Well, I've been awake since about two, so I decided that I would stop stareing at the wall and just get some coffee going.  Within seconds of getting out of bed my wife and two daughters all decided it was time to get up too.  So, I figured that I would get on and post a little something since I have so much more free time this morning. 

The youth group has been learning about modern day slavery and I've been really excited to see the youth become fired up over what they've been learning and seeing.  Last Wednesday, we read through Isaiah 58, and it is a great scripture for many Christians to reacquaint themselves with on a regular basis.  Isaiah itself is a great book (okay they're all good books, but Isaiah's one of my favorites); I just enjoy how Isaiah stands as a constant reminder of the devotion GOD really expects from his people.


Isaiah 58

"Shout it aloud, do not hold back.  Raise your voice like a trumpet.  Declare to MY people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins.  For day after day they seek ME out; they seem eager to know MY ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its GOD.  They ask ME for just decisions and seem eager for GOD to come near them.  'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and YOU have not seen it?  Why have we humbled ourselves, and YOU have not noticed?'

Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.  Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.  You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.  Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself?"  (1-5)


GOD has this beautiful way of punching us in the throat at times.  This is not the most enjoyable way to be reminded of GOD's disgust when HE sees us just going through the motions.  There are a lot of things that we can do on a daily basis that allow us to feel like we've been doing GOD's will, and then turn around and wonder why HE isn't holding up HIS side of the bargin. 

Just for clarification, GOD lets us know that HE is watching all of our actions and is really aware of how important things are to us.  Sometimes we pray for healing or for people to open their lives to CHRIST's saving grace, but we're not willing to even change our own lives.  We're very quick to remember that we are saved by grace and not works, but do we sometimes use that as an excuse whenever somebody tells us to get off our duff and start living a life worthy of our SAVIOR?  You are correct when you say that we are saved by grace, thank GOD we are saved by grace!  However, let's finish the entire statement...

we are saved by grace, but we live by faith. 

Remember in James that GOD tells us that faith, without deeds, is dead!  As GOD continues in Isaiah, that is exactly what HE explains to us.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?  Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.  Then you will call , and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and HE will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.  The LORD will guide you always; HE will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.  You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.  Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on MY holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then your will find you joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”

THE MOUTH OF THE LORD HAS SPOKEN.  (6 – 14)


So now that we have been exhorted by the LORD, let’s go and do it better today!

Quick to speak, slow to follow through.

I’m currently taking a philosophy class from a local college and it’s been a fun class since, for the most part, we weigh the validity of each other’s opinions.  Recently, we began discussing the existence of GOD and whether or not we can know and communicate with such a GOD.  I had a leg up on the discussion since, like many of you, I have communicated with and know GOD.  The issue that arose was the same issue that arises every day for a Christian; how do you explain the depths and truth of GOD’s love to people that don’t realize they are being blinded and manipulated by the spirits in which they refuse to believe?

So many Christians have a quick answer, but if the answer is so easy why aren’t we being effective?

Who created evil?

It is impossible to understand where evil came from without having a full understanding of evil. A comprehensive definition of evil is any decision made that does not result in love being returned to GOD. Another way of saying this might be, since GOD loves us very much and desires to be loved in returned, he created man with the ability to express love or withhold love, the root of what many call “Free Will”. Free will is not a foreign concept, and many people say that GOD gave us the ability to choose good or evil. This is such a weak definition of free will that it really doesn’t do GOD or free will any favors. The argument could be made that if free will is the choice between good or evil, then evil must have already existed because it is one of the choices on the list. This is not the definition of free will established by the bible. A better understanding of free will would be that it is more the choice to be loving or unloving toward another (selflessness toward another or selfishness in spite of another). Also, it’s important to mention that evil did not exist until the very first unloving action was chosen. Then, evil was created, not by GOD, but by the first being to be unloving toward GOD, the bible tells us that this being was Satan. Since GOD is all good, then choosing anything other than GOD is choosing something that is not of the good. The bible says in John that GOD is Love; therefore evil is the absence of love.

Consider the conversation between GOD and Satan before evil was created. Satan would have come to GOD and expressed his interest in creating something. GOD would explain to Satan that all things that are good have already been created, that all good was created by GOD and that no more good than what GOD has already created can be created. Satan, not understanding the infinity of GOD’s goodness, would leave and search in vain for something more that can be created that is good. Finally, understanding GOD’s infinity, Satan gets frustrated because he cannot create anything further that is good, because all goodness has existed as infinitely as GOD himself. Unable to see clearly, Satan becomes jealous of GOD. Jealousy is not good, and therefore not of GOD, evil is created. Immediately, Satan is cast away from GOD by his hate, which is the opposite of love. After all, we all know that love and hate cannot coexist.

So why do innocent people end up hurt by evil? Well that is the very nature or evil; it does not “happen” to the guilty, it is “created” by the guilty. GOD is innocent of evil, yet HE was the recipient of Satan’s unloving nature. I believe this to be a fundamental understanding of good and evil and that every decision we make is loving or unloving, good or evil, of GOD or not of GOD. Therefore, if we are not choosing to follow GOD, and GOD is everything that is good, then we are choosing to be evil.