God, Mankind and Eternity: The Six Chapters of Man

By Oscar L. Avant

This book expresses an exciting spiritual perspective of the creation of the universe and the life of man in that universe. It is the story of man and God. It addresses the philosophical who, why, what, and where of mans purpose and the scriptural view for the morality of men. It shows the actions of mankind through spiritual eyes and points to the stubborn and egotistical attitudes of mankind, beginning with his fall into sin. It emphasizes mans spiritual relationship with God, Gods love for mankind throughout the ages, and the redemption of man from the curse of sin. It will draw you into a discussion of the signature sins of our times and challenge you to hear and understand the voice of God instead of just the rumblings of thunder.

If you are an unbeliever, you will be challenged to repent. If you are a nominal Christian, you will be challenged to seek the power of the Holy Spirit. It is in gaining a perspective of the eternal that we understand the moment we live in.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781449795276

Oscar L. Avant

Oscar L. Avant is a pastor, mentor, poet, former US Marine, and a retired engineer with several patents. He and his wife, Diana, have been married fifty-three years and provide Christian counseling. They live in Ashton, Maryland, and have two married adult children.

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 Oscar L. Avant.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1-[phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9528-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9529-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9527-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013908893

WestBow Press rev. date: 05/15/2013

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Prologue

Chapter 0

Before the Beginnings

The Great Conflict

Chapter 1

The Beginnings

Light, the Spirit, and Humankind’s Understanding

The Holy Spirit, light and the physical world

Limitations of evil spirits

Inhabitation by Spirits

Humankind in the Garden

Living the Good Life (In the Garden)

Chapter 2

The Fall of Man

Temptation and Disobedience

Consequences of Disobedience

Confusion

What Is Real and What Is Shadow?

Can I Believe What I See, Feel, Taste, and so On?

What Is Sin and Why Does It Matter?

Man and Beast Are Destroyed by the Flood

Chapter 3

After the Flood

Chapter 4

God Calls Abraham

How Does God Speak to Us?

The Sins of Sodom and Gomorrah

Rulers and Authorities in Heavenly Realms (The Shell)

The Politically Correct Society and Same-Sex Relationships

Abortion and the Scriptures

The Question of Life before Birth

A Call to Repentance

The Nature of Man

Chapter 5

God Calls Moses

Israel Delivered

The Ethics of Old Testament Wars

The Era of Judges, Prophets, and Kings

My Scrapbook and My Faith

Why Do We Deny God?

Does Humankind Have a Purpose?

Life and Death

What Is Life?

What Is Death?

The Redemption of Humankind

How Does Blood Cleanse Sin?

Jesus, the Messiah

The Great Transition

Chapter 6 (The Final Chapter of Humankind)

The New Covenant and the Church

After the Cross and the Grave

How Do I Walk in the Ways of the New Covenant?

Repentance

Baptism

Water Baptism

Baptism in the Holy Spirit

Evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

The Gifts of the Spirit (Power Gifts)

Tongues of Humankind

Tongues of Angels (Language of the Spirit)

Other Gifts of the Spirit

The Power of the Holy Spirit

Salvation

The Role of Mercy and Grace in Our Christian Walk

What Does It Mean to Stumble and Sin?

What Does It Mean to Sin Deliberately?

How Do We Live a Godly Life?

Summary and Conclusion

The Great Commission

Chapter 7 (The Day of the Lord)

I dedicate this book to: my lovely wife, Diana, my son Michael and his wife Sandy, my daughter Bridgette, her husband Richard and my dear grandson Corbin. Thanks to all of you for putting up with me during this labor of love.

The truth only irritates those it enlightens, but does not convert

Pasquier Quesnel

Foreword

In his book, my friend and fellow pastor, Oscar Avant, has taken well known biblical themes and cast them in fresh light for the reader, one that is enjoyable to read.

We find that the story of humankind collectively is the story of each of us individually - our awesome creation, our devastating fall, our amazing recovery through the marvelous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. These are salient themes in Pastor Oscar’s book.

As we trace the historical unfolding of the story of God’s redemption, we arrive at the end of the journey, peering into the future, looking into God’s eternal day. And what excitement that brings with it!

The reader will benefit much from the message of this book, and especially as it is applied by us personally to our individual lives.

Charles P. Schmitt, Lead Pastor

Immanuel’s Church

Silver Spring, MD

Preface

I began writing this document as a series of essays on what I believe. The attempt initially was to use these essays to clarify my thinking concerning events of the Scripture and the issues of our time. As I continued to prayerfully read Scripture and research certain questions, it occurred to me the issues and struggles I was addressing are every person’s questions. Should I make my thoughts available to the many? I am a very reserved and private individual, so deciding whether to publish my musings was not easy. So with much prayer, I felt released in my spirit to publish this volume.

At one time or another, the questions asked within this volume were ones I personally sought answers to. As a college freshman years ago, I struggled with how to reconcile certain biblical concepts with the findings and statements of science. I believe through revelation, God has given me insight into several questions that were then troublesome for me. At the very least, He has satisfied my musings.

This book will also challenge your stand on the signature sins of our time. My highest ambition is that the thoughts I share will touch your heart and perhaps give you a different way to look at the life questions you face. I am particularly hopeful young adults will see in this narrative the loving God of the universe and choose to align themselves with the edicts of Scripture. The greatest joy one can experience is to live the abundant life God has made available to each of us.

If you are not yet a believer, it is my hope this book will show you the love of your Creator and lead you to repent and accept the saving grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If you are a believer, may your walk be strengthened, and may the God of peace be with you.

I thank my wife, Diana, for her incredible patience with me in putting my thoughts to pen. I particularly thank my friends and mentors, Pastors Charles and Dotty Schmitt for their review. I give thanks also to my friend Reverend Thomas Pumphrey for his review and thoughts. A special thanks to the excellent staff at Westbow and their help in guiding me step by step through the publishing process.

All of you have my sincere thanks.

Oscar L. Avant

Introduction

My name is Oscar. I am a spirit. No, I’m not weird. But I have learned something powerful about life that I want to share with you, because we are very much alike. I live in a human body, same as you. At conception, the Great Spirit (God) gifted me to my parents and gave me this human body. I have had to grow in it and learn what it is to be human. I am now an adult and have learned to exercise all of the faculties of my humanness. I will ultimately be accountable to Him for every deed and thought that occurs in my human body—same as you.

Without my body I cannot be seen, heard, or acknowledged in any physical way, for a spirit does not have physical properties. Even though I am never without the body in this life, I am, nonetheless, an entity without the body. There are hosts of spirits all around me. I don’t experience them, because my humanness does not have sensors for spiritual things. Not all the spirits around me have human bodies to express themselves in the physical world. And not all of them mean me well. However, there are many cheering me on and praying I will choose the good and eschew the evil. They want me eventually to join them on the heavenly worship team.

I am humbled, because the Great Spirit is my best friend. He, in fact, lives with me in my body. We call it the temple. In my early years, I invited Him to live with me and give me guidance in making choices in life. He has remained with me ever since. Over the years, He has been my constant and faithful friend. He counsels me, encourages me, and helps me to think on good things. With His help, I have avoided many of life’s pitfalls. And when I have stumbled and made bad choices, He has been there to pick me up and help me get afoot. He walks with me through the valleys and shines a light on the path before me. When I don’t listen to His counsel, I usually find myself in a mess. And while my friend is extremely patient, I don’t make it a habit of not listening to Him or of disobeying His voice. That is why He remains with me as my counsel and friend.

I have other friends, acquaintances, colleagues, relatives, and even pastors who live in human bodies but do not recognize that they, too, are spirits clothed in the attire of humanness. I think this comes primarily from how they have been taught to see themselves. If you believe you are just pounds of flesh organized by a DNA structure into muscles, organs, a brain, and whatever else biologists and chemists say you are comprised of, it is no wonder you think that what you see in the mirror is totally you. If you have been taught to believe nature and the physical are all there is, come with me on this journey, and discover who you really are.

Welcome to enlightenment. What you see in the mirror is not the you that is the object of this book. It is not the you God sees when He speaks to you. It is not the you who will stand before God on the day of judgment. What you see in the mirror will totally dissolve into earth on your death. But God will still recognize you beyond death, because He is not looking at what you see in the mirror. He is looking at you as a spirit. When you die, you, as a spirit, will enter into rest until the day of judgment. At that time, the spirit you must give an account for things done in the life of the physical body. Your portion in the hereafter will be in accordance with your accounting of your life in this physical world.

I am every person. We each are spirits assigned to give governance to a human body. We exercise the faculties and will of the body. I am, in fact, the person you think I am, except that you perhaps never thought of me as a spirit. As a spirit, I recognize my body is only my temple for the moment. I will stay with it until it physically wears out, becomes nonfunctional in some way, or until my friend decides I have spent enough time in it. I am informed He has prepared for me a new body that is fit for eternity. In the end, it is only how God sees us that matters. I choose to see myself as God sees me. Why is this important?

Since the fall of humankind in the garden of Eden, we have steadily moved toward rejecting the things of the spirit. When God said to Adam, If you eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree you will surely die, he spoke of the spirit man. In today’s world, we see the height of our rejection of things of the Spirit. We have come to see ourselves as totally physical. We see only the person in the mirror. We are concerned about our health, wealth, education, reputation, physique, happiness, and so on. We are prepared to place an epitaph of well done on the grave of those who have gotten these things right. But can you see the emptiness of the epitaph? It all ends at the grave. If that were the end of the story, perhaps you could get some sense of satisfaction and relief at having done it your way. But the story doesn’t end there. While your physical body (the