Good Things Happen

God Does Not Use “Bribery” to Gain Followers

It is remarkable that some ignorantly try to deny the existence of God by saying, “If there is a God, why do bad things happen to good people?” This question has been answered often and is not the focus of this article. A far greater question to be considered is, “If there is a God why do good things happen to bad people.”

It is not because they acknowledge God’s existence. Unlike godly people who willingly submit to their Creator, our world refuses to acknowledge Him and stubbornly rebels against Him. Yet every breath they take is from Him. Job said that God held in His hand “. . . the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:9). Paul reminded the atheists of His day of this fundamental truth. “He gives to all life, breath and all things . . . For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:25, 28). Yet, in spite of such rebellion, good things still happen to evil men!

It is not because they have no need of Him. In the Old Testament the Jews failed miserably to reflect the light of God to the pagan nations around them, yet even then God manifested His existence to evil men. Paul described how God allowed them to ignore Him, yet “. . . He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons” (Acts 14:17). Evil men, then and now, need Him, yet ignore Him. There is not one drop of rain which falls on evil men nor one beacon of light and warmth from the sun which does not show His existence (Matt. 5:45). Evil men deny this, yet still good things happen to bad people.

It is not because evil men have earned good things and therefore deserve them. Had they earned them, then God would be indebted to give blessings as payment to them as rewards. In this sense, they would be even greater than God. Yet we are not the creator of God, but He is our Creator, and His holiness is our objective. In spite of the fact that evil men “deserve” only evil things to come to them, He gives good things to them.

It is because of His nature and not ours. He is the Almighty God and His actions are sovereign. His blessings are proof of His existence, but they are also proof of His love for His us. Consider this. If while the world was filled with wickedness Christ died for it (Rom. 5:8), should we be surprised that our loving God sends physical blessings on His creation?  His nature also is not to use “bribery” to get men to serve Him. If good things only happened to good men, then all would serve Him for the wrong reasons.

God is great; He is sovereign; He is good! It is so tragic that evil men ignore the source of the good in their lives.

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Silence and Your Wife

“Darling, does this outfit make me look fat?”

When one of my wife’s friends got married my mind drifted back to when my relationship was young. If I had only been given a list of what not to say in certain situations, when to keep silence, my life would probably have been a lot easier. The ailment is often called, “Foot in mouth disease” and a scripture explains: “…no one can tame the tongue, it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.” Well, while it’s true, that no one can control the tongue perfectly, I suggest trying duct tape and keep it quiet as frequently as possible.

Oh if we could take back words which have left our mouths. Sometimes, these words are said in jest, sometimes seriously, however, regardless of how they were sent, it doesn’t mean they will be received in the same manner.  Silence would have been the more successful route.  Here are some words I have heard over time and I myself won’t admit to having said:

“[insert here] is woman’s work.”
Any sound imitating a truck backing up…
“Is your mother coming over again?”
“Oink Oink”
“Get those bare feet back in the kitchen where they belong…”
“My mom could teach you how to cook better.”
“You never miss a meal do you?”
“I had a girlfriend who wore something like that…”
“Does your family tree have any branches?”
“Having a bad hair day?”
“I’m the man that is why…”
“Did you do anything around here today?”
“I bought a book on dieting for you.”
“It took you an hour to look like that?”

These are phrases guys just say sometimes without thinking. It isn’t something said in anger, it’s insanity. Keep a handle on what you say men. There are going to be times when you are angry and during that time insanity will try to multiply. You think you are going to one up anything your wife says or that you are going to put her in “her place”? Nooooooo! Don’t ever let those words escape your lips. The Bible says: “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;” Listen to what your wife has to say. Be patient, considerate, and deliberate.  Seize silence for a few moments and consider what will come out of your mouth afterward.

There is a reason women like the strong, silent type. When we aren’t silent, we tend to get ourselves in a heap of trouble. Consider the great battles that have raged over time because rash words were spoken. Ask yourself if having the last word is really worth the pain it will cause. I guarantee she will deal better with your silence than you will when she gives you the silent treatment. The best advice I can give a young man entering into the marriage covenant comes from an inspired source:

Psalms 141:3 – Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!

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Noah Movie Sinks

“I thought the movie really filled in some details for me that the Bible didn’t cover.” That was one of the first comments I received after attending the movie Noah with a group of about 100 public-school students. These were high-school students who had elected to take a course in Bible, and now were watching the movie Noah as a part of their class. Several weeks earlier I had been approached and asked if I would watch the movie with them and then spend an hour or two discussing the scientific truths regarding the Flood. Not being one to turn down an invitation to speak in public schools (they don’t come often for guys like me who like to defend the accuracy of the Bible) I quickly agreed to join them.

For those atheists reading this who are getting your pens ready to file a lawsuit regarding the separation of church and state, you can put those pens back in your desk drawer. The school did not pay me (although a kind teacher did pay my admission into the movie—which I’m thankful for, as the thought of paying money for this movie makes my stomach churn) as I volunteered my time and travel expenses.

The very first line of the movie sets the tone—and is a stark reminder that an atheist (Darren Aronofsky) directed this film. “In the beginning there was nothing.” Aside from the water and the ark, there was little resemblance to the Biblical account of the flood. For those who had held out hope that this movie would be like “The Passion of the Christ” and put the Bible back in the public limelight or at least give Christians a good entertainment alternative—your hope was in vain. This movie does a lot more damage than it does good.

The movie begins with a bit of background about fallen angels who have become “watchers.” These watchers look very much like rock-transformers. The action begins with the killing of Lamech by the lineage of Cain, as Lamech is trying to give his young son Noah a blessing. The script then fast-forwards to a much older Noah (played by Russell Crowe) scolding his young son Ham for picking a flower. Ham was rebuked because man is to “only take what we can use.” (There is a strong environmental element throughout the film.)

Again massive armies of Cain’s descendants show up on the scene and try to kill Noah’s family forcing Noah to kill several men and begin a long journey to find his grandfather Methuselah, who he believes can help him interpret his dream about water. Cain’s descendants are meat eaters—and in one scene it is hinted at that they are taking newly delivered babies from woman by force in order to satisfy their desire for meat.

Throughout the movie the word “God” is not used. Instead He is called the creator. The director worked overtime to make sure God appeared silent and unresponsive. In fact, at one point in the movie the comment is made: “Nobody has heard from the creator since He put a mark on Cain.” As Noah prepares to build the ark he tells his wife that man is being “punished for what we’ve done to this world.” (Again, with the environmental agenda.) No real mention of sin and the wrath of God on sin.

So what were some of the deviations I noticed sitting in the theater with those high school students? Honestly, it would be easier to write down how many things they got right. The director obviously felt no need to consult the Biblical text, but rather he relied on eye-candy and the magic of Hollywood to see his movie. Below are a few observations:

•Rather than receiving instructions from God, Noah received his premonition to build a boat through a dream and through drinking of medicinal tea with his grandfather Methuselah.

•In order to have enough wood to build the ark Noah is given a seed from Methuselah that supposedly came from the Garden of Eden. A miraculous new garden appears that will provide the wood.

•Noah asks the “Walkers” to help build the ark.

•Shem falls in love with Illa (played by Emma Watson) who Noah and his wife had rescued from Cain’s descendants.

•Noah and his wife make a sleeping potion for all the animals coming onboard the ark, so that they instantly fall asleep.

•Noah closes the door of the ark.

•Tubal Cain sneaks aboard the ark.

•Shem’s wife delivers twins while on the ark.

•Japheth releases the birds from the ark.

•Noah recounts the history of man onboard the ark and it begins with a Big Bang explosion and creation of the universe, followed by an evolutionary progression of amoeba to ape.

The biggest discrepancy in the movie is that Noah believes the Creator wants a world without man. He believes that is a part of his mission. So when the door is closed to the ark the only individuals Noah allows onboard are his wife, his three boys, and Illa—who is Shem’s love interest. (They are never married in the movie so I hesitate calling her his wife.) [Note: “Evil” Tubal Cain is also onboard, but snuck onboard without Noah’s knowledge.]

Notice, Ham and Japheth do not have wives on the boat. This becomes a major premise throughout the movie that sets up most of the drama. They have no one to reproduce with! Illa is supposedly barren, and thus the human race is going to die out. In one scene Noah describes the order of their deaths and instructs his sons on who will bury whom. Ham is irate at his father throughout the movie for not getting him a wife on the boat.

In one of the most telling scenes, Noah’s wife is yelling at him about getting wives for the boys. She says she wants them “to be happy and not be alone”. Noah tries to explain he is only doing what he believes the Creator wants. The director does an effective job making Noah the bad guy—all because he won’t go against God. I couldn’t help but think about how many Christian parents act in a similar fashion. They just want their children happy and married—no matter what the spiritual cost.

Unbeknownst to Noah, right before the family got onto the boat Illa received a blessing from Methuselah, which opened her womb, and she quickly becomes pregnant with Shem’s child. However, Noah is determined that the Creator wants mankind to die out—so he tells his family if it is a male he will allow it to live and die out like the rest of them. But if it is a girl he will kill it at birth. The saddest part was the students were drinking it up like Kool-Aid.

At the climax of the movie Tubal Cain confronts Noah in the bottom of the ark and tries to kill him. (Ham ends up forgiving his father and killing Tubal Cain to save his father.) At the same time Illa is experiencing child-birth on an upper deck and delivers twin girls. So Shem and Illa quickly construct a raft/boat that they intend to launch out on by themselves. However, Noah burns their boat down and proceeds to then find the baby girls and grabs a knife to kill them. [Spoiler alert: He ends up kissing them instead of killing them.]

Ironically, having obeyed God throughout this entire ordeal we get to the end of the movie and Noah says: “I just cannot do this.” So apparently there are limits as to how much Noah is willing to follow the commands of God.

The ending of the movie is about what one would expect by this point. Noah gets off the boat and immediately we see him in a vineyard and then very drunk. In one of the last scenes he is passed out and naked on the beach as his two boys cover him up.

The visual effects of the movie were impressive, especially to the high school students. Several of them made comments about how “Cool” they thought the movie was and how they loved the visual effects.

I strongly do not recommend anyone watching this movie. Simply put, it was sacrilegious. It earned most of its PG-13 rating through violence. It is not the type of movie youth groups need to go watch. It is not the kind of movie Jr. High or middle school students need to watch. It is not the kind of movie Christians need to be wasting the Lord’s money to support.

I was scheduled to only talk to the high school students for about one hour following the movie. My PowerPoint slides were not nearly as impressive—but I had something that held their attention even better than a Hollywood movie. I had the Truth. The kids begged me to stay for an additional hour as they pummeled me with question after question. They were hungry for real answers.

I was thankful for the opportunity to undo some of the damage done by the visual scenes from Noah. But I’m left wondering how many young people will watch the movie and leave feeling like they have successfully “filled in missing details…”

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Anything Left We Love?

Is There Anything Left that We Love?

“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death” (Revelation 12:11).

Not too long ago, my family and I went to see the second “Hunger Games” series movie, “Catching Fire.” The movie is based upon a series of books by author Suzanne Collins. The books have been major sellers, and the movies blockbusters. Set in a dystopian future where the United States has collapsed and is now under the dominion of a government known as The Capitol, Katniss Everdeen, the anti-heroine, is forced to fight for her life against other teenagers in a brutal game designed to remind the country of the evils of war.

The second movie pits Everdeen against the previous winners of the Hunger Games. Unbeknowst to her, however, about half of the participants are fighting to save her life. One of those characters is Johanna Mason, a belligerant woman who hates The Capitol to the point of angrily bombarding the President, Coriolanus Snow, on public television with rank obscenities. Teaming up with Everdeen, Johanna continues her rants against The Capitol threating Snow to burn down his own backyard. When the others look at her truculence in shock, she stares back at them and says, “What? He can’t hurt me. There’s nothing left that I love.”

As brazen as this character is, I found myself envious of her attitude in this particular scene. I recalled the words of Jesus to His apostles when he said, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). The world, and particularly the good ol’ U.S. of A., is deeply infected with coveteousness to the point that, beyond one’s immediate family, people have little or no meaning, and if they do, it is only to use them for the furtherance of some worldly end. James describes us well: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3).

Some do understand that people are more important than things, and they strive to foster benefocence to others. It is certainly better to love our friends and our neighbors, but even this lofty goal is not our ultimate end. History shows that when the doctrines of humanism are perpetrated upon mankind that humanity loses at the efforts of those who would exclude God from their lives whether the effort is made locally in a casual circle of family and friends or whether the effort is part of a formal program designed to publicly help humanity. Ultimately, even people do not come first. God alone reserves the place of ultimate honor and respect, and so Jesus taught when he said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment” (Matthew 22:38-39). We can’t truly love our fellow unless we love God first!

This truth, however, comes with some stark implications. There is absolutely nothing on earth that is worth sacrificing my relationship with God, including my family and friends, as much as I love them, and truly, the more I am disappointed by those I love, the stronger my desire is to live with The One who will never disappoint! Yes, I am envious of Johanna Mason because my life is dedicated to the proposition that there is nothing here in the earth for me to ultimately love, and with Abraham, I must confess that I am a stranger and pilgrim on the earth.
“For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:14-16).

Would to God that our attitude could be like Johanna Mason’s in that one moment of defiance to the powers of this earth: “What? He can’t hurt me. There’s nothing left that I love.” Consider in that vein, Hebrews 13:5-6: “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” If only we could be so courageous. Who could stand before us?

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John 18 – Heaven Holds All

What beautiful words “Let not your heart be troubled” (Jn. 14:1, 27). But, the apostles were troubled because one of them was a traitor and then Peter was warned that he would deny his Lord three times. So, how did Jesus calm their troubled hearts? He did so by giving them wonderful assurances to lay hold of, assurances that we can enjoy as a believer in Jesus Christ.

To begin with, one day Peter would “follow” Jesus to the cross (21:18-19; 2 Pet. 1:12-15), and then he would follow Him to heaven. Jesus, speaking of heaven, was not speaking of religious imaginations. Heaven is described as an inheritance (1 Pet. 1:4), a country (Heb. 11:16), a city (Heb. 11:16), and a home (vs. 2). It is the Father’s house and in it are mansions, meaning rooms or abiding places (14:23). And, Jesus Christ is now preparing places for all true believers, and each place will be beautiful.

Now, when Jesus was here on earth, He was a carpenter (Mk. 6:3). But, when he returns in glory, He will gather His people to take them home to Heaven. And, one day, our Lord will return for His people. And, what a place of love and joy it must be. In fact, the apostle John used many descriptions and comparisons for how wonderful heaven is (Rev. 21-22). And, it is a place where there is no death, sorrow, crying, pain, night, etc… But, not everybody is going to heaven, but rather only those who have trusted Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). For, Jesus is the only way to the Father and no man comes unto the Father without going through Jesus Christ.

But, in vs. 7-11, we learn that we do not have to wait until we enter heaven to get to know the Father. We can know Him today and receive from Him the spiritual resources we need to keep going when the days are difficult. To “know” the Father does not mean as we may know a friend. “To know” is used in the same Biblical sense of the most intimate relationship between man and wife (Gen. 4:1), indicating a deep relationship. And, Paul confirms this in Phil. 3:10 saying, “That I may know Him.” And, it was Philip’s desire to know the Father even though Jesus was leaving soon. As you know, Philip had come a long way since that day Jesus found him and called him (1:43-45). And, the burning desire of every believer ought to be to know God better which is all the more reason to study the Word of God. As for Philip, it seems that he did believe that Jesus was in the Father and the Father in Him. This word “believe” is an interesting word in vs. 10-11 because the tense of the word means to “go on believing,” as if Philip was to continue to let his faith grow!

But, as one’s faith grows, we learn of the privilege we have in prayer (vs. 12-15). However, if God is going to answer our prayers and give us peace in our hearts, there are certain conditions that we must meet. In fact, the meeting of these conditions is a blessing in itself! We must pray in faith (v. 12). However, faith does not mean believe for one can believe in Jesus, but not confess His name, that is, not have enough belief to bring about a faith that will trust Him no matter what. But, faith is obeying him because we love him and whatever we do, must be done in the name of Christ, that is, by his authority, which includes our prayers. And so, praying in Christ name (vs. 13-14) indicates a wonderful privilege the child of God has and to know His nature, what He is and what He wants of us.

In addition to looking forward to heaven, knowing the Father and the privilege of prayer, Jesus had a great deal to say about the Holy Spirit in His Upper Room message, for apart from the help of the Spirit of God, we cannot live the Christian life as God would have us live it (vs. 16-18). We must know who the Holy Spirit is and what He does for us. He is called the Comforter (15:26; 16:7) and it means “called alongside to assist.” And, how wonderful it is that He is also called the Spirit of Truth for Jesus is the Truth (Jn. 14:6) and the Word of God is truth (Jn. 17:17). Thus, the Holy Spirit could never lie or lead us to do anything contrary to the Word of God. And, when the apostles were given such a promise that the Spirit would come upon them, He empowered them to accomplish God’s work. And so, on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), He was given to God’s people to remain with them forever. And so, there is no need to have a troubled heart when the Spirit of God is with believer!

But, as Jesus was speaking all these things, in vs. 19-24, He focuses on His resurrection appearances when it mentions how the next time the world sees Him, He will come in power and great glory to judge lost sinners. And what a wonderful assurance it is that Jesus did not stay in the tomb. But, if we treasure and obey his word, then the Father and the Son will share their love with us and make their home in us. This means that as we yield to the Father, love the Word, pray, and obey Him, there is a deeper relationship with the Father, Son, and Spirit.

It is in this relationship that one has peace (shalom) and it is such a precious word (vs. 25-31). To some, it means wholeness, completeness, health, security, even prosperity. But God’s peace is not like the “peace” that the world offers. God’s peace depends on our relationship with him and our dependency in Christ. In the world, peace is something you hope for or work for; but to the Christian, peace is God’s wonderful gift, received by faith. It is a peace in spite of trials because Christians walk by faith instead of by sight like the world does. And, it is the Spirit of God that teaches us the Word and guides us through the truth, which gives us that peace, love and joy that calms a troubled heart (vs. 27).

Again, Jesus assured them that they would see Him again (vs. 28). And, how wonderful it is to have the Word of God before us, the Spirit working in us, the Saviour above us and the Father making all things possible! And, while in vs. 30-31, it speaks of us having two enemies: the world and the devil, Jesus overcame them both (Jn. 12:31) and therefore, Satan nor the world can get a foothold on our lives, unless we permit it. Neither can trouble our hearts unless we allow it. And, that is because Jesus showed His love for the Father and for the world by voluntarily going to the cross and laying down His life. God laying down his life for me and you. I say this because both Jesus and the Father are one (vs. 28).

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