The Reality of God
Part 4

The Obvious Presence of God

♦  Exodus 20:18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar of.
♦  Exodus 19:16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
♦  Psalms 18:13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. 14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
♦  Acts 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Jesus, who uses bright, flashing lights from the sky to get his attention, confronts Paul.
♦  1 Corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

The Image and Likeness of God

The Appearance of God
      The general appearance of the Elohiym can be found in the Old Testament. The appearance of Yhovah, in more detail, can be found in the New Testament. A clear indication of the actual body of God is found in how he chose to form mankind.
♦  Genesis 1:26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
      If the Elohiym made man in their image and their likeness, then an Elohiym must have a body, a head, arms, legs, and other similar parts to men. How close that similarity is can not be determined here, but is made more clear in these descriptions of the of mankind:
♦  Genesis 5 1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
♦  Genesis 9 6. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
♦  1 Corinthians 11 7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
♦  2 Corinthians 3 17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
♦  James 3 9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.

God and Physical Devices

 ·  God uses very physical devices in his dealings with mankind:

The Ark of the Covenant
♦  Leviticus 16:2 And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.
♦  Numbers 7:89 And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him, then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims: and he spake unto him.
♦  Psalms 80:1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.
♦  Joshua 3:15 And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) 16 That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. 17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.
♦  1 Samuel 5:11 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
♦  1 Samuel 6:6 And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. 7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.

The Rod Of Moses
♦  Exodus 4:17 And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.
♦  Exodus 7:20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.
♦  Exodus 8:15 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.
♦  Exodus 8:16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
♦  Exodus 9:23 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. 24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
♦  Exodus 10:13 And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts
♦  Exodus 14:16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
♦  Numbers 20:8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink
♦  Numbers 20:11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

God Uses Physical Devices to Communicate
      Exodus 28:30 states that the Urim and Thummim were placed in a breastplate which was worn by Aaron, the high priest, and that this breastplate was able to reveal God's JUDGMENT. In Numbers 27:21 is an account of the Urim being used to give judgment; it showed what God wanted Israel to do.
      Josephus, a well-known Jewish historian, wrote about the Urim and Thummim in Book Three, Section Eight of his book "Antiquities of the Jews." He describes the Urim as being two sardonyx stones which were placed on the shoulders of the high priest; and the Thummim, he says, were twelve stones which were set in three rows of four stones in a breastplate which the high priest also wore. When God wished to guide the Israelites, He often did so by means of these stones. Josephus states, "God declared beforehand by these twelve stones which the high priest bear on his breast, and which were inserted into his breastplate, when they should be victorious in battle; for so great a splendor shone forth from them that the army began to march, that all the people were sensible [aware] of God being present for their assistance."

A Transporter Beam?
♦  Judges 13:20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar.

A Cloaking Device?
♦  Job 26:9 He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.

The Reality

      Presented here in the above verses are but a few of the specific references to the very real presence of the Elohiym known as Yhovah. Not included is the temple, a physical structure he designed and commissioned the nation of Israel to construct, the physical sacrifices he demanded, nor the commands to use physical objects to perform certain tasks. God is very real.
·  God said he uses “dark clouds” so the people will hear and believe in him.
·  God has a physically detectable body evidenced by prominent eyewitness testimony.
·  God has a voice and he speaks directly to humans.
·  The “glory” of God is represented by physically detectable sights and sounds.
·  God said he created mankind to look like him.
·  God uses very real, very destructive, and very deadly weapons.

      To deny that God has physical presence, “substance”, and that there is clear “evidence” in scripture of this presence is to deny the existence of that scriptural proof.  Having been in the forefront of alternative theology for several years the response received to this concept from the Christian mainstream is consistent: 
·  "God is not physical!"  
·  "God does not need to have a physical presence!"  
·  "You are demeaning God!"
·  "Your words are blasphemous!"  
·  "You twist and alter the words of God!"
·  "Heretic!"
      And the ever popular condemnation:
·  "You will rot in a fiery Hell for eternity!" 

      To this we have very simple responses:
·  We did not say God was physical in appearance, Moses, Daniel, and John said that.
·  We did not say God needed a physical presence, God told Moses that.
·  We are not demeaning God, and if you think that, speak to the one who inspired the scriptures we refer to.
·  We are not blaspheming, we are quoting scripture to back up every word, again talk to the one who inspired those scriptures.
·  We do not twist or alter the word of God; we started this writing by untwisting a very prominent verse that the translators obviously altered themselves.  
·  We are heretics by the concise explanation of the word as defined by the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary:1 a : adherence to a religious opinion contrary to church dogma b : denial of a revealed truth by a baptized member of the Roman Catholic Church c : an opinion or doctrine contrary to church dogma 2 a : dissent  or deviation from a dominant theory, opinion, or practice b : an opinion, doctrine, or practice contrary to the truth  or to generally accepted beliefs or standards.  
·  We are not fazed by the threat of an everlasting torture in a place created by the minds of men, any more than we are of any other fictional place designed to scare people into submission and financial extortion.  Please read our chapter on Hell for a better understanding of this belief. 

      The god of the pulpit is vague and mysterious for a very good reason.  Their vengeful and oppressive god does not exist, except in the well-conditioned minds of those who are subjected to a steady diet of a pre-masticated and pre-digested concept, regurgitated, in pabulum form by the church, after all the value and any reality has been removed.  The church has created its god in its own image and after its likeness.  The pulpit god is no more scriptural than the many other false doctrines of the church discussed in this work.