Outskirts Press, INC.

Billions of people all over the world believe in a Being known in the English world as God. Among His many names, Moslems call him Allah, Christians use The Father, and Jews say Hashem. It seems fair to say the overwhelming majority believe so on faith. What is understandably more difficult to prove is that God is righteous, that God is good, that God is not an evil being in the sky who loves to watch mankind suffer. This relates to the age- old question, why does it appear the righteous suffer while the wicked thrive. The major purpose of this book is to provide tangible evidence that God is in fact righteous, that God is, in fact, gracious, that God is, in fact, good. To my knowledge, nothing like this has ever been attempted before. And while “proof” of the above might not be upheld in modern courts of law, it is hoped that, you, the reader, by the overwhelming weight of the evidence, will agree with our thesis and as a result become closer to God and thereby gain a measure of comfort, direction and peace of mind in these extremely troubled times. Through an analysis of the Old Testament, compiling each and every time an individual, a group, or a nation prayed to God, and categorizing His response as either yes or no, we, although human, can provide ourselves with a “scorecard,” if you will, to “rate” Him, by quantifying the percentage of times God said “yes.” Well guess what? When we arrive at the end of this incredible journey, we will discover that God said “yes” over 90 percent of the time! I repeat, He said “yes” 90 percent of the time—under all circumstances, all conditions, over centuries of being ignored, abused, disparaged, and forsaken. Does God not deserve an “A+?” Can we conclude anything other than God is gracious, benevolent, kind, or, as the title states, “God is Good?” In the pages that follow then, we will take you, the reader, though a 3000 year mini-tour of the world from its creation until about 450 B.C., as recorded in the Old Testament. We will describe the background and context of each prayer, request, entreaty or plea, and indicate whether God’s response was “yes” or “no.” Please join me on this incredible journey—a biography, if you will, of God. I promise you one thing. You will get to know Him a lot better than you could ever imagine! And, if at the end of the journey, you do not feel a bit closer to Him, do not have a bit more empathy for Him, do not have a bit more understanding of what He must be going through than you can consider my effort a failure.