True or False?

Interviewer: It seems You’re implying that the daily horoscope business is not reliable.
God: I do often show signs in the night sky, such as comets, for example, as portents. Even Jesus’ birth was heralded by a bright star. But the daily horoscope, such as “you will meet a tall, dark, handsome stranger who will provide you with exciting business possibilities,” is guesswork. Sometimes it’s clever guesswork, but it has nothing to give it credence except an occasional coincidence.
Interviewer: So the ancient superstition about comets being evil omens has some truth to it?
God: I think all you would have to do is read the supporting evidence to see that momentous things happening around the times major comets are sighted is more than just coincidence. Of course, some like to embellish on events heralded by comets, and it is true that major things happen without comets making an appearance, but I do use comets to get people’s attention. Not all ancient beliefs are silly superstition.
Interviewer: This talk of comets and portents of doom reminds me of the prophecies of Nostradamus. From what I have read, most of them seem very obscure, but once in a while he said something outstanding that appears to be an accurate prophecy. Was Nostradamus a prophet?
God: Indeed, he did see the future. I spoke to him through My agents.
Interviewer: Meaning he had some sort of a spirit speaking to him, a spirit guide?
God: Yes. He lived in troubled times when someone with his gifts could very easily have ended up being burned at the stake. So I gave him the wisdom through a helping spirit to put his prophecies into verse and in a mixture of languages so that their meanings were veiled.
Interviewer: So all the wild things he wrote about are going to come true.
God: Much of it has and there is still more that will, but some of it will not happen. He was not right one hundred percent of the time.
Interviewer: How so?
God: Some of what he received he did not understand, so he wrote it down wrong. Also, some prophecies are conditional: If such and such happens, then such and such will follow. If for some reason the first criterion is not met, then the rest will not occur, or at least will not occur exactly as predicted.
Interviewer: So if I understand this right, a prophet can predict that such and such a thing will happen, but then even if it doesn’t, he is not necessarily a false prophet.
God: That is so.
Interviewer: But doesn’t that throw all the rules out the window regarding who is and who is not a genuine prophet?
God: You are saying that your rules are so strict that if someone misses it on one point, you disregard all his prophecies?
Interviewer: Yes, I suppose I am.
God: Boy, you are tough! It seems that you are holding these people to a far higher standard than you hold anyone else to. If a doctor misdiagnoses one patient, do you then regard him as a charlatan?
Interviewer: No, but this is in a different league, isn’t it? Someone who is a prophet is supposed to be getting his instructions from You and therefore isn’t supposed to be wrong.
God: They are just humans. They can misunderstand and get things wrong.
Interviewer: But then how do we differentiate between the genuine article and someone who is a fake?
God: By the preponderance of the results. If these prophets are right a good deal of the time, then you can bet on them as being genuine. Their motives are another indicator, whether they are genuinely trying to do good and give messages that are helpful and needed, or whether they are in it for their own aggrandizement or for money or for some other ulterior motive.
Interviewer: Any other ways to tell who are bona fide prophets?
God: Well, to be genuine they would need to acknowledge Me as being the source of their inspiration. Also, there is a bit of haziness in most people’s minds on this point, but a prophet is not necessarily someone who makes predictions of the future. Actually a prophet’s main job is to give whatever message I am instructing him to. That can sometimes be a prediction of future events, but often not.
Interviewer: But aren’t there a lot of cult leaders who acknowledge You and claim they are preaching Your message, but yet seem evil?
God: You’ve jumped from prophets to cult leaders here. They are not necessarily one and the same. But to answer your questions, one man’s religion is another man’s cult. Much is made of the cult scare these days, but people would always do well to look a little more circumspectly at what is being served up to them by the media. Remember that Jesus was executed as a cult leader, under trumped-up political charges. The leaders of the predominant religion saw Him as a threat to their position and had Him falsely accused of inciting sedition.
Interviewer: Yet it still seems there are a lot of wackos in cults.
God: There are some pretty strange ideas and some are dangerous, but that doesn’t mean that they all are, by any means. However, people fear anything that is strange and new until it is proven, which can take a very long time. What I see in some of these religions is that they have thrown off the shackles of tradition and are seeking Me.
Interviewer: But some have this proclivity to turn suicidal.
God: There have been some evil men who have led their followers astray, with horrible results. Suicide is a terrible tragedy. Moreover, their suicides have taken place in groups, which means that they are particularly publicized. There are many more sad and lonely people in society who commit suicide and they don’t get publicized. The professions that have some of the highest rates of suicide are mental health and law enforcement. You have a greater chance of committing suicide if you belong to one of those groups than you do if you are a cultist.
Interviewer: That’s ironic, because members of those two groups are usually the ones sounding the alarm about cults.
God: Let’s be fair and acknowledge that their jobs are stressful, but it does go to show that no one should be pointing the finger.

Is suicide forgivable?

Interviewer: What about suicide? Is it forgivable?
God: You mean by Me?
Interviewer: Yes.
God: Everything is forgivable. Suicide is, however, extremely sad. Don’t you think it is sad that people are in such despair that they find no solution other than to end their lives? In every life there is such hope and promise. Suicide is often as much a testimony against society and those around the person as it is against the person himself.
Interviewer: We talked about euthanasia. Assisted suicide is very close to that, the difference being that the person administers the toxin themselves. The people we generally hear about who have done this are very debilitated with an illness that has reduced their lives to what they feel are unbearable levels. In that instance it would seem that there is no hope.
God: So where would you draw the line between no hope and hope?
Interviewer: I don’t know. That is why I am asking You.
God: Then the safest thing to do is leave it to Me and I will bring people into the next world when I know their time has come.
Interviewer: So there are never justifiable reasons for someone committing suicide?
God: That is an extremely broad question that defies an answer. If someone heroically gave his or her life trying to save someone else, that could be regarded in the broadest terms as suicide. Yet I think everyone would laud the person who was so selfless.
Interviewer: Some even contend that Jesus more or less committed suicide by going to Jerusalem when He did. I believe He even told His disciples that He was going there to die, so that it was premeditated. What do You say to this?
God: Jesus gave His life selflessly so that all who would come to believe on Him could have eternal life. It is a very self-righteous person who would claim that Jesus was committing suicide.
Interviewer: Agreed! But I had to bring it up because it is one of those questions that comes up when talking about this subject. Any final words on suicide?
God: Those who take their own lives and thus end them prematurely miss out on some of the things that they were supposed to encounter and learn on earth. So when they arrive up here, they have some catching up to do. Their entry into the afterlife is not as happy as it could have been. In fact, for some it is rather ignominious and they are so wracked by guilt that they have some serious rehabilitation to go through.
Yet, I do not condemn those who commit suicide, but their dying at that time was needless. Some can be so depressed that they are not in their right mind. But while there is life, there is hope.
Interviewer: So You are saying hold on, hope is around the corner?
God: Yes, as has been borne out many times in the stories of those who were at the end of their rope, all hope seeming to be gone, and they then found something that gave them the will to live. If you are going to throw your life away, why not “throw it away” by immersing yourself in a good cause?
Interviewer: Young people seem especially prone to suicidal thoughts.
God: Yes, but their whole lives are before them. There is so much to live for. Adolescence is a turbulent time.