A Reason why bad things happen

I was out doing some street witnessing a couple of weeks ago. We had a "Trust Jesus" sign. A young couple wanted to take a picture of the sign. The young guy took the picture of his girlfriend standing with the sign with her thumb pointed down. This alarmed me and I immediately engaged them in a conversation. During the conversation, the girl asked me that if there was a God, why would He let bad things happen?

God is giving this country what most people want. A life without God. A life without being accountable. With that comes God's withdrawn hand of blessings and protection. As our country rejects God more and more, more evil will happen to our nation. In my book, we are living in a nation that rejects God and there are only a small fraction who truly serve God. The small number of true followers of Christ are guests in this God forsaken world.

God is giving this country it's last chance to turn to Him. The signs of God's judgment are evident; yet people explain it away to chance and coincidence. The bad things that God lets happen should be a warning sign to all; but unfortunately people like to blame God for the bad and deny Him for His goodness.

An Amputee Healed

A few weeks ago, an atheist sarcastically asked me if I've ever seen an amputee be healed.

Before I could answer me, he asked another sarcastic question.

Now, for an atheist, when they say healed, they mean a limb re-growing. While I know that God is more than capable of causing a limb to re-grow, I believe that healing can come in the form of mentally and spiritually. God not only allowing the person to deal with losing a limb, but helping and inspiring others, and giving glory to God, despite the loss of a limb. What a testimony it is when a person who is an amputee or has some disability and gives praise to God for their life.

A pessimist might argue that an amputee is not healed unless the limb grows back. But if an amputee is perfectly content and thankful to God for their life, what is the difference if they were an amputee or not?

Let me put it this way: An amputee who is an amputee, but is content and thankful to God may still prefer to have all their limbs. In this life, every person may prefer to have something more. For example, even though I have all my limbs and am very thankful to God, I would prefer to have the physical attributes of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and the looks of Brad Pitt.

Every person in this world has something about them that they wish was better. Some may be short a limb or two, and others might be just short. But those who understand that God has given them life and are thankful no matter what their circumstance is does not let their short comings affect them.

Please watch this inspiring video of an amputee who is thankful for his life:

I get the feeling that people who have all their limbs are more worried about amputees than amputees themselves.

"Why doesn't God just stop all evil?"

There are hundreds, probably thousands of people who have tried to answer this question. I had a talk with 2 atheists the other day. One of them asked me,

"If there really is a God, why doesn't He just stop all evil from happening?"

If the girl had read the Bible, she would know that God has judged nations and even the world and has stopped evil from happening.

In Genesis, the world had gotten so evil, that God did stop evil. He destroyed the world and all the evil people in it by flood. He saved only the righteous:

"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." - Genesis 6:5

"And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." - Genesis 6: 7-8

God gave mankind another chance to live righteously, but in our own strength, we have chosen to fail. Although God's final judgment has not yet come to pass, He does see the evil things going on today and has passed judgment against sin:

" And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;" - Genesis 18:21

" Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;"- Genesis 19:24

God is a God who is very much aware of what is going on in the world. It is only a matter of time before He will intervene again. It is out of His grace that He has not already judged this world. He is giving mankind a chance to repent and accept His grace; to accept Christ as Lord and be cleansed of sin through Christ's sacrifice.

Be assured that all sinners who appear before God will be punished. There will be a time when all evil is completely eradicated; thank God that He's given you a chance to be on His side.

God Hates Sin

This sign here got a lot of attention. A lot of times when I go out evangelizing, people outwardly ignore our signs. I say outwardly because I don't know how they feel inwardly. But the sign, "God Hates Sin" really got some emotion out of people. Some people gave us encouragement, while others were offended at it. A good number of people took pictures of it, or even wanted to be in the picture.

The reason why I think the sign got so much attention is for a number of reasons:
- Many people don't know the character of God. A lot of people only see God as gentle and soft spoken. They think God is love means God cannot hate anything. They only see one dimension ( which makes for a flawed image) of God. These are the people who believe God would never send a soul to hell, because God is just too kind. I believe many people do not understand that God can also be a God of wrath. Think of Sodom and Gomorra. Think of Jesus overturning the merchants' tables in the temple of God. Remember that Christ spoke about Hell and eternal fire more than anyone else. God is certainly capable of wrath.

- Many people are convicted of their sin. We were often accused of being judgmental for holding up the sign. Could it be that our accusers were judging us as being judgmental? The fact that people are offended is a sign in itself. If people did not seriously believe that their sin is bad or had convictions of their own sin, why would there be any reaction at all?

The Bible makes is clear that God hates sin. I will also say that God is angry at the sinner. Does your loved one ever get angry at you? I know my wife gets angry at me at times. But God certainly does not hate the sinner. He loves the sinner and hopes we change. He desires that none should go to Hell:

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."- II Peter 3:9

But God hates Sin. He cannot stand it so much that no sin is to be in His presence. He hates Sin so much, that He sent Jesus to die for our sins so that we may appear before Him one day without sin. All who appear before God on judgment day with sin will be sent to eternal damnation. God hates sin, but through His love, he did a wonderful thing:

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son (Jesus), and whosoever believes on Him shall not perish (go to hell), but have eternal life (life in God's Kingdom). - John 3:16

Read about how God dealt with Moses, as Moses was a sinful man:

And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: Exodus 33: 19-22

Sin cannot appear before a Holy and Just God.

A mutating virus... is still a virus

I had a conversation with an atheist the other day. We were talking about evolution and I asked him for proof. He asked if I've ever gone to the doctor and taken the antibiotics prescribed to me. I answered that I have, of course. God has graciously imparted his knowledge to doctors.

The atheist then said that the antibiotics I took is the basis of evolution; meaning that a virus is constantly mutating and new antibiotics are needed to help cure the person. His proof of evolution was the evolving virus.

Maybe it was me, but when a virus mutates, what does it mutate into? I see different breeds of dogs who have mated to form different breeds. But have two dogs ever mated to form anything else but a dog? A dog is a dog.

A virus is reproduces rather quickly and mutates quickly as well. At this rate, one would think that if it were to evolve into anything more complex, it would have by know. Yet, after all this time, the virus today is still a virus just as when the first virus appeared on the Earth.

The antibiotics are created by the scientist. Thank God for scientists.

Reminded of the old days.

Last night, I awoke to hear the couple on the floor above us in a very heated argument. It was really bad. The husband and wife screaming at each other and the child screaming at the situation. It appeared to get violent as I could hear pretty much everything that was going on. I'm not sure how long the argument went on, but I was up for an hour listening to it. I'm not sure how long this was going on prior to when I woke up. It got to the point where I seriously thought about calling the police.

My wife was really terrified by the situation as she's never experienced a couple in such a heated argument. It brought her to tears to hear them. For me, it was an old memory. I used to go to bed when I was little and awaken in the middle of the night to hear my parents argue just as this poor couple; not on occasion, but on a consistent basis. What kept me from calling the police last night was remembering as a young boy how I wished that the police would never come and break up an argument my parents were having. The shame would be more than I could bare.

Last night, almost felt like when I was little. I would lie there and cringe with every raised voice, wondering why this was happening and hoping for it to stop. For my wife, she was very disturbed. For me, it was something that I had already witnessed and wasn't that shocked.

But at the same time, as I listened to this poor couple fight, I know that it was God and God alone who brought my parents from a life of verbal abuse towards each other to a restored marriage of love and trust.

I had a conversation with an atheist yesterday who said ( and I paraphrase) that healing is only a result of positive feelings that people have; prayer is just a placebo. Healed marriages and recovering alcoholics are just a result from people having a positive attitude and willing to help themselves.

While that sounds rational to a rational person, I just shake my head. My parents tried everything else in the world to overcome their problems and it wasn't until they submitted to Jesus that their marriage began to heal. How is it that two people who were in such disharmony, are now united in peace, serving the Lord? I have witnessed first hand the power of God and nobody can belittle it or take that from me. The world suggested a divorce, but God brought something better; a healed marriage. It wasn't counselors or books or tapes that saved them. It was God.

On another note, someone might wonder why God is allowing the little boy to suffer so much and see his parents fight. I would say that the parents, whether they admit it or not, know they are hurting their child with their fighting. It is not until someone suffers that people see how much their sin hurts.