If God Created Everything, Did He Create Evil?

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 12:56:54 -0700

If God created everything, did He create evil?

I’ve been asked that a few times as a Christian. Most that ask this are not asking because they genuinely want to know, instead it is asked to discredit God. So what do you say to that? You want to shout NO! But how do you explain your answer? Let’s take a look at the Word.

God is good (morally perfect in thought, word and deed). In Him there is no deception. God is light. In Him there is no darkness. Light cannot create darkness any more than truth can come from deception, or an apple tree can produce figs.

The confusion - and the reason so many people ask this question - comes out of an ignorance to the Word of God. The answer is found in the Word. First of all, God created man with the ability to choose. He gave us a will. Why? Because He made us in His image and likeness. In other words, we’re not robots, forced to do God’s will or forced to love Him. We can choose to reject God and go on to Hell, and God will protect our right to do so. Many have said in religious circles, “God, let my will crumble and vanish so You can take over.” Oh, he sounds so spiritual, doesn’t he?

But God doesn’t want your old broken will, and He isn’t going to come in and dominate your will. He’s the One that gave it to you. And He wants your will in tact! He wants you to love Him by an act of your own will. You wouldn’t want your wife of husband to love you because you forced them to. That wouldn’t be love at all. It wouldn’t be meaningful to you; it wouldn’t count for anything. You want them to want to love you. It’s amazing to me that people can understand this when it comes to human relationships, but somehow believe it would just be better if we were all robots when it came to God. God is not a tyrant, forcing you by His great and mighty power to love and obey Him. He is very honorable, respecting our God-given right to choose; even the choice to not love Him.

So, where does evil come from?
Let’s give credit where credit is due. Satan is evil. His job description is clear: he comes only to steal, kill and destroy. He is the father of lies. When he lies, he speaks his native tongue. “Yeah, but God created Satan, so God did create evil!” someone might say, ignoring the facts stated above: God is good (morally perfect in thought, word and deed). In Him there is no deception. God is light. In Him there is no darkness. Light cannot create darkness any more than truth can come from deception or an apple tree can produce figs. People are so willing to discredit God that they’ll throw even their good sense and logic out the door when it comes to this subject. Everything God created was perfect. He didn’t make a few imperfect human beings that wound up spreading darkness everywhere. Instead, by an act of our gift-given will, we took the power to walk in love as God is love, and walk instead in hatred, from light to darkness.

Lucifer made his choice of his own free will to turn from God, even though he saw God face to face. His choice to hate God in spite of what he saw doomed him forever. God’s laws are good and are light to those who seek them just in the same way that God is good, and is light. When Satan broke God’s law, there was darkness. Rather than just ceasing to exist when he broke God’s law, the absence of the light of God in him made darkness.

The bottom line is, we cannot dismiss the free will God created us with and blame God for our own mistakes. We don’t allow bad guys and corrupt government officials to get away with crimes. We hold them accountable to the law. They, like all, have a choice. It was as much Satan’s choice to break God’s law as it is our choice to break it and do evil in God’s sight. Don’t go blaming God for Satan’s choices and call God evil for creating him that way. Everything God created was perfect. But when we choose to act outside of God’s guidelines and laws for functioning (like Satan did), we sin, and by our own will produce imperfection.

Someone might say, “That’s just not even practical. It’s not my fault when I sin, it’s God’s fault for creating Satan!” But when they choose to eat unhealthy for years on end and have a heart attack, they don’t tell their doctors, “That’s outrageous! It’s not my fault I had a heart attack. Clearly, it’s the food’s fault!” No, they listen to their doctor and start eating right, exercising and taking responsibility for their body’s health.

Hey man, take some responsibility! Use the power gift of your will and line it up to speak and act like God’s Word. Light will flood in when you do.

Decide Not To Be Poor

Sat, 1 Nov 2008 11:11:29 -0700

Have you had to talk to a bill collector lately? I remember talking to a creditor who was trying to collect on a late bill. Although he was nice enough on the phone to me, I just hated having to talk to this guy. No one likes being late on their bills. And After all, I’m supposed to be a faith man! My bills shouldn’t BE late. But they were at the time. As I talked to him I figured the best way to handle it was to talk about my situation (which in the natural was, I didn’t have enough money to go around). Now I had heard of someone telling people like this creditor exactly what the Bible said. They’d tell them that God is going to pay it off for them. Well, I thought, “You know, if I said something like that, they’ll think I’m crazy!” And besides that, if I was honest with myself, I would have to admit that I didn’t feel like I had enough faith to believe that myself at that time. Feelings sure can rob you of what God said you can have, that’s for sure!

Now, I said this in my last blog: “The decisions we make every day will always come down to two possibilities: the natural solution, or the supernatural solution.” God told me if I was going to live a life of abundance, I needed to put my eyes on the supplier of that abundance. God’s Word was the only solution, and I knew it. But I also knew that I had to make up my mind: that I was going to have to throw the whole of my trust and dependancy on what God said. That idea was a little scary. But I found out, that scared feeling wasn’t given by God, nor was God going to share in it with me.

So, I went to reading what the Word said - that’s what counts! Not what that creditor said. Not what my feelings were screaming. Not what my head was telling me to do. It’s the Word that counts, and I had committed to make that Word the final word in my life. Well, I found out there’s no better time to put that commitment into practice than when you really need it to work! I read in Galatians where it said, “The blessing of Abraham has come upon the gentiles by Jesus Christ.” And in verse 29 - “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

When I read that, I realized that when God made a covenant with Abraham and put that blessing on him, it came on me too, through Jesus! Pastor Mark, why does that make you so excited? Because I believe it! And because I believe it, I say it! And because I say it, I receive it! Now, when I first started saying it, I was working on something in me - confidence in His Word. But the more I said it, the more faith rose inside of me. Now I say it full of confidence. It’s gotten in me. I’ve gotten rooted and grounded in it. And since it’s gotten a hold of me, I loose it out of my mouth to get a hold on my situation and change it.

Now I shout, “I have decided not to be poor another day in my life!” Say that with me! Say it in faith! Say it over and over again so God has something to work with. The more you say it, the more He has to work with. Faith is the substance of the things you are expecting of God when you pray. And faith only comes out of one area in a man’s life: his words. If there’s no saying going on in your life, there won’t be any reaping either! So say it when you get up in the morning, when you think about it through the day, and when you shut your eyes to go to sleep! Say it when you feel good, bad, indifferent, lazy...JUST SAY IT!

SAY THIS WITH ME BY FAITH:

I have decided not to be poor!

"I want to announce to Almighty God in heaven and to Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to all the angels of heaven, to all the demons of hell, and to anybody else that cares anything about hearing it, that from this day forward my needs are met according to God's riches in glory by Christ Jesus! I'm standing on Your Word, and I'm looking to You to take care of me! And I'll never ask a man for another dollar."

“The blessing of Abraham has come upon the Gentiles by Jesus Christ.” (Gal. 3:14)
"If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE PROMISE." (Gal. 3:29)

A Guide To Overcoming The Sin Nature

Wed, 1 Oct 2008 14:39:47 -0700

How do you overcome the sin nature?
We all come across struggles to put our flesh in its place. There are many believers who are really looking for an answer to this problem, having a strong desire to please the Lord, but finding they are coming up short. And many others have simply given up saying, “I guess we’ll just have to live with this sinful, no-good flesh ‘till we all go to heaven.”

I’ll make this statement to you. It’s a bold one, but if you’ll receive it, you’ll find the answer you’re looking for right here: If you’ll follow this outline closely, you will have what you need to overcome every sin that comes your way.

To start, allow me to give you a couple of instructions on how to read the following so you can take hold of what you’re about to read and be able to apply it immediately:

Make a decision right away that The Holy Spirit will reveal to you the answer you are looking for before you even read another word of this. Receive it by faith. He’s the Master Teacher, and will give you the answers you’ve been looking for for years! Hebrews 4:2 says that the Word preached didn’t profit the Israelites any at the time, because they didn’t mix what they heard with faith. Say this out loud, “I receive the answer on how to control my sin nature right now, Lord. Holy Spirit, I’m listening to you!”
Turn your brain off. That sounds funny, but you need to be listening with your spirit man. The Holy Spirit is about to talk to your spirit man, and your spirit will relay that communication to your mind. Be receiving instead of trying to lean to your own understanding. Don’t analyze, receive!

The Word is The Keeper Of Your Answer
The Word says it has the answer you need. Think about what that means. If you were desperate for water, and you found out where it was, that’s exactly where you’d go. You wouldn’t turn to the left or the right. Understand that the Word - not man, not counselors, not doctrines and formulas - has your answer. An answer is designed to meet your need completely. A piece of information that helps you a little isn’t an answer. You still need help! I’ve had all the partial help I want! I’ve spent years on things in my life chasing after little pieces of info that proved to be time wasting at best, and usually just frustrated my progress in obtaining a real answer.

Ever notice when you really need to find a place you’re driving around looking for, if someone gives you sketchy directions you’ll thank them, but go and ask someone else? Look no further than the Word. 2 Peter 1:3 tells us that the Word has everything needed pertaining to life and godliness. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for...instruction in righteousness.” Jesus Himself told Martha, “But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42). That good part was the Words Jesus was speaking. So get your hopes up! You’re about to find what you’ve been looking for.

Don’t Attack Sin
“What? What do you mean don’t attack sin?” I remember I used to attack sin every time it came my way. I’d hoot and holler, pray in tongues and anything else I could think of. Sometimes I would wind up victorious, and others I’d still wind up falling flat on my face! I just couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. But the Word says to do something else:

Let’s look to Romans 8:5: “They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” How do you overcome the sin nature? What does the Word say about it? Well, we see here a very valuable insight into how we overcome the flesh. Most have thought the way you overcome the things of the flesh is to attack the sin. But that’s not what the Word says to do. It says to mind the things of the Spirit; to be one who goes after the things of the Spirit, instead of the flesh. Romans 8 is telling us that by going after the Spirit, it causes us to be mindful of the Spirit.

That word mindful is a compound word: mind and full, meaning to have a full mind toward the things of the Spirit. How do you do that? Well, what do you think the Holy Spirit’s mind is full of? The Bible tells us it’s the Word; that He’ll not speak on His own, but speak what He hears the Father speak, and remind us of everything that Jesus has said. If you want to be mindful of what the Spirit is mindful of, then fill your mind with what is on the Spirit’s mind: THE WORD OF GOD. When you spend time in it, it will fill up your spirit as well as your mind. David said he kept the Word of God hidden in his heart so he wouldn’t sin against the Lord. Mind-full. You ought to be attending to God’s Words so much that anytime something sinful crosses your path it gets the 9th degree from the Word of God stored within you.

When Jesus stood against sin in His own life (remember the 40 days of fasting in the desert?), He used the Word, saying, “It is written...” That’s what I would try to do. But He didn’t have a pocket version of the Torah with Him. It came out of His heart! Now there’s nothing wrong with going to the Word, but you ought to be doing that every day, not just when you get into some trouble.

Jesus said that being mindful of the Word is the key to the abiding presence of God in your life. He said that if His Word abides in you, He and the Father would come and make their abode with you. That sounds pretty good to me. What a deal! How could sin even stand a chance when I’ve got God Almighty Himself abiding with me? It can’t!

Kenneth Copeland told a story of when he use to smoke. He had tried quitting so many times he lost count. At the time he decided to go to a meeting. While he was there he said, “I had enough respect for the men of God preaching there to not smoke while at the meeting.” So he put those cigarettes above his visor in his car. By the time that week long meeting was over, he had gotten so full of the Word of God that he totally forgot about those cigarettes he had stashed away. And when he did remember them, he found he had no need for them anymore. He was totally delivered.

A Biblical Process
Now I don’t know about you, but I really need at times someone to just SHOW me once how to do something, then I can start cranking away at it easily enough. Here’s a step-by-step process to overcoming the sin nature:

Step One: Find a verse and meditate on it. As you go to getting the Word in you, search and ask God to show you a verse you can base your faith on in regards to overcoming the sin nature. Here’s a verse that I started out on; one that God showed me. I knew It was for me when I read It because It really stood out to me:

-Mark 8:33, “Get thee behind Me, Satan: for though savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.”

Step Two: Repent. Repentance is all about turning TO Jesus! But we’ve made it all about turning away from sin. Well, if you’re going to turn away, that implies you’re turning TO something else. This is why Jesus said when a demon leaves a person, he roams about and eventually comes back. If you finds the house swept clean, he’ll just move on in with 7 buddies worse than himself. You can’t just turn away from sin, leaving yourself empty. You must turn to Jesus, filling yourself up with His Word.

Remember, you don’t get rid of sin by attacking sin. You do so by filling yourself up with the Word. Jesus is the Word (John 1:1), and that’s what we turn to. Be MIND-FULL of the Word day and night, night and day.

Step Three:
When the temptation of sin comes knocking, resist it with the Word of God; use the verse you sought God to find (like Mark 8:33), and Satan, the tempter, will flee from you. The Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit. And you wield it around by speaking it out of your mouth. And I’ll tell you something, Satan won’t stick around for It. When you keep pushing it in his face, he’ll leave you alone for a while!

The Result
What happens as a result of doing what we just learned? It may surprise you: Hebrews 5:14 reveals the outcome to us: “But strong meat (the Word) belongeth to them that are of full age (mature) even those who by reason of use have their senses trained to discern both good and evil.”

By training yourself on the meat of the Word, even your 5 physical senses will get so hooked on the Word that they’ll even be able to know the difference between good and evil! Your flesh is a follower. It’ll do whatever it gets used to doing. If you go to taking hot showers, it’ll want it hotter. You go to feeding your eyes on football, it’ll want more football. But man, if you go to feeding your senses on the Word of God, it’ll go to wanting more of it, and more of it, AND MORE OF IT! Can you see the victory in that? I sure can!

To hear a message on this subject, CLICK HERE.

The Fork In The Road

Mon, 1 Sep 2008 12:39:49 -0700

The decisions we make every day will always come down to two possibilities: the natural solution, or the supernatural solution.

In Mark 4 Jesus had told his disciples, “Go to the other side.” Now when that storm started building while they were in that boat, they didn’t look to Jesus to help them right away, or go to using their faith as they should have. They tried every natural thing they knew to do first, even though Jesus had just spent all day long with them expounding on how the Kingdom of God operates. It never crossed their minds to look to the supernatural for their solution. Not until they were near death. They made the wrong decision.

Jesus got up and took care of the situation, using His faith. But they marveled at him saying, “What manor of man is this, that even the wind and sea obey Him?” Notice the two separate mind sets? The disciples were naturally-minded. And where’d that get them? The same place it’ll get you if you’re naturally-minded. They were of the mind that believed they were subject to whatever this world is subject to. And that can get you killed! Almost did for them! Buy notice Jesus’ mind set: you KNOW He was spiritually-minded! He thought on God’s level. He knew that He had access at all times to the power of God Himself, which is superior to the forces of this natural world!

“But Pastor Mark, that was Jesus! I can’t be expected to do that!” Jesus rebuked His disciples for NOT acting in the way He did. He asked them where is your faith and why did you fear? The Bible tells us in 1 John 5:4 that, "Whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith."

The Word calls the natural mind-set “Carnal,” or to be carnally-minded. It also says to be in this mind-set is death. Now, that tells us something! Death is not reserved for us as children of God. Jesus came that we might have LIFE! Believe it or not, we are to be super-naturally-minded! God told us in His Word that He gave us His Spirit and His Word so we can think and act on His level; a supernatural level.

Now the disciples went through a BIG thing in Mark 4, but this same thing applies to small, every-day things as well!

When I run up against an every-day situation, I still have those two options facing me. I remember once trying to get a task done as quickly as possible. But I started running into problems that made an otherwise easy task a hard one. Well, that led to me feeling like I was wasting time; time that I could be spending on something else. I remember saying, “This stupid thing! Why aren’t you working right?” I got real frustrated, real fast! Then God spoke up on the inside of me and said, “Mark, Faith is not frustrated.” He continued, “Now I’ll take care of this, but you stop trying to fix it yourself. Use your faith and give Me a shot at it!” Even though I was emotional, and admittedly wanted real bad to be mad right then, I relented and prayed. I said, “I’m using my faith right now! In Jesus name I give this over to You, Lord, and I command this thing to work in the Name of Jesus.” And, you know what? It did!

How do we get to the point that we think supernaturally all the time, and about all the things we encounter in life, like God said we could? Well, I’m going to tell you what it’s going to take to be this way. God said to meditate on His Word day and night! He says further that the benefit of doing this is we would prosper and have good success! Clearly the supernatural way is the best way! I’d venture so far as to say that when you’re thinking naturally concerning any situation, that it is the wrong decision to make!

Now, when I found out that the Word of God would work for me and that my faith had the power of God’s faith, I went to getting the Word in me any way I could! I would slip away during lunch breaks at work and go into the stairwell and open my Bible up and read away. I would take CDs and preaching tapes I had, and carry around a walkman with me and listen to it every spare moment I had! I do the same thing now, only with my iPod. I do this in the car, when I get up, when I go to sleep, when I ride my motorcycle...I mean ALL THE TIME!

Eventually you’ll come to the place where anytime you hear something, your mind goes immediately to thinking, What does the Word say about this? Will this help my faith? And the guy next to you never gave what the two of you heard a second thought! But when your mind gets trained on the Word of God, you’ll find that what the Word says looks like the ONLY way to go! That faith looks like the most natural thing to use in a given situation. You’ll wonder how come someone would make a dumb decision and go the other way!

You have to train yourself to think that way, but you can do it! And now you know how! GO FOR IT!