The Image of God- Sounds of War_4_7_24

Philip Bly discusses the concept of God and the image of God in human beings. He talks about the dangers of equating God with power and how it leads to envy, strife, and war. He emphasizes the importance of understanding ourselves and our desires, and the need to be mindful of our thoughts and actions. He also mentions the term "abomination" and how idolizing things for power is against God's will. He concludes by highlighting the difference between the terms "Lord" and "God." Nothing compares to you, you are God all by yourself. Hello, this is Philip Bly. And once again, this is Voice to Humanity. And it is a privilege once again to be able to come to you and to discuss the Word of God and the ideas and the thoughts and the concept of a creator, one who has made all things for his good pleasure and for his purpose. And also his crowning achievement, as we say sometime in traditions, the creation of a human being. And it is a challenge as we try to understand the purpose that we all have been made in his image and likeness and what that really means and all the responsibilities that go with it. So once again, I would just like to say for me it has been a privilege to be able just to come and to be able to share some of the thoughts and the concepts and even some life experiences concerning this topic of the image of God and what it means to be a human being. So we are going to continue with the same discussion that we had previously. We've been talking much about the image of God, which is to me the overall arching topic of all of the sessions. But each session is broken down into subtopics so that we're trying to paint a picture that ends up resulting in a whole for what we call ourselves or what we understand ourselves to be is that we are human beings. So the last topic, subtopic, in this image of God session is we talked about the sounds of war. And we talked about the root of war, which comes from the book of James that we covered in the book of James 4. So just to give yourselves to be refreshed, if you would like to see what the foundation and all that we are coming from, you go and reference the book of James and read James 4. And when it talks about wars are a result of things that we yearn for, things that we desire to have and we don't have. And so this is a critical thing that causes us to end up having strife with one another, desiring the things that other people have as we know is one of the Ten Commandments. And this is where God says when he writes on the tables of stone that covetedness, covetedness is one of the things that he tells us as humans we should not do. And this is the reason why because we desire to have what others have that we become unhappy or not grateful for the things that we possess. And that should be something that causes another human being to really search themselves and to ask themselves, why is it they're so discontent with what they have? Why is it they're not grateful? I understand that we as humans desire to have things that make our lives more comfortable. We're accustomed to it. We are born in a time and an age when it seems like everything is so readily accessible. And whenever we feel that we don't have access to it or that we feel we're deprived or we feel that it's being withheld, we typically find and envy others that have those things. And so the concept or the darkness that develops in the mind of human beings of saying that let me take it, it's justified because they have enough. They have more than they need. And I have a lack. I have a right to take some for myself. This is a dangerous mindset. This is so dangerous that people will begin to justify and blame others for their lack. And this is not what God, the creator of the universe, intended. Now, when I say God. This word, God, that a lot of times I've taken for granted to believe that most human beings, when they use that word, God, we're speaking of the same being. But when I really find out and start considering why there are so many different results from the people that say they're people of God that are willing to do the things that God says in the Bible. That he hates. And I'm referring to Proverbs 6, where it talks about the things that God says he hates. And I hope that you all go to Proverbs 6 and read Proverbs 6, where it talks about those things and slander, and lying, and proud looks, and violence, and all of these things he talks about he hates. These things are what they're willing to do in the name of God. So when I say this, I begin to try to understand why is there such a disconnect? So, in an attempt to try to understand this better, and to me, I'm satisfied with the understanding here, and the difference that I thought was the same when people used the word God, is that the word God, the concept of God is not new. It is an ancient term. It is a term generally for most nations where we're talking about power. We're talking about just the concept of possessing something through power. And most of the ancient world, when they invoked the name of their God, it was to institute someone or some power or some deity that was on their side to oppress or destroy the other side. This is the concept in the mind of the ancient world. The ancient world used that term generically. It was generically understood that each nation invoked their deity, and whenever they went to war with the other nations. So what made this difference? What makes it significant when we say or use the term God? Are we speaking or talking about the same God? Or is it that we are entertaining or acting or in the same sense that the ancient world viewed the term God, that God was a warrior for them? It made me consider the fact when Joshua, when he entertains the angel when they're in battle, the angel comes before him and he says, Are you for us? Are you for our enemy? And the angel responds and says, Neither. For he came in the name of the Lord to bring justice to the earth. Now think about that. Here it is. The God of Israel that sends an angel to Israel. And Israel's mind is in the same frame of those nations that are oppressing them and attacking them. This is the thing that makes it dangerous when we equate God with our lust for power. That's the reason why we looked at Genesis 3. And since we're at this point, I'm going to read Genesis 3 and reiterate this. And this is what Genesis 3 says, and this is the point we're going to focus on the concept of God, how we equate God with power. Now, the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But the tree, the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it. Neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent says unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doeth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open, and you shall be as God's, knowing good and evil. See, this whole concept, this reference here, first of all, we see that the adversary, this serpent is acting as an adversary. This serpent is behaving as an accuser. The serpent is also slandering. These are the things that God says in Proverbs 6. Part of the things that he hates. And I'm not going to go into detail here. So I just want to put a pin here and let you go back and reference these things to study them. So the emphasis, the emphasis here is about power that God's possess. So this thing is something that in the minds of many humans, even back in the ancient days, it's nothing new under the sun, as Solomon says. It's just that in our time, in our existence, in the time that we exist on the earth, we experience different things. And we think concepts and challenges are really new. They're not new. They are the same challenges that humans will have from now to the end of time about how to deal with the desires and the passions to control. And that those passions and desires is what drives us to do many of the things that we do that we don't fully understand. And how that we try to possess things. How we manipulate. How we're willing to be slanderers or accusers or adversaries to people. So one of the things that we need to understand is that the only way that we can understand this, we have to understand that God is addressing us in the fashion to let us see ourselves. To see our thoughts, our imaginations to be tested. This is the reason why it says in the whole, in Corinthians, that the Holy Spirit is the one that examines the thoughts and the mind of humans to know whether they are good or whether they are evil. And that every thought and every imagination, that's the reason why it says that it must bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. That's the reason why he is called King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Because all power, as it says, is granted to him because of his obedience to the Father. And we're not going to get into that because that entails a lot. So all power was given to him under this general concept that we're talking about, God. That it is a generic term for power, deities and authorities. So when humans desire power, you have to wonder what are they willing to accept to receive this power? Now, in Proverbs, there is a word that is called and it is used, it says abominations. God hate these things and he called them an abomination. And what that word is, that word is a word for something that you worship. That word is a word that is used for idolatry. So when he's saying this thing, why he's saying it is an abomination. Are you willing to idolize a lie, slander, anything that will bring you to power? God say it is an idol. And many of us do not comprehend or equate such things. We believe the end result, when I say we, I'm speaking in general as a human being. That the end result justifies the means so we can say the Lord is on our side. Now, that term Lord and that term God, they are two different words. And in some fashion, in some areas, and I understand the Jewish nation not wanting to try to pronounce the word Lord. Because it is a sacred name. And I know some nations or some people, cultures, they pronounce that word Yahweh. But when we pronounce it, as I've heard others say that people really do not know how to pronounce it. It is spelled as Yud-Heh-Vah-Heh, which are Hebrew letters. So I just want to put that out there so that we can separate the distinction between the word God and Lord. Because the Yud-Heh-Vah-Heh is a personal name for him. This is what separates him from, and y'all forgive me because of the fact that the gender is really not really germane here. Because the spirit, the spirit of God, the Yud-Heh-Vah-Heh spirit, the Holy Spirit has no gender. So I know sometimes we have a tendency to try to make it gender specific because this is what we know and how we reference things. So I just want to add that in there for clarity. So when we do this, when we talk about the concept, we need to understand that this is a generic term for power. That all nations even understood that when we talk about administrations of men, of governments, that would fall under this category of power. You know, this is the area that Israel struggled with when they were occupied by the Romans. Is that because where is our deliverer? Where is our God? Because they suffered under the oppression of another power. Even there are other times throughout scripture and other ancient writings that kings and pharaohs and Caesars were also referenced and said, this is a God. These people were really saying this is a power. This is a deity. That's what these people had in their minds in ancient days. They worshiped many things that they felt would give them power or be on their side to give them the ease of life or the desires of their heart. So this is not a new concept. This is not a phenomenon that's just happening in our time when I discuss strong men and how these strong men would destroy innocent lives to achieve or give them some satisfaction of making them believe that they are a power themselves when they are just mere men. So in this, we just discussed in Genesis three, we can plainly see. That what is offered to the woman is the ability to exercise power. Now, where do we see this again? This is one of the things that as I study and trying to understand the life of Yahshua, which is Jesus, we say. Yahshua was also faced with the same issue. And when we look at Luke here in Luke, and this is Luke five, where I'm going to begin to read, this is where the same issue is brought before Yahshua. The same issue I'm referring to is the one that we just spoke about in Genesis three, where the offer is of power. And it is translated here, and I'm looking at the King James, it says, and the devil taking him up into a high mountain, shoot unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, all this power will I give thee, and glory of them, for that is delivered unto me, and unto whomsoever I will give it. This is where the choice of being able to receive power, the same choice that the enemy or the adversary, and I'm not saying that the serpent is Satan, only God knows. And that's to me where I'll leave it. So I will say this, that this is the same offer of having authority and power, as the serpent says to the woman, if she was to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And he goes on to say, if thou therefore will worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written, thou shall worship the Lord God. Remember I said the personal name, he specifically says the Lord God, he did not just say God. And him only shall thou serve. Now the human passion to desire for power. Here we see the Lord Jesus resist. The Lord Jesus submitted himself to the Lord God. The one we would say is YHWH, which is the Hebrew letters, or as others may say Yahweh, and I respect them for not saying that name, because I don't know if I'm pronouncing it right either. But God knows there's no intent to insult his name. So I'm saying this in the fashion that it is specific here. That he specifically says, the Lord God, it distinguished him from all other gods, deities, administrations, and powers. This is significant in that fashion. For we need to know what name we're calling upon. And that way we are able to call upon the name of Jesus, the name of Yahshua, even though we know that Yahshua is the Hebrew name. And that Jesus is the Greek name. But because, and I'm so glad that we have a creator that knows who we're calling upon when we use that name. That he knows we are searching for him no matter what language you speak. He knows the heart cry of the human that needs his help. The help of the Spirit of God. The living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God, the Lord God, as Yahshua says. The thing that I want to add to this session and before I close, so that we can clearly see this thing full circle. The desire of power and the desire to be like God. And that is seen in Acts 12. This is Acts 12, 18. Now as soon as it was day, there was a small stir among the soldiers. What was become of Peter. Now we know Peter was in jail and I'm tying this into the power thing. And then Herod had sought for him and found him not. He examined the keepers and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down to Judea, Caesarea and there above. And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sudan. But they came with one accord to him. And blasphemous King Chamberlain, their friend, desired peace. Because their country was nourished by the king's country. And upon a set day Herod arrayed in royal apparel. Set upon his throne and made an oration to them. And the people gave shout saying, it is the voice of a God and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smoked him. Because he gave not God the glory. And he was eaten with worms and gave up the ghost. Now this is a clear illustration of what I was referring to. Of this generic desire, this understanding in ancient worlds of the word God. The concept of power, the concept of authority. Here was a human being who was so exalted in pride. That whenever the people said to him that this is the voice of God, of a God. That he did not, did not mistake. That he equated his power and authority equal to that of the creator of our entire universe. He was so full of pride that he was not willing to tell the people that he was not. This is what I mean by when God says in Proverbs. What will you do to receive or to taste power? Will you do something that is detestable? Are you willing to do the things, as Proverbs says, that are idolatrous to receive power? This is something as humans we will give an account for. Because there is only one who created all things. There is only one who commands the heavens, the earth, the entire universe. There is only one that requires of every human being an accounting for every word. And we'll cover the significance of words in some time. Under the same sub, the main topic of the image of God. And why it's important we should guard our words. But until that time, I hope that you will go back and you will play this over and over. Because this is all about the kingdom of God. This podcast or the broadcast, as I might say. The purpose here is not to gender a new doctrine or something different from tradition. It's only to try to allow us to be able to walk in harmony with the one that made us. And to better understand the purpose of the kingdom of God. And that, when I say kingdom of God, it is specific to, as I say, not some other power. Not some other deity that other nations have imagined and said this is the power of this power. But we're talking about the Lord God. As he has distinguished himself in Genesis. So until that time, once again, as I say, I enjoyed the opportunity. So I hope that you will be able to have a moment and continue your search to understand your purpose. Why we're here and to know what is the purpose of the kingdom of the Lord God. So until that next time, I will say Shalom to you all. And that is peace to you all. Goodwill. In the name of Jesus, name of Yahshua. Until the next broadcast. Shalom. You are higher, you will climb the wall. Nothing compares to you. You are God Almighty.