In 1995 an author named Neal Donald Walsh Walsch wrote an angry letter to God asking questions about why his life wasn't working. After writing down all of his questions, he heard a voice over his right shoulder say: "Do you really want an answer to all these questions or are you just venting?" Though when he turned around he saw no one there, Walsch felt answers to his questions filling his mind and decided to write them down. The ensuing dialogue became the series of books under the title of Conversations with God What did God communicate to Neal? God is whatever we decide he is and whatever we need him to be. We are not fallen but perfect the way we are, we just need to realize this. There is no sin, evil, hell (but of course there is a heaven, but that is of your own choosing as well) Guilt, regret and shame for our actions is a human construct. Therefore, there is no need of a savior, redeemer or atonement for sins. The bible is one of countless ways to get to heaven and experience him. 1
Is this sweeeet or what? I ll bet Moses wished someone had let him know this before he stepped over to see why the thorn bush was on fire and not being consumed huh? But before I begin celebrating and leaving this dreadful life of slavery and servitude to the cruel and vindictive God of the Scriptures, I would like the chance to ask the Prophet Walsh only one single question, and my question would be: How do you know that was God? What was Neal Walsh s criteria, or method of identification to make sure that he was hearing the words of the creator, and not the hiss of an ancient serpent? Simple. This has to be God, because he told me exactly what I wanted to hear. He is whatever I need him to be, he has no obligations or expectations of me. I can do whatever seems right in my own eyes. He does not judge or punish anyone for their misguided actions. I m ok, you re ok, we are all ok. We all get to go to heaven. How can this NOT be God?!? This is the one most prominent issue in the entire history of false religion and pseudo-spirituality. The issue at the very core of the massive humanity-wide delusion is this: For these, there was no solid, unmistakable and fool-proof way to discern and determine whether or not the voice from the darkness was from God himself or from Satan and or his demonic entourage. (or light for that matter, the devil is not afraid of light.) 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 But because we impose our ideas about God on him, instead of man being made in the image of God, we turned around and remade God in the image of man, they found him to be a great guy! God went from being the CREATOR to the DUDE. (with the exception of Islam, who still holds to a God of justice and wrath, and eternal reward and punishment. But this also appeals to our inherent human sense of good and evil, justice and unfairness. Islam, and some of us need an exaggerated view of God more angry than compassionate to fit our sense of justice.) The Bible provides the most balanced view of God period. Ezekiel expresses it pretty well: 18:23-32 Moses problem was not going to be whether or not this was truly God speaking to him or not. It was going to be whether or not to do what He says! 2
Straight to Business As we can see here, God is not the God of small talk and casual conversation. This doesn t mean that He does not communicate His love, compassion, guidance and wisdom through the presence of the Holy Spirit, His Word and His body, but if He appears before us, life just got real. Why doesn t He though? So many of us have fantasized about God just being a regular guy. Singer Joan Osborne wrote the song, What if God was one of us? If God had a name, what would it be? And would you call it to His face? If you were faced with Him in all His glory What would you ask if you had just one question? And yeah, yeah God is great Yeah, yeah, God is good Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah If God had a face, what would it look like? And would you want to see? If seeing meant that you would have to believe In things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints and all the prophets? He's trying to make His way home Back up to Heaven all alone Nobody calling on the phone Except for the pope maybe in Rome What if God was one of us Just a slob like one of us Just a stranger on the bus Trying to make His way home?. Wouldn t this be great? God: flawed, twisted, powerless, lost, no better off than we are? Wouldn t that message resonate with millions? We could reach more people, communicate God s love to everyone? Our churches would be packed! Nobody would have to feel guilt and obligated to him? Nobody would feel the need to change or repent of their lives? Nobody goes to hell, everyone goes to heaven? God is one of us. Just a slob like one of us, a stranger on a bus. We are all in this together! God s ok, I m ok, You re ok, we are all ok! We can live with that. Can t we? 3
Sad part is it has been attempted since the dawn of man. All ancient religions, Greek myths, Hinduism/Buddhism, the ENTIRE occult and new age framework is based on trying to make God more reachable, palatable, acceptable, human. (to name only a few.) And what can be wrong with that? Why doesn t God just present and communicate Himself this way? Because of all I just said before. Already, the complete and utter nonsense humanity has come up with to modify, recreate and redesign God is infinite. He is the Creator, Lord, King of Kings, Sovereign, omnipotent and omnipresent. I can go on. And even with this, we still treat Him like an afterthought and a joke. This god has nothing to offer us except a cosmic parody of life. A Greek tragedy mixed with a utopian fantasy. This God does not have the will, desire or power to save anyone, perhaps not even himself. BUT WAIT God eventually did leave His kingdom and throne in heaven, came amongst the people, a regular man, one of us, just a slob, a stranger on a bus, trying to find his way home. And we rejoiced, loved, embraced and the world lived happily ever after right? Uh no. it seems God cannot win no matter what He does. (in the eyes of the world that is. ) the world saw God in human flesh and decided to KILL him. So much for tolerance. Jesus even expresses this sentiment. In the eyes of society and the world, he can t do anything right. Matthew 11:16-19 So as we can plainly observe, God will be God and man will be man. Once God establishes His person and credentials, he wastes no time informing Moses of four things Who He is. The truth and reality of the situation. What He is going to do about it. How He is going to do it. Seems pretty clear. Direct. No confusion, no alternate interpretations, no committees or debates. Don t you wish that ALL God s communications were this simple and direct? Why are things so complicated, messy, vague and confusing when it comes to God s communications to us? (a study for another time.) 4
The message. Did you know God is very self centered? He is addressing Moses, yet all He can do is talk about Himself. Look at all the I s in the passage? (I will let you decide if the fact that there are seven I statements in this passage is biblically significant) I have indeed seen the misery. I have heard them crying out. I am concerned about their suffering. I have come down to rescue them. The cry of the Israelites has reached me. I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. I am sending you. This is such a strong, comforting and inspiring message! I can see Moses getting more and more excited as God continues to speak! Imagine how you would feel listening to God speak?! And Moses was absolutely crazy thrilled with the idea. Until God expressed His last thought.. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. WAIT A MINUTE LORD!!! You were doing so well until that point. BUT, don t be quick to judge Moses, because you and I do this EVERY day!!! Like us, Moses was ok with God s miracles, God s presence, God s voice, God s will, plan and the entire experience. That is, until the very precise moment where God plan included and involved US drink THAT in for a second. Then, Moses does something shocking. If you were in this exact situation, and have just heard and experienced everything Moses just did, how would YOU react or respond? NOTE: even in the magnificent and AWE-striking presence of our God, Creator and Lord God still allows us the full range of our heart, mind and thoughts. Moses had his full faculties in the presence of God. So the idea that we would or should be so dumbstruck and powerless to react to God is mistaken. He wants us to love and worship Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. 5
There was nothing in this episode that communicated to Moses from God that he could not respond to Him in all his own human capacity. And his response is very typical and normally human. You and I believe that in this situation, all we could say is YES Lord! Amen! Not my will but THY will be done. and any number of good clichéd Christian responses. But more than likely, and perhaps as many already have done, we would say what Moses said. Vs. 11 But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? At this point you might say to me wait a minute. We are told in the scriptures Moses is a very humble man. Couldn t this just be his strong awareness of his own humility and did not want to communicate any arrogance or pride? Or maybe it is the very legitimate fear that he was not the right man for this job. After all, he had mistakenly assumed before he was the original chosen one called to liberate his people from the tyranny of Egypt. Even after 40 years this scar and the baggage of fear and failure is still very present and heavy on his mind. What do you think? Well, regardless of what we all might believe is the underlying reason for Moses reluctance and initial push back to God, Moses truly believed there was only one error, mistake, flaw God had somehow overlooked in His plan MOSES. I truly believe we feel this way about God s plan for our lives now. It is Perfect. Flawless. Complete. Glorious except for only one single MAJOR flaw. US. And we can spend countless eons debating, explaining, defending or identifying with Moses and his expressed sentiment here. There is one major flaw in our opinion, interpretation or thinking concerning this: GOD ISN T BUYING IT. 6
God s response? At this point God begins to comfort and reassure Moses. God knows Moses tried and did the very best he could do. God knows he is a humble man and does not want to be arrogant or prideful. God knows Moses is flawed, broken and is not willing to go, therefore God relented, backed away gently, and without making Moses feel inadequate, weak or as if he d let God down, because He did not want to over-burden and overwhelm Moses. So God said, Moses Moses, please don t concern yourself or be anxious about this. I am so sorry to have tried to place this unthinkable burden on you and your family. Receive my grace and peace and go on to live your life with My blessings. And God s voice fades away. The thorn bush ceases to burn, the flame dies and extinguishes. What is left? Are you kidding me? FREEDOM!!! Moses is free to move on and live out his life without God and His meddling. And he lived happily ever after. The end. Right? This is what Neil Walsh, and the rest of fallen humanity wishes God would do. How about you blessed Saint? But God does not do that. God offers a solution to Moses dilemma that while we might think does not seem to cover all the bases and may not seem as much to us as we like to pretend or post that we do And God said, I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. Really God? Seriously? That s it?!? You will be with me? I get to serve you? I get to worship you? And all God s people said? What else have you got? (to be continued) 7