History and the Bible

Where was God when Hitler and Stolin were in power? I've been so stuck on that. I cannot believe that those poor people weren't praying and asking for help and mercy. Does the Bible explain that? I always pray for the US and World. But, I am not better than those that were starved, murdered and tortured. Can someone explain that for me? BTW, I do realize that those two horrible times were not the only ones. And that Christians and Jews continue to be persecuted.

Welcome!

Vjkulp,

" Good can exist without evil, whereas evil cannot exist without good." Thomas Aquinas

If we never left the garden or if we were in heaven, we would exist in an environment where there is no evil present, but since we live on the earth where the devil has dominion, there will always be evil people until the end.

The world is where it is because mankind is allowed to do whatever he will, without consulting our Father.
We all suffer, even we who love Elohim, but we know it is due to the will of anyone other than the Father, though He allows it. None suffer as did He on the Cross for our sins.
This may be a meditation for some, but it is the way of a world thinking it is the last stop with no help from our Father.
I am not brave, yet I believe we must all suffer with Jesus Yeshua. If Elohim intervenes before the works are don for the salvation of all who believe Him, we are lost.

"If your God is so good
Tell us, why all the pain?"
I'm not sure, not so sure
That God is to blame

- Chris Rice


The Black Plague would be better suited for your intent. Just saying.

God gave authority over the whole earth to Adam and Eve. Adam disobeyed God and allied himself to Satan, following Eve's example. The result is the catastrophic mess you see now. It will get worse.

Jesus came as the Last Adam and defeated Satan. Jesus did what Adam failed to do - obey God. Rebellion leading to disobedience is the root of every evil. Jesus was entirely righteous.

Lord Jesus gave His authority and power to believers. Christians are the real authority on the earth now. The problem is that most Christians fail to exercise that authority. Sometimes its ignorance, sometimes spiritual laziness and also because Christians fail to be 100% consecrated.

When I was in the military, my life was not my own. I did what I was told, went where I was sent, ate the food they supplied, wore the uniform they required and learned whatever was necessary to fulfill the role I had. I had little to do with civilians and an entirely different outlook on life. God calls us to be warriors. We also should be focused on the war that rages between Satan and God's people. In Christ, we are already victorious. Satan should have been cast into the lake of fire by now. But the church has become complacent and focused on selfish desires. There are some who know the truth and live it. Not nearly enough.

God's way with fallen humanity is simple. Let them do as they please. Read Romans 1:18-32 to discover what this means.

God is intervening as His people pray. There were many allied victories in WW2 when believers interceded. Israel is prevailing against her enemies in spite of the overwhelming odds against her. People are still coming to Christ, even in hell holes such as Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Obviously you will hear nothing good from the world's media. Be assured that God is on the throne and His will shall be done. The Kingdom of God will come to pass. The question is, are you 100% committed to the will of God? Are you a part of the problem or a part of the answer? Only you and God know that for sure.

You sound just like I am. I always tell others not to worry it will get worse, and knowing what and why. Some understand while others ae perplexed or just think I have gone gaga.

It's always darkest just before dawn. Jesus said to lift up our heads when we see these things. Bad news for the world, good news for believers.

Where was God? Right where He has always been: on His throne, ruling over all creation.

It's easy to look at the problems in the world and conclude that God is either absent or uncaring, but that would be ignorant. In fact, God is present and cares very much what happens to all people, good and evil, for He wants all to repent and come to the knowledge of the truth.

We tend to overlook a few things: first, God is both sovereign and good. Second, the first humans chose to rebel, unleashing a cascade of terrible consequences, the most terrible of which is that human nature is fundamentally "bad". Third, there are other forces at work (evil spiritual beings) with an agenda to destroy creation and specifically, humanity. Fourth, God does not promise peace and safety in this life, for the full plan for us does not end with earthly death. Fifth, there will be judgment.

I would encourage you to read and ponder Psalm 73. Verses 16-17 say, "When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny."

Psalm 100:5 - "For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."

There are also miracles, blessings, comforting, healing, etc. I know God is the creator, the only God and the most magnificent.

How can a person be so evil that they hurt another person and/or child? I cannot think of any rational explanation. It makes me sad.

Put simply, the soul of someone who has rejected God and Jesus has become extremely sick, to the point they can't even hear His whispering voice anymore. As much as we might often emotionally wish otherwise, God is the ultimate gentleman. He loves us, and He wants us to trust Him, but He will not force His will on us or override ours. When we screw up and realize the truth of it, God shows us so much undeserved grace, but it can take a long time for us to forgive ourselves because we still feel like we have to earn it.

I will share my understanding of the Bible's explanation of evil, which is sometimes cited as constituting a stumbling-block to belief in the NT God for some people. The problem is reconciling God’s power and love with the fact of evil and its consequence. A person—even a theist—might think that God would not permit evil, suffering and hell to exist. People who are mystified by evil and repulsed by its punishment do not realize that the essential aspect of being a human rather than a robot or subhuman creature is MFW, which is what enables a person to experience love and meaning. This is what makes humans different from animals, whose behavior is governed mainly by instinct. This is what it means to be created in God’s image (GN 1:26-27; robot or responsible)?
God could not force people to return His love without abrogating their humanity. If God were to zap ungodly souls, it would be tantamount to forcing conversions at gunpoint, which would not be free and genuine. If God were to prevent people from behaving hatefully, then He would need to prevent them from thinking evilly, which would make human souls programmed automatons. Even if God were to prove Himself to skeptics by means of a miracle, they might believe for awhile and then as their memories began to fade they would probably think that God had died and revert to their former doubt—necessitating an endless string of miracles (recapitulating the story of the Israelites on the way to Canaan after the exodus from Egypt).

However, for reasons we may understand only sufficiently rather than completely, God designed reality so that experiencing His presence is less than compelling, so that even Jesus (God the Son) on the cross cried out “My God [the Father], why have you forsaken [taken God the Spirit from] me?” (MT 27:46, PS 51:11) This phenomenon is sometimes called “distanciation”, because we experience God as distant from us and “unknown” (ACTS 17:23), even though He is close or immanent, “for in Him we live and move and have our being” (ACTS 17:28). Distanciation is not forsaken.

God’s normative means of conversion is persuasion rather than coercion (MT 12:39, 24:24, 1CR 1:22-23). This is seen very clearly in Jesus’ lament over the obstinacy of Jerusalem (MT 23:37). Two unusual theophanies included when God appeared to Moses (in a burning bush per EX 3:2-6), whom God wanted to establish the Jewish lineage for the Messiah (OT), and to Saul/Paul (as the resurrected Jesus in ACTS 9:3-6), whom God chose to establish the NT church of Christ. Miracles are rare (not normative).

Moral free will (MFW) only exists when there is the possibility of choosing between two qualitatively opposite moral options that we call good and evil. These options are opposites because of essentially different consequences for choosing them. Choosing good results in blessing, life and heaven; and choosing evil results in cursing, death and hell (DT 30:19). This is why hell as well as heaven exists. It is the just consequence for choosing evil rather than God. The Spirit of God is good: love, peace and joy (GL 5:22-23). Therefore, whoever rejects the Lord is spiritually separated from Him (IS 59:2) and thereby chooses the evil or satanic spirit of hatred, strife and misery and reaps the just consequence called “hell” in the afterlife (GL 6:7-9, HB 9:27-28). These options were presented by Moses to the Israelites (DT 30:19), and Jesus referred to this fundamental choice in terms of a fish or egg versus a snake or scorpion (LK 11:11-13). Life… or Curse? (GN 3:24, RV 22:1-2)

God created theoretical evil or the possibility of rejecting Him as an option that actualizes free human personality. As such it is necessary and even good (GN 1:31). Of course, it was wrong for Satan (1JN 3:8) and humanity (RM 5:12) to make evil actual by choosing to Sin or reject Faith in God’s Lordship. Sin: ignoring God/God’s Word. God loves a cheerful giver (2CR 9:7), which means He desires people to cooperate with Him happily because of love and gratitude for His grace rather than to cower before Him because of fear of hell. Love must be evoked; it cannot be coerced. And again, when souls sin or do NOT choose to love God freely, it is perfectly just (loving and logical) for them to reap the appropriate consequence (GL 6:7-9) or hell.
Why would anyone choose to believe otherwise? Only God knows why people choose atheism. It is a mystery stated by Isaiah, which is cited by Jesus (in MT 13:14-15): “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused.” Apparently, this callous attitude demands God to nullify faith/MFW and thereby abrogate the essence of humanness by performing miracles in order to prove He exists (MT 12:39, 24:24, JN 20:29 & 1CR 1:22). In other words, atheists presume to know better than God; they want to usurp divine authority to determine what is best or good, but they may one day (at the eschaton per RV 20:15) wish they had admitted the possibility that God has ordained this mortal life on earth for the purpose of people proving to Him who is worthy of (qualified for) eternal life in heaven (cf. RM 2:5-8 & 2CR 13:5; heart/mind: hard or open?).

Such evil people punish/torture themselves by experiencing delayed karma, just as those who experience appropriate justice during this earthly existence also punish themselves or reap what they have sown and send themselves to jail. This view makes souls responsible for breaking the rules rather than blaming evil on the judges (or Judge) who enforce the rules. The purpose of earthly punishment is to promote repentance, but the reason for retribution in hell is to attain justice. It is difficult to imagine, but somehow even someone as evil as Hitler will receive perfect justice, perhaps experiencing the agony of the millions of deaths he caused in accordance with the principal of “eye for eye” (MT 5:38), after which their souls are destroyed forever (per JN 17:12, RM 9:22, GL 6:8, PHP 3:19, 2THS 1:9 & 2PT 3:7).

Apparently, souls who are saints or saved sinners in heaven retain the freedom to sin by rejecting God, which Satan and his minions are indicated to have exercised (in LK 10:18, MT 25:41, JUDE v.6, cf. EZK 28:15-19). However, the decision made freely on earth (because of distanciation) is confirmed rather than negated or nullified by attaining proof and vindication in heaven.

Honestly most people (myself included) can't even imagine how awful the people were treated in concentration camps. I mean I've seen the movies, read the books... barely get through. But even still can't imagine.

I believe a lot of people were against it. My teacher said 15 years ago you could still smell dead flesh in the air.... they obviously knew!

No one had any guns. Never support a leadership trying to take away guns and never give them up. They're not for "hunting". This is literally what it's for.

So here is my emotionless response to the logistics of it. The earth is built on laws and love. Hitler gained power by demonstrating the laws correctly for leadership....or threatening to kill them...I digress.

Troubles come from 4 sources: 1. Circumstances 2. Others 3. Satan 4. Ourselves. Was Hitler actually demon? Seemed like it.

What I know is God's wrath was against him. And I know this bc he killed himself... and he was a very arrogant and narcissistic sasist/psychopath. He would not have done that easily. The hand of God was against him.

I agree about the guns.

Being in the wrong place at the wrong time sure doesn't help. I do believe Hitler was possessed by demons. I also believe he will be punished forever.

I don't understand greed and power. They don't last. Money comes and goes. I wouldn't want to control anyone either. There's no honor among thieves. So what is there to gain? The feeling of being superior? That won't last either. God does not like the proud and/or arrogant.

I've heard the elites want to remove the earth's population so they can have it to themselves. I'm not too sure that God will allow that. And regarding man made weather, if it is true, I doubt God would be pleased.

So, I will continue to pray for the World and for peace in Jerusalem.

Hitler makes no sense in any of his behavior. Even if he rises in power (he did) and gained wealth (he did), he lost his life (time). It couldn't possibly be worth anything. That's how you know a demon was charge bc the action goes against the very person, like suicide bombers.

We have been controlling the weather for a long time. It's common knowledge that can be googled. We've done cloud seeding since the beginning of the 1900's. They admitted back then to making a hurricane hit georgia...accidently. The leader of Haiti blamed the US for the disaster in Haiti. I do worry about how dirty the USA really is in everything. We cause a lot of wars....Ukraine and Russia for example. That is actually a war between us and Russia..... that's why we are suppose to support it. But Ukraine preferred to sign the peace treaty before we were involved. They elected Zelenskyy specifically bc he promised to sign the peace treaty. He lied... after we were involved. Covid was created in a lab we funded and were a part of. Bioweapon.

If you can think it, they've created it. It's a terrifying reality. They are mixing dna.... they think we're animals. So they are doing horrible things. They are trying to grow babies outside of wombs. They can't even treat a baby right inside the womb. They have nuclear weapons. Why create weapons that destroy everyone? All of mankind is gone... what's the point? Demons. The wicked will be judged.

Where was God? God is, always has been, and always will be on His Throne. He is ALWAYS in control! Study Scripture a wee bit more and you will know the answer to your wonderment.

Start with Daniel 2:21

I heard these last two hurricanes were created to stop the voting in some of the red states. Well, I probably will never know that for sure. But, they are still voting! That amazes me. Who would be controlling the weather? Part of our military? I wish those involved would get exposed. They need to get the fear of the Lord in them.

So much is coming out regarding COVID. I could go on and on but you probably already know more than I know. It appears that some of them (not mentioning any names) think they are better than God. Woe to them. And a triple woe to those that hurt the children. That just makes me sick.

I am following a plan to finish reading the whole bible by the end of December. I don't understand everything but I am going to stick to it. I surely don't understand Revelations. I wonder why it was written in code?

I know in the Old Testament, God was disappointed in his people when they started worshiping other Gods (or participating in various sins). I'm reading Jeremiah right now and he wasn't pleased. In the New Testament, I'm reading Hebrews.

God always wins, I just don't understand the journey.

There are 2 keys to Revelation:
1. The symbols are understood by how God used them in the OT,
2. The book is referring to the end of the old covenant, and not the end of time.

Join the club; I doubt anyone does beyond the truth that there will be hell to pay for opposing God.
Join the club; I doubt anyone does beyond the truth that there will be hell to pay for those who oppose God.

Re Jeremiah: Much of it is similar to Isaiah, consisting of indictments of Israel’s sins, prophecies of coming judgment by being taken captive but eventual restoration (JR 29:10-14). However, JR 4:4. “Circumcise your hearts” sounds very Pauline-or visa versa. IOW, this emphasis on the inner spiritual faith rather than on the outward physical circumstances is found in the writings of Paul, who even went so far as to say that spiritual faith is the essence of what it means to be Jewish or chosen by God. RM 2:28-29 says that “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit…”

Again in RM 3:29, Paul asks, “Is God the God of Jews only: Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised by that same faith.” And finally in RM 4:11-16 we find, “So then, [Abraham] is the father of all who believe… who also walk in the footsteps of the faith… He is the father of us all.” This teaching in JR & RM is foundational for the mystery of the Gospel of salvation for all humanity, both Jews and Gentiles, that Paul revealed in EPH 2:11-3:13.

In JR 31:31 we find mention of the coming new covenant (NT), which is what Paul was instrumental in implementing.