our heart. It does not mean that we did something prior to it to draw the Enemy to us (something to call for it and deserve it). For that Jesus Christ was indeed sinless in this world, but the Enemy did tempt Him all the same, in every possible way, both directly and indirectly, in his person and through the human people. This is why we should not become troubled when the mind seems to haunt us, involving unpleasant or aggressive thoughts. Such process would have happened either way. It is nothing personal, like what we have hitherto become and done with our life, since that temptations can be something which could not have been prevented in our mind. Only God is able to prevent temptations, and drive the Enemy away from our life. Our human effort would otherwise not have made any difference, in silencing the mind. When we are being led by a selfish desire then we wish for or expect selfish things to happen. It is coveted for and craved after sinful things. It is felt the need for it. Next will we experience delusions, arguments that encourage us to make our selfish desires come true in deeds. It is contemplated ‘how’ we should speak and behave, that we might obtain success in our pursuit and gratify our self. Finally it will be experienced impulses, illusionary effects in our flesh/body, involving obsession, restlessness, and self-constraint. Impulses make it seem hard for us to resist the urges to commit these selfish things all over again. We are no longer spiritually sober and able to maintain distance from the things we know to be wrong. But we are being swayed by misleading signs and false alarms in our body, so we allow it to convince us  above the reasons in doing the right thing. These things point to one another and sustain one another. Impulses like fear and anger seem to add weight to and confirm the presumptions which is had. It does create a vicious cycle. It can still happen that the Enemy is able to tempt us in our mind, even that we are free of selfish desires and have not done anything wrong, both in our attitude and deeds. We will experience selfish thoughts in our mind, but it is like mere words, unable to make any impression on us, and which is easy for us to reject. We are already pure and at peace, stationed at the right foundation. These thoughts come over to us, uninvited. But we are already closed in our hearts. Every time the temptation tries to infiltrate then we turn our attention away from it or see past it.
                     When the man does believe in Jesus Christ for the first time then he can experience all kinds of unpleasant thoughts, which has never before happened in his life. The man tries to rationalize why he does experience such aggressive thoughts, constantly harassing him. The man assumes he had been doing something wrong and reaped its consequences from within. It is assumed that this is as sign of repression and he is being too hard on himself. It might seem to be the logical thing to blame the faith because of the bad things that have been happening at the same time, concerning the man’s mindset and stability. But does it not seem incredibly coincidental that the man did never experience such delusions while he was being selfish! The man did not meet such opposition when he already compliant to corruption. It did however only happen afterwards, when the man had finally attempted to become virtuous, by doing the right thing and abstaining from corruption. Is this not a good sign that the evilness is persecuting the man for following the goodness, rather than that the goodness would be punishing the man for being no longer selfish! The adversity is incidental. It could be compared the opposition of the mind to the methods of Pavlov, regarding classical conditioning and involuntary reflex actions. The man will experience adversity in his mind while he does believe in God. But he should acknowledge that the mind is at fault, rather than by blaming the faith. A pursuit for pleasure and an avoidance of pain does not make the decision right in itself. It should rather be based on conviction, freedom, understanding, and morality. The adversity does not really prove or disprove anything when it is evaluated the goodness by its own merit. The faith can still work out in the man’s life. The man can still make use of the things which belong to the good side. Even that it is thought about God then it does still not mean that we are doing His will, since that thoughts belong to the mind and it distorts our vision of all things. The Spirit of God is in our heart, and His voice does manifest itself in a silent sense. It can only be obeyed the will of God by heeding His voice. But we should not implicate thoughts to His will, since we will otherwise rely on wrong means, offered by the Enemy. The man should not blame God for his own failure and disappointment, because it was never originated from God’s Spirit.
                     A sin is the same thing as unbelief in God and His goodness. The unbelieving man is not open for the possibilities of the goodness, so that he will neither look for them nor consider them. It is like the man has already given up on the goodness in advance, before experiencing and knowing the goodness for himself. But it is like the man does exactly the opposite thing in regard to the evilness and its possibilities. A faithless man overrates the significance of every evil thing. He believes that dishonesty and cheating will benefit him the most. Unbelief does begin in the man’s attitude. The man has already chosen the evil possibility and yielded to it from within, long before he has spoken and behaved in such way. This is why unbelief in God is the original cause, which drives the man’s own weakness and corruption. The external behaviour is merely the consequence. If there is no unbelief then there will also be no iniquity, because the attitude governs the behaviour. A good attitude does always equal good behaviour, but a good behaviour does not necessarily equal good attitude, if the premises behind it are wrong. The external factors are determined by the internal factors, what kind of response or reception will be shown to the external factors. A strong kingdom will easily drive off the invader, while a corrupt kingdom will easily fall, since it is already defeated from within even before an enemy appeared on the scene. It can also be likened to the human body and the environment. The external influence does always first need to go through the sense organs, and next be analyzed by the spiritual capability. Now the only sin consists in that of ‘not’ believing in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. It will prevent the unbeliever from obtaining the Spirit of God. That man will remain unaltered in his heart, selfish and incapable of obeying the will of God. The faith in Jesus Christ is the source of all truth and goodness. It is all about preventive measures, so that neither unbelief nor evil desires will affect the attitude. If the heart is full of good things then it will block all evil growth which tries to enter.
                     Every sin and iniquity is as equally wrong in its nature, and should be rejected from the outset. Every temptation is originated from the same evil nature. It would be a foolish thing to speak of ‘small’ temptations and a ‘big’ temptations, or a ‘greater’ evil and a ‘lesser’ evil. It is because it does involve different arguments from the same person, the Enemy himself, whom is deliberately trying to destroy, humiliate, corrupt, and manipulate the human people. The Enemy does everything from pure malice, but it does never involve any sincerity in wanting good things to happen. The matter is not about that what the Enemy can say differently to us, whether it is deemed to be a ‘harmless’ temptation or a serious one. It should rather be noticed that what he is trying to promote. All crimes are evil, and some crimes are more serious than others. For an example the worst crimes are directed against the person, while the smaller ones only involve material possessions outside the person. All crimes are still originated from corresponding attitude, like covetousness, lack of charity, or hatred. The behaviour might be different, but the selfish desires behind it remain the same. God is capable of forgiving us of all sins and iniquity, so that our soul will be purified of all corruption, healed of spiritual sickness, and guided by the Holy Spirit henceforth. Therefore will all our sins and iniquity become insignificant in the eyes of God, and made to naught, since we have been the given a chance to start a new life. It does not mean that such sins and iniquity are trivial in general, but only when the power of God is concerned, when He helps sinners and victims to recover. But the Law of Moses is still as equally valid; regarding the state of the world, what each of us would be guilty of and deserve to suffer, if it was not for God’s grace.
                     It is idolatry when the man worships his own prosperity, and becomes like a slave to pleasures and luxury, unwilling to say ‘no’ to his need for self-gratification. The man will no longer make decisions according to morality, what is deemed to be right or wrong in general, in evaluating innocence and dignity for its own sake. But the man will only be concerned about pursuit for pleasure and an avoidance of pain, regardless of the actual means (no matter how degrading to him). It can be mentioned when the man is already healthy, free, happy, sober, stable, at peace, light-hearted, and untroubled. And yet the man begins to crave for sinful means, like debauchery. It would correspond to that if the man would crave for food, even that he is not hungry. So the man craves for sinful pleasures, even that he is already happy and does not really need such things. The selfish people do already experience inner emptiness and unhappiness, so they rely upon debauchery in order to forget all about their troubles. Alcohol and sex is supposed to be the means that promote happiness as the effects. However if the man is already happy then he does not need to rely upon such means in the first place, since he does already experience good effects without the means. The selfish people are never able to become happy from within, even that they are constantly repeating sinful means. The selfish people become obsessive over the sinful means, even that they do not lead to any good effects, so it is preferred the useless means above the goal in sight. The faith in God makes us able to head directly to the beneficial effects, like happiness and peace, even that we have done and used nothing at all. We do not need any intercessors, like human means or earthly items in order to produce it. It is not like we do first need to own this or that, or do this or that, before we can finally become happy. It is something which is freely given to us by God. We can possess happiness at the very outset.  

7.3: Faith versus the World

There is a difference between faith and religions. Faith is about the original teachings of the divinity, what the divinity has testified of itself and in what way it should be approached. We have God’s testimony to us, found in the Scripture. That is the primary source, the original meaning. But then there is the human interpretations of the same testimony, or human thoughts about it, which tends to digress to entirely different meaning. The religions of the world are more like secondary or third-rate source, since there are many human interpreters in between. It is like an interpretation of an interpretation, while it is neglected the original testimony. The Scripture tells us what kind of person God is, what He is capable of in our life, what kind of moral principles belong to Him, and what is our position in His eyes. The faith does help the man adapt to God and His goodness, while religions try to make God adapt to human presumptions and errors. It is taken the name of God in vain, as if God was a mere tool or propaganda, to self-justify those with the most power. The human people ascribe their own foolish opinions to God, and attempt to shape God into their own image, as if God would be a mere reflection of their ego. And if something is deemed popular in the society then it is immediately implicated to God, as if God would agree with it and allow the people to change His testimony. It is the same thing when it is worshipped a golden calf, under the same name as God. The human people have preferred their subjective image of God above God Himself, and their interpretations of the Scripture above the Scripture itself. It does not longer involve the same principles which define His person, since God is known by His truth and goodness. It would correspond to that if we would make a statue of our friend, and then prefer that statue above our friend, even that there is nothing identical to the friend except the outward shape. A selfish man tells himself ‘I want to do this selfish thing’. And when the man becomes a phony believer (through selfish reasons) then he instead tells himself ‘God wants me to do this selfish thing’. Nothing has really changed in regard to the attitude and the behaviour. The name of God is being taken in vain and used as an excuse for the very same selfish things.  A self-righteous man is still being a selfish man deep down in his heart. He has still not opened his heart to God and allowed God to change it. All this lip-service involves empty words. It is mentioned the word ‘God’ while everything implicated/attached to it has nothing to do with God. A self-righteous man does deep down desire the same selfish things as the selfish people, but he tries to guise it with ‘beautiful’ words/vocabulary when speaking to other people. He makes something ‘high’ and ‘mighty’ from something ‘trivial’, or he tries to decorate and overblow something  which could have been said plainly. He does seem to say all the right things in order to get other people to do what he wants. It is like a specific man would pretend to be spiritual in order to impress a woman enough that she would have sexual relations with him. All this ‘spiritual talk’ turned out to be carnally minded all along. It ended up being a contradiction, something opposite of that which was originally claimed to be.
                     The religions of the world are irrelevant, a mere digressions. A religion is not the same thing as God, but it is separated from Him. That to criticize religions is not the same thing as if the man was criticizing God. This means that we do not need to defend religions and their doctrines. God has existed from the beginning. First God created the universe, next the earth, and finally the human race. The human race did then create religions, with all their errors and crimes. This means that the religion merely came afterwards. It would be foolish thing to blame God for their faults, since it never involved God directly. It is the men that showed error of judgment, and committed crimes against each other. But God did never do so in His own person, nor did He encourage them to do it. In every religion there are all kinds of scandals, and crimes committed in secret. It was never the true believers whom became guilty of such wickedness, nor did God help them do it. It is namely a good sign that the wicked offenders never belonged to God in the first place, since the divine grace would otherwise have purified their heart. And the same thing applies about the leaders of such religions, which attempt to cover up the crimes, since they are afraid that the scandal would otherwise harm their position. It is a good sign that God never gave His approval of such religion, nor was it founded upon His goodness. That religion was merely invented for the sake of its leaders. It is like that religion is merely pretence, so that men can create titles in order to feel important about themselves, receive honour from each other, and convince each other about their own delusions.
                     At our times then it has been marketized the faith as any other product on the market. Specific men are said to possess the ability to produce religious mental experience upon touch. But such ‘service’ and ‘miracles’ are never mentioned in the Scripture, let alone promoted by it. The Scripture speaks against demand for signs. In this case it is chased after ‘supernatural touch’ from God. People experience sensations or illusions that come and go, without having any beneficial effects. The faith of many people could be compared to addiction to drugs, because it is craved for something which is supposed to bestow sensations in the body and hallucinations. The people could just as well watch a movie or play a video game if they want to see beautiful ‘special effects’, rather than by expecting such vanity from God. But there is no belief in the goodness, no personal improvement, no understanding of moral principles, no firm conviction behind the deeds, and no analysis or discernment of spiritual matters. Something happens, and then it is over. The man finds himself still stuck on the same selfish problems. He remains just as ignorant and selfish as before he experienced this in the first place. Supernatural signs and magic tricks are altogether irrelevant to that in feeling better, knowing better, and doing better. True miracles are about healing  and restoration within. That the bad things might go away and good things enter instead, which surpass current restrictions, in regard to the person’s internal condition, will/willingness, understanding, and capability. It can even be questioned the value of future predictions (prophecies), because even that this or that world event would come true then it does still not help deal with the underlying cause which makes people think and act the way they do. It is more important to offer spiritual guidance which can apply to each and every individual, in what way he copes with various matters on a daily basis and what is its essence to hold unto. False prophets are only concerned about increasing their power and luxury. In order to do so then they need more followers, whom can support them financially. Their followers are not without blame. They are really followers of signs. The false religions try to get as many people as possible, by appealing to their vanity and selfishness, and making compromises with the world. It has been preferred quantity over quality. It is betrayed every principle in order to obtain more followers, while it is neglected each individual by himself. But as more people come together to worship God then their faith becomes the more superficial and impersonal, like it is merely for the sake of nearby spectators. It is attempted to shape the crowd into the same mould, so that everyone will become as easily exploited by propaganda and tricks. It can also be condemned the ‘christian culture’ with all its inventions/merchandise, like christian TV stations, christian radio stations, christian self-help books, christian music, and christian objects (crosses, pictures, statues). All of this is nothing more than mass produced clichés and junk, which gets in the way of God’s original testimony and steals the attention from it. It does correspond to that when it was made a  golden calf which was called by the same name as the Lord, and when faithless merchants at the temple in Jerusalem sold animals which could be sacrificed. It is seemingly done something for the sake of the Lord without having first been consulted with Him. What does Jesus Christ feel and think about all of this? What did Jesus Christ make use of or avoid using? What did Jesus Christ approve of for being important or condemn for being trivial?
                         It can be confessed that one was once a phony believer. One was constantly trying to save oneself from unwanted thoughts, and one was constantly seeking a supernatural sign from God to make one certain that one was being saved. At that time then one attended to a Christian cult which was being led by a self-righteous preacher. During that time then one was being so absorbed by personal problems that one was not really looking around, when it came to notice the value of that what people said and did, and what kind of people they were. But once one began to truly open one’s heart to God and approach God in faith and become fully determined to abide by moral principles; then one also began to notice how phony and hypocritical such Christian cult proved to be. It is like a needy and troubled person (mentally ill) goes to a place which is supposed to offer spiritual support, and yet that person passes unnoticed by everyone and nobody bothers to check on it. Nobody bothers to inquire why that person is coming to this place, what that person is really seeking after or trying to escape from. Even before one became mentally sick then one had been guilty within of all kinds of heresies, like by afterward ascribing one’s salvation/redemption to something else than the faith in Jesus Christ (which had happened originally), and like by wanting to rely upon the means of the devil against the devil (crafty and clever tricks), and by wanting to make compromises with the world in order to convert more people to the ‘faith’ (contradiction, hypocrisy, or a faith which is spiritually empty and thereby no faith at all). One had inwardly been despising the role of Jesus Christ in one’s life and despising the testimony of the Scripture/Bible, as if it was alone not being enough and needed a ‘help/support’ from inventions of the world. And when one got mentally sick then one was being so distracted by unwanted thoughts and by one’s own improper effort in trying to save oneself from it; that in this weak/sorry state then one was easily being convinced to attend to a phony Christian cult. If one is being a phony believer and a ‘wanna-be false prophet’ (being insincere within toward God, being insincere in regard to the motive and the means in furthering the faith) then God does rebuke one for it by making one drawn to a phony Christian cult, since their superficial dealings or none-helping dealings makes one realize how fruitless such path is. If one had become a successful false prophet like them then one would also have neglected all the needy and troubled persons that would have attended one’s ‘cult’. God managed to rebuke one for this wrong attitude back then by making one experience what it is like to be a spiritually stagnant follower of a false prophet. False prophets are truly the worst of the worst, because they seek to exploit the weak/poor state of those that are too weak/poor to know otherwise. They convince distracted and desperate people to donate money to them in exchange for false promises of a miracle, which these people would never have done if they were really ‘being themselves’ (mentally sane and stable and spacious enough to make right decisions for themselves). They are being so afflicted by the mind that the mind narrows everything into a most improper assumption (what these people can resort to in order to save themselves from it). True miracles come for free, because God is so good that He gives/shares everything for free.
                            A false prophet can be likened to an ordinary man in which there is nothing special about. He is being a selfish and short-sighted person, no different from all the other selfish and short-sighted people in the world. That man presumes that he is being favoured by God, because he is not being mentally/spiritually handicapped like the persons which live in distress and are seeking relief from it (attending to a cult or spiritual teachers). It can apply that something is not functioning properly within the person, that the person is unable to know/realize or accomplish something because an inner part of that person is missing (the conscience does not correct or restrain the person in time).  It is like that ordinary man (false prophet) would try to tell lame people how to walk, or tell blind people how to see, or tell deaf people how to hear, because he only looks to his own life and fails to put himself into the position of other people. A sick person experiences everything in a sick way. Because the person is already sick then it makes every experience heavy and hard to bear. That foolish false prophet is not experiencing this spiritual sickness, and he does not know anything about that how near and hard it can be,  and yet he tries to tell/guide other people how to overcome it. It is like that ordinary man would say to a sick person that these circumstances are being easy to handle and the person should not be troubled by them, because that man is not experiencing a sickness at the same time and he presumes it is the same with the other person. It was not really the circumstances that made the person sick. The sickness of the person was already there and it affected its experience of the circumstances. The people which attend to cults or spiritual teachers are people which are already being disturbed and afflicted by something within, which are already being restricted or disabled in their understanding and capability, which are already being narrowed and pressed hard by the mind. The false prophet does not experience these bad things within. He thinks that these ordinary things in his life can apply to the people he pretends to help. He only looks to outward things, without putting the same things in context of the inward things.
                     There is the question what will happen after a person has been converted to the faith in Jesus Christ. Many people spend minimum time and effort on the faith, as if it was nothing more than a routine, or something which does not go beyond the activity within religious buildings. The faith in God does not actually reach to their heart and all factors in general, what kind of choices need to be made from within and most of the time. People only implicate the faith to worldly affairs and mix them together. This is why the question is not only about that in converting more people to Jesus Christ, but it should also be established the success, by strengthening the inner structure. It should not only be converted new people, but also maintained them as true believers, so they will continue to believe sincerely in God and abide by His teachings. It would otherwise be overreached oneself, where it would be gazed so much on that in converting new people that the previous converts would be neglected. By the time that new people would be converted then the old ones would already be gone, having lost their faith and given up. And the same process would repeat itself in the future, when the new converts become old and it is sought for newer ones.
                     The human race has become proud over its technological progress, like it has made the man an expert in everything else, so he can thereby come up with haughty assertions. But intelligence is not the same thing as wisdom. The man can change the environment around himself, while the man himself remain just as unaltered in his heart and soul. Progress in earthly matters is only bound to earthly matters. It is irrelevant to spiritual matters, like the human nature, wisdom, morality, self-control, moderation, and altruism. There is now a common belief among men that there is no truth, or no ultimate truth. Everything is supposed to be relevant according to culture. The problem about such claims is that it does not really disprove the right things, but only the wrong things. For that all the wrong things are originated from the mind: manifested in subjective opinions, transient customs, and human folly. But the truth continues to be equally valid, when it comes to testify about the value of every choice, whether it is deemed to be true or false, good or evil, moral or immoral. The sense of the truth is the best ideology, and justice is the best government. It can be claimed that atheism is idolatry in itself, and merely a digression, since it is still not believed in God and the goodness He stands for. It is true that that the atheist does not also believe in the false gods, but his unbelief is still originated from the enemies of God, the same devils behind the false religions. The atheist has already turned his back upon God, and yet the atheist wonders why he cannot see God at all. It does not mean that God does not exist, but rather that the atheist does not have God in his life.
                     The Lord is the Truth, and the Truth is the Lord. The truth is originated from God and belongs to Him. This means that truthful knowledge is always consistent with itself, works in harmony with each other, and for the same purpose, in giving the glory to God. But it is not like the enemies of God can make use of the truth against Him. God does not work against His own goodness. The enemies of God can at most pretend that they have gotten the better off Him. First it is spoken something on God’s behalf, and then it is attacked the same thing for being obviously wrong and stupid. It is criticized and disproved things things which are really originated from the critic himself. The enemies of God ascribe their own delusions to God, and see their own corruption in Him. It is blamed God for the thought (opinion) which is had about Him, as if He had thought of and done the same thing. The thought itself was wrong and stupid, making everything seem wrong and stupid upon contact. It can be mentioned when the man does feel the need to question God about everything, like why there are bad things in this world or why God ‘allows’ them to happen. The problem about such approach does not consist in the actual questions, but rather in our position. For that we are frail persons, selfish and guilty of many faults. And we are now demanding God of this or that, as if we were in any position to judge Him. God is not obligated to defend, explain, or justify Himself in our eyes. For that God has done everything in His power to help the human race, and treated us better than we deserve. And the Lord gave the best possible example to us. He did never contribute any evils to this world. The man tends to be indifferent toward people that he does not know, and troubles that he has no personal experience of. However when the man does finally undergo the same things then he presumes himself to be in position to question God about it, as if he was the only one suffering in the world. It is of course self-centred in its nature, because the man is only compassionate toward other people if he has first experienced it. It is like the man is really seeing himself in other people and pitying his own life.
                     The faith in God is superior to human logic. It is not like we would first become troubled by these or those arguments, and next try to find right answers to them (either to prove our point or disprove that criticism), and then finally could we regain our peace of mind and move on with our life. The faith in God is rather about approaching the matter in the complete opposite way. We will continue to remain confident, calm, and at peace with ourselves, even that we do not know any answers, nor went through the trouble in searching for them. It is because God is right either way, and He would either way have disproved every criticism, once making the truth known to us. This is why we can just as well be contented with the fact that God knows the truth, even that we do not yet know the answer. Our faith in God remains the same. It is begun at the end, by being calm as when knowing the right answer, even before we have sought it out and known what it might actual be. We remain calm while seeking for the right answer. We remain calm while we wait for God to reveal the answer to us. Whatever happens then we remain calm about it. If we truly know the truth then it will dispel all subjective problems as well, for even that we can experience distractions from within and all around us then it can still only cast doubt upon the truth but it can never disprove the truth. So the truth does always continue to be the truth, and even now we can choose to live under its beneficial effects. Every time we hear the constructive truth then we are comforted and reassured. This means that we can now be assured and be of good cheer. That is our stance while faithfully waiting for the return of the truth. Therefore even that we do not yet know the right answer in our situation then we will still not become dismayed by any subjective problems, no matter how their arguments seem to be convincing and how it seems to affect us. Jesus Christ is the Truth itself, and we only expect good things from Him.

7.4: Supernatural Aspects

Many people agree with the moral teachings of Jesus Christ, while they tend to deny the faith in Him. It is because the supernatural aspects of the Scripture are deemed to be controversial. All these miracles do not seem to happen in our time. It is like the moral teachings of the Scripture have been dragged down by this. Many men would otherwise have continued to have faith in the moral teachings, if the Scripture would be bound to them alone. It is acknowledged the earth is bound to natural laws and there is nothing supernatural about it, unless God chooses to reveal Himself to us and manifest His power. It might be asked why God would ever bother to promise something which He does not intend to keep. It is acknowledged that God is all-powerful; indeed capable of making miracles if He wants to, but God has still the same not chosen to do it every time it is asked for. Would it not have been better if God had said nothing about miracles and promised nothing, so that none of us would become disappointed and hold it against Him? I speak now as a man, according to that what applies most of the time, and how the world has hitherto been. For it is better to pursue after a small advantage and obtain it, rather than by expecting too much and only end up getting nothing. God makes miracles. But these miracles are being done in a discreet way. Some miracles are preventive. We do not know about them because we did not fall into the accidents they prevented. Other miracles might seem ordinary events, unless they took an unexpected turn for the better. It should not have happened. Yet it happened and things ended well. The faith in God and His moral principles are intertwined, because the faith makes the man able to obey the will of God and overcome temptations of the world. Belief is the motivation behind the moral principles.
                   The New Testament states that Jesus Christ made persons whole (from their sickness), that He raised persons up from the dead, that He gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, that he made dumb able to speak and the lame able to walk. It is acknowledged that these miracles happened in that time, and during the time of the apostles, and yet for some reason God has not made such miracles since that time. It has been said that it is a mad thing to keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Why should we keep telling ourselves differently and keep expecting the same miraculous things when nothing ever changes in regard to that aspect (the physical body, external matters)! If something is not working out and not leading to any beneficial effects then it should be sought for a different approach. If something only leads to disappointment and resentment then it should be ceased from it, that the internal condition might ever remain sound and stable, involving self-sustaining conviction and adaptability, without being stuck at the same hindrance and wasting needless effort upon it. God is of course at work when people heal in general, although it is taken for granted and not considered miraculous. As the time passes then people get better and are no longer affected by the same problems (outgrowing it), where it seems to happen by itself when life resumes its natural course and it is a common thing that everyone can relate to. And yet God is the force of change behind this seemingly little things that decide/resolve the issue. And God is at work when people are able to discover remedies in medical science and guiding their hand when they skillfully treat patients. These good things come from God. True progress is had from doing things on God terms, when it comes to do things based on facts, when it is kept to that which works and sought for more efficient methods, and possessed the right feeling in the body. It can be treaded the moderate middle-path by acknowledging that God makes miracles in the spiritual aspect, but not miracles in the physical aspect. This means that God does not make people physically whole, but God can rather make people whole in their heart and soul and spirit, that is wholly/fully determined to open their inner being to God and to follow Him in humility. Once the person is all/whole for God then the person is willing to repent and confess the truth, to cease from sinful things and be willing to do good. And God does not raise people up from the dead in our times, but God does rather raise the man’s soul from the spiritual death of sin, that the man might become a new and better person within, having new and better attitude, and constantly making improvements in its experienced circumstances and moral choices. And God does not open the physical eyes of the blind or physical ears of the deaf, but God does rather open the eyes and ears of the soul. This means that God does open the man’s understanding within, and makes him open for that in hearing instruction and rebuke, and makes him willing to notice and consider the right possibility in the situation. And God does not make the physically dumb able to speak or the physically lame able to walk, but God does rather make the man’s soul able to aspire for good things, to possess the inner strength to reject temptations and keep to the same right conviction. The man is made spiritually free to travel to any spiritual progress within himself. This is a teaching which can apply at all times and in any situation. Although we believe in God and acknowledge His power in all things then we are still being plainspoken about that how God has hitherto worked in our lives. We are simply responding to that what God has hitherto chosen to do. It is better to be honest about it and confirm the little things, than to lie something beautiful and grand in the name of God. Why should it matter whether something good is provided through ordinary or miraculous means, so long as something good is provided to the same end! It should not matter whether a rich man could buy enough bread for thousand people to sustain them, or that God Himself would rain bread from heaven for these people, or that Jesus Christ would feed these people with only few loaves of bread. Even so it does not matter whether healing and remedies are to be had through medical science instead of miraculous promises of the Bible, so long as people get well in the end. Since God does not make miracles in the physical aspect then it means that God points us into different direction and wants us to make use of different means. God wants us to abide by principle and make good use of our understanding. God helps us within to help ourselves and that we might help one another. The technology of our times would be considered miraculous or magical in the eyes of those that lived in the Biblical times, even that it is not being supernatural in itself. But why expect something supernatural when ordinary means can get the same things done! It is neither done too little by asserting that God cannot do something, nor done too much by asserting that God ‘will’ surely do something (not implicated our self-interest or bias or selfish expectations to the will of God). It is rather said that God can do anything and He does whatever pleases Him. Whether God does something or not then it is because He chose to do it. If God wishes to do it then He does it, but if not then we will respect his decision and abide by the same.
                     The man can find himself compelled to obey orders of a higher authority, even that he does not agree with it, or is unwilling to do so. Such obedience would however lack all devotion. For the man deliberately holds himself back, obeys the orders poorly, and drags out the issue. But it is otherwise most efficient to appeal to the man’s sense of decency and reason, so that he will willingly obey the orders and through a right understanding. The man must first believe in the order and then he will make his best possible effort to carry it out. It is also kept up the same resolve, no matter what can change in the situation. God wants us to approach Him through faith because that brings the most fruit in our spiritual life. It is indeed a contradictory thing when the man refuses to heed and follow God, unless God will first make some kind of supernatural signs to validate His claims. It should of course be evaluated the moral choice according to its merit, because it is the decent thing to do, fair and dignified to everyone. We are meant to obey God because He does always speak the truth and is always right about everything, so that His goodness is able to promote most progress and benefits to us. When the unbeliever demand God for signs that it is never through any sincere concern for the truth. The true believers are already convinced by God without needing any signs. They would either way have obeyed Him to the best of knowledge and ability. But the unbelievers are endlessly demanding signs from God. For they are not already convinced by anything, and nothing will be able to do so in the future. That to demand signs from God is not the cause of the unbelief, but rather its consequence. It is come up with pretence to confirm a decision which has already been made. It was first rejected God and next it was loudly demanded signs from Him. Even if it would have happened then it would not have made any difference.
                     The faith is meant to make us virtuous like God Himself, when it comes to wish well and do well. First there is compassion and understanding, next willingness to help the person, and then finally is used available power in order to make it come true. The power to make miracles is supposed to reflect the goodness of God, as the supreme means in helping the person. That is of course far more effective than any human words and effort. God does not make signs and miracles at random, as if God was only showing off. The miracles are always consistent with His good nature and principles. God possesses the most power in the universe because He alone is worthy of such responsibility. It is not like the saying applies that ‘Might makes right’; that because of his power the supreme god would be allowed to be foolish, unfair, and abusive. It cannot be expected that God makes miracles and signs when the actual conditions prove to be trivial, superfluous, and vain. So even that God is all-powerful then it does still not mean that we should believe all kinds of foolish things, as if a brute force could replace all freedom and reason. And if we are going to make miracles then we need to do so on God’s terms. We need to have the same considerations and make good use of that which is good. The goodness of God should have the most priority, and then everything else will follow. The faith should first make us virtuous, and next bestow to us the power to work miracles.
                     Most people presume that God’s miracles are only bound to the physical body and the environment. But it is much more important that God can make miracles in spiritual matters. Once possessing good sense and inner stability then our approach improves. Once our approach improves then it is fared better. The faith does free us from all doubt and worries, which would otherwise have lead to negligence and disrupted the activity of our body, resulting finally in maladies and accidents. If our soul is burdened with many troubles and cares then it will weaken the body, and make it more vulnerable toward external influence. It might happen that God does not heal our body of its sickness and injuries, but He can still bless us with a sound attitude, a stoical mind in enduring all adversity. It can still be felt pain, but that pain is made bearable to us and we do not complain about it. It is like the faith in God is all about healing and reviving our spiritual body, so that we can have the right attitude in all matters, the right spirit in confronting the challenge. The faith in God is the greatest preventive measure, because it makes us already focused and sober, observant of the environment and capable of adapting to its demands. We would otherwise be absorbed in thought, so that we would be more likely to fall into some unforeseen accidents. The faith is also able to save us from troubles that we had failed to prevent. We can escape unscathed from it in time, or at least avoid all permanent harm. It has either been nullified the harm, or lessened it to the point of making the harm trivial. It often happens that our body lies to us, when the enemies of God create false alarms in the flesh (signs). The outward symptoms can be mere illusions, a fleeting sensation. There is no actual disease underneath. And we might seem to experience bad things. But we do still the same continue to be alive and well, which makes the bad things inconsequential. For that we can suffer a loss of sleep, but we are still not tired throughout the day. We can lack food and drink, but we are still full of energy, working to our fullest potential. It is thereby like we can experience bad means, but not bad consequences. And God is always able to save us in time, before it becomes too much for us.
                     The grace of God works in the complete opposite way to the human expectations. For the man presumes that he will first need to do this or that BEFORE he can obtain a divine help, miracle, or deliverance from the problems that afflict him. But the true believer confirms that he receives everything, because the faith in Jesus Christ does justify him in advance, forgives him of everything in advance, and makes every benefit available to him in advance. It is all about confirming that God can help us, wants to help us, and will help us. It is only a matter of time until we will receive a blessing from God, since that God has already chosen to give it to us and even given the order, through the intercession of Jesus Christ. We must believe that we have already received it, and then it will be so. The enemies of God can appear all of a sudden and tempt us. But then God will appear all of a sudden and vanquish them on our behalf, even that we have not actually done anything, since the goodness does automatically cancel the evilness. An adversity will become something which vanishes as soon as it had appeared. The blessings of God overtake us even before we are aware of it. The means can be optional, so long as God’s intervention does lead to the same outcome. It is enough that we can be healed and our problems solved, even that we do not see any angel, do not experience any vision or signs at the same time. The Holy Spirit does of course continue to do its work in an invisible way behind the scene. And a similar thing applies about the angels of God, for we may perhaps not see them, yet the emissaries of God are present and bestowing benefits to us. That to witness supernatural things can be superfluous, especially if we do already believe in God and obey His moral principles, thereby behaving to the very same effect as if we had seen His miracles.

7.5: The Account in Genesis

The faith is not only about that in believing that God does exist. It must also be had faith in Him as a person, what God testifies to us, and what God is capable of in our lives. But it is indeed a foolish thing to lose faith in God because of some petty issue, an unanswered question or a criticism, which is either way irrelevant to our life in general. Our faith would otherwise only reach to the next doubt which cannot be solved right away, so it is something which cannot work in the long run, in being self-supportive. Everyone seems to appreciate philosophical questions that are still unanswered, like when it comes to explain our human existence or something beyond our reach. However when the answer is discovered then nobody seems to care about it. It is not appreciated the answer, not bothered to inquire further into it, and not made any good use of it. For that everyone will gaze upon the next unanswered question, until it will be solved, and so forth. It is preferred the question above the actual answer or solution. It is because of such attitude that many men are unworthy to discover truthful answers, since they only want to exalt themselves, to become famous and boast about it to other people. It should be put this in context of the faith in God, why we should not make our resolve centred upon the need for answers to every silly question or that to disprove every criticism. We are not in need of logical answers according to the human standard. But we are rather in need of Jesus Christ, since that He is the Truth and the Life from within us all. The faith in God does unlock a higher truth, a heavenly wisdom above a carnal wisdom, a moral insight which can apply within us in any situation and last in the long run. But what does it profit us to know this or that, which we are unable to apply to our life? Or what is supposed to happen after we know the answer, regarding our current situation? It is like we are hoarding up questions and answers that have no practical use, since we continue to be just as restricted in our condition, intellects, and capability.
                            Why should our faith become shaken by the account in Genesis (creation), when the unbelievers attempt to discredit or disprove it through recent scientific discoveries? For that God has already made a miracle in our heart and spirit, as a much more reliable testimony to us, since it is something which we are constantly experiencing from within. Even if it is possible that the Scripture contains human errors from copying the text throughout the ages or in translation; yet it is undeniable that God is who He says He is and that Jesus Christ was the best person that ever lived among us. It was said of Jesus that nobody ever spoke like that. Nobody had ever done such miracles before. Nobody could have done more good things than Christ. That to read about the life of Jesus Christ does surpass our own expectations/imaginations of an ideal and perfect person. There was something other-worldly about that how Christ spoke and what He did in the situation. It can be ridiculed that when atheists are overconfident with science, where they both seek to disprove the faith in God through science and to replace it with science.  Science is only bound to material matters. Let’s say that the man would give up on the faith in God. But what then? How are mathematical lessons or discoveries supposed to help the man in spiritual matters? How are these and those earthly methods supposed to help the man in moral matters? All these material things are utterly useless in regard to guilt and redemption, what is going within the man and how the man’s good side can prevail over his bad side. The faith makes the man believe in a supreme being which is greater than the man, which the man compares all things to and seeks to model his life after. The higher standard of the faith makes the man aspire to become a better person, and to restrain himself from things that would make him a worse person. The faith in God offers the awareness and motivation behind it. That to develop a sense of decency involves a faith, whether that faith is being direct (belief in God) or indirect (belief in the morality of God). Otherwise the man would senselessly indulge his self in all things, without holding himself in check, and without even realizing it within himself. It can happen that the believer ‘forgets’ his resolve and he shows negligence in a time of temptation. When he experiences a temptation which he has a weak spot for then he can be quick to yield to it, without having first stopped to remind himself about God and what kind of moral principle would have held it in check. So that before the believer has come to realize it then he has already sinned and he is guilty of a fault. However since the believer has the Spirit of God in his life then he is quick to realize that he has sinned and that it had been wrong to do such thing. The believer is quick to repent of it, and to confess everything to God, and to ask God for help in overcoming this weakness and that he might change for the better. Hence the believer will not sin any further and he will now do right for the rest of the day, and remain consistent in doing so for many days in a row. It is not like the man must first manage to be perfect in everything before approaching God, but it is rather the perfect thing to approach God regarding everything. The faith in God does offer a ‘fail-safe’ in regard to weakness and sin. Something within the man manages to restrain him from further sin and escalation, so that he is quick to get back on his feet and to resume the right course he had been on. This endeavor in wanting to do the right thing and in heading in the right direction would not have been made possible if the Spirit of God was absent from the man’s life.
                          The human science can explain ‘how’ the universe was made, what kind of process took place, what kinds of materials were involved and the interplay between them. It does however not explain ‘who’ made the universe, and ‘why’. For that someone made all of these things come to pass, and possessed the will to create life, from his own source, rather that the universe and all these life-forms would spring out from nothing. The science is only explaining the execution, or the means, but not the actual cause. Let’s say that a scientist would be making an experiment, so that he will describe its process in every detail. That scientist can mention the available chemicals, and which ones he will be mixing together, so it will lead to some kind of fusion or explosion. But these things would never have come to pass without the scientist himself. The scientist possesses the required intellects and capability to make the experiment, but none of the material objects could do so from their end. There is always a creator behind all creations, a soul or head that governs the activity of the body. And only a living being can give life, from its own life (procreation), or a new life is always originated from a life preceding it. A speech and deeds must be originated from a living person, and intelligent life-forms from an intelligent founder. At first then everything might seem to happen at random in the universe. But it does only apply about the small matters, which are really part of the greater matters, governed by laws. It is like a chaos in small matters will promote forth order in the greater matters, where the combined influence of all the small matters will keep up the cycle.
                     The Book of Genesis speaks briefly about that in what order everything was created. For that God created the earth, the heaven, the sea, the vegetation, the animals, and finally the man. But it is never actually described ‘how’ these things were precisely made, and what kind of power God used. It seems that God created things out from nothing, unlike the human science as we know it. Genesis does neither say more nor less than what is needed. For it does confirm that God created the earth and in what order, while it is relevant to spiritual matters. The Scripture might seem to be like any other book in the eyes of a selfish and superficial reader, having still neither believed its testimony nor acted upon it. However as the man becomes more virtuous then he will begin to see the Scripture as it is, and acknowledge the purity of its text, since he is already pure from within. It is because the text is inspirational and impartial, the style is sober in presenting forth facts, and every word is carefully organized to its proper place. It is not like one would notice a stupid assertion here or there, a personal bias and self-conceit, or some kind of corruption, which does generally follow frail works from frail authors. But the Scripture has been written with a good sense, a right feeling for the words, when it is looked upon the sentence in whole, and each part in context of another. The Scripture is holy because it is spiritually pure, involving pure truth and pure goodness. It does merely reflect the Spirit of God, which drove forth the writers from within. The men wrote the Scripture through pure intentions, to the best of their conscience. God had of course already deemed these men to be faithful or made them so, prior to it.
                     Scientific theories are something which is not permanent, but there will always be more discoveries in the future, which do either disprove or improve current theories. The account in Genesis has recently been attacked, undermined, and ridiculed, mainly because of the supposable age of the universe, the earth, and the mankind. The Scripture does never state directly when these things came to exist, but it is something which is indirectly implied, interpreted, or assumed by people reading the account. The correct age is something that the human race is or will be able to discover. And it is something that will confirm the account in Genesis, or vice versa, since that God created the universe and He is always truthful about everything. The account in Genesis is the primary source, but the theory about a couple of thousand years is merely an interpretation. It should not be sought to make that human theory adapt to scientific discoveries, nor should scientific discoveries adapt to the theory. But there is some element missing, or overlooked, which can connect the facts together. Some people have attempted to come up with an outlandish interpretation of the Scripture, so that it can adapt to scientific theories, which are most popular now and then. Such a compromise does however tend to digress away from the original meaning, and it appeases neither side, those that are completely with the Scripture or against it. It should rather be sought to understand the Scripture further, by keeping to the original testimony that God has manifested to us, so it does still belong to the faith. It does however prove to be counterproductive when people seek to change the Scripture, only so they can defend it better in the eyes of the unbelievers. For it has then already been betrayed God in spirit, since it does no longer involve the same Scripture. It would thereby make a victory in the debate irrelevant to the actual cause of the debate. We should never ascribe our foolish opinions to God, while it is attempted to answer everything and justify everything, since it will otherwise contradict His truth and goodness. It would be better to remain silent and endure the slander of the unbelievers, rather than by taking the name of God in vain and manage to obtain a wrong victory over them.