Christian Mythbuster – God’s in control
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Not many of us get to journey thru life without several, if not many, traumas or life impacting events to endure. I’ve pretty much categorized traumatic events into three types: those that come as a result of a bad decision that one makes (consequences), those that come as a result of natural forces (hurricanes, floods, etc), and the worst ones, those where one is a victim of someone else’s bad decision or action.
Having recently gone thru one of those situations that came “out of the blue” I got to reacquaint myself with some of the dysfunctional ways religious folks try to make you feel better when something bad has happened to you…
Religious Myth
“Oh Jim, just remember God is in control…He must have something better for you.” Unfortunately, the concept of God having control of this earth is in direct contradiction to what is written in the scriptures of the Bible. Many of us are familiar with the story from the gospels of Matthew and Luke where Jesus is tempted in the desert by satan. At the last, satan offers Jesus all the authority and splendor of the world…if Jesus will bow down and worship him. Satan offered the world and everything in it to Jesus because it was (is) his to offer (control) and give away if he wants to!
If satan were not in control of this earth, the whole purpose of the New Testament writings (the ongoing coming of the Kingdom to reclaim the earth – still in progress) would be total nonsense. It’s sort of like people who believe in Jesus, but not in Satan…if there is no bad guy then the good guy is either insane…or He really is God like He said… and satan is real! God is not in control of this earth…yet.
Kingdom Life
God is not in control of this earth, but He is in control of my life …every time I choose to give the control to Him. I stood in my living room alone at 5:30pm a few Wednesdays back after being unexpectedly fired from my job one hour earlier. I prayed…”Lord, what do you want me to do with this?” His answer was simply “Worship me.” So I did…but I sure didn’t feel like it. Fortunately, for me, God blesses our obedience, not our feelings. Over the next moments, hours and days He poured in the power of His Holy Spirit for forgiveness, and then peace, and then a heart’s desire to bless those that had hurt me and my family.
How do I know God is real? I live in the miracles of His salvation, healing, and deliverance every day. Trust me when I tell you that I am not capable of responding to such an event with righteous humility and kindness…without the supernatural power promised in scripture. I just have to ask for it…and submit the control of my life to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Mike is a follower of Jesus Christ, a Pastor, a graduate business school instructor, an engineer, and actively works with ministries and companies to develop their organizations after 15 years in leadership with a Fortune 100 company and 8 years in leadership of a large church. Mike can be reached at mphoppe@gmail.com or check out www.globalawakening.com – healing schools Tucson/Phoenix 2008.
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