Don and Wendy Francisco Articles

Myth #7 God makes bad things happen to teach us lessons.
Many people think God causes bad things to happen so that He can accomplish good things. This myth creates alot of fear. It is based on misunderstandings of God's character, misunderstandings about what Jesus did on the cross, and misunderstandings about the two kingdoms.

Jesus taught that there are two kingdoms. There is not a hint of light in Satan's kingdom and not even a shifting shadow of darkness in God's. When Jesus was accused of healing in the name of the enemy, He said that there is no healing in the kingdom of darkness. It can just as truly be said that there is no wounding in God's kingdom. Jesus told us that the enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy. These are the marks of the kingdom of darkness. The Bible says that every GOOD gift comes from God and that God does not test us.

Preachers who accuse God of throwing 747s at tall buildings when He gets mad, do not understand God in the slightest.... in fact, they cannot tell the difference between God and Satan.

The Bible says that through Jesus and His work on the Cross, God already sees us as perfected members of His Kingdom. In Christ, we are a finished work, not a starter kit. Jesus took all of our disease and sickness on Himself and took it to the grave. God would have to apologize to Jesus if He doled our sickness back out again.

Some bad things happen because we caused them to happen by living unwisely. Sin hits us like stepping on a tooth-up rake and being smacked in the face. Then many people blame the bruise on God saying "God caused this to happen because I was bad and stepped on a rake". What silly logic that is. The Bible does not say, "He pays us back for our sins", or "He wounds us so we will not sin so much", it says, "He remembers our sin no more".

On this earth we still reap what we sow and we many times also reap the bad consequences of what others sow. None of it is caused by God... BUT, God can bring wonderful things out of bad situations if we trust Him.

When we do see God's wonderful solutions to our messes, we should not then say that God caused the mess to begin with. This would change God from a hero to a manipulator. God did not kill Lazarus so Jesus could raise him!

Jesus said that we would have tribulations in this world, BUT, not to fear because HE has overcome the world. There are tribulations in this world because the whole creation is subject to futility, because people sin, and because there is an enemy. But these things do not come from God. When people have the faith to stand against tribulation in Jesus, God's Kingdom is glorified.