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Who Created Whom? Part 3

Who Created Whom? Part 3

by Dominic Rusu

Christ Exposes the False God of Law and Order

One precursor is needed for the rule of law to exist: sin.

Without the resulting chaos, fear of death, tribal and personal conflict, and selfish human behavior that sin creates, there is no need for a codified law. Investigation, judgement (in the judicial sense), retributive justice, and punishment, have no meaning without sin.

Rule of law does not exist in sacred space (the sinless holiness of God’s presence); it would have no utility. Imposed law has utility only in a profane existence (a sinful world). In sacred space, there is no fear of non-existence because there is no sin. Without fear, there is no selfishness and no chaos. Without chaos, there is no need for God to establish a system of behavioral norms and consequences that He must inflict upon the deviant so that citizens may experience safety and stability. Without a system of imposed law and order, there is no place for the use of power and coercion to incentivize and punish people to elicit proper behavior. Without a need to punish people, there is no need for penal justice.

The rule of law is the best we have in this fallen world. But law-and-order governance is a result of sin, and it functions based on sinful principles. Instead of truth, love, and freedom, the principles of God, the rule of law is based on codes of conduct, the implied contract of group membership, and enforcement (justice).

God exists in holiness, in sinlessness; where His principles are in perfect operation, there is no sin. God and His design for life stand apart from our profane existence. How could God have the character, thought processes, principles, requirements, and behaviors that exist only because of sin and that exist only in our profane dimension? Any notion that would promote the idea that God is like us is a part of Satan’s strategy, even if those who teach this lie have good intentions.

Pagan belief systems typically are polytheistic (many “gods”). And structured law and order with a strong hierarchy of power isn’t common among them. Pagan gods tend to do what they want, when they want, without accountability—like, unsurprisingly, the sinful humans who invented them.

The three major monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) developed strongly around the idea of a single god of law-and-order. It shouldn’t be surprising that two of the most dominant and far-reaching cultures in pre-modern history, after the Romans, were the Holy Roman Empire (Catholic Europe) and the Umayyad Caliphate (Islam). A strict and jealous god of law and order brought great strength to these cultures, with self-serving intent.

The condition of sin, the infection of fear and selfishness in humanity, made Satan’s work easy. In fact, we did the rest for him—as he knew we would. We couldn’t help it. Fear made us do it. For earthly authorities and their peoples, the rule of law has worked brilliantly. This lie about a god of law and order was strengthened as those in power (e.g., Constantine) invoked the name of God, but not His true character, for their own purposes. Satan’s strategy for a divine god-king created in the image of man grew stronger and stronger.

By the time of the Enlightenment (1687, Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica), 1,375 years had transpired since Constantine’s victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD (an early formative event of the Catholic Church). The extensive time period and dominance of the Catholic Church since that event solidified this perverted version of God’s character—to such a degree that there was no going back. Indeed, the Reformers were so marinated in the rule-of-law god construct that they were focused on the trees (minor disagreements with Catholicism) and never saw the forest (the perverted image of God). The ideology of the separation of church and state that found its way into newly formed secular governments didn’t help to address the error either.

We have seen secular humanism push back on Christianity in particular because of the church’s legalism and portrayal of a harsh, vengeful god. This doesn’t make secular humanism right, of course, but neither does it make wrong the criticism of the Christian imperial dictator god.

Guided by the same unfolding revelation of truth that occurred during the Reformation, Seventh-day Adventist reformers, such as E.G. White, A.T. Jones, and E.J. Waggoner, were guided away from the god of law and order toward a greater light—advancing a theology organized around the Creator God, whose law is design law, and taught real righteousness (transformation of heart). However, this revolutionizing view of righteousness was rejected by the law-and-order adherents in the Adventist Church at the 1888 General Conference, and the church has never recovered from it.

But the message to worship Him who made the heavens, earth, sea, and fountains of water, which is a call to reject the rule-of-law god and embrace the Creator, is still there for those who want to see it and embrace it.

I find it telling that God’s call to come out of spiritual Babylon is a reference to the Babylon of Hammurabi, the “lawgiver.” God is calling us out of the false religion of the rule-of-law god and back to Creator worship!

The rule-of-law god of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam has existed, without serious challenge for centuries—except by the life of Christ. Jesus revealed that the character and government of God is distinctly different than the punishing god of law and order, a deity promoted and practiced by both the Jews and Romans of His day.

The world of Roman law and order in Christ’s time was brutal—and extremely effective in worldly terms of success. The Jews were subjugated harshly by the Romans. A number of secular scholars have argued that Jesus was a political activist, a member of the rebellious Zealots. While He may have had acquaintances who were Zealots, there is no biblical evidence that Jesus intended to use His influence to gain temporal justice for the Jews.

And His mission, once revealed, disappointed many Jews, including some of His disciples, who were looking for a Messiah that would be a political and military leader, righting the wrongs of the brutal Roman occupation.

While the Romans crucified Christ, Pilate’s behavior illustrates that Christ didn’t run afoul of the law and order of the Romans; rather, He ran afoul of the authority and theology of the hypocritical Jewish religious leaders. Jesus served as an antagonist for them and their version of God, not the Romans and their governance systems.

If Jesus (God) were focused on revealing to mankind that the most righteous and effective form of governance was law and order, then His mission certainly would have been as a political and military leader. On the contrary, His life revealed a humble acceptance of the law and order of the Romans as yet another tragic result of this sinful state of existence. His focus was on exposing the perversion of the character of God by the Jewish spiritual leaders, which is why they brought Him to the Romans to execute Him.

Christ often healed individuals from disease and disability, which serves as a metaphor for the healing from sin (spiritual disease and disability)—the healing of hearts, minds, and characters. People are not able to assess each other’s hearts, minds, and characters, so the outward, physical healing served as a powerful metaphor for internal, spiritual healing. Such ministry indicated that Jesus was not an activist determined to use political force to reform the Jewish rule of law. His intention was not to start a new denomination with a new-and-improved version of the rule of law, one merely concerned with outward behavior. While He certainly encouraged people to “go and sin no more,” He knew that real change would come only by forgiveness and the revealing of truth, which is the only healing that changes hearts, minds, and characters for eternity.

Human rule-of-law governance might be viewed as a necessary evil in an evil world. Indeed, the Bible seems to endorse the rule of law when such government serves to restrain evil and limit suffering in sinful societies (Romans 13). The problem, however, is that mankind has projected our need for externally enforced law and order, a product of sin, onto God Himself—and we have built our theologies around it. This was Satan’s plan all along—to confuse the sacred with the profane, a god of law and order that is feared and obeyed out of the threat of non-existence, rather than loved and worshiped as Creator and Healer of our sin condition.

The damage done has been immense: hundreds of generations of humans believing in a god that is nothing more than a superhuman version of earthly rulers, one who is little different than every pagan god invented by mankind; living and dying in fear; desperately believing that a legal transaction would ensure their place in the afterlife, rather than a relationship with a loving God who can justify (set right) their characters.

Godless evolution, atheism, the death of God movement, and secular humanism can be viewed as reactive responses to the vengeful god of law and order that sits at the head of Christianity and Islam today. These anti-religious superstitions and philosophies are the consequence of the damage done to millions of souls, who needed to find alternatives to the harsh god of law and order—again, perfectly in line with Satan’s plan to maintain the separation between God and humanity that Jesus came to bridge.

Human moral code (rule of law) has always been dependent on the relative values, assumptions, and stresses facing a given society, and the common practice in history has been to attribute those arbitrary laws to God as the religiopolitical ruling authority. Such a system called theocracy; and until the formation of the United States and the French Revolution, many of the world’s cultures had embraced theocracy of one form or another. Today, much of the world benefits from the separation of church and state, largely due to the influence of the United States Constitution and its First Amendment.

However, our current religions and theologies—Judaism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism—were formed within human-designed theocracies, serving as a coercive tool of the state in order to keep it in power. A state’s rule of law directly influences the theology of the state religion.  I believe hard times and stress have the potential to push what might be tolerant governance ideology back towards theocracy. Of course a theocracy with a false god in charge. We’ve seen this in unstable regions of the world in our lifetimes – Serbia/Croatia, Rwanda and various Muslim countries.  The culmination of this tendency could very well be a description of last day events.

The roots of mainstream Christianity’s theological foundations are still deep in the soil of the most powerful and longest-lasting theocracy in human history: the Catholic Church. Its legal transaction view of salvation was patterned directly after human law and order, and it has used this coercive power to enrich itself at the expense of its flock, a pattern widely seen in Protestant churches that have adopted the Catholic view of legal salvation.

The rule-of-law god was a useful adaptation that humanity invented to compete, dominate, and survive in this sinful state. The stresses of earthly life and our dependence on the rule of law for survival has reinforced the concept that God thinks and behaves as we do when faced with “law-breakers.” We have a hard time envisioning anything else.

However, I believe the good news (the gospel), as illustrated by Christ, is the illumination of the critical difference between the two views of God—a loving Creator whose laws are design protocols for life versus an imperial dictator god whose laws are made-up rules no different than what sinful beings enforce.

Once you start examining God through the design law lens, rather than the law-and-order lens that most people are born into, everything becomes clear. At one point, I had given up on the religion that I was born into because when I had taken it apart to see how it worked, I couldn’t put it back together in a meaningful, logical way. And I didn’t have an alternative, until I was introduced to the Creator God a second time and the design-law concept.

I challenge you to examine these things for yourself and reject this corrupt rule-of-law god and embrace fully our Creator God of love.

 

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Testimony 17

The blessings of clarity and understanding you and your class inspire me to take from the word of God have impressed upon me so greatly the true, loving character of our Creator. I have found amazing freedom and joy through building a stronger, more intentional relationship with Him. What is new is that this is now a relationship built on love, reverence and respect rather than fear and obligation, and as such my eyes have been slammed OPEN as I am continually impressed by the manifestations of God’s true character in His provisions for fallen man.

T.E.H., Salt Lake City, UT, USA

 

Testimony 16

Your seminars are still inspiring and changing our lives and we continue to share the principles we have learned from you. Your ministry has changed our lives!

E.W.

 

Testimony 32

The message [of Come And Reason Ministries is] for all Christians (and those who may become Christians) and not just Adventists or any other group. It is difficult to imagine why any [anyone] with intellectual and spiritual honesty could find fault with the way you explained the healing substitution concepts and the truth about God’s character, though I know some will reject and criticize. On behalf of those in our group near Tacoma, WA, thank you and your staff for all of the hard work and for sharing the Gospel in this manner. God’s message of healing love will be carried to the whole world and then Jesus will come – He promised it.

Terry U., Tacoma, WA, USA

 

Testimony 71

When I was 9 years old, I remember setting at our devotional table with a hunger and thirst for God that wanted more, deeper, BETTER. I can remember literally crying and pounding on the table, “I know these teachers didn’t mean to give us error. They taught what THEY had been TAUGHT, but didn’t ANYBODY READ THE BOOK?!?!?” It mattered to me then. It mattered to me as a teenager. It matters now as I teach bible classes. It didn’t have to be so hard as I watched so many give up and lay God’s great plan and gift of salvation aside as being “impossible.” Then, a friend sent me a link to Come And Reason’s website. I grew excited. YES! FINALLY! Then another friend told me to stay away, saying her son had just broken up with a girl because she was involved with Come And Reason and that “Tim Jennings preaches a false gospel.” But, AFTER many years of developing an authentic and, dare I say FUN relationship with Jesus, through the Holy Spirit I see this message has been around a LONG time, since the apostle Paul, Ellen White, Graham Maxwell, Ray Foucher, and yourself (though I admit, you’ve made me back up, rewind and replay the clips, and get out my well-worn Bible on a few things.) I’m so thankful I have found LIGHT during these DARK days. I am not alone.

Vicki DiNitto

Testimony 63

I’ve been very blessed by “The God Shaped Brain” and this ministry, through video and podcast, over the last few years. It’s truly opened up my eyes more to the truth about God and the importance of that truth in the present world. The message is so inviting, freeing and enlightening and MORE people need to know about it. I believe it is the last message that can truly, not only prepare a people for salvation and translation, but vindicate the character of God.

Michael V., Yonkers, NY, USA

 

Testimony 48

I just want to tell you how blessed I have been reading “The Remedy!” It has become a daily part of my devotional relationship with God. In it I have found a God of love and a God that loves me! The bible has come alive for me! It is the first time that I can say that I have felt hope fill my heart as I have read God’s word. This is good news I can share! Thank you, Dr Jennings! Thank you for your heart for others. I can’t put into words how this has set me free! It has strengthened my trust and love for God.

Jason H.

 

Testimony 58

I have been watching your videos in The Power of Love seminar and I must say these have liberated me and have improved my relationship with the Lord. I am no longer terrified of him as I was before following your teachings.

Thando N., South Africa

 

Testimony 53

I was so blessed by a friend who gave me your book, “The God Shaped Brain,” while I was sitting in church asking God to please help me learn more about Him and help me not to be so confused and scared. That was about 2 years ago. Your books have helped me to love God even more. I’m not confused or scared anymore! I have listened to all of your bible study classes and feel like I know the wonderful people that attend every week. Thank you for all that you’re doing in spreading the true message about God and His law of love. God bless you and your whole class.

Elssy P., Modesto, CA, USA

 

Testimony 37

Hearing Dr. Jennings’ presentations in person came at a pivotal moment in my spiritual journey that began about nine months ago, when the fault lines inherent in my belief system began to crack under questions that most reasonable people end up asking about God and His nature. These were questions I couldn’t find answers to, and they shook my faith. I was unable let it go any longer and be satisfied. My Christian experience became distant. I was afraid; the fear in me rose like thorns, pushing me away from Jesus. And then someone heard my questions and introduced me to this ministry, and my life has totally changed.

I can tell you that this new, “present truth” message is far grander and life-changing than when I shifted from being an agnostic and then a nominal Christian. It has radically altered my worldview, because it reveals a God that makes sense. It is a revolution. I believe that Dr. Jennings’ message is the final message that must go to the world. If any message could be called “righteousness by faith,” as abused as that term is by the right and the left, this is that message, because Jennings’ biblical message identifies a God who is different, whose character isn’t an impossible contradiction.

I walk this path now without fear. I see people differently, and the Holy Spirit burns in my heart. Many call Dr. Jennings’ message false and compromising, but it isn’t false, because I’ve seen the fruits within my mind and body. It is not compromising, because in this message is the only road to holiness that makes any sense. No longer do I behold a pagan god who is always angry and suspicious. Instead, I behold a God who is freeing and loving, always working for our good, and giving me every reason to love my enemy even to my own death, just as Jesus pleads with us. God is good.

Anthony L., CA, USA

 

Testimony 60

Just watched watched lesson 10 in the 1st quarter 2021 bible study classs on Isaiah. I want to thank you for your intellectual spirituality; it’s not an oxymoron! From the point of view of a teacher I also enjoy seeing how much personal pleasure you clearly take in not just tasting, but feasting on God’s word – it reminds me of Jeremiah not being able to hold it in! It makes me smile that your cup is so full and overflowing that you make it to Tuesday’s lesson (on a good day). It just goes to show the richness of God’s Word.

God bless the Come and Reason Team from our church here in Great Britain.

Andrew H., Great Britain

 

Testimony 43

Two years ago I stumbled upon your book, “Could It Be This Simple,” and then found “The God-Shaped Brain” videos on YouTube, your bible study class, and the ‘Come And Reason’ mobile app. I shared your book with a friend and after nine months of showing love, patience, and kindness this person has been changed by the love of God, too. The same love that healed me, I now express to other women in tangible ways, such as to a Baptist woman with high anxiety and childhood trauma. She was extremely happy and relieved when I shared about the so-called “judgment of God” and burning in hell. She had no desire to serve a God that was so harsh. I have repeated the phrase dozens of times to her. “What we believe has power over us, but we have power over what we believe…”

This message that you are sharing has changed my life. I will continue to serve other women and bring this message of God’s healing love to their lives by sharing your books, YouTube videos, and The Remedy Bible app. Keep up the good work. Don’t be discouraged. God is doing a mighty work in and through this ministry!

Jill L., Midwest, USA

 

Testimony 49

I came into the church at 21, but that is as far as it went. I was so confused about what love is. I couldn’t find it in the bible, because I am not a person that can read between the lines. I have no logic. I have read many, many books; trying to figure out the crux of the matter. They were helpful, but something was still missing. I have become very frustrated to the point of crying out to God, “Where can I go?”  I needed some basics.

I found two books, written by Timothy Jennings, MD, to be very helpful. God showed me that I had lived my whole life in fear. I didn’t even see it. Now, I do. God is so good.  I discovered the “The Remedy”  Dr. Jennings new book, “The God-Shaped Heart!” Oh, I was so excited, I purchased them right away.

I can get rid of most of my books, because “The Remedy” brings the Love of God out so clearly, even I can’t miss it. Now, I want to sit and read my Bible. Wow, what a revelation! It is just simply Awesome! I am so grateful to Jehovah Almighty for hearing my prayer for more understanding! I am so encouraged!

Jackie S.

 

Testimony 5

We listen to your bible studies lessons in our class in Montana. You actually were the main reason I decided to get a laptop, so I can go to your site and listen, read, learn, and print the class notes. I am so grateful to learn the correct view of God and his character. Now, to just have others have an interest in knowing, so I can share it with them. Good thoughts your way.

R. N., MT, USA

 

Testimony 42

I am just writing to say that I have been so blessed by the teachings of Come And Reason Minitries recently. I watched last week’s bible study lesson on Youtube and am thankful that the error in the printed lesson guide you use was pointed out and this week’s study was of equal benefit, if not more so. My understanding of God’s nature has been very confused of late and I am so grateful for clarity in this matter. I have never really fully understood previously how a good God can cause bad things to happen and now I realise that He doesn’t, it’s a natural consequence of sin. May the almighty Father and His Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, continue to bless your ministry.

Laura P., United Kingdom

 

Testimony 12

I have been really blessed reading your response to the various questions on your site.

K.C., OH, USA