The Mystery Demystified

 

Preface

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man's spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church....

Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, “What comes into your mind when you think about God?” we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. Were we able to know exactly what our most influential religious leaders think of God today, we might be able with some precision to foretell where the Church will stand tomorrow...

That our idea of God correspond as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us. Compared with our actual thoughts about Him, our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God.

A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.

It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God current in these middle years of the twentieth century is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually to constitute for the professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity.” ( from the book, “The Knowledge of the Holy,” by A.W. Tozer)

What does the word, “God” mean? Generally the word refers to anything which is regarded as superior, or which is worshipped. However, the Bible teaches that there is only one true God, and that this God is the greatest Being in the universe. All things come from Him, all power belongs to Him and He is ruler over all.

Who is this God? Among Christians there are several different ideas about who He really is? In actual fact when we consider this carefully we will realize that there are several different Gods worshipped in Christendom, although only one of them is the true God. Many of us may be actually worshipping a false God, if our ideas of God are wrong. The question is, which God do you worship? Do you worship the true God of the Bible or do you worship a false idea of God? Let us remember that those who worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

The Bible teaches us that those who do not love the truth will be deceived and will believe a lie. Because they believe this lie they will be damned (condemned) and destroyed (2 Thess. 2:10-12). Jesus Himself said: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God , and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3). And yet, how can we know God if we do not even know who we are talking to when we call upon God?

In this booklet we examine the subject of God and remove the veil of “mystery” which has been placed upon the doctrine for so long.