Just Because: The Story of Salvation for Children

Chapter 1

This is a story about us. It’s about you and me and Fred and Grandma, and, well, it would take too long to write down all our names because this story is about everyone. Everyone, that is, who has ever been born and even everyone who still hasn’t been born yet. It’s an exciting story too. It’s about why we are here alive and why some of us are not alive and why some of us can’t sing for nuts and why some of us are going to heaven and why some of us don’t even know where heaven is.

This is a true story. That means you can believe it, and if you believe it you will find out how to get to heaven even if you can’t sing for nuts. It starts a bit strange, because it doesn’t have a start. You see, it’s about the Lord, and the Lord never started. But don’t worry, because you’ll understand soon enough even if you’re not real brainy. This story is about everyone and for everyone. So this is how it starts.

Once upon a time there was no such thing as time because the Lord hadn’t made it yet. And there was only one place, and it was so big that it had no end. It just kept on going and going and going forever and ever. Whew! That’s a long way. This place is called paradise, or heaven, if you prefer. It’s the place where the Lord lives and the place where people like Grandma and Aunty Jean go too if they know the Lord, because He’s the owner. The Lord has always been there because the Lord has always been. He doesn’t have birthdays like you and me. The Lord wanted to have millions of angels and people enjoying heaven with Him so He started His plan.

Now the Lord knows everything, even about things that haven’t happened yet. He looked into the future and saw lots of things that made Him very sad. But He also saw lots of people laughing and singing in heaven. He knew many sad things would happen to many people for a little time when they were alive, but He would wipe away their tears and use the bad things to make them happy forever with Him.

Now no people were living with the Lord. He hadn’t made any people yet, and He hadn’t even made the earth yet. But He made heaps and heaps of angels so they could enjoy heaven as well. The angels really enjoyed living there. You see, it is a very cool place. Not cool like it’s cold. . .nah, but cool like it’s just very cool. It never, ever rains, and it never gets dark; so you can’t go to bed because it’s always daytime. And you never get tired or lonely or sick, and you always feel really great. How’s that for cool?

So as I was saying about all those angels: There were lots of them, more than you can count, and one of them was called Lucifer. Now all the angels looked different from each other because the Lord never makes two things exactly the same. He doesn’t need to because He never runs out of ideas. Well, Lucifer was one great-looking dude. I mean, he was really gorgeous, ya know; so the Lord called Him Lucifer because Lucifer means the Beautiful One. So if you thought Lucifer meant loose fur and all his fur was loose and falling out, then you’d be wrong because he didn’t even have fur!

Now everything in paradise was perfect because no one had sinned. That means nobody had done anything wrong as we all have. But one day Lucifer was walking along beside the crystal sea—that’s a big lake up in heaven somewhere—and he saw his own reflection in a mirror.

Wow! he said, staring at himself. I really am a rather good-looking dude. In fact I am totally amazing. I am, well—give me five, he said and slapped his hands on the crystal sea and got a wet face for his trouble. Well, Lucifer started to look around heaven and compare himself with everyone else, and he decided he was the best-looking creature in paradise except for the Lord. Lots of the other angels told him he was really beautiful as well, but they always said, But not as beautiful as the Lord.

Lucifer got jealous, really jealous, and then he started to get angry. The thing that made him even angrier was that the Lord was much more powerful than he was. Lucifer wanted to be the king of heaven, so he started planning how he could take over the place. Bad move, Lucifer. Lucifer hated the idea that the Lord was king of heaven. What made him the angriest of all was that the Lord was his king and Lucifer didn’t want anyone telling him what to do.

Now Lucifer talked to a whole heap of his angel buddies, and those dummies agreed with him. They decided to try to throw the Lord out of heaven and make Lucifer the new king. Wow! How stupid was that, huh? Yep, Lucifer was pretty stupid to think he could throw the Lord out of heaven. But when someone gets into sinning they just aren’t thinking right. Lucifer got madder and madder at the Lord because the Lord wouldn’t leave. Lucifer started to hate the Lord. Once he started hating, his heart became black, and the hatred spread throughout his whole body and mind. He became absolutely evil.

The Lord decided Lucifer and his buddies would have to go. They weren’t enjoying being in heaven anymore because they had dreamed up some really bad things they wanted to get into, and there wasn’t anything bad to do in heaven. Also, Lucifer and his other bad angels were thinking they would like to be in the dark. The light always reminded them of the Lord, and now they hated the Lord because they hated everything that was good and beautiful. So the Lord decided to make a place especially for them where they would be comfortable and where they wouldn’t have to be in the light all the time.

No one knows exactly how He made our universe, but perhaps the Lord made a tiny little seed with everything inside it to make the whole universe. Then He spoke and the universe appeared, very small at first, and got bigger and bigger. It became so big that only He could tell where the end of it was. Now we call this place 'space' because it has plenty of space in there. Maybe it is just like a great big black bubble with fuzzy edges floating inside the Lord’s place, inside heaven. As space was growing, all the parts of the space grew and stars were made, along with planets and lots of really amazing stuff.

Now before the Lord put Lucifer and his buddies in there He changed their names. He changed Lucifer’s name to Satan, which means The Father of Lies, because Satan had started telling lies before anyone else. He changed the name of the bad angels to demons, because they were a real bad bunch.

So the Lord put all those demons and Satan inside space and told them they couldn’t come out, and they didn’t try because they were really scared of the Lord. In fact, they were glad to be away from the Lord. When you are evil it feels real bad to be beside the perfect Lord of heaven.

Satan and his buddies were pleased to be in the darkness because they hated the light now, but the Lord did tell Satan he could come to the edge of the bubble to speak with Him sometimes. Now it was really dark in the bubble, and after a while all the demons and Satan became invisible because you can’t see demons when they are inside the bubble.

Millions of demons were put into the universe. Demons never die as people die, so guess where they still are? Yep, good guess. They are still here inside our universe. They are everywhere, but we can’t see them. That’s a good thing, really. They would maybe scare the hair right off ya toes if you have hair down that far yet; and some of us have, especially older people. So Satan and the demons were locked inside space, and this happened Just Because they refused to have the Lord for their king and tried to be their own kings instead. Silly, really.

Chapter 2

Now sometime later—though to Satan and his buddies it didn’t seem so long because there was still no such thing as time—the Lord decided to begin the next part of His plan, and that was to make some people. He wanted to make them so they could enjoy being with Him because God is wonderful to live with—unless of course you’re a demon and your heart has become black with hate. Now Satan was up near the edge of the universe when he heard the Lord talking about making people, and he called out to the Lord.

Hey, God, he said. Whereabouts are these new things going to live? I’m a king too, You know, and these new things might want me to be their king instead of You. After all, Satan continued, these demons You put in here with me call me the prince of darkness. In fact, I am the king of darkness. From inside of space came a big noise of shouting as all the demons called out, Satan is our king! Satan is our king! I reckon they were just too scared not to shout.

The Lord considered these things for a while, and in fact He had planned this all along. He had decided that His new creations, the people, should learn to make choices. If the people were going to learn to be like the Lord, then they would have to make a choice to be like the Lord and follow Him, or be like Satan and follow him. The Lord would not allow Satan to come out of space so He made a place for the new creatures inside the universe.

So the Lord made the earth, and that’s where you and I live. Then He said, Let there be light, and suddenly the sun was shining brightly in space. Old Satan must have started looking for some sunglasses when that happened. The Lord made the moon to rule in the nighttime and the sun to rule in the daytime so the people would have darkness for half the time and light for half the time. The Lord made it this way so people could have day and night to remind them of dark and light, Satan and God. But that doesn’t mean it is always bad at nighttime; it just means God was being fair because He never cheats. And the Lord made trees and plants and lakes and seas. Into the seas He put heaps of fish and also some really big dinosaurs, which walked around with their heads sticking out of the water.

The Lord made everything in six days, and on the seventh day He had a rest. He decided people should have at least one day a week to rest as well, and that’s why most people have a day off on Saturday or Sunday. Then the Lord made a place on earth, which was just like paradise. He called it the Garden of Eden, and He put a wall around it so the demons could not go in. They probably didn’t want to go in anyway; the Lord was in there, and they hate being near Him.

After this the Lord made lots of different animals and birds and put them everywhere on the earth. Then the Lord said to Himself, Let’s make a man. He bent down and picked up some dirt from the ground and made it into the shape of a person. Then He breathed into his mouth, and the new man came alive. Yep, the dirt turned into skin, and hair grew out of his head, and fingernails covered the ends of his fingers. The man smiled, jumped up off the ground and stood before the Lord. The man was really happy and started jumping up and down and almost stepped on a big caterpillar who looked up and wondered what he was doing.

So if you thought that people came from monkeys and your great, great, great, great, great grandma was eating bananas and swinging in the trees you were wrong. Anyway, most of the science men who know lots of stuff don’t believe that crazy idea anymore. They have learned many new things about people, and they know someone made us. Guess who?

Now old Satan was looking over the wall and saw this person in the garden. One of the demons asked him, Why don’t we go in there and talk to that new person and get him to follow you as master?

No, not yet, Satan replied. This creature would not follow me. He is the image of God. He loves God. No, we must wait.

What are we waiting for, master? the demon asked.

Haven’t you been watching? Satan asked with a growl. God has made two of everything, and He will make two of these new people. Then we will speak to the one who will find me the most attractive, and we will trick both of them and every other person who will ever be born, into making me their king.

You are truly the king of the world, master, said the scared demon and then decided to be quiet.

This time Satan was right, because sometimes he can guess what is going to happen. The Lord put the man to sleep, and while Adam was sleeping He took one of his ribs and made a woman from his rib. When Adam woke up he saw a beautiful lady called Eve, and he fell in love with her. She was his other half, and he was her other half. So the Lord married them, and they became the first husband and wife. They probably had a big kiss and a cuddle, but they didn’t go on a honeymoon. They were living in paradise anyway, and the Lord had told them to look after the garden.

Outside the garden evil eyes were watching. The demons and Satan were planning how they could get into the garden to talk to the man and the woman. Inside the garden Adam and Eve were having a wonderful time. They went around and saw all the animals, and Adam told Eve what he had called them. He had given names to all the animals.

Eve laughed when she saw a little lamb jumping on the back of a huge lion. The lion didn’t mind at all. He just ate some grass and played with the lamb. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. All the animals ate grass in the Garden of Eden, and no animal killed any other animal. That only happened later when some really bad things happened. Did you know that when your cat gets sick he goes and eats grass. Cool, eh?

Adam and Eve wandered around the garden picking fruit and berries and swimming in the warm pool. The Lord came and spoke to them and took them to the center of the garden. He showed them two big trees. One of the trees was called the Tree of Life, and the other was the Tree of Knowledge. Then the Lord told them they couldn’t eat from the tree of knowledge or they would die. Now the Lord didn’t mean they would die straightaway like zap, you’re dead, but they would start to get old and, worst of all, would not be perfect anymore. The Lord told them the fruit of the tree was the knowledge of good and evil, and if they disobeyed Him and tried to get that knowledge then they would become sinners.

Now some people today ask, "Why did the Lord put the tree in there? If