The Diamond and Its Maker: God's Eight Steps to Your Brilliant Cut

By Edward V. Gonzalez

"A quality diamond does not come out of every rough stone, but there is potential for every rough stone to become a quality diamond."

People like rough stones, especially Christians, are also bruted, cut, and placed in predicaments that can become difficult to overcome but not impossible. Anyone can be like a diamond, which demands God's i

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: May 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781637699539

Edward V. Gonzalez

Edward Gonzalez has served the Lord since he came to Christ in 1973. He has worked in different ministries in the past forty-six years: teacher, youth leader, missions, Bible institute teacher, and currently as a pastor of twenty-six years and author. He received a diploma from Texas Southmost Bible Institute 1983, a bachelor's degree in Biblical Studies and General Ministries (BIOLA University), and a Master of Divinity from Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California (1994).

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THE DIAMOND AND ITS MAKER

god’s eight steps to your brilliant cut

Edward V. Gonzalez

Trilogy Christian Publishers

TUSTIN, CA

Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive

Tustin, CA 92780

The Diamond and Its Maker

Trilogy Christian Publishers A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2021 by Edward V. Gonzalez

Scripture quotations marked CEB are taken from the COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE. © Copyright 2011 COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.CommonEnglishBible.com).

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Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all scriptures are from the WEBSTER’S BIBLE TRANSLATION, containing the Old and New Testaments, in the Common Version, with Amendments of the Language by Noah Webster, LL.D., public domain, 1833.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without written permission from the author. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

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Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 978-1-63769-952-2

E-ISBN: 978-1-63769-953-9

Contents

About the Author vii

About the Book ix

Culet-Introduction xi

Pavilion Facet One. Formation of a Diamond 1

Third Facet. Far Beneath the Earth 3

Fourth Facet. In the Making 5

Fifth Facet. Triangular Detail of the Godhead 6

Sixth Facet. Engage in Steadfastness 10

Seventh Facet. To Go or Not to Go to Church! 13

Eighth Facet. Discipline Making—Whose Job Is It? 16

Pavilion Facet Two. Over Heat & Under Pressure 25

Tenth Facet. Over Heat 27

Eleventh Facet. Under Pressure 33

Twelfth Facet. Gethsemane—The Oil Press 37

Thirteenth Facet. The Testing 40

Fourteenth Facet. The Sign of Intense Heat and Pressure 43

Pavilion Facet Three. The Flaw 47

Sixteenth Facet. The Myth 49

Seventeenth Facet. Myths in the Church 51

Eighteenth Facet. The Inclusions 56

Nineteenth Facet. Old Testament Examples of Inclusions 64

Twentieth Facet. The Sifting 69

Pavilion Facet Four. Diamonds Are Called Stars 75

Twenty-Second Facet. The Stars of Heaven 79

Twenty-Third Facet. Shining Like a Star 86

Twenty-Fourth Facet. Morning Star 89

Twenty-Fifth Facet. False Stars 91

Twenty-Sixth Facet. Astrology 97

Twenty-Seventh Facet. A Star Out of Jacob 100

Pavilion Facet Five. Cut Me If You Can! 103

Twenty-Nineth Facet. God as the Chief Designer and the Marker 111

Thirtieth Facet. Satan as the Cross-Cutter 122

Thirty-First Facet. The Holy Spirit as the Brillianteerer 133

Thirty-Second Facet. The Servant of God as the Bruter 138

Pavilion Facet Six. Are Diamonds Forever? 149

Thirty-Fourth Facet. The Disadvantages of

Lukewarmness 153

Thirty-Fifth Facet. Wash It Off 158

Thirty-Sixth Facet. You Are as Cold as Ice 160

Thirty-Seventh Facet. Like the Tribe of Judah 167

Thirty-Eighth Facet. Judah on the Front Line 170

Pavilion Facet Seven. A Flash of Fire 177

Fortieth Facet. The Four Cs 181

Forty-First Facet. The Master Stone 184

Forty-Second Facet. The Twenty-Three 196

Forty-Third Facet. The Hallmark of a Church 205

Forty-Fourth Facet. Proportion Affects Fire 214

Forty-Fifth Facet. No Fire 217

Forty-Sixth Facet. Scintillation 224

Forty-Seventh Facet. Love is Fire 230

Pavilion Facet Eight. Where May I Be of Service, Lord? 235

Forty-Ninth Facet. I Am Amazingly and Wonderfully

Made 237

Fiftieth Facet. The Highly Trained Crafts-People 243

Fifty-First Facet. The Final Touch 252

Fifty-Second Facet. Bent More the Light 254

Table Top. Viewing from the Top 263

Fifty-Fourth Facet. The Sorter (HS) Determines

Quality 265

Fifty-Fifth Facet. The Placement of Exquisite

Close Goods 280

Fifty-Sixth Facet. From Substance to Ingot 295

Fifty-Seventh Facet. The Formula for Valuation of a

Stone 313

Fifty-Eighth Facet. The Conclusion 317

Diamond Glossary 318

Bibliography 325

Endnotes 330

About the Author

Pastor Edward V. Gonzalez is the founder of R.O.C.K. Ministries and R.O.C.K. Church. A ministry committed to providing Christians with sound biblical teaching relevant to today’s changing world through books, DVDs, CDs, and advanced Christian education materials. Pastor Edward’s simple and direct teaching on topics such as family, moral and ethical decisions, character, worship, salvation, and strong Christian foundation forms the foundation of R.O.C.K. Ministries. R.O.C.K. is an anagram for Reaching Out in Christ Kare.

Edward and his wife, Minerva, reside in Harlingen, Texas, where he is senior pastor of R.O.C.K. Church. Edward and Minerva have three sons.

In 1980, Edward began ministering in ministries outside the church. The Lord gave Edward a name to be identified with his ministry, which became R.O.C.K. Ministries. This became the basis for extending his help to suffering and lost souls throughout the years. He has ministered in prisons, jails, missions and has done revivals. Today, he is the senior pastor of R.O.C.K. Church, which he founded in 1995. He began in his home with his wife and two sons. The church includes a radio program, a church in Mexico, training programs, N.A.S.A. (New and Advanced Studies for Adults-Reaching for the Stars, Philippians 2:15), book publication, and counseling.

About the Book

One day sitting in my office, I asked the Lord to give me a unique message different from all the rest I had done. He said to me, Diamond. I knew somewhat about diamonds, but I still went and did my research. As I read books on diamonds, the Lord would tell me to write this and that about it. I wrote many notes and filled a college notebook with them. I left all that information on top of my desk for several weeks. One day a pastor friend of mine called me to bring a message for a fellowship of churches in Mexico. The Lord said to me, Do the Diamond. I had a month to write out the sermon. As I sat in my office and began to write the sermon, it all came together. There was more to the sermon than you could have imagined. I went to Mexico and preached for two hours, and the people did not complain or walked out. They loved it.

The following week I sat in my office wondering about the sermon. The Lord spoke to me and said to put it into a book. In the past, I had written many syllabi; consequently, the writing gave me knowledge of the book format. As I began to place my fingers on the keyboard, the Spirit of God revealed to me all the pavilions or chapters to the book. I did the first rough draft. Then I went back and began to write out the first pavilion, and out came the words one chapter after another. After I had finished the book, I noticed unbalanced chapters to the number of pages. The first pavilion had less than thirty pages, and the last pavilion had more than seventy-five. I asked the Lord about this, and He responded that as we begin our lives, we have very few pages in our book. As we live more years and work just as many years for Him, we add more pages to our book (life).

I finished the book within four years. Then I had it edited and left it on the shelf, not literally speaking. Afterward, being in my computer ended up crashing. Next, I ended up making too many copies and placing them in different locations. Because of this, some copies got mixed up with the draft ones. A big mess that led to confusion for not finishing the book. The last problem had to do with getting more involved with another church that took more time away from completing the book. I finally focused on finishing the book at the end of 2018, nearly fifteen years later.

The book is about the similarity between a natural diamond and a born-again believer. A brilliant-cut diamond has fifty-eight facets, so the book is divided into eight pavilions and fifty-two facets = fifty-eight. It is technical but also spiritual. I hope it speaks to you.

Culet-Introduction

The name diamond is derived from the old French word diamant, itself derived from the Latin and the Greek adamas, meaning unconquerable. There are two Hebrew words for diamond. Yahalom means something that is very hard; its prime root word is halam, which speaks of striking, beating, breaking down, and overcoming. The second Hebrew word Shamir, which literally means a thorn, refers to something pricking. When used to refer to a gem, the word Shamir is used because of its keenness for scratching. It is this word that the Israelites used to describe a diamond. These two words speaking on the idea of overcoming and scratching are set forth in the N.T. by Paul as he describes who the saint is in Christ. The Apostle Paul paints us an overwhelming picture in the latter part of Romans 8 that a saint who walks in the Spirit is an individual who cannot be defeated and is considered more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37).

Much like a diamond that its substance is made of durableness, hardness, and resistance to being deformed can be said of a saint being molded in Christ. This is the reason a saint can resist and overcome such great odds against life, evil spiritual powers, troubles in life, doubts about uncertainty to the outcome of life, and the daily crises he faces. But for the Lord to shape him to the point of becoming an overcomer through all these situations and more, he has to undergo some dramatic and transforming changes.

There once was a story in a faraway land about a man who had forsaken everything he had to covet a brilliant crystal. He lived near a mountain, and a river ran through his humble dwelling. He was a humble and poor man. One day a priest came to visit him. In his conversation, the priest told him about a particular gem called a diamond. This humble man had never heard of or much less seen a diamond. The poor man asked the priest what a diamond was and where he could find this precious stone. The priest told the poor man that this diamond shined like a thousand suns and could only be found in the mountains where rivers run. The priest also said that the diamond would bring him luck, happiness, and riches. He found diamonds interesting, so he abandoned his family and home in search for true happiness and riches. He journeyed throughout the world; he searched and searched for his priceless gem suffering hunger, desperation, agonies, and loneliness. Time had faded away; minutes folded into hours; days evolved into weeks; months turned to years. He had lost everything: his home, family, and whatever miserly coins he had gathered. He was too far from home to return. In desperation, he threw himself off a cliff down to the ocean floor and died. Note: External evidence shows the impossibility for the Israelites to have known about diamonds during the Egyptian exile. Some evidence date the discovery of diamonds between 600 and 800 BC in India. Yet, God had given Moses the high priest breastplate where diamond is first mentioned in the Bible c. 1500 BC. If it was not possible, then where does God’s wisdom fit in as the Creator of this world and the creation of gemology?

Pavilion Facet One:

Formation of a Diamond

• third facet •

Far Beneath the Earth

Long ago, diamonds reached our earth’s surface through vents or, as some geologists may call, pipes. A simple understanding of these pipes is what we call today volcanoes. These diamonds come from far beneath the ground, where they are formed in molten rock some 75 to 120 miles under the earth’s surface. It is at this asthenosphere level (see figure 1) that our precious gems have their formation.

Figure 1

Diamonds have their unique birth in the molten ooze, where they crystallize. At an appointed time, these gems will find themselves being gushed out by volcanic eruptions. If convection currents whirl diamonds deeper into the magma, they will regress to free carbon atoms. If there is oxygen contact while they are in their blistering stage, diamonds will vaporize into carbon dioxide. Diamonds have to cool slowly while they are being discharged to the upper mantle of the earth’s surface if they are to subsist as diamonds.

Diamonds are from a single form of crystal called carbon. The lead found in pencils is formed from a black lubricant called graphite. In a sense, both graphite and diamonds are carbon.

However, there is only one astronomical difference between the two: one is common and inexpensive, the other among the most valuable materials on earth.

To convert carbon into natural diamonds, it requires at least two components: heat and pressure. Pressure has to exceed 580,000 pounds per square inch, and temperatures need to escalate far above 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit in order for carbon to crystallize into diamond. These conditions can only exist far beneath the earth. The pressure can be compared two-fold: the weight of the Eiffel Tower (700 metric tons) resting on a five-inch plate or 10 Anighito meteorites (10 x 20 metric tons) resting on a penny.¹

• Fourth facet •

In the Making

Saints have a similar precarious birth. We, too, came from the ground, only not as profoundly. Our spiritual origin is from God, but the physical matter is attributed to the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7). The Hebrew name Adam means earthly, red, or to blush with redness. Its root stems from the name Adame which means earth, ground, or soil (general redness). Our first father, namely Adam, came from the ground. He might not have come from as deep in the ground as the diamond, but nonetheless, he came from the ground. His primary origin started from the earth (1 Corinthians 5:44–49), and it terminated with a spiritual cosmetic makeover. When a saint comes to Christ, he is in need of a change. This change is only possible by accepting Christ as his Lord and Savior. It does not stop here; there is a working out of his salvation (Philippians 2:12) as Paul so clearly defines. You are not alone in your spiritual quest; every rough (a name given before a diamond is cut) diamond viewed under a microscope reveals a triangular detail of its crystalline growth (Matthew 28:19–20; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Genesis 1:26). See the photo below.

• Fifth facet •

Triangular Detail of the Godhead

This triangular detail is the Godhead (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). Even in nature, the Godhead had its fingerprint on this magnificent gem. We can see that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were involved in the formation of its creation without dispute. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse (Romans 1:20, ASV). God created you, but sin separated you from Him. He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross. The Holy Spirit came to convict you of sin and help you become God’s son or daughter. In a later chapter, I have defined the work of the Holy Spirit in a saint’s life. Only the unbelieving and foolish cannot see these Persons in the creation or in their own lives.

Not only do diamonds have a triangular shape, but they also are raised in levels (see figure 2). These levels are called raised trigons which point in the same direction as the crystal face. They are made by their design and disbanding as part of their crystalline growth. Just because a diamond has had raised trigons does not mean it is finished and ready for display. It has to be blasted out of the volcanic pipes and then discovered. Finally, it must endure many different processes in order to create a brilliant gem out of a rough stone.

Figure 2

Saints are like diamonds that will undergo different stages in their lifetime. You are raised from level to level. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18, NASB). Although you are raised into different levels, you still have to be taken through the many different processes before being made into a fiery stone.

If I am able to theorize, in the Pauline Letters, there were many people that God had fashioned from rough gems into sparkling diamonds. Some were even raised to the highest levels. In his letters, Paul made mention of many wonderful individuals who helped him in the ministry. He gave titles of service to many of his companions that assisted him. Yet, one particular title that describes all of us on the same level is the words brothers and sisters, a basic foundational term found in the family of God. However, others at a higher level became his co-workers. A handful became fellow prisoners, a price paid by giving up one’s life and comfort to do the Lord’s work. When one gives up his life and does not care if he has or does not have but wants only to do God’s will, he will have arrived at one of the highest levels in the Lord. Painfully, it comes with much bruting of the works of his flesh. These different levels, naming only a few, are the spiritual part of crystalline growth. What is the purpose of the different levels of spiritual growth? To be Christ-like.

When the Lord created you, He created you for two purposes: first, to be made in His image that you may walk, talk, and act like Him in this world. The second is for you to have a relationship with Him and praise Him for who He is. You, as a Christian, have an enormous responsibility and power. Christian means that you are Christ-like. This name was given by unbelievers in Antioch to the church; the church saints from thereon were called Christians (Acts 11:26).

The word Christ means anointed, and in the Old Testament, the anointing would break the yoke of bondage: And the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing (Isaiah 10:27, KJV). This means if you are to be Christ-like, you are to break the yoke of bondage in people’s lives. Saints are not to be in the yoke of bondage anymore, but to break the yoke. This is one of the reasons that the Lord has saved you (Isaiah 61:1–4). If you are the only one saved in your family or group of friends, be patient. You will be the one whom God will use to deliver your family from slavery (bondage). Your prayers, testimony, holy living, fasting, or faith in Christ will be what will save your sister from her drugs, divorcing parents, friends wanting to commit suicide, or someone who is at the point of financial destruction. Hang in there! God wants to make a difference in your life first before He can make a miracle in someone else’s life through you. He has to make your life strong and resistant to anything that might crush, break, discourage, or simply become a stumbling block to others, including your family. God wants a diamond that withstands the hardest blows and the worst of the environmental changes. When you stand in the fiery furnace, the Lord will be there with you (Daniel 3:8–30). The world will take notice and see something different in your life. You may be a rough diamond that might not be too impressive right now in the eyes of people. But God is not finished making you. In the beginning, when you were saved, you did not seem to be credible in people’s lives. As you grow older and mature in the Lord, you will become that quality diamond that God wants to produce. An exception to this rule is this: a quality diamond does not come out of every rough diamond, but there is potential for every rough diamond to become a quality diamond. I will explain this further in a later chapter. If God is to produce this quality diamond in you, there are a few things that need to be understood. For example, a saint needs to be stable in Christ and be in the process of someone’s disciple-making.

• Sixth facet •

Engage in Steadfastness

Stability in Christ is a must if you want the Lord to form you into a brilliant-cut diamond. Of all the shapes of diamonds, the rounded brilliant is the most sought after (see figure 3). It is desired because it creates a better brilliance than any other diamond shape. The way it is shaped, cut and the many minuscule windows called facets permit it to bring out a fire that many admire. Many desire this brilliant, shaped diamond but are not willing to pay the price or cannot pay the price because it might be beyond their financial resources. Saints want the Lord to use them, but many are not willing to pay the price to become stable. You have to make the first move in believing that you need to stay firm in Christ and in a church. One sister in the Lord once said to me, If the Lord does not release me from the church, I will not move out in disobedience.

Figure 3

Of all the diamonds that are mined in the world each year, less than 50 percent are of gem quality; those that are not of gem quality are used for industrial purposes, such as dentist’s drills or earth moving equipment.² Which one of these do you prefer to be: gem-quality or for menial work? Is church important in your life as a saint? You would probably say yes, but important questions would arise suddenly. How often should I attend? Do I have to go to every service and activity? Is it crucial that I attend? How is it that we can work forty hours or more a week and do not have the same questionable mentality? Or