Jesus Promised Victory: Why Does It Seem So Elusive?

Ken Gould grew up in a Christian home attending Christian schools and graduated from Auburn Academy an atheist. It was twenty years before God revealed himself to Ken (for more details see his personal testimony using the see inside the book feature on Amazon). Ken has a bachelor’s in chemical engineering from the University of Washington, and a master’s in business administration from the University of Houston, as well as a professional engineering license. His career has included shift supervision, management, technical support, process development, and projects. Ken’s passion is to help people understand the natural laws governing the moral or spiritual aspects of our world. As an engineer he knows, success is dependent on the proper application of natural laws. For the most part we don’t understand these moral and spiritual laws and their underlying principles that govern our character development. Ken wrote Jesus Promised Victory to help people cooperate with God in developing the Christlike characters they want, which is also the victory God wants for them. As our Author of the Day, he tells us all about this book.

Please give us a short introduction to what Jesus Promised Victory is about.

Jesus Promised Victory, discusses how cooperating with God is necessary for living the victorious life God has for us; how our definition of sin affects our ability to live a godly life; how believing lies about God keeps us from escaping our rebellious, sinful attitude, and how natural laws either help us escape or keep us trapped in sin’s slavery.

What inspired you to write this book?

During my journey through life I learned and discovered truths of great value. Often these truths were pointed out to me by others. These truths include the natural laws that govern our moral and spiritual world, like other natural laws govern our physical world. Laws governing our moral and spiritual world include the law of worship and the law of liberty. Laws governing our physical world include the law of gravity and the laws of motion. These laws explain reality. The law of liberty explains that love can’t be forced, this is a spiritual or moral concept, similarly gravity explains that rocks thrown off a cliff don’t fly upward for long if at all, a physical concept. I wanted to share these truths or insights about our moral and spiritual world so others could learn without suffering the consequences by using methods that don’t produce the desired result.

Why do you believe that cooperating with God is necessary for living a victorious life?

What God wants from us is love and trust. For when we love God’s ways and trust His counsel we naturally go His way. Love and trust can’t be forced. Therefore even though God is all powerful what He wants can’t be obtained by might and power or force, not even God’s power. We know this because when people are forced to do things against their will they naturally rebel. Therefore in order for us to have the Victory over sin God wants for us we must cooperate with Him. For His methods are the only ones that work.

What is your definition of sin?

“Sin is lawlessness.” 1 John 3:4 NKJV. Lawlessness is an attitude. This lawless rebellious selfish attitude has symptoms. The symptoms of this lawless rebellious selfish attitude are what we call sins. As long as we think our selfish attitude, me first at others expense, is best for us our attitude enslaves us. Until we recognize what enslaves us escaping isn’t possible.

Your book promises hope for people who feel that as long as they are living, they will fall short.  Tell us more about this.

My book shares an uncommon approach, an approach that works. The approach shared in my book dramatically changes the results, making living the victorious or Christlike life much easier. Jesus told people to “sin no more” (John 5:14 and 8:11). We teach Jesus told them to do the impossible, yet Jesus said “my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mat. 11:29-30) or stated another way what I ask isn’t difficult or impossible.

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

My family has a rich history of artistic talent. I did the pencil and charcoal drawings of the train and the dog while in eighth grade, my mother did the oil painting of the barn and my paternal grandmother did the pencil drawing of the mill and water wheel.

You were an atheist for twenty years. How does this affect the way you write your books?

I am willing to question everything. Truth isn’t damaged by investigation. Truth always shines brighter after investigation.

Why is a search for the truth important to you?

“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’” (John 8:31-32 NKJV). The verses that follow make it clear Jesus is talking about freedom from sins slavery. In this text John tells us Jesus told those who believed Him if they abide in or hold to His word or teachings they would know the truth and the truth would set them free. Slavery to sin brings pain, misery, and sorrow wherever it is. I have experienced enough of it during my life and don’t want to add more pain, misery, and sorrow to the world around me.

What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

I want my readers to develop a framework from scripture of absolute truths, which they can use to evaluate all teachings about God. So when they find or others share new thoughts and ideas with them, they can evaluate each one and with the help of the Holy Spirit recognize its origin and wisely accept the truths and reject Satan’s lies about God. For 2 Cor. 10:3-5 tells us Satan’s lies about God prevent us from knowing Him, which the Apostle John tells us in John 17:3 Jesus said was the key to eternal life.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Seek the victory Jesus promised it makes life better in every way. The following is a note I put on wedding gifts. “The victory Jesus promised makes marriages great. When the partners have the victory Jesus promised, home is a delightful and happy place full of peace, joy and love. While many if not most homes are unpleasant war zones full of strife and bickering. Wishing you love, joy, peace and happiness as you travel through life together.” I also tell young people looking for a partner compromising on any of the following will lead to disaster. 1) Honesty and integrity. 2) Self-control; if a person is out of control in one area it will bleed over into others and being hooked to a wagon with someone who is out of control isn’t fun. 3) Teach ability; This doesn’t mean they always agree with you it means when presented with new ideas they consider and evaluate them before making a decision, as opposed to becoming outraged and angry because it isn’t there idea.

What's an aspect of being a writer that you didn't know about going in?

First of all engineering is what feeds and shelters my family. This is my first book and so there were many aspects of the process about which I was clueless, from editing to endnotes.

Do you have any interesting writing habits? What is an average writing day like for you?

I did most of my writing early in the morning. This book was a five year project and the first year I was up and writing at 4:30 am most mornings.

What are you working on right now?

At the moment I am taking a bit of a break. I intend to start blog posts on my website at some point but I’ve been catching up on some things and dealing with the marketing aspects of my book.

Where can our readers discover more of your work or interact with you?

On my website JesusPromisedVictory.com there is a let’s talk button. From there readers can contact me through email. It currently is linked to my primary email account, therefore it may get lost in my junk mail. If you don’t get a response in a few days try again. To date I have responded to all the emails I have received.