There was an article that appeared in Saturday's Straits Times about a study mama who is seeking compensation from St Andrew's Cathedral. She was walking past the church and unfortunately, protruding branches from a tree (which was within the church compound) fell on her, causing her to be paralysed from the chest down.
But what caught my eye about the article was the following paragraph:
But when she tried to get compensation from the Anglican cathedral, it initially said no. It claimed the mishap was an act of God, and beyond its control. It also blamed the landscape contractor for failing to do a proper job.
For the world to attribute such mishaps to God, I suppose it is understandable.
But the sad fact of the matter is that there are fellow believers in the Body of Christ who are unable to distinguish the acts of God from the acts of the devil!
For example, I have heard of well-meaning Christians saying that God gives His children sicknesses to keep them humble and so as to draw close to Him. That being the case, maybe we should be praying for them to receive some terminal illness so that they can be super-close to God.
Ludicrous isn't it?
Yesterday, I was at the youth service in my church and Ps Reuben re-emphasised the "tripod foundation" that Christians should hold fast to whenever they read the Bible or go through life, and they are:
(1) God is good (Ps 119:68)
(2) His deeds are good and perfect (Js 1:17)
(3) God is love (1 Jn 4:8,16)
Will a God who is good, who is love and whose deeds are good and perfect, cause those branches to fall on that lady? Certainly not!!!
Jesus said in Jn 10:10 that it is the devil who kills, steal and destroys but He comes to give us life in abundance. The tree falling on that lady was an act of the devil. The twin towers collapsing was the act of the devil. SARS and H1N1 were acts of the devil.
Let us not wrongly attribute to God what are the evil works of the devil. Amen?
2 comments:
Amen! I love to quote John 10:10. The devil is the one who steals, kills and destroys, not God. That's why in Isaiah it says no weapon formed against us shall prosper. Who formed the weapons? The devil! Whatever he does will not prosper in our lives because he is a defeated foe!
Hi Malcolm
I like reading what you write, seeing what the messages create an inpact in you life., good of you.
"God has a wonderful plan for your life." Heard this before, really.
I like heard for you about the way most of disciples life ended. GOD?... devil?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=947592375714276500#
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