The Simplicity of God's Plan: It's Your Choice

The Simplicity

of God's Plan

It's Your Choice

Sandra Thompson Davis

Copyright © 2011 Sandra Thompson Davis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-0954-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-0955-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010941830

Printed in the United States of America

WestBow Press rev. date: 1/6/2011

Table of Contents

Chapter1. The Purpose for This Book and My Credentials

Chapter2. Why God Created Time

Chapter3. The Time of Man’s Testing

Chapter4. Faith Versus Reasoning

Chapter5. Is Man Basically Good?

Chapter6. God Reaches Down to Man

Chapter7. The Key is Faith

Chapter8. God’s Way is Simple

Chapter9. God’s Temporary Provision

Chapter10. Modern Discoveries Prove Old Testament

Chapter11. God Finishes His Plan

Chapter12. Jesus' Ministry

Chapter13. The Simplicity of Jesus' Teachings

Chapter14. The Cohesiveness of the Bible

Chapter15. Jesus' Final Instructions

Chapter16. The Early Church

Chapter17. What Historians Would Have You Believe About the Early Church

Chapter18. The Triumph of the Early Church

Chapter19. Errors of the Catholic Church

Chapter20. We Live in Troubling Times

The Purpose for This Book and My Credentials

This book in not intended to prove the various aspects of the Bible, nor to argue its points. I leave that for those who study religion. I am writing from the viewpoint of the fact of the Bible, the reality of God, the Creator of all that is, and what all of it means for mankind today.

I have no need to prove any of this for I know from sixty years experience with my Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ that they are in fact true, real, and personal to me and everyone who wants to know them.

I am a child of God, the daughter of my Heavenly Father. He is my best friend, and we fellowship together. How I got here in my sixty-sixth year of life is the point. I grew up the middle child of chronically ill and dysfunctional parents. I was not nurtured as a child should be, but I learned a lot of things. In the first six years of my life, I had two life-altering experiences. First of all, I learned from an older couple who lived across the street that it is not the color of a person’s skin that makes a difference, it is what is in the heart. Mr. Nelson and Miss Minnie became my grandparents of choice. They loved me, and I adored them. I learned just this year of 2010 that they died in that home. I had thought they went to live with their children. But, they didn’t have any children. So, I guess I was their grandchild. I grieved for them this year. Then, I realized they are with my Jesus. And I will get to spend all eternity with them.

My second lesson was the beginning of my life-long journey with God. I was invited to go to church with my playmate and her mother. That Sunday I learned three important songs. The first one was This Is My Father’s World. To a little girl who didn’t even know her father, although he lived at home, this was a new and wonderful revelation. Somewhere out there I had a Heavenly Father who owned the whole world. He made it all, and it was His. The second song gave me a warm feeling, "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know." Me! Jesus loves me. I knew Mr. Nelson and Miss Minnie loved me, but Jesus loves me too. As we sang these songs, thoughts were swirling in my head. Then, on the third song, "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam," it hit me. Jesus wants me, me. I didn’t know what a sunbeam was, but as I saw the sun beaming through the stained glass windows, I knew I wanted to be one. The tall lady teaching us the songs came by my chair. I tugged on her long, black dress, and she leaned down to me. I will be a sunbeam for Jesus, I said, and I will shine for Him every day.

That’s nice, she answered. But at that moment, God looked straight into this little girl’s heart and put a red check mark on it. Then, He said to His angels, That one is Mine.

I missed most of the first grade that year because I was sick a lot. I had sore throats and ear aches. But I think also my mother couldn’t walk me to school with a sick baby at home. My sister, three years younger, had chronic asthma. I never saw her, but one day I tried to sneak into my mother’s room to see what she looked like. My mom caught me before I could see, and she warned me never to go in there again. My brother, three years older, was in school all day. So Mom sent me out to play if it wasn’t raining or too cold. I wandered all over the back yards and down into the woody areas. I found a little creek and delighted in playing in it. It was my Father’s world, and I could play all over it.

We moved north to a large city for my second grade year. I was a good student and enjoyed learning. Reading was a great pass time for me. I read everything I could find. When we weren’t in school, I had a new friend to play with. The second major event in my relationship with my Heavenly Father occurred when I was in either the fifth or sixth grade. Russia had launched its Sputnik, and American kids wore dog tags in case of an invasion. One day at school, the teacher told us that if the Russians invaded our country, they would line up all the Christians and make them deny Jesus. If they didn’t, they would be shot.

Going home from school that day, I had a heavy heart. After changing clothes, I walked down to the little church I attended. Since my parents didn’t go to church, I walked by myself. My mom always got me dressed, and she let me go. So, that day I went there because I felt my Heavenly Father was there. I lay down against a little hill and talked to my Father as I usually did when I was troubled. I asked him out loud if I would be alive when Jesus came, and would I be faithful. At once, I heard a sound like a very deep voice. The words were out loud, and said just this,

You will be alive; you will be faithful; but you will endure much persecution.

I sat up thinking someone had heard me talking out loud and was making fun of me. But no one was anywhere around. So, lying back down again, I asked my Father, If that was You, please say it again. Nothing more was said.

Now, I didn’t know the words endure nor persecution. That I would be alive really didn’t register with me either. But what did register that day was that I would be faithful.

After that, I didn’t think about it anymore. But one Sunday the preacher said if anyone wanted to belong to the kingdom of God, just come to the front. I went. The preacher put some water on my head and told me I could return to my seat. When I got there, I asked the woman sitting next to me if I was now in the kingdom of God. She said I was, so I guess I was. But I sure didn’t feel any different.

Time passed and I had to leave that school and go to a large junior high school. We had to move again so I could walk to school. My dad had a car, but we didn’t get to use it. He worked on the railroad, and was gone much of the time. We lived respectfully, but in reality we were poor. Dad used all his payday on drinking and gambling. So, often we had nothing much to eat. But we got by. I had a friend across the street and some other girls to pal around with. One girl was Joyce Cate. She and I waited for the church bus on Sundays and rode to church together.

One Sunday, as we waited, Joyce asked me if I had a personal savior. My insides leaped with a jolt, and I grabbed her shoulders wanting to know more. But all she could tell me that it was Jesus, and I should ask my Sunday School teacher to tell me the rest. Now, children in a dysfunctional family soon learn not to ask questions. So, I tried to find a picture of Jesus or hear his name, but with no success.

Then, my Father in Heaven got really serious with me. It was in the spring of my seventh grade year, and the day was warm. I was on my way out to play with the girl across the street when my eye caught a scene on the television, which was always on. I saw a man carrying a heavy wooden beam across his shoulders. He was bleeding, sweaty, and looked like it was very hard for him. Dropping to my knees, I watched as men whipped him and people jeered at him. Then, at the top of a hill, he was laid down on that wooden beam, and some men drove nails into his hands and feet. Raising him upright, they hung him there. By this time, I was mesmerized. Intently I watched the crowd as some laughed and mocked him while others cried and called him Jesus. J E S U S….this was Jesus. I knew that name. He was the one who loved me.

By this time, my heart was beating fast. As I gazed at Him hanging there, it seemed He looked straight into my eyes. It wasn’t an actor who looked at me; it was my Jesus. He looked at me as if I was the only one he saw. Then, he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. At those words, I rolled over onto the floor and burst into tears. I moaned the words, Oh, I am nothing but a pile of filthy rags.

I had never heard these words before, but I sure did know what I was saying. I felt unclean, filthy. I knew if I was the only one in the whole world, he would have just hung there for me. After a bit I sat back up, tears still streaming. I saw him die, and they took him down from the cross and put him in a tomb. I don’t remember any more of it at that time; I just got up and went out the