Daredevil Evangelism

I have to share with you (with permission) an email my wife sent to our pastor today. First, let me set the stage a bit. My wife, Joy, underwent surgery this past Tuesday, June 28. That day & this morning she has been running a mild fever, hasn’t had much energy, has felt the pain of the incisions made, and has been constipated. (My apologies to those who just yelled, “TMI!” That detail is important.)

Let me let her describe what happened today:

Praising God that I'm doing GREAT!!!!! No more high temps praise God! I'm so excited because I had an awesome, awesome God opportunity today. This afternoon around 3:00 there was a knock at my door. I opened the door and it was two Mormon young ladies. I invited them in from the rain and the Holy Spirit took over from there. When the introductions were out of the way I began sharing my testimony of how God has grown me in my faith through trials.

As I shared with these ladies they told me they were amazed by the faith I had and the joy I showed in talking about Christ. I shared with them miracles God had done in my life also, but this was just the icebreaker. We started getting into God's Word and talking about how God knew us before we were born and how He already knew what His plans would be for us.

I shared with them Jeremiah 29:11 of how God knew the plans He had for us, of how He would prosper us and not harm us but give us a hope and a future. I went further to say as we seek Christ we will find Him. I shared how the Holy Spirit showed me how to apply this verse in my life. As I shared with these ladies I could sense in my heart that God was doing something.

We talked about Salvation how each person has a choice to accept or reject Christ's love and forgiveness that He paid by dying on the Cross. As I shared with these ladies about Hell I said it was never meant for Christians but it was for Satan, his angels and demons. Talking about Heaven I shared with them what you've been teaching on Sundays.

Before they left they asked if they could come by again I said sure. I was bold and told them I wanted to know how they came to know Christ. I also shared another important thing that you share so often it's not religion it's a relationship with Christ. I shared this several times as we talked. There so much more I could share but I'm praying for wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit through God's Word.

In part I’m reminded of Luke 12:11-12, where Jesus promises to provide what to say when we are in front of those who would judge us. I think more, though, of Proverbs 3:5-6.

What’s interesting here is that, under normal circumstances, Joy probably would not have been home when these two women came by. Only because she was recovering from surgery, and still had some ill side effects, was she at home.

Consider †his: You never know what circumstances God will use.

Several months ago I listened to pastor James MacDonald. I'm honestly no big fan of his style, but it was on a radio station I trust, so I listened. Besides, it was near the end of his particular segment. He mentioned in passing that he wasn’t interested in seeing someone’s stamp collection, but what that person was doing for Christ. I found him on Twitter, and asked him why he thought God couldn’t use a person’s stamp collection for His glory. The pastor’s response was that “God can use a horse’s ass,” but it’s better to use the right tools.

Apparently Pastor MacDonald doesn’t want to leave God open to using what He wishes to use.

God chose to use something that I thought was bad and undesirable for good instead.

Oh, and the TMI earlier? All of her symptoms, other than the expected tenderness of the incisions, disappeared shortly after these two ladies left.

Coincidence? Or God-incidence?

Good, Evil, and God

I just finished reading a rather interesting article presented in the Christian Research Journal. The article deals with the perennial challenge of a “good God” and the existence of evil.

I must warn you now that, if you find philosophical articles that are heavy on cerebral discussion, your eyes will probably glaze over just trying to follow the arguments on both sides.

The issue has been debated for centuries. How could I think that I could add anything else to the discussion?

I don’t, to be honest.

I would, though, like to offer a simpler, saner view of the whole argument.

Consider †his: God is God, and we are not!

Nobody sane should even begin to think that we can see things from God’s perspective. Isaiah 55:8 says that God’s thoughts are higher than our own. God is omniscient, as the article states and the Bible supports. How can measly man ever hope to see things from an omniscient perspective?

God is considered to be “outside of time.” He also never changes. That implies that He sees me as I am typing this at the “same time” as He sees Christ being nailed to a cross for my sins. How can He do that? I don’t have a clue, and don’t think I ever will as long as my perspective is stuck on Earth, stuck in time. How can my writing this be “predestined” and foreknown, and still be the result of my free will? I don’t have a clue.

Let me get even more gutsy: nobody has a clue. Calvin didn’t. Arminius didn’t. Neither did Luther, Wesley, or anybody else. They probably do “now,” but only because they are in Heaven, and can see things as God does. (At least I assume that’s the case.)

So why did God create evil, or create Satan who became evil? Why does God allow evil? I would be interested in the opinions of others, because I have no idea.