Articles

The great obstacle to belief in God is the problem of evil and suffering… multitudes in every generation falsely assume that there cannot be a loving God with so much bad/evil in our world.

It is reasonable, understanding the common limitations of man, that we will not completely understand everything about the problem of suffering…

Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!”

Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

God has revealed to us what we need to know…

Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

What we cannot know this side of eternity can be understood by knowing God always does what is right and just (see Genesis 18:25).

The Problem Addressed and Points to Consider

Whenever a person raises the question of “evil,” they inadvertently appeal to some universal system of justice, which evil allegedly violates.

Note: If there is no God, there is no universal system of “rightness”; therefore, there’s no such thing as evil?

God, who is love (1 John 4:8), expresses His love by giving us the freedom to choose…

Joshua 24:15 “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

John 7:17 “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.”

Revelation 22:17 “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”

Where freedom of choice is permitted, there is certainly the possibility that man will make the wrong choices.
It is clear, therefore, that finite beings with personal willpower must be allowed to suffer the consequences of their wrong choices if they are to learn that the good is to be valued over evil.

In light of this, let us consider the three primary causes of suffering in the world…

Personal wrong choices:

We frequently bring suffering upon ourselves because of the bad decisions we make.

Judges 6:1 “Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years.”

1 Peter 4:15-16 “If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”

Personal wrong choices of others:

A considerable amount of suffering is caused by the bad choices of our fellows.

We cannot argue for our freedom of choice while denying it for everyone else… and God is not a respecter of persons! [does not show favoritism or partiality.]

Acts 10:34 “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.’”

Romans 2:8-11 “But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.”

Note: Innocent persons may be killed in a wreck involving a drunk driver, and, in times of war, many are killed as a consequence of the evil decisions of a few leaders.

Personal wrong choices of former generations:

If we are to reap the benefits of the good labors of generations in the past (e.g. scientific discoveries or medical advancements), can we avoid reaping their evils as well?

Note: God warned that rejection of Him would affect future generations yet unborn…

Exodus 20:5-6 “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

Summary:

God and The Problem of Evil and Suffering

The Bible teaches that God did not create evil.

The world was created perfectly good (Genesis 1:31).
Personal moral rebellion introduces pain, suffering, and evil into the world.
Since mankind’s ‘fall’ from grace, there has existed a spiritual war (God v. Satan) for the heart of all people.

Even though God did not create evil, nor does He will it, He nevertheless uses it to accomplish His purposes.

God can use pain and suffering to draw people to Himself (in their brokenness).
Many have fought the battle against evil, thus producing courage, endurance, self-sacrifice, and acts of compassion.

If God is all-powerful, why doesn’t He remove evil from the world? The answer…

God has intervened in this issue of our suffering world. Jesus Christ, God incarnate, came and experienced the full measure of our pain… knowing injustice, abuse, hunger and thirst, as well as the worst form of cruelty and evil.
On the cross of Calvary, Jesus took on Himself the wickedness of all humanity… paying the debt of our sin.
In time, all evil perpetrated by sinful mankind will be done away with, and the full restoration of His people with their Creator will arrive with a “new heaven and new earth” where righteousness will be the experience of all.

2 Peter 3:13 “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

For more information on Bible prophecy, go to PerspectiveInProphecy.com

Many pastors, teachers, and Christian leaders today have blood on their hands.

I think most of them are unaware of this situation. Some of them sense this dilemma a bit, but they don’t care sufficiently to be or do anything different. Lastly, there remains a remnant group who ARE aware, who DO understand, and they care a GREAT deal.

Let me explain. It’s all about being a ‘watchman.’

In the Bible, watchmen were sentinels. They guarded cities and towns, military camps, and even fields and vineyards. As their position specifies, their job was to keep watch for the interests and welfare of others. It was their duty to be alert and to warn of looming threats.

Several things about being a ‘watchman’ are made clear in the Bible.

FIRST, there’s a larger principle here than just guarding a city. God raised up His prophets as ‘spiritual watchmen.’ God said to Ezekiel in Ezekiel 33:7, “I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.”

Ezekiel’s job was to stay focused and vigilant, to urge God’s people to live faithfully, and to warn them of dangers. As watchmen, God’s prophets warned those who were falling away from the Lord of His judgment. The hearers needed to repent of their choices and evil ways.

SECOND, it was a major responsibility to be a ‘spiritual watchman.’ There was only one right way to do the job. This is clear in the larger passage of Ezekiel 33:2-9.

Ezekiel – and other Old Testament prophets like him – needed to properly ‘hear’ God. They had to be in the right spiritual place themselves to do that, and then they had to faithfully declare God’s word. This was their primary responsibility.

There is no wiggle room here. God’s ‘spiritual watchmen’ could not twist the truth or dilute it. They couldn’t pretend it was something other than what it was. They had to shoot straight.

They couldn’t delay either. It was a time sensitive message, and they needed to be plain with it so folks could heed the warning, respond properly to it, and save themselves. If the people didn’t respond to the message as they needed to, then ‘they would die for their sin’ (vs. 9).

THIRD, Isaiah 56:10 tells us that God’s spiritual watchmen couldn’t be lax, asleep, blind, disobedient, silent, ignorant, or distracted. If they were any of these things, this exposed the people they were responsible for to danger and suffering.

Put another way, strict obedience, faithful declaration, and constant alertness are the only postures for a true watchman.

FOURTH, it’s tough to be a good and responsible spiritual watchman. If that isn’t clear by now, then Hosea 9:8 makes this obvious. It says concerning how a watchman of God is received, “….snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God.”

Did you see that? Hosea says it’s a rough journey being a spiritual watchman for God. A faithful watchman is marked by encountering snares and setbacks. He is constantly facing enmity and misunderstanding from those who are ‘in the house of his God’ (you can insert ‘church’ here, or ‘other believers’ to bring the same point closer to home).

Make no mistakes about it. Being a watchman for God is a tough haul. Not only do they have to speak boldly, but they must act timely and declare accurately. To top it all off, they are constantly trapped, opposed, and despised by the people they are trying to warn and teach.

Ah – – – but there’s a MUCH greater problem here! There is one more thing I need to say.

And that is, FIFTH, there is a lot of blood on the hands of many spiritual watchmen today. Coming full circle, Ezekiel 33:6 says, “But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the horn and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away for his wrongdoing; but I will require his blood from the watchman’s hand.”

Let me paraphrase this. If pastors, teachers, and Christian leaders today don’t start ACTING like the spiritual watchmen they need to be, if they don’t start DECLARING a bold message, if they refuse to HEED God’s Word as they need to be doing, if they continue to REMAIN ignorant and silent in the face of mounting threats and developments, and if they refuse to RAISE an urgent, true, and timely alarm – – then God says they have ‘blood on their hands.’

Oh – – – what’s that? You don’t like what I’m saying? Do you think I’m being too harsh and insensitive?

Well, deal with it! It’s God speaking here, not me.

Read and study all these passages for yourself. If you take God’s Word at face value, you’ll see what I’m saying is the truth. If you’re still not convinced – or perhaps if you don’t WANT to be convinced – then I urge you to read James 3:1 and Hebrews 13:17.

James 3:1 says pastors and teachers are held to a higher standard before God. That’s because their roles carry greater responsibility and influence. They will receive stricter divine judgment as a result because their words and choices affect the spiritual welfare of others.

And Hebrews 13:17 makes it self-evident that the role of spiritual watchman continues today in the form of church leaders. This verse says, “they WATCH over your souls as those who must give an account.”

And that’s why ‘blood is dripping from the hands’ of more pastors, teachers, and Christian leaders today than at most points in church history. It’s because they are failing to do their job by God’s standards at a very critical point in time.

A lot of them shouldn’t be in their roles in the first place since they are not properly qualified or gifted. Most of them refuse to teach the full counsel of God’s Word as they ought to.

Many of them push a ‘social gospel.’ Most of them avoid teaching about sin and hell. Lots of them want to be ‘attractive to the lost.’ Many of them push the ‘good news’ of the Gospel, but not the ‘bad news’ which drives true repentance. Nearly all of them dismiss, dilute, or deride the one-quarter of Scripture that is Bible prophecy. Most of them refuse to literally interpret God’s Word, and a lot of them nurture a bias against Israel.

The problems with our watchmen today are myriad. But it all comes down to this: they aren’t ‘hearing’ God as they should be. Many of them don’t want to. They’re not properly watching and warning as a result – and so those they are responsible for are not responding as they need to be. It’s a grim picture.

Be it so, the role of ‘spiritual watchmen’ is still in effect. That job today is just as hard as it always was. The discipline and burden required now is every bit as significant as it has ever been. The need for faithful watchmen is enormous today.

The Problem of Evil and Suffering :: By James Pannafino

Blood On Their Hands – By Steve Schmutzer