No. 20 - CLEARING GOD’S NAME By: John J. Blanchard Saturday, July 13, 2002 God tends to name things for what they are. We see this by many examples in scriptures of God naming people or things for what they are. I am going to give you a couple of examples but there are literally hundreds in the Bible. We will look at a couple that are major and most people are familiar with. First of all, the name of Jacob, the patriarch Jacob. The name Jacob meant supplanter, which is exactly what Jacob did to his brother, Esau, regarding the birthright. He supplanted him. So God gave him a name that reflected the man’s character - a little bit on the shady side, a little bit tricky to deal with. God eventually, in the due course of time, changed his name when Jacob changed. I am sure it involved repentance and growth in character on his part. God changed his name to Israel, which means “he and his descendants shall rule”, thereby, once again, reflecting the man’s character and indeed eventually a quality or a position that his descendants would enjoy. A second name from Genesis is that of Abraham. Abraham means “patriarch of a multitude”. We know from Hebrews he is called the “father of the faithful”. So indeed that is a reflection of what he did and part of his character. It is a reflection of part of his success in being a faithful minister or patriarch of God. When God created Lucifer, God gave him a beautiful name. Lucifer means “lightbringer” or “morning star”. Turn, if you would, to Ezekiel chapter 28, and we will read a little bit about Lucifer and the kind of being he was. He, like Jacob, had his name changed. When there was a major character change, his name changed because God names things for what they are. Ezekiel chapter 28, starting in verse 12: “‘Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, “Thus says the Lord God: ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.’”’” We are going to stop there for a minute. He started out talking about the king of Tyre. This is showing the Biblical principle that we have seen before - the physical being used as an example of the spiritual. The king of Tyre, a physical king, a physical place, the city of Tyre, obviously could not do the things we are going to read here. So the physical king portrayed something spiritual. Continuing here in verse 12 saying after he was the seal of perfection, God says, “‘You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.’” You see he was beautiful. These physical gems were used to describe him, and he was perfect in all of his ways. Therefore, Lucifer meant “morning star” and “lightbringer”. He was so high up in the government of God (to sit in the mountain of God), he actually had the job to bring truth and light! He brought truth to the earth and to the other angels! He was that high up. Eventually iniquity was found in him it said in verse 15. Continuing on in Ezekiel 28 in verse 16: “‘By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones.’” So we see when iniquity was found in him and his character became one of violence and deceit, a filthy thing, God threw him out of the government. That is what that means if you go back and study some of the things we have shown in the past about mountains reflecting government. He was pitched out of the government because iniquity was found in him. His name was changed to Satan, which now reflected his character. This reflected the new qualities that came into the being we know as Lucifer. When God changed his name to Satan, we can find what that means by looking it up in our Strong’s Concordance. We find that it means “adversary, opponent, arch enemy, accuser, devil, false accuser, and slanderer”. Also a related word in the Strong’s goes to “devastate, waste, violence” just as it said here in Ezekiel 28. Also it is stated, “ravage, desolation, destruction and oppression”. So these descriptions reflect Satan’s character. He is an adversary of God and of man, an arch enemy, a slanderer, false accuser. He is bent upon devastation, waste, violence, desolation, destruction and oppression. He is an oppressor. That is the character of Satan and that is the character of the being we fight against and eventually we will overcome by God’s help. But God also has many names for Himself as well. I assure you that none of the names of Satan apply to God, none at all, none whatsoever. God’s name, though, has become tainted over time by Satan’s name and the qualities that go with Satan’s character. These qualities have been applied to God, the true God! Many believe that God is a hard, cruel and tough God, an unyielding opponent of man. Many believe He is a dispenser of harsh justice. This is the view that many on the earth have of God. In fact, I think it is most religions who hold this view. They believe He is a harsh, cruel dispenser of justice, a God who is about to wreak havoc upon the earth, a God who will destroy (according to many of the different religious groups that I have read into and seen) most life off the planet earth. Some even quantify it saying 90 to 95 percent of all life will be destroyed by God when He wreaks havoc upon the earth. They feel God is going to ruin His creation and then start again with a few battered survivors. Where did this concept come from? I just ask that question because the most common scripture quoted in the Bible does not reflect this at all. The most often quoted scripture in the Bible is John 3:16. Let us go there and read John 3:16 and verse 17 as well. It is one that people are very familiar with. “‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God DID NOT send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.’” So God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son to save the world and not condemn the world or destroy it. It says right here in this often-quoted scripture. That does not square with the concept of God destroying His creation and killing almost all human life, as well as other life, off of His creation, earth, in order to start again. This does not square with the description we see in the Bible. So where did this concept come from? It came from the arch deceiver, from Satan, the opponent of God! Didn’t we read in his name description, false accuser and slanderer? He is a slanderer. Who would he want to slander more than God? That is the person he really wants to slander - God. He is a being bent upon violence, devastation, deception and destruction, and we know from scripture that he is also bent upon taking God’s position. He wants to take God’s position. So let us always remember a few things that point out the differences between God and Satan. God first of all is a builder and a creator. Satan is a deceiver and a destroyer. Secondly, God is full of love, concern and compassion. Satan, on the other hand, is full of hate, violence and destruction. Thirdly, God’s character and His thoughts are beautiful, absolutely gorgeous thoughts. Satan’s thoughts are ugly, black, dark and violent. They could not be more opposite than black and white, up or down. They are totally opposite. No name that applies to Satan can ever apply to God. No name that applies to God can ever apply to Satan. We should never allow them to become confused or mixed up. How did God end up getting slandered by Satan? What did Satan do to twist God’s name to get so many billions of people to believe that God is harsh and cruel and a dispenser of fierce justice, an unyielding opponent? How did he do that? Satan has many, many tools in his arsenal. We do not have time today to deal with them all. But the one I want to focus on is a very powerful tool that he has and it is one that we saw mentioned here in Ezekiel 28. He was a trader. He trades. We can find even in Revelation that he trades in the bodies and souls of men. This trader is a “wheeler-dealer” (sharp operator). He is a “wheeler-dealer extrodinaire”. But when he wheels and deals, he wheels and deals treachery, deception, destruction and violence. He did it with the angels by taking one-third of them by deceptive techniques, and he has done it with mankind as well. It is very unfortunate. We could look at human examples. I will not bother, but there are human examples of people who wheel and deal and trade favors, trade positions, trade money and influence in order to obtain illicit goods or illicit position or power. No one can do it better than Satan! Satan’s treachery is absolutely awful. I want to look at it briefly, but only briefly then I want to clear God’s name. I only want to look at it briefly because it is very depressing what Satan has done to the angels, what he has done to God’s name and what he has done to mankind. It is awful. By way of explanation first, I want to mention that after studying the concepts that Satan is a wheeler-dealer and made some deals with mankind that has tricked us into believing false things of God, I found that it is almost universal. The beliefs that Satan has foisted on people that God is harsh and cruel and a dispenser of unyielding justice, are concepts that are universal throughout the planet earth and many of the faiths that are here. It is in most mainstream Christian churches, it is in most branches of God’s Church and it is definitely in most pagan religions. The concept that each is special in God’s eyes is what Satan used to trick people into believing the false things of God and putting a false name on Him. We used to laugh or think, “These poor pagan people thinking they had to sacrifice their children to a god to appease him.” I have seen programs and have read books how ancient pagans or even indeed pagans today offer sacrifices to a false god. All those poor people believe God is so mean. Yet many of the Christian groups feel that that same God that other people do not know how to worship is a God who is going to destroy 90 percent of all His creation and all the children that are made in His image. That is a concept that comes from Satan. Satan wants us to believe that. How did Satan do this? He has each religion, each faith, believing that they are special. I do not care which one you talk to on earth, what faith, what Christian denomination, they think they are special. They have a special relationship with Jesus Christ, with God, that goes something like this: we are going to be protected. A calamity is coming upon the earth, but we do not have to worry about it because we are special. We have a special relationship with Jesus Christ that makes it so that we will be in a place of safety, or some groups say a rapture, or some groups say protected in the skies above. Some groups say we will be in heaven when this earthly catastrophe hits. Or some say any other variation of that theme. Satan has each group, each faith, convinced that they are so special that they do not have to worry. Just everybody else has to worry because everybody else is going to go through this horrible calamity at the end of the age with most of them getting destroyed. So he has made a deal. He has wheeled and dealed with people all over the planet, convincing each group of this to the exclusion of all the others. Now is not that a master deception? He is a being that has convinced all of the thousands of different faiths and religions on the earth that each of them is special! That is quite extraordinary. It worked with a third of the angels and it is certainly working very well with mankind. This universal agreement is actually a compact between mankind and the devil! You cannot make deals with the devil. You cannot ever make a deal with the devil and come out on top. It is impossible. This attempt to divide the earth between factions, religions, nations, creeds, beliefs is an attempt to divide and to conquer, to confuse, to deceive. We know by Revelation 12:9 that he has deceived the entire world! This accusation of Satan so that he could get these groups accusing each other, is exactly what his name is. We read that part of the description of his name is “accuser and a slanderer”. This breeds hatred, jealousy, self-righteousness and harsh judgment from one human group to another, from one religion to another, from one faith to another, one creed to another. It leads to people being intolerant and self-righteous. It leads to wars, rumors of wars, hatred, racism and all manner of evil things because Satan has divided the earth and has shown each little group that they are special but everyone else is bad. Everyone else is evil. So we have Islamic fundamentalist trying to kill Christians. You have different Christian groups trying to kill other Christian groups. You have other faiths, pagan or Christian, bent on destroying one another simply because they are the “other” group. This is working all over the world because of Satan’s influence and Satan is the god of this world. Turn, if you would, to II Corinthians chapter 4, starting in verse 3: “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” So the god of this age, and some translations say “the god of this world”, is Satan the devil. Satan the devil is the god of this world, and he has deceived the world. He does it exactly by the qualities his name expresses, because God accurately names things and beings for what they are! He is a false accuser and a slanderer, a deceiver bent on violence and destruction, bent on desolation and oppression. What I want to look at now are some scriptures that support what I just said, other scriptures that support beyond the shadow of a doubt, so that we can be aware of this very powerful tool that Satan uses and how he uses it do divide and conquer. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 28, starting in verse 7: “‘But they also have erred through wine, and through intoxicating drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they are out of the way through intoxicating drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that no place is clean.’” So here is a description of prophets and priests. This has accuracy down through time, but it certainly applies at the end of the age as well. These prophets and priests are drunk. They are drunk with what God calls here wine, which is actually false doctrines. False doctrines have infected the Church of God. It has infected people who are trying to find God, so that prophets and priests (the leaders) often are teaching wrong “truth”. This goes along with Revelation chapter 17, starting in verse 4: “‘The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.’” This is talking about drinking, death, destruction and false teaching. We are not going to go through proving right now that woman portrays churches and false doctrines that are mentioned here. But this scripture goes right along with Isaiah 28. Now let us go back to Isaiah 28 and continue from where we left off, which is verse 9: God says, “‘Whom will he teach knowledge?’” So God is saying who am I going to teach, who am I going to show the truth to when My prophets, teachers and people who have set themselves up to be prophets and teachers are drunk? They are drunk with falsehoods from Satan’s deceived world. How am I going to teach people? Continuing on in verse 9 God says, “‘And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.’” God says with my teachers drunk throughout the earth, I need to have mature people, not babes in the faith, to teach the rest of the people, and I have no one! Who is going to do this teaching because it takes precept upon precept and line upon line. In other words, you have to go through the scriptures and find a precept here, a scripture there, a line here, a line there and God must help put all of this together and then be taught. He says I have very few, if any that I can do this with. This is particularly true at the end of the age, the end of time. Continuing in verse 11: “‘For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, to whom He said, “This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest” and, “This is the refreshing”; yet they would not hear. But the word of the Lord was to them, “Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little,” that they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught.’” God will find someone to teach with stammering lips and another tongue; and when He teaches them, they will understand precept upon precept and line upon line. This is one of the things we are trying to do when we read the Bible and study it. Go line upon line and precept upon precept and learn the thoughts of God. Learn the thoughts of God on each and every issue, each and every matter that God discusses in the Bible. Let Him tell us by His word what, in fact, is the truth so that when we say something we find we are not drunk. If it comes from God’s word, it is not drunkenness. It is the truth. Then we must face it and we must be willing to share it with others. Continuing in verse 14 of Isaiah 28. Now we are getting to know how this was done. How did the prophets and the teachers and religions of the earth get tricked? How did they get tricked into believing the wrong things? It says pretty plainly here. “‘Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we are in agreement.”’” So there is a deal here. “‘“When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.”’” Under false truth, people have hidden themselves thinking we are special, we are protected! They feel they are protected by God but in actual fact it is a deal with Sheol, with destruction! We know that destruction is a name of Satan! So people across the earth have made a deal with Satan who happens to be the god of this world. People feel we made a deal with God when actually they have made a deal with Satan. God calls this a wheeling-dealing deception that made people drunk! Continue to see what God is going to do about this in verse 16: “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.’” Whoever believes the right God, the true God, the God of the universe and not the current god of this age, is not going to believe anything too hastily. Verse 17: “‘Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet...’” (not false teaching but justice) “‘...the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it. As often as it goes out it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass over, and by day and by night; it will be a terror just to understand the report.’” So God says I am going to have to judge as you have judged. Each group and each person that thinks they are so special and that they are in some way going to be preserved while the earth is destroyed, whoever believes this deal, is going to have it turned on them! This is an amazing statement by God! Something that all of us should repent of so that we can find ourselves pleasing God and not swallowing a deception. If you will notice there is an overflowing scourge here that God is talking about that will come. What is this overflowing scourge? Let us turn back to Revelation once again. Revelation chapter 12, verse 13. This is obviously talking about the end of the age when the overflowing scourge simply overwhelms any on earth who will not change and any who have felt that they are special. Here is what it says. Verse 13: “‘Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.’” This is the Church. “‘But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the FLOOD.’” This is the overflowing scourge. “‘But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.’” Verse 17: “‘And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.’” So there is a place that God has designed but it is more a place where the protection is provided by the earth swallowing up the flood. It is for those who have not made a deal with the false god but have made a deal with the true God! That is, preach the truth, and not think you are so special that everyone else can get destroyed except you or your little group or your little belief or your faith. That is the deal that God does not like because, you see, we must lay down our lives. It is the opposite concept. We must lay down our lives for mankind. We must be willing to preach the truth and be there as steady lights of the earth, preserving the earth, as salt is mentioned as a preservative. There are many examples we can look where the true Church was willing to lay down their lives. You go no further than Jesus Christ and His apostles and see how they dealt with the people of the earth. They were all willing to lay down their lives for mankind. None of them said, I am so special, nothing will happen to me but all of these bad people around me are going to die. Are they not our example? We at the end must be living the same way and be willing to lay down our lives for mankind. That is what God wants to see - a willingness to sacrifice ourselves and stand up to be counted for the truth. We should not think that we are somehow something special, so good and righteous that we will be taken care of while the rest of the world is destroyed. It is an important concept to grasp. It is a willingness to love other people and be compassionate and not take on some of the names of Satan. The more we know about this, the more responsible we will feel to help mankind, to teach them the truth and to bring hope to the world. We need to teach them that God is coming to save the world, to liberate the world and not to destroy the people in it. He is going to protect us from Satan and from his deceptions and ultimately He is going to save us from what Satan would really like to do and that is destroy all mankind. He would like to destroy even God Himself if he could! Now let us go to a few more scriptures that support what we are trying to learn here. Ezekiel chapter 13 does a very good job explaining the actual teachings that go along with this special deal that God hates and how God hates the concept of wheeling and dealing between mankind and Satan. Ezekiel 13, starting in verse 1: “And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, “Hear the word of the Lord!”’” So God says, son of man I want you to talk to those people who prophesy, who teach in My name. Verse 3: “Thus says the Lord God: ‘Woe to the foolish prophets…’” (the teachers, that is) “‘...who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! O Israel, your prophets are like foxes in the deserts. You have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle on the day of the Lord. They have envisioned futility and false divination, saying, “Thus says the Lord!” But the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope that the word may be confirmed.’” People of all these faiths who say, hey we are special, we are going to be protected and it is everyone else who is bad, they are hoping this will be confirmed! God says, no! That is futility. I did not send that message. This word “futility” in the King James is “vanity”. We will be reading it a few more times here. When you look it up in your Strong’s, you will find that vanity and futility mean “devastation” and “destruction”. These are two of the names of Satan! The teaching of vanity, that is the destruction of this earth and desolation of the people, these are teachings of Satan because that is what he wants to do. We must never apply his characteristics to a loving God. It is indeed mislabeling God. What we are trying to do here today is clear God’s name. Get the names of Satan off of God so people can understand the type of God we really do have. Verse 7 of Ezekiel 13: “‘Have you not seen a futile vision, and have you not spoken false divination? You say, “The Lord says,” but I have not spoken.’ Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Because you have spoken nonsense and envisioned lies, therefore I am indeed against you,” says the Lord God.’” This is exactly what He said in Isaiah 28. Verse 9: “‘My hand will be against the prophets who envision futility and who divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of My people, nor be written in the record of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord God. Because, indeed, because they have seduced My people, saying, “Peace!” when there is no peace - and one builds a boundary wall, and they plaster it with untempered mortar - say to those who plaster it with untempered mortar, that it will fall. There will be flooding rain, and you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall tear it down. Surely, when the wall has fallen, will it not be said to you, “Where is the mortar with which you plastered it?”’” Verse 13: “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in My fury; and there shall be a flooding rain in My anger, and great hailstones in fury to consume it.’” So God warns of the flood. He says because you have trusted in a false vision that I did not send, this vision of futility and destruction of the earth, I am going to remove every shred of that agreement you had with Sheol, with death and destruction. I am going to allow it to happen to you! He shows in Isaiah 28 that because you have trusted in a false vision that you are so special and that nothing will happen to you, only to everyone else, I am going to allow it to happen to you! Therefore it is incredibly important, brethren, that we repent of this concept. We are going to study this more in depth as we go through the sermon. You know we have looked in the past at how the curse was lifted from the earth. This was necessary because the god of this world has designed the destruction of the earth from the time he had the power over it as Satan! Once Lucifer became Satan, he was bent upon destruction and violence; and God could see this. He wanted to destroy all of mankind. He wanted to destroy God’s throne. He wanted to take over the power of the universe for himself. God saw this in him and cast him out of the government of God. But he is still the ruler of this world temporarily. Therefore, as ruler of this world what do you think he wants to do to those created in the image and the likeness of God who have the potential to become part of God’s family? He wants earth and all mankind destroyed! Therefore, he has mankind helping him in this because he has made a deal with each group, each faith, each nationality and each race to say, hey, you go kill those bad people over there. They deserve to die but you, you are okay. He has everybody on the earth convinced of this including Christians! That is why the earth is in such a mess. We understand that as long as he is the god of this world he would succeed in destroying this world. But God is going to cut his time short so that will not happen. God provided for that in His plan, and He made sure that everything was taken care of so that curse was lifted. We will look at this a little more in depth as we go through the sermon. Let us go to Isaiah chapter 45, starting in verse 18. God makes it very clear here what His intentions are for the earth. Verse 18: “For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited...” God created this earth to be inhabited by all manner of life that He created, but especially mankind. He did not create it in vain because He did not create it to be destroyed and desolated. That is Satan’s intent. “‘I am the Lord, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, “Seek Me in vain”; I, the Lord, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.’” God says when you seek Me it is not in vain. When you seek the god of this world, it is vain hope. When we wheel and deal with Satan, we lose. When we deal with God, we are dealing with righteousness and we win. We have to understand and we must not ever misapply the qualities of Satan on to God because then we believe God is a harsh, cruel God who will dispense harsh justice. The only harsh cruel god there is is Satan, the god of this world. Our God is a God of love and mercy who wants to liberate all of mankind. Now let us go to Genesis chapter 8. Did God try to trick us into following a falsehood? No! God never tried to trick us. He told us from the beginning what His plans were. Genesis 8 gives us a wonderful promise. When we start reading the Bible from the beginning to the end, we get this promise right here in Genesis 8, and we should stick with it. Do not switch it for vain hope from the false accuser. Genesis 8, starting in verse 20. This is after the flood. “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.’” God promises here in the first pages of the Bible that He will never again destroy the earth! Satan wants to destroy it, but God is not going to let it happen. It is Satan who wants to destroy and he has mankind right where he wants them right now: hating one another, killing one another over their beliefs, intolerant, self-righteous toward one another, full of his thoughts. Satan’s thoughts are ugly thoughts. God’s thoughts are beautiful thoughts. God is never going to give us a thought to hate others. God said it in John 3:16, I so loved the world, I gave My only Son to preserve the earth. He does not want to condemn it or destroy it. Satan is like a general who has the earth held captive. His policy is a scorched-earth policy! He knows he is going to lose. He knows that Jesus Christ has actually replaced him in concept and that He is going to take His kingdom and deliver it here to the earth very shortly. But He has not yet taken over the government of the earth yet. Jesus Christ does not have full control over the earth yet. It is coming. His kingdom is coming for sure. Satan knows he is going to have to relinquish control over the earth very shortly, and his policy is a scorched-earth policy. So he wants to turn over to the Conquering General, Jesus Christ, a pile of ashes and nuclear wasteland, a place full of death and destruction! That is what he wants to give Jesus Christ to start His beautiful Millennium. God the Father and Jesus Christ laugh and say, no way! We are going to start the Millennium on Our terms, not your terms. We only have one hope as human beings and that is that God wins; because if God does not win, there is no hope! God is going to win, and He gives us every confidence that we need to know that. He has given us His word. We are going to have to understand it and not apply any of Satan’s misconceptions to it. But His word is replete with examples of Him saving His people and saving the earth. That is God’s plan and He will fulfill this promise we just read in Genesis 8. He is never going to allow the destruction of the earth again, never. It does not matter how many nuclear weapons are invented or how many horrible diseases terrorists may invent. It does not matter one bit what mankind or Satan wheel and deal about the destruction of everyone else because it is not going to happen. God says so and you cannot beat God. Let us go to Luke 9. Jesus Christ did not hide this from us either. Jesus Christ was very clear about this. Luke 9, verse 51: “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up...” (this is Jesus Christ) “...that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, ‘Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?’” You see, this town was not nice to Jesus Christ. They said, hey, we cannot let these people get away with that! Why don’t we just call down fire like a nuclear bomb in that town, and wipe them out? Here is what Jesus Christ said to that thought. Verse 55: “But He turned and rebuked them, and said, ‘You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.’ And they went to another village.” Could Christ have been any clearer? Jesus Christ is of the Spirit of God, which are the beautiful thoughts of God. So what were the thoughts that James and John had followed here? It was the influence of Satan, the arch enemy, who is full of ugly thoughts and wants to destroy everybody. So He rebuked them for that. I say to us today, we need to be rebuked! Any of us who are perfectly willing to watch this world get incinerated while we are in some sort of place of special protection wherever it may be, that thought is not of God. Let us turn to Amos chapter 3, verse 2: “‘You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.’” Christ said in Isaiah 28, if we make a deal with Sheol, He is going to let it happen to us. Verse 3: “‘Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?’” I ask that same question. Who are we in agreement with? When we want the world destroyed and us protected, we have made a deal with the wrong side, because God wants to preserve the world. If we have made a deal with the enemy, God says He is going to have to allow us to be punished. It is very, very clear in Isaiah 28 and Ezekiel 13. So we need to repent and make some deals with God real quickly while there is yet time. Fortunately, there still is time, but we have to start repenting of this attitude. Now let us take a look at God’s name, the God who loves the world, the true God. Let us see what He wants to do for mankind and how He is going to prevent this earth from being destroyed. Let us go, please, to the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi. Malachi chapter 4. This is a very misunderstood book. We are going to start reading in verse 4. These are the last three verses in the Old Testament. “‘Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.’” We see here God promises something. He does not say, I might send an Elijah to lift this curse off of the earth. He says I WILL SEND ELIJAH. I will do this and he will help you remember the Law of Moses, which he commanded all of Israel with. Because of this the earth will not be stricken with the curse. Now that word “curse” in the Strong’s means “utter destruction”. This is exactly what Satan wants to do! Exactly what Satan wants to do, God will not allow, for God wants to save mankind. We saw this in John and in Luke. God did not make His plan to watch the earth be destroyed like a vain object. Isaiah chapter 61, God is our liberator. Let us start reading in verse 1: “‘The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me...’” (speaking of Jesus Christ) “‘...to preach good tidings to the poor...’” Anyone who comes after Christ in His name and wants to be a prophet or a teacher (prophet means teacher) and wants to teach in God’s name, better understand the name of God. You must understand who it is we are representing. Because this is what Jesus Christ says here. Continuing in verse 1: “‘He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified.’” God says Christ came to heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and open the prison. What was one of Satan’s names - “oppressor”. He has this world held captive because he is the god of this world. We are trapped in a world ruled by a demonic dictator. We are going to be freed from him. God promises this. He is going to deliver us. So we must never get confused and mislabel our God with the names of Satan. The oppressor, the violent one, who is bent upon destruction. Is God less imaginative, less strong and courageous than some of the men who have been a blessing to this earth? I speak particularly of generals who have liberated captives. When I think of Eisenhower, Montgomery and MacArthur for instance from World War II, these are three very famous liberating generals. When they were about to liberate, in the case of MacArthur in the Philippines or Eisenhower in Europe, did they use their troops to destroy the population first? My father fought in the Second World War. I have read his army book many times. I have listened to him talk about what it was like to liberate Rome, to liberate Velletri (a little city in west central Italy), to liberate many dozens of little towns, villages and cities in Italy, Sicily and in southern France and how the people would line the streets and cheer. The women would throw flowers on the tanks and hug and kiss the G.I.’s as they went through town. The American soldiers would give them chocolates and tell them they are free and not to be afraid anymore. We have kicked the dictator out of your town and you will be safe now. What would it have been like if Eisenhower, Montgomery or MacArthur had sent leaflets or messages to the towns before they came and said, now look, we are about to liberate Rome or Velletri or Paris. Unfortunately we are going to kill 90 to 95 percent of all the civilians in your town including men, women and children. We are going to kill all of you in order to kill the enemy, but do not worry. Your town will be a shambles and most of your family will be dead, but we hope that you will be safe. And we hope to rebuild your town someday. I bet most of the people would say, hey wait a minute, we have it better than that under Hitler! We have it better than that under the Japanese who have conquered us! They are not killing that many of us. Now life is rough, but at least we are alive. Now is Christ any less imaginative than one of these famous generals? Is Christ going to tell the earth, I am coming to liberate you at the time of the end. I am sorry that due to nuclear war, plagues, famines, pestilences and all manner of strange terrorist attacks that 90 to 95 percent of you will be killed and the entire earth destroyed in a nuclear wasteland! I am sorry that has to happen but sometimes as a liberator you have to do these things. Now would we want God to come? Of course not, but can you see why Satan would want us to believe that that is the kind of God we have? In the meantime, he is doing that very thing to us - how ludicrous! We have believed the arch deceiver and we are helping him with these deals we have made with him throughout the earth! We have to stop it! All of us have to sit back and realize that we have been tricked! God loves all mankind. It does not matter if your neighbor is a different color or the guy down the street is a different religion. It does not matter, God loves all of us. We have to learn the truth. We have to repent of these ways of living and being and treat each other the way God wants us to. Like Christ said to the apostles, you do not know what manner of spirit you are! Anybody who would commandeer a plane and fly it into innocent people’s place of work and say we did it because god told us, I will tell you which god they were following - the arch deceiver. But any Christian who says I am going to be in a place of safety while my town goes up in smoke, is guilty of the same thing because they wheeled and dealed with the arch deceiver! It is as simple as that. Let us go back to Luke chapter 6 please and verse 27: “‘But I say to you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you...’” Now this is Jesus Christ - the true God talking. “‘...bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.’” Verse 34: “‘And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Highest. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.’” Now did you see just how merciful God is? It says there in verse 35 He is kind to the unthankful. He is kind to even those who are bad, evil it says here! Because God loved the world before anyone had repented. He sent His Son and His plan to heal the brokenhearted and release the captives. He did not demand perfection from any of us before He offered us salvation! Now where did the idea come from that no one else except whatever little group we are in is special enough to be preserved? That idea comes from the arch deceiver. We are to be merciful as our Father is merciful. It is perfectly clear. Go to Matthew 5, please, The Beatitudes. Matthew chapter 5, verse 7. Read all of The Beatitudes when you have time. Verse 7 says, “‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.’” Now who among us wants mercy? I think every one of us does. Well then we best learn how to be merciful or we are not going to get it. That is what Isaiah 28 said. That is what Ezekiel 13 said. If we want to have mercy, we better learn to be merciful and learn what our purpose is. If we want anyone on this earth incinerated, we are not of the right spirit. Proverbs chapter 3, verse 19: “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens; by His knowledge the depths were broken up, and clouds drop down the dew.” So by knowledge and understanding Christ created this earth. We just read in Isaiah that He did not create it to be a vain thing, a destroyed thing. Continuing in verse 21: “My son, let them not depart from your eyes - keep sound wisdom and discretion; so they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck. Then you will walk safely in your way, and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; for the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught.” Verse 27: “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so. Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it’, when you have it with you. Do not devise evil against your neighbor, for he dwells by you for safety’s sake. Do not strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm. Do not envy the oppressor, and choose none of his ways; for the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord, but His secret counsel is with the upright.” Let us pause there for a moment. We do not make any deals with any oppressors because oppressors have followed and made deals with the arch deceiver, who is the biggest oppressor of them all. Please turn to Luke chapter 12, starting in verse 22: “And He said to His disciples, ‘Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?’” Verse 27: “‘Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’” We are told here not to fear and we should not teach others to fear. We have a God who is all powerful, and He has a perfect plan to deliver mankind, to deliver this earth, and all those oppressed by that arch deceiver and that arch oppressor. We are not of a spirit of fear and timidity but of love and kindness and concern for the rest of the world. We must be merciful and not teach people to be fearful. This is something we all have to learn - to love mercy, as it says, in Matthew 5. For if we want mercy, we must be merciful. So what are some of the names that our God goes by? I would like to give you some of His names which reflect His character. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 9, starting in verse 6: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given...” (of course, this is Jesus Christ) “...and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” He is a wonderful God, He is a counselor to all who need help, He is a mighty God, He is the Prince of Peace and He is everlasting. These are some of the names of our God. Without turning to these scriptures, you will find in Genesis He is called “Elohim” which is a plural noun for family. God is a family, and we can become a part of His family. El Shaddai is mentioned in Genesis 35, verse 11, which means God Almighty, the Almighty Blessed One. He is called in James 1 the Father of Lights. He is called in Genesis Yahweh Raphah, which is the Healing God. He heals. He is called in the New Testament, Immanuel, which means “God with us”, our Savior. He is called Logos in John 1. That is the “Word” and the word He spoke is this Bible right here that we have. He is called Faithful and True in Revelation 19. He is called the Rock in many places, the Rock, our Fortress and our Place of Safety in Him. He is called Yahweh, which means I Am and continue to be that which I Am. So His name, all of these we just read and others, will never change. He will never change to a god of destruction and cruelty. His names are beautiful because He is beautiful. His names are kind because He is kind. His names are full of love because He is full of love. His plan for all of mankind is to liberate us and to save us. We can have confidence in this God and His names, and He will never let us down or forsake us. I want to close with one more set of scriptures, which is Psalm 23. This is something we are all familiar with but now having learned these things let us read Psalm 23 with new eyes to appreciate the wonderful God that we have. Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”