Good Morning, Unbelievers (and faithful Readers): Welcome! Let me introduce myself: My name is Dan. You might not know me, but I know you. “How do you know me”, you might be wondering? Because I was an unbeliever myself for most of my life. I was a very proud Atheist; I was an intellectual. In fact, I even had the title, Professor, to prove it. Therefore, I could not possibly accept that trivial drivel the church is selling. I mean, “Come on…smart people like me and you can’t fall for gibberish that makes no rational sense.” That was my excuse. What is your excuse? You don’t believe in God, or you believe in God, but not Jesus. You don’t believe in organized religion, or you’ve been scared by organized religion. You don’t believe there is only one way to an after-life; you don’t believe in heaven or hell; you don’t believe the Bible can be true; you’ve seen church leaders that you once followed fall from their pedestals; you know hypocrites who claim to be Christians, but who continue to live as heathens; you see no way you could have fun if you’re expected to follow all of those confining “dos” and “don’ts”, or… you believe you are a “good person”, in fact, better than most, and you know that God, because he is a good God, will welcome you into heaven. Those are many of the classic reasons for remaining an unbeliever. I get that! All of those same thoughts were stumbling blocks for me as I continued to live in bondage to my arrogance.
So, you may be asking yourself, “What is Dan’s deal? Why does he care about what I believe, or what happens to me? My honest answer to that question is this: There was certainly a time when I could not have cared less about you, your belief or your destiny. But during that period of my life, I was totally consumed with me, my agenda and my career. As smart as I thought I was, in reality…I was totally ignorant of The Truth. I had a lot of knowledge and common sense, but I was ignorant of what I now know to be THE TRUTH. (I want to be perfectly clear here; I am not referring to worldly truth, worldly philosophy, or situational truth. I am referring to God’s Word (or God’s Truth, which is collected and codified in the Holy Bible).
The next obvious question should be, “How do you know the Bible is The Truth?”, and I would answer: “Because I have experienced the transforming power of those WORDS OF LOVE. OF TRUTH, OF POWER, OF PEACE, OF HEALING, OF CONFIDENT ASSURANCE. On April 21st, 2000, this wretched man was at the end of his rope with nowhere else to turn. In sheer desperation I cried out, “God…I don’t know if you’re there or not, but if you are, help me stop drinking and drugging. I know I can’t do it. Please help me.” That Tuesday morning, God met me in my brokenness, and a new journey was revealed. I had no idea what God’s plan was for me, but I was a willing participant.
Seven years later, I became Pastor Dan. Today, I know THE TRUTH, and that truth has indeed set me free. Therefore, when the chips are down and our time on this earth has drawn nigh, YOU will either be raised to eternal life, or YOU will perish. It breaks my heart to think that people might perish because they don’t know THE TRUTH. I want YOU to have the same opportunity for redemption that I had. It’s free; it doesn’t hurt; I’m not interested in promoting any particular religion; I don’t care what your past has been. All I want is for You to have Your own personal relationship with God, and to realize “how pleasing and perfect His will is for Your life”. (Romans 12:2) The fruit of this endeavor, should you decide to accept it, will be wisdom, strength, courage, joy, peace and serenity. All that is required of you is an open mind, a willingness to learn and a desire to grow in knowledge. What have you got to lose? It only takes five minutes to read each of these messages. If you have questions or criticisms, contact me at drpresgr@gmail.com Go for it!
My plan for this journey is to take certain fundamental Truths from the Bible, and explain why these Truths will become the anchors in your platform of faith. My first subject will be “God…Who Is He?” What does He say; what does He say about us; what are His plans for us; what is His standard; what are His promises, and how do we reap those promises?
God’s Majestic Qualities: At the burning bush experience, when Moses asked God for His credentials, God introduced Himself as, “I AM” (The One Who Always Is). In other words, He is TIMELESS; He is EVERYTHING: Creator of ALL creation, (things material, spiritual, seen and unseen) “Let there be Light” was the beginning. (Gen. 1:3); He is Godhead of the Trinity (3 parts in one entity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.) He said, “Let’s make people in our image. They will be masters over all life.” (Gen. 1:26) We ARE God’s proudest creation, because we have something no other member of the animal species has…a brain for rational thinking.
Other Majestic qualities that are revealed throughout the Bible are: Omnipotence (meaning all-powerful); Omniscience (meaning all-knowing); Omnipresence (able to be everywhere at once); Immutable (meaning without error); Alpha and Omega is (timeless, without beginning or end). Because of these Majestic qualities, we accept Biblical statements, such as “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37), or “My ways are not your ways, and My thoughts are not your thoughts. As high as the heavens are above the earth, as far as the east is from the west, My ways are not your ways, My thoughts are not your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
We are finite human beings who exist in a world of five senses (touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound). We make choices about our environment based on these receptors. Quantum Physics, however, has continued to break apart, and study the atom in multiple environments, called dimensions. At the time of my last research concerning this matter, perhaps five years ago, science had discovered 12 dimensions. (I suspect that number is greater today). But the point is, we exist in an environment defined by five senses, but science has already discovered 7 new dimensions that are beyond our natural realm. Supposing God exists in 20, 50, 100 or even a1000 dimensions. Is there any wonder why His ways sometimes seem irrational to us? We can never put the enormity of God into a man-shaped box. We can only stand in awe of His Majesty. Would you want to worship a lesser god?
The Flip-side of God: Probably the closest we can come to relating to these majestic attributes is understanding the definition of the terms Omnipotence, Omniscience, etc. I mean, how can we relate to Omnipresence? But we can most certainly relate to His personal, tender side.1 John 4:8,16, tells us that “God IS Love!” Not only is He loving, but His very essence is LOVE! (If you’ve spent too much time in the Old Testament, you may want to question that fact. Feel free to send questions my way. I understand your (erroneous 😊) thinking. If God IS Love (and He is), think about how you would treat someone you love. Wouldn’t you be loving, kind, patient, filled with goodness, gentleness, patience, joyful and under control? These attributes also describe God’s nature, and His feelings toward you. Really!
When God created us, He created us for a relationship. Not just a here and now relationship, but an eternal relationship. As I’m sure you already know, before any relationship can develop, each party has to get to know the other before they can commit to entering into that union. Since God is a spirit, and we are finite human beings, how can we get to know one another? Well, God already had that figured out. He chose to speak through prophets (righteous people chosen by Him) to reveal Himself to His proudest creation. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true, and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing He wants us to do.” And again, in 2 Peter 20-21, we are told: “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy or Scripture ever came from the prophets themselves. It was the Holy Spirit who moved the prophets to speak from God.” Through them, He revealed His truth to the world. Everything we need to know about Him, about life, about promises and blessings, and about salvation is revealed in the Holy Bible (His Word, His Truth)
God has promised that anyone who wants to participate in this relationship can find Him. “If they will seek Me with all their heart, they will find Me” (Deuteronomy 4:29) Again He said, “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13) God wants a relationship with YOU. He will meet YOU wherever you are, regardless of what you are facing, or what you have done. He doesn’t want to lose even one person to eternal damnation. How is that for unconditional, unending and unfailing love.
Next week I will continue with this same topic: “God…Who Is He?” We will delve into what He says about us, what His plans are for us, what His standard is, and His promises, and how we achieve those promises.
I’ll see you next week. If you are a Believer reading this, please share this blog with one of your unbelieving friends. Let’s partner in this endeavor. Together we can do our best to save lost souls.
May God Bless You abundantly,
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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