Shall We Accept Evil From God?
Where does evil come from?
I just did a video about a death threat on my life – or the very first threat of that sort that I’ve come across since I’ve launched into this project. I expected it. And, it inspired me.
I thought about some passages of Scripture:
“You will be persecuted for My name’s sake.” Jesus said, “Consider it joy when people say all kinds of awful things against you” I mean, these are just verses coming to my mind right now. It’s like… okay, well, I guess I’m doing the right thing. I’m on the right track if I’m being attacked. And that’s a common refrain as well on my YouTube channel. When you stand up for the truth, get ready. Get ready to be attacked. Because the father of lies has his minions: Those who believe propaganda – those who believe lies – are unwitting foot soldiers of demonic forces.
Ozgur Celik, I’m talking to you, if you’ve watched this far into this. You’re a regular on this channel, you comment frequently, and you even commented on one of these Bible… go. Go and read his comment on the “What Soghomon Tehlirian’s Mother Believed” episode. Ozgur, you’re you’re a foot soldier of the forces of evil if you believe lies and even if it’s unwitting. Like, before I was a Christian, I did my own thing. I thought I was pretty smart, and I was. I was a smart guy. I was rather intellectual, I would say. I was reading Carlos Castaneda when I was 15-years-old. If you don’t know, that is fine. But, it’s a source of pride for me. And then, when I was confronted with the truth, like supernaturally confronted with the truth, it wasn’t just a logical deduction. Oh, Christianity is true. It was an encounter with reality, and I realized: “Everything I had been doing was for myself, selfishly, is exactly what Satan would have me do, if there were such a thing as Satan.”
That was like my first thought when I was confronted with the realities. If there really is a devil, what would he want me to do? Number one, he would want me not to believe he was real. And number two, he would want me to believe that I’m the smartest and I know what’s right and wrong. Like I’m the ultimate arbiter of truth. That I’m smart enough to figure this all out on my own. And by believing those things, I would be serving Satan. And I realized in that moment, “Oh, I’ve been serving Satan up until that point.” And then, I was confronted. I was given a choice. Not only was I confronted – you can’t serve two masters: yourself and the ultimate authority, God… now choose. And I chose. I chose rightly; and my life has been amazing. Not easy at all, but incredible and fulfilling.
But Ozgur and all of you, I don’t expect many of my detractors to watch this video, but if Ozgur, if you happen to hear this, here’s a special message to you.
Satan attacks Job’s health. This is Job. chapter 2. Job is actually the oldest book in the Bible, chronologically – the first one written. And, he was attacked by Satan. Everything was taken, and God allowed it. I just want to read one section. He lost everything: his children died, his property was destroyed. He lost it all.
And then… there’s a joke saying that “the final curse, the final awful thing that God allowed to happen to Job was that they left his wife alive.” That’s a bad joke. But, his wife said to him:
“Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die. But, he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil in all this?” Job did not sin with his lips.
Shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil? Did God create evil? No. Did God allow for evil? Yes. Is that a semantic difference? No. But, there’s a whole group of Christians out there that believe that any suffering or anything bad happening is a result of your sin – that you did something wrong. And here’s the refutation of that: Job did not sin with his lips, in what he’s saying.
In fact, if you read the entire book of Job, the point is he didn’t. He didn’t suffer because he did wrong. In fact, there’s not really an answer. It’s just God testing him and Job proving himself righteous. He didn’t blame God, and so there’s no answer for why evil happens. There’s no answer. No easy answer, I should say, for why 1.5 million Armenians or 2 million Christians are massacred from 1915 to 1923. But, do not charge God with wrongdoing. He’s in control. Bad things happen and the word “evil” is used in this version. In other versions, it’s “trouble”. Shall we not receive trouble?
It’s a nuanced term, but when bad things happen… if i get my life threatened, even if I get killed for doing what’s right, that will suck for my family. But, this life is not all there is. There is this physical life – this realm – it’s temporal. And death will be temporal, as well. Doing what is right is the highest priority.
So, I’m not going to stop.
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