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"God's People" ("Godspeople") Who are they.... and how does one get to be a "God's person" (a "Godsperson") ? A tablet from the on-going INTERNET BOOK, "The Doctor's Terrific Tablets", ( http://www.terrific-tabs.com ) by John N. Todd III, M. D. (link)
SEE related links: The UNGODLY (link) AND: GOD's Spiritual NATION -- The NATION of God's People (link) AND: CHOSEN by God (link) AND: The KINGDOM of GOD (link) AND: ENEMIES of God; and ENEMIES of God's people (link) "Doctored" -- 5/00; 1/01; 4/01; 5/01; 7/01; 9/01; 10/01; 12/01; 1/02; 2/02; 4/02; 5/02; 6/02; 7/02; 8/02; 9/02; 10/02; 11/02; 12/02; 2/03; 3/03; 5/03; 9/03; 11/03; 12/03; 1/04; 3/04; 4/04; 7/04; 9/04; 10/04; 12/04; 1/05; 3/05; 5/05; 7/05; 8/05; 11/05; 6/13/06; 8/06; 1/07; 4/1/07' 12/26/07 CLICK HERE to go to the "FRONT PAGE" of "The Doctor's Terrific Tablets" CLICK HERE for ALPHABETICAL INDEX of this entire WEBSITE CLICK HERE to EMAIL your thoughts to the author ( jtoddiii@bellsouth.net ) 1 Peter 2: 9 (NRSV) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation..... God's OWN PEOPLE, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are GOD's PEOPLE..... once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (See link Darkness to Light.) 2 Corinthians 6: 16 (NRSV) For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will live in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be MY PEOPLE. 17 Therefore, come out from them, and be separate from them," says the Lord.... And, SEE numerous other Biblical quotations, below. Throughout the Bible, there are many names and metaphoric "titles" that are used in referring to those individuals and groups that God has included among His accepted "people". I will give a partial list, below; and you, the reader, may remember and consider other Biblical "designations" for those individuals whom GOD -- God the Father, God the Son; God the Holy Spirit -- considers to be included with His "people". (See link Jesus is God; God is Jesus.) In this "tablet", my remarks will ask, rhetorically, who it is that decides about whether you and I and others have been, or will be, included on God's "list" of "God's people". That is, who decides about the "qualifications" that God requires of an individual whom God is considering for inclusion among His "people". In other words, are you and I included on God's list of "God's people" because of our "church" affiliation.... or because we have "signed-up" with an "approved" doctrinal group; or because we have made certain promises to a preacher or priest or rabbi or imam; or because our parents were born-into a certain "religious" heritage? Or.... do you and I simply appraise ourselves (after repeating a few vows).... and do we thereby declare ourselves to be "worthy" -- and do we then write our own names in God's book of "God's people"? (That is, do we church-goers "certify" ourselves as "God's people", so that we can thus count-on the Almighty Creator of the Universe to "listen-out" for us, just in case we need Him.... and so that we can feel assured that God will be available to rescue us, when-and-if we get in trouble -- and whenever we "call" to Him?) This "tablet" will also ask the following question: what must you and I "do" (deeds, works, creeds, promises, rituals) in order to be included (and to be "retained") in one-or-more of the Biblically-designated categories of "God's people" (CLICK HERE to see list, below, on this page)? When can we find out whether or not we have "made the grade", and "satisfied" a recondite list of duties, obligations, rules, rites, rituals, and requirements.... so that we may comfortably conclude that we are now listed in God's book of "My people".... or in "the Lamb's book of life"? Whose "decision" is it, as to whether or not we have "done" enough? Who's "evaluation" really matters? That is, who "saves" us; who "redeems" us; who "elects" and "chooses" us; who declares us to be "righteous"; who determines that we have been "born-again"? Is it "the church" that decides, or the preacher/priest, or the rabbi, or mullah; or an "official board"; or a rigidly doctrinal congregation? Who decides whether you and I have performed well enough to become "approved" for inclusion and retention among God's people.... (or, as Martin Luther is said to have asked himself, while scrubbing the monastery floor, "Am I doing enough? How much is enough")? What do you say? If I join your church, and recite your vows -- will God include me among His "people"? Of course, you and I already know, for certain, and without equivocation, the answer to ALL of the above rhetorical questions. And here is that answer: "From first to last -- it is all God's doing". God designed each one of His "Godspeople", for God's own purposes and plans.... and for God's intention (link).... and pleasure. He knows us, individually. He did not construct His own "chosen" creatures to be condemned, doomed, and destroyed. God remembers that He made us, according to His specifications; and that we belong to Him; and that we are God's children (link).... and God knows that we are "only human". (See link: God's Individuation.) Can you imagine that He who designed each of us humans, individually; He who created every one of us, for this world; He who assigned the genetic make-up of each of us to be totally different from every other human creation; He who specified our skin-color, and ethnic origin, and our family background; He who guided the young footsteps and the development and the maturing of each "Godsperson"..... can you imagine that this omniscient, omnipotent and everlasting Creator of the Universe and Heaven, does not know and remember and fully understand those whom He has designed -- and for what purpose each of His people was generated? (Do you believe that you and I were "released", helter-skelter, into this life, by an uncaring and insouciant "Supreme-Being".... and that we -- we who claim to be God's people -- have been left to "fend" for ourselves, unassisted and unguided and unloved, in our journey through this life, in this world? I say "NO"! What do you say?) Does anyone truly believe that the Sovereign God-of-the-Universe -- without any plan or purpose for that which He is creating -- casually dumps into a cauldron, a batch of skin and bones, arteries and veins, hearts and lungs -- along with a sprinkle of a variegated DNA.... and that our Creator-God then walks away, and frivolously abandons the "forming" of the resultant human-beings to the "discretion" and whim of Mother-Nature, and Father-Big-Bang? Do you believe that God-Almighty leaves the design and development of "God's people", in the hands of "the-forces-of-nature" -- and that God then says to Himself, "Let's see what 'luck' and 'chance' and 'chaos' can come up with.... then I'll decide ('judge'), later, which humans I'll keep and 'save' and admit to My Kingdom.... and which other humans I'll condemn and discard -- and commit to eternal doom and damnation.... in HELL?" Is it your belief that God-Almighty is "just waiting" to see which "church" my frail human-brain tells me to "join" -- before He decides whether or not to include me with "God's people"? Does it matter, to God, which man-made doctrinal variation I "accept"? Does God accept "Catholics", in preference to Jews.... or Baptists in preference to Muslims? Does God exclude from God's people all of us mortals, througout the world, whose parents and teachers and preachers have led us to a "wrong decision"? OR.... does God include you and me with God's people based only on HIS OWN CRITERIA.... irrespective of which sectarian oath we recite? Is it your opinion that the God-of-All-Creation wants me to be cursed, imprisoned, tortured, or bombed (by other human-beings) -- if I do not claim to "believe" the rigid doctrine (link) of your "religion".... your "church"? Do you think, for a minute, that our Almighty loving and merciful and forgiving Father-God is scowlingly observing every move of those individuals whom HE has "manufactured" FOR Himself.... just waiting impatiently to punish His own handiwork, or to destroy His own people.... if we hopeful humans make some "animal" mistake, or commit a flippant worldly error.... or, if we do not beg for mercy and forgiveness several times a day? If you "believe" that way, I would say that you and I profoundly disagree. My understanding, based on what I see and "hear" in God's Bible (link), is that God Himself selects those individuals who are included among "God's people" (the "elect", The CHOSEN -- see link). My belief is that God's people are irrevocably included with God -- by God -- for God's own reasons.... reasons that you and I may never know and understand.... during this life. Of course, the next question then logically arises -- does God "include" only some of His "creations" among His people.... and not include others. The Biblical answer to that question is an unequivocal "YES".... God does NOT accept every human-being for inclusion among "God's people". (See links: Enemies of God, and Enemies of God's People, and the link to "The CHOSEN", in the paragraph, above. Note especially the Biblical references shown in those "tablets".) (Now, consider this.... IF you and I decide to deny and reject what the Bible clearly states about God's "chosen" individuals, and about God's selection of His own people before the foundation of the world (link).... then perhaps we will be better "satisfied" if we human-beings -- you and I and other humans -- appoint ourselves to design and develop a new "salvation" process -- a procedure by which we humans "authorize" God to include among His people, only those individuals whom we earthly humans have approved (based on our humanistic and "religious" and doctrinal criteria). Continue this same line of thought.... can you even imagine a "system" in which we jealous human-beings would attempt to decide, by vote and/or mutual agreement, just which ones of us "sinners" should be forgiven and "saved", and included with "God's people".... and which of us should be rejected by God.... "rejected" perhaps simply because some of us didn't "join" the correct church; or because we "accepted" the wrong doctrine -- or because certain worldly church-leaders decided that we had not recited the proper creed, or performed enough good-works? (Gimme a break!) The Biblical truth is that we mortals, in or out of "organized" religion, have nothing-at-all to do with God's process of designing and molding and creating and "selecting" His people. "There is only one Judge, and Lawgiver." That is, it is God-the-Creator alone -- uninfluenced by a church, or by a preacher, or by our works, or by our self-approbation.... it is God alone who determines our acceptability to God Himself.... for "inclusion" with God, in God's Kingdom (link). A computer search of the Bible (NRSV), reveals that there are 199 references in the Old Testament to the words "My people". In many of these verses, God is being quoted, through the various writers of the Old Testament...... and God is expressing His criteria (and His counsel, and mandates), concerning those individuals or "groups" that He Himself has decided (or will decide) to accept and include among His "people" -- in His "Kingdom". In the New Testament (NRSV), there are only 10 references to "My people". Eight of these references to "my people" are New Testament quotations of Old Testament scriptures. Note this partial LIST of Biblical designations (and "metaphoric" titles) for "God's people": Children of God; disciples; servants; friends; the elect; the godly; brothers of Jesus; the born-again; the saved; the remnant; the temple of God; the called; children of Zion; the beloved; a holy nation; co-heirs with Christ; the chosen; Abraham's seed; God's field; sparrows; God's building; the righteous; the spiritual; Israelites; the redeemed; saints; God's holy ones; peacemakers; my flock; the royal priesthood; heirs of the promise; Christians; the ransomed; His anointed; the good soil; believers; priests; God's sheep; the justified; those born of the Spirit; those born of God; the good trees; sons (daughters) of God; heirs of God. Isaiah 35: 8 (NRSV) A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way. The unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for GOD's PEOPLE. No traveler, not even fools, shall go astray. 9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it. They shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. 10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness -- and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 1. "God's people" ("Godspeople") -- a plural term, referring to those individuals, aggregately, who have been "accepted" (claimed, saved, chosen) by God -- irrespective of their "doctrinal" persuasion; and regardless of their church "affiliation"; and regardless of their country-of-origin, or their "ethnic" background....... and irrespective of an individual's self-appraisal..... and regardless of the approval or disapproval of human-beings, or "groups" of human-beings. 2. "God's person" ("Godsperson"); a singular term, referring to an individual who has been "included", by God, among "Godspeople". A "Godsperson" is not able to cause himself to become a Godsperson.... by any work or deed; or by "making a decision"; or by reciting a certain oath or creed; or by making promises to a preacher or priest or rabbi; or by attending a specific church. The entire process of becoming a "Godsperson" begins and ends with God..... ALONE, Note the following scriptural reference:
What about you? Do you consider it to be a certainty that only those individuals who claim to be "Christians" can be assured of inclusion, by God, in the Kingdom of God..... with God's People? Or, is it possible, as the Jews claim, that only Jews are acceptable for God's "chosen" nation? What about the Catholics? Must you and I bow down to their statues, before God will hear our pledges and promises? Similarly, if the "Muslims" lay claim to being the only genuine "God's people"..... does that mean that all other "religions" which the Muslims have not accepted and anointed, are omitted from God's favor? So, where does the "truth" lie? Is a "decision" on this question of spiritual "truth" to be made by a "church" (a church with a certain rigid doctrine); or is the decision to be established by a preacher, or priest, or rabbi.... or is "God's Truth" to be discovered by (and revealed to) God's "chosen" ones.... individually? Indeed, if "truth" is a matter of "human" definition, then which human-beings have been granted, by God, the right or the authority to establish and to dictate "the truth" that you and I must "accept"..... or the doctrine that we must claim to believe.... in order to satisfy God? If only ONE specific denomination has deciphered and defined all the correct "spiritual" answers, then you and I must pity us poor souls who may have "signed-up" with the "wrong" church -- and we must pity him or her who recites the "wrong" creed, and those who bow down before the wrong altar. And, we should pity those of us who have "made a decision".... a "decision" that other human individuals and groups have concluded to be erroneous, or misguided, or ungodly, or heretical.... and hence "unacceptable" to God. Now, the BIG questions, again: Is it not true that the "awarding" of the title "God's people" (or "a Godsperson") remains solely and eternally in the hands of Him who is the Creator and the "Judge" of us all?. Likewise, is it not certain that only God's "opinion" matters -- as to who is "included" (and who will be included) among those whom God considers to be His people? The answer to these BIG questions is: "Yes". We human-beings, in or out of the institutional "church", have nothing to do with God's decisions and determinations concerning God's people. John 3: 6 (NIV) Jesus speaking: "Flesh (human-beings) gives birth to flesh -- but the Spirit (God) gives birth to Spirit." Romans 8 (NRSV) 31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?...... 33 Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? (JNT note: Contrariwise, is it not also true that "if God is NOT for us".... what difference does any human's opinion make.... or any church's appraisal of us.... or even our opinions of ourselves?) John 6: 63 (NIV) Jesus speaking: The Spirit gives life -- the flesh (humans-beings) counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit.... and they are life. Isaiah 54: 14 (NRSV) In righteousness you shall be established. You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me. Whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall, because of you. 17 No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper.... and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD; and their vindication is from me, says the LORD. CONCLUSION: It's scary out here in this world, when you are informed that, according to certain human-beings, God has become restricted and/or circumvented.... and that He is powerless to include you among "God's people".... unless you sign-up with such-and-such a "church".... and unless you swear allegiance to a certain doctrine. It's scary, too, if you're a Pekingese.... and all those Collies, and Shelties, and Bulldogs have told you that God will not accept you.... because you're not one of "them" (see link Reformers and Converters). Do you believe that it is the duty and responsibility of us humans to TELL GOD whom He may accept, and "save", and include among His people? Are you telling me that I must accept what you "believe".... or else God will condemn me -- and exclude me from the Kingdom of God's People? (How absurd!) You and I can only hope that God will somehow understand our "human" frailties, and ignorance.... and that, mercifully, He will include us errant ones -- in His Kingdom.... with Him and His people. Consider, again, the following magnificent scriptures: Romans 8 (NRSV) 31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?...... 33 Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Psalm 139: 13 (NRSV) For it was you who formed my inward parts. You knit me together in my mother's womb.... 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret -- intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes beheld MY unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me -- when NONE of them as yet existed. John 8: 42 (NIV) Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God, and now am here.... 47 He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not BELONG TO GOD. If God were your Father.... you would listen." 12/26/07 |