RULES ONE AND TWO (DOES GOD MAKE MISTAKES?) Here’s a thought that I scribbled down on the back of an envelope:

“God suffers no setbacks.” I used to think that He had already experienced two--one, was when He had Lucifer turn on Him and He had to throw him and a third of the angels out of heaven. The second time was when He made Adam and Eve and had them turn from Him.

Then I began to know my God. I discovered that I had made a mistake. My error was to think that God made mistakes. He doesn’t. And that’s all that I put on the envelope. There’s more. To me this leads to some very important things:

I don’t remember anyone teaching, or at least I have never heard anyone come right out and say God had made a mistake, either in regard to Lucifer’s origin or the disobedience of Adam and Eve, but it certainly is an easy thing to imply. Take the case, for instance, with Lucifer. If I am to believe what theology teaches me, I’m going to believe that Lucifer was God’s very best angel. Lucifer, I guess the only way to describe it, was God’s “right hand man.”

Now, consider this, nothing was made that was made, that wasn’t made by God. “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.”--Isaiah 45:7. So the angels were God’s handiwork just as much as the earth is God’s handiwork; and man, and all that is, because God created all things. Only one existed from the beginning and that was God. Everything came from Him. So, He made Lucifer.

Now for the mystery: From somewhere thoughts of rebellion came to Lucifer. Now, when thoughts of rebellion come to man, we say that, he is tempted, so, I guess one could say that Lucifer was tempted. At any rate, we are taught that he said in his heart, “I will be like the Most High.” Apparently the situation was pretty wide spread because we are told that a third of the host of heaven were finally cast out of heaven along with Lucifer, in order to bring the rebellion to an end. That’s a man-made tale!

When you stop to think about it, it just doesn’t make sense. Angels are made to do God’s bidding. Whether or not they do God’s bidding is not dependent upon whether or not they want to. Angels are not made like man. Man has a will, he can say, “Yes, I will do what God wants me to do,” or he can say, “No, I won’t do what God wants to do.”--not so with the angels. When God sends an angel to minister to man, that angel does what God sent him to do. Angels do not have the ability to question their obedience to God; they are made to do as God directs them. Even as it is impossible for God to sin, it is impossible for His angels to disobey Him. If they had the power to disobey, you would never know for sure that the angel would do as he was told. Disobedience is a very human characteristic that man has ascribed to the angels. But, angelic disobedience is not the picture we get when we read the Bible. The Bible indicates that angels are ministering spirits sent to do the will of God.

Now, the next thing that seems inconsistent with this is that I’ve been taught that all rebellion comes from Satan, all sin comes from Satan, and I see this in the Bible. There is a clear cut line between good and evil--flesh and spirit, God and the devil. I see no place in the scriptures that indicates or even hints that Satan could ever do anything but what God allowed him to do.

The final, cumulative thing for me is what Jesus said. He said that the devil was a liar from when?--the BEGINNING. And Jesus means “the beginning.” He wasn’t beautiful-- the highest archangel, or what, and then became the devil. He was a liar from the beginning. He was made to be the devil, and God made him just exactly the way he is, just like He made the other angels to be the way they are.

If it is possible for the good angels to turn bad, then it is possible for the bad angels to turn good. So, let’s get on with it and pray for salvation for the devil!! It seems to me that this would be a good way to get rid of temptation, if, indeed, Lucifer was the source. But this belief doesn’t define the real source. Just how did it come about that Satan and a third of the host of heaven get infected with this urge for rebellion?? Just how does Lucifer’s rebellion bring glory to God?--that is supposing it was a rebellion?

The next thing that I used to think was that God made man, specifically Adam and Eve, in His image and after His likeness, and, so help me, Adam went bad. He rebelled against God! His rebellion was disobedience. You see, disobedience is a form of rebellion. I look at what man’s doctrine has set up with both the devil and with Adam and Eve,and I find the same sin, the same problem in both cases--rebellion.

I think that the more I became aware of what God has done for me in taking me to Himself, the more I became aware of the fact that man’s theology, as taught in the religious organization with which I was familiar, just wasn’t right. The Bible indicates to me, that God doesn’t make mistakes. I think that the reason it tells me this is because it tells me that He is eternal. I can read the Bible and say that as He was yesterday, so is He today, and as He is today, so will He be tomorrow. That’s not original--the Bible says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

That’s good. That is something that you can depend on. That’s stability. Jesus said that Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Word shall not pass away. The Bible teaches me that God is all wise, that He knows all things. This means that He knows the end of things and also their very beginning. I don’t. If I was the Creator of all things and all things came from me, then I would know all things. But, I am not, they don’t and I can’t even control today. But God is, can, and does.

In knowing all things, all things to Him are present; there is no such thing as time such as yesterday or tomorrow, so, therefore, there is no such thing as experience with God in that He has to learn how to be God. I have actually read about a school of thought that teaches that God is still learning how to be God, that He is actually a much better God today than He was two thousand years ago because He has had a lot more experience. Can you imagine? I am continually amazed at how far astray the mind of man can go. But it is only because he doesn’t know God. Sometimes man makes a little mistake and sometimes he makes a really big one, but if he doesn’t know Jesus, he will never arrive at the Truth.

So, in knowing God, I came face to face with the fact that He doesn’t make mistakes. The fact that He is eternal means that if He was true one time, he is true all the time because He never changes. If He made a mistake one time, he would make a mistake all the time because He never changes. And so, I can not see this “mistake” business. So that brought me face to face with the fact. Well, I had to find out why these things were.

It’s true that Adam did do that which God asked him not to do. I wonder why. And I have no doubt that there came a time of division when Satan and a third of the angels, that God had made for him to be separated from the rest and find their place upon the earth wherein God was going to place man. But the truth to me is paramount is that Satan was made for a purpose and he fulfilled that purpose. He never changed. He wasn’t one thing and became another. He was what God made him to be from the very beginning. Likewise, Adam was what God intended that he should be from the very beginning.

So, now I find a different set of circumstances that I have to consider if I am to understand why Satan was the way he was and why Adam was the way he was. Now I have come to a place of learning that I have never been before. This place of learning, to me is based upon fact, a truth, that God doesn’t make mistakes. He is Eternal. He is always right. It’s sort of like those two rules of industry:

One: The Boss is always right.

Two: When you think the Boss is wrong, refer to Rule One. God is always right. If I think that He is wrong, I have to refer back to Rule One.

The next thing: Now I can talk about what I have learned because of Rules One and Two. Roy L. Stahl