New book reveals God’s purposes for creation
Understanding Why God Made Man by Jerome Midgette is a book every Christian will want to read. As someone who has read the Bible numerous times and has been studying it since childhood, I was struck by some of the information in this book that I had not fully understood before. I did not expect to find anything new in this book, and yet again and again I was surprised or felt that points about God and his purpose had been clarified that had never seemed entirely clear to me. Anyone, believer or scholar, who wants a better understanding of the Bible will want to read this book. As Midgette states at the beginning of the book, “it should be the most imperative quest of every human being: to know who we are, where we originate from, and why.”
Above all, Midgette emphasizes what many Christians have forgotten: we are at war. Long before the creation of the earth, Satan and his followers sought to overthrow God, and because they failed, they have been plotting to destroy mankind ever since because we are made in God’s image.
While this belief isn’t really new to most Christians, what I never fully understood before is that God created us as a direct result of Satan’s rebellion. God could have easily destroyed Satan, but Midgette reveals that instead, God concocted a legal plan to destroy his enemies, one they did not anticipate, and humanity was at the center of that plan. Because we were made in the image of God, they hate us and want to destroy us; they want us to fall like them. As Midgette explains: “They know something most of us don’t: noncompliance is a complicit rebellion against it.” [God]. By manipulating us, through our degraded sinful nature and lack of spiritual knowledge, Satan is able to perpetuate the rebellion he originated before the creation of man. He is fully aware that there is an appointed day when all will be summoned before a higher legal system that many do not know exists. The eternal enemies of God fully understand that injustice will legally subjugate humanity to share their fate.”
However, Satan did not expect God to create a loophole for forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ. I’ll let readers explore the technicalities of God’s legal plan for our salvation for themselves in Midgette’s pages. I just want to add that Midgette brings a lot of surprising but fascinating points to the discussion. One of them is to discuss the matter of aliens. He believes that aliens, and indeed life on any other planet, does not exist. He explains: “Many cling to the hope that there must be life on other planets. They cannot comprehend that life only exists on earth in the vastness of space. Those who challenge the reality of the Creator do not want to give in in any way. Why? They don’t want to accept that we are exclusive, for no apparent reasons, they want to promote the idea of man’s non-exclusivity because it grounds their rejection of the biblical narrative of creation and, by extension, of the supernatural God.” In fact, Midgette even suggests that Satan and his followers may be influencing us to believe in aliens so that one day the Antichrist will appear to us as an alien and deceive us.
Midgette also spends a lot of time discussing how scientific discoveries support the truths revealed in the Bible. He provides examples throughout the Bible of descriptions of the sea and other items that would have been impossible for ancient writers to have known about without divine revelation. For example, the book of Job talks about ravines in the ocean, yet no man in ancient times could have traveled deep enough into the ocean to know that such ravines exist, so such knowledge could only have come about through of divine revelation.
Midgette also points out the many holes in evolutionary theories and continually reaffirms the truths expressed in the Bible. He also goes into detail about the end times, devoting an entire chapter to the concept of the Rapture and discussing in detail many Bible prophecies that he believes are now being fulfilled.
Ultimately, Midgette’s book reflects the work of a man who spent his entire life studying the Scriptures. He spent eighteen years writing this book, and the sheer length and depth of the material shows that he has not labored in vain. Not everyone can agree with all of his conclusions, but all of his arguments are supported by Scripture. Furthermore, he reaffirms that God loves us and that one day he will lead us to a better place. He declares, “We are God’s heirs, and as joint-heirs with Christ, we have the rightful legal right to all things with him. So the next time someone puts you down, remember who you are. The next time you’re going through difficult times, remember who you are. You are an heir of God and a joint heir with the King of kings himself! Your slight affliction cannot compare with the glory that will soon be revealed.”
If you want to fully understand not only why God created man, but also what it means to be God’s heir, I cannot think of a better or more comprehensive book, other than the Bible, for you to read than Understanding Why God made man.