God and You

God and You
Cover price: $6.95
Size: 6" x 9"
Number of Pages: 82
ISBN: 978-1-7342702-2-8
Publication Date: 04/08/2013 <

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The Bible is a book about God and You. So "God and You" is a book about the Bible. Whether you've never read the Bible or have been studying it for years, "God and You" is full of fresh insight that will delight and encourage you to look into the Bible and find yourself in its pages.

Mike VanOuse is a factoryjack from Indiana who has taught the Bible in various venues since 1993. Before settling into factory-life for 30 years, he was a cook, a soldier, bartender, construction worker, and artist. This panoply of experience has helped him gain unique perspectives of scripture.

    'God and You" is a primer on the Bible to orient the reader to the overview: it juxtaposes the relationship God had with the nation of Israel and it's external enemies to God's relationship with the New Testament believer and their internal enemies. The Old Testament is a template (or mirror) to help the New Testament believer modify their attitude toward their relationship with God.

The Bible

Old Testament:

In the beginning, God made everything. Last of all, He made man - male and female - in His image. And God said, "It is good¹." He put man in charge and gave him one rule, which they broke. And God said, "It is bad."²

Adam and Eve had a bunch of kids, who had a bunch of kids, who had a bunch of kids. They were all bad. So God wiped them out with a flood - except Noah, his three sons, their four wives, and at least two of every animal. ³

They had a bunch of kids, who had a bunch of kids, who had a bunch of kids. One of them was Abraham. God promised to bless Abraham. Abraham believed Him. That pleased God.⁴

Abe had a kid named Isaac, who had a kid named Jacob, whom God renamed Israel, who had a dozen sons. They moved to Egypt.⁵

They had a bunch of kids, who had a bunch of kids, who had a bunch of kids, who all became slaves. God sent Moses to deliver them from slavery in Egypt by performing miracles like parting the Red Sea.⁶

God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, Moses gave them to the people and they disobeyed them. So God didn't lead them into the land He'd promised Abraham until all but two of the adults, Joshua and Caleb, grew old and died. During those forty years they had a bunch of kids. Joshua replaced Moses.⁷

There were people living in the Promised Land. The children of Israel defeated them and moved in. Joshua divided the land into twelve chunks, one per tribe: the descendants of Jacob's twelve sons. ⁸

The Israelites settled-in and turned their backs to God. So He let their enemies oppress them. They would cry to God and He would save them. Then they would turn away again. This happened over and over for years until they said, 'We want a king like the other nations have." ⁹

So God gave them a king, Saul, who turned bad. God replaced him with a good king: David; who had a wise son: Solomon. After Solomon the kingdom divided into two nations, North and South. ¹⁰

The North never had a good king: they led the Israelites away from God so He let them be overrun and scattered by the Assyrian empire. The South had a few good kings, but the nation acted just like the North, so God let them be overrun and scattered by the Babylonians. ¹¹

Seventy years later, after the Persians overran the Babylonians, the Persian King told all the Israelites (Jews) that they were free to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their nation. ¹²

God was always available to the Jews. He provided prophets so that there would always be a person to speak on His behalf. But soon after the return from Babylonian captivity He got real quiet.¹³

New Testament:

After a few centuries, God Himself became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. He taught that men should turn back to God (repent), healed the sick, raised the dead, preached forgiveness, accepted the punishment for sin by dying on the cross, defeated death, came back to life, and promised eternal life to all who believed in Him (like Abraham did).¹⁴

He poured His Spirit out on those who followed Him and performed miracles through them, causing others to believe in Him and receive His Spirit as well. They were called, "Christians¹⁵." The local authorities didn't like the competition, so they started arresting and killing them. So they scattered, spreading the faith everywhere they went.¹⁶

Jesus appeared to the main guy chasing them - Paul - and chewed him out for persecuting Him. Paul became a Christian, went on the road starting new churches, penned most of the New Testament, was arrested and shipped off to Rome.¹⁷

Jesus appeared to the last surviving Apostle, John, showed him the end of the world, judgment day, a new heaven and earth and told him to write it down so everyone would know how its all going to end: God and those who follow Him win. The devil and those who follow him burn in hell.¹⁸

There, you've just studied the entire Bible. Some details have been omitted.

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