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that say, “How dare you contradict the Bible? How dare you
    say that God is not the author of evil?” How can I say it? Because Jesus said it:

    The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and
    have it to the full. (John 10:10)

    Isn’t it strange that most Christians would hesitate to tell the burned man that his family and
    home were destroyed by the devil—“you can’t blame Satan for everything”—yet there are some
    who are quick to point the finger at our loving Father? “God did it.” But why would God kill
    little children in their sleep? “Who can say? God is mysterious.”

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    GRACE REMIX

    Forgive me for ranting, but this is insane! It is exactly this sort of madness that makes the
    church look like a home for whackos. This kind of thinking dishonors the Lord, and it keeps us
    passive when we should be taking a stand and fighting back. Instead of resisting the devil so
    that he flees, we submit to the devil and say, “The Lord is disciplining us. Oh we’re so loved!”
    And this is why I am writing. There is a time for enduring hardship and there is a time for
    resisting the devil and you need to know the difference.
    As usual, Jesus shows the way. He did not consider sickness a hardship to be endured—he
    resisted it. Neither did he consider demonic oppression a hardship to be endured—he resisted
    it. At times he even resisted death by raising a little girl and a dead man. He spoke to storms
    and said we would speak to mountains. Jesus did all these things to show us how the Father
    responds to the devil’s work. And yes, I have no problem attributing sickness to the devil,
    because the Bible does:

    You know… how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how
    he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because
    God was with him. (Act 10:37–38)

    I said I didn’t know what I would say to the man in the burn unit, but Jesus would know. He
    would reveal the “God of all comfort who comforts us in all of our troubles” (2 Corinthians 1:3–
    4).
    If I was in a position to visit that man I would trust the Holy Spirit to show me what to say
    and do. Sadly, accidents are a fact of life and sometimes children die. I cannot imagine the pain
    of that loss, but I believe there’s healing for everything. You want to talk about the mystery of
    God? Then marvel at how he is able to bring good even out of the most awful of circumstances.

    Arise shine!

    The bad news of dead religion has reduced Christians to commentators on the sidelines of life.
    If something good happens, we congratulate each other for sowing into kingdom principles. But
    if something bad happens, we say the Lord did it because he loves us. This is a nauseating and
    useless theology. Live this way and you will never display the manifold wisdom of God to
    rulers and authorities in heavenly realms (Ephesians 3:10).
    I don’t normally write in reaction to things like this but I had to vent. I’m heartbroken for
    the man in the burn unit and I’m heartbroken over a church that gets its theology from Job’s
    friends.
    I began by paraphrasing some bad writing (“Hardship is proof that God loves you”). I’m
    going to finish by paraphrasing something that’s pure gold. You can decide which you prefer.

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    ESCAPE TO REALITY – GREATEST HITS VOL. 4

    See Jesus! See the finished work of the cross! Your light has come and the glory of the Lord
    rises upon you. You may have problems and hardships and yes thick darkness is over the
    peoples. But the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Those mountains are
    coming down! You may be a worm, little Jacob, but God himself will help you. He will
    make you into a threshing sledge with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush
    them, and reduce the hills to chaff. (Isaiah 41:13–14, 60:1–2, my paraphrase)

    Don’t listen to Job’s friends. Listen to