Guide to God, part 05/41: The Two Sides

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The Two Sides

A Brief History: In the beginning, God created all things,
including a certain number of angels. Among these angels
were Lucifer, Michael, and Gabriel. Lucifer eventually
grew dissatisfied with his position under God, and sought
to overthrow Him. One third of the angels joined Lucifer
in his rebellion against God, thereby initiating the battle
between God and the Devil -- between good and evil. After
God judged Lucifer for his rebellion, He sentenced him to
death eternal; and he received the title and name of the
Devil and Satan. At the current time, Satan is the only
one who has been found worthy of death eternal. Please
note that Satan is not currently dead; he has only been
sentenced to death. God keeps Satan alive while he is
useful to Him. That's right, God uses Satan to do His will;
God is currently using Satan to test mankind in the ways of
good and evil. When God has no further use of Satan, He
will dispose of him (via eternal spiritual death): "And the
devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, and
they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."
[Revelation 20:10] The "lake of fire and brimstone" is
"hell"; hell is the Second Death, which is death eternal;
to be tormented is to be out of the presence of God; to be
tormented forever is to be forever out of the presence of
God; to be forever out of the presence of God is to be
eternally dead, for there is no life apart from God, since
God is the source of all life. (More on this later.)

Order And Chaos: The universe, including the earth, is
currently a battlefield of two ideologies: Order and Chaos;
Law and Lawlessness; Good and Evil. Each one of us must
choose one side over the other -- there is no middle ground;
there is no neutral ground. If you are not on the side of
God, then you are on the side of Satan by default: "He who
is not with Me is against Me." [Matthew 12:30] Before you
choose your side, you ought to educate yourself in the two
ideologies: God stands for law and order, for God desires
His creation to endure forever; and, in God's opinion, only
that which is built on absolute and infallible laws can
endure forever. The devil stands for chaos and lawlessness
-- the embodiment of absolute freedom; however, chaos has a
tragic end: It will eventually destroy all things,
including itself.

Freedom And Freewill: God granted man freewill; each man
has the freedom to do as he pleases. There is only one
circumstance under which a man's freedoms are restricted:
If a man chooses to inherit life eternal as prescribed by
God, he is then obligated to live the remainder of his life
according to the Standard which brings life -- the Ten
Commandments. He who keeps the Ten Commandments will
inherit life eternal. He who refuses to keep the Ten
Commandments earns death eternal, for the wages of sin is
death; and sin is the transgression of the commandments.

Why The Ten Commandments: God desires a perfect, eternal,
everlasting creation. If God's creation is to endure
forever, it cannot contain anything which causes harm.
In other words, a creation which is to endure eternity must
be built on the absolute law of harmlessness. What is
"harmlessness"? The Ten Commandments can be summarized in
three words: "Do no harm." "Do no harm" can be summarized
in one word: "Love." Thus, the only law in eternity is
love. Since love never harms, that which is built on love
will endure forever.

Good And Evil: Good never harms; evil is destructive. The
Ten Commandments is the Standard which divides good from
evil: He who keeps the Ten Commandments does good; he who
transgresses the Ten Commandments does evil. Nevertheless,
God is merciful to forgive the transgressor who turns to
Him in repentance.

The End Of Evil: Evil is destructive. Evil's only
objective is the destruction of all things. It is
impossible to reason with evil; it is impossible to pacify
evil. If left unchecked, evil will eventually destroy all
things. Evil does not respond to reason; nor is it possible
to satisfy evil. When it comes to dealing with evil, one
has only two choices: Destroy it or be destroyed by it.
Evil can only be destroyed by Good. "No one is good but
One, that is, God." [Matthew 19:17] Thus, only God can
destroy evil, since God alone is good. When will God
destroy evil? God will destroy evil when He has no further
use of it. Specifically, evil will be destroyed in the
final battle between good and evil, which follows the
Millennium (see Revelation 20:7-10 for details).

Choosing Your Side: How do I choose God? By keeping His
commandments. How do I choose the devil? By doing whatever
you desire, for the devil is the god of selfishness; but the
LORD commands His followers to give everyone and everything
their due respect.

Principles And Desires: There are two ways to live your
life: By principles or by desires. If you choose to live
according to the principles of God, you will inherit life
eternal; if you choose to live according to your desires,
you will inherit death eternal: "For he who sows to his
flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows
to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life."
[Galatians 6:8]

Your Reward: What is my reward for following God? Life
eternal in the presence of God, where there is no sickness,
no disease, no pain, no decay (ageing), and no death. What
is my reward for following the devil? Death eternal.

Profitability And Unprofitability: The only profitable
things are those which bring glory to God; all other things
are unprofitable, and will be judged as such in the Day of
Judgement. Glory to God is given through service and
worship. There is only one way to serve God: Keep His
commandments. There is only one way to worship God: Keep
His commandments.

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The above is an excerpt from a currently-available book
which can be purchased at:

www.amazon.com
www.amazon.co.uk
www.amazon.ca

Search "Books" for:
TITLE: "The Teenager's Guide to the Awesome God"
AUTHOR: "Arrant Knave"
ISBN: "1413755003"

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Excerpt from "The Teenager's Guide To The Awesome God"
Copyright 2000 Arrant Knave. All rights reserved.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are
taken from the New King James Version (R). Copyright (C)
1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights
reserved.

Guide to God, part 05/41: The Two Sides

-----

The Two Sides

A Brief History: In the beginning, God created all things, including a
certain number of angels. Among these angels were Lucifer, Michael, and
Gabriel. Lucifer eventually grew dissatisfied with his position under
God, and sought to overthrow Him. One third of the angels joined Lucifer
in his rebellion against God, thereby initiating the battle between God
and the Devil -- between good and evil. After God judged Lucifer for his
rebellion, He sentenced him to death eternal; and he received the title
and name of the Devil and Satan. At the current time, Satan is the only
one who has been found worthy of death eternal. Please note that Satan is
not currently dead; he has only been sentenced to death. God keeps Satan
alive while he is useful to Him. That's right, God uses Satan to do His
will; God is currently using Satan to test mankind in the ways of good and
evil.

When God has no further use of Satan, He will dispose of him (via
eternal spiritual death): "And the devil, who deceived them, was cast
into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false
prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."
[Revelation 20:10] The "lake of fire and brimstone" is "hell"; hell is
the Second Death, which is death eternal; to be tormented is to be out
of the presence of God; to be tormented forever is to be forever out of
the presence of God; to be forever out of the presence of God is to be
eternally dead, for there is no life apart from God, since God is the
source of all life. (More on this later.)

-----

The above is an excerpt from a currently-available book which can be
purchased at:

www.amazon.com
www.amazon.co.uk
www.amazon.ca

Search "Books" for:
TITLE: "The Teenager's Guide to the Awesome God" AUTHOR: "Arrant Knave"
ISBN: "1413755003"