Life in this world can be a sad and shattering experience. Disease, death, divorce, robbery, rape, starvation, torture, war, flood, earthquake... life can deal out some terrible blows. (Most likely you have experienced something
Added to this misery, is the superstition and fear that plagues the world. Truly, "All creation groans"
There is a popular misconception that being a good Christian insures you against harm and suffering. If something bad happens to you, it's because you have fallen into disfavour with God, and he wishes to punish or test you. The idea is that God allows misfortune to befall Christians when he thinks they need a jolt to make them look at unresolved or unrecognised
Jesus once cured a man blind from birth. People asked Jesus, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?"
Sometimes suffering is caused through sin. A mother drinks herself stupid day after day. She can hardly ask, "Why am I and my children suffering?" or claim that God is punishing her. A man cheats on his good wife. He can hardly ask, "Why has my wife left me?" or claim that God
But if a bus runs over a little boy, it is a very bad idea that God made or let it happen, as a sign of condemnation to the boy's father that some sin
God rarely causes distress and tribulation. Rather, "he causes all things to work together for our good"
When You Have Trouble
If life has dealt you a bad blow, you can find sweet refuge and comfort, in Jesus Christ, not bitter rebuke and condemnation. Jesus gets rid of confusion, despair, and guilt from your heart. In times of distress, we may say, "I can't stand it any more! I can't keep believing in the right
That might be just self pity. But it might also be true. Everyone has a limit, God knows, and he won't allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, even with his help, to bear
From God's perspective (and he is ever watching over us) the safety of our souls is paramount. Saving us from suffering in this world is not God's aim. That does not mean he is insensitive or cruel to mortals. He cares, and helps. But he sees beyond our present sufferings to our transcending future glory and immortality
To that very end, God even allowed His Son to suffer. Yet he turned that suffering into wondrous victory, freeing us from sin so that we could inherit that future glory and immortality
By trusting God, we find hope and peace in the midst of our troubles.
Many people long for a supernatural dimension to their lives. Some foolishly look for satisfaction
Skeptics will say that all belief in the supernatural is superstition. They will deny not only witchcraft, astrology, and messages from the dead, but also miraculous creation, angels, and the
To deny superstition, and to expose the Devil's deception, is noble. But only a fool denies God, and repudiates
We must clearly distinguish the supernatural from superstition, truth from deception, God's work from the Devil's work. Then we can intelligently and consistently believe in the supernatural realities recorded in the Bible whilst not being deceived by astrology, channeling, palmistry, astral travel, and various practices of the
When You Turn to the Supernatural
When any of us turn to the supernatural, let us turn to God, not to the Devil
We are not interested in whether something is fakery or really magic. If it is of the Devil, then, whether real or fake, it is destructive. God's "magic" is far stronger than Satan's. The man possessed by Legion found it so
When Jesus is invited into our hearts through faith in him and obedience to his will, then we are sealed with the Holy Spirit and become the possession of God
Distortion of truth is the signature of Satan. He even falsifies his name. For example he has stolen the name "Lucifer" which means "Shining Star of the Day". In the Bible this title was applied with irony to the fallen king of Babylon
[Elsewhere on this site, there is a
Some people treat astrology, fortune telling, demonology, ouija boards, numerology, tarot cards, and such like, as harmless passtimes. The print and electronic media promote and popularise these things, creating moral
The answer to the longing of your soul is found not in superstition, or the power of darkness, but in Jesus Christ the true God and in the power of his gospel
Paul understood the fear of God's coming judgment and of eternal hell. He was devoted to helping people react
"We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be rewarded or punished for our deeds done in the body, according to whether what we have done is good or bad. Therefore, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade the people"
Felix, a powerful Roman governer, trembled when he heard Paul --but he was not moved by his fear to set things right with God
There are two ways to deal with godly fear. One is to ignore it until your conscience becomes hardened and doesn't bother you any more. The other is to let Jesus into your heart to bring you peace
When You Fear God
If you take the second option, you will still fear God
If you escaped from a burning building, you would feel an awful fear of the roaring flames even though you had reached safety. Of course you would feel a different kind of fear compared to when you were in the building trying to escape. But you would still fear the fire nevertheless. This is how Christians feel
Christians are people who once were dead but now are dedicated. Once their future was eternal death, now it is eternal life. Such is the change that Jesus wrought since he came