Handling Adversity Well

Take heed, do not turn to iniquity, for you have chosen this rather than affliction. Job 36:21 

We all face adversity and affliction in our lives, the difference is how we handle that adversity and affliction. Are you responding to it in a negative fallen human way? Or are you taking it to Jesus?

How many times have you heard a person say, I was afflicted, and the stress became to much, so I turned to drugs or excessive drinking to forget my problems. My parents raised me terribly, so I turned to a life of crime and sin. After all, it’s not my fault it’s someone else’s fault. If they had not sinned against me, or if a calamity had not happened upon my life, I would not be the loser in life I am.

In the discourse of Job and his friends, the fourth man, Elihu, is the youngest. Yet he is the one who’s wisdom is the most profound. Follow what he tells Job and his friends about handling affliction.

Who Created Evil?

by Chuck Ness

The debate about who created evil is an important one since atheists and skeptics use the existence of evil in their arguments against theism. It is incumbent upon all Christians to understand what the Scriptures say about the God they worship and the existancxe of evil in the world. If God created everything, and if evil is in the world, does it follow that God created evil? We are told as Christians to believe what the Bible says. Even the popular children's song, “Jesus Loves Me”, has in its lyrics,

 

“Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so”.

So, let us read what the Bible says.

In (Genesis 1:1) we read,

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

The New Testament says in (John 1:3),

“All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

So, we now know that God made everything through Christ, but are there any Scriptures that specifically say God is the author of evil? The closest we can get is (Isaiah 45:7),

“I make peace and create calamity”,

and (Amos 3:6), 

A Bruised Head & A Bruised Heel

As powerful as this image is, understand this, the nail represents us, for it is our sins that nailed HIM to that cross. 

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
Colossians 3:1 

  

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
2 Corinthians 9:15

Why Does God Allow Christians to Suffer?

by Chuck Ness

“Why didn’t God just create us so that we would never have to experience pain, suffering, or sadness?”

The best way to answer this question, is to start at the beginning where original sin began. Now the best description I have ever read that describes sin is, anything that falls short of the perfection of a perfect GOD. When we refer to sin we also use the word evil, which is the opposite of what God embodies. Now we know that God has the power to make the world free of evil, yet to truly stop evil from ever happening is to deny one the free will to do as one desires. However, God wanted a creature that was as close to being like HIMSELF, without being HIM. Thus when HE made man, HE made man in HIS image with free will. 

With this free will came the possibility that Adam and Eve might disobey God of their own volition, and partake of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Thanks to some coaxing from Satan, Eve was deceived into consuming the fruit and offered some to Adam. Adam, choosing Eve over GOD, also ate of the fruit. Thus, the first two humans exercised their God given right of free will, and they chose unwisely. 

Thoughts I Had As I Watched The News

by Chuck Ness

We must all remember to live as an example to others, so that the World can see what the Grace of God can do through the sacrifice of His Son. Then we will be more successful at winning the hearts and minds of the lost. If possible, we are to use HIS words to bolster our example, but we must use them Scripturally.

All Christians know that our Spirit is in a constant battle with our flesh. I myself desire to be an example so others can see HIS light through me, yet my flesh is constantly getting angry over the rise of Satan's power in the World.

Are You Cheerful Or Hesitant When You Give?

by Chuck Ness

Sometimes it's those with the least that give the most. Jesus used a widow's offering to teach a lesson of giving from the heart.

Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them;

The Way Human's Treat Animals Reveals Their Heart

by Chuck Ness

Back in 2013, two days after Christmas, I had to have our beloved 18 year old dog, Hershee, euthanize. Her kidneys had shut down and she was in so much pain she could not even settle down for more than five minutes at a time. So the merciful thing to do was to end her life.

It's easy to talk about it now, but at the time it was as if a member of our family had died. Maybe this should not be, I mean after all, she was just a dog. But, whether we choose to accept it or not, Hershee felt that she was one of us, and we treated her as if we would treat any member of our family. We were her "pack" so to speak, and I trust that she felt herself a valuable member of that pack. She ate good when we ate good, was happy when we were happy and always tried to do her part, even if it was just to bark and growl at people she didn't know.

Homeschool Your Children

by Chuck Ness

Train up a child in the way he should go, 

 And when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverb 22:6

Plain and simple. If a Christian is true to their faith, by putting their faith in God and Only God through Christ, then God will lead them to do what is right,. and the right thing to do is to Homeschool. In 99% of the World, the government's education system is anti-Christian.  So why are you sending your child to be indoctrinated against you and your GOD? I specifically blame pastors who fail to educate the flock as to the importance of homeschooling.

Yet as a response, many will say to me,

Not every person, Christian or not, has the education themselves to properly home school.

Why Worry Christian?

By Chuck Ness

It has been said that while money is the biggest stumbling block to the rich, worry is the biggest stumbling block to the poor. However, I have read about many rich people worrying about their money and I have known many poor people who have stumbled with what little money they did have.

We live in the most powerfully affluent society the world has ever seen, not since Solomon ruled Israel has a country been so affluent as America is today. Why even the poor are wealthy when compared to the poorest people in places like Bangladesh. Even with the country in a virtual lockdown over the COVID virus, America is still the country everyone wants to come to for success and tranquility in their lives. Which says something about the rest of the world.

Facebook Blocked My Ability To Post Christian Commentary On Hebrews

 Face book has blocked my ability to share my commentaries on the Facebook Christian groups I am a long standing member of. This is the message I got when I attempted to share my Commentary on the Epistle of Hebrews.  In a country who's preamble of the constitution gives credit to GOD for our rights, the left will deny us our God given rights.