05/24/19 DON'T BLASPHEME THE WORK OF GOD

05/24/19 DON'T BLASPHEME THE WORK OF GOD

I want to elaborate on the importance of recognizing Common Grace, and especially in national leaders. Please read my comment.

I mentioned Hitler in one of my comments to another post. Let me start there.

As evil as Hitler was, it was God's Common Grace that made it possible for him to have or show any kind of positivity or kindness or goodness. Common Grace not only enables evil people to think, speak, act in a positive or "good" way, it also enables them to refrain from being as evil as they could be or would be, without God's intervention.

Any and all goodness, good gifts, good behavior, in all men (saved or unsaved) comes from God, whether a social monster like Hitler or a social servant like "mother" Teresa.

I had pointed out that Hitler liked dogs (and yes, I remember he was a monster that killed millions of people). My point was that when terrible monsters demonstrate something good, it is because of God's goodness, not their own goodness.

Though dogs are not capable of moral rightness, the most evil of men in this world are capable of doing good or right only because of the gracious intervention of God, through Common Grace.

Though dogs are not candidates for salvation, it is not the will of God that any human should perish, even the monsters of this world, therefore Jesus died for all men.

We must not mistake the Common Grace of God in a person's life, with inherent goodness. Neither should we defame the good that God does through unsaved men. It could be that the Common Grace we see active in evil men might be Prevenient Grace, which God is using to lead that person to salvation.

Human wickedness, like a cancer of the soul, spreads throughout a person's entire life. The more responsive a person is to Divine or moral "rightness" the more likely the person is going to be to do that which is right. God can use that sensitivity to lead the person into right relationship through Christ. Then again, God may still choose to use the rebel, even if the rebel will not turn to Christ. Likewise, the more thoroughly corrupted rebel, who has allowed sin to rule every area of his/her life, is still a tool in the hands of God.

In reference to Obama and Trump, they both are men of self will. I always hoped for (and still do) Obama's salvation. I also hope for the salvation of Trump. I am distressed by the wickedness of both men. I am appreciative of the good choices of both men. But just as I appreciate George Washington above King George III, I appreciate those who favor freedom, Christian values and the higher ideals of western culture, therefore I appreciate the cultural, political worldview of Trump more than I do that of Obama, whose worldview was void of Christian truth and filled with humanism and Islamic thought. It is a matter of social, political, religious principles rather than personalities, to which I am referring.

Obama could repent and become a Christian. Trump could become a greater enemy to Biblical, social, political ideas than Obama has been. Still, if there is anything good in either of them, it is because of God's Common Grace. We should not hate either of them for various reasons, but especially because hatred is sin and because God still uses the evil man as well as the "good" man. If we stand against the good that is being done in and through a man, we will find ourselves the enemy of God's purposes. We need to tread lightly in our approval and our antagonism to men as individuals. If we "curse" the good works of a leader, we may be "cursing" the work of God. Our opposition to a person can influence people to stand against the good that the evil person is actually promoting. When we oppose the good that God is doing, He may accommodate our dissatisfaction with His intervention by giving us what we think is best. NOT GOOD.