Category: Unconditional Love

443. Unconditional Love – NO RECORD OF WRONGS

Mike Parsons

If you do not see the video above, please click here

Jesus came to fully reveal the Father to us as His image, and the Father in Jesus forgave us unconditionally, reconciled us to Himself, and justified us — as if we had never sinned, never gone astray, never lost our identity. He kept no record of any perceived wrongs and made us the righteousness of God in Christ. Now that is pretty amazing. That is the power of unconditional love.

He did it all. The work on the cross was finished. Jesus did everything necessary for us to have a restored relationship with God. All we have to do is come to a realisation of that reality.

Love-conscious, not sin-conscious

The Father wants us to live in love-consciousness, not sin- or lost-identity-consciousness. That is why He kept speaking to me about living loved.

To live loved is to live in awareness of unconditional love — a love that enables us to love. Life takes on a completely different perspective when we are free from the bondage of trying to keep up with the Law, or earn God’s favour through duty or obligation. That just wears everyone out. But when we live loving, we are filled with joyous expectation. Every day becomes an opportunity. And in that we can live loving: the love we have received, we can freely give.

Religion makes love and acceptance conditional — but God’s love is totally unconditional. Therefore, we must be free from religious mindsets and obligations.

No record of wrongs

1 Corinthians 13:5 — the famous chapter about love — says that love does not keep score of the sins of others. It keeps no record of wrongs. So God keeps no record of wrongs. He keeps no score of the things we might do or not do.

Jesus came to take away the sins of the world, not to punish them. Love forgave unconditionally, on the basis of what Jesus did both in eternity and in time, on the cross.

Wherever you see the words “love” or “God”, they should be completely interchangeable. We should be able to substitute the word “love” for “God” in every instance — and if we cannot, in whatever we are reading (whether it be the Bible or anything else), then we should question the validity of what we are reading.

Because God is love. And therefore, God is pure love — and pure love is God. If we are reading something that does not make sense of God being love, then we must question it, because God is Love. The issue lies with our understanding, or with what we have been taught — because God is never anything other than love.

It goes on:
Love is patient.
Love is kind.
Love is not jealous.
Love does not brag.
It is not arrogant.
It does not act disgracefully.
It does not seek its own benefit.
It is not provoked.
It does not keep an account of a wrong suffered.
It does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth.
It keeps every confidence.
It believes all things.
It hopes all things.
It endures all things.

So if God, as love, keeps no record of wrongs — why is religion so sin-focused? Every church I was brought up in was always focused on sin and behaviour — and on how you had to maintain a standard of behaviour to be acceptable. But if we keep focusing on sin and lost behaviour, it only reaffirms our lost identity. That keeps people who think they are sinners coming back for more religious help to feel better. And of course, that never works — because religion is just an addiction. It always needs more to satisfy it. You will never truly feel righteous — never know you are righteous — if you are addicted to religion.

Unconditional Love – new book out now
Mike Parsons’ new book, Unconditional Love, is out on 20 June 2025. Order it from your favourite local or online bookseller today, or get the ebook instantly from our website. More details at eg.freedomarc.org/books.

Love-conscious, not sin-conscious

Colossians 1:13 says:
When you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh” — again, in our lost identity — “He made you alive together with Him… – it was not because we did anything – … He made us alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings. He cancelled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us — and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

That is a powerful statement. It is all about being love-conscious, not sin-conscious. Because it is all dealt with. It has all already been forgiven.

As we read earlier:
God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them. (2 Corinthians 5:19).

God’s love cancels all debts, holds no record of wrongs — and therefore His forgiveness is as unconditional as His love. That is so important: you have been forgiven for everything. Now, that does not mean you go out with the attitude, “Oh great, I can just carry on doing terrible things to people — it does not matter.” That is not what love is. Love is wanting the best for other people. Love never wants anything bad to happen to anyone.

What we have received in love — having been loved — we can now love with in the same way. And if love is conditional, then what we demonstrate to others will also be conditional. That means, for most people, forgiveness becomes conditional — based on someone saying sorry or “repenting”. (We will look at what that really means in another session.)

But it is so important to realise: we have been forgiven. Every debt has been cancelled. Nothing is held against us. Therefore, there is no longer any need for guilt or shame. All the things we may have done in our lives — and we have all got history — none of that counts before God. He remembers none of it. So I would encourage you — do not remember it either. Ask Him to completely remove any memory of the past so that you are not trapped in what you have done, but realise that you are fully forgiven. And therefore, there is no more need for forgiveness — because it was all dealt with on the cross.

That is the limitless grace of God — and His triumphant mercy.

Love wins

But of course, religion creates guilt and shame. It uses guilt and shame. But God’s focus is always on reconciliation and restoration of relationship — not on self-improvement.

If there is no record of wrongs, then there is no further need for forgiveness. Sin — lost identity — has been placed as far as the east is from the west. It does not say “as far as the south from the north”, because if you are in the south and then walk north, you end up north. But if you go east and walk west, you still end up facing east. In other words — you can never find it again. God has completely removed it. Yet our religious upbringings often keep us focused on feelings of guilt and shame. That is something we really need to get sorted.

God wants us to know the reality of forgiveness. God has forgiven unconditionally, because God is love — and love is unconditional. Therefore, love wins, because love has always won. That is true justice — the outworking of the judgment of the cross, which was a verdict of “not guilty”… innocent.

So receive that right now:
You are innocent.
As innocent, you are able to have face-to-face encounters with God.
You are not guilty of anything.

And if you feel guilty about anything — that is not coming from God.
If you feel condemned — that is not from God either.
That is either coming from your own inner conscience — which has not yet been touched by the love of God — or from religious programming, which functions through guilt.

Love never fails

I just want to finish with something the Father said to me in conversation:

“Son, My overwhelming love will conquer all things, as it will not fail and will never give up. My overwhelming love is stronger than death. It is more jealous than the grave. Nothing can quench its fierce passion and burning desire for restored relationship of face-to-face innocence. My love for each of My children cannot fail — can never ever stop — any more than I can cease to be I AM.

“Love is the atmosphere of glory.
Love is the frequency of heaven.
Love is the timeless now within the circle of the dance.

“There can be no end to love.
It is eternal and infinite — expanding throughout creation with My kingdom, government and peace.

“My love has no beginning, no end.
It is the Alpha and the Omega
— the Aleph and the Tav.
The Living Word and Truth.

“Love is the fullest expression and intrinsic essence of I AM that I AM.”

So learn to just be loved — living in the rest of love, joy and peace.

Our minds need to be deconstructed from false religious concepts and doctrines — anything that puts a condition on being loved.
We need deconstruction.
We need the renewal of our minds.
We need to be renewed to the truth of unconditional love.

Unconditional love is not a theory. It is not just an intellectual idea. It is something we can know by personal experience. The experience of unconditional love will transform us. It will free us from the religious version of the angry God — if we will just allow God to love us. That might sound so simple — and yet it has been such a long journey for me to come from all the religious experience I had, and all the wrong understandings I held about God, to come to the truth…

The truth of being face to face.
Of being innocent.
Of being in that place where the motives of God’s heart motivate me.
Where His passion causes me to be passionate.
Where His burning desire creates in me a burning desire
— to only do what I see the Father doing.

That is what unconditional love can do for all of us.
But we do need to experience it.

Activation: Washed in Unconditional Love

So I want, just for a short few minutes, to give us the opportunity to embrace unconditional love — to come into that place where we experience something deeper of the unconditional love of God.

So I encourage you: just close your eyes.
And in closing your eyes…
Just begin to rest.

Everything I have said — and I know I have given you a lot of information there — I want to set a foundation for what we are going to be looking at in the future.

But right now, I want you to embrace that you are loved unconditionally.

So I want to encourage you:
Just begin to fix your eyes…
Your thinking…
Your desire…
On engaging face to face,
Heart to heart,
With unconditional love.

Just rest.
Just be still.

As the unconditional love of God surrounds you…
Where love is poured out…
Lavished upon you…

Where every bit of guilt, shame or condemnation that you have felt —
That people have made you feel —
That religion has made you feel —

Right now…
The unconditional love of God,
As it is flowing all over you,
Around you and in you,
Just washes you.
Washes you clean
So that you see yourself the way the Father sees you:

Forgiven.
Reconciled.
Justified.
Innocent.
Not guilty.

Pure and holy.

Just let the truth — as the Father begins to speak words into your heart —
Words of love…
Words of affirmation…
Words of approval…

He is affirming you as His child.
He is approving of you as His child.

He wants you to feel completely, unconditionally loved.

Just let that love wash over you.
Flow through you.
Rivers of living water ,
Rivers of love,
Unconditional love flowing through your spirit, soul and body.

You are cocooned in unconditional love.
Soaking in unconditional love.

Feel the unconditional love…
That you are forgiven from everything from your past.
Completely innocent.
Every stain completely removed.
Every black spot in your DNA restored and made whole.

Bathed in unconditional love.

Just rest in that place of love.

406. Recognise the Finished Work of Jesus

319. Face to Face with God

442. Unconditional Love – NO GUILT, NO SHAME

Mike Parsons

Not seeing the video above? Click here.

Nothing can change God. He is love. He will never, ever be anything other than love. That love is always unconditional—it is never-ending, and totally unconditional.

So, if what you read about God—whether in the Old Testament, New Testament or anyone’s writings—appears to contradict or fall short of love, then either what is written is wrong, or your understanding of it is flawed. Most likely, it is the result of. This goes beyond religion—it is rooted in how different cultures have understood and presented God. Religion has twisted concepts like holiness and righteousness—true characteristics of God—so that they seem to trump grace and mercy. But they do not. They are equal. God’s grace and mercy are expressions of unconditional love.

Mike Parsons’ new book Unconditional Love is out now. Order a print copy from your favourite bookshop or online retailer, or get an instant download from our website. More details at eg.freedomarc.org/books

No guilt, no shame.

God is a righteous judge, and therefore He is a God of true justice. The problem for many is that religion has conditioned them to believe that judgment and justice mean wrath and punishment. But judgment, made by God our Father, is not based on human ideas of justice. It is grounded in loving kindness and in the fact that He has already reconciled the world to Himself, not counting anything against anyone. Every accusation against us has been nailed to the cross.

Judgment is a verdict, a decision—not a punishment. And the Father’s verdict is always made in love. That verdict is: not guilty. Innocent. You have been declared not guilty—innocent of all charges and accusations made against you. So if you hear accusing thoughts, reject them. They either come from your own mind, or from another source that thrives on guilt and condemnation. If you believe you are guilty or condemned, and not innocent, you will live a lesser life than the one God intends.

God so loved the world that Jesus came to reveal love. But that love goes even deeper and further back than the cross. Jesus offered Himself before the foundation of the world, so that love would always win, so that love would overcome. The Father’s judgement—’not guilty’—was agreed before we were ever created. All accusations were nailed to the cross. Nothing is held against us.

Jesus, the Lion, fully identified with humanity as a lamb—because all of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Each one of us follows our own way. He came to bring us back into relationship. We may be lost in our independence, but I believe the term “humanity” does not reflect the nature and character of God. It reflects a humanistic mindset that seeks to do everything in its own strength. But God, in Jesus, fully identified with us. Why? Because He loves us.

That “transaction”—figuratively compared to being slain—was a choice to identify with us so completely that He became one of us. In becoming us, He represented us entirely. He became not as Adam was, but as Adam became. He entered a fallen world and fully identified with our fallen nature. That is why He cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”

But that cry was, in reality, a lie—because God never forsook Jesus. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. God never rejected or forgot us. It was only how we thought of Him, through our guilt and loss of identity, after we chose independence. He became us so we could be restored to who He always intended us to be. And now we live in a new age, under a new covenant. A covenant Jesus made with the Father—and all of mankind is included in it.

Jesus warned us of the religious and political spirit, likened to leaven, that would permeate the whole lump. In my own experience—through churches and movements I have been part of—my understanding of the new covenant was tainted by old covenant ideas.

Unconditional love does not require sacrifices or offerings. But an old covenant mindset always demands something: our obedience, our obligation, our duty. These are dead works. They carry no value before the Father. He does not require them—and, in truth, He never did. That may come as a shock to many. We must be careful not to operate under an old covenant, works-based, performance-oriented mindset towards God. It will exhaust us. We will never find rest if we think we must earn God’s love or favour.

There is no guilt, no shame, no condemnation in unconditional love. Those things are religious constructs designed to keep us coming back for more religion.

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No Law, no punishment

Hebrews 6:1-2 are often misunderstood—and I misunderstood them for most of my life. I even taught them as foundations of new covenant faith. But what Hebrews 6 actually says is: “Therefore, leaving the elementary teachings about the Christ, let us press on to maturity—not laying again a foundation of repentance…”

The old covenant was immature. The new covenant brings maturity—but only if we do not lay again the old covenant foundation: repentance from dead works, faith towards God, instructions about washings, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement. All of these are old covenant ideas. They have no place in the new. And yet these very things are what most churches teach as foundational. They were in our church’s foundational course too. But now I realise: these are the things we should not be laying again. There is no life left in the old system. It is dead. We have to move on.

That whole system was based on sacrifices and offerings, connected to the Law given through Moses—a law that was never God’s idea. I am not talking about the Ten Commandments, which actually describe what a good relationship with God looks like. They are not really “Thou shalt not…” They are: “You do not need to…” You do not need any other gods. You do not need to steal. You do not need to kill. Why? Because in this amazing relationship of safety and security, God provides everything. That was His offer.

But the people were afraid and sent Moses instead. So they set up a mediatorial system—the Law. It had 613 requirements they were supposed to keep. Jesus made it clear that it was impossible. Fail in one, and you fail in all. We cannot keep the Law. From the very beginning of the Church, there were attempts to drag people back under it. The religious spirit, working through the Judaizers—even within Jerusalem and the early Church—tried to impose the law of Moses once again.

John 1:17 says, “The Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

God never wanted sacrifices and offerings. People will say, “Yes, but He accepted them.” Isaiah 1:11 says, “What are your many sacrifices to Me?” says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams… I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats.”

Jeremiah 7:22 says, “I did not speak to your fathers or command them… concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.” So He never told them to make offerings. Yet they made a golden calf and sacrificed to it. Where did that come from? Their own understanding.

Of course God accepted sacrifices and offerings—because He accepts us. He also accepted their demand for a king, even though He was already their King. That does not mean it was what He wanted. But He works with us, even in our brokenness and our flawed position.

Psalm 40:6 says, “You have not desired sacrifice and meal offering… You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.” Then it says—prophetically of Jesus—“Behold, I have come… I delight to do Your will, my God; Your law is within my heart.” 

And the law, when written in the heart, is not a ‘Thou shalt not’. It is a ‘You can’. Because when it is revealed from within, it gives permission to live as sons of God. Not ‘You shall not do this’, but ‘You can do all these amazing things’—as co-heirs and co-creators.

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Join them at patreon.com/freedomarc and partner with us in taking this good news of unconditional love to all creation.

304. Wrath is not the solution | Penal Substitutionary Atonement [2]

51. Leaven In The Lump

374. Aligning with God’s Heart in Co-creating

441. Unconditional Love – NO BUTS | God definitely IS Love!

Mike Parsons

Not seeing the video above? Click here.

God is love—and that love is unconditional. We need to carry that message of unconditional love, of inclusion, of reconciliation and restoration, which God has already brought about in Jesus. Our role is to help people come into the reality of that; to help them experience the truth that they are already reconciled, already loved, and that God holds nothing against them. That is the ministry we are called to.

Sadly, I would say that much of what has been preached as the gospel—particularly in evangelical contexts—has been the opposite. It has been about exclusion. It has been based on works and, far too often, motivated by fear: the fear of punishment rather than the invitation into love.

What I have come to understand—and to experience—is that love can only be unconditional. That means there are no conditions you must meet in order for God to love you. None. And I want to encourage you to embrace that truth, even if just for a moment. There are no conditions for God’s love. Absolutely none.

If you can truly grasp that—experientially, not just intellectually—it will transform your whole life. It has certainly transformed mine. That does not mean life will be without difficulty. That does not mean you will never be tested. But the truth remains: you are loved, because God is unconditional love. And God loves all His children equally—regardless of what you have done, where you have come from, or what you have been through. He loves you as fully as it is possible to be loved. He loves without limits. Lavishly, with no barriers, no hindrances.

This teaching forms part of Mike Parsons’ new book Unconditional Love, which is out in print on 20 June 2025. Order it from your favourite local or online bookseller today, or get the ebook from our website.  More details at eg.freedomarc.org/books.

Now, many people accept that God is love, because the Bible says so. But there is often a “but.” Why is that? Because the idea of unconditional love seems too good to be true to an independent or alienated mind. We are separated from God in our own thinking—alienated within the mind of humanity. I believe this mindset comes from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That is the mindset which begins to shift when we experience God for ourselves.

But for so many, it has been shaped and programmed by religion. All religion is man-made. God never intended it. He has always wanted relationship. Yet religion has taken something that is already ours and made it into something we have to earn or deserve—or a state we must appease God to reach. That same religious programming has presented us with a view of God as angry, disappointed, or frustrated with us. But God is none of those things. He loves us unconditionally, and He wants us to truly experience that.

People say, “Yes, God is love… but He is also holy”—as if His holiness contradicts His love. Or, “Yes, God is love… but He is also righteous,” as though love and righteousness are somehow opposed. Or, “Yes, God is love… but He is also just”—again implying that justice counteracts love. These are all religiously programmed ideas. I used to believe them myself because I had never experienced the truth, which made it easy to believe the lies.

Some say, “Yes, God is love… but He is also a judge,” as if that makes Him a harsh judge who is looking to find us guilty. But love keeps no record of wrongs. So how could He ever find us guilty?

Another one: “Yes, God is love… but He cannot look upon sin.” People usually mean behaviour when they say that—but sin, in reality, is lost identity. If God cannot look at a lost world, how could Jesus ever have come And of course God is not only looking at this world—He is present in every single person. He is working within everyone to bring them into the reality of their relationship with Him, into their inclusion in Christ. We have already been reconciled in Christ. We have already been made righteous in Christ. We have already been made holy in Christ. We did nothing to make that happen. He did it all.

Religion is full of “buts.” And all those “buts” do is undermine the truth that God is love—unless you believe the false doctrines that paint God as two-faced: loving in the New Testament, but angry in the Old. Even within the New Testament, people sometimes see wrath and anger. But they do not realise that the word orge, often translated “wrath,” also means “passion.” God is passionate—passionate about removing anything that hinders our relationship with Him. That passion is not about fury or violence; it is about His relentless, determined love working to bring about transformation.

Religious deception has distorted the nature of God, separating aspects of His character and creating a false image of love that punishes. But what loving father would punish his children eternally? This kind of theology has created a God who is hard to trust—a God who claims to love, yet threatens to torment unless we do things a certain way. That is not who God is.

Many people have been fooled into trying to earn something that is already theirs by inheritance. As God’s children, we have a right to relationship with Him. That is not something we must strive for—it is something embedded in the very nature of who He is and who we are. The deception is in making us believe that we have to do something to get something. But the truth is that we are already God’s children, and therefore we are already loved—unconditionally—by a Father overflowing with lovingkindness. It is not that we must do something. We only have to realise something, to come into the full awareness of it.

Religion has twisted the meanings of holiness and righteousness by misinterpreting concepts like judgment and justice. That distortion is what has created the false narrative of hell—a place where God punishes and tortures His children eternally. But in truth, God loves His children eternally. He will never stop loving, never give up—until we fully experience that love. His love is a purifying, refining fire. A consuming fire that burns away every obstacle and objection until nothing remains but pure, unconditional love.

Holiness, righteousness, judgement, justice—none of these contradict unconditional love. In fact, they flow from it:
Holiness expresses love.
Righteousness reveals love.
Judgment results from love.
Justice enforces love.

The judgment of God, made on behalf of all humanity and all creation, is this: not guilty. If you are not guilty, then you are innocent. And if we would only see ourselves the way God sees us—as innocent—we would begin to live from that place of understanding and experience.

God cannot be a contradiction. He is either love, or He is not. And He most definitely is love.

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244. The Hell Delusion

342. “God Punishes Those He Loves!”

406. Recognise the Finished Work of Jesus

 

 

440. Unconditional Love – NO LIMITS

Mike Parsons

Not seeing the video above? Click here.

The God I thought I knew twenty years ago—or even twelve years ago—is now a distant memory. He is not what religion taught me He was. He is not what I was conditioned to believe by church or anything else—He is so much better than that. He is so much better. He is so good, so loving, so kind, so thoughtful, so passionate—beyond what I could ever have imagined until I met Him face to face and began to experience how He revealed Himself to me.

Thankfully, He did not do that all in one go, because it would have completely shattered my mind, I expect. But the Father has deconstructed my thinking and expanded my consciousness beyond what I could ever have imagined or thought possible. God is so much bigger, better, further—and creation is beyond what I ever could have imagined. I was conditioned, like most people, to believe you went to heaven when you died. But when God opened up that realm to me, and the dimensions and all those things to engage with Him and to experience—it is just so awesome.

So many of the things I believed about God were programmed into me by religious doctrines and theological understandings that I now know were never true. But I believed they were true, because that was the stream I was in at the time. I started off in the Methodist Church, went to the Brethren Church, eventually started a charismatic church—and I have been on a journey of discovering things. But that was nothing compared to engaging God in the realms of heaven, face to face, or engaging God within me in a place of intimacy.

All the doctrines that were programmed into me about who He was—the angry God, the God who needs appeasing, the Old Testament God as opposed to the New Testament God—all those confusing things, I realised I believed were true because I had never actually met Him. One day, He said to me, “How much of what you know about Me comes directly from Me, and how much of it has come from reading, listening to sermons and other people?” I had to admit—probably ninety-nine percent of what I thought I knew was not from personal experience. Therefore, it was only information, not true knowledge.

All of us have been programmed by the things we have been taught and the things we have received. You could be programmed into a non-religious mindset that is just as religious. You could be in an atheist household and be programmed to believe God does not exist. Or you could be brought up in religious settings, church settings, that have, in a sense, determined what you believe about God, and the Bible, and everything else.

For me, this has been a long, sometimes arduous journey to come to the knowledge of the truth and come to the realisation that, actually, God is love. His love is unconditional. Experiencing that is what He wants us to do—so that we can come into a reality where we love as He loved.

This teaching forms part of Mike Parsons’ new book Unconditional Love, which is out in print on 20 June 2025. Order it from your favourite local or online bookseller today, or get the ebook from our website.  More details at eg.freedomarc.org/books.

Unconditional love is hard to grasp. It is so difficult for people to understand because of the way we have been programmed. For me, if God is love, and He is not unconditional love, then He is not love at all. Because if love is conditional, it cannot be love. You cannot earn love.

Understanding unconditional love—and the nature of it, and why it is so often challenged—is really, really important. I believe this is probably the most important and the biggest key truth that has made the most impact in my life over the last ten to twelve years. The truth that God is unconditional love has been attacked; it has been twisted in many different ways. That is because it is so important that we understand it and experience it. When we experience that unconditional love, it brings freedom. It releases us to be ourselves. It stops us from having to perform to earn it or deserve it.

A phrase any of you familiar with me for any length of time will have heard me say a lot—because the Father said it to me—is: “Live loved, live living, and live loving.” He has said that so many times as an encouragement and a motivation. This is simply how we can live: we can live loved. Now, that does not mean live trying to be loved, or trying to earn love, or deserve love, or be good enough for love. Just live loved. Just accept that we are loved in an unconditional way—in a completely unconditional way. That is the key to this understanding and this experience.

If we are living in that place of living loved, then we can love living. Life is joyous. I look forward to every day, because there is more to experience, more to explore, more to just resting—to just be. And then we can live loving. This is really where the rubber hits the road. To live loving means we have to demonstrate the love to others that we have received. Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” People strive to love other people—and it is hard sometimes—when they are not very nice to you, and they do things that really make you say, “Well, I do not want to love them. Look how they treated me. Look how they hurt me.”

Any of you who have been involved in church for very long will know how easy it is to be hurt by people—whether deliberately or by accident. It is hard in relationships to maintain a loving attitude to someone all the time and to everybody. That is really difficult. But it is possible, because that is the way God has loved us. God has loved us, and He wants us to love other people in the same way. So if God’s love towards us is unconditional, then our love towards other people should also be unconditional.

Now, I use the word should, and actually, that is a word I want to eliminate from my vocabulary when it comes to God, and relationship, and living life. I do not want to do things because I should do them. Who says I should do them? Did God say I should do them? If so, that is a condition—that I should do something. So what is the consequence of not doing something? If I do not do what God wants me to do, what will He do? So what sort of God do we believe in? What does He do when we do things that do not line up with what He wants us to do? Are there a whole load of things we should do?

On my journey, He has really challenged me about that word. So many of us have that word: “Well, I should do this… I should go to church, I should pray, I should read my Bible, I should witness… I should, I should, I should.” Why should I? Because I am conditioned to? Because I think it is the right thing to do?

God challenged me over things like obedience. Should I be obedient? And of course, I thought, “Well of course I should! Why would I not want to be obedient to God?” But He challenged me. My thinking around that was very old covenant. Because obedience is to something which is a law. God does not want us to obey Him. God wants us to have a relationship with Him in which we share, in which we cooperate with one another—and in which, of course, we would only want to do the things that we see the Father doing. But not because we should, but because we desire to. Because it is the desire of my heart to be in relationship with God, who loves me in such a wonderful way.

So many people accept that God is love—but there is always a but. Religion programmes buts. Yes, that is true, but… I had lots of buts myself in the past. Why? Because it is too good to be true for an independent, alienated mind to accept that God could love you without any condition. We have been programmed by religion to believe we have to do something to deserve or earn love, or to appease anger. That is what God really wants to change. That is the greatest deception. It fools people into trying to earn something that is already theirs by right of inheritance—because we are all His children. We are all co-heirs, whether we know it or not.

We are all God’s children and, therefore by definition, we are all loved unconditionally by a loving Father, overflowing in loving kindness. To experience that and to know that is life-changing.

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231. Meet the Real God

282. Live loved, love living, live loving

285. God is Love… BUT

435. One of the Saddest Things

Mike Parsons

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What you’ve experienced, no one can challenge—unless you let them. I don’t need to enter arguments or debates about theology because I’ve encountered the living God face to face, and I know him. No one will convince me of anything other than that God is love, no matter what theology or doctrines they use to try and challenge me. I know God is love.

Here’s a quote from Keith Giles—one of my favourites—from the Gospel of Philip. And yes, there are other gospels beyond what’s in the Bible. If you’re interested, I’d encourage you to explore some of them—with discernment, of course. These texts can offer insight into truths that aren’t necessarily in the canon of Scripture. That doesn’t make them wrong.

The quote says: “If you become whole, you will be filled with light. But if you’re divided, you will be filled with darkness.” That’s not a legalistic rule-following salvation message. It’s not a rule—it’s an invitation to transformation. As we are transformed, we are transfigured—filled with light. But if we’re broken, fragmented, divided, then we experience elements of darkness that limit who we really are. We are beings of light, made in the image of God—who is light.

The Gospel of Philip doesn’t offer easy answers, and that’s what makes it powerful. It invites us into the mystery. It invites us on a journey rather than offering a neat doctrine. Isn’t that what faith is really about? Don’t settle for doctrine or theology—go on a journey to experience the mystery, the intimacy of God himself.

He is the light that lights every man who comes into the world. That’s in the Bible. Everyone has the light of Jesus—the light of life. Some know it, some don’t. But the gospel is that all will know it. That’s the message we carry: that all will come to know. And we want them to know now—not to wait until their deathbed or even after they’ve died. We want them to step into the fullness of who they really are now, and to know that God is with them and in them.

If you claim to teach grace, but add a condition—a caveat that requires self-effort to receive it—you’ve left grace and entered the land of mixture. As Paul said, that’s another gospel. Don’t fall into it. Don’t believe a gospel that places conditions on grace or love. There is nothing we need to do to receive it. We simply accept it. There’s nothing we can do to make it true—it already is.

When people say the Bible is their authority, what they’re really saying is their interpretation of the Bible is their authority. That was me for much of my Christian life. I believed the Bible was my authority—but which version? Which interpretation? My own? Or what I was taught and conditioned to believe growing up?

SERIES INFORMATION: This video is an excerpt from Mike's current teaching series, Restoring First Love. Get the full length videos every month, only at eg.freedomarc.org/first-love

One of the saddest things

One of the saddest things I’ve seen on Facebook was a quote from Paul Washer, a pastor in the Southern Baptist tradition. He said, “The moment you take your first step through the gates of hell, the only thing you will hear is all of creation standing on its feet, applauding and praising God because God has rid the earth of you.” That, to me, is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. It so completely contradicts the reality of who God is and what his love is like.

I looked the guy up. He pastors something called “Grace Community Church.” If that’s not the biggest oxymoron I’ve ever heard, I don’t know what is. Someone who read the quote wrote, “It’s not the guy I have a problem with—he’s sincerely saying what he believes to be true, and for him, it feels compassionate to share it that way. The issue is the distorted portrait of God being painted with these horrible words. Think about it: God is obligated to torture you forever because you’re worthless and unholy? A holy, just God must rid the earth of you—a divine image-bearer—and all creation will stand and worship when it happens? How could something be so utterly wrong?”

It’s wrong because the people who created that doctrine never met the Father face to face. They only studied the Bible and believed what they were told it says. But when the only thing you’ve received is the Father’s love, the only thing you can give is the Father’s love. No judgment. No hate. No “us vs them.” God treats you as his child, the apple of his eye, the treasure of his heart. You are loved unconditionally. You don’t have to perform to earn that love. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

When the only thing you receive is the Father’s love, that becomes the key to everything. The Father’s love is what brings change and transformation in us so that we can love as we have been loved.

Here’s another quote, this time from Brian Zahnd: “We all make errors in our theology—you and me both. So my recommendation is to err on the side of love.” Why? Because God is not doctrine. God is not denomination. God is not war. God is not law. God is not hate. God is not hell. God is love.

Let’s focus on that reality: God is love. That is the truth. That is the reality. God is love. There is never a time when God isn’t thinking about you. You were on his mind before the foundation of the world. His thoughts toward you are always good.

Unconditional love doesn’t demand a choice or decision. It simply loves. It accepts. It includes. Jesus included everyone in his death so that everyone would be included in his resurrection. He saved the whole world—not just some, not just those alive in his time, but all of mankind. All who have lived, and all who ever will live. All died with him. All have been resurrected with him. That is the power of the gospel.

If we want to discover truth, we must be willing to set aside comforting illusions and traditional preconceptions. We must let truth declare itself to us. The whole truth. Nothing but the truth. As Don Keathley says, “Be willing for truth to challenge what you currently or previously believed.” Don’t cling so tightly to doctrine and theology that it keeps you from the truth—and keeps you in bondage

.

Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and will soon be available to order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.

More details at eg.freedomarc.org/books

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434. God’s Fiery Love

Mike Parsons

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The cross was a powerful point where God dealt with every accusation made against us, reconciled us to himself and didn’t count anything we may have previously done against us. So why do we—and why does religion—keep bringing it up? Because religion keeps reinforcing the need to maintain a certain standard of behaviour. You have to do this, and do that, and if you don’t, you feel guilty. Christianity has its own set of laws now—which is a mixture of covenants. Read your Bible, pray every day, witness, go to church—these become the Evangelical law. Catholics might have communion, confession, sacraments. It’s all performance-based.

But God’s fire is God’s love. People talk about God’s fire as punishment, especially in political rhetoric—like “they’re gonna pay the price now!”—but really, God is a consuming fire, and that fire is always for purification, never punishment. He has no punishment to give. We’ve made God out to be a judge who must punish sin, but that’s a misunderstanding. Fire, like a refiner’s fire, is about removing impurities—transforming, not destroying. He wants us to be pure gold, purely who he created us to be.

Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and will soon be available to order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.

More details at eg.freedomarc.org/books

We’ve been conditioned to think God punishes those who reject him. But what loving father does that? Instead, God makes every opportunity—even after death—for people to accept him. At the point of death, Jesus comes as light and invites people into that light. Some accept. Others, conditioned by other beliefs or guilt, reject it. They go into the fire of God’s love, which continues working until every hindrance is gone. The fire doesn’t destroy—it transforms. Even if someone knows God, they’ll still pass through that fire because he loves us too much to leave us incomplete.

Whether it’s the altar of sacrifice, or going through the river of fire, or the fiery furnace of Daniel’s friends, the fire never destroys. Even the Lake of Fire, when you examine the original Greek, is about testing, not torment. The word “brimstone” (theos) is connected to God’s presence. God’s wrath (orgē) means passion—passion against what harms us, not passion to punish.

For me, going through the fire has always meant transformation. Never punishment. Always love. Sometimes challenging, but always an invitation to change, not condemnation. When someone dies, if they’re a believer, their spirit and soul go into the realms and become part of the cloud of witnesses. If they’re not a believer, Jesus appears to them as light and invites them into relationship. Many accept. Angels take them, and train them. Others don’t—some feel unworthy due to guilt or religious conditioning. They feel they’re being punished, but it’s their own shame. God isn’t punishing them—they’re punishing themselves.

We can minister to those in that place—preaching good news even there. Some don’t believe they’re worthy of love because of their lives, but God never stops loving. Religion has turned the message of love into fear. “You’d better be sorry enough so God will forgive you.” But love is what transforms, not fear.

Religion has made “sin” a verb—wrong actions. But in the Greek, “sin” is a noun. It’s not about behaviour; it’s about lost identity. “The wages of sin is death” means the consequence of lost identity is a life less than what God intended. Jesus dealt with sin—our lost identity—on the cross. He reconciled all of us. God’s not holding anything against anyone. Christianity often says, “You’re saved by grace through faith,” but turns that into a requirement for your own faith to save you. Yet even that faith is a gift. There are no works involved. Repentance (metanoia) doesn’t mean “be sorry.” It means change your mind—agree with God’s perspective.

God has forgiven everyone already. Jesus took our death, gave us his life, and came to dwell in us. Many just don’t know it yet. Religion doesn’t lead people to freedom—it creates another set of rules, conditions and guilt. Every stream has its own standards, and if you don’t meet them, you’re condemned. But God has made us righteous. He sees us as we truly are. If we can see ourselves as he sees us, our lives will be transformed.

Even fallen angels lost their identity. I’ve heard of angels missing others—missing Lucifer and those who fell. I believe God will restore all things. Colossians 1 says all things were created by and for him and will be reconciled. Some fallen angels don’t believe restoration is possible because they’ve been told otherwise. But when we minister to them with love, it can stir their memory. Those who haven’t fallen probably know restoration is possible—thousands have already been restored.

Sometimes we hear only the reflection of our own voice when we ask God things. It’s easy to hear what we want to hear. That’s why we need to measure everything against love. If what you hear doesn’t align with love, it’s not God.

When I ask him about choices, like whether to go somewhere or do something, God often says, “Do what you want.” He wants us to mature into sons who can choose based on alignment with his heart, not just wait for orders.

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431. Breaking Free from Deceptive Teaching | Rediscovering God’s Love

Mike Parsons

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When people get drawn into deceptive teachings, it can completely distort their understanding of God. But the truth is, the very nature of God is love. Just think about it—some claim that if someone uses a different name for Jesus, or a Hebrew version, they’re going to hell. It’s absurd. But that’s the level of deception and depth of religious programming some people fall into.

Take the Hebrew Roots movement, for example. It’s just as deceptive as the Judaizers in the first century, who tried to pull followers of Jesus back under the law of Moses. Jesus warned us about the leaven of Herod and the Pharisees—the political and religious spirits. And sadly, that same spirit has infiltrated some mystical Christian groups today.

There’s a growing narrative that says you must understand Hebrew, take Hebrew classes or grasp the Hebrew language to understand God. But God is not Hebrew—God is God. Hebrew was simply the language of a people He chose for a time to demonstrate His desire for relationship. That doesn’t make it the one true language of divine understanding. In fact, many of the religious leaders in Jesus’ day—Pharisees, Sadducees, and others—had a deeply flawed understanding of God, and Jesus came to correct that.

Much of that misunderstanding came from syncretism. When the Jewish people were exiled in Babylon, they began to incorporate foreign beliefs and customs into their system. The same happened later under Greek influence. This led to writings like the Talmud—an oral tradition passed down and eventually written. Some of its content is shockingly harsh, treating non-Jews as lesser beings. It became equal in status to the Torah for many, yet it’s a book that contains things Jesus clearly came to oppose.

Jesus came to reveal who God truly is—a God of love. The Hebrew Roots movement, though, seeks to drag people back into a law-based, old covenant mindset. When people get into it, you often notice a lack of love in their attitudes. They become harsh, critical and defensive—clear signs of deception. Paul addressed this in his letter to the Galatians when he said, “Who has bewitched you?” They started with grace and were being tempted to go back under the law. But no one could keep that law, and that was the whole point.

Christianity is not Judaism plus Jesus. Jesus didn’t come to start a religion—He came to invite us into a new covenant relationship. He is the fulfilment of every old covenant promise and every feast that pointed to something greater. So why go backwards? Why follow the Jewish calendar or wear religious garments like kippahs or prayer shawls to seem more spiritual? It’s just mixing covenants and returning to bondage. And again, it often shows in how little love these teachings produce in people.

Some insist we must use the Hebrew name for Jesus. But God speaks to us in our own language. He’s spoken to me about Jesus using that name, because He meets us where we are. I’m not Hebrew—why should I feel compelled to use a Hebrew name? Unfortunately, many who fall into this movement become zealous, dogmatic and, sadly, unloving. They act as if God will condemn people for using the “wrong” name, which is utterly absurd. But that’s indoctrination. There’s a religious spirit behind it, trying to pull people out of the freedom found in Christ and back into bondage through law-keeping.

The Hebrew Roots movement, at its core, aims to reintroduce legalism. There’s even a wider agenda pushing something called the Noahide laws, attempting to bring the whole world under a religious legal system. But we’ve been called to freedom—not to religious control.

Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and will soon be available to order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.

More details at eg.freedomarc.org/books

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430. Being You | The Heart of Your Relationship With God

Mike Parsons

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God isn’t commending you, endorsing you or recommending you based on what you’ve done—but on who you are, and who he created you to be. Your destiny isn’t a long checklist of things you have to accomplish in order to be good enough. It’s about being you. That’s really the heart of it—discovering and becoming your true self in relationship with him.

So God’s not looking at your performance and saying, “Well, I can’t work with them, they’ve not done a good enough job.” He’s looking at you as his son, as his beloved creation. You’re the apple of his eye, the treasure of his heart. His desire is for you to be you. And as you live out of that true identity, you’ll naturally express things through creative sonship that reflect who you are—and that’s what’s truly worthy.

So when he says, “Well done, my son,” it’s not because you ticked off a list of achievements. It’s more like, “You had a go. You used your creativity. I’m pleased with you.” Think about Jesus—God spoke over him and said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I’m well pleased” before he even began his ministry. God’s approval wasn’t based on what Jesus had done. It was based on who he was. And that’s the same for us. God wants us to rest in who we are. That rest then becomes the source of everything that flows out of our lives. Just being, without striving or doing, releases the doing in a natural and authentic way.

Now, when it comes to things like creating wealth, we don’t need to strive for it. God is our provider. If we’re in tune with him—moving with his heart, doing what we sense he’s doing—then everything we need will be provided. He’s already promised that we have more than enough for all our needs, and abundance for every good deed. And those good deeds aren’t random acts—they’re connected to who we are. They’re expressions of our true self in a world that needs it.

If I’m striving to make money or create wealth in my own strength, it’s probably because I’ve moved out of that place of trust and into anxiety. But when we’re at rest—when we’re not worried or fearful—we draw provision to us. We’re not grasping, we’re receiving. There are people out there—Joe Dispenza, Sadhguru and others—who’ve tapped into some of the principles that God operates by. Things like sowing and reaping, or what some might call “heavenly technology.” They may be working with these principles, but not necessarily in relationship with God. So while they might be doing generally good things, it can have a kind of humanistic flavour—because it’s often built on information, not revelation. It’s not flowing from intimacy with the Father.

And look, I’m not heavily into any of that stuff—I’m just aware of it because people talk about it, and I have friends who are really into those ideas. And in many ways, there’s nothing inherently wrong with what’s being said. But the problem is, without relationship, it becomes a formula or a technique. And that’s not what God wants from us. He wants union—a living relationship with him as our Creator.

That’s totally different from working a technique to get a healing, or meet a financial need. Being in relationship with him draws all that we need to us. We don’t have to chase after it. When we live from rest, we don’t fall into striving or performance to try and earn his blessing or approval. He already wants to bless us because we’re his children. And he wants us to relax into that identity; to be at peace with who we are. From there, everything else flows.

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Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and will soon be available to order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.

More details at eg.freedomarc.org/books

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429. Jesus is the Path to the Father

Mike Parsons

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Of course, Jesus is the way we come to the Father. But He is a door… He said, “I am the door,” and He’s introducing us into a relationship with the Father. I do engage with Jesus at times—sometimes as the Truth—when I feel led to connect with Him in that way. But the bottom line is, we are sons, and a relationship with the Father is absolutely vital. I don’t believe for a moment that if you don’t consciously talk about Jesus, or think, “I must go through Jesus to have a relationship with the Father,” you’ll somehow open the door to the demonic. That’s not how it works.

At the end of the day, demons cannot take control of our lives. We have the Holy Spirit within us—the presence of God living in us. Unless someone deliberately chooses to give access to an external force, by surrendering or submitting to it, a demon cannot simply take over. You’re not going to be overrun just because you didn’t say the name of Jesus. That’s not how it works.

Your relationship with the Father is exactly what Jesus wants you to have. He’s not jealous or overly protective about His name. What He wants is that relationship. And actually, when you have a relationship with the Father, you’re also in relationship with Jesus and with the Spirit. They are one. They exist in perichoresis—a divine dance of mutual indwelling. So if you’re talking to the Father, Jesus is fully aware of the conversation. It’s not like you’re excluding Him or shutting Him out. You’re not.

I think sometimes people come under a kind of religious bondage, and I believe God wants to set us free from that. Intuitively, I think many people know what’s right in their own walk with God. If you’re experiencing and enjoying that relationship, you don’t need religious rules saying, “You must do this,” or “You must say that.” When people start saying things like “demons disguise themselves” or “if you don’t say Jesus’s name, you could be deceived,” it brings confusion and fear, which is not from God.

Just to clarify—demons are not fallen angels. They are disembodied souls, roaming the earth, looking for someone to express through. Angelic beings and fallen angelic beings exist, yes, but they’re not the same as demons. And actually, it’s very easy to discern which is which when you’re in relationship with God. That relationship gives you the discernment to recognise love, and love is the plumb line by which you measure everything. If something carries the frequency of love, it’s not demonic or fallen. You learn to recognise what God is using, who He is communicating through, and who He is Himself, by experiencing His love.

So I’d just say—lay all that other stuff down. Don’t get confused. Go with what’s in your own heart. Loving God, feeling His love in you, and expressing that—that’s what matters. In my Patreon teaching this month, I talked about what Jesus said: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” That doesn’t mean law or obligation. It means desire. His one desire is that we would be loved and empowered to love others in the same way. That’s the essence of it.

He wants us to be who He created us to be and to express that in love to others. It’s not about demanding obedience—it’s about desire and relationship. The word “commandment” has a goal built into it—entole, which means that in the end, there’s a result. And the result is this: “Let me love you, and you’ll be empowered to love others.” That’s what Jesus is really looking for.

In our relationship with the Father, He empowers us to love, because He’s loving us as sons—or daughters, if you prefer. There’s no gender in this—it’s not about physical identity, but about our position in God’s heart and government. So again, it’s not that Jesus has to be the focus in the sense that you must always say His name or fix your thoughts only on Him. He is the way we’ve come to engage the Father. The Father revealed Himself in us through Jesus, but Jesus doesn’t need to be approached legalistically. They are all one. There’s no jealousy or competition within the Godhead.

Ultimately, love and experiencing love is the primary thing. If someone says that’s not enough unless you explicitly follow Jesus, I’d say that following Jesus is following the way of love—true love, not how the world defines it. Some people might have a relationship with God but not yet know it came through Jesus. But He’s not worried about that. They’ll know in time. The truth will be revealed, and they’ll come to see it.

So don’t get caught up in arguments or pressures that bring confusion and discomfort. If someone’s pushing a particular view that doesn’t sit well with you, don’t follow it. Go with your heart. If what you’re experiencing is love, then it’s safe. The devil cannot deceive us when we’re grounded in truth—and Jesus is the Truth. But He wants us to know truth not just intellectually, but experientially—through love. Love is truth.

You’re not wasting your life by having this wonderful relationship with the Father. The angelic realm is there to help. We each have guardian angels assigned to us. They’re not going to deceive you. And you don’t need to live in fear of deception when you’re in relationship with God, grounded in truth and love.

Love is the primary way truth is revealed. So enjoy it. Rest in that love. Anything that pulls you out of love’s rest and into fear, anxiety or worry isn’t coming from God. Perfect love casts out fear.

And yes—your relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit is enough. Through that relationship, you are also connected with Jesus. You don’t need to separate them out in your mind. They are in perichoresis, in union. So when you engage with the Father, you’re engaging with Jesus as well, one way or another.

Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and is available to pre-order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.

More details at eg.freedomarc.org/books

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426. The Nature of God: Rethinking Our Beliefs

Mike Parsons

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People often ask doctrinal questions, but it’s important not to answer them with doctrinal answers, because doing so only reaffirms another doctrinal stance. What we really need to do is bring it back to the nature and character of God. Behind every doctrinal question lies an assumption about who God is and how He acts. The person asking the question might no longer resonate with that assumption, or they may be going through a process of having their previous beliefs challenged. For example, when God began challenging my own belief in penal substitutionary atonement—something foundational to my upbringing—it led to a cascade of further questions. Doctrines are interconnected. When one is questioned, others naturally follow, and this often challenges the very foundation of someone’s faith.

Some doctrines may seem less significant, but if someone is asking about them, there’s usually a reason. The real issue is not necessarily the question itself but why they’re asking it. Understanding the motivation behind the question can reveal where they are in their journey. Perhaps God is working in them, nudging them to reconsider something. If they’re asking just to win an argument or prove their own belief right, then engaging in debate is usually fruitless—they’re not really open to listening.

So when someone asks about theology, I try to understand what’s prompting the question. Is God speaking to them? Challenging them? What’s He doing in their life that might explain why they’re now curious about this topic? Once I get a sense of that, I can align with what God is doing in that person’s life. I don’t want to get ahead of where God has them. If I tell them something they’re not ready for, they may react badly and retreat from the journey they’re on. I try not to give people something ten steps ahead when they just need the next step.

I often won’t answer the question they’re literally asking. Instead, I try to give the answer they actually need at that moment. This can be frustrating—some will say, “But you’re not answering my question.” And that’s true, but if God doesn’t want me to answer it right now, then I won’t. I want to share what God is saying to me to say, not just what I think I should say. The goal is always to discern what’s really behind their question, what’s in their spirit and heart, and then respond to that.

Rather than giving them answers, I try to point them to the Father. If they come to know who the Father really is, they’ll be better equipped to receive the answers directly from Him. That’s far more helpful than just believing or disbelieving something I tell them. Often doctrinal misunderstandings come from a distorted view of God, so pointing people to the true nature of God helps correct those distortions more effectively than tackling the doctrine itself.

In a recent Zoom on Patreon, I shared how mistranslations have distorted our view of God—how we see the cross, ourselves, and how God relates to us. These come from reading Scripture through doctrine instead of revelation. Take Isaiah 53:10—most English versions say it pleased the Lord to bruise him, suggesting God took pleasure in punishing Jesus. That paints God as abusive, which pushes people away.

But Jesus used the Septuagint—the Greek Old Testament—written between 300 and 100 BC. It reflects a shift in understanding. Earlier, people had thought everything came from God—good or bad—because they didn’t separate God from Satan. But over time, that changed. The Septuagint shows a growing revelation of who God really is—not a punisher, but a healer.

The Septuagint says the Lord wished to cleanse him of his wound—not bruise or crush him. That word cleanse is the same used when Jesus healed a leper. God didn’t punish Jesus—man did, inspired by the enemy. Jesus took on mankind’s wound so the Father could restore our identity. Penal substitution paints God as an abuser and makes love hard to grasp.

Similarly, Jeremiah 17:9 is mistranslated. It doesn’t say the heart is deceitful and beyond cure, but the heart is deep—who can know it?  These distortions fuel a false view of humanity as wicked and unfixable, rather than whole, loved and made in God’s image.

Romans 5:9 is very often translated as saying we’re saved from the wrath of God, but “of God” is added by translators—it’s not in the original. The King James and Young’s Literal just say the wrath. So whose wrath is it? Not God’s—it’s the enemy’s. The one who comes to rob, kill and destroy. Jesus came to give life and to destroy the works of the evil one.

For then the blameless man made haste, and stood forth to defend them; and bringing the shield of his proper ministry, even prayer, and the propitiation of incense, set himself against the wrath, and so brought the calamity to an end, declaring that he was thy servant. So he overcame the destroyer, not with strength of body, nor force of arms, but with a word subdued him that punished, alleging the oaths and covenants made with the fathers. For when the dead were now fallen down by heaps one upon another, standing between, he stayed the wrath, and parted the way to the living. (Wisdom of Solomon 18:21-23 KJV).

So the Wisdom of Solomon, part of the original canon of scripture [and included in the King James Bible until it was removed in 1885] says it is “the destroyer“ who punishes and brings death, and Paul would have known this as scripture. So when he talks about ‘the wrath’, he is referring to the enemy’s destruction, lies and identity theft—not God’s supposed anger.

So, a few mistranslated verses have propped up an entire theology that presents a false view of God’s nature.

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Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and is available to pre-order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.

More details at eg.freedomarc.org/books

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