The Success of Evil
One of the reasons evil succeeds is due to the deceit that suggests evil is not evil. This may take the form of everybody does it, or the benefits outweigh the apparent problem or hundreds of different reasons. Thieves at all levels justify their deeds based on some unfortunate problem in their life or simply, “I have to have that which I cannot have in any other way.” The latter idea may be associated with believing that this life is all we have – then we are out of existence. The person in the picture above trusted someone and got stabbed in the back. The point here is that we trust people in the area of religion and accept their belief system often thinking we are the road to a better next life. This is the worst case of evil because it has shocking eternal implications. The more devastating aspect is that these humankind created religious beliefs are very common, even more so they are the norm, even more so they dominate the religious landscape.
The Truly Devastating Evil Is Not What We Think It Is
We see evil around us in terms of terrible crimes against others and at times personally experience evil. The world however, is blinded to the most destructive evil and much of it is contained in what people see as good things – that is why it is so evil. Consider you believe all is well in your life and you are going comfortably through your life – no big concerns, worries. Then your pension fund disappears or your IRA is much less valuable than you thought or the inheritance you were promised does not happen. There has been a misappropriation of funds or there is a collapse of your investments or your rich uncle disinherited you. How did this happen? Slowly the story unravels and you trusted, believed in someone or something and now the lies or perhaps exaggerations (also lies) are revealed. You believe in God and follow after some religion and are very certain about your future as you live strictly by their rules. However, it is a lie and there is no connection with God and in fact in your final lost state you see it was the worst kind of evil. Jesus said do not fear those who can kill the body, but fear Him who can destroy both body and soul.
Matthew 10.28
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
You can still succeed in life despite losing everything in this world, because life is not about this life, but about the soul. So, you should not be devastated by losing everything – easier said, than when you are actually experiencing the loss. Nonetheless, a child of God knows the “real life” with its reward lies in the future. On the other hand being without Christ is truly being without hope. Suicide is a possible result of loss of friends, family, position, wealth or perhaps something you did and you cannot even live with yourself. There are many situations which we cannot overcome, and in hopelessness they finally overcome us. The path to suicide is typically gradual growing from concern to worry, to depression and then into despair where suicide or attempted suicide can result. The best way to avoid this is to make sure concern does not go to worry. Every person who takes their own life because of their unbearable situation goes into a worse condition and wishes they were back in their bad situation. Even in a terrible situation you still have hope, although you may not realize it. The world generally at this time feels very much empathy in relation to suicide and are shaken by those who reach this most desperate of conditions. Society (the world) is behind people reaching this condition and largely because of its portrayal of a no-God existence. Few commit suicide, but many have desperate lives and consider suicide. The world of religions commits spiritual suicide every day by setting a course for their adherents to lose their souls. The solution is the truth, which the world and the world of religion hide so well.
Understanding Life Will Thwart Evil For Those Who Love The Truth
As we go through life we are faced with the realities around us and they cannot be avoided. We need to eat, sleep, have a place to “lay our heads, and a roof over us.” We tend to seek much more and we have big goals. We experience important moments and there are events that are were very rewarding for us or conversely very devastating. All those things will come and go and at best we are left with memories for a while, sometimes quite a while. If we are fortunate we have had many good times and less bad times. It does not matter because it really DOES NOT MATTER – ultimately. As a person gets older they may realize this because the events they cherished and the ones that brought grief are passed to the point that they are only distant and fading memories. It must all be very confusing that is, life is confusing – what is the purpose? Going through life without knowing the purpose, without knowing of its potential “unpleasant” end or glorious finale and maybe not even knowing if anything comes next must make life seem in some way, sinister. There is an answer and that is to know the truth about life, about God’s purpose.
2 Peter 1.2-4
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
The scriptures reveal God’s purpose and here in 2 Peter you can take away that meaning, namely that you may be PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE. Understanding God as He has revealed Himself allows you see that partaking in the divine nature is for His children to whom this letter is written – if they remain faithful. Those exceedingly great and precious promises are for those who are in Christ. Anyone can be in Christ as it is a choice you make, but it is certainly NOT a mental acceptance of Jesus as your savior, but consists of obedience to receive forgiveness of sins (includes belief in Jesus as the Son of God) and then continued obedience. It is EVIL to point a person to something other than the truth. If you understand that God wants to share with you in His Divine Nature that can be very powerful. You can know that with exceedingly great certainty as you grow in the grace and knowledge of God’s truth.
The entertainment industry (which includes most news media types) around the world is terribly immoral and when the entertainment is decent it still remains misleading. The harm is that life is very short and when the truth about life is presented incorrectly, it is costly. One of the most common things is to portray our existence as due to a very unlikely, really impossible, inconceivable series of events – thus no God required. The wrong understanding of life misleads people away from the truth that is needed. The world, being in opposition to God, accepts things that God defines as sin. They may also do what would be considered as good works, maybe generous things, but such things can mislead a person to believe their goodness will in some way help them to be successful eternally. The standard for eternity is sins forgiven in accordance with HOW God forgives them followed by continued faithfulness. That faithfulness includes your treatment of others and growing in virtues, but you need a love of the truth and obedience to it as God defined to have your past sins forgiven.
God is underestimated in His seriousness about keeping perfectly to the word He has delivered to humankind. In one short verse, God reveals the hope of eternal life, that He cannot lie and how the promise was before time began.
Titus 1.2
2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began
It is interesting how the humankind’s theories of existence of all things physical and then living things depends on extremely long periods of time, i.e. billions of years. Yet, God’s purpose for humankind occurred before time began – time beginning as recorded in Genesis 1.1 “In the beginning God.” God’s creation of time being a part of His limiting humankind during the test. God says nothing about the age of the earth because it is not important. The important things relate to His purpose – the souls of each person. Science uses what God created (time) to suggest, “all this” happened without God. They will never get it right because God limited humankind to a physical universe, a human body and a time existence. God provided the science for humankind built into His design and it is the poor handling of those laws, etc, that leads “science” to find ways to discredit God. Yet, it is really the pride that people have and the rejection of God’s rules in relation to sin that are at the root of the effort to find an alternative to God – such destructive foolishness. Time is really the element that humankind hides behind in their science of beginnings of all physical things and life. Yet, God’s purpose of time is just part of the test and humankind use it against God. Of course they do not understand these things that are beyond them. It is pathetic how particularly young people have been indoctrinated such that they refer to these things as proven facts (i.e. big bang, evolution). They fail to consider that God created the universe, just by saying it. What would modern science say about HOW things can be spoken into existence. It is as though they require God to live by the limited laws God built into the creation. God creates a tree, well that requires seeds to grow a tree or did God just create the tree full grown? Does God require billions of years to create the universe or just speaks it into existence. Science cannot never understand existence as it is not in what God provided as possible knowledge. Knowledge of how “this” all came about is not in any way related to His purpose and amounts to no more than a distraction from the truth. God alludes to this idea of time by saying for God a day is as 1000 years and 1000 years as a day. This is not a definitive equation, but simply says time does not have any control over God as it does for humankind’s earthly existence.
Since life is a test, God gave up control of His special creation (humankind) allowing them the ability to make decisions, as we say a free will. It has been a free will that has displayed contempt for God and rejection of His will, but also has revealed those who love the truth and revealed their humility and selflessness. These latter “few” will share in the divine nature.
In the next existence you will understand to some degree the purpose for life. Heaven Coach is here to help you understand these things now, while you can do something about them. That can be accomplished as long as what is written is in agreement with the scriptures.
Every physical thing will be gone, you will likely have your memory, but the things you once thought were so important will be meaningless. However, the errors you made that have caused your failure in life will be exceedingly, grievously regretted. The minuscule time (if any) spent seeking God and truth was clearly the worst decision of your life. If a person is lost, they will realize their self-seeking was behind their failure. In the lost state the person now sees what was evil and above all it was wasting his/her life on things that were not building up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6.19-21).
Each one of us needs the truth to succeed and not get caught up in what APPEARS to be the reality of life. The worldly appearance of life’s meaning cannot be avoided (we exist in the world), so we must make good choices. On the surface, we see people living and dying and all the physical things we observe and that is all we know. So, when life ends that is all there is, except we may hope there is more or may have heard there will be more. Somehow with this “data” we have the worldly view of life. Many do believe we just go out of existence and essentially children are taught this, inasmuch there is an explanation for everything that does NOT include God. As they grow up in that background they can easily draw the intended conclusion. Many still believe in God and the scriptures are one reason for that confidence. Yet, even then there is often doubt regarding God’s existence because they have not correctly divided the word of truth. Life’s meaning can be 100% certain for those who love the truth, seek it, find it and live by it.
God Is Perfect, All Powerful – Realize His Wisdom
The bible negativity regarding the fear of God or the “fires” of hell may seem to dominate the scriptures – but not really. Those things are true and point out the seriousness of living a godly life. The reason for your existence is to succeed and to have an infinitely better existence than anything imaginable in this life. So, realize the critical nature of your choices and embrace the fear of God as He says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. People without saying it believe they are better than God when they say God is too harsh. They hold the “love” between people as a higher good than God’s rules and in general use “God’s love” as a means to overlook their sins. Since they do not have the truth they fail to understand God’s love is on the cross. Look to heaven as the place you want to receive when your end comes and realize that requires living for Christ and the gospel. The truth about life gives you a perspective that allows you to recognize evil and oppose it.
Evil Hides Or Disguises Itself By Appearing To Be Good Or Neutral
Evil grows in lies and deception. Teaching error always requires lying and it is usually enticing. There is a benefit and for Adam and Eve it was the lie told by Satan in relation to eating of the fruit from the tree in the midst of the garden. God had told them, “you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” Satan told them, “You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Today, the gospel message available to all is hidden from those who do not seek God and truth – essentially they are in the process of perishing. They are living in sin and will die in sin. People who spend their lives in opposition to God will never ENTER the race for heaven. The gospel message when obeyed brings one into a relationship with Christ and thus you are in the race. You can only win the race by being faithful until your end (Revelation 2.10).
2 Corinthians 4.3,4
3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
You might see evil in the world that is, an opposition to God if you look around. It always seems to be getting worse. The growth of evil has been noticeable in every generation from its entrance with Adam and Eve to the time of Noah and then during the time of Abraham and on and on till this day. Evil has not necessarily been continually building, cumulatively speaking, but people in their lifetimes usually see a worsening. The evil in the days of Noah was so bad that God regretted having created humankind. Then there was a “re-start” with eight souls, but then evil crept back in and continued. There are pockets of extreme evil and at times the world recognizes the evil like the time of Hitler in Germany. There are numerous periods like this since the time of Noah. Most of the evil today comes from the growth in the acceptance of sin, in cruelties to one another and in the continual stream of lies from media, from within organizations and families. All the usual things drive these evils such as self-seeking, pride, envy and lusts of various kinds. Religion is the hidden evil as they appear to be provide answers, but only if the answers are the truth. People put down their guard and believe what they are taught by nice people, by people who are interested in helping them. The people helping are usually sincere and in some way they are helping. This makes it more difficult to sort truth from error. Most people seek the wrong thing in religion because this seems like the reason for religion. They seek comfort, seek friends, seek “fellowship,” seek to work together to help the needy or just seek some sort of social interaction. These are not the right reasons for truth seeking people. It is not surprising people find what they seek and as part of the “group package” they believe what they are taught. There is absolutely a one to one correlation between what we seek and what we find. Begin seeking heaven, seeking truth, seeking God and nothing more, nothing less. You actually do not need to be part of any group to be associated with the truth. It would be wise to associate with a group to be most effective, encouraged in service to God. Here is what is important. There is God and truth and forgiveness and you can partake of the divine nature. Seek God with your whole being, make it the most important thing in your life.
People find a way to justify the evil they accept. Unfortunately, God is your judge and will judge according to what is written. Our world accepts abortion and it is a terrible act, almost beyond comprehension. There is no distancing a person from this sin because they did not commit it – they just supported it maybe by voting for a person who supports it. God is not fooled and those supporting sin are guilty of it and maybe more so as they may influence many others directly or indirectly by their support. The ridiculous lie is that women have the right to choose to kill their own child. Life is difficult, but the worst possible difficulty is nothing compared to losing your soul for eternity.
Evil Succeeds Quite Often In How We Blame Others For Our Failures
Blaming others instead of facing up to who we are and the decisions we made allows us to continue to live comfortably without regrets. “It is just my lot in life, it is just my fate being played out.” “I do not know what the end will bring, but I have done the best I could considering my life circumstances.” “If I do not have a wonderful excuse for my situation, then no one has.” Actually, you would be right to say that, because YOU do not have an excuse nor does anyone else. In THE LOST STATE you will finally realize your beliefs about life were wrong OR you believed correctly, but did not live according to your beliefs. Life was more serious and God’s word was precise than you thought.
Blaming others is a way of declaring our innocence and it is the death blow for each person who uses this means to absolve themselves. You see, in so doing you do not need to look for answers, because you have no guilt. Evil in every way is foolery, very self destructive. God did not make up some random rules to test us, but being perfect the sins are things that can be seen as evil by persons with a good heart. It is easy to see the evil in lies and the evil seen in murder, envy, hatred, selfishness and in things that oppose God’s purpose. It is easy to see the evil in pride as it places the person in a position where their way is as good or better than God’s way.
You Ruined My Life
Has anyone ever told you, “you ruined my life?” Perhaps, you told someone that they ruined your life. You would both be wrong as you are responsible for your outcome and you have not ruined someone else’s outcome. There may have been unwise decisions, but it was your decision. A person may have been coerced or forced to do something, but if you survive that “thing” you still can make the right decisions the remainder of your life. Furthermore, God expects us to resist evil even if coerced or forced as difficult as that may be. When we claim someone ruined our life they mean their physical life and certainly people can do things to cause us grief. That may seem important at the time, but ultimately it is not because life is about the soul and that is where success and failure will be measured. It is where at some point you will know this, usually after you pass. You need to know it now, during the only time you can get yourself on the right path.
Life In An Addicted World
Behind most all addictions is some problem and it can be the day to day difficulty of living life, the pain of some loss, the pressure felt from others to participate in their addiction or many other things that bring a person to start something that will become their addiction. The issue that brought you to begin (an addiction) will not get better, but only gets worse. You continue to find some temporary relief by continuing to participate in this means to manage your problem and eventually you are addicted. It is well known that the way to avoid addiction is not to begin. Evil visibly oozes out eventually from a persons addiction and others notice, but it seldom causes a person to quit. The evil is manifested in some outward manner, perhaps some behaviors or some physical or mental degradation. Again, the real and eternal evil is how a person has found their god in the addiction. Truth, God and their true life purpose are never even a consideration.
A broader definition of addiction goes beyond substance abuse or immorality or other sins to which people are addicted, but includes an addiction to, for instance some belief system. This common addiction similarly closes ones mind to anything other than their belief. Catholicism is an addiction every bit if not more so than the many mind alternating substances such as alcohol or heroin. The addiction causes a closed mind to anything except the “drug” Catholicism. Protestantism, Islam, Mormonism and all the others are addictions. The truth can be considered an addiction, but the difference is being addicted to God’s way ends you in heaven.
The truth is an addiction that has no external forces enticing you to be dedicated to Jesus and the gospel. You choose each day to do the right thing. That which you are addicted to, you love. God refers to Himself as a jealous God and thus idolatry will bring a bad end. No Catholic or Protestant thinks of themselves as idolaters, yet if they are not of the truth they follow and worship another deity. You cannot have God and follow after a doctrine different than His.
1 John 2.4
4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
Claiming the God of the bible, claiming Jesus as who you believe in and not following after, obeying the truth from God means you are an idolater.
2 John 1.9
9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.
Here is how Jesus put it in Matthew 7.21.
Matthew 7.21
21 Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
The so-called Christian world ignores these things despite they are perfectly consistent with all scripture. How in the world does anyone believe that you can ignore God, not do all He says and be pleasing to Him? A person cannot examine the scriptures and find what the religions of the world teach. These religions are evil because they make people believe they are providing them with the truth.
The World Disguises Evil In Things That Appear To Be Totally Harmless
In various parts of the world there are many different distractions. In America and around the world, sports have become addictive. Amazingly, the sports addiction affects people regardless of their “state in life” and it might be a national or a local or a school addiction. Certainly, this is innocent. If a person understood the purpose of life, they might see that anything that distracts them from the truth, from finding it and living it is problematic. Sports, hobbies and anything that distracts you from seeking God and truth will all be gone. There will just be you in a non-body existence – no physical things. You are left with the things that will judge you, with the things done in your body whether good or evil. Evil’s disguise is now revealed and it might be sports because it so filled your life. It might be your children, your gardening, your travel, your house, your making money and all sorts of seemingly innocent things. Are these things truly evil? Of course not, unless they so filled your life that THEY LEFT NO ROOM FOR GOD. You see you cannot really help your children in the one thing that is truly important unless you help them understand life, truth and God.
True Evil Is The The Loss Of Your Soul
The world masks the truth from God (the word of God) to eliminate any concerns as people fulfill their lusts during their lifetimes. It is what people want that is, to succeed NOW! In their myopia they live for the immediate or the short term goals of this life. The truth will be devastating and in an instant whether when they die or when Christ returns it will astonish. The terror of the moment for godless people, for religious persons who embraced error thinking it brought security will be unbearable. NOW, it is not so serious, but it needs to be. God has tied your salvation to truth. Jesus told His disciples that He was the way, the truth and the life. The lost are the ones who did not receive this love of the truth that they might be saved.
2 Thessalonians 2.10-12
10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
The truth that was right before them!
Acts 17.24-27
24 “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.
25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though HE IS NOT FAR FROM EACH ONE OF US;
One Word That Describes The Loss Of Heaven
The one word that will define a lost person will be REGRET.
Many adjectives or phrases come to mind such as unimaginable (REGRET), extremely foolish (REGRET), hopelessness (REGRET), and the sheer stupidity of the pride and selfishness (REGRET). Finally, a person realizes it was their bad choices that has brought them to this infinitely regrettable end.
Regret can be seen powerfully if contrasted with happiness and of course, we are talking about eternal happiness versus eternal regret.
Proverbs 15:13
A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance,
But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
The above verse is something that can be experienced at various times during our lifetime. However, we are talking about the end of life and how there is no recovery – just regret. It is the difference between a CONTINUAL merry heart and NEVER ENDING heartache. The thing that makes it so overwhelming is that in an instant all is realized and appropriately, sadly for the lost, the spirit is broken for eternity.
If We make poor choices in life these will be the ultimate reason for regret. Of course, if we make wise choices, having a character of unselfishness and done in humility these will not result in regret. Look at the world and ask, “are these the choices that we see people making, that we make” consistent with God’s way? The choice you need to make is to seek God with your whole “being.” In that quest, you need to be successful and then live accordingly.
The Most Difficult Thing To Overcome
There are many specific things that fit this category. What causes one person difficulty is not a problem for another. So, the most difficult thing at a high-level would be whatever you love more than what God wants you to do. Is it something in the world, is it a person, is it place or thing that is loved more than God? It might be any number of things that you love – maybe a hobby, maybe sports, even something very noble. Anything that keeps you from winning the race for heaven is something you cannot afford. The scriptures talk of three things that people place before God. They are the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Of course, you live in the world, but you must not be OF the world. Easier said than done as our senses are physical and thus our desires and we lay up our treasures in the temporary. The most difficult thing to overcome is different for every person, but at some high level it is the world and the things in the world, some of which we care more for than God. God makes the distinction for us and very powerfully in 2 Corinthians showing us this world (seen things) is temporary and only value is in the next existence because it is eternal (unseen).
2 Corinthians 4.16-18
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Everything in the scriptures emphasizes the next life, the eternal life and that this life is a test. Life turns out to be a very personal battle between you and sin. There would be no test unless you have a free will and so God gives up control over His creation. God defines the rules and the rules for one thing define sin. God goes further indicating a way to escape sin. It is reasonable to believe that if people knew the truth they would do what God says and be successful. However, the fact is people do not seek the truth. They most frequently believe what someone tells them is the truth – likely someone “charismatic” or influential, or well known or someone well spoken or all of these things and they are convinced.
The Growing Weight of Evil
The world overcomes people and the world is the addiction – the things of the world. Like any addiction, continued participation makes it harder to eliminate it from your life. We live in the world, but we do not have to be OF the world. Jesus pointed out the danger of loving the world (John 15, 1 John 2.15-17) because ultimately your choice will be either love God or love the world. There is no middle ground.
There are so many things that we carry with us that we need to discard. There is unfairness and we become hateful and often bitter. We are falling into a pit and instead of grabbing the wall and climbing out, we add to our weight and fall faster.
Ephesians 4.31,32
31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
An important distinction to make when studying the bible is who is the intended audience? Although, it is true that the bible is good for all to study, you really need to understand how it relates to you. A letter like this one to the Ephesians is to the Christians who are in the local church in Ephesus and of course, to all those in the body of Christ. There is great value in the scriptures for every person, but following one’s conversion as a child of God there is special advice and encouragement. The blessings, for instance, talked about throughout Ephesians are for God’s children. If you are not in the body of Christ then you need to get there because the blessings are not for those in sin. God’s children are directed to live in this manner (e.g. Ephesians 4.31,32) so they can in the end achieve the goal. Bitterness can easily overtake a person. The point is if you put bitterness out of your life and these other things and live with kindness and so-on you will be able to serve God as He requires, being faithful.
You need to have your past sins forgiven in obedience to the gospel and then the advice from the letters is truly meaningful to YOU. The letters to the saints help those outside the body by taking God’s wisdom to heart, as suggested above in Ephesians 4.31,32. As a person understands God (having a love of the truth) then they have a better chance of coming to the knowledge that they MUST have their past sins forgiven. Otherwise, in these problematic behaviors they are pulling themselves more aggressively into the abyss of sin, into the world.
Pride: Very Common and Destructive
Pride is everywhere and if we think in terms of those who believe in God it is the thing that keeps these people from having a successful life. There is a belief, often unstated that God will see things their way. Out of this kind of thinking they make rules as a group or just as individuals. As a group they may decide to worship God this way or that. They ignore God’s directions because they have great idea that God, “is just going to love.” In worship it is about following God’s directions. Paul alluded to this when he spoke to the Athenians. As individuals a person may think that God will understand me, understand what I have done and why. The perfect definition of pride is “my way” and that includes when it is in opposition to God’s way. The world is overcome by things that seem right, by things that have become traditional. I do not know of anything more fundamental than the need to honor God and realizing it must be done His way. This is because the honor is ALL “tied up” with obedience. You can do a million wonderful things, but if they are not in accordance with the doctrine of Christ, they are in opposition to God. The world looks at these things people do in honor to God and think how well they are pleasing God. People travel the world and bring the salvation message to a lost and dying world and if it is not the truth then it is an abomination and destructive to those being taught.
OK, So How Do You Overcome The Things Of The World That You Love
There is no formula. The scriptures tell us to seek God with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29.13
13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
There is only one God and He is the God of the bible. His ways are firm and unchangeable and He means what He says. So, maybe the question should be how badly do you want to go to heaven? Badly enough to see the world as not providing a path, but as a hindrance? If indeed it is a hindrance, can you live differently and consequently be opposed to the world. The world here represents all the things that the world offers and much of that is exceedingly attractive, desirable. The opposite would be living for Christ and the gospel. Jesus spoke of the world in 1 John 2.
1 John 2.15-17
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
The world symbolizes the things opposed to God. It is that way because the world CHOOSES to oppose the things of God. The world embraces the things God calls sinful and the character of the world is selfish, full of pride and envy. God chooses those out of the world in terms of their character and desire to seek Him and then find Him and obey Him. God is not a respecter of persons (Romans 2.11), He chooses no specific person, but the KIND OF PERSON He has defined for heaven. It is your choice to be that kind of person. That person will reject the things of the world and consequently the world will reject him/her.
John 15.18
18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
To clarify, God’s children live in the world (obviously) and have the deepest concern about the people of the world in terms of their ultimate success. They would give everything in their service to God to bring the message to the world. However, the world and the world’s religion are not aligned with God. You can make this distinction.
This is not hard to understand, but hard to accept and thus people who see God in creation and in the scriptures all too often want to live in the world AND still be on the road to heaven. God says this is not possible and this makes “the separation very easy.” We are advised that we cannot serve God and mammon (riches). We are advised that God does not want the lukewarm, that is those between hot and cold. Salvation is for everyone, but you must deny ungodliness and worldly lusts.
Titus 2.11,12
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age
God makes the separation clear between the world and godliness and only one brings salvation, always a choice each person makes.
Those “In Christ” get there having a humble spirit and persevere seeking God and truth and then obeying it. They must not go back into the world or they lose the prize. God’s children do not flaunt their position as saints, but constantly are thankful and have concerns they may lose the relationship. Paul told the saints at Philippi to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. Paul also had concerns about His salvation and told the church at Corinth, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” God’s children look at all of God’s advice and strive to be faithful. They see Christ’s mission to seek and save that which was lost as their mission and avoid offenses albeit in boldness declaring the truth.
2 Peter 2.20,21
20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.
21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.
So, the Christian life is the best thing with its promise of eternal life, but difficult and as suggested some become entangled again in the world.
Demas, who was traveling with Paul was one who went back into the world and for the reason given.
2 Timothy 4.10
10 for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world
So, how do you overcome the things of the world that have your attention. God is very clearly not seeking “just anybody.” Far from it, He wants the best and that would be impossible, except for His plan in Jesus. You may not like how God defines sin, but your success or failure will be associated with your final sin or sinless condition. Here is Jesus, and sin can be eliminated or as the scriptures indicate covered (propitiation) and we are back to how badly do you want heaven.
Romans 3.25
25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed
So how do you overcome the things in the world that you love? Obviously, only in Christ, only in the gospel and specifically in obeying the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. However, do you still love the world, certain aspects of the world? I only know of one way to overcome the world and that is to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. There are dozens of things we could say that will help because the scriptures are filled with advice to the saints. It all comes back to taking God seriously and once again, how badly do you want heaven – enough to forego the things of this world?
How Evil Gets a Grip on People
Evil is something we choose. In general, a person does not say I want to be evil. The choices are things that happen because in the background of our lives we are selfish, prideful, unforgiving, envious and so on. The scriptures make the connection between a person’s character (i.e. envy and self-seeking), and confusion and evil.
James 3.16,17
16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
A great deal of the evil comes from our mouth. It is already in our heart and it spills over. The evil may be lies or hatred or hurtful actions or just pathetic crude speaking. It is who we have become and it should wake us up, but in pride we just say I am being honest with my feelings. Evil becomes deeply ingrained in our character and few find an escape, but many find ways to excuse their words and actions.
Matthew 15.16-18
16 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding?
17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.
Indeed, it is out of the mouth, but really out of the heart. A person is corrupted by their words and they place themselves on a path away from God. Sin is the thing that separated humankind from God and continuation in sin deepens that separation inasmuch as recovery becomes less likely. God highly desires your success and provides a way to have past sins forgiven. One might realize that selfishness and pride are not helpful in submitting to God because He requires doing things His way. This is the test, Jesus being the author of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him (Hebrews 5.9).
There is such a great opportunity for humankind in their existence to find God and be convinced by the word He has left for us. Missing out on this great blessing is missing out on life. The truth about life is missed and consequently you fail in life in the only thing that matters – the soul. People find all sorts of ways to reject God’s word as an excuse for not following it. One way is to say, “which bible, which translation” meaning how can I know what to do in such confusion. If they believe this they are some how relieved of responsibility at least in their minds. They would be wise to seek God as indicated in Jeremiah and maybe they would not see translations as a problem – because they are not!
Jeremiah 29.13
13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Also, you might learn that the things you need are not to be found in yourself.
Jeremiah 10.23
23 O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14.33) and did not leave you without the answers you need to succeed.
Evil gets its grip on people because they are of the world and do not make the distinction between good (God) and evil (the world). As always, people make choices that are aligned with God or with the world. The things of God are eternal with heaven being the prize. The things of the world are things associated with what God refers to and defines as sin and the result is a failed life.
God is the absence of evil and will not be sharing eternal life with those who are evil. Thus, Jesus is there to resolve the problem of sin and indeed you can have your past sins forgiven. The the advice from God to assure your FINAL ACCEPTANCE is, “Test all things; hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil.”
1 Thessalonians 5.21-23
21 Test all things; hold fast what is good.
22 Abstain from every form of evil.
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Why The Apparent Good Is Evil
Evil is most destructive to the soul and God’s advice to His children is to walk carefully, accurately in life consistent with His word. God’s wisdom is beyond our comprehension and that is why we must accept things that we do not fully understand.
Romans 11.33
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!
Although, there are things we cannot see (except by the eye of Faith), God has graciously provided all we need in terms of life and godliness (2 Peter 1.2-4). As a result of your perseverance and diligence it is amazing how much you can understand about God. Faith indeed becomes sight and there is zero doubt and consequently you can better serve God.
Ephesians 5.15,16
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
There is an urgency to make the best possible use of our time as the days are evil because life is short and as the days pass so do your opportunities. Life is about the soul and about NOTHING ELSE and thus if you do not walk accurately with purpose and avoid getting caught up in the things of the world you will see your time as wasted on self-fulfillment. That self-fulfillment is not always selfish, but could be helping others as a way of making your life fulfilling. That is nice, even praiseworthy, however it does not address your most fundamental need to have a relationship with Christ.
In the end, the physical things will be gone and thus you need to make the best use of your time, laying up your treasures in heaven. You will only see the days as evil if you have the truth or when you die and then it is everlastingly too late. We go through life and try to live a good life as the world sees a good live. We may actually work at avoiding all the things that are considered “immoral, unethical.” We live according to a “high” standard and do the things that are seen as commendable by others. We honor education, family, helping others and may even participate in things of a religious nature. Yet, the days are evil and we cannot see the problem – all appears to be just the way it should be. The days are evil unless we are wise. The days are evil because time is passing and with that so are our opportunities to have a true relationship with God’s Son. God has revealed the truth – THE TRUTH. This is what we need and anything less than THE TRUTH will not provide us a good ending. We spend our lifetime convinced that we are doing well. When the end comes we feel we are much better than others – comparatively speaking. If anyone succeeds – it will be me. You need to take the time you are given, your lifetime to take God seriously. One thing that means is not to risk eternity following what some person tells you, but understand God as He has revealed Himself. That includes this author, who is scared to death of teaching something inconsistent with God’s word. God’s word fits everything together in a way you can tell it is from God.
Billions of people live today in the appearance of good such as being a Catholic, a Protestant, a Mormon, or various others. These are terribly evil inasmuch they destroy the soul. Thus the appearance of good is truly evil. If you take God’s word seriously and want to achieve heaven then finding God’s truth will mean rejecting these religious inventions of humankind.
God is selective, more than you may have come to believe. God means what He has said. He meant what He said to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, to Moses, To Naaman, and throughout history. Jesus, Himself had instructions from the Father and He kept them (Hebrews 5.8,9). Somehow, people in their desires to be successful in their earthly existence will not allow God (God’s word) to interfere. The religions of the world accommodate people and change the message by taking away from it and/or adding to it. God’s word is not effective when it is not God’s word, but the creation of humankind. In view of the consequences, the right designation for these religions is EVIL. Sadly, EVIL IS FINALLY REALIZED when you find yourself lost.
The success of evil is largely hidden because much of it appears as something good and/or acceptable. Unless a person looks seriously into the word of God they will fail to differentiate truth from error or we might say truth from evil. You can get a picture of the seriousness of life when you see Jesus dedication to living without sin. From the moment He began to bring the message (and we have a record) there is a complete dedication to the seriousness of life. There were no idle words, no comic expressions, no double meanings, but only a rigid focus on His mission and preparing humankind for the kingdom that was at hand. It should help a person to understand that life is not to be taken casually. In the next life for the lost their “come what may” attitude will suddenly be seen as a serious mistake as they realize the gravity of their eternal failure. Now, they no longer have freedom – gone forever, it was an aspect granted to each person for the test. In the lost state, they will wish they knew and followed God’s advice to test all things, hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil, abstain from sexual immorality and exhibit virtue, seek knowledge, have self-control, demonstrate perseverance and godliness and brotherly kindness, and love. This is a person taking life seriously and these things are only known in their seriousness and importance by the word of God. There is a formidable gap between living in the world and living for Christ and the gospel. Perhaps the reason the vast majority of people live in the “world” is because the majority of the people live following and desiring the things in the world.” In other words they are followers of what seems right (to the world) and God wants you to stand on your own two feet and find the truth, obey it and live it. Heaven is not for followers, but individuals making individual commitments to God and Christ.
The Truly Devastating Evil Is Not What We Think It Is
We see evil around us in terms of terrible crimes against others and at times personally experience evil. The world however, is blinded to the most destructive evil and much of it is contained in what people see as good things – that is why it is so evil. Consider you believe all is well in your life and you are going comfortably through your life – no big concerns, worries. Then your pension fund disappears or your IRA is much less valuable than you thought or the inheritance you were promised does not happen. There has been a misappropriation of funds or there is a collapse of your investments or your rich uncle disinherited you. How did this happen? Slowly the story unravels and you trusted, believed in someone or something and now the lies or perhaps exaggerations (also lies) are revealed. You believe in God and follow after some religion and are very certain about your future as you live strictly by their rules. However, it is a lie and there is no connection with God and in fact in your final lost state you see it was the worst kind of evil. Jesus said do not fear those who can kill the body, but fear Him who can destroy both body and soul.
Matthew 10.28
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
You can still succeed in life despite losing everything in this world, because life is not about this life, but about the soul. So, you should not be devastated by losing everything – easier said, than when you are actually experiencing the loss. Nonetheless, a child of God knows the “real life” with its reward lies in the future. On the other hand being without Christ is truly being without hope. Suicide is a possible result of loss of friends, family, position, wealth or perhaps something you did and you cannot even live with yourself. There are many situations which we cannot overcome, and in hopelessness they finally overcome us. The path to suicide is typically gradual growing from concern to worry, to depression and then into despair where suicide or attempted suicide can result. The best way to avoid this is to make sure concern does not go to worry. Every person who takes their own life because of their unbearable situation goes into a worse condition and wishes they were back in their bad situation. Even in a terrible situation you still have hope, although you may not realize it. The world generally at this time feels very much empathy in relation to suicide and are shaken by those who reach this most desperate of conditions. Society (the world) is behind people reaching this condition and largely because of its portrayal of a no-God existence. Few commit suicide, but many have desperate lives and consider suicide. The world of religions commits spiritual suicide every day by setting a course for their adherents to lose their souls. The solution is the truth, which the world and the world of religion hide so well.
Understanding Life Will Thwart Evil For Those Who Love The Truth
As we go through life we are faced with the realities around us and they cannot be avoided. We need to eat, sleep, have a place to “lay our heads, and a roof over us.” We tend to seek much more and we have big goals. We experience important moments and there are events that are were very rewarding for us or conversely very devastating. All those things will come and go and at best we are left with memories for a while, sometimes quite a while. If we are fortunate we have had many good times and less bad times. It does not matter because it really DOES NOT MATTER – ultimately. As a person gets older they may realize this because the events they cherished and the ones that brought grief are passed to the point that they are only distant and fading memories. It must all be very confusing that is, life is confusing – what is the purpose? Going through life without knowing the purpose, without knowing of its potential “unpleasant” end or glorious finale and maybe not even knowing if anything comes next must make life seem in some way, sinister. There is an answer and that is to know the truth about life, about God’s purpose.
2 Peter 1.2-4
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
The scriptures reveal God’s purpose and here in 2 Peter you can take away that meaning, namely that you may be PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE. Understanding God as He has revealed Himself allows you see that partaking in the divine nature is for His children to whom this letter is written – if they remain faithful. Those exceedingly great and precious promises are for those who are in Christ. Anyone can be in Christ as it is a choice you make, but it is certainly NOT a mental acceptance of Jesus as your savior, but consists of obedience to receive forgiveness of sins (includes belief in Jesus as the Son of God) and then continued obedience. It is EVIL to point a person to something other than the truth. If you understand that God wants to share with you in His Divine Nature that can be very powerful. You can know that with exceedingly great certainty as you grow in the grace and knowledge of God’s truth.
The entertainment industry (which includes most news media types) around the world is terribly immoral and when the entertainment is decent it still remains misleading. The harm is that life is very short and when the truth about life is presented incorrectly, it is costly. One of the most common things is to portray our existence as due to a very unlikely, really impossible, inconceivable series of events – thus no God required. The wrong understanding of life misleads people away from the truth that is needed. The world, being in opposition to God, accepts things that God defines as sin. They may also do what would be considered as good works, maybe generous things, but such things can mislead a person to believe their goodness will in some way help them to be successful eternally. The standard for eternity is sins forgiven in accordance with HOW God forgives them followed by continued faithfulness. That faithfulness includes your treatment of others and growing in virtues, but you need a love of the truth and obedience to it as God defined to have your past sins forgiven.
God is underestimated in His seriousness about keeping perfectly to the word He has delivered to humankind. In one short verse, God reveals the hope of eternal life, that He cannot lie and how the promise was before time began.
Titus 1.2
2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began
It is interesting how the humankind’s theories of existence of all things physical and then living things depends on extremely long periods of time, i.e. billions of years. Yet, God’s purpose for humankind occurred before time began – time beginning as recorded in Genesis 1.1 “In the beginning God.” God’s creation of time being a part of His limiting humankind during the test. God says nothing about the age of the earth because it is not important. The important things relate to His purpose – the souls of each person. Science uses what God created (time) to suggest, “all this” happened without God. They will never get it right because God limited humankind to a physical universe, a human body and a time existence. God provided the science for humankind built into His design and it is the poor handling of those laws, etc, that leads “science” to find ways to discredit God. Yet, it is really the pride that people have and the rejection of God’s rules in relation to sin that are at the root of the effort to find an alternative to God – such destructive foolishness. Time is really the element that humankind hides behind in their science of beginnings of all physical things and life. Yet, God’s purpose of time is just part of the test and humankind use it against God. Of course they do not understand these things that are beyond them. It is pathetic how particularly young people have been indoctrinated such that they refer to these things as proven facts (i.e. big bang, evolution). They fail to consider that God created the universe, just by saying it. What would modern science say about HOW things can be spoken into existence. It is as though they require God to live by the limited laws God built into the creation. God creates a tree, well that requires seeds to grow a tree or did God just create the tree full grown? Does God require billions of years to create the universe or just speaks it into existence. Science cannot never understand existence as it is not in what God provided as possible knowledge. Knowledge of how “this” all came about is not in any way related to His purpose and amounts to no more than a distraction from the truth. God alludes to this idea of time by saying for God a day is as 1000 years and 1000 years as a day. This is not a definitive equation, but simply says time does not have any control over God as it does for humankind’s earthly existence.
Since life is a test, God gave up control of His special creation (humankind) allowing them the ability to make decisions, as we say a free will. It has been a free will that has displayed contempt for God and rejection of His will, but also has revealed those who love the truth and revealed their humility and selflessness. These latter “few” will share in the divine nature.
In the next existence you will understand to some degree the purpose for life. Heaven Coach is here to help you understand these things now, while you can do something about them. That can be accomplished as long as what is written is in agreement with the scriptures.
Every physical thing will be gone, you will likely have your memory, but the things you once thought were so important will be meaningless. However, the errors you made that have caused your failure in life will be exceedingly, grievously regretted. The minuscule time (if any) spent seeking God and truth was clearly the worst decision of your life. If a person is lost, they will realize their self-seeking was behind their failure. In the lost state the person now sees what was evil and above all it was wasting his/her life on things that were not building up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6.19-21).
Each one of us needs the truth to succeed and not get caught up in what APPEARS to be the reality of life. The worldly appearance of life’s meaning cannot be avoided (we exist in the world), so we must make good choices. On the surface, we see people living and dying and all the physical things we observe and that is all we know. So, when life ends that is all there is, except we may hope there is more or may have heard there will be more. Somehow with this “data” we have the worldly view of life. Many do believe we just go out of existence and essentially children are taught this, inasmuch there is an explanation for everything that does NOT include God. As they grow up in that background they can easily draw the intended conclusion. Many still believe in God and the scriptures are one reason for that confidence. Yet, even then there is often doubt regarding God’s existence because they have not correctly divided the word of truth. Life’s meaning can be 100% certain for those who love the truth, seek it, find it and live by it.
God Is Perfect, All Powerful – Realize His Wisdom
The bible negativity regarding the fear of God or the “fires” of hell may seem to dominate the scriptures – but not really. Those things are true and point out the seriousness of living a godly life. The reason for your existence is to succeed and to have an infinitely better existence than anything imaginable in this life. So, realize the critical nature of your choices and embrace the fear of God as He says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. People without saying it believe they are better than God when they say God is too harsh. They hold the “love” between people as a higher good than God’s rules and in general use “God’s love” as a means to overlook their sins. Since they do not have the truth they fail to understand God’s love is on the cross. Look to heaven as the place you want to receive when your end comes and realize that requires living for Christ and the gospel. The truth about life gives you a perspective that allows you to recognize evil and oppose it.
Evil Hides Or Disguises Itself By Appearing To Be Good Or Neutral
Evil grows in lies and deception. Teaching error always requires lying and it is usually enticing. There is a benefit and for Adam and Eve it was the lie told by Satan in relation to eating of the fruit from the tree in the midst of the garden. God had told them, “you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” Satan told them, “You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Today, the gospel message available to all is hidden from those who do not seek God and truth – essentially they are in the process of perishing. They are living in sin and will die in sin. People who spend their lives in opposition to God will never ENTER the race for heaven. The gospel message when obeyed brings one into a relationship with Christ and thus you are in the race. You can only win the race by being faithful until your end (Revelation 2.10).
2 Corinthians 4.3,4
3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
You might see evil in the world that is, an opposition to God if you look around. It always seems to be getting worse. The growth of evil has been noticeable in every generation from its entrance with Adam and Eve to the time of Noah and then during the time of Abraham and on and on till this day. Evil has not necessarily been continually building, cumulatively speaking, but people in their lifetimes usually see a worsening. The evil in the days of Noah was so bad that God regretted having created humankind. Then there was a “re-start” with eight souls, but then evil crept back in and continued. There are pockets of extreme evil and at times the world recognizes the evil like the time of Hitler in Germany. There are numerous periods like this since the time of Noah. Most of the evil today comes from the growth in the acceptance of sin, in cruelties to one another and in the continual stream of lies from media, from within organizations and families. All the usual things drive these evils such as self-seeking, pride, envy and lusts of various kinds. Religion is the hidden evil as they appear to be provide answers, but only if the answers are the truth. People put down their guard and believe what they are taught by nice people, by people who are interested in helping them. The people helping are usually sincere and in some way they are helping. This makes it more difficult to sort truth from error. Most people seek the wrong thing in religion because this seems like the reason for religion. They seek comfort, seek friends, seek “fellowship,” seek to work together to help the needy or just seek some sort of social interaction. These are not the right reasons for truth seeking people. It is not surprising people find what they seek and as part of the “group package” they believe what they are taught. There is absolutely a one to one correlation between what we seek and what we find. Begin seeking heaven, seeking truth, seeking God and nothing more, nothing less. You actually do not need to be part of any group to be associated with the truth. It would be wise to associate with a group to be most effective, encouraged in service to God. Here is what is important. There is God and truth and forgiveness and you can partake of the divine nature. Seek God with your whole being, make it the most important thing in your life.
People find a way to justify the evil they accept. Unfortunately, God is your judge and will judge according to what is written. Our world accepts abortion and it is a terrible act, almost beyond comprehension. There is no distancing a person from this sin because they did not commit it – they just supported it maybe by voting for a person who supports it. God is not fooled and those supporting sin are guilty of it and maybe more so as they may influence many others directly or indirectly by their support. The ridiculous lie is that women have the right to choose to kill their own child. Life is difficult, but the worst possible difficulty is nothing compared to losing your soul for eternity.
Evil Succeeds Quite Often In How We Blame Others For Our Failures
Blaming others instead of facing up to who we are and the decisions we made allows us to continue to live comfortably without regrets. “It is just my lot in life, it is just my fate being played out.” “I do not know what the end will bring, but I have done the best I could considering my life circumstances.” “If I do not have a wonderful excuse for my situation, then no one has.” Actually, you would be right to say that, because YOU do not have an excuse nor does anyone else. In THE LOST STATE you will finally realize your beliefs about life were wrong OR you believed correctly, but did not live according to your beliefs. Life was more serious and God’s word was precise than you thought.
Blaming others is a way of declaring our innocence and it is the death blow for each person who uses this means to absolve themselves. You see, in so doing you do not need to look for answers, because you have no guilt. Evil in every way is foolery, very self destructive. God did not make up some random rules to test us, but being perfect the sins are things that can be seen as evil by persons with a good heart. It is easy to see the evil in lies and the evil seen in murder, envy, hatred, selfishness and in things that oppose God’s purpose. It is easy to see the evil in pride as it places the person in a position where their way is as good or better than God’s way.
You Ruined My Life
Has anyone ever told you, “you ruined my life?” Perhaps, you told someone that they ruined your life. You would both be wrong as you are responsible for your outcome and you have not ruined someone else’s outcome. There may have been unwise decisions, but it was your decision. A person may have been coerced or forced to do something, but if you survive that “thing” you still can make the right decisions the remainder of your life. Furthermore, God expects us to resist evil even if coerced or forced as difficult as that may be. When we claim someone ruined our life they mean their physical life and certainly people can do things to cause us grief. That may seem important at the time, but ultimately it is not because life is about the soul and that is where success and failure will be measured. It is where at some point you will know this, usually after you pass. You need to know it now, during the only time you can get yourself on the right path.
Life In An Addicted World
Behind most all addictions is some problem and it can be the day to day difficulty of living life, the pain of some loss, the pressure felt from others to participate in their addiction or many other things that bring a person to start something that will become their addiction. The issue that brought you to begin (an addiction) will not get better, but only gets worse. You continue to find some temporary relief by continuing to participate in this means to manage your problem and eventually you are addicted. It is well known that the way to avoid addiction is not to begin. Evil visibly oozes out eventually from a persons addiction and others notice, but it seldom causes a person to quit. The evil is manifested in some outward manner, perhaps some behaviors or some physical or mental degradation. Again, the real and eternal evil is how a person has found their god in the addiction. Truth, God and their true life purpose are never even a consideration.
A broader definition of addiction goes beyond substance abuse or immorality or other sins to which people are addicted, but includes an addiction to, for instance some belief system. This common addiction similarly closes ones mind to anything other than their belief. Catholicism is an addiction every bit if not more so than the many mind alternating substances such as alcohol or heroin. The addiction causes a closed mind to anything except the “drug” Catholicism. Protestantism, Islam, Mormonism and all the others are addictions. The truth can be considered an addiction, but the difference is being addicted to God’s way ends you in heaven.
The truth is an addiction that has no external forces enticing you to be dedicated to Jesus and the gospel. You choose each day to do the right thing. That which you are addicted to, you love. God refers to Himself as a jealous God and thus idolatry will bring a bad end. No Catholic or Protestant thinks of themselves as idolaters, yet if they are not of the truth they follow and worship another deity. You cannot have God and follow after a doctrine different than His.
1 John 2.4
4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
Claiming the God of the bible, claiming Jesus as who you believe in and not following after, obeying the truth from God means you are an idolater.
2 John 1.9
9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.
Here is how Jesus put it in Matthew 7.21.
Matthew 7.21
21 Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
The so-called Christian world ignores these things despite they are perfectly consistent with all scripture. How in the world does anyone believe that you can ignore God, not do all He says and be pleasing to Him? A person cannot examine the scriptures and find what the religions of the world teach. These religions are evil because they make people believe they are providing them with the truth.
The World Disguises Evil In Things That Appear To Be Totally Harmless
In various parts of the world there are many different distractions. In America and around the world, sports have become addictive. Amazingly, the sports addiction affects people regardless of their “state in life” and it might be a national or a local or a school addiction. Certainly, this is innocent. If a person understood the purpose of life, they might see that anything that distracts them from the truth, from finding it and living it is problematic. Sports, hobbies and anything that distracts you from seeking God and truth will all be gone. There will just be you in a non-body existence – no physical things. You are left with the things that will judge you, with the things done in your body whether good or evil. Evil’s disguise is now revealed and it might be sports because it so filled your life. It might be your children, your gardening, your travel, your house, your making money and all sorts of seemingly innocent things. Are these things truly evil? Of course not, unless they so filled your life that THEY LEFT NO ROOM FOR GOD. You see you cannot really help your children in the one thing that is truly important unless you help them understand life, truth and God.
True Evil Is The The Loss Of Your Soul
The world masks the truth from God (the word of God) to eliminate any concerns as people fulfill their lusts during their lifetimes. It is what people want that is, to succeed NOW! In their myopia they live for the immediate or the short term goals of this life. The truth will be devastating and in an instant whether when they die or when Christ returns it will astonish. The terror of the moment for godless people, for religious persons who embraced error thinking it brought security will be unbearable. NOW, it is not so serious, but it needs to be. God has tied your salvation to truth. Jesus told His disciples that He was the way, the truth and the life. The lost are the ones who did not receive this love of the truth that they might be saved.
2 Thessalonians 2.10-12
10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
The truth that was right before them!
Acts 17.24-27
24 “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.
25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though HE IS NOT FAR FROM EACH ONE OF US;
One Word That Describes The Loss Of Heaven
The one word that will define a lost person will be REGRET.
Many adjectives or phrases come to mind such as unimaginable (REGRET), extremely foolish (REGRET), hopelessness (REGRET), and the sheer stupidity of the pride and selfishness (REGRET). Finally, a person realizes it was their bad choices that has brought them to this infinitely regrettable end.
Regret can be seen powerfully if contrasted with happiness and of course, we are talking about eternal happiness versus eternal regret.
Proverbs 15:13
A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance,
But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
The above verse is something that can be experienced at various times during our lifetime. However, we are talking about the end of life and how there is no recovery – just regret. It is the difference between a CONTINUAL merry heart and NEVER ENDING heartache. The thing that makes it so overwhelming is that in an instant all is realized and appropriately, sadly for the lost, the spirit is broken for eternity.
If We make poor choices in life these will be the ultimate reason for regret. Of course, if we make wise choices, having a character of unselfishness and done in humility these will not result in regret. Look at the world and ask, “are these the choices that we see people making, that we make” consistent with God’s way? The choice you need to make is to seek God with your whole “being.” In that quest, you need to be successful and then live accordingly.
The Most Difficult Thing To Overcome
There are many specific things that fit this category. What causes one person difficulty is not a problem for another. So, the most difficult thing at a high-level would be whatever you love more than what God wants you to do. Is it something in the world, is it a person, is it place or thing that is loved more than God? It might be any number of things that you love – maybe a hobby, maybe sports, even something very noble. Anything that keeps you from winning the race for heaven is something you cannot afford. The scriptures talk of three things that people place before God. They are the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Of course, you live in the world, but you must not be OF the world. Easier said than done as our senses are physical and thus our desires and we lay up our treasures in the temporary. The most difficult thing to overcome is different for every person, but at some high level it is the world and the things in the world, some of which we care more for than God. God makes the distinction for us and very powerfully in 2 Corinthians showing us this world (seen things) is temporary and only value is in the next existence because it is eternal (unseen).
2 Corinthians 4.16-18
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Everything in the scriptures emphasizes the next life, the eternal life and that this life is a test. Life turns out to be a very personal battle between you and sin. There would be no test unless you have a free will and so God gives up control over His creation. God defines the rules and the rules for one thing define sin. God goes further indicating a way to escape sin. It is reasonable to believe that if people knew the truth they would do what God says and be successful. However, the fact is people do not seek the truth. They most frequently believe what someone tells them is the truth – likely someone “charismatic” or influential, or well known or someone well spoken or all of these things and they are convinced.
The Growing Weight of Evil
The world overcomes people and the world is the addiction – the things of the world. Like any addiction, continued participation makes it harder to eliminate it from your life. We live in the world, but we do not have to be OF the world. Jesus pointed out the danger of loving the world (John 15, 1 John 2.15-17) because ultimately your choice will be either love God or love the world. There is no middle ground.
There are so many things that we carry with us that we need to discard. There is unfairness and we become hateful and often bitter. We are falling into a pit and instead of grabbing the wall and climbing out, we add to our weight and fall faster.
Ephesians 4.31,32
31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
An important distinction to make when studying the bible is who is the intended audience? Although, it is true that the bible is good for all to study, you really need to understand how it relates to you. A letter like this one to the Ephesians is to the Christians who are in the local church in Ephesus and of course, to all those in the body of Christ. There is great value in the scriptures for every person, but following one’s conversion as a child of God there is special advice and encouragement. The blessings, for instance, talked about throughout Ephesians are for God’s children. If you are not in the body of Christ then you need to get there because the blessings are not for those in sin. God’s children are directed to live in this manner (e.g. Ephesians 4.31,32) so they can in the end achieve the goal. Bitterness can easily overtake a person. The point is if you put bitterness out of your life and these other things and live with kindness and so-on you will be able to serve God as He requires, being faithful.
You need to have your past sins forgiven in obedience to the gospel and then the advice from the letters is truly meaningful to YOU. The letters to the saints help those outside the body by taking God’s wisdom to heart, as suggested above in Ephesians 4.31,32. As a person understands God (having a love of the truth) then they have a better chance of coming to the knowledge that they MUST have their past sins forgiven. Otherwise, in these problematic behaviors they are pulling themselves more aggressively into the abyss of sin, into the world.
Pride: Very Common and Destructive
Pride is everywhere and if we think in terms of those who believe in God it is the thing that keeps these people from having a successful life. There is a belief, often unstated that God will see things their way. Out of this kind of thinking they make rules as a group or just as individuals. As a group they may decide to worship God this way or that. They ignore God’s directions because they have great idea that God, “is just going to love.” In worship it is about following God’s directions. Paul alluded to this when he spoke to the Athenians. As individuals a person may think that God will understand me, understand what I have done and why. The perfect definition of pride is “my way” and that includes when it is in opposition to God’s way. The world is overcome by things that seem right, by things that have become traditional. I do not know of anything more fundamental than the need to honor God and realizing it must be done His way. This is because the honor is ALL “tied up” with obedience. You can do a million wonderful things, but if they are not in accordance with the doctrine of Christ, they are in opposition to God. The world looks at these things people do in honor to God and think how well they are pleasing God. People travel the world and bring the salvation message to a lost and dying world and if it is not the truth then it is an abomination and destructive to those being taught.
OK, So How Do You Overcome The Things Of The World That You Love
There is no formula. The scriptures tell us to seek God with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29.13
13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
There is only one God and He is the God of the bible. His ways are firm and unchangeable and He means what He says. So, maybe the question should be how badly do you want to go to heaven? Badly enough to see the world as not providing a path, but as a hindrance? If indeed it is a hindrance, can you live differently and consequently be opposed to the world. The world here represents all the things that the world offers and much of that is exceedingly attractive, desirable. The opposite would be living for Christ and the gospel. Jesus spoke of the world in 1 John 2.
1 John 2.15-17
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
The world symbolizes the things opposed to God. It is that way because the world CHOOSES to oppose the things of God. The world embraces the things God calls sinful and the character of the world is selfish, full of pride and envy. God chooses those out of the world in terms of their character and desire to seek Him and then find Him and obey Him. God is not a respecter of persons (Romans 2.11), He chooses no specific person, but the KIND OF PERSON He has defined for heaven. It is your choice to be that kind of person. That person will reject the things of the world and consequently the world will reject him/her.
John 15.18
18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
To clarify, God’s children live in the world (obviously) and have the deepest concern about the people of the world in terms of their ultimate success. They would give everything in their service to God to bring the message to the world. However, the world and the world’s religion are not aligned with God. You can make this distinction.
This is not hard to understand, but hard to accept and thus people who see God in creation and in the scriptures all too often want to live in the world AND still be on the road to heaven. God says this is not possible and this makes “the separation very easy.” We are advised that we cannot serve God and mammon (riches). We are advised that God does not want the lukewarm, that is those between hot and cold. Salvation is for everyone, but you must deny ungodliness and worldly lusts.
Titus 2.11,12
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age
God makes the separation clear between the world and godliness and only one brings salvation, always a choice each person makes.
Those “In Christ” get there having a humble spirit and persevere seeking God and truth and then obeying it. They must not go back into the world or they lose the prize. God’s children do not flaunt their position as saints, but constantly are thankful and have concerns they may lose the relationship. Paul told the saints at Philippi to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. Paul also had concerns about His salvation and told the church at Corinth, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” God’s children look at all of God’s advice and strive to be faithful. They see Christ’s mission to seek and save that which was lost as their mission and avoid offenses albeit in boldness declaring the truth.
2 Peter 2.20,21
20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.
21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.
So, the Christian life is the best thing with its promise of eternal life, but difficult and as suggested some become entangled again in the world.
Demas, who was traveling with Paul was one who went back into the world and for the reason given.
2 Timothy 4.10
10 for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world
So, how do you overcome the things of the world that have your attention. God is very clearly not seeking “just anybody.” Far from it, He wants the best and that would be impossible, except for His plan in Jesus. You may not like how God defines sin, but your success or failure will be associated with your final sin or sinless condition. Here is Jesus, and sin can be eliminated or as the scriptures indicate covered (propitiation) and we are back to how badly do you want heaven.
Romans 3.25
25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed
So how do you overcome the things in the world that you love? Obviously, only in Christ, only in the gospel and specifically in obeying the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. However, do you still love the world, certain aspects of the world? I only know of one way to overcome the world and that is to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. There are dozens of things we could say that will help because the scriptures are filled with advice to the saints. It all comes back to taking God seriously and once again, how badly do you want heaven – enough to forego the things of this world?
How Evil Gets a Grip on People
Evil is something we choose. In general, a person does not say I want to be evil. The choices are things that happen because in the background of our lives we are selfish, prideful, unforgiving, envious and so on. The scriptures make the connection between a person’s character (i.e. envy and self-seeking), and confusion and evil.
James 3.16,17
16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
A great deal of the evil comes from our mouth. It is already in our heart and it spills over. The evil may be lies or hatred or hurtful actions or just pathetic crude speaking. It is who we have become and it should wake us up, but in pride we just say I am being honest with my feelings. Evil becomes deeply ingrained in our character and few find an escape, but many find ways to excuse their words and actions.
Matthew 15.16-18
16 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding?
17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.
Indeed, it is out of the mouth, but really out of the heart. A person is corrupted by their words and they place themselves on a path away from God. Sin is the thing that separated humankind from God and continuation in sin deepens that separation inasmuch as recovery becomes less likely. God highly desires your success and provides a way to have past sins forgiven. One might realize that selfishness and pride are not helpful in submitting to God because He requires doing things His way. This is the test, Jesus being the author of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him (Hebrews 5.9).
There is such a great opportunity for humankind in their existence to find God and be convinced by the word He has left for us. Missing out on this great blessing is missing out on life. The truth about life is missed and consequently you fail in life in the only thing that matters – the soul. People find all sorts of ways to reject God’s word as an excuse for not following it. One way is to say, “which bible, which translation” meaning how can I know what to do in such confusion. If they believe this they are some how relieved of responsibility at least in their minds. They would be wise to seek God as indicated in Jeremiah and maybe they would not see translations as a problem – because they are not!
Jeremiah 29.13
13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Also, you might learn that the things you need are not to be found in yourself.
Jeremiah 10.23
23 O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14.33) and did not leave you without the answers you need to succeed.
Evil gets its grip on people because they are of the world and do not make the distinction between good (God) and evil (the world). As always, people make choices that are aligned with God or with the world. The things of God are eternal with heaven being the prize. The things of the world are things associated with what God refers to and defines as sin and the result is a failed life.
God is the absence of evil and will not be sharing eternal life with those who are evil. Thus, Jesus is there to resolve the problem of sin and indeed you can have your past sins forgiven. The the advice from God to assure your FINAL ACCEPTANCE is, “Test all things; hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil.”
1 Thessalonians 5.21-23
21 Test all things; hold fast what is good.
22 Abstain from every form of evil.
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Why The Apparent Good Is Evil
Evil is most destructive to the soul and God’s advice to His children is to walk carefully, accurately in life consistent with His word. God’s wisdom is beyond our comprehension and that is why we must accept things that we do not fully understand.
Romans 11.33
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!
Although, there are things we cannot see (except by the eye of Faith), God has graciously provided all we need in terms of life and godliness (2 Peter 1.2-4). As a result of your perseverance and diligence it is amazing how much you can understand about God. Faith indeed becomes sight and there is zero doubt and consequently you can better serve God.
Ephesians 5.15,16
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
There is an urgency to make the best possible use of our time as the days are evil because life is short and as the days pass so do your opportunities. Life is about the soul and about NOTHING ELSE and thus if you do not walk accurately with purpose and avoid getting caught up in the things of the world you will see your time as wasted on self-fulfillment. That self-fulfillment is not always selfish, but could be helping others as a way of making your life fulfilling. That is nice, even praiseworthy, however it does not address your most fundamental need to have a relationship with Christ.
In the end, the physical things will be gone and thus you need to make the best use of your time, laying up your treasures in heaven. You will only see the days as evil if you have the truth or when you die and then it is everlastingly too late. We go through life and try to live a good life as the world sees a good live. We may actually work at avoiding all the things that are considered “immoral, unethical.” We live according to a “high” standard and do the things that are seen as commendable by others. We honor education, family, helping others and may even participate in things of a religious nature. Yet, the days are evil and we cannot see the problem – all appears to be just the way it should be. The days are evil unless we are wise. The days are evil because time is passing and with that so are our opportunities to have a true relationship with God’s Son. God has revealed the truth – THE TRUTH. This is what we need and anything less than THE TRUTH will not provide us a good ending. We spend our lifetime convinced that we are doing well. When the end comes we feel we are much better than others – comparatively speaking. If anyone succeeds – it will be me. You need to take the time you are given, your lifetime to take God seriously. One thing that means is not to risk eternity following what some person tells you, but understand God as He has revealed Himself. That includes this author, who is scared to death of teaching something inconsistent with God’s word. God’s word fits everything together in a way you can tell it is from God.
Billions of people live today in the appearance of good such as being a Catholic, a Protestant, a Mormon, or various others. These are terribly evil inasmuch they destroy the soul. Thus the appearance of good is truly evil. If you take God’s word seriously and want to achieve heaven then finding God’s truth will mean rejecting these religious inventions of humankind.
God is selective, more than you may have come to believe. God means what He has said. He meant what He said to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, to Moses, To Naaman, and throughout history. Jesus, Himself had instructions from the Father and He kept them (Hebrews 5.8,9). Somehow, people in their desires to be successful in their earthly existence will not allow God (God’s word) to interfere. The religions of the world accommodate people and change the message by taking away from it and/or adding to it. God’s word is not effective when it is not God’s word, but the creation of humankind. In view of the consequences, the right designation for these religions is EVIL. Sadly, EVIL IS FINALLY REALIZED when you find yourself lost.
The success of evil is largely hidden because much of it appears as something good and/or acceptable. Unless a person looks seriously into the word of God they will fail to differentiate truth from error or we might say truth from evil. You can get a picture of the seriousness of life when you see Jesus dedication to living without sin. From the moment He began to bring the message (and we have a record) there is a complete dedication to the seriousness of life. There were no idle words, no comic expressions, no double meanings, but only a rigid focus on His mission and preparing humankind for the kingdom that was at hand. It should help a person to understand that life is not to be taken casually. In the next life for the lost their “come what may” attitude will suddenly be seen as a serious mistake as they realize the gravity of their eternal failure. Now, they no longer have freedom – gone forever, it was an aspect granted to each person for the test. In the lost state, they will wish they knew and followed God’s advice to test all things, hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil, abstain from sexual immorality and exhibit virtue, seek knowledge, have self-control, demonstrate perseverance and godliness and brotherly kindness, and love. This is a person taking life seriously and these things are only known in their seriousness and importance by the word of God. There is a formidable gap between living in the world and living for Christ and the gospel. Perhaps the reason the vast majority of people live in the “world” is because the majority of the people live following and desiring the things in the world.” In other words they are followers of what seems right (to the world) and God wants you to stand on your own two feet and find the truth, obey it and live it. Heaven is not for followers, but individuals making individual commitments to God and Christ.
