Bad things happen because of the rebellion against a Holy God. The rebellion is alive and well reaching to the depths of the human heart. Every area of society including the church has been sorely affected by this rebellion. This rebellion is as old as the fall of humanity that was seduced by the devil and the powers of darkness. It was a dark day indeed that inevitably tarnished God’s beautiful creation. The heart of mankind has not been the same since and never will be apart from the recreative act of a merciful and loving God. The Bible says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is good news for those who have been truly transformed in Christ. On the other hand, the remainder of humanity will continue to go from bad to worse experiencing the trauma of being cut off from a loving God and being controlled by the powers of darkness. The depth of this control will be examined to demonstrate how aggressively the chains of bondage have increased blinding almost all of humanity. This was accomplished by deception causing them to misunderstand the consequences of their sins. Continue reading Why Do Bad Things Happen?
Tag Archives: will of God
The Immortal Message of Easter
On Easter morn, we are drawn back to the message of the Cross that all-encompassing will of God. We are catapulted beyond the simple historical message of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection to the infinite heights of God’s will for our life in Christ Jesus. If we only see the historical event steeped in tradition then we have missed the message. In the Apostle Paul’s farewell message to the Ephesian elders he declared, “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). And the starting place in this wonderful journey in understanding the whole will of God is by following the admonition of Christ to pick up our cross and follow Him. The Bible says, “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). To pick up the cross means death. It simply cannot mean anything else. It is a conscious decision to follow Christ in His death by dying to self. As we enter the dark night of our soul we discover that everything of the old sin nature must die. Every vestige of pride must be nailed to the cross. Every glimmer of self-will must die with Christ. Through faith in Christ our death to self becomes a reality. Step by step we are able to put off the old life. Continue reading The Immortal Message of Easter