Image: Jim Bakker in 2025. “If I want to believe God for a $65 million dollar plane, you cannot stop me.” –Creflo Dollar, as quoted in God, Greed, and the (Prosperity) Gospel: How Truth Overwhelms a Life Built on Lies, by Costi Hinn, Zondervan, 2019. It is true that we reap what we sow. SowingContinue reading “The Book of Job Refutes the Prosperity Gospel. Job 17.”
Category Archives: Bad Things Happen to Good People: Fact
When Friends Become Enemies.
Have you watched relationships change? It’s amazing when an enemy becomes a friend. That is the greatest feeling, a debt converted to an asset. I’ve seen a few of my “enemies” become friends over the years, and it is so satisfying. But when it goes the other way, it is devastating. When people you loveContinue reading “When Friends Become Enemies.”
The Bible is Filled With Unsavory Characters–Just Like Life.
Serving as a juror for a murder trial proved to me the soft or “delicate” nature of some members of our first-world culture. Then at work I discussed one aspect of last week’s trial and a female engineer covered her ears and hurried away—it was too much for her. The Bible does NOT avoid hardContinue reading “The Bible is Filled With Unsavory Characters–Just Like Life.”
God Will Rescue You–But Not Always in the Way You Might Have Hoped.
A friend turned his back on God thirty years ago. Today he is suffering a terminal illness. Another friend is convinced God may be using the illness to reach Doug, to bless him, in fact. What do you think of that? Can God “Bless you” with a disease that kills you? Can a terminal illnessContinue reading “God Will Rescue You–But Not Always in the Way You Might Have Hoped.”
Mutually Exclusive.
“Mutually exclusive” refers to two things that cannot both be true. Each one excludes the other. For example, result A may happen, or B may happen, but not both. A single coin toss may result in heads, or tails, but not both. Faith sometimes requires us to accept two possibilities that appear mutually exclusive, suchContinue reading “Mutually Exclusive.”
Your Arm’s Too Short to Box With God!
Job lost his riches, his ten children, and his health. And Job was a man so righteous that God told Satan there was no one like Job on the whole earth (Job 1:8, 2:3). Clearly a man that righteous deserved an easy life. But God had other plans. So is God unjust? Job’s friends wereContinue reading “Your Arm’s Too Short to Box With God!”
You Can’t Stay Mad at God. Job 19.
Five men circle a tiny flame in the desert. Four sit on rocks. A fifth sits in the sand, stripped to the waist. He is covered with oozing sores, boils swollen and bruised like berries beneath the skin. He rubs ashes in the wounds, listening to a friend: “The light of the wicked is snuffedContinue reading “You Can’t Stay Mad at God. Job 19.”
Have You Ever Been Mad at God?
Have you ever been mad at God? Job actually wants to file a lawsuit against God! “If one wanted to take Him to court, he could not answer God once in a thousand times. God is wise and all-powerful… I could only beg my Judge for mercy. If I summoned Him [to court] and HeContinue reading “Have You Ever Been Mad at God?”
The Most Amazing Worship Experience. Job 13:15.
Have you had an amazing worship experience? Were you alone in the mountains, or at a camp or retreat? Or in a quiet cathedral? Or perhaps an arena with spotlights, smoke machines, and thrilling music performed by rocking musicians? Job lost more than most of us will ever own. In a single day he lostContinue reading “The Most Amazing Worship Experience. Job 13:15.”
Integrity Builds Courage & Wisdom.
Nothing builds COURAGE and WISDOM faster than integrity. Integrity builds courage because it requires people to do things they find frightening. Integrity builds wisdom because the good decisions it requires draw a person out of darkness and into the light. Both Job and his friends are men of integrity. (But only Job is a manContinue reading “Integrity Builds Courage & Wisdom.”
Household Words: 