Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7 KJV)
I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all. (Ecclesiastes 9:11 BSB)
But Job replied, "You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?" So in all this, Job said nothing wrong. (Job 2:10 NLT)
Have you ever been in adversity, sometimes even to the point of death? Job said that since we receive good from God, we should also accept the bad. Just grit your teeth and bear it.
But what about the other side of the story? What is God receiving from us for all His benefits He has given to us? He does not get recognition. Unbelievers attributed all His benefits to amoral nature. Many of those who believe in Him does not have enough faith in His goodness and faithfulness and always resort to trusting themselves.
He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:45b BSB)
What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? (Psalm 116:12 ESV)
Esau replied, "Is he not rightly named Jacob (the supplanter)? For he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing. Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" (Genesis 27:36 Amplified Bible)
I was glad that I am not a righteous man with a strong sense of justice. When I read how God allowed Jacob to steal Esau's blessings, I did not say, "What kind of God is this, accepting the cheater and rejecting the cheated!" Instead, I said, "If God can accept Jacob, He can surely accept me!"
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. (Luke 15:2 KJV)
Later Judah asked his friend Hirah the Adullamite to take the young goat to the woman and to pick up the things he had given her as his guarantee. But Hirah couldn't find her. So he asked the men who lived there, "Where can I find the shrine prostitute who was sitting beside the road at the entrance to Enaim?"
"We've never had a shrine prostitute here," they replied.
So Hirah returned to Judah and told him, "I couldn't find her anywhere, and the men of the village claim they've never had a shrine prostitute there."
"Then let her keep the things I gave her," Judah said. "I sent the young goat as we agreed, but you couldn't find her. We'd be the laughingstock of the village if we went back again to look for her." (Genesis 38:20-23 NLT)
We have brothers and we also have friends. Sometimes we share things with our friends that we do not share with brothers.
Judah had a friend named Hirah the Adullamite. After Judah went into what he thought was a prostitute, he got his friend Hirah the Adullamite to help him to send the payment.
About three months later, Judah was told, "Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has acted like a prostitute. And now, because of this, she's pregnant."
"Bring her out, and let her be burned!" Judah demanded.
But as they were taking her out to kill her, she sent this message to her father-in-law: "The man who owns these things made me pregnant. Look closely. Whose seal and cord and walking stick are these?"
Judah recognized them immediately and said, "She is more righteous than I am, because I didn't arrange for her to marry my son Shelah." And Judah never slept with Tamar again.
When the time came for Tamar to give birth, it was discovered that she was carrying twins. While she was in labor, one of the babies reached out his hand. The midwife grabbed it and tied a scarlet string around the child's wrist, announcing, "This one came out first." But then he pulled back his hand, and out came his brother! "What!" the midwife exclaimed. "How did you break out first?" So he was named Perez. Then the baby with the scarlet string on his wrist was born, and he was named Zerah. (Genesis 38:24-30 NLT)
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar). Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram. (Matthew 1:3 NLT)
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 NLT)
We must always believe that God is good to us. This is fundamental in our relationship with God.
Whether it is Adam and Eve in a newly created, perfect and sinless world, or we in the current imperfect sinful world, or our descendants in a future restored sinless world in the coming millennium rule of Christ, we have to believe that God always has our good in His mind.
Past
But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:4-5 ESV)
Adam and Eve could not believe that God had their good in His mind. They chose to believe in the serpent who told them that God wanted to prevent them from becoming like God. Thus their unbelief caused sin to enter the world.
Present
We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 CSB)
Today we live in an imperfect world, where there is good in bad and bad in good. We have to believe by faith that all the things that happened to us, whether good or bad, is for our good.
Future
When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. (Revelation 20:7-8 NASB)
In the near future, the Anointed One will return to earth to rule for a thousand years in a restored perfect and sinless world with Satan locked in the bottomless pit and a whole generation will grow up without knowing what sin is. Then Satan will be released after a thousand years. It will then be the turn of the generation who know not sin to decide if God has their good in His mind.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11 BSB)
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" (Luke 11:13 CSB)
And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, "The older will serve the younger." Just as it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." (Romans 9:10-13 NASB95)
Consider this, why does God choose Jacob over Esau, Judah over Joseph and David over Saul? Using our normal human common sense, morality, karma and justice, we would do it the other way.
Jacob and Esau
Why does God choose the one who cheat over the one who was cheated to be the ancestor of His chosen people Israel?
Judah and Joseph
Why does God choose the one who enslaved over the slave to be the ancestor of the tribe where the kings of Israel would come from? Wasn't Joseph exemplary his in conduct when he forgave his brothers who sold him into slavery? Why wasn't he chosen?
David and Saul
Why does God choose the one who committed adultery and murder over the one who did not to become the ancestor of the Messiah?
Me and many others better than me
While I was pondering over this, I remembered that God also choose me over many people who are probably a better person than me.
Meritocracy is not in the dictionary of God. Rather, God is merciful. In His mercy, He sent His only begotten Son Jesus to die for our sins so that we can be saved, even though we do not have many good works or worse, none at all. Theologians called this salvation by grace.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV)
And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:30 ESV)
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. (Psalm 33:12 NIV)
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9 ESV)
Poor countries are generally socialist, communist or Islamic. Communists and socialists said that socialist or communist countries are poor because they did not practise true socialism or communism. Muslims said that Islamic countries are poor because they did not practise true Shariah law.
But Christian countries are equally imperfect. There is no Christian country that practise true Biblical Christianity. Christian countries also have their injustices and inequalities. Yet Christian countries are generally rich. When they believed in the Bible, they were able to create empires.
So why is it that when non-Christian ideologies are imperfect, the countries do not prosper? But why is Christianity, even when practised imperfectly, is able to make Christian countries are rich and powerful?
Firstly, the God of the Bible specializes in using imperfect sinners to achieve His aim. Imperfection in men glorifies God.
Secondly, the Bible is true. The God of the Bible is truth. Whoever that stands on the side of truth, no matter how imperfectly, is able to achieve something.
Muslims and communists can only prosper when they pretend to follow the teachings of the Koran or Karl Marx. Whenever they decide to follow the Koran or Karl Marx strictly, they will become poor. This was proven in modern history.
Nowadays, many Christian countries do not believe in the Bible anymore. They attribute their success to democracy. Actually, they are also correct. This is because the democracies that arose in Christian countries were Bible based and allowed truth to be expressed. Thus, many non-Christian countries that adopt Western democracies also prosper. Countries which have Islamic democracies or socialist democracies remain poor.
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9a ESV)
Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality - faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]. (Hebrews 11:1 Amplified Bible)
The Bible defines faith as confidence and conviction of things hoped for but not seen.
In today's world, in every good there is evil and in every evil there is good. Men are aware of this fact. Many human religions and philosophies arose to explain this fact. Taoism has this yin (negative) yang (positive) symbol, where in the extreme yin, there is a bit of yang, and in the extreme yang, there is a bit of yin.
But the Bible tell us that in future, good and evil will be separated. Since this is not the reality today, you need to have faith in the Word of God, to see beyond today's reality. God will sort this out at His second coming and good and evil will be separated.
"The farmer's workers went to him and said, 'Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?' "'An enemy has done this!' the farmer exclaimed. "'Should we pull out the weeds?' they asked. "'No,' he replied, 'you'll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.'" (Matthew 13:27-30 NLT)
God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. (Romans 3:25 NET)
"Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead." (Acts 17:30-31CSB)
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2 ESV)
God does not condone sin. But God can overlook all sin legally and allow sinners to live without being unjust because He had sent His Son Jesus to die for the sins of the world, past, present and future. Thus when Adam sinned, the world was not destroyed straightaway. God can now be justified when He allow us to live while we are yet sinners, giving us an opportunity to be saved. Mercy and justice are reconciled in Christ Jesus.
Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God's justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God's judgment when you do the same things? Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? (Romans 1:28-2:4 NLT)
Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? (Habakkuk 1:13 NIV)
Many people are confused by God's mercy. When they see the wicked who sinned terribly live without suffering any consequences, they demand that God punishes them. But they overlooked that they themselves are also sinners who commit small sins. They forgot that God is just and punishes all sin, big and small. Because their own sins are small, they did not see them as sin and thought they are righteous.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. (Romans 3:23-26 NLT)
Someone asked me if USA a Christian country. So how do we define a Christian country?
Well, USA is the biggest exporter of pornography. USA is also the biggest exporter of missionaries and Christian literature. So what do you think?
If you are not sure what to think, maybe we can look into the Bible to see if we can get an answer. The Bible is a very biased book, biased from God's point of view. There is no neutrality in the Bible.
King David is a liar (1 Samuel 21:2-3, 1 Samuel 21:13, 1 Samuel 27:10), an adulterer (2 Samuel 11:2-5, 2 Samuel 11:26-27) and a murderer (2 Samuel 11:14-25). But God said that he is a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22).
So what can we conclude from this?
Frankly speaking, a non-Christian may find conclusion 2 logical.
It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. The former, however, preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can add to the distress of my chains. What then is the issue? Just this: that in every way, whether by false motives or true, Christ is preached. And in this I rejoice. (Philippians 1:15-18b BSB)
By faith Rahab the prostitute wasn't killed with the disobedient because she welcomed the spies in peace. What more can I say? I would run out of time if I told you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. (Hebrews 11:31-32 CEB)
God use sinners to do His will. He used Rahab, Jephthah and Samson. God also use unbelievers like Jeroboam II to save Israel. He even spoke through unbelievers like Balaam. He has no other choice. All men are sinners.
As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Romans 3:10-12 NIV)
All have turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. (Psalm 14:3 Psalm 53:3 BSB)
Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins. (Ecclesiastes 7:20 NIV)
Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin"? (Proverbs 20:9 BSB, CSB)
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8 ESV)
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption (ἀπολυτρώσεως) that is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:23-24 CSB)
And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:30 ESV)
By faith Rahab the prostitute wasn't killed with the disobedient because she welcomed the spies in peace. What more can I say? I would run out of time if I told you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. (Hebrews 11:31-32 CEB)
"He may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch."
Franklin D. Roosevelt on Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza, 32nd president of US (1882 - 1945)
"I don't care if the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice, it is a good cat. (不管黑猫白猫，能捉到老鼠就是好猫。)"
Deng Xiaoping in a speech at the Communist Youth League conference in July 1962
Here are two quotations, one from an American imperialist, another from a Chinese communist. In this crooked world where good can be found in bad and bad can be found in good, which quotation is more in line with Biblical principle?
And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:30 ESV)
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans - that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. (Habakkuk 1:6 BSB)
Men love to set KPI. They even set KPI for God on how a perfect God should be like. Did God accept the KPI?
Crime and Punishment
When Israel sinned, God ought to use a more righteous nation to punish Israel or punish Israel Himself. But God raised the cruel Babylonians to punish Israel (Habakkuk 1:6). And then God later punished the Babylonians for punishing Israel (Jeremiah 25:12).
Word Transmission
Until heaven and earth shall pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall pass away from the law (Matthew 5:18) but in the course of transmission of text of the Bible, there are some minor changes in the jot and tittle. It is less than 0.01%, but still, it is one missing jot or one additional tittle. But the KJV-only believers cannot believe that the almighty God could not preserve a perfect original text for us. God would fail our KPI for Him if He cannot do that. In fact, He did more than that. He even divinely inspired the KJV translation. God passed our KPI for Him with flying colours. Did God really care about our KPI for Him?
Word Accuracy
It is appointed for man to die once (Hebrews 9:27) but Lazarus died twice (John 11:43). Did the Bible contradict itself? Is the mustard seed the smallest of all seeds (Matthew 13:32, Mark 4:31)? If Jesus was to be in the grave three days and nights (Matthew 12:40), how do we fit those between Good Friday and Easter Sunday? Did Bible meant it to be 72 hours exactly because God is very precise? Three days and nights must be 72 hours because God is perfect to the jot and tittle. Are we celebrating Good Friday and Easter Sunday wrongly? Or are we interpreting the Bible more strictly than God Himself?
Christian Witness
The Bible recorded that God use holy men like the apostles to spread the gospel. But in our days, God chose to use the colonialist, the slave traders and drug traffickers to spread the gospel. Africans were enslaved, taken from their home and sold to Christian lands to be given the opportunity to hear the gospel. Opium traders humiliate China to bring the gospel to their land. Shouldn't a perfect and holy God do better than that? Maybe He should roll out the red carpet to welcome the Africans and Chinese into the Kingdom of God and today, there will be no Black Life Matter movement and there will be no Chinese Communist party harping on the century of humiliation by Western imperial powers. Looks like we have better ideas than God.
World Creation
Then the ultimate KPI, the favourite of unbelievers and atheists, why can't the perfectly good, almighty and all-knowing God create a world without sin? Then Jesus would not need to come to the world to die for sin. Atheists use God's failure in this KPI to prove His non-existence. If God exists, why are there evil and sufferings in the world? Why can't the One who knows the end from the beginning think ahead?
What are you going to do with a God that fail your KPI?
From that time on many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. (John 6:66 BSB)
So Jesus asked the Twelve, "Do you want to leave too?" Simon Peter replied, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God." (John 6:67-69 BSB)
Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. (Romans 11:22 ESV)
The elects are chosen to show God's grace and kindness, the rejects are to demonstrate God's justice and severity.
He gave his people the lands of pagan nations, and they harvested crops that others had planted. All this happened so they would follow his decrees and obey his instructions. Praise the LORD! (Psalm 105:44-45 NLT)
"When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give you - a land with large and beautiful cities that you did not build, houses full of every good thing that you did not fill them with, cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant - and when you eat and are satisfied, be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. (Deuteronomy 6:10-12 CSB)
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His inheritance! (Psalm 33:12 BSB)
God chose the English people to conquer the world, to shame the wise, the strong and the ancient, and to spread the gospel. He also handed over the wealth of the heathens to them. The passing of Queen Elizabeth II is the symbolic end of an era, where the Bible was still considered, even though very faintly, as a code of conduct.
With the new King who has woke left ideas, the so-call West that we know today, based loosely on Christ, will end. A new West, based on anti-Christ, will be welcomed by the world. And the ten-horned beast will be the last empire.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast in His presence. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29 BSB)
And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten crowns, and on its heads were blasphemous names. The beast I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority. One of its heads appeared to be fatally wounded, but its fatal wound was healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast. They worshiped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to wage war against it?" (Revelation 13:1-4 CSB)
The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation." (Exodus 34:6-7 ESV)
'The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.' (Numbers 14:18 ESV)
The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. (Nahum 1:3 ESV)
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. (Psalm 103:8-10 ESV)
If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. (Psalm 130:3-4 ESV)
The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy. (2 Chronicles 36:15-16 ESV)
Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4 ESV)
Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. (Romans 11:22 ESV)
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 ESV)
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son, the one to whom it had been said, Your offspring will be traced through Isaac. He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking. (Hebrews 11:17-19 CSB)
By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn't perish with those who disobeyed. (Hebrews 11:31 CSB)
It does not matter whether you are a good old man or a bad young girl. You will have eternal life if you believe in Jesus.
Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:29-31 KJV)
