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Text Box: much to make that possible, to assist that in happening? Or is it that so many people think God will welcome them into heaven and have them be with Him for all eternity when they have spent their lives spitting in His face? Ref: Eph. 4:23-28, Mat. 22:2-14 +

Text Box: disgusted, or hold a myriad of other intellectual and emotional positions. Our exercise of authority and its exercise over us by another human may also be voluntary or involuntary, both on our part and on the part of others. But whether we are the authority or another is exercising it over us, in all our human experiences it is another human or other humans with which we are dealing. Our experience with applied authority is with other humans. We therefore have no every day experience by which we are able to become familiar with Divine authority. We must rely on intellect and Faith to establish the proper relationship with God in His exercise of Divine authority. We constantly encounter human authority. Our daily experiences with employment supervisors, traffic regulations and enforcement officers, receipt of utility bills with the requirement we pay them, purchase of goods and payment of sales taxes or value added taxes, and even family gatherings, all entail encounters with authority. Those encounters are overt and obvious. But God’s authority, although it is the ultimate, absolute, constantly exercised, reaches to all and everywhere, and will not be denied, is not as overt and obvious as the various forms of human authority with which we come in contact daily. We therefore have an inclination or tendency to ignore it or to not take it into consideration. The personality of those in authority also is a factor which must be considered. Even the best human will from time to time exhibit arrogance in conjunction with a position of authority. But God never exhibits arrogance for God is never arrogant. Some humans actually have a management style which includes being aloof or even nasty. But God not only is never aloof, never nasty, but actually is nice. If we wish to live wisdom, we will thank God Who is Authority for being the way He is. We will contemplate

Text Box: God as Authority. We will contemplate and study the ramifications of not simply yielding to the Ultimate Authority, but actually becoming in harmony with God as Authority. We might also contemplate and study the ramifications of opposing or being disharmonious with the Ultimate Authority. Everyone who has the use of reason exercises authority in some manner every day. Even those on the lowest rungs of society and power at the very least exercise some form of authority over themselves every day. We will be wise if we contemplate how to exercise that authority which we do possess, in a manner consistent with the Divine Authority. If someone does not wish to contemplate how to exercise their authority in a manner consistent with God as Authority, well, we constantly attempt to cure ignorance through education. But there is no cure for stupid. Ref: Col. 1:12-20, John 18:33-37 +

Text Box: DIVINE AND HUMAN AUTHORITY Some of the obstacles to easy recognition and acknowledgment of Divine authority Why is it so difficult for people to reflectively acknowledge the ultimate authority of God and the reality that God not only innately possesses ultimate power and authority, but also exercises that authority and that power? Concurrently, why is it that even those who reflectively acknowledge these realities so often not only fail to live in accordance with these realities, but also readily, often, and even reflectively, live in manners contrary to these realities? It could be that we simply are contrary by nature. Like Henry the mule in The Little Rascals. When Buckwheat was asked why Henry would not do what he was supposed to do, Buckwheat replied, “ ’cause he contrary.” Perhaps we are simply “contrary”. But it is more likely that our experience with humans in positions of authority does not prepare us for the reality of God Who is Authority. When dealing with human authority, depending on whether we are exercising authority or it is being exercised over us, and depending on the manner in which it is exercised and how it effects us, we may be compliant, acquiescent, confrontational, fearful, joyful,

Text Box: THE GENIUS AT WALMART (Humor??, thank you Paul) A customer was checking out Walmart with just a few items when the next customer put their things on the belt close to the first customer. The first customer picked up a 'divider' the store keeps by the cash register and placed it between the items so they would not get mixed. After the cashier had scanned all of the first customer’s items, she picked up the 'divider', looking it all over for the bar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar code, she said to the customer, “Do you know how much this is?” The customer said to her, “I've changed my mind; I don't think I'll buy that today.” She said “OK,” the customer paid and left, the cashier having no clue to what had just happened. +

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