12 BOCNEWS.com SEPTEMBER 2017 God is Love! The Devil has been Successful in ruining the REPUTATION of God, but he CAN NEVER Affect His TRUE CHARACTER! The following article is a compilation of informa- tion gathered from my many years of study/ observations and a variety of sources. I do not claim to be the original source of thoughts; I am just a conveyor of what the LORD would have me to do/ say for “His Glory.” The Evil/Corruption of our humanness in this 21st century didn’t start yesterday, as a matter of fact, it started millenniums ago - at the infancy of our humanity. “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the gar- den’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the gar- den, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Then the serpent said to the woman, “YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE! For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and YOU WILL BE LIKE GOD, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:1-5 Consider how clever the Devil’s was. He subtly made a suggestion rather than an argument to dis- credit God's authority, casting doubt about God's credibility. Satan asked, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'" Satan successfully magnified God's strictness in her mind, reminding her that the way is narrow. She began to agree with him, thinking about God in terms the serpent wanted her to think. She began to agree, saying “Yes, yes, yes” to the salesman's ploys. Satan immediately minimized the penalty, saying an outright lie, "You shall not die" (Gen. 3:4). Then to clinch the sale, he offers her a reward: "You shall be like God" (3:5). What a price she paid! Satan offered a reward that must have seemed so big to Adam and the Woman that they could not afford to reject it. What he offered was enough to reorient their lives. From that point on, mankind has viewed God as a Rival and Competitor rather than a Friend— Someone with whom to compete and outwit rather than cooperate, for they were now gods too! Satan, though, in addition to casting doubt on what God plainly says, and implying that God is unfair by withholding good things, offers a shortcut. He indicates: "You do not need to follow God's way, for it is obviously unfair and far too stringent. You can follow your own way. You can take knowledge to yourself of what is good and what is evil. You can be just like God in determining what is right and wrong." Adam and the Woman took the bait, and ever since, man has rejected God's stan- dard of righteousness in favor of his own. A core issue of the Bible is whether we submit to God's governance or try to form a government based on our own perception of what is good or what works. God's way results in “Eternal Life,” but it comes with the obligation to submit ourselves to Him. It requires keeping all of His command- ments and overcoming our human weaknesses that do not rise to that standard. Satan, conversely, seeks to persuade us to do our own thing and to usurp God's prerogative in defining right living. He encourages us to be enlightened, to have our eyes opened, by Doubting God and Rejecting His way. Satan's influence is worldwide: "We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" (I John 5:19). His ultimate object is to destroy God [ain’t gonna happen], but along the way he also strives to destroy any aspect of God's creation, most especially man. He is doing this through inducing human beings to sin in order to bring upon them the “wages of sin—death.” The driving forces of his prideful, deceitful mind and those of his demon companions are deceit, hatred, anger, competition, and destruction, all encompassed within an overweening “PRIDE.” People absorb them into their thinking processes, becom- ing like him in attitude and conduct. These char- acteristics lodge into human hearts and generate Resistance to God, His law, and His purpose. A quick look at this world reveals that its loyalty is to Satan, who influences and rules it. He lies from the very depths of his character. In contrast, God does not and “CANNOT LIE,” for “TRUTH” is a pri- mary attribute of His character (Hebrews 6:17-18; Numbers 23:19). We are involved in a war, and a general will employ every kind of ploy, device, tool, or contrivance to rout the enemy. He will use decoys, infiltration, subversion, propaganda, rumors, misleading leaks of information, and sometimes a frontal attack with diversions on the flanks. However, God makes sure to warn us of his sub- tlety. The Devil creates distractions and illusions to deflect us from reaching our goal. He has the ability to make things that are in God's Purpose unimport- ant (for instance, material things or vanity) seem important, while eternal, spiritual things he makes seem unimportant, unnecessary, and unrealistic. From His nature of LOVE and WISDOM, God pre-determined what is right and beautiful, and He taught Adam and the Woman His way of life, instruction now included in His Word – the Bible. If we want to achieve His Purpose and be in His Image, unlike the failure our first parents, we must limit our free moral agency to choosing whether to submit to the universal, life-encompassing standards He has already deter- mined. The Bible tells us that "God is Love" (1 John 4:8). But how can we even begin to understand that truth? There are many pas- sages in the Bible that give us God's definition of LOVE. The most well-known verse is John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not per- ish, but have everlasting life." So, one-way God defines love is in the act of Giving. However, what God gave (or should we say, "Who" God gave) was not a mere gift-wrapped present; God sacrificed “His only begot- ten Son” so that we, who put our faith in Him, will not spend eternity separated from the Graces and Mercies of God. This is an amazing “LOVE,” because we are the ones who choose to reject God, yet it's God who mends the separation through His Intense Personal Sacrifice, and all we have to do is accept His gift. Another great verse about God's “LOVE” is found in Romans 5:8, "But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." In this verse and in John 3:16, we find no conditions placed on God's love for us. God doesn't say, "as soon as you clean up your act, I'll love you; " nor does He say, "I'll sacrifice my Son if you promise to love Me." In fact, in Romans 5:8, we find just the opposite. God wants us to know that His love is UNCONDITIONAL, so He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us while we were still UNLOVABLE SINNERS. We didn't have to get clean, and we didn't have to make any promises to God before we could experience His love. His love for us has always existed, and because of that, He did all the Giving and Sacrificing long before we were even aware that we needed His love. His love not based on feelings or emotions. He doesn't love us because we're lovable or because we make Him feel good; He loves us because “HE IS LOVE.” He created us to have a loving relationship with Him, and He sacri- ficed His Only Begotten Son (who also willingly died for us) to restore that relationship. The Devil has been Successful in ruining the REPUTATION of God, but he CAN NEVER Affect His TRUE CHARACTER!!! He may slander God to us in order to cast doubt on God’s Goodness and ship- wreck our Faith – Yet, God has Always been/Always will be: “GOD IS LOVE!!!” JEHOVAH-SHALOM By Pastor Al R. Combs Al Combs He doesn't love us because we're lovable or because we make Him feel good; He loves us because “HE IS LOVE.” SCRIPTURE