God is Just

While followers of Jesus do good, not to gain salvation but because we have been saved, we can know that our good deeds will be rewarded.

God does not give to those whom He has saved, what they justly deserve - eternity in hell.

He does give punishment to those who persist in evil because He is Just.

He does give good for evil, because He is good.

He does give good for good because His grace and mercy endure forever.

He will never give punishment for good because He is not unjust.

He will give punishment for evil and He will give grace for evil to those of His own pleasing. 

Stalin > Dawkins et al. - A Straight Line

Atheists rage at the very thought of their being a straight line succession of thought from savages like Stalin to them. Believing themselves to be good people, they must fight any notion that if they were in power, they'd never ever try to eradicate Christianity by the means used by other like-thinkers.

“Individual atheists may do evil things,” says Richard Dawkins, “but they don’t do evil things in the name of atheism.”

No, atheists do evil because their atheism spawns a seething and irrational hatred for Christianity as demonstrated by Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens, Dennett, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Honecker, Castro, Ho, Marx, Engels, Lenin, Kim, Ceausescu and virtually every atheist that blogs about religion. The point of their agenda is, ‘Religion is harmful. Get rid of it and everything will begin to move toward civil society.’ Marx and Engels put it bluntly, “Abolish all religion and all morality.”

Richard Dawkins simply cannot bring himself to admit that atheism was the driving force from which atheists, directing governments made up exclusively of atheists were obsessed with spreading anti-God propaganda, and specialized in the murder of almost 100 million believers in the last century. Atheist Soviet rulers systematically and efficiently destroyed the majority of churches and killed the majority of religious leaders during a period from 1918 - 1941. This was not individual atheists perpetrating evil. This was individual atheists doing evil in the name of atheism. They were perpetrating evil, all according to the atheist driven agenda to eliminate Christianity from society.

Atheism is opposed to God and anything that smacks of His presence; especially the people who worship Creator God.

Because it is so absurd, I can only assume that Richard Dawkins finds the following comment amusing. When he’s confronted with the atrocities done by atheists in the name of atheism, Dawkins says with a straight face, “Well, Stalin also had a moustache. Maybe we should blame the death of Christians on people with moustaches.” Pathetic and pitiful more correctly describes Dawkins’ attempt to deliberately confuse the obvious. Dawkins and friends can’t even recognize how close they are to encouraging the Soviet experiment to repeat itself in the West. Like Russian atheists before him, in “Letter to a Christian Nation” Sam Harris bemoans, “the failure of our schools to announce the death of God in a way that each generation can understand.” He even goes on to say that some ideas are so dangerous that people may need to be killed simply for having those ideas. If you don’t see this as a dangerously secular idea, you are not an observer of history.

The fact is that in the 20^th century, a third of the world saw atheists pronounce the death of God throughout their nations. They declared it on billboards, in schools, government controlled publications, from speaker trucks roaming through the streets, over the radio and in secret jails where torture was used in an attempt to force Christians to deny their faith. Leaders in the underground Church in China spoke in our Church a few months ago. They told us that in today’s atheist China, secret worship services in homes, warehouses, and even groups meeting in the forests and fields are forcibly broken up. If caught, those who attended are beaten or killed or taken to reeducation camps, never to be seen again. The accounts they related made us squirm in our pews and wonder, “How would I do under such intense pressure?” Interestingly, these people didn't ask us to pray for an end to the persecution. Rather, they asked us to pray for their strength and courage to continue to spread the Word of God in spite of persecution.

In the 20^th century a hundred million people have been killed under the banner of atheism in its hatred of Jesus and the religion that worships Him. This pattern continues to this very day and there is no reason to expect that atheists who possess the needed power will stop anytime soon.

And So This Was Christmas

Jesus was the only human who ever was or ever will be totally and unequivocally committed to peace. The rest of us love violence. We watch it for entertainment. We enjoy the thrill that it gives us. Watching violence allows us to vicariously view ourselves as powerful and dangerous.

If you ever doubt the evil that resides within human nature, just consider the vile and disgusting war that rages within the human heart. Our movies, not to mention the atrocities that take place during real violence stagger the imagination.

So corrupt is our nature that we took The Prince of Peace and killed Him.

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. These will be His royal titles:

“Wonderful,”

“Counsellor,”

“Mighty God,”

“Everlasting Father,”

“Prince of Peace,”

His ever-expanding, peaceful government will never end. He will rule with perfect fairness and justice. He will bring true justice and peace to all the nations of the world.” Isaiah 9:6-9

Isaiah was given the prophecy of Jesus' coming to earth. To us was given the person Who fulfilled that prophecy. Isaiah enjoyed the expectation of Jesus' coming to earth. We get to enjoy the experience of Jesus' Spirit living within us, guiding, counselling, comforting, saving, and giving to us His peace.

Who wouldn't want that?

Seeing is Not Always Believing

The early Jews believed that the coming of the Messiah would bring God's judgement against evil. They were correct. So right they couldn't see the truth of what was happening right before their very eyes.

The Jews of Jesus' time “knew” that anyone who was crucified, or “hung on a tree” was under God's curse. To be under God's curse AND to be the Messiah seemed an unresolvable conundrum.

In reality, Jesus came to our planet to bear the judgement and wrath of Creator God against evil and those on the side of evil. Jesus, our Messiah, our Saviour came to die in our place.

What kind of a person would push away, or reject that kind of an offer?

Rules? Or Mercy?

 We’ve had this ugly, ugly thing happen in our church. A young man, early twenties has left the congregation. I’m sure he felt as though he had no choice. He’ll have felt as though he was run out of the congregation.

For what you ask?

Well, it wasn’t because of some grievous sin. It wasn’t because of gross hypocrisy. No, this young man who loves Jesus, who longs to serve Jesus was run out of the congregation because - wait for it - he was wearing sandals and bare feet. When he plays the guitar (worship team) he rocks and I mean he REALLY rocks. I love it. Some people, people in power positions complained. The kid got word of their small mindedness and he left. Which, in itself is small minded.

Oh Christians, what a nauseating group we are. While I can cut the young man some slack for his small mindedness, the atavistic behaviours of his elders makes me squeeze my eyes shut and sigh with spiritual weariness.

So what would Jesus do? How about what DID Jesus do?

Read Matthew 12:1-5. David, a man after God’s own heart broke the rules. He didn’t just break a dress-code he really screwed up. He went right into the Holy place and took something he had no business taking. And when Jesus was commenting on this grievous offence He said in both the Old and the New Testament - “I desire mercy.”

Yes rules have their place but mercy is better.

Our sanctuary needs to be exactly that - a place of safety, not attack.

Our sanctuary needs to be a place of mercy, not a place of destruction.

I attend a really, really fine congregation. One of the best I’ve been in. Sadly, even in the best of us, evil and pettiness lurks. 

Will Evil Triumph?

No. It won’t. But Edmond Burke gave us the recipe for how it could. “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

1. Atheists once told us that if poverty was eradicated, happiness would ensue.

2. Atheists once told us that if people accumulated wealth, happiness would ensue.

3. Atheists once told us that if people got a good education, happiness would ensue.

4. Atheists once told us that if we had more free time, happiness would ensue.

5. Atheists are now telling us that if we eradicate religion from the earth, happiness will ensue.

We in the West are proof positive that atheists have been 100% wrong in their predictions.

#’s 1-4 do not produce happiness.

In reality, in the midst of wealth and health and education and free-time, we are living in a state of psychological and spiritual poverty.

Number 5 will prove no different. The mere suggestion of number 5 shows that we are in fact living in a poverty of compassion, a poverty of purpose beyond our self-interest, and a poverty of hope in what atheists tell us is an accidental universe.

“It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”

Mother Theresa

Atheists mock Mother Theresa while doing bugger-all to alleviate the weight of evil the is crushing people of the world. Reality is, left to ourselves, our greatest passion is for ourselves and we only work for those causes that might prolong or improve our own existence.

“There are two standards by which we judge events in the world: Near or Far.”

Aleksander Solzhenitsyn

Once in awhile, not often, but once in awhile overused and much abused terms like, “I once was lost but now I’m found,” find their rightful place in the universe and take back their deepest and truest resonance. This is nowhere more true than when children are rescued from the claws of evil. To be in the presence of a soul that has been saved, to linger in the exquisite authenticity of spiritual / physical freedom makes me want to throw open the window and shout to the world, “See! Evil will NOT win. Yes there is bondage on this earth, but there is also freedom. With God’s help and in Jesus’ Name people can move from the former to the latter. That is worth fighting for - even – no especially - in the face of ridicule and mocking and the laughter of those who side with evil day in and day out.

What is this Evil (2)

Atheists of course use the presence of evil as "proof" that God Himself does not exist. A flow of logic has never been the strong suit of atheists. 

On the one hand, atheists rage that God does not judge evil and bring it to a halt according to their time frame.

On the other hand, when the knowledge strikes home that God will judge evil and bring it to a halt and that they along with evil will be forever removed from His kingdom, atheists rant and rage and pout like little children having a tantrum.

The presence of evil necessitates God’s justice. 

But God justice is not just handing out rewards and dispensing of punishment. 

God’s justice is restorative. 

God’s justice entails the complete defeat of evil and the removal from His kingdom of all those on the side of evil.

God’s plan for His creation, a plan interrupted by the intrusion of evil at our behest will take place and there is nothing that atheist or Islamic fundamentalists or anyone else can do about it.

Amazingly this restoration will be brought about by the nation of Israel (the apple of God’s eye) His only begotten Son Jesus the Christ, and those who believe in and follow Jesus and accept His forgiveness for the the evil in their lives. 

What is this Evil?

A couple decades ago, I was still doing some work in the Federal Corrections system. In my off time, after work, I was doing a lot of reading about satanism. Well, one of the guys that I was working with was pretty - um - spooky, creepy, unbalanced more than the norm, and the norm was pretty unbalanced. Anyhow, I had never spoken of what I was reading to anyone. I doubt that my wife even knew (we have very different tastes in reading material so her pile is her pile and mine is mine) and if she did notice what I was reading she never had any contact with anyone who could have told this guy. Long story shorter, this guy comes into the office and after a bit of small talk he says, “You're studying about satanism aren’t you?”

The problem with involuntary facial movements is that they’re, well, involuntary. Noticing the twitch of my eyebrows he said, “I have powers and I know how to use them.”

Evil, has fascinated me for a long, long time. Evil as an entity, evil as a personal agent, personal, social, governmental evil - that kind of stuff. I’ve been fascinated with how we as humans give ourselves willingly to evil and thereby become its slave. After all, if evil is a real entity, like information or logic or matter or energy, and if you are obsessed with attaining power (as is everyone in the prison system (and I mean everyone)) then why in the world would someone want to be on the side of the created (satan) rather than on the side of the Creator?

According to the Bible, God created human beings to bear His image; to possess and display to a limited degree His mercy, grace and love. God created humans to use their intelligence and creativity to manage the earth and walk humbly with their God.

The invited entrance of evil into the cosmos changed everything. Yet, God’s plan for a healed, forgiven and intimate relationship with His creation has not ended. While the presence of evil temporarily adds tension to that plan, that plan itself will not be halted, only delayed. 

What is this Evil?

The presence of evil is actually the best manner of witnessing God’s goodness.

For the very survival of humans, God’s justice, mercy, grace, love and patience, MUST be clearly displayed to humans:

(a) So they will know that they should repent of their rebellion and

(b) To show them that they have a place to turn to for rescue from their rebellion.

Because of Evil:

- All humans will know God’s Justice because they know in their hearts that rebellion against God is wrong. Those who continue in their rebellion will die spiritually and eternally.

- All humans are born into a state of rebellion, it is only God’s Grace that will ensure that some humans get what they don’t deserve (life in eternal paradise) while God’s Mercy will ensure that those same humans don’t get what they do deserve (eternal separation from God).

- All humans will know God’s Patience because He persists in blessing those who continue in evil, until all those who are going to receive God’s merciful salvation have turned from their rebellion. Romans 9:22,23

- All humans will know God’s Love in that God, in the form of His Son Jesus, will forgive evil by taking His own punishment. He will suffer His own wrath for the horrible act of continued rebellion against Creator God. A Creator who is perfectly pure, holy, righteous, just, merciful, slow to anger, filled with great patience, filled with grace and abounding in Love.

God will rescue those who are not looking for Him, love those who hate Him, and make peace with those who are His enemies. 2nd Samuel 7:18; Isaiah 65:1; Romans 10:20

The rebellious cannot complain because they are in fact guilty of rebellion. Genesis 3:22; Psalm 14:3

The saved cannot boast because they have done nothing to deserve salvation. Romans 3:27,28

Only God possesses the Love and the Justice and the Power to restore to perfection what we have undone.

Rather than throwing away, that which is broken, God will one day restore to perfection, as part of His eternal plan the cosmos that He brought into existence at the command of His Word.

Because God is all loving, He WILL one day banish evil from His Creation.

Because God is all powerful, He CAN one day banish evil from His Creation.

Because God uses the evil that is present for the development of His people, He allows evil to temporarily exist.

Because of His enduring plan for righteousness, God CAN and WILL one day remove every trace of evil as well as those who love evil, from His Kingdom.

Just For The Hell Of It

It's an amazing thing that our Creator does. He lets us choose to be apart from Him for all of eternity. He actually gives us what we want rather than forcing His will on us. It's the kind of tolerance that atheists rave about.

“Go to hell; see if I care.”

Well, not exactly. Jesus has done everything possible to make sure you don't have to endure eternity without Him. In fact, if you choose to go to hell, you're going to have to step over Jesus' dead body in order to get there.

We are profoundly spiritual beings. We are created to be in a healed and forgiven relationship with our Creator, made in His image, made to love Him and to be loved by Him. We are made to spend eternity in His presence, but some simply don't want that. They don't want anything to do with Jesus now or ever. They see Him as a monster.

Atheists have been given the right to choose, and they'll be damned if they're going to miss the opportunity to reject the God they don't believe in. 

They take their right to choose to do wrong. 

They rage at His justice for punishing sin and evil and 

They rage at the injustice of His Grace which forgives sinners of their evil.

It really does take a fool to reject one's Creator in order to rage at the freedom He gives to live apart from Him for eternity.

Atheists Save the World

Have you ever wondered about the tsunami like tide of evil that is sweeping the Globe? Are you staggered by evil's power to shred society, collapsing nations? Not a Newscast goes by without the mention of corruption. And do you notice how no race, gender or age group is exempt from the power and influence of evil? It ruins families. It destroys homes. And most of all, it causes humans to do all they can to ignore it, despite the way evil corrodes the quality of everyone's life.

On the other hand, those who refuse to call evil for what it is, have grand plans for healing society's ills. Space does not allow a full discourse of the “cures” that have so far been explored by secularists but there are a few that are worth noting. Another of the more infamous secular efforts might include:

- Science
- We were told that the combination of wide-spread, higher education and stupendous wealth

- Then it was sex without the perceived confinement of marriage.

- The coerced celebration of the sexually disoriented.

- Or how about easy divorce?

- Feminism
- The pursuit of everything.

The latest solution is to indoctrinate us with the condescending attitude of tolerance. "I will tolerate you." Doesn’t that make you feel all warm, and fuzzy inside? Of course discrimination, be it from Christian communities or elsewhere is wrong. My generation screwed up by finding it impossible to hate the sin without also hating the sinner. This generation is screwing up because they can't figure out how to love the sinner without also loving the sin. 

Sophisticates brag, "I tolerate everyone, no matter how diseased, dysfunctional and damaging to themselves and to society their behaviours may be." What they’re really saying is, "I have so little genuine love for you, that you can go straight to hell for all I care." So there you sit, surrounded by your refined and worldly wise friends, yet utterly alone in the very dim awareness that others care as little about you as you care about them. Oh sure, you cluck your tongue at the famine in Africa and worry about the whale on the beach. But treating with love your partner and kids is another matter altogether.

All of the above failures have sounded wise to the worldly, but this kind of thinking is repugnant in the extreme to those of us who know the love of Jesus. Why? Jesus loves us too much to just tolerate our miserable state. He refuses to tolerate the fact that the path we are following is leading to a disaster of eternal proportions. Rather than sitting back in smug indifference, Jesus left His throne in paradise to venture into our slum-living, futile, sin-enslaving, squalor. He did this to show us the way to victory and to freedom. This is a freedom from real guilt, freedom from slavery to self-destructive behaviours, freedom to make choices that will bring contentment into our lives despite circumstance. For Jesus’ love is a love that pursues relentlessly. 

Atheists Save the World

Have you ever wondered about the tsunami like tide of evil that is sweeping the Globe? Are you staggered by evil's power to shred society, collapsing nations? Not a Newscast goes by without the mention of corruption. And do you notice how no race, gender or age group is exempt from the power and influence of evil? It ruins families. It destroys homes. And most of all, it causes humans to do all they can to ignore it, despite the way evil corrodes the quality of everyone's life.

On the other hand, those who refuse to call evil for what it is, have grand plans for healing society's ills. Space does not allow a full discourse of the “cures” that have so far been explored by secularists but there are a few that are worth noting. Another of the more infamous secular efforts might include:

- Science
- We were told that the combination of wide-spread, higher education and stupendous wealth

- Then it was sex without the perceived confinement of marriage.

- The coerced celebration of the sexually disoriented.

- Or how about easy divorce?

- Feminism 

Oh, and don’t forget the pursuit of everything. Do you remember when you first believed that the busier you were the more value you’d have? The secular world has put a huge push on this one. Try standing in front of the mirror and then proudly “complain” about how busy you are. It doesn’t have quite the same appeal as when you’re getting approving nods from your equally deceived friends, does it?

Atheists Save the World

Have you ever wondered about the tsunami like tide of evil that is sweeping the Globe? Are you staggered by evil's power to shred society, collapsing nations? Not a Newscast goes by without the mention of corruption. And do you notice how no race, gender or age group is exempt from the power and influence of evil? It ruins families. It destroys homes. And most of all, it causes humans to do all they can to ignore it, despite the way evil corrodes the quality of everyone's life.

On the other hand, those who refuse to call evil for what it is, have grand plans for healing society's ills. Space does not allow a full discourse of the “cures” that have so far been explored by secularists but there are a few that are worth noting. Another of the more infamous secular efforts might include:

- Science
- We were told that the combination of wide-spread, higher education and stupendous wealth

- Then it was sex without the perceived confinement of marriage.

- The coerced celebration of the sexually disoriented.

- Or how about easy divorce?

I almost overlooked feminism in the list of secular cures for what ails us. Now feminism in and of itself is fine. It's needed. Ever since sin brought the consequence of “Men will rule over you,” (Genesis 3:16) women truly have had the short end of the stick, at least by worldly standards. So what have women decided to do to resolve the issue? Of course – reject who you are as a woman and try to become like a man. So women began to smoke like men, ingest alcohol and other drugs like men, work like men, ignore their children like men, screw around like men, get heart disease like men, transmit STD's like men, behave in ways that lead to divorce like men, suicide like men, strive for useless status symbols like men – need I go on? Oh Lord, sin makes us soooo stupid. And the winners in all this?

Men!

Men who no longer have to feign an interest in commitment. Men, who can keep women as much, or more vulnerable to exploitation than ever before.

Atheists Save the World

Have you ever wondered about the tsunami like tide of evil that is sweeping the Globe? Are you staggered by evil's power to shred society, collapsing nations? Not a Newscast goes by without the mention of corruption. And do you notice how no race, gender or age group is exempt from the power and influence of evil? It ruins families. It destroys homes. And most of all, it causes humans to do all they can to ignore it, despite the way evil corrodes the quality of everyone's life.

On the other hand, those who refuse to call evil for what it is, have grand plans for healing society's ills. Space does not allow a full discourse of the “cures” that have so far been explored by secularists but there are a few that are worth noting. Another of the more infamous secular efforts might include:

- Science
- We were told that the combination of wide-spread, higher education and stupendous wealth

- Then it was sex without the perceived confinement of marriage.

- The coerced celebration of the sexually disoriented.

Or how about easy divorce? That too hasn’t been the miracle cure that the worldly wise and famous promised that it would be. There has however been one benefit of mass divorce. The benefit has been to show the hypocrisy in our claims that we love our children. We love ourselves, PERIOD! Let the kids fend for themselves.

As I write this, atheists are filling their blogs with the wonderful news that a survey has shown that if you are an atheist, you probably engage in casual sexual intercourse with almost no guilt compared to Christians to engage in the same type of sexual immorality. Sweet! (sarcasm). Most Christians have already lived the type of life that atheists are touting. We know what they're promoting. What we've found is that the guidelines that Christianity gives regarding our sexual lives specifically, and relationships generally, can on the surface seem constricting. However, nothing comes as close to being restricting and smothering as ignoring those guidelines and then experiencing broken relationships, abortions or spending decades with children that you can't or don't want to raise. Nothing brings heartache like ignoring Jesus' teaching on our sexual selves. The freedom that comes with the atheist's view of utopia is like being in the middle of the ocean with no direction finding equipment of any kind. You are free to go in any direction you please, but you have absolutely no way of knowing how to find safe harbour. 

Atheists Save the World

Have you ever wondered about the tsunami like tide of evil that is sweeping the Globe? Are you staggered by evil's power to shred society, collapsing nations? Not a Newscast goes by without the mention of corruption. And do you notice how no race, gender or age group is exempt from the power and influence of evil? It ruins families. It destroys homes. And most of all, it causes humans to do all they can to ignore it, despite the way evil corrodes the quality of everyone's life.

On the other hand, those who refuse to call evil for what it is, have grand plans for healing society's ills. Space does not allow a full discourse of the “cures” that have so far been explored by secularists but there are a few that are worth noting. 

Another of the more infamous secular efforts might include:

- Science
- We were told that the combination of wide-spread, higher education and stupendous wealth

- Then it was sex without the perceived confinement of marriage.

Atheists describe Christianity as being “out of touch with modern society.” I can't argue with that. I remember wondering about our children's future to a friend who said, “Don't worry. They'll be normal.” and my thought was, “I pray to God that they'll do a lot better than that.” Around the world, two main consequences have come with being in touch with modern society and the coerced celebration of the sexually disoriented.

The first consequence is an outright delusion regarding the epidemic of STD’s including HIV. One educated but misled columnist wrote that it’s not screwing around with strangers, or taking part in the death culture of IV drug use that’s spreading AIDS, it’s "ignorance and poverty." That comment is an insult to the informationally and financially impoverished!

The second consequence is that everyone, even those who are opposed to it, are forced to financially support the extermination of the most defenceless people in our society, all in an attempt to hide the guilt, fear and corrupt self-love of the more powerful segment. Don’t get me wrong. I’m strongly pro-choice. Dear God how I wish that people would exercise, not their right, but their obligation to choose whether or not to have a child. But that choice needs to be made before conception, not after. Sadlyl, being responsible would kill the romance of the affair, or the drunken sexual encounter, so we kill the children instead.

Someone wrote today that all people should support a woman's right to decide what to do with her body. I agree. What a woman doesn't have a right to do is hire a hit-man to tear to shreds the body of the baby, or to suck out the brain of the baby that is growing within her; a baby with her own blood-type, her own brain waves, her own finger prints, her own digestive system, her own heart beat and her own genetic code. The baby is NOT the mother's body!

Atheists Save the World

Have you ever wondered about the tsunami like tide of evil that is sweeping the Globe? Are you staggered by evil's power to shred society, collapsing nations? Not a Newscast goes by without the mention of corruption. And do you notice how no race, gender or age group is exempt from the power and influence of evil? It ruins families. It destroys homes. And most of all, it causes humans to do all they can to ignore it, despite the way evil corrodes the quality of everyone's life.

On the other hand, those who refuse to call evil for what it is, have grand plans for healing society's ills. Space does not allow a full discourse of the “cures” that have so far been explored by secularists but there are a few that are worth noting. Another of the more infamous secular efforts might include:

- Science
- We were told that the combination of wide-spread, higher education and stupendous wealth would cure our ills

Then it was sex without the perceived confinement of marriage. Remember the freedom that was promised with that lie? For awhile, thankfully a short while, open marriages were touted to be the cure-all for – ya – struggling marriages. Only the perpetually gullible saw bliss on the other side of that disaster. In the Netherlands where atheists have had a head start over North America in shaping societal norms, they’re finding that open and legalized prostitution has actually led to the degrading of attitudes toward women. Who would have thought that might happen? (sarcasm) Certainly not atheists. They’re also finding that rather than eliminating organized crime from the sex trade, organized crime has actually increased since the legalization of men buying women’s bodies. Who would have guessed? Not atheists. By removing the taboo against drug addiction, legalizing drug use has increased crimes usually associated with drug use and drug addiction. Could anyone have seen that coming? Not atheists. In the Netherlands where atheists have had a head start over North America in shaping societal norms, euthanasia groups (Levenseinde or “Life End”) are now making house calls. Door to door killing teams free of charge (Sigh). Really, when you think about it, when health and wealth are gone – what's the point?(again sarcasm). 

Atheists Save the World

Have you ever wondered about the tsunami like tide of evil that is sweeping the Globe? Are you staggered by evil's power to shred society, collapsing nations? Not a Newscast goes by without the mention of corruption. And do you notice how no race, gender or age group is exempt from the power and influence of evil? It ruins families. It destroys homes. And most of all, it causes humans to do all they can to ignore it, despite the way evil corrodes the quality of everyone's life.

On the other hand, those who refuse to call evil for what it is, have grand plans for healing society's ills. Space does not allow a full discourse of the “cures” that have so far been explored by secularists but there are a few that are worth noting. I've already mentioned the worship of science. Another of the more infamous secular efforts might include:

- We were told that the combination of wide-spread, higher education and stupendous wealth would bring us emotional health and relational well-being. 

Skyrocketing depression and rampant anxiety among the educated and wealthy have proven the lie in that claim as well. The most recent study I've seen (spring 2012) shows that the higher one's education and wealth, the deeper the person's level of dishonesty and lack of compassion for others. As well, the higher one's education and wealth, the greater the use of mood altering chemicals. 

Pagans and atheists are surprised by that. 

The existence of evil is an argument for the existence of God. For objective evil presupposes objective good and objective good requires God.

Do You Know What Happens?

When an atheist is complaining how God (I know, there's no consistency to what atheists think) isn't running the world the way that the atheist thinks He should, it's important to ask that person how s/he would run the world if s/he was God. Do you know why it's important? Because the only answer that the atheist can give is to say that our Creator should have created us as robots. So true is that statement that I've encountered a couple atheists who said they'd actually prefer to be robots. These two atheists said they wished that God had created us as robots so that humans would no longer perpetrate violence against one another. In their minds God should have just programmed us to be good. I find this absolutely fascinating and wish I could spend some time with these two people.

Think about it! To want to not have freewill, is to want to not be human, for it is surely freewill in concert with the ability to reason that separates us from the other animals on this planet, animals who operate only by instinct. And as far as quality of life goes, even lower animals are infinitely better off than Robots. It boggles the mind that atheists exist who not only want to be robots, but God's robots no less. Who can understand the mind of the atheist?

The irony here is that atheists, those who perceive themselves to be the most rational among us, would also lose the concept of rationality. On a determinism that is unique to robots, that loss would be exponentially beyond the determinism to which atheists are now implicitly committed. This is because at the very least, rationality requires the ability for discernment, reasoning and powers of argument. If we are causally determined to think and act as we do then the conclusions we reach are also determined by the same causal laws of the world that are working in combination with our physiology.

That's what atheists leaders mean when they say that the “I” or “consciousness” or “free-will” do not exist. That's what they mean when they say that once computers are sophisticated enough (machines programmed by us) those computers will appear to possess consciousness. 

On determinism, our conclusions are not the result of reason or rationality but of the chemical makeup of our brains at that given moment. How much more so for those who are created to be “good” to others.

I suppose that atheists could point to their irrational, incoherent belief system as proof that we really are controlled by determinism? Nevertheless, people who believe they live in a natural deterministic universe, and who express outrage over the behaviours of another person or community should be seen as rather emotionally unbalanced individuals.

Now, recall the atheists I mentioned that would rather be robots incapable of doing wrong. They'd rather be robots than humans because they recognize the truth that humans can exercise freewill and therefore can potentially inflict excessive harm on other humans. Both of these atheists said that being created robots would allow them to be morally responsible beings.

This is incorrect.

There is no morality or virtue without a freewill choice to not be moral or virtuous.

Actions have no moral value when there is no choice to do anything other than the “right” thing.

Without freedom to choose right from wrong, good from bad, we cease to be human beings.

It's one or the other.

We are either created human, or we lose freewill.

We are either created human or we lose the ability to be morally good.

Atheists accuse God of creating evil, yet Evil is simply the choice to misuse our free-will. Or, if you like, evil is the choice to use our free-will in a manner that our Creator has prohibited. What's more, just because the option of evil exists doesn't mean that we have to choose it. Atheists of course say, “I don't need God in order to be a good person.” The next question to ask is, “So why aren't you a good person? You don't even live up to your own moral code let alone that of your Creator.”

Through our faith in Jesus, God will remove the dominion that sin holds over us in our natural state. Is that the right way to go about achieving His goal? Could there have been a better way? Well, we don't have a complete, clear and concise picture of what that goal is but, God obviously decided that it was worth the risk to give us that option in order to achieve the ends that He has in mind. Your Creator isn't asking you to like that plan, but remember:

“One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Because God is all powerful, He CAN rid the universe of evil.

Because God is all good, He WILL rid the universe of evil.

Yes, there is still evil present in the universe. Nevertheless – at the end of history,

God CAN and WILL rid the universe of evil, and all those who side with evil against their Creator will be banished for eternity.

He promised to do that and He showed us His bloodied corpse as a deposit and guarantee that He will fulfil that promise. 

The Warrior Jesus

Gentle Jesus

Peaceful Jesus

Jesus was all about love

Those are familiar terms, more familiar than “warrior” Jesus. Yet, at least for this stage of history, Jesus is more of a warrior than anything else. 

Although it's nothing like anyone will see when Jesus returns with undiluted wrath poured out against evil and those who have deliberately sided with evil.

For now, earth is enemy territory. It’s satan’s turf and the very coming to earth of God in the form of Jesus was the establishing of a beachhead deep, deep in enemy territory. From the time that He was born, Jesus encountered battle after battle. 

Atheists of course note how violent the Bible is, especially the Old Testament - actually only the Old Testament. In fact, Jesus uses the violence of humans toward one another to turn away from Him those destined for hell.

“One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in the universe - a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death and disease, and sin. The difference is that Christianity thinks this Dark Power was created by God, and was good when he was created, and went wrong. Christianity agrees. This universe is at war.”

former atheist, C. S. Lewis - Mere Christianity

Like Jesus, we too have been born into the midst of battle. There is no sitting on the fence. “Those who are not for Me are against Me,” said Jesus. There is no neutrality. You’re making a choice of sides even as you read this. Since that is the case, you may as well know, the Winner has already been decided.