The Testimony of Jesus' Enemies

So you don't believe that Jesus was God's Son, huh?  You are not alone.  In Jesus' day, among Jesus' own people, there were many who didn't believe it either.  And it's not just that they didn't believe it, they were so passionately opposed to the idea that they killed Him over it.

Please be patient with me as I ask you to think through why it is that you do not believe Jesus is God's Son.  Pause to do that before reading on.

So what conclusion did you come to?  Is it because you doubt the stories of the miracles?  Perhaps you think that His teachings were misunderstood, that for example Jesus never claimed to be God's Son.  That's just a fable His fanatic fans invented.

Maybe you doubt Jesus even existed, that He was some sort of fictional character made up to coerce people into behaving better. 

Well, fortunately the people that did believe Jesus was God's Son wrote not only about Jesus, but about the many people who did not believe in Him as well.  Let me share with you some of the things they, the unbelievers that is, said about Jesus.  As I do, compare their reasons for not believing with yours.  See what you do and do not have in common with them.  Hey, if nothing else it ought to be entertaining!

Note: As you read these verses, one name that pops up from time to time is the "Pharisees".  They were a sect of the Jews that emphasized, or rather were obsessed with, keeping what they thought were they important parts of the law of Moses as well as many religous traditions not found in the Old Testament writings.

What Unbelievers Said About Jesus

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"Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, 'He is out of his mind.'"  -  Mark 3:20-21 (NIV, and so throughout)
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"Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.  All the people were astonished and said, 'Could this be the Son of David?'  But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, 'It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.'"  -  Matthew 12:22-24
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In John 9, Jesus heals a man born blind by putting mud on his eyes then having him go to a pool and wash it off.  After the man had done so, he could see.  The day Jesus did this was the Sabaath (i.e., Saturday), a day on which no work was supposed to be done.  We pick up the story at the John 9:13, where they take the man born blind to the Pharisees:

"They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.  Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath.  Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see."

Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided.

Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened." The man replied, "He is a prophet."

The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man's parents.  "Is this your son?" they asked. "Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?"

"We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know he was born blind.  But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself."  His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.  That was why his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. "We know this man is a sinner."  He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"

Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"  He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"

Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses!  We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from."

The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.  Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out." - John 9:13-34
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Many of them [the Jews] said, "He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?"  But others said, "These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade.  The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ [meaning "the annointed one", the Savior from God, the King], tell us plainly."

Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.  My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.  I and the Father are one."

Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?"

"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." 

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'?  If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came-- and the Scripture cannot be broken-- what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'?  Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does.  But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."

Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp."  -  John 10:20-39
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Those who passed by hurled insults at him [Jesus], shaking their heads and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" 

In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him.  "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.  He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'"  -  Matthew 27:39-43 (see also Mark 15:31-32, Luke 23:35)
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Well, what did you think?  What do you have in common with these who did not believe Jesus was God's Son?  What reasons of theirs are different than yours?

Here is what I find fascinating about all of this:

The reasons many of Jesus' own people did not believe in Him were quite different.  It wasn't that they didn't believe Jesus existed.  They saw Him, talked with Him, and killed Him for crying out loud!  It wasn't that they didn't believe Jesus did miracles.  The miracles were undeniable!  The enemies of Jesus even acknowledged that Jesus saved others when they mocked Him as He was on the cross - "He saved others but He can't save Himself!" 

But no, what they said was "He's mad", "He's demon-possessed", "He's using the power of demons", "He's a sinner because, on the day you are not supposed to work, He worked when He healed others", and "He's just a man, but He's claiming to be God!"

Let me ask you:  Do you believe Jesus was mad?  Do you believe He was demon-possessed or using demonic power to accomplish His miracles?  Do you believe He upset God for working miracles on a non-working day?  Most likely not.  Understand then this fact about the reasons that are left for refusing to believe Jesus was God's Son - even Jesus worst enemies didn't believe those.

I beg you to reconsider.

Thanks for reading!!!!

How does God feel about our suffering?

God's Cycle of Comfort

Before I get to today's topic, let me briefly review what got us here.  In my last blog, I talked about "God's cycle of comfort."  Like Satan's "cycle of suffering" which goes from pain to lies to false relief and back to pain, God's cycle also starts with pain of any variety. This time however the suffering person turns to truth, truth that helps them find genuine relief either in the form of freedom from pain or at least the strength to endure it.  Having been given the precious gift of comfort, they share that gift with those who are suffering in similar situations, pointing them to the same truth.  Thus the cycle. 

One of the cool things I noticed about this cycle, now that I've drawn it counter-clockwise, is that it is in the shape of a "G".  Now when you see the "G" in "God", it can remind of you of His cycle of comfort.

The problem though is that sometimes we get the impression that God is indifferent to our pain.  We get this picture of God as being a calloused, personal fitness trainer, or maybe even a drill seargent, standing by our side as we strain at the weights shouting out "No pain! No gain!", "Come on! Is that all you've got?", and "My eighty-year-old grandmama can lift more than that!"  And though I try and paint a somewhat comical picture of the situation, the reality is that life's pains run deep and wide. 

Women are raped.  Children are abused.  People starve.  Families lose everything to tornadoes, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes.  Sons and daughters die before parents, with some never making it out of the womb alive.  A worker gets laid off.  A spouse's love has grown cold.  A Mom and Dad get divorced.  With tears in our eyes we lift our faces to the heavens, raise clinched fists to the sky and cry out "God, do you even care???"

The best way I know to answer that question is to look at Jesus.  Jesus Himself said "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." (John 14:9)  Seeing Jesus and His feelings, His reactions to our plights, will let us know if God cares or if God is cold-hearted.

Consider this story from John 11, as translated in the New International Version:

   Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
 ⁴ When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, ⁷ and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
 ⁸ “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
 ⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. ¹⁰ It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
 ¹¹ After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
 ¹² His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” ¹³ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
 ¹⁴ So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
 ¹⁶ Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
¹⁷ On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
 ²¹ “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
 ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
 ²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
 ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
 ²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
 ²⁸ After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” ²⁹ When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
 ³² When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
 ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴ “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
   “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
 ³⁵ Jesus wept.
 ³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
 ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said.
   “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
 ⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
 ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
 ⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
   Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

While there is a lot I would love to talk about in this story, the main thing in light of our discussion here is Jesus' reaction to the weeping of Mary and those with her.  In the shortest yet one of the most profound verses in the Bible, John tells us that Jesus wept.  

It makes no sense.  Jesus knew from the outset that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead.  He could have easily said "Calm down, people.  I've got everything under control.  You'll have Lazarus back in just a few minutes here," or anything else to that effect. 

But instead of telling people to get over their pain Jesus chose to feel our pain.  He chose to weep.  Jesus let Himself feel the pain of losing someone you love, the pain of knowing that you will never live another day on this earth hearing the sound of their voice, seeing the smile on their face, feeling the comfort of their presence.  Jesus felt it all, everything we feel, and He was deeply moved by it.
My son plays little league football.  A few weeks ago I took him to his game.  Of course being a parent you have to get there an hour or more before kick-off.  While I was waiting for my son's game to start I walked over and sat in the stands by the field where I thought he was going to play and watched a game already in progress. 

It was one of those games where one team was just clearly no match for the other.  The winning team was observedly bigger, stronger, and faster.  It was no surprise then when one of the boys on the losing team lay in agony at the end of one of the plays.  The coaches ran out.  The refs walked over.  It wasn't long before the words "broken arm" made their way from the field, to the sideline, to the stands where I was sitting.

I had no idea who the boy was, yet seeing him there and hearing what had happened, I felt a stirring within me.  A sadness came over me.  My eyes began to moisten.  An emotional pain gripped me as I looked on this poor youngster and thought of what had happened to him. 

Now if that is how I felt for a boy I never met, whose face and arm I couldn't even see, how much more than did God, who formed that child in the womb, who knows the very number of hairs on that boy's head, who most certainly knows his complete name and who sees that kid as one of His own sons, how much more than did He feel pain for that tiny football player? 

If I had been the boy, and if God Himself had been there and had come running over to me, I would fully expect, not to see some emotionless, hardened face, but to see the face of a loving father with tears streaming down.  I would fully expect, not to hear the voice of an annoyed parent saying "Oh, get over it, son.  Pain is good for you!", but to hear a tender voice saying "It's going to be okay, son.  Daddy's with you."  The reason I expect that is because that is what I see in Jesus.

I know we get upset with God.  I know we get mad at Him for allowing the pain in the first place.  For example, some may very well say "Well, if God loved that football player, He would never let His arm get broken in the first place!"

Look.  While I know some of the reasons that God allows us to experience pain in this life, I freely confess to you that I don't know all of them.  I don't know why sometimes God spares us and sometimes He doesn't.  What I do know is this: my choice is to serve a God who chooses to weep when I weep, or to serve a devil who chooses to take joy in my weeping.  I choose the God of Jesus Christ.  I hope you do too.

Thank you for reading!!!

Why is there so much suffering in the world? Satan's Cycle of Pain VersusGod's Cycle of Comfort Part 2 of 2

Satan's Cycle of Pain

In my last blog, I wrote about Satan’s cycle of pain.  It is a very simple cycle, yet sadistically brilliant.  Something in life causes us to suffer.  The pain can be physical such as an injury, emotional such as the sadness we feel when something depressing occurs, or spiritual such as when we have been victims of physical or sexual abuse.  That is when the devil and his forces step in with their lies, lies that point us in any direction but God for relief.  So we turn to addictive drugs, drunkenness, gluttony, porn, prostitution, revenge, cruelty, meanness, masochism, worldly obsessions and who knows what else to make ourselves feel better, or at least to keep ourselves from feeling worse.  The problem is that these forms of relief are not only temporary, but they actually lead to more pain, thus creating the cycle, except now our level of suffering has actually increased along with the need for stronger forms of relief.

The good news is that God of Jesus Christ, our Creator, has a much different cycle, one that is also simple to understand, yet beautifully brilliant.  I call it “God’s cycle of comfort.”   While Satan’s cycle was forged out of the fires of his hate for us, God’s cycle was conceived out of a deep, passionate love for His creation.



God's Cycle of Comfort

 Ironically enough God’s cycle begins in the exact same place – with pain.  It doesn’t matter what kind of pain it is, any form of suffering will do.  The big difference here is that God points us to truth, truth that can either relieve us of the pain or at least give us the inner strength to deal with it in a positive way.   This truth also sheds light on the lies of the Enemy, thus increasing our disdain for evil over time, instead of disdain for God.
Let me give you some examples. 

In God's cycle of comfort,
our hate for evil increases over time.

Perhaps I am filled with bitterness because I have been betrayed by a spouse, a friend, a coworker, or a classmate.  Jesus taught in Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. ”  Now if I embrace this truth, what will I do?  Forgive the person who did me wrong.  What happens to my bitterness when I forgive?  It is transformed into inner peace.  What happens to my view on bitterness and holding grudges?  I see the havoc that it wreaked, the evil fruit that it bore in my life, and it begins to sicken me.

But as I said earlier not all truth relieves us of the pain we feel.  Instead it simply gives us the strength to endure it, to persevere through it.  There is absolutely no better example of this than Jesus Himself.


Jesus was God’s Son.  He had the power to do anything.  The winds and the sea obeyed His command (Matthew 8:23-27).  He fed thousands on more than one occasion starting with enough food for just a handful of people (Matthew 14:13-21, Matthew 15:29-39).  The Divine Dude walked on water for crying out loud (Matthew 14:22-36)!

Yet when Jesus was being crucified, He didn’t save Himself.  His own murderers were mocking Him and basically “triple-dog daring” Jesus to save Himself (side bar: I hate Satan’s ways).  Yet instead of responding with “Oh yeah!  I’ll show you!”, He stayed there until it literally killed Him.

This begs the question: How in the world did He do it???  How did He maintain such unbelievable self-control in such a high-pain, high-stress situation?

Well, the writer of Hebrews tells us exactly how – Jesus embraced truth.  This is Hebrews 12:1-3:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses [of people who had faith in God], let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." [emphasis added]

What truth did Jesus embrace?  There was a joy that was coming, a joy that made the cross worth enduring.  By trusting the truth, Jesus found the inner strength He needed in the midst of His suffering to stay the course, and die to take the punishment for our sins.

Now this is where the beauty of God’s cycle of comfort rises to a whole nother level (nother really is a word, isn’t it?)  You see, if it ends with relieve of suffering, there is no cycle.  But God out of His passionate love for mankind doesn't want us to just sit there and stare at this incredible gift of relief from pain and strength to endure pain.  Instead, He wants us to share the gift!

In 2nd Corinthians 1:3-7 Paul writes, saying, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort."

What does God want us to do?  Take the comfort we’ve been given and comfort others who are in similar situations!  How do we do that?  We point people to the same truths that helped / are helping us!  What happens when they embrace that truth?  They find true relief and then they go out and comfort others in similar situations!   That is beauty!  That is love!  And that's just one reason as to why our God is so awesome!

“Oh yeah!  If God were so loving, there would be no need for this cycle because He wouldn’t allow us to feel the pain and suffering in the first place!”  Look.  I am hearing you.  And such a large point of contention deserves another blog for another day, but in the meantime please let me give you my "Cliff’s notes" on this matter.

First major point:  How can I learn mercy in an environment where nobody needs it?  How can I learn compassion in a world where no one suffers?  How can I learn forgiveness if I live with perfect people who never make mistakes?  How can I learn to trust when doubt is never an option?  How can I learn the beauty of God’s ways in a world where the ugliness of Satan’s ways are not possible?  As I look at my life, I know have needed my trials, tears, sweat and suffering to see and understand God’s love for good and hate for evil.

Second major point:  A world without the pain and suffering of which you speak is exactly where God is taking us!  Let me please share with you truth of a coming joy, along with a warning, that can give you strength to persevere if you are following Jesus now or the inspiration to hop off of Satan’s cycle of insanity if you are not.

The following is Revelations 21:1-8.  This was a vision given to John, one of Jesus’ closest friends, of where God is going with all this so-to-speak. 

“Then I saw 'a new heaven and a new earth', for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.' He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!' Then he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.' He said to me: 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."



My Third Major Point.
Hey!  What good is a blog if
you can't throw some humor into it?

I have had to deal with a lot of inner pain in my life.  Pain from failures and mistakes, pain from disappointments, pain from unrealistic expectations, pain from my clumsiness (can you say "Size 15 feet, boys and girls?"), pain from wherever.  In the end though I know that my pain is a drop in the bucket compared to what so many in life go through.  Still, what I have been trying to say in these two blogs can be summarized this way:  In the midst of my pain, Satan and his forces have tried to destroy me out of a hatred for me and my loved ones.  God and His forces have tried to help me and make me a better person out of their love for me and my loved ones.  It is the same for you, the same for us all.  Choose this day whom you will serve.

In all this you may have come away with the impression that God is calloused toward suffering, that God has a "It's good for you, so get over it" attitude when it comes to our pain.  The reality is quite the opposite of this, a reality I hope to write about in my next blog.

Thank you for reading!!!

Why is there so much suffering in the world? Satan's Cycle of Pain versus God's Cycle of Comfort

(Part 1 of 2)

Study mathematics long enough and you will here this phrase: "The Fundamental Theorem of (insert topic here)."   A fundamental theorem is simply an important idea, a central truth upon which the other truths of the subject stand. 

When it comes to spiritual subjects, the "Fundament Theorem of Satan" is, in my opinion, simply this:  Satan hates us. 

Jesus describes Satan as "...a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44)  Peter, an apostle and one of Jesus closest friends, refers to the devil as an enemy who "prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8).  In Job we see Satan devising cruel schemes to try and get Job to curse God (Job 1 -2).  In Zechariah 3:1-2 he is accusing Joshua the high priest before the Lord.  In fact, like a prosecutor always seeking a guilty verdict, the devil is called "the accuser" in Revelation 12:9-10.  Worst of all, we see him trying his absolute best to get God's own beloved Son to sin when Jesus was alone in the desert for 40 days (Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:9-13, Luke 4:1-13).

As if this weren't evidence enough, we can see the devil's hate for us in what I call "Satan's cycle of pain."

Satan's Cycle of Pain

The cycle of pain begins with exactly that, pain.  The pain and suffering can be physical - an injury, an illness, a chronic condition, etc. ; emotional - sadness, anger, or jealousy for example;  or spiritual - trauma, stress, depression, loneliness, to name a few.  Any type or source of pain and suffering will do.

Then comes the lies, lies that are designed to do two things: increase the odds that we will seek "false relief" from our pain (more on that in a minute), and descrease the odds that we will turn to the God of Jesus Christ for "true relief". 

Our hate for God increases through Satan's lies

If I had to choose a pecking order for Satan's preference of lies, number 1 would be that God does not exist.  Number 2 gets a little more specific: It is the God of Jesus Christ who does not exist.  It is when the first two fail that the lies become even more evil.

You see if the devil can't convince you that the God of the Bible doesn't exist, then he uses his lies to paint God in the image of himself - a God who is cruel, uncaring, unloving, unmerciful, unjust; a God who takes pleasure in our misery, in our suffering;  a God who finds delight in condemnation. 

This is where Satan really hacks me off.  He is the uncaring one!  He is the accuser!  He is the one seeking our destruction and condemnation!  But he paints God as himself and then what happens to our feelings toward our Father and Creator?  Our hatred of Him increases.  Then where do we turn for relief from our pain?  Anywhere but God.

As I said earlier, the devil's lies are also designed to get us to seek "false relief" from our suffering.  Having turned our hearts away from God, then it is simply a matter of "You will feel better if you ..." For example, you will feel better if you get drunk, do those drugs, steal that thing, hold that grudge, be mean, rebel, get revenge, hate that person, kill that person, see yourself as better than that person or those people, throw up, starve yourself, lie, deceive, look at that porn, commit adultery (oh, pardon me: have that love affair), engage in any form of sex except that which is with your spouse, cut yourself, kill yourself, numb yourself, stay so busy with work or fun or whatever that you don't ever think about God, and the list goes on and on.

The reason I call this "false relief" is two-fold: 1) It does indeed provide temporary relief from the pain we feel, even when the "relief" is simply trading one form of pain for another.  Mankind will normally choose the lesser of two pains, or at least what seems like the lesser of two pains, given the option.  2)  The relief is only temporary.  Remember the fundamental theorem of the devil:  He hates us.  He is not interested in pulling off a one-time prank, rather he is trying to devour us. Hidden within the ingredients of his medicine is a poison, a poison that drives us back to the pain from which we were seeking relief, only now the pain is normally worse! 

There is poison in Satan's medicine.

Adultery drives us and our spouses farther apart, not closer together.  Hatred, meanness, revenge, gossip, lying, etc., only alienates us from the people around us.  It increases the number of our enemies, not our friends.  Harming our own bodies only increases the types of pain that we have to deal with.  Porn adds shame.  Numbing ourselves does nothing to deal with the root cause of the problem.

Using false relief to deal with our suffering is like having a thorn that, instead of removing, we simply put ointment around the area to numb it.  That can only work for so long.  Eventually the thorn causes an infection, and as the infection grows, what we have to do to numb the area is use stronger ointment and use it more frequently. 

And thus the vicious cycle continues.  We again listen to Satan's lies, we again turn to false relief as our hatred toward God increases, and we again find a temporary relief that ends up increasing our pain.

It is a downward spiral.  It is how people become drunks, drug addicts, pedophiles, murderers. It is how we become the worst that we can be.  It is how people become extremely angry, extremely mean, extremely depressed even to the point of being suicidal.  Please listen when I say that Satan will drive us down that road of pain as far as we are willing to travel it.  My friends, it is literally a dead-end road.

But you see, the God who loves us, who does care, who weeps with us in our pain, who is merciful, who is gracious, who is just, who is forgiving, has a cycle of comfort that is every bit as beautiful as Satan's cycle of pain is ugly.  I will write about that in my next blog.

Thank you for reading!!!

Jesus' Death

I know the anniversary of Jesus' Death, "Good Friday" as we call it, was,.. well,.. Friday.  And yes, I know it is Easter and I am supposed to be focused on the resurrection, so please forgive me for the old topic switch-a-roo I'm pulling.

I've been writing about how much of the suffering and pain we experience in life comes from mankind's rebellion against God.  It comes from evil, from sin, from disobedience.  There is no clearer example of this than the suffering Jesus' experienced in his torture and subsequent death. 

In fact it is because of this that I often wonder why we call it "Good Friday"?  In my mind "Man's Most Evil Deed Friday" or "Man's Darkest Hour Friday" seems much more apropos.  Seriously, we took the sinless, sick-healing, deaf-and-dumb-curing, demon-casting, dead-raising, poor-teaching, people-loving Son Of God, and poured out deed after deed of hatred upon Him until He died.  If mankind is capable of this wickedness, there is no evil that we are not capable of.

Here is a summary of the suffering Jesus went through:
* Jesus was put under tremendous stress simply knowing what was about to happen as evidenced by His prayers in the garden of Gethsemane. (Matthew 25:36-36, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:39-46)

* He was taken first to the high priest where He was lied about, mocked, spat on, beaten, and slapped.  In fact they made fun of Jesus by blind-folding Him, striking Him, then saying "Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?”  To top it all of Peter, one of Jesus' best friends who had come to see what would happen, denied that he knew Jesus three times, to the point of cursing and swearing that he didn't even know Jesus.  (Matthew 26:57-75, Mark 14:53-72, Luke 22:54-71, John 18:12-27)

* They took Jesus to Pilate the governor where they falsely accused him of whatever they thought might get Jesus crucified.  Meanwhile Jesus said nothing in His own defense.

* Pilate learns that Jesus really falls under Herod's jurisdiction, so he sends Jesus to Herod.  There they again falsely accuse Jesus of all kinds of things (and for those of us who think that's no big deal, how do you normally feel when someone lies about you just to get in your trouble, let alone get you executed?)  The soldiers make fun of Jesus even to the point of dressing him up in a royal robe to mock the idea that Jesus is a king.  (Luke 23:6-12)

* Jesus gets sent back to Pilate where he is whipped, mocked, given a crown of thorns, hit on the head while wearing the crown of thorns, beaten some more and spat on some more.  (Matthew 27:15-31, Mark 15:6-20, Luke 23:13-25 and John 19:1-16)

* Of course then He is crucified with nails like railroad spikes driven through his hands and feet.  Not to be content with that, the religous leaders who plotted all of this continued to insult and make fun of Jesus.  They even tempted Jesus to give up and save Himself instead of dying for us without even realizing it. (See the rest of Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23 and John 19).

But even as I write this I know it doesn't do the suffering that Jesus went through justice.  There is no way for us to really know how bad the mental, physical, and spiritual torture that Jesus endured was.

So what do I say in response to this?  1)  Thank you, Jesus.  I know and understand that you took the punishment for me, both for the evil I've done and the good I've failed to do.  2)  May I live a life that daily shows my appreciation by all I do, say, and even think.

Last thought for this blog:  More than ever, the story of Jesus' death leads me to despise Satan's ways and to embrace God's.  All of these things that were done to Jesus fall on Satan's side of the fence.  Yet all of what Jesus did - forgive, endure, maintain self-control, be unselfish, and most of all - love us to the point of dying for us, are God's ways. 

Please understand when I say this that I am still tempted to do evil and unfortunately always will be this side of the grave.  But in my heart more than ever I want to embrace God 110%, and to reject Satan with the same fervor.  I hope you feel the same way.

Till next time!

Why is there so much suffering in the world? Why God Allows Evil

In my last blog we started talking about suffering, and how the presence of tremendous suffering in this world contributes to disbelief in the God of the Bible.  The great irony of this is that a huge, incredible amount of suffering in this world is caused by our own disobedience to God!   


For example, I heard a story that really hacked me off the other day.  A boy and his "friend" were having trouble getting along.  The boy was at home alone when his friend came knocking.  The boy wouldn't let him in because he wasn't supposed to have anyone in the house without a parent there.  But the friend kept on ringing the doorbell until finally the boy opened the door.  Well, his friend had others with him.  They beat the boy up, video-taped the beating, then posted it on "You Tube" for all their friends to see.  That is suffering caused by PURE EVIL, by absolute rebellion against God's ways!

Now could God have stopped their actions?  Yes.  So why didn't He?  Why did God allow them to do such an evil thing to the boy?  Why does God allow evil in this world, period?

Believe it or not, the Bible addresses this very question.  In fact, it’s Jesus Himself who answers it.  He does so in the what is normally called “The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares.” 

Now a parable is basically a story about everyday life that teaches spiritual truths.  As far as a tare goes, Merriam Webster’s online dictionary defines it as “a weed of grain fields especially of Biblical times that is usually held to be the darnel”.  And no, I have no idea what darnel looks like.  Note that many modern translations don’t even use the word “tare” but use something like “weed” instead.  

One of the greatest things about this parable is that, now only do we have the parable, we also have Jesus’ explanation of it.  Here are both from the latest edition of the New International Version:

Matthew 13:24-30

²⁴ Jesus told them another parable:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

²⁷ “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field?

Where then did the weeds come from?’

                ²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

                “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

                ²⁹ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

Matthew 13:36-43 (the explanation)

                        ³⁶ Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

                ³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

                 ⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

One note about Jesus’ explanation before we get to the heart and soul of why we read this:  Jesus said “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.”  “The Son of Man” is a phrase that Jesus often used to refer to Himself.  For example, when Jesus prophesied about His death in Matthew 17:22, He said “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” (NIV, emphasis added)

Look.  Satan is the source of evil and evil people in this world.  Now God and Jesus had a huge decision to make once Satan planted his people in the world. "Do we get rid of Satan's people now, or do we wait?"  Their decision was to wait. 

But why?  Because that is what's best for the wheat.  Because God did want any of His people getting thrown out with Satan's. 

Think of the "friend" and his companions who committed such evil against the boy.  If God had made the decision to uproot the weeds of the world immediately, they would all be dead by now.  But what if one or more of them is actually God's person?  What if some day, they are going to come to faith in Jesus, repent of evil such as this, put on Christ in baptism and follow Him the rest of their days?  They at least have that chance because God and Jesus have decided to allow Their people to grow alongside the devil's for now.

I think of my own life.  There was a time that I looked a whole lot more like a weed then wheat.  In fact, there are points in my life that if God had decided to "uproot" me then and there, I would have been burned in the fire with Satan's people.  But because God in His mercy spared my life and allowed me to grow, I love and follow Him now.

Still, this decision has serious implications.  Since God is allowing us to grow up among evil, we will experience the suffering that comes from that evil in this life.  There is no way around it. 

The great news though is that the situation is TEMPORARY!  God will not always allow it to be this way!  The harvest, the great separation is coming.  Once that moment comes, we will never again have to suffer like this boy suffered at the hands of his so-called friends.

Why is there so much suffering in the world? The Presence of Evil

If I had to name the top two reasons that people disbelieve in the God of Jesus Christ, I would have to pick hypocrisy and suffering.  While both subjects are extremely important, right now the one that is on my heart to write about is suffering. 

There is a great, heartfelt doubt over the existence of the God described in the Bible.  That doubt is generally stated this way:  “If God is such a loving God, why is there so much suffering in the world?”  It’s a very legitimate question and I blame no one for asking it.  When we are in pain, be it physical, emotional, or spiritual, the question that screams out the most in our minds is “Why??”

Well, there is not just one answer .  There are several different sources of suffering that I have observed both in life and via God’s Word.  In time I hope to address all of them.  For now though I want to focus on the one that stands out far above the rest, and that is evil.

Think about it.  How much of this world’s suffering can be traced back to some form of evil?  To some sin?  Some wickedness?  Or even simply a failure to do what is right?

Drugs lead to stealing, lying, homelessness, prostitution, disease and even death. 

Men get drunk and then commit acts of violence against their family.  People get drunk, get behind the wheel of a car, then kill and/or seriously injure someone. 

Someone has lost everything they have because they were scammed by an email, a false job advertisement on the internet, a stolen credit card number, or some other sort of cyber trick. 

A woman, a child, a youth, maybe even a man has sex forced on them, an act that is like setting off a spiritual grenade in one’s psyche.

We refuse to save sex for marriage and what does that lead to?  Emotional hurt, veneral disease, other diseases, emptiness, abortion, unloved children. 

We make and view porn which only exponentiates all forms of sex-related suffering.

We do not forgive so our insides are full of bitterness and anger. 

Person X is angry with person Y, so they lie about them, try to shame them, play cruel jokes on them, or commit acts of violence.

We get so caught up in entertaining oursevles that the sick don’t get visited, the hurting don’t get called, the opportunities to do good just waste away.

The list could go on ad infinitum. 

While I will address how all this relates to God and disbelief, for now I simply ask you to engage in this meditation:

Take some time to think about some of the suffering that you and the people you love most have experienced.  How much of it can be traced back to evil?  to sin?  to people failing to do good?  To people refusing God’s ways and following their own?

Til next time!