Pieter Botes

1. Gideon directly implies: God where are You? You have left us! 2. Absolutely incorrect 3. Isreal left God, when Joshua asked the people in Josh 24:15 "Choose today whom you will serve", and they answer Our God, he replies in saying to them, "you will not be able to", and then calls a stone as witness. So interresting that Gideon and his people are using exactely that "stones ---> caves, dens" to hide them!) 4. Why do we blame God? For me personally a very hard question to answer: The rebellion of the heart of man, no wonder that Romans 8:7 decales "[That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot." (Amplified Bible) If we do not see ourselves through the Word of God, and compare our actions and motives to the Word of God, THEN we will always see ourselves as righteous. Judges 21:25 gives me some insight when it states "In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes." As Joseph Parker said ""What is the meaning of this?... There was no king [or counselor] in Israel because in Israel there was no God. The Lord is King. You cannot have a [true] king if you have not a God. There was no nominal renunciation of God, no public and blatant atheism, no boastful impiety; there was a deadlier heresy--namely, keeping God as a sign but paying no tribute to Him as a King, worshiping Him possibly in outward form but knowing nothing of the subduing and directing power of godliness. That is more to be dreaded than any intellectual difficulty of a theological kind... Dead consciences, prayerless prayers, mechanical formalities--these are the impediments which overturn... the chariots of progress. This was the case in Israel. Where God is, the king is not [merely] a man with a crown on, but a king in the sense of kingliness, sovereignty, authority, rule--the spirit of obligation and responsibility... You find the right monarch where you find the right God" You don't have to be against God to be AGAINST GOD! 6. The above answers: PUT GOD FIRST IN ALL! (Mat 6:33" Glory to God

Hi i am Pieter I was born in South African (Winburgm grew up in Theunissen), now a New Zealander. Been in New Zealand for the last 6 years. Medical Doctor, BUT my passion is sharing the Word of God. I accepted the call of the Lord on my life in 2000, and is now preaching the Word on Sunday evenings. (God is so awesome!) I thank God for Pastor Ralph, I discovered his studies about 2 years ago, and has since used his Luke Study for our cellgroup. Trying the forum for the first time, and realy looking forward to it God bless