This satire is an expression of a time oft repeated wherein I felt incredulous and scornful of the thinking of so-called “theologians.” They shape and size God, formulate the things they think He does, analyze Him, dissect Him, figure Him all out, put Him back together again according to their desires and tastes and put Him in a neat box, gift-wrapped and stamped, ready to be reproduced and mass-marketed to the ignorant masses the world over who swallow their doctrines as unsuspecting fish swallow bait, hook, line, sinker and rod.
By the way, God hates the term “theology.” How presumptuous is man that he should dare try to study God!
It is commonly believed by small and great
That God dwells in Heaven in royal estate,
That Satan in Hell lives in darkness and hate,
That this will never change.
God IS in Heaven and also in Hell,
The psalmist does declare
And with sons of God in Heaven, says Job,
Satan too is there.
God is in Hell and Satan in Heaven
The Scriptures testify
And only the sincere seeker of truth
Will faulty doctrine defy.
God in Heaven, man on Earth
And Satan in Hell is the creed,
Yet Satan walks to and fro in the earth,
And Emmanuel is “God with us” we read.
The Christian is seated in heavenly places,
The heathen dwell in Hell,
Yet both walk the earth with Satan and God
And where who is who can tell?
To know the truth is to shed the lie
And born full of lies we are;
It therefore takes a shedding of self
And to all we’ve been taught we must die.
The answer lies in the Spirit of God
Who leads us to know all things
And once we’ve discovered the answers we’ve sought,
To our souls peace and freedom He brings.
Dauphin, MB; 1978-79
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On August 22nd, 2017, in our Moon River Estates home, I awoke having received the first 2 lines of this song. Later, at the computer, I began to amuse myself with the rest of the words, while Marilyn stood by thinking I was being silly. I was but I wasn't. Words quickly and smoothly came forth to express the present theme of my life that was unfolding beyond my understanding. Call it inspiration. Now, what about a tune? Would it take long, as it has with some other songs? I took up my guitar, went to D, then E, G, and A, timing the words with the chords. I partly but naturally adopted a kind of nasal, aged voice by the spirit of the song, which Marilyn also had questions about but I loved it to tears and here it is. I call it Take Two, being accustomed to recording my songs, doing retakes, sometimes far more often than once. Here I was with lyrics suggesting I was having the privilege of a retake on life. I must say I've had many regrets about the wrongs, failures, and foolish mistakes I've made in my life. I'm well aware that others have learned important things early in life, gathering wisdom and understanding in early age well beyond mine now in my seventies. I've wondered if there was such a thing as reincarnation after all and that I had a life or two to live before I attained to the understanding others have had almost out of the womb. This song promises much ...
This song came for Caren Lampitoc, whom Paul met in Philadelphia. How different we discovered the Christian walk to be in comparison to what we had expected or were led to believe it would be! It was lonely, painful of soul, friendless, fraught with enemies on all sides and the greatest enemy was on the inside. How we had to do battle with unbelief, with our carnal desires, ambitions, hopes, dreams, with the lusts of the flesh...lusting mostly for social security, belonging, importance, usefulness. All must be surrendered or lost; there really is no choice in the matter when the call of God is upon one. He that keeps his life loses it and if he loses it for the Lord's sake, it is still lost, if only for a time, even if replaced with more and better somewhere down the road. The main thing is that one must trust God in it all and let it happen. One must learn and accept that God is in charge of all things, working all for good.
We met Alan Gilbert, a young man who had been in a terrible car accident which left terrible consequences on body and mind. While he would put on a brave face, we knew it was a put-on. This song came to confront him with reality and to encourage him to repent and believe. He went away apparently as hardened as ever. The mystery of iniquity is something at which to marvel.