| The Cause of Troubles, Disasters and Illnesses We bring most of our problems on ourselves because we fail to follow God’s way in some small or large portion. God made the world to be good and people in His image. When we miss the mark, the harmony between God’s love and us goes awry and bad things happen to us. We need to know what we do wrong that breaks the harmony bringing life and life more abundantly into our lives. Disharmony A modern term for sin, breaking God’s Laws and Commandments, would be disharmony because sinning prevents the smooth operation of the world, our minds and bodies. Like a car trying to run without oil or with ill maintained components, we must maintain our minds and bodies in accordance with the manual God provides for the operation of beings. Sin fouls everything up. Why? Because God made us to be righteous in order to run effectively, like a finely tuned engine. Unlike an automobile engine manual, there are many books and theories, which proclaim to be the true human manual, but there is only one written by the manufacturer, the Bible. Satan — the one that wishes to destroy the creation and our rightful place in the universe to be sons and daughters of God living fruitful lives resulting in eternal life — introduced disharmony into the world and is the prime cause of all our problems. This evil being, with skillful schemes and delightful deceits, brought all manner of disharmony and discord into the lives of people. Until or unless people refer to the original manual for thriving lives, they will forever live from one disaster to another until death does them part. 1John 3:8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. The Catalogue of Catastrophe Or the Hidden Sins of the Heart Mic. 6:13 “So also I will make you sick, striking you down, Desolating you because of your sins. Rom. 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Here is a fairly comprehensive list of ways we bring disharmony into our lives: Out of the Heart Idolatry, more than worshipping only images, primarily causes disharmony. Many people worship themselves; they exhibit all manner of presumptuousness, boastfulness, arrogance, insolence and pride. They are haughty and will gratify their senses with evil. Mark 7:21 For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, Mark 7:22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. Mark 7:23 All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” Self-worship Volumes have been written about people who loved and worshipped themselves more than any one else. Can we say the emperors of the Roman Empire, any number of tyrants past and present, and some of the greedy members of the business community? There are others who worship themselves without having achieved anything monumental. It is a common transgression, which places an individual in direct competition with the Creator without having His immortality or His abilities. Further, this idolatry was first found in the devil and demons; therefore, this idolatry is basically demonic. 2Tim. 3:2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 2Tim. 3:3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 2Tim. 3:4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 2Tim. 3:5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. Rebellion Rebellion represents another aspect of idolatry. Actually, all sinners rebel against their Maker, but rebellion, itself, is called divination, iniquity and idolatry. When a person is rebellious, he acts like an unreasoning animal. 2 Pet. 2:12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, 2Pet. 2:13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, 2Pet. 2:14 having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; 2Pet. 2:15 forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 2Pet. 2:16 but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet. 2Pet. 2:17 ¶ These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. 2Pet. 2:18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, 2Pet. 2:19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. Rebellious people can never abide by any in authority, especially God. And since all authority comes from God, these persons fail to support their bosses or any in charge, they hate all governments and law enforcement officials, and they constantly find ways to avoid and break any and all laws. The word criminal comes to mind. Covetousness and Greed Covetousness and greed are also forms of idolatry. We all know the vast problems those in power cause to others by their greed born of covetousness. Eph. 5:5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. So instead of worshipping the Creator, idolaters worship themselves by rebelling, and thirsting after money without regard to consequences. Self-abasing The self-abased judge and condemn themselves because, unless they are completely evil without hope of repentance or redemption, sinners develop a sense of guilt or a form of self-pity acting like sorrow because of what they have done wrong. Unlike the Bible-manual teaching, people prefer self-abasement to repentance. Col. 2:23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. In the guise of misguided religiosity, these people do penance or find ways to injure themselves because of their perceived disobedience to their concept of right and wrong. If their guilt is strong, they often make themselves sick with all manner of ailments, which bring pain, distress and despondency into their lives quite unnecessarily. They live lives of frantic worry that they will do something disastrous to themselves whenever their guard might be down. Like all idolatry, the results of this sin bring terrible calamities into the life of these deluded sinners. Stubbornness Few might image that stubbornness might comprise the matrix of idolatrous attitudes and activities. Yet, the stubbornness is a kind of glue, which cements the character of the idolater. 1Sam. 15:23 ¶ For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.” We have all seen how the stubborn set their jaws, fold their arms, and stand put without ever giving into to Truth or God’s Way. They refuse to change their minds or allow any other ideas into their minds. They will argue a losing position and never give in no matter how untenable their positions are. Bitterness Bitterness probably represents the most destructive of all idolatries because it destroys a person almost completely. Whatever happened, real or imagined, to them to cause them to be so angry and resentful must certainly be blown out of all proportion to the actual events or situations. While many might see problems or adversities as possibilities and opportunities, these only see those out get them like a paranoid. This bitterness poisons a person’s entire being doing untold damage to their mind and body. Eph. 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Heb. 12:15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; Self-pity Self-pity as aspect of self-worship makes an individual seem, well, so martyr-like. Look how these long-suffering individuals proclaim their misery and how people use them so terribly. Woe is them! They never cease to proclaim their anguish, or how else would we know all the things they do and how much it hurts them, psychologically, physically, or mentally. And they blame others for the predicament they are in, for nobody helps them at all. Further, they announce all the good they have to do because no one else will do it. Poor sad individuals; woe is them. Matt. 6:1 ¶ “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. Matt. 6:2 ¶ “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. Matt. 6:3 “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, Matt. 6:4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Hatred Jesus calls hatred murder. If a person will not murder another, but instead only hates him in his heart, he has committed intellectual and emotional murder. Because the person fears getting caught or disdains taking a life on moral grounds, given the proper circumstance he would take that life. Others, like a father disowning a recalcitrant son, consider the hated one dead and never bothers with them again. But the person hating has more likely committed suicide because he has destroyed love in his heart, and without love there is no life. Col. 3:8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Another way a person shows hatred is by committing verbal homicide by using words to “kill.” They exercise their intellectual gymnastics by judging and criticizing those around them, either directly or by cowardly gossip. The English word critical comes from the Greek, which means to rip the flesh as with long sharp claws. And as any who have been the recipient of the haters’ diatribes know, their barbs do indeed cut and maim. Interestingly, judgers are extreme idolaters because they wrest the job of judging from God and, thus, make themselves a god who judges good and evil. Of course, only God can really judge, but this does not stop the know-it-all who never stops giving unwanted criticism and advise. Matt. 7:1 ¶ “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. Matt. 7:2 “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Matt. 7:3 “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Matt. 7:4 “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? Matt. 7:5 “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. James 4:11 ¶ Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. James 4:12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor? Self-reliance Those relying on anyone but God puts his own judgment above His. They trust and put their faith on humans instead of the immortal Creator of the universe. Phil. 2:21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. 1Cor. 10:24 Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor. Titus 1:7 For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, 2Pet. 2:10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, Psa. 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust in man. Psa. 146:3 Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. Schemers These people are constantly looking for an advantage or a way of getting others to do their will. They cajole, threaten, accuse, manipulate, and order. They appear to think they know what’s best for others, but really cannot abide to have anyone around them with independent thoughts or actions. Besides if people go their own way, how can they scheme to get them to do their bidding? Satan’s way is the way of scheming and instituting fear, unlike God, who always says, fear not. Psa. 26:10 In whose hands is a wicked scheme, And whose right hand is full of bribes. Is. 14:12 “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! Is. 14:13 “But you said in your heart,‘I will ascend to heaven;I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. Is. 14:14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;I will make myself like the Most High.’ Phil. 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; Oppressors Oppressors use a variety of ways to oppress those around them — employees, friends and family. Physically, they can abuse; verbally, they can demean and deride; financially, they can steal or borrow without a thought of paying back, and cheat by withholding honest wages or by defrauding any number of ways. Printable version: |
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