The Jagger Theory

Dr. Mike Murphy
November 5, 2014

In 1968, you could not help but hear the music.  Songs that we find ourselves humming today, blasted from every radio that year.  Nah, Nah, Nah..., Nah, Nah, Nah..., Nah, Nah, Nah, Hey Jude, was heard from every house that a teenager lived in.  Otis Redding could be heard as he sang from the docks of the bay.  Koo-Koo-Ka-Choo became more than lyrics, popularizing a movie. Choppers roared as Born to be Wild blared.   The world was taught about little green apples, and was told the busyness of the Harper Valley PTA.  Kids were instructed to dance to the music, they learned that Judy wore a disguise, and found out they had love in their tummy that was very yummy!

But amongst all the music, came a song that brought with it a controversy unlike any the music world had ever seen.  As the Rolling Stones released their album Beggars Banquet in December of that year, the first song on the album introduced lyrics unlike any that had been heard before.  Words that were filled with questions, as many questioned the purpose of the song.

Mick Jagger wrote an “introduction” that much of the world was not prepared for, one that brought fear to the minds of many.  Sympathy For the Devil was sung as if Satan himself was speaking, reminding the world of Satan’s hand at work in many of the worst events that history had recorded.  In the lyrics, you could hear the world question just who Satan was, and you could hear a warning given by Satan as he required respect from the world.  

Many questioned where Mick Jagger had come up with this song, with this image of Satan that the song painted.  He would later claim that two sources served as inspiration.  First, was the writings of Charles Baudelaire, a 19th century French culturalist and poet.  He took a very humanistic and modernist look at the world, and many if not all his poems reflected that view.  He saw evil as nothing different than good, just an accepted part of life.  Baudelaire once said, “I think that the unique and supreme delight lies in the certainty of doing 'evil'–and men and women know from birth that all pleasure lies in evil.”

Second, Mick Jagger had been influenced by Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov, and his famous book The Master and Margarita.  As Jagger read this book, he latched on to the ideas.  The main point of the book was that our source for evil was inseparable from the world around us. He would reference this by saying it was the same as light was to darkness.  Bulgakov believed that both Satan and Christ were present in all people. He wrote in his book that Christ was unable to see Judas’ betrayal, despite all the obvious hints that Pilate gave Him. He believed that Christ was only able to see the good in people, and could not protect Himself because he could never see who or what to protect Himself from. He basically saw Satan outwitting Christ, as Christ was not able to recognize the evil as it surrounded Him.

Despite what much of the world thought, it was this viewpoint from which Mick Jagger wrote the words of the song.  The Church heard the song and was outraged, justly so, but not for the right reasons.  Many from the pulpit immediately accused Mick Jagger, and the Rolling Stones, of devil worship, looking to promote Satan to the innocent youth of the world.  Although not written for this reason, Mick Jagger was no less confused.  No less lost in his understanding of Satan, and of Christ.

The chorus of the song left all who heard it with words of questioning, words of doubt.  “Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name.  But what's puzzling you, is the nature of my game."  Words the reflect a lack of understanding of who Satan is, and what his purpose has always been on this earth.  Questions that Jagger had and did not understand. Questions that over thirty-five years later, you hear from many who stand at our pulpits today.  As many of our pastors still question the “nature of his game”.

At the time of Christ, the religious leaders of the day had conflicting views of evil in this world.  Two major groups filled the religious scene of Jerusalem as our Savior walked this earth, and as His Church would become established. First, were the Sadducees.  They came from the wealthy and the politically powerful of the day.  At the time of Christ, they held the majority of the seventy seats that made up the Jewish religious council, called the Sanhedrin.  The Sadducees often worked hand in hand with Rome, and found themselves more involved in politics than in addressing the religious needs of the people.

The Sadducees did not believe that God was involved in the day to day lives of men, seeing God as distant and often absent.  They did not believe in a Resurrection.  They did not believe in an afterlife, claiming that at death the soul perished.  And they did not believe in a spiritual world.  The idea of angels and demons were foreign to them.  As was their belief in a literal Satan.

The second was the Pharisees.  They mainly came from the middle class, and were favored by the common man.  They believed that the Lord was omnipresent and omnipotent.  They taught the Resurrection and an afterlife, and believed that the spiritual world, and Satan, were real.  But they put oral tradition on equal authority with God’s Word, often adding to His Word(Deuteronomy 4:2).
Two groups.  One that only accepted the parts of God’s Word they liked and agreed with, the other giving their own logic equal, and often greater, voice than what the Lord had spoken.  Both claiming to speak for God, but in reality, speaking words that would lead man away from God.  Both claiming the truth, but teaching and spreading the lie.  Both, in the end, nothing more than tools in the hands of the fallen one.  Sound familiar?

“That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done.  So there is nothing new under the sun.”  Ecclesiastes 1:9.   As we look at the Church today, the words of this verse could not ring with more truth.  We see in the leadership of many of our churches, the images of the same men we saw in the Sanhedrin. Many today who look to make God’s Word fit their words.  And others who take a pick and choose philosophy, often denying the presence of the Lord in our life each day.  Men who do not recognize Christ when He stands in front of them.  Men whose words are music to Satan ears. Men who think themselves wise, but speak as fools.

We often hear the words of Hosea quoted today.  “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge”, Hosea 4:6.  Nine words so often spoken, but nine words that have been lost in our pulpits.  To understand these words, you must know the remaining twenty-nine words of the verse.  “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest.  Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”  The words actually read in Hebrew. “because you refuse to acknowledge Me.”  We can only find knowledge when we recognize that knowledge can only come when we put the Lord and His ways first.  And we cannot serve God, if we do not first seek God, and acknowledge God.  The consequences of not doing this, can only result in our own destruction. That is not my warning, that is the the Lord’s warning!  And words the pulpits of our churches had better take to heart!

God warned the Israelites in Amos 8:11,  “Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord God, "When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water,   But rather for hearing the words of the Lord.”   When we look at the Church today, we begin to realize that the Lord could just as easily be speaking these words to us.  So many of our pulpits are filled with this famine. They leave our pews hungry, starving to be fed by His Word.  Dehydrated, thirsting for waters of Truth.  There is no enrichment in their words.  They leave the Church undernourished, now looking in any direction to be fed.  As the Church seeks sustaining nutrition, the fallen one smiles.  Stepping forward with meals that look appealing to so many who hunger, but each bite they feast on is rancid.  Meals that many from the pulpit dish out freely, not concerned with the poison they are feeding our pews.

Recent polls show us just how much of this poison is being brewed by Satan from our pulpits.  Less than forty percent of our churches today believe in an actual Satan.  The rest believe that Satan is nothing more than allegorical, a created symbol to represent evil. Of those that do believe in a literal Satan, less than half of those teach what the Scriptures tell us about Satan.  Of those that believe in a literal Satan, but choose to not teach about him, most will tell you that he is insignificant, that he has little impact in the lives of people today.  In other words, you would have to visit churches for several Sundays before you would be shown the face of evil, before spiritual principalities were taught.  Churches whose preaching closely reflect the words that inspired Jagger.  The words of Baudelaire and Bulgakov are more reflected in our churches than the words of Christ.  And this is exactly how Satan wants it!  A Church willfully ignorant of his presence.  A Church that does not even try to guess his name, that does not know the nature of his game.

It is time the Church woke up from this nightmare of a dream we have placed ourselves in.  Awakened to the reality of knowing, Satan is not a dream, he is very real! God’s Word paints for us a very realistic picture of just who Satan is.  He is the ruler of this world, and the prince of the air(John 12:31, 2 Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 2:2).  He is an accuser(Revelation 12:10), a tempter of all(Matthew 4:3, 1 Thessalonians 3:5), and he is the great deceiver(Genesis 3:1-24, Revelation 20:3).  His name means “one who opposes”, and he carries that title with pride, as he opposes what the Church is called by Christ to do and be every minute of every day!

Although he was cast from Heaven, he still looks to place his throne above the Lord’s.  History gives proof of him as a counterfeiter, looking to gain the worship of this world, and leading all who he can deceive to oppose the kingdom of our Lord.  This world has not know a false religion that he was not behind, no cult that he did not create.  He will do everything in his power to stop those who bring glory to God, and to turn the heart of man to him.  There is nothing allegorical about his name, and there is nothing abstract in the destruction he seeks.

As Satan looks today into the pulpits and the pews of many of our churches, he does not look on with fear, but with a sense of opportunity.  He sees churches that do not even know his name, and are unaware of the deception he can bring.  Churches that no longer recognize the face of evil, but welcome into their midst the great deceiver.  Pastors that no longer stand as a wall of truth against his accusations, but serve as a door, welcoming in his lies and temptations.  He no longer has to come to the doors of so many of our churches as a wolf in sheep's clothing, as the appearance of the wolf himself is now welcomed in.

"Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."(Ephesians 5:14).  It is time for the Church to arise, to awaken from this coma we now find ourselves in.  For so many of our churches to open their eyes to this moment, and realize just how close so many are to an eternal death.  We must ignore the lullaby that Satan now sings to us, keeping us from the work the Lord has for us, and keeping our eyes closed to the evil that stands in front of us.  A Church that must awaken to the Truth, no longer denying the obvious that the Lord has already taught us.  A Truth that will never deceive us, never tempt us.  A Truth that knows his name, because it has already exposed to us the nature of his game!

Praying the Church will open its’ eyes to the deception that Satan brings.

Where He Leads Me

Dr, Mike Murphy
September 2, 2014

“The only thing worse than a stubborn fool is a prideful fool.”  As he lay in the darkness, how many times must those words have raced through his mind.  For three days those words must have filled his thoughts.  His pride and stubbornness had got him in this predicament.  His mouth and his thoughts had become his greatest enemy, and had entrapped him in the prison he now found himself in.

But in that silence, in the midst of his disobedience he called out to the only One who could save him.  Who could release the chains his pride had trapped him in.  “While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple. Those who regard vain idols forsake their faithfulness, but I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving.  That which I have vowed I will pay.  Salvation is from the Lord.”

We all know the story of Jonah, a story that has been told to us since our earliest of age. A story of mercy, and a story that fills our mind with endless images.  Despite the detail we know of this story, it only took the Lord forty-eight verses to tells us this story.  But in the shortness of those verses, God tells us such an amazing and powerful story!  The Book of Jonah is so much more than the story of a man who was swallowed by a great fish!

God called Jonah to go and warn the people of Nineveh that the Lord was about to move against them, if they did not repent and turn to the Lord.  But Jonah had no desire to see the people of Nineveh repent.  They were his sworn enemy, an enemy that had cruelly attacked Israel throughout the years.  A nation that was not known for compassion, but a nation that was known for its’ ruthlessness.  Jonah saw nothing but a chance to see this enemy eliminate, a revenge he sought, an outcome he desired.  So Jonah not only came to the conclusion he would not go and warn Nineveh, he decided he would run away.  Run as far from Nineveh and God as possible!

Jonah boards a boat to Tarshish, a city in the complete opposite direction.  But as the ship he boards heads for Tarshish, a terrible storm arises, placing the boat and the crew in impending danger.  It was during this storm that Jonah realizes he is not running from God, God is following him.  Jonah confesses his situation to the crew, and tells the crew unless they throw him overboard, they will not escape this ferocious storm.  So reluctantly, the crew throws Jonah overboard, and into the sea.

At this point, Jonah must have thought, “this is it, here is where I die”.  But the Lord had other plans for Jonah, plans He had spoken of to Jonah once before, and plans that He would speak to him of again.  As Jonah falls into the sea, a great fish comes and swallows Jonah up. And as this great fish the Lord sent protects Jonah from the sea, the crew watches as the storm calms.  And in the middle of Jonah’s failed opportunity to follow the call of God, the Lord finds another opportunity.  We are told that the crew came to faith by all they had seen, and vowed that faith to our Lord.

Then, in the middle of his disobedience,  we read as Jonah acts in an obedient way.  He offers the Lord all his heart has to offer, he turns his heart back to the Lord.  With these words, the Lord orders the great fish to spit out Jonah onto the shore, and He once again gives His call to Jonah.  “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,  “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.”(Jonah 3:1-2).  

So Jonah picked himself up, and made the three day walk to Nineveh the Lord had called him to do.  As Jonah makes his way into the city, he proclaims that the Lord will destroy the city in forty days because of all the wickedness they had done.  Jonah then turns back to the pride and stubbornness of his heart.  He makes his way up to a hillside overlooking the city, and build himself a small shelter.  A place he can wait as he watches the Lord destroy his hated enemy.  

But the Lord had a different plan than Jonah in mind.  As word reaches the king, he calls on all the citizens of Nineveh to repent.  The king recognizes the evil they had become, and turns back to the mercy of the Lord.  This pleases God, and He does not destroy the city.  As a matter of fact, this pleases all but one, Jonah.  Jonah then does what any prideful and stubborn prophet would do, he gives God a piece of His mind!  But the Lord does not anger Himself at Jonah, He uses this as an opportunity to teach Jonah.  The Lord uses the events on that hillside overlooking the city of Nineveh, to teach Jonah what true compassion is.  A compassion He is still teaching each of us about today.

A man who tried to run from God. A man that wanted his own will done at all cost.  A man that thought He could ignore God, and thought if he ignored the Lord long enough, He would just go away.   A man that was not that different from us, at least a man that was not that different from me.

As I came out of the corporate world, the Lord called me into the ministry.  I had a strong desire to study His Word, to know each syllable of His Word.  To understand that Word, and to know why He had given us each letter of that Word.  But as my classes and my study ended, so did my desire.  I did everything in my power to ignore that call, to make every excuse as to why I could not hear that call.  I would ask myself, how could the Lord use me?  Someone who had just a few years before so selfishly served only himself.  A man who would once step on anyone in his way to add another notch to his corporate belt.  A man who had once lived to own the moment, without any regard what the next moment might bring.  But as I asked these words, I already knew the answers to those words.  There is no one the Lord cannot use, and no one He does not have the desire to use.  These were words my mind knew, but words my heart would not accept.  So, like Jonah, I ran from God.

I worried more about what I would miss, than what I would gain.  I followed the path that Adam and Eve had laid, looking at what I could gain from tomorrow, instead of looking right in front of me at what the Lord had given me today.  But praise the Lord, the day came when He slowed me down, and made me look at what He had in front of me.  The plans and purpose He had laid out on the table before me, the opportunities that He had placed for me there. Opportunities today, that held more than anything a future without them could ever offer.  An opportunity that brought me into service for Him, not in service for what I could offer myself. Opportunities that brought the Words I had so sought to know to life, opportunities that do not know regret.

When we run from the arms of God, we must ask ourselves whose arms are we running to?  Who are we serving if we are not serving the Lord?  Whose work is being accomplished if we are not working for God?  What good is being accomplished, if that good does not bring glory to His Name?

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”(Ephesians 2:10).  Whether we realize it or not, each of us are called to those works!  Each of us are called to serve God.  It may be a loud call, that brings us in to His service on a full time bases.  Or that may be a quieter call, that moves us to act in the moment to fulfill His purpose.  But each day, each of us, receive that call!

That does not mean that everyone who reads this must drop all they are doing and begin to study for the ministry tomorrow!  For someone, that may be the call you receive.  For others, that call may mean stepping up, and heading a Bible study.  It may mean helping those in need in the neighborhood around you, and letting them know it was the Lord who led you.  It may mean picking up the phone, and sharing all that Christ has done in your life with the person the Lord led you to call.  Ot it may mean praying for those you know online, so that they too will know the Lord in their heart.  However large or however small, each of those calls are just as important in the Lord’s eyes, and with each call glory is brought to His Name!

Take it from one who has been blessed by the years he has followed that call, and from the same man who regrets the years that he ignored that call.  From one whose life has been blessed to watch the hands of God move, and one who has tried to tie His hands so he did not have to see those hands move.  Where God leads you, follow!  Where the Lord directs you, go! And when He calls you, answer!   There is no greater gift that you will ever experience that to answer that call!  To feel the hand of God move, and to know that His hands moved through the willful actions of your life!  

The lesson of Jonah is a lesson we each experience, but a lesson I so wish I could keep all from. Opportunities lost in our life, blessings we will never experience.  Jonah did not just run from God, he ran from those blessings.  He ran from those opportunities.  Make the most of those opportunities the Lord will give you today.  Do not let those blessings pass you by. Answer His call, and feel the power of His hand move through your life!  Do not take years to learn the incredible lesson it took me to learn.  Be forever in His Presence, and where He leads you follow!  Let you life be guided by seven simple words, where He leads me I will go!

Praying each of you willfully go where the Lord leads you!

The Psalm 14 Generation

Dr, Mike Murphy
July 24, 2014

I am a self-confessed news junkie.  Even at my busiest moments, I usually have twenty-four hour news or some type of news discussion going in the background.  Although it can annoy many around me at times, it did lead me to do a little research on a story I saw.  I watched as several people on the street were interviewed, and asked questions about the world around us today.  I watched the blank stare on their faces as they were asked the questions, then listened to answers that were more blank than their stares.  

My first thought, this had to have been staged.  There was no way people could not of at least heard of many of the events that make up our headlines.  Events that terrorize and challenge the world around us today.  I figured they had interviewed hundreds, and showed the few worst examples they could find from the ones they interviewed.  With this in mind, I decided to do a little research, and take a look at a series of recent polls where the American public was asked about these issues.  What I found troubled me more than the on the street interviews that had led me to the polls.

The majority of Americans knew little about what was occurring in Israel.  They did not know why the conflict was presently ongoing, and many did not even know who Hamas was.  Most did not know that Russia was once again looking to become the bear of days past, expanding its’ control of nations that fell under its’ authority during the days of the Cold War.  Most were unaware that Iran was close to developing a nuclear weapon, and the danger every corner of this world will feel if this project is allowed to be completed.  And most did not know and could not tell you who ISIS is.  They did not know why ISIS was grabbing land through the Middle East, and sadly, many were not even aware that they were.

These numbers staggered me.  In order for the numbers found in these polls to reach such high levels, it required more to be ignorant of the facts than just those who thought news only involved the names Kardashian and Bieber.  For the numbers to reach so deep, it had to also include the everyday families of this nation, and those who fill the pews of our churches each Sunday.  I asked myself the questions, how could people who read God’s Word, not see His Word coming to life in the events that make up our news each day?  How could they not be excited to see God’s Word being fulfilled?  How could what they are witnessing not cause them to look up, knowing that very soon Christ will return for His bride?

To answer these questions, I had to look no farther than a couple of other polls.  Polls taken on the state on religion in America today.  When asked about the Bible in recent polls, seven in ten do not believe the Word of God is literal and inerrant.  Seventy percent do not believe the Bible holds the answers.  Seven in ten do not believe that God holds the future in His hands.  Seventy percent of those in America today, believe they have better answers to the problems this world now faces than God does Himself.  

If the results of the first poll troubles us, then the results of the last poll should terrify us.  We are watching as our society does not look to deny God, but to make God irrelevant.  Before us has come a generation who believe there is a God, but have come to the conclusion they can live their lives better without God.  A generation who has access to God’s Word, but chooses to ignore God’s Word.  A nation of people who have looked into the face of God, and told God we do not need Him.  We have become the Psalm 14 Generation.

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”  They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; there is no one who does good.

The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand,  who seek after God.

They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

Do all the workers of wickedness not know who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord?

There they are in great dread, for God is with the righteous generation.

You would put to shame the counsel of the afflicted, but the Lord is his refuge.

Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!  When the Lord restores His captive people, Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad.  

As David wrote these words, one must wonder if the Lord was not showing him the people of this nation today.  Did the Lord give David a glimpse into the heart of this generation?  It is hard to read the power of these words, and not see the faces of this nation reflected in them.  A people that has never been better described by seven short verses.

In the first line, we see David completely capture the mindset of our nation.  “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”   When we hear the word “fool”, we think of someone who is acting unwisely, to do something stupid.  Although those terms often apply, the Bible’s definition is completely different.  The Hebrew word used here for “fool”  refers to someone who knows God, but chooses to live their life as if God has no affect on it.  This is someone who knows God’s Word, but chooses to ignore that Word.  The Book of Proverbs paints us the perfect picture of a fool.  It tells us that a fool disregards and hates knowledge(Proverbs 1:22).  A fool is immoral(Proverbs 6:32).  A fool finds pleasure in doing wicked things(Proverbs 10:23).  A fool takes pride in proclaiming absurdities(Proverbs 12:23).  A fool is boastful and  prideful(Proverbs 14:3).  A fool loves deceit(Proverbs 14:8).  A fool mocks sin(Proverbs 14:9).  And a fool does not seek understanding(Proverbs 18:2).   We see as the picture of a fool, one whose immoral actions and lack of wisdom causes him to oppose the plan that the Lord has for each of our lives.  In describing this person, Paul told us that they suppress the truth.  They know God, but choose not to live for God(Romans 1:19).

The Bible makes it clear that a fool acts and thinks not just out of ignorance, but out of his own selfish desires.    The fool not only chooses to ignore God’s plan and His desire for us, he also chooses to ignore the reality that evil plays in the world around us.  To the fool, wicked is not just a mere choice, but a chosen path.

To best understand this, we need to look no farther than the words David uses after writing the word fool.  David writes, “has said in his heart”.  How do we say something in our heart?  The Hebrew word used here is “leb”, and it means “inner parts, the place that causes man to deliberate and to reflect, our soul”.  The place that forms our beliefs, is the place that God tells us defines a fool.  If David knew this, then you can count on the fact that another knows this also.  We may refer to Satan as many things, but ignorance of God’s Word, and the actions and tendency of man, is not two of them.  Satan knows that what is found in the heart of man, the soul, will be reflected in the mind of man.  What controls the heart, will fill the mind.  Satan knows that the makeup of our soul will be seen in our actions, and will be heard in our words.  Satan looks to influence the heart, because to do so, will play out in our thoughts.  Satan knows too well, that in man you will find logic, but only through God can you find wisdom.  The best friend of Satan is the logic of a fool.

David finishes the line of this verse in a very powerful way, “There is no God”.   The Hebrew word for “There is no”, means “a lack of, without”.  David is not describing one who does not know God, but one who does not seek God.  He is identifying for us someone who has no use for God in their life.  What greater picture could David paint for us of a fool?  

A fool.  Corrupt to the core without even realizing they are corrupt.  Knowing God, but not wanting God.  Needing God, but without a desire to seek God.  Ignorant all the way to the core of their heart, but thinking they have more knowledge than God Himself.  They make up the words that Paul used to describe a people who would know God, but would not honor God.  A generation best described as, “Professing to be wise, they became fools”(Romans 1:22).

A generation that would fulfill the prophetic Word, but would be too foolish to realize that Word was describing them.  A generation that chose to cut itself off from their very source of spiritual strength and moral inspiration.  A generation that has drifted so far from the Lord’s guidance, that it no longer knows how to find its’ way out of the turbulent waves in the deep sea. A generation that no longer prays to be delivered from evil, because they do not wish to be led out of temptation.  

We have watched as a generation has rose up in this country, a generation that was present on the tip of the tongue of every Old and New Testament prophet.  A generation that God warned us about, and a generation that Satan has longed to see.  A generation that has closed their heart to Christ and His Word, but a generation who will open their mind to one who will soon come.  A generation whose minds will be led by the foolishness of their hearts.  A generation of fools.

Praying God’s wisdom will return to the hearts of this generation.

His Will

Dr. Mike Murphy
July 14, 2014

I could hear the pain in his voice as he spoke to me,  The tremble and struggle he had with certain words as he described to me what had recently happened in his life.  His mountains had found him standing on top of the greatest of the Alps, his valleys had found him feeling trapped in the depths of a gorge.  As the tears ran down his face, he now wondered just where he stood.

As the pastor of a longstanding, small church, Will had faithfully served the Lord for years. Over the past few years, Will had added an extra prayer each day for his church.  He needed the Lord to bring a special man through the doors of the church, a man who could help him serve the needs of the people, a man who could help the church fulfill the purpose that the Lord had called it to.  As the prayers went up, the Lord answered, and through the doors of the church came such a man.  A young man who was on fire for the Lord, and who had a desire to serve. A young man who did not care what the church could offer him, but only what he could offer the church.

Around this same time, Will and his family also received another unusual blessing in their life.  As the pastor of a small church, Will and his wife had often struggled financially. There was months that they were barely able to pay the bills, but through it all, the Lord had always provided a way.  Then the day came that the struggle would forever change.  They had unexpectedly inherited a large sum of money, enough to pay off their house and all they owed. Enough to help the church, and enough to secure its’ immediate future.  Will found himself on his knees, thanking the Lord for the prayers He had answered, and for the peace that He alone had brought to his life.

Over the next couple of weeks, Will began to struggle with health issues. After visiting his doctor and a specialist, and being administered a series of tests, the doctor broke the news. Will had an inoperable tumor, one that put his life in more than just danger.  The doctor had to inform Will that he only had a couple of months to live.  After the initial shock, Will began to pray. As the words of his prayer started to leave his lips, he realized the Lord had already heard every syllable.  Will was concerned about his family and his church, making sure both would be okay without him.  As he sat in his car after leaving the doctor’s office, Will could see how the hand of the Lord had already moved.  The Lord had sent a young pastor to the church, one who could and would continue to move the church forward. And the recent inheritance they had received, had put his wife in a position of financial security.  Will sat in the car in tears, the Lord had found a solution before Will had even known there was a problem.

Over the next couple of weeks, worries began to fill Will’s mind.  He began to worry if the young pastor was ready for what would lie ahead.  Was he ready to take on the day to day issues he would face in the church?  He also began to worry about his family, if only he could have the time to spend with each.  Time that each would remember long after he had passed. Will’s prayers soon became prayers of time, asking the Lord to just give him a little more time to do the things he felt he needed to do.  One year was all he asked, one year to get these things done that he felt that only he could do.

On his next doctor’s visit, Will again received remarkable news.  The tumor had not continued to progress as expected. leaving the doctor to tell Will that his two months may now be a little longer.  Will immediately began to smile, feeling the Lord had again heard his pleas. He felt the Lord was giving him the time to do the things he had asked to do.

As Will finished telling me this, you could hear his voice again start to crack, and you could see the tears filling his eyes.  Less than two months later, Will received a phone call from his neighbor while at the church one day.  As he answered the phone, his neighbor could hardly speak.  He listened as his neighbor explained the situation he had just witnessed to him.  As he neighbor had returned home, he could see the car of Will’s wife in the driveway with the door open.  As he looked at it closely, he could see Will’s wife lying collapsed on the ground by the car.  There was nothing he or the paramedics could do.  His wife had suffered an unexpected heart attack, and had died instantly.  As Will did all he could to recompose himself, he knew that he had to make a call he never expected to have to make.  He had to call his daughter, letting her know that her mother had passed.  Burying his wife was the hardest thing Will had ever done, and was not a day he thought he would ever see.

As Will finished telling me about his wife, I watched as his head fell again. The crack in his voice suddenly became broken.  The words that Will began to speak, were not words I was prepared to hear.  Less than two weeks after the sudden death of his wife, the phone would ring in Will’s life once again.  A local hospital called, asking Will if he could come to their emergency room immediately.  By the time Will arrived, he learned that a woman had ran a red light while texting on her phone.  Her car had plowed into another car, killing all three that were innocently passing through the intersection.  The three victims in the car was Will’s only daughter, his son in law, and his two year old granddaughter.  By the time Will could make it to the hospital that day, all three had already passed.

As the funeral ended, Will found himself in shock.  In the first minutes that Will had found himself alone in several days, Will began to pray.  As he folded his hands, Will remembered his last prayers.  The prayers of time began to fill the mind of Will.  The reality of the situation began to consume Will.  God had prepared all around him for the events that would come from the tumor.  The Lord had put the pieces in place for all the things that Will was concerned about. Will now realized, that time was not needed.  The Lord had already set a plan in motion for when Will would no longer be present on this Earth.  A plan that the Lord could bring to fulfillment without Will, a plan Will now felt he had selfishly asked to be a part of.  

I can still hear Will’s words so vividly.  “Instead of me waiting in Heaven for them, they are now there waiting in Heaven for me.  My selfish prayers have caused me to see things I wished I had never seen, and to do things I wish I had never had to do.”   The guilt that Will now feels overwhelms him.  In the past few days, Will has left his pastoral role in the church. His days are filled with regret, and each moment is now filled with pain.  A pain that Will now feels the Lord was preparing to spare him from.

Listening to Will, his words were like a spear piercing through my heart. His words made me pause, and caused me to think of my own life.  As some may know, I have been diagnosed with stage four cancer.  The doctors have more than once told me I have way over extended my warranty, that I am alive today only by the hand of God.  As I heard Will speak, I quickly reflected on my own words, and my own prayers.  As my time draws short, it is so easy to ask the Lord for time.  More than once I have caught myself saying, “Lord would you please allow me to be here to see that.”  Or I hear myself say, “Lord please allow me to see this finished.”  It is so easy to believe that only I can do what needs to be done, that without me things will just not be accomplished and completed.  I so effortlessly forget, that the One who sets things in motion, that the One who can make things complete, is not me.  I must constantly remind myself, it is not my will, it is Thy will.

My own words often remind me of Psalm 32:9, “Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, Otherwise they will not come near to you.”  My own stubbornness can often be my greatest obstacle, causing me to wander from the path that God’s will has set before me. My own will bridles me, and my wants can often saddle me.  The Lord must often place blinders on me, so my focus is directed toward His will.  

God constantly reminds me, His will is not something I must know, His will is something I must do.  Every verse of His Word reminds me, knowing His will is not enough, I must also set a course to follow His will(James 4:17).  I must be eager and prepared to surrender to His will, I must find myself with a stronger desire to do His will than to simply know His will.  I must be content to see His will done, so that His words are seen and heard in my words. 

It is not enough that I have surrendered my life to Christ, I must also long to surrender my will to Christ.  I must be willing to humble myself before Him, so that His will may govern me, and His ways may guide me(Psalm 25:9).  I must be willing to set aside my own self-serving desires, and my own selfish pride, so that Christ may be reflected in me.  I cannot forget, in order to be a teacher, I must first be teachable, so that His ways will be heard in my words.  The words I write and speak must echo those of the Lord, stating plainly that His needs always come before our wants.

I must be willing to deny my own will so His will may be served.  I must be willing to sacrifice all, because I have been given all.  I must be willing to trust the Lord in every situation, knowing that what I may not understand today, will be the joy that I will praise the Lord for tomorrow.  We only see today, and we so soon forget the lessons of yesterday.  But the Lord knows where we stood in the past, He knows where we stand today, and He knows where we need to be standing tomorrow.

As my days on this earth soon come to an end, I pray that with each remaining day I see His will done.  I pray that He will help me each day to forget my will, and to only remember His.  That at the end of each day, I will have found myself yielding to the Lord’s will. I pray that I will live each day in the light of this commitment, and each new day will find me recommitting to His will.  I pray that my greatest desire will not be my own, but to see His will done, and His name glorified.

Finally, to my fellow brother in Christ, I pray that the Lord’s grace and mercy will surround you, and that His loving arms will engulf you.  I pray that the words you so often preached, will be the words that fill your every thought.  I pray you will again remember, that the guilt and pain that now fills you, will one day soon be felt and remembered no more.  And I pray that through it all, you will never forget, you are still His Will!

Praying my will may be forgotten, so His will may be done!

Just What Is Evil?

Dr. Mike Murphy
June 12, 2014

Few things shock us anymore.  But the events that recently took place in Wisconsin did make me take pause.  The attempted murder of a twelve year old girl by two of her friends.  These two twelve year old girls claimed they were led to commit this tragic crime by a mythical character named Slender Man.  The urban legend that has come to be known as Slender Man, first made his appearance on the internet in 2009.   He is seen as a tall, narrow figure dressed in a black suit, with arms that hang almost the length of his body.  This “so-called” supernatural spirit is said to have no face, but has tentacles that protrude from his back.  It is said that all who look upon his face as snatched up, never to be seen again.  It is also said that children are his favorite prey.

The two girls lured their friend into the woods after a sleepover, stabbing her nineteen times and leaving her for dead.  Reports also show that the two girls had been planning this murder for months, proving their devotion to Slender Man by attempting this murder.  Both believed Slender Man to be real, living in a forest in northern Wisconsin.  Both said they planned on joining Slender Man at his estate in the wooded area after murdering their friend.

A few hours after committing the crime, the two girls was caught.  One of the two girls told the police she felt no remorse.  When asked why they had committed this horrible crime, one of the girls said she had to carry through or Slender Man would kill her family. One of the girls told police that although she had never met Slender Man, he watched over her and could read her thoughts. Both girls are being tried as adults, and could face up to sixty-five years if convicted.

As I heard this tragedy being discussed on television and radio, the comments that followed troubled me as much as the acts of these two girls. More than once I heard it asked, “If there is a God, why did He not stop this?”  “If God was so loving, then how could He allow such evil?”  And, “Where was God when this girl needed Him to protect her?”  I then heard a pastor speak, who had been asked to help make sense of the situation.  His reply troubled me even more.  He told the audience, “God has not given us the ability to understand evil. We are incapable of knowing what evil is, explaining where it came from or how it was created.”

With each tragedy we see today, we watch the world ask these same questions.  And with each question, we often watch as Christians today do not have the answers.  We make vain attempts to answer, leaving the world with even more questions than they had before.  We then are left to watch as the world pushes God farther away.

So why can the Church not seem to answer these question when it is asked?  Why are we unable to leave the world with answers of a loving God, rather than leaving them with more questions of why God would allow this? Although sad, the answer to this question is quite simple.  We, the Church, no longer understand what evil truly is and what place it has and carries in this world today.  We can no longer answer the ‘why” and the “how”, because we no longer follow and understand the words of the “Who”.  To truly understand this, we need to take a hard look at two often asked questions.  “What is evil?”  And, “Who created evil?”

So what is evil?  The dictionary defines evil as “morally reprehensible, sinful, wicked”.  Evil has become a very broad term to define the malicious and destructive acts we often see around us.  In order to truly define evil, we need to look at what it does.  Evil can only be defined if we not only look at its’ cause, but also at its’ effect.  In order to do this, let us look at a simple comparison.

Walk outside in Green Bay, Wisconsin in the heart of winter, and you will soon hear one phrase over and over.  “Wow it is cold!”  But ask any scientist and they will tell you that there is no such thing as “cold”.  Cold is nothing more than a word we have created to describe the absence of heat.   The less heat we feel, the “colder” we say it has become. The same can be said of evil.  Evil is the word we have created to describe the absence of God, and the goodness that only He can bring this world.  Therefore, the farther we find ourselves separated from God, the greater the chance of evil a situation may hold.

When we see a tragedy on the news, we need to understand that the event we are watching is not evil.  Evil is the result or the outcome of the event we see. Evil is not the action, evil is the outcome, or the effect of that action.  The action that caused the evil is sin.  We often confuse sin, the act, with evil, the effect. When we watch a terrorist strap a bomb to their body, walk into a building and kill all those who were innocently there, we are witnessing sin.  The act they commit is sin, evil is the result or the effect of that act. 

Sin is the act of behaving against the law and teachings of God, and His plan for our life.  Sin is what separates us from God, and prevents us from allowing His love and wisdom to guide our lives.  Sin is a choice, one we make each day.  Do we follow the ways of God or do we follow the ways of man, allowing sin to rule our lives?  Evil is often the outcome of that sin, and the effect of our choice not to allow God’s plan to lead our lives.  We must understand, where you see evil you are witnessing a choice that has been made.  A choice by someone that has chosen sin over God.  We must also understand, evil and God can never be found together in the same sentence.  Where God is present evil cannot exist.

Often today, we hear a familiar question every time evil raises its’ head. “How could a loving God allow this to happen?”   We can find the answer within the question itself.  It is because of the love God has for us that we have the choice we just discussed!  Free will allows each of us to choose or reject God, to choose His wisdom or to follow the logic of man.  Tragedy, destruction and evil are the outcome of this choice, a choice each of us has the ability to make daily. Although God could easily stop each catastrophic event we see, in doing so He would also take away this incredible gift He has given us, the gift of free will.  We would become nothing more than robots, following a path that was chosen or predestined for us.

Way too often, we confuse what God allows with what God desires.  God wants nothing but the best for each of us, and no one hurts more when He sees heartbreak come to our lives.  God has given us the wisdom of His Word, and example after example of what can come from our choices.  He has done everything short of stopping free will in order to keep evil from our lives.  God knows our future, and has over and over tried to warn us of where our choices may lead, and the devastation that could await us because of those choices.  But in the end, God knows that man will often choose sin, and evil will again show its’ face.  We must never forget, evil has and never will be the result of God’s judgment, but is the outcome of man’s choices.

Now that we have an understanding of evil, we can look at the second question, “Who created evil?”.  For years this question has been at the heart of attempts by many to disprove God.  They often say that if God is truly good, then evil could not exist.  They even go as far as to try and link God and evil.  They will often make the following argument, attempting to make God as the cause of evil. If God is the creator of all things, and evil exist, then God must be the creator of evil.

This is a logic that may be sound to the minds of man, but does not hold up when we look at it with the wisdom of God.  To accept this argument, we must accept the assertion that evil is something, that evil is a “thing”.  Evil is not a “thing”, but the lack of a “thing”.  As I stated earlier, evil is the outcome of sin, the absence of God.  Evil is not a created thing.  I have never met a person who has seen, touched, felt, smelled, or heard a physical evil.  It does not meet the definitions and principles of physics, you will not find energy, matter, or dimension associated with it.  I have never yet seen a person who went to the store and purchased a bag of evil!

Evil is without question a reality, but evil does not and cannot exist in or unto itself.  Evil has no existence of its’ own, and cannot be found outside the action of sin.  Unless we first see the choice of sin, we cannot find the presence of evil.  We can look to God’s Word to prove this.  All of us know the Creation story, of how God created this world and this universe.  The Bible tells us that as He finished this creation, everything He made was good(Genesis 1:31).  In other words, the universe was without sin.  We know that sin entered this world because of rebellion against God, not because God created it.  So therefore, evil came into this world because of the action of sin, not by the hand of God.

God did not create evil, but because of free will, He allows for the possibility of evil.  And praise the Lord that He does!  Had He not allowed for the potential of evil, we would be serving and worshiping God out of requirement and necessity, not out of choice.   What a blessing and a gift that we can each choose God!

When we look at these two questions, we begin to see how our nation today defines and labels God.  We have continued to push God farther and farther away from our everyday decisions.   We define God by our own logic, confining God to our own desires.  We paint a picture of God with the broad strokes of a logical brush, not with the precisional beauty that can be found in the brush of wisdom.  Looking at this painting, we should not be surprised when we see the face of evil, because in this painting you will not find the true image of God.

The Church needs to understand what evil actually is, and the role it plays in our society and in each of our lives.  We need to be ready the next time we hear those familiar questions,  “If there is a God, why did He not stop this?”  “If God was so loving, then how could He allow such evil?”   “Where is God when evil comes?”  We have to let the world know that God is right here!  Here waiting for us to do with this gift of free will what He has always longed for us to do. Choose Him!

Praying each of you choose wisely!