CT07-BA06 | God's Game Plan: Rescue Mission
Minute of Transparency: Concentration problems?
Intro: We’ve covered quite a bit of ground in the first 5 Basic Assumptions. But now we’re getting to the bulk of the theory. The next 5 Basic Assumptions are the critical ones because they really flesh out the controversy between God and Satan - this battle they’ve been in since our world began for the allegiance of every human being past, present and future.
We’re going to look at each characters game plan, and what tools/weapons they bring to the battle.
Today’s Basic Assumption: God’s Game Plan: Rescue Mission
An introduction to the battle
Angels vs. Demons
Conscience vs. Temptation
True Love = Freedom of Choice
The Rescue Mission
Our vote has eternal consequences
// 1. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BATTLE
Let’s start in the Garden of Eden - right after Adam and Eve cast their vote in the Eternal Election…
This was a defining moment for all humanity - if not THE defining moment. It was the one thing that literally changed the course of history for humankind:
One minute we were perfect beings - able to live, walk, talk and laugh with our Creator
The next minute we had the Sin Virus. God retreated, we were banished from the perfect garden created for us, and we were never the same again
The other thing that happened that day is the battle took on a whole new meaning. God and Lucifer had fought in heaven. But now God and Satan would battle here on Earth. And now that Satan had found a way to inject the Sin Virus into the world - he had a leg up. Now, every human born came pre-injected with the Sin Virus. Infected before they were even aware that the battle existed.
This makes it 100% easier for Satan. As the temporary ruler of this Earth, he is the winner by default. Unless we learn that there is another choice we can make, we will simply live up to the low bar Satan has set for us.
Angels & Demons
Now something else we haven’t really touched on is the fact that it isn’t just God and Satan involved in this battle:
Remember - back in heaven Lucifer convinced 1/3 of the angels to follow him
These angels followed Lucifer into battle against God
These angels lost the War in Heaven along with Lucifer and were banished to Earth as well
And just as Lucifer became Satan, so too these angels became demons
So it isn’t just God fighting against Satan for our allegiance, there are also angels fighting against demons for our allegiance.
This is one of the things Satan does not want us to understand, and he has done a masterful job hiding this truth:
He has worked hard to push the idea that God doesn’t exist
And he’s actually ok if he can get you to think that he doesn’t exist
He’s also tried to downplay the fact that there are such things as angels or demons
He would have us believe that these are nothing more than cartoon characters from kid’s movies
See how dangerous he is?
If he can get you to stop believing that the battle exists - he can get you to stop believing there is a vote to cast in the Eternal Election...
And then he has you...
Next we have the tools, or weapons the God and Satan use in the battle.
Spoiler alert: I’m going to tell you what they are today - but we aren’t going to fully flesh them out. These weapons are so important - each will have its own Basic Assumption - and episode on the podcast.
Conscience vs. Temptation
God’s weapon in the battle is our conscience. Satan’s weapon in the battle is temptation.
Now you know - so let’s move on and learn more about God’s Game Plan…
CT refers to God’s Game Plan as a Rescue Mission, so the first order of business is to answer the question, “Why do we need rescued?”
Back to the beginning:
God created us
We are His pride and joy
You can think of it like having kids - the love and the bond that exists between a parent and child
And that relationship existed in the most perfect way at the beginning:
God was able to walk, talk and laugh with us
He has able to teach us things and be everything we needed Him to be
And in return, we were able to worship Him:
Not like we talked about a few weeks ago in the episode on worship
We were able to worship Him by simple being His kids
By being in relationship with Him
By asking Him questions
By laughing at His jokes
In my estimation - this was the perfect expression of worship
But the whole reason this was worship, was because of this little thing called Freedom of Choice
// 2. TRUE LOVE = FREEDOM OF CHOICE
Because we had Freedom of Choice:
We had the right to NOT walk, talk and laugh with God
Even though we didn’t fully understand what that meant at the time
We had the right to NOT call God our Creator
We could turn and walk the other way and choose not to spend time with Him
Freedom of Choice is a brilliant concept:
CT also refers to Freedom of Choice as the "Anti-robot Clause"
Because God knew that without the freedom to choose against Him, He would simply be creating robots - artificial intelligence programmed to love God
And that doesn’t inspire anyone - right?
“We know that love is not love without a choice.”
And unfortunately we chose poorly…with a lot of help from Satan of course...
He walked Adam and Eve right into his trap - and using “temptation” influenced them to choose against God
In essence - he stole us away from the Creator...
Sure it was our choice, but knowing what we know now - do you really think we would make the same choice?
Let’s illustrate with a terrible scenario - one that will bring fear to the heart of every parent:
Your 6 year old child is out playing in the neighborhood
A white van pulls up with no windows
An older man gets out and starts to talk to your child
He’s friendly, he knows all the right things to say
He offers your child candy
Then he offers your child a ride home saying he knows your parents and they asked him to bring you home
So your child gets in the van with the older man…
And that’s where I’ll stop - because every parent knows this story doesn’t end well…
In fact there is a knot forming in the pit of your stomach right now - just thinking about it!
But friends! Don’t turn this podcast off because of that knot in your stomach:
Stop what you’re doing
Feel that feeling
It’s terrible right? I mean it hasn’t even happened - and yet you’re having an intense physiological reaction just to the thought of it!
Because you know - if that happened to you and your child - it would probably be the worst thing you would ever go through in your life - right?
And that’s exactly what God experienced with us...
He had to sit and watch as Satan slithered up next to His children
He had to watch Satan smooth-talk them into his van
And He had to watch Satan carry them far away from home, from safety, and from the perfect environment they grew up in
Why? Freedom of Choice
God could have snapped His fingers and made Satan disappear!
But in so doing - He would have destroyed the one thing that made His love real
Love is only love with a choice...
And so we were stolen from God
Just like that we could no longer walk, talk and laugh with our Creator
We knew He was there - but it wasn’t the same
We now faced lives impacted by the Sin Virus
Hardship, pain, suffering fear, anxiety, depression, anger
All new elements we would come to understand very well
But Freedom of Choice doesn’t mean God has to sit back and let things play out the way Satan wants them to
God is allowed to fight for us - this doesn’t negate our Freedom of Choice - it simply makes it all the more clear that our Freedom of Choice - our vote in the Eternal Election is important!
// 3. THE RESCUE MISSION
And this is where the Rescue Mission comes into play:
God creates us - so technically we belong to Him (I know that sounds a little strange - but think of it in the same way you consider your kids belonging to you…)
And when you lose something, or something is taken from you - you go look for it - right?
You want to rescue it from it’s “lostness," or rescue it from the one whole stole it from you
And this is what God set out to do - only not in the way you would expect
In our world, if something, especially a child, is lost or taken - we send the police:
They do what they are taught to do
They follow leads
They follow the evidence
And if/when they find your child - they are prepared to use deadly force to get your child back for you
But God - still allowing for Freedom of Choice - chose another path:
He sent His Son, Jesus, to initiate the Rescue Mission:
Jesus came to Earth and was born as a baby just like us
Because He was God, but born on Earth - He had "Dual Citizenship" so to speak
Very similar to me: My parents were from Canada, but I was born in the United States. So I was born with "Dual Citizenship" - a product of both countries. And because of this, I had access to the rights and privileges of both countries
And so it is with Jesus. He was 100% human, and 100% God
And what Jesus did on Earth was very important. There were many things He did, but these are two of the most important ones:
First, He lived the perfect life. Sinless. Free from the Sin Virus. Asymptomatic. Not immune to it. He didn’t receive a vaccine, or an antidote. But being God, He was able to be born without the Sin Virus, and as an adult, He remained so connected to His Father in heaven that He was able to choose to do the right thing in every situation He faced
And second, He died after living the perfect life. Not just a death that ended His life. But a death that He chose. One He allowed to happen to Him. For us.
Ultimately He allowed Himself to be killed in order to create the antidote to the Sin Virus.
If you were to create a mathematical equation to describe this fact, it would look something like this:
Perfect Life + Death = Antidote to the Sin Virus
How do we know this is true?
Because God gave His people (the Israelites) an illustration of this long before Jesus ever came to Earth:
They were told to do the following in order to be cleansed from their sinful behavior:
Take a perfect lamb, place your sins on it, and kill it
See the same equation?
Perfect Lamb + Death = Antidote to the Sin Virus
It’s no coincidence that Jesus is called the “Perfect Lamb of God” in the Bible...
// 4. OUR VOTE HAS ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES
So that’s God's Game Plan. He initiated a Rescue Mission through His Son, Jesus. And Jesus executed the plan perfectly.
When Jesus died (or allowed Himself to be killed) the mission was successful. Not complete - but successful.
It wasn’t complete until Jesus, having died and been placed in a tomb for three days, was raised from the dead.
This made the Rescue Mission complete - because it showed that God has the power over death. It showed that death doesn’t have to be the end. And that Jesus dying on the cross was the antidote for the Sin Virus.
There it is - the answer to the sin problem. Jesus is the antidote to the Sin Virus.
God didn’t come to forcibly take His children back. He didn’t come to find us, kill Satan and take back what was His.
No - instead, He came and created the antidote - and made it available to anyone who wants it.
Freedom of Choice right? Love is not love without a choice.
And God is still honoring that freedom - even today.
We have the antidote to the Sin Virus - it’s free and available to everyone.
But we have to choose it.
We’ve talked about this in various ways - but mainly we’ve talked about it as voting in the Eternal Election.
Technically Satan “owns” us by default. As he is the temporary ruler of this planet - He get’s to call us his “people:”
That is until we realize that there is an Eternal Election
Once we become aware of that - we have the ability to exercise our Freedom of Choice:
We can either keep things the way they are
Or we can change our vote - choose God - and choose to accept the antidote to the Sin Virus made possible by Jesus
But let’s talk a bit more about the antidote:
It’s important to understand Jesus died for every human being on the planet from the beginning of time to the end of time
However, the antidote isn’t “applied” to our lives automatically
Again, this would make the whole Freedom of Choice thing obsolete
I find it interesting that our Freedom of Choice is actually most threatened by Satan - in that we don’t get to choose if we want the Sin Virus…we’re simply born with it
The antidote to the Sin Virus isn’t forced - it is a gift that must be accepted
Let’s illustrate it another way:
Pretend your parents bought you a brand new car for your 16th birthday
They hide the car so it will be a surprise
Then they wrap the key in a box and give it to you as the gift
You take the gift, say thank you, and place it on a shelf - never opening it
And so you live out the rest of your life with a pretty box on a shelf
You walk by it once and a while and smile
Thinking, “What a nice gift they got me.” And all the while the car sits in hiding - never driven
We laugh - because it’s absurd…we all know the gift isn’t actually the gift…you have to open it and accept what’s inside
But in essence - people do this with the antidote all the time
Jesus is offering us His gift
We look at it and say, “Wow…that’s a pretty nice gift.” And we put it on the shelf to look at once and a while
But we don’t open it. And we don’t accept the gift inside the gift
Friends, I can’t stress it enough - no matter how we choose to illustrate it:
Accepting the antidote to the Sin Virus
Choosing God in the controversy
Voting for God in the Eternal Election
This is the single most important thing you will do in your lifetime!
Because your vote in the Eternal Election has Eternal Consequences…
Landing the plane:
This week:
Where do you stand on the controversy?
Are you all in?
Do you believe that God and His angels, and Satan and his demons are fighting over you?
Do you fully understand the power you have in your Freedom of Choice?
And that with great power comes great responsibility? (to use the phrase from Spiderman)
And the responsibility piece is to:
Accepting the antidote to the Sin Virus
Make a choice in the controversy
Vote in the Eternal Election
Have you done this yet?
If not - please reach out to us at info@transcendhuman.com and request our free download called: My Choice In the Controversy
We’d love to get that out to you.
Next week we continue to learn about God’s Game Plan in the Seventh Basic Assumption: Every Person Has a Conscience
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Thanks again for being with us, and until next time, keep Transcending Human