What is Witchcraft?

What is Witchcraft?

Witchcraft is the practice of magic, especially black magic. This includes using spells and invoking spirits.  Without going into too much detail, witchcraft is the anthesis of Christianity. It gives its believers supernatural powers with which they use to accomplish various tasks or fulfill desires. In some cultures witchcraft is used to predict the future, for advice, for healing, or to harm others.

Witches (whatever the type), work with satanic spirits either knowingly or in ignorance. Some people are lured into witchcraft because of the desire for power or out of pride. In either case, all witchcraft is evil and is born of hell.

The root of witchcraft is rebellion. This means that all witches have roots of rebellion to some degree within them. The rebellion works itself out from a heart that rebels against authority, rebels against God, and rebels against the normal natural world as it exists. When you become a witch, you will be demonstrating a rebellion to every type of authority.

Witchcraft has existed for thousands of years. The bible even speaks of witchcraft and the details of what God does not want us to do in biblical documents that were written over 3000 years ago.

What causes someone to Become A Witch?

In a secular society such as the United States, witchcraft is generally placed in the category of fiction and mythology. Often times those who directly practice witchcraft have been found in the darker parts of cities where crime and sin run rampant.  But today the case is different.

With movies, television programs and literature that directly focus on witchcraft, the youth of America are becoming more and more influenced by the occult.  Harry Potter for instance, introduced the United States to a mysterious concept of the supernatural.  Spinnoff movies have continued to feed the curiosity of youth who live a good portion of their lives being told that spirituality is make-believe.

The supernatural movement has expanded to such a degree that now networks such as Nickelodeon have tailored programs that make witchcraft a part of every day life. These programs are designed to draw young people into a lifestyle outside the natural, into a world that leads to destruction.

Sometimes people who have been taken advantage of, sexually abused, hurt, or had other things happen to them have a deep desire to escape, or even rebel against authority. This is especially true when someone in authority such as a teacher or parent hurt them. Sometimes becoming a witch is a way to escape pain you are unwilling or unable to cope with.

Is all Witchcraft wrong?

There are many who have a desire to justify witchcraft. Often times it is divided into White Magic and Black Magic.  Those who practice White Magic believe that as long as they don't use their powers to harm others, there is no problem with practicing it.  Even more, some who practice white magic believe themselves to also be Christian.  Nothing is further from the truth.

There is absolutely no denying, that there is supernatural power that exists.  And people can tap into supernatural power. The question to ask yourself with any witchcraft is this. Where does the power from witchcraft come from? The answer to this is simple.

Power that comes outside of God is granted by Satanic sources.

There is a real war going on in the spirit. There are spirits that control the world systems. These spirits are united as one kingdom under satan. This kingdom works in unity very similar to how a gang or a prison works. The stronger ones are placed in higher positions and the lower ones are subject to them. It is a kingdom run out of fear, greed, and other sorts of evils.

The purpose of satan's kingdom is to destroy people's souls. Why? Because satan hates mankind. There was a time when satan was the highest of angels of God, but due to his own rebellion to God, he fell from his position in heaven taking many angels with him. Now satan and his demons walk the earth looking for those to devour. He comes to kill, steal and destroy.

Satan has already been judged by God. His time is limited. His reign here on earth will come to an end, and in time he will be cast into a lake of fire. He is intent on the destruction of people.

How does being a Witch serve Satan?

First is what you believe. No person who knew and believed the truth would serve something that would cause them eternal misery and destruction.  Somewhere in what you believe there are lies. These lies are born from satan because satan is the father of lies.

Some witches believe their white magic goes along with God. Often times they do not have a realistic concept of who God is but refer to him as a light or some unknowable being. In this they are ignorant and they are believing lies. God is knowable.

Other witches simply make an agreement with satan or familiar spirits. These agreements will end up costing them their souls, and make it very difficult to come to saving faith in Christ.  For a short life of power they commit themselves to do the bidding of demonic spirits.  The lie here is often that they will have a kingdom with satan after they die, but the truth is they will be imprisoned and tortured by the very one they are loyal to. In the end however, they will suffer the same fate that satan will receive. This fate is a part in the lake of fire.

Weather one is a white witch or if they serve satan directly, they are both used to serve satan to some degree. Familiar spirits will bring lies to manipulate the direction of people. By being possessed or allowing yourself to be open to these spirits, you will do things that are outside of your control. It will bring a person to do, say, and think things that they would have never done before.

How do you stop from being a witch?

If you have made a contract with satan or if you have practiced witchcraft in the past you will realize that the spirits do not go away. Many times they came as a part of drug use and you are continuously tempted by drugs. Other times you may think that you've completely sold your soul to the devil. In any case, someone who served satan is held onto tightly.  Being released is not easy.

Demons can be cast our of people. When this happens the spirit goes away for a time. Your life will be swept and cleaned up, but at a later time it will come with stronger demons. These stronger demons will take over making it that much harder to cast them out. There is only one way of protection from demons and only one protection once you decide to turn your back from evil.

The solution and the protection is one and the same. The solution is a complete surrender of your life to Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who has come in the flesh and who has all power and all authority over all demons and all evil spirits, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. He has complete authority over them.

By using the name of Jesus, demons are cast out because of His authority, but this does not grant protection from them in the future. Only by being submitted completely to Jesus in your life will you receive protection from evil.

Turning from witchcraft causes you to have a target painted on you in the spirit, but when you surrender to Jesus Christ, you are painted with His blood, and marked as His child.  Not only does Jesus have all authority over demons, but because Jesus died on the cross two thousand years ago, and then was raised again to Glory, His blood can protect you from demonic forces.

Demons are darkness and shadows, but Jesus is light. When light is shone in a dark room, shadows flee, just as demons do when Jesus appears. We have access to Jesus and His light through the Cross of Christ. When we trust in Jesus' work on the cross for our salvation, protection and complete new birth, we have full access to the very throne of God.  He promises that we can ask anything in His will and it will be done.

He will be your protection when he becomes your fortress. He will give you the desires of your heart if you delight in him. He will guide you by His Word. He will strengthen you as you wait upon him. He is there for your when you believe in him.  Turn from witchcraft and turn to Jesus today.  There are two paths. One leads to destruction. The other leads to life.  Which one will you take?

Psychology, another word for Manipulation.

Just what is psychology? Psychology is commonly referred to as the "study of the soul" Psychology includes the study of behavior, perception, emotion, motivation, personality and, relationships.

Psychology has one very practical benefit. Manipulation.

What actual benefit does studying behavior have? It teaches you what to expect and what you can do or say to manipulate that behavior.

What do psychological studies on perception do? Understanding human perception gives you the ability to change perceptions. This gives a great tool to be able to hide truth and present a false understanding of the world.

What about emotion? When you study people's emotions and how they respond to different words, actions, colors, or objects, it allows you to use those things to pull a response from people.

When you use psychology to study motivation, it gives you the ability to give people false purposes, passions, or needs that they previously didn't have. Again manipulation.

When you study personalities, it gives you the ability to know how different people will work in different settings. It groups people into A, B, C and often manipulates what career a person should go into, or what type of person they should marry.

Finally, psychology in relationships let's you always get the upper hand. By understanding the personality type, you can better manipulate that person in a relationship. This is done by building false friendships.

Man existed for thousands of years without psychology, and there is no real benefit of the study in comparison to eternal things. Christianity does not need psychology, because our goal as Christians is to simply tell truth and give people freedom to respond to truth.

Christianity pertaining to behavior says that everyone is sinful, therefore we're all deserving of eternal punishment in Hell.

In terms of perception, we think nothing of it. Perception of man or self perception is based on vain thinking, and is worthless. What matters is our perception of God and to understand God, we read His Word the Bible. Then we learn and perceive truth.

As for emotions, we as Christians gain control of our emotions. A Christian would never want to manipulate someone's emotions, but rather, do simply what comes naturally in Christ, self-sacrifice to put others above ours. We control our emotions by focusing on Christ knowing truth and the Word.

For motivation, we have ample motivation in Christ. Everything is fueled by Christ dying on the Cross to forgive us of our sins. We are then motivated to lovingly share forgiveness with others. Since salvation is open and a free gift that anyone can take, we need not manipulate to "make a decision". If God doesn't do a work in a person's life, they'll never surrender to Christ.

As for personality, for Christians we are to conform ourselves to the image of Christ, and thus lose our individuality. We still have personalities, but they are brought under subjection to Christ's commands. You can't say "my personality is to lust". That is not personality, but that is sin.

Finally in relationships, as Christians seek Christ together there is no closer relationships, where there is no one there to hurt us. We have the strongest relationships of any groups of people because our hearts are bound to one another in Christ. In relationships, love is key.

So is psychology good for Christianity? Absolutely Not! Psychology is just a way to manipulate, Christianity is a way to inherit eternal life, love God, and to love others.

Edit: Please be aware that I am talking specifically about secular psychology and concepts that are not biblical, but have made their way into Christian thinking. Perhaps I should have been less harsh, but my overall point is that we don't need man's ideas. We need God's truth. Even what we think of as "good psychology", if it does not encourage you to seek after Christ, understand truth, or be obedient to God, it is a deception. Psychology attempts to manipulate behavior but can never solve the real spiritual issues of a person. Biblical counselors reveal truth to a person and in that God gives strength and comfort to endure.

How do you explain Darwin and Evolution?

How do you explain Darwin and Evolution?

Evolution is a hot topic, and it seems to be getting hotter as time goes on. There seems to be an emerging group of atheists who are rising up to not only support the idea of God-less humanism, but promote it through billboards and radio programs. Additionally the common market of "higher education" in this country nearly completely subscribe to a God-less world view.

So just what is meant by the term evolution, and why is it such a huge issue?

First, the term "evolution" is actually a catch-all term that commonly implies these fundamental concepts:

• Belief that the world is billions of years old
• Life has existed many millions of years
• All life somehow came out of one creature
• Species as we know them, all have one common ancestor
• Time, Chance and Environment are major factors in how life progresses

Darwin is so important because he was the first one to come up with a theory on how organisms could have come from one life form. His idea was simple. Using ideas from others, Darwin assumed that the world was millions of years old. He then discovered the concept of natural selection (in which animals inherit different traits from generation to generation), and he tied that concept globally to all life. Darwin came up with the idea that since you have a family tree that goes back in time, and since (he believed) there were millions of years to work with, that all life could go back to a single organism.

Since the progress of science 150 years ago was still limited, Darwin saw no problem with cells coming together in a primordial goo. So he focused mainly on tying natural selection to the one originating organism, and thus macro-evolution was born.

Taking this model, the science community has tried to piece the puzzle together, with Darwin's evolution being the framework. As a recent National Geographic article has shown, their work is speculation at most.

One problem you have with the idea of Darwinism is the fact that you can not go back in time to literally see or record what happened, therefore the concept can never be proven.

But what about fossils?

Fossils are bone bones and fragments of bodies that have been hardened over time through a fossilization process. This process requires several things to be true. 1) Quick burial 2) No oxygen in the area of the body 3) It should also contain hard parts like bone.

The assumption made by scientists is that fossils must be millions of year old, however fossils can form quickly. In fact, scientists can create fossils in a laboratory, which disproves the necessity that fossils must form over millions of years.

So fossils are evidence that animals were quickly buried (usually in a river or flood plane) with no oxygen, and then very quickly fossilized. From there they exist as stones that can be preserved for long periods of time. Therefore the time frame for fossils existing could be anywhere from 100 years ago to 5000 years ago.

Then how are fossils dated?

There are two different ways fossils can be dated. The first way is through relative positioning. This means that depending on where a fossil is found in the sedimentary layers, the date is determined based on how close it is to other fossils scientists have found. Similarly, the dating of sedimentary layers is determined by what fossils are found in them. Relative dating is simply an advanced guessing game.

The second way of dating is called absolute dating. This method determines half-life of radioactive materials in the rocks surrounding a fossil and dates it accordingly. However often times this method of dating is often inaccurate.

What about the Galapagos finches?

You can find more information about the Galapagos finches here. Darwin simply observed different beak structures in finches where he came up with the idea of natural selection. Natural selection is the idea that over generations, features that hindered an animal from eating was evolved to a feature that helped them survive. This lead the the concept of survival of the fittest.

However the Galapagos finches merely proves that there is a different array of physical features within a single species, but the his idea of macro-evolution (one species evolving into another) has yet to be proven throughout the past 150 years of scientific progress.

So what does this show?

This shows that despite thousands upon thousands of people believing an idea, it may not necessarily be true. The true atheist must make a leap of intellectual faith in order to believe this theory, and often times it is done because of spiritual reasons.

Plugging your ears to other logical explanations of existence is usually an attempt to suppress your own conscience because you hate the idea of there being a first cause, a being higher than you, and someone you are accountable to. Atheism and Darwin are beloved by so many because it gives them a sense of freedom to do what they want however they want, without the fear of consequences.

The bible is certainly true:

Romans 1:24-25 - Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For more information about biblical and scientific understanding of evolution, natural selection and creation, see:

• http://answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/is-natural-selection-evolution
• Answers in Genesis

Is the prosperity gospel dangerous?

Is the prosperity gospel dangerous?

The prosperity message is one of the most deceitful lies of the enemy in America today, yet day after day tens of thousands of people fall for this deceitful lie and support the "ministries" that preach it.

Jesus said in Luke 16:13, "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

The word mammon translates to mean wealth or money. While the bible may speak about money more than it does heaven or hell, what it says about money is the exact opposite of the modern day prosperity message.

Jesus said in Matthew 19:23 "Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."

John Piper of http://desiringgod.org posed this question to Prosperity Preachers...

"My question for prosperity preachers is: Why would you want to develop a ministry focus that makes it harder for people to enter heaven?" - John Piper

What other examples does the bible say about prosperity and riches?

Matthew 6:20 "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal"

Proverbs 11:4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, But righteousness delivers from death.

1Timothy 6:17 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

So be careful of where your heart is, and stay away from hypocrites who use lies and deceit to fund their own selfish desires.

Jesus said in Mark 12:38-40

"38 And in His teaching He was saying: "Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places,
39 and chief seats in the synagogues, and places of honor at banquets,
40 who devour widows' houses, and for appearance's sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation. "

Are Catholics Christians?

Are Catholics Christians?

In a dogmatic sense the answer is no. On a personal basis the answer is possibly.

In order to answer this question, we must define a Christian. The bible only mentions the word "Christian" a few times in the bible (Acts 26:28, 1 Peter 4:16). A better term would be a Disciple of Christ. What defines a Disciple of Christ or a Christian?

The biblical definition would be a person who is saved by being born again and perusing a life of holiness and purity of thoughts, actions and deeds. This is a personal experience that happens to a person when they submit their lives to the total Lordship of Christ Jesus, thus not doing their own will any more but doing the will of the Father.

How does Catholic teaching differ from biblical understanding? First is salvation. Catholics profess that salvation is a process throughout the life of an individual and it requires a person to do works to earn merit to entering heaven.

The bible says over and over that a person is saved only by God's grace, not by works, so that no man may boast. The bible says no one can work to earn their salvation. So are Catholics saved?

The answer is... probably some... If a man or woman submits primarily to the Lordship of Jesus Christ through repentance and faith, and then obey those in authority (such as the catholic church, the government, etc) they are surely saved, however, if they are truly saved and they desire to start growing in Christ, they will certainly not stay in a place that teaches falsely based on the traditions of man.

Salvation is a one time event in a person's life. It can happen in one day or it can happen over months, but once it happens the relationship between a person and God is completely reconciled and that person is saved. Salvation can never be earned.

When a teacher or a group of teachers (church) miss the primary doctrines for salvation, other teachings will certainly be compromised as well. For instance, the esteem they give Mary is another falsehood that is clearly debunked by the bible, however their scholars twist and mis-read Holy Scripture to try to justify their teaching.

Finally the authority of the church has been seen as the literal anti-Christ for the past 200 years. The pope is an anti-Christ which means taking the place of Christ. When the pope is seen as having to be sinless while in the pulpit, this gives him a certain amount of god-status, which is problematic with scripture.

Put plainly, if you are a Catholic, I would encourage you to read the bible and don't trust man. The bible says that God can not lie, and it claims to be God's very word. Read it, and don't trust men. All men are liars.

How do you witness?

How do you witness to people?

Answer:

When I witness to people I usually use this general method. And when I witness, no I do not use a bullhorn.

(Audience -> unbeliever)

[Point out what happens]
When you die, you will stand before God in Judgment. He will Judge by the standards of the 10 commandments. God will see everything you have ever done in your life. How do you think you will do on that day?

[Bring out the law]
Have you ever lied? That makes you a liar by definition.
Have you ever stolen anything? That makes you a thief.
...
Jesus said if you look with lust, you have committed adultry at heart. Have you ever looked with lust? That makes you an adulterer.

[Try to get them to think and weigh the consequences]
What will happen to you if this is true? If you were judged would you be innocent or guilty? Would you go to heaven or hell? If hell, does this concern you?

[If they seem, share the Gospel, otherwise it is throwing pearls before swine]
God did something wonderful so you won't have to go to hell. He came down in the form of man and lived a perfect life, that you and I can never live. We sin all the time, but Jesus never sinned. Then He went to the cross as a payment for our sins so when we stand before God in His courtroom, we can be set free, because our crimes have been paid for.

[What you have to do to be saved]
God requires that all people repent, which means apologize and turn away from sin. Example: When you get on the internet and start to click onto those perverted websites, you turn the computer off instead.

And the second thing is that you must trust in Christ. Trusting in Him is like jumping out of a plane and trusting in a parachute to get you safely to the ground. In the same way you must trust in Christ that He will take you up to heaven.

[What to do]
Think about these things seriously. You have no promise of waking up alive tomorrow. Eternity is a very serious issue. If you have a bible pick it up and start reading it. Matthew is a good place to start. Read your bible and pray every day and God will lead you in the right direction.


Sometimes I come across believers when witnessing. It is important when witnessing to not assume anyone is saved. I usually do three things with professing believers.
1) Ask if they are saved. Poke around ask questions, and see if they get defencive.
2) Ask how they would witness to someone, to make sure they're equipped for every good work.
3) Ask if there is any sin in their life at the present time, and/or what ministry they are in.

What about you? How do you witness?

Is this how Evolution Works?

This is from a conversation I had several months back in regards to DNA sequencing.

While I understand your reasoning, I disagree. I believe that life, like evolution, wasn't just a random chain of events. It is a process. After many mistakes, the right combination appears. For instance, if there is a sequence of numbers, say 1 2 3 4 5, the probablility of getting the correct combination is slim to none. But if we generate a few other random sequences and each time we get one correctly we know to stop moving that one, the probability of achieving the correct sequence gets better. For example:
3-4-5-1-1
2-5-1-4-4
5-3-3-4-2
4-1-3-4-1
1-4-3-4-3
1-3-3-4-1
1-2-3-4-2
1-2-3-4-4
1-2-3-4-5
Of course, it would take a lot longer than that with real life, but you see the idea, don't you?

Answer:

The delima is simple. Does DNA already know what to evolve to?

Here is my question... how do "we know to stop moving that one"? See if you already know that for order to happen it needs to be 1 2 3 4 5 then it is easy to say that "we" know to stop moving that one. But "we" don't control the sequencing of DNA. This example assumes that there is some kind of intelligence necessary in order for things to not be a random chain of events, or it assumes that the DNA itself knows already what to evolve to.

Let's take your example a bit further and see what happens...
Known:
1) DNA is made up of about 3 billion chemical building blocks (divided into 24 different chromosomes)
( http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/faq/seqfacts.shtml)
2) The age of the universe according to Berkley is 13.5 billion years old
( http://astro.berkeley.edu/~dperley/univage/univage.html Conclusion)
3) The age of the earth is approximated to being 4.55 billion years (plus or minus about 1%)
( http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-age-of-earth.html#howold
Referenced: http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/lessons/deep.les.html)
4) Advanced bacteria is believed to have appeared on earth 3.55 billion years ago.
(http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/21438?fulltext=true)

Let's start with the age of the Earth. 4.55 billion years old, and advanced bacteria was on the Earth 3,550,000,000 Years ago.

How long would it take to use your template method to come up with the correct order?

Starting with your example, I wrote a little script to calculate the average number of passes it would take to do a combination of 5 numbers. It took on average between 10.67 and 10.81 passes (tries) to come up with 1 2 3 4 5 in order using your method.

Now I'm going to increase the set to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10.
28.4587, 28.2404, 28.3293

Now I'm going to increase the set to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20.
70.4925, 70.5662, 70.63

From 1..30
117.699, 117.021, 117.362

And again from 1..50
225.743, 220.479, 225.084

(Program can be found here)

It would take 1.4285714286^10 or 14,285,714,286 =~ 14.29 billion attempts using this method to line up all of the numbers in proper order. Review my numbers

Conclusion... If my math is not completely wrong, if the DNA sequence was already perfectly designed and the material simply fell into place, if it took 3.55 Billion years, it would average attempt every 90 days. (i.e. the material would have to line up perfectly)

I suppose if the DNA was already designed such that all the marbles had to do was fall into place, and never change, the within the time, I could see how you'd come to the conclusion to use that method. However strictly speaking, using that method still does not explain DNA without a higher intelligence, simply because the material must "know" to stop mutating when it fits into the right place. If it didn't "know" that then it would be purely random.

Loud Praying on the Subway

On the subway today, some guy was sitting next to me praying very loudly. Should I have said something?

---

Answer:


Yes. You should have said...

"Excuse me sir, You're interrupting my preaching."

And then continue preaching...

Loving God? Omniscient God? Forgiving?

Christians, I would like to discuss this, so I will word this as respectfully as I can.?

I don't understand how the God of Abraham is seen as kind, good, and loving.

I don't understand why "unconditional love" isn't paired with unconditional forgiveness.

I don't understand why, if Jesus was sent to atone for sins, it wasn't just over with right then.

I don't understand how something that supposedly created us can hold us in such contempt.

I don't understand why any of this would have happened, from the Adam and Eve story on, if God was truly omniscient.

I don't see how free will can exist with an omniscient creator.

---

Great Questions...

> I don't understand how the God of Abraham is seen as kind, good, and loving.

Have you ever breathed air? Well that's His. He gave it to you. He gave you life. He formed you in your mothers womb as the bible says. He knows the number of hairs on your head. If you don't think giving someone existance, life, breath, and all of the things in this world is not kind, good, or loving, then I'm not sure how you would define those three words.

> I don't understand why "unconditional love" isn't paired with unconditional forgiveness.

Because God wants you to love Him back. Of your own free will. Hell isn't the issue, because we all deserve that anyway. God wants a people who will recognize Him and obey Him because they want to, rather than being forced to. If you are unconditionally forgiven, then you would be with god whom you hate forever. Many times the loving thing to do is to let go. That's what God does when He passes Judgment. He lets you go to your own fleshly desires, that lead to death.

> I don't understand why, if Jesus was sent to atone for sins, it wasn't just over with right then.

In the bible, God works in Ages. The first age was Adam. That didn't work, because Adam sinned. The second age was before the flood. That didn't work, because every thought and desire of men in their hearts were continuously evil. Then the age of the Law. The Jews were made to be the most prosperous nation on the planet at that time, but that didn't pan out. Men started keeping the law for tradition's sake, not because they Loved God. The next age is the age of Grace. That is what Jesus accomplished on the Cross. This age has brought a large amount of division between those who love God and those who love the world. I'm not sure why God setup History like that, but I'll be sure to ask when I get to heaven.

> I don't understand how something that supposedly created us can hold us in such contempt.

In fact the opposite is true. You hold God in contempt by not believing in Him. Everytime you sin, it shows that you are making yourself an enemy of God. God created you for a purpose. That purpose is to accurately reflect His image on Earth. When you break the commandments, you are rebelling against your purpose and rebelling against your God. You have free choice, and God never changes. God hates sin. He has always hated sin. He will always hate sin. If you love your sin, then you're saying you love what God hates, and make yourself his enemy. God however is patient and Kind. He has given you life to this point.

I don't understand why any of this would have happened, from the Adam and Eve story on, if God was truly omniscient.

Omniscient means all knowing. God knew Adam and Eve would sin. That is why He planned Jesus dieing on the cross before the earth was ever created. All of creation points to the single act of Jesus hanging and dieing on that cross. It is a thing that Angels marveled at. The Earth shook, the Sun stopped shining, and that Curtain that separated Man from God was torn at that very hour. God planned it so that all of Creation would worship and adore Him for being so kind and loving and good as to have died for wicked people like us.

> I don't see how free will can exist with an omniscient creator.

It works like this. We have free will. We do what we want, but we are also influenced as well. God knows all things. He sees your life from beginning to end, as He looks at the Earth from the eternal perspective. Since He knows things, He can influence people and directions. But He lets us stay in the drivers seat as long as we want. When we repent and trust in Him, we surrender our lives to Him. We allow Him to drive our life and hold on, in absolute trust that God's promices are true and that He already knows the outcome before we get there.

I hope this helped a little bit. Comment on my blog if you have any other questions or responses.

Why does god allow war?

Why does god allow war?

---

Answer

Because God is also patient and longsuffering. He wants everyone to repent, even those in wars. He allows man to cause his own wars.

God loves the poor and the oppressed and the lowly, and God WILL see to it that all who war unjustly against his neighbor will be duely punished. Because when we die, we stand before God to give an account of our lives. God is a Good and Just Judge. He will punish all the murders, and child molesters, and rapests that got away from human justice...

But God won't stop there. He will give justice to all who have broken His Holy law. If you've lied, God sees you as a liar and you are a lawbreaker. Just as a murderer doesn't see anything wrong with murder, in the same way liars don't see anything wrong with lieing. But God does. And on that day the bible says in Revelation 21 "But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."

Liars are grouped with murders and sexually immoral, and the cowardly. The bible says we're all guilty of war crimes against God. We all have wared against Him every time we sin. Outward war is just an escalation of the wickedness of the hearts of men.

So when you stand before a Holy and Just and Good God on the day of Judgment, will you be innocent or guilty of breaking His law? Should a Good judge let lawbreakers go free? Or should they be punished.

The bible says we all deserve God's wrath, but God did something so that we don't have to end up in eternal punishment.

Even while we were waring against the Good God of the universe, as many are today, God came down as a man, Jesus Christ, and lived a perfect life, and then died a horrible death on the cross as the payment for your breaking of God's law. He took the punishment that you deserve upon himself, so that you can go free, being Justified before God's court. The bible says that he commands all people to repent of their sins and trust in Jesus as if their eternal life depended on Him, because it does.

In doing this, Jesus demonstrates being the perfect peace-maker, in that He died for his enemies. More specifically, he died for you. And you can be forgiven of your wrongs if you repent and turn from your sins, and trust in Jesus as your Lord. You're commander and chief. Surrender yourself to Him not because of the consequences of hell, but because He was SO Good as to have died for YOU.

It is because God is so loving that he allows men to live out their lives (even in sin) just for the chance that they may repent and trust in Jesus for His eternal sacrifice. That He may be glorified for being such a Good God as to have saved such bad people.