Why God? - Episode 6

Many of us have struggled with this question at some point in our lives.    

WELL, WE HAVE THE GOOD NEWS.

Join us in this episode as Justin puts Don in the hot seat!  We are going to get the answers you have been waiting for.

Whether it is questioning why there is evil in the world, why it may seem we are not being favored over others, or why we may be suffering deep into a battle after losing a loved one (or why we experience suffering at all!).  This question, "Why God?," has been echoed through all spaces in time—and Dr. Don is going to provide precious insight to pull us into a better understanding of the truth behind the mystery. 

Transcript

[00:00:00] Justin: Hi, everyone. This is Justin 

[00:00:34] Don: Olbrantz. And this is Don Schaefer. 

[00:00:38] Justin: And you are listening to the Wise and the Wandering podcast for those who know the way and for those who are led astray. And if you feel like you fall into either of those categories, then you're in the right place. So let's get into it. What are we going to talk about 

[00:00:53] Don: today?

[00:00:54] Don: Well, I think it's a question that comes up a lot with people, and that is, Why God? You know, [00:01:00] why am I going through the circumstances I'm going through? Where is God in all this? And I think it was a good topic for us to discuss, and I know you've got lots of questions, Justin. 

[00:01:09] Justin: Yeah, so, As I kind of did, prepare you a little bit before this, I do have a lot of questions.

[00:01:15] Justin: Why God is such an important question for people. Um, I know we talked about this in the first episode a little bit and I did ask you why God, and that was kind of like the initial, I would say the initial approach to this was just to kind of, to just bring it to your attention. And your response was why not God?

[00:01:32] Justin: And I thought that was so good. And I would say the. the reasoning behind the question is it's sort of a double entendre because it's saying why god like why should i believe in god why should i why should i give god a chance but then also It's also saying like, why God? Like, why is this happening to me?

[00:01:56] Justin: Like you're crying out to God, um, [00:02:00] and you're crying out specifically to God. So kind of like a double entendre there. So yeah, my plan is to put you in the hot seat a little bit. I'll ask you some questions that I think people genuinely would like to have answers for. I think in the last episode.

[00:02:17] Justin: If you're all following, we talked about your healing is coming, and I think it's important that if we're going to make an episode title named your healing is coming, but if we're just talking about healing, it's important for us to provide some level of healing after that. It's important for us to deliver some kind of healing.

[00:02:36] Justin: Yeah. And I think that it's a healing of our mind. That's right. And I think that there's a lot of things that have. Kept people's mind in captivity. There's a lot of things that, there's some gray areas there, we'll call it. And there's some things that need to be addressed. Yes. So that's some of the things that I want to touch on 

[00:02:55] Don: today.

[00:02:55] Don: Yeah, that sounds good, Justin. We can work on that. I'm not the expert, but [00:03:00] we can work on that. 

[00:03:01] Justin: I think you're the right man for the job. And I would just say, my first question here, I've thought of this when I was a kid. I thought of this a lot. I've thought of this recently. This is something that I think even when you're a believer, that's the thing is, I think there's this perception that when you become a believer, Your life is just grand.

[00:03:23] Justin: Everything is great. And don't get me wrong. It is having that peace in my life is great. Having that truth in my life is great. But all my problems don't just 

[00:03:31] Don: go away. No, they don't. All of 

[00:03:32] Justin: my, experiences in my life, all my traumas, all of my associations. You know, people that I'm associated with, that doesn't all just go away.

[00:03:42] Justin: No, no. It's something we have to constantly work on. This is true. So these are, these are questions that I've asked before when I was growing up. When I was younger, these are questions I've even pondered with as a believer. So for instance, my first question is Why does God [00:04:00] allow suffering? 

[00:04:01] Don: Okay, that's an interesting one here.

[00:04:03] Don: And just so you all know, Justin didn't rehearse all these questions with me. He did. No, I did not. Yeah, he did not. But, uh, no, I, I know, um, Suffering is, is a building tool. You know, I often see people go through situations and they either get better or they get worse. And I think God uses that. And I know, uh, even allowing Jesus to be birthed in this, uh, world.

[00:04:26] Don: The Bible says that He learned obedience by the things He suffered. And He went through a process of suffering and everything. It develops the character in an individual. And, uh, it's, it's a hard thing to go through when you have no, Knowledge of God and don't realize who God is or that he's a presence that meant to be in our life.

[00:04:47] Don: So I know the Bible says we need to seek him and you hope that someone in your life has tickled your taste buds enough that you want to go after A knowledge of him because, yeah, I believe God does use [00:05:00] suffering, you know, it's a process. Everybody goes through it. And, uh, as you mature as a Christian, when you go through these, you question, you know, what is it I need to learn by this?

[00:05:09] Don: You know, what is God trying to show me in this? Because I know if you get into the Bible, it shows like Israel, I mean, whole nations that were put into captivity. It was stuff that taught them things because I know they were brought into Babylon. They were taught not to get involved in idolatry. Because they were worshiping other gods.

[00:05:26] Don: After Babylon, Israel never did that again. So it was great suffering. Seventy years of suffering. To learn one lesson. And, uh, yeah, God does use suffering. Even in the wilderness. Forty years. 

[00:05:38] Justin: And I think It's important to say or it's important to note that you're saying that he uses suffering. Yeah, but is he the cause of suffering?

[00:05:47] Justin: I don't think so. And I think yeah, I think God has gotten a bad rap sheet and he's been blamed for a lot of these things. Yeah, and I think we kind of have to clear his name a little 

[00:05:57] Don: bit. Yeah, we probably do. Yeah, [00:06:00] probably do. 

[00:06:00] Justin: I uh, and I think that a lot of these things that are happening in the world, some negative things, evil things, whatever you want to call it.

[00:06:08] Justin: I don't think it's from God. Right. And I think a lot of people get that misconstrued. They say, Oh, this is why this is happening and God is in control, I guess. So God must have caused this. Right. And what you're saying is he kind of uses situations he does that are already there to build character, to build better traits, to bring people out of something and into something new.

[00:06:30] Justin: Yeah. 

[00:06:31] Don: Well I know if you get into the Bible a little bit, you realize that, um, we have an adversary. Some people call him the devil. Some people call him Satan, whatever. But he is one that, uh, causes pain, causes hardship, it causes a lot of nasty things to happen in this world. But God allows that sometimes.

[00:06:48] Don: Like, if you get into the book of Job, Job was righteous before God, you know, he was, everything was right, but God allowed Satan to work upon him. And, um, I you know, God in [00:07:00] this world, he allows things sometimes to happen. It isn't necessarily, Him that's going out there and trying to cause great pain and this and that because he you know The bible portrays him as a heavenly father, you know myself raising children, Do I want my kids to suffer?

[00:07:16] Don: Not really, you know, I love my kids But you know what I if they have to go through something to learn something I'm gonna sit back because I remember my son one time He was one that we'd go someplace and he'd wander off. So we were at great america He still uh still remembers this but we were great america and I knew where he was But I just let him wander.

[00:07:35] Don: I just let him wander. And all of a sudden he didn't know where we were. You know, and all of a sudden he had a great fear inside of him and all that. And then I came to the rescue. But he, after that, he stayed close by me. You know, but it was something that he had to go through to learn something. And I think a lot of the suffering and stuff, it's stuff that, does God necessarily want us to be in pain and suffering?

[00:07:56] Don: No, He does not. But you know, if there's something that I need to [00:08:00] fix, or I need to understand in a different way. I think he's going to let me go through that, just so that he can create something inside me. But if I'm wise enough to realize, you know, if I have that relationship, you see, I know he loves me.

[00:08:14] Don: I know no matter what I go through, God loves me and we are his creation. He created us to love him and to seek him and all this stuff. But a lot of times people don't. They don't. And sometimes, you know, when circumstances happen, that's when they reach out. Because I remember, you know, 9 11. 9 11 with the towers coming down and stuff.

[00:08:34] Don: I had a whole bunch of people interested in God all of a sudden. Yeah. Because it changed something. You know, There was a suffering going on in a nation. Just like recently 

[00:08:42] Justin: with the Israel situation. Yeah. 

[00:08:43] Don: I don't know what the answers are. I don't know what they have to learn or what we need to learn.

[00:08:48] Don: Yeah. But, yeah, I think he allows some of that. So, 

[00:08:51] Justin: so I just want to go back and just focus on one thing that you said, because I think it is important to note, it's important to understand that [00:09:00] when talking about God and talking about the things that are affected or caused by God, you, you point out the devil or the enemy adversary, right?

[00:09:09] Justin: And I think it is important to understand that there, there is one, there is a God, but then there's also an enemy and an adversary. And I think there's not enough emphasis on the enemy and what he's doing in the world. Yeah. Right? That's right. People don't realize. And I think that Having known that, my next question would be, why did God create evil?

[00:09:33] Justin: Why is there, evil in the world? If there's a God, why isn't everything just good? Why is why does there have to be an evil in the world? 

[00:09:45] Don: Wow, I gotta take a moment here That's that's fine. No, no these um, these are you know, there's some questions That uh, we're gonna have because I used to have a good friend named joe donahue and he's passed away But he used to come up to me.

[00:09:58] Don: He says don [00:10:00] He says some of this stuff you're gonna have to die to find out, the answers to some of this Yeah, but I know you know because I know everything was created by God. It was, and He created the opportunity for evil, and evil took that opportunity. And I know, uh, in this world right now, God wants to show how good He is, and the way He does that, He does it inside of each and every one of us.

[00:10:20] Don: So when we come to Him and stuff, the good things that happen in our life, the way our personalities and everything change, and We glorify God, but on the flip side of what you're saying here, Justin, you know, the devil is just the opposite. He wants to get glory, but his glory isn't how bad things can get.

[00:10:37] Don: He tries to disrupt things. And, um, but evil itself, you know, I know God has created this world and that the purpose of all this exactly, I can't really answer that. real good. It's just my opinion of it, but I know God uses it. You know, he uses it to develop. And a lot of it is how badly we want him, how badly we need him.

[00:10:58] Don: Uh, there's a lot of things that [00:11:00] happen, you know, that people don't come to God unless there is an evil something happening in their life. And then they're, they're coming to another source and they're reaching out to God. So I know it's a tool. I know it's a tool, but why it's there. I don't know. I don't know if I would use that tool or not.

[00:11:13] Justin: Well, I think it's a, it's a beginner question into understanding the whole nature of God. But I think there's a lot of, when it comes to explaining the question that I just asked, I think there's a lot of substance that is involved with that. there's a lot of context that goes into that, that has to be understood to fully, fully understand why there would be evil created in the world.

[00:11:37] Justin: Yeah. And I think it's. A really hard question to answer. I don't think that you have the answer. I don't think anybody has the answer, but I'm only just simply asking questions that I think people would want to know. It just somebody, somebody who maybe, maybe did not get somebody who is in need of healing, somebody who is currently wounded, maybe they're wounded by the [00:12:00] church, maybe they're wounded by.

[00:12:02] Justin: Followers, believers, maybe certain people in their life didn't allow them to heal. Maybe just not getting enough information didn't allow them to process things the right way. And that kept them wounded. Yeah. I feel like these questions are just going to give somebody a level of healing. Yeah. At least a start to it.

[00:12:24] Justin: That's right. That's right. And that's, that's the focus here is your healing is coming and now you're going to get your healing. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So I would say. After that question, right? Why did God create evil? That's a 

[00:12:36] Don: hard one to follow up. 

[00:12:38] Justin: But my next question would be I guess having known all the evil that was in the world and how bad the world got, if you follow the Bible, we had a great deluge.

[00:12:53] Justin: We had a flood. Yes, we did. That killed every person in the world, except for eight 

[00:12:59] Don: [00:13:00] people, right? Eight people, that's right. Eight saved my water. Now, 

[00:13:03] Justin: that would be, I would say that would be a good segue into my next question, which would be, why did God flood the 

[00:13:10] Don: world? Wow, that's a good one. Yeah, because uh, he wanted water to flow.

[00:13:16] Don: But you see, it, it, Bible says that God repented that he made man. I mean, to go back to the very beginning with Adam and Eve. So, 

[00:13:24] Justin: so he repented that he even created man in the 

[00:13:27] Don: first place. Oh yeah, that's what the Bible says. You know, he was sorry of what he all did. But uh, yeah, and God knows everything.

[00:13:34] Don: But if you go back to the beginning of, the beginning with Adam and Eve when they first sinned and the serpent, which was the devil, caused the sin and then God promised a redeemer, you know, he talked about a change in Adam and Eve because it was like if you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge and good and evil, you shall die.

[00:13:54] Don: Okay, so Adam and Eve ate that. But they didn't die, they continued on, but they died a [00:14:00] different way, spiritually. You know, the divine nature in them was not there. But then in the garden They actually lived pretty long lives. They did, lots of kids, lots of kids. But then, then he gave them a promise of a redeemer.

[00:14:12] Don: You know, and that was going to be down the bloodline. And, you know, people have said like every Woman had a child was always wondering is this going to be the Redeemer? Is this going to be the Redeemer? So there had to be a bloodline and it had to be purified because wickedness was overtaking the world because a world without God Especially without having the ability to have a divine nature It you know, it becomes evil and that's where until we get God in our life It's very easy for us to do wrong things.

[00:14:40] Don: You know, we you don't have to teach your children how to maybe lie and disobey and all this stuff. They picked that up real easy. Right. And so God had to protect some people. So with Noah and these eight in the water, he started a bloodline and through the course of the history of Israel, they were a separate people.[00:15:00]

[00:15:00] Don: They didn't let certain things happen because they would fall into sin again. God preserved the bloodline until Jesus Christ came to this world. Now. Now we can have a divine nature. So we can get control of our lives right now. And that's where, people that come to God can reach out to God and God puts His nature that was in Adam and Eve in the very beginning can be a part of our life right now.

[00:15:25] Don: So we can handle evil. We can live with things going on right around us, but it doesn't mean we have to be involved in it because we've got some strength. And that's where, back in Noah's day, he wiped out a whole mess of people To preserve a bloodline that would lead to a redeemer someday, which would be And the redeemer is Jesus Christ.

[00:15:44] Don: Jesus Christ, that's 

[00:15:45] Justin: right. So the bloodline had to be preserved so there could be no, essentially no interbreeding between 

[00:15:53] Don: No, it was family to family. Right. Yeah.

[00:15:56] Justin: And it couldn't go out of the bloodline so that the [00:16:00] bloodline was tainted in any way. No, no. So what I would assume then is that things got so bad in the world, So chaotic that you know when you say in the Bible It says that God repented that he even made man things had to have gotten so bad for him to kill Every person in the world except for eight people.

[00:16:23] Justin: Yeah, that would then go on to be a Cherished royal bloodline. That's right for a savior. Yeah For a redeemer to come later and to save the people. That's right. So that was his way of saving, saving man after repenting that he ever made man. Oh 

[00:16:40] Don: yeah. And you don't know how bad, bad is, you know, you relate to this world compared to them.

[00:16:45] Don: What did they have? Did they have the internet? I mean, what did they have back then? They had a tent and a camel. How bad is bad? You know? But you look at today, I say to myself, things look bad sometimes, you know, around us and stuff. [00:17:00] But there's something today that is different that they didn't have back then.

[00:17:04] Don: And that's the ability to have a nature change. to be born again, which Jesus gave us the opportunity. So, in all the bad that goes around, God is still looking for individuals to open up their life to Him, to allow His Spirit to, put a, develop a divine nature inside of them, so that they can live a life and not have to worry about the bad around them.

[00:17:24] Don: You know, we can live in bad and not allow it to corrupt us. Back then, they couldn't do that because they didn't have the nature to handle it back then. So, how bad was bad back then? How bad is bad today? Hmm, good question right there. I think 

[00:17:38] Justin: bad is a subjective term, just like you're saying, and I think it can mean different things and in different generations, different timelines.

[00:17:45] Justin: And that actually relates to my next question because my next question is, why does God then allow good things to happen to bad people as well as bad things to happen to good people? [00:18:00]

[00:18:00] Don: Vice versa. Yeah. Well, you know, that's interesting too because I know we talked about like the bad things happening to good people.

[00:18:07] Don: Okay. And that happens. It happens, you know, and you, you grow by it. But good things happening to bad people sometimes. That's a curse. You know, I, I look at this sometimes and I say to myself is, if I had everything I wanted. If I had a beautiful home, plenty of money, my kids are doing well, you know, everything is good, good job, good wife, family, everything is just fine, take vacations, all this stuff, okay, do I really need God?

[00:18:36] Don: That can be a curse. It really can. And that's where, some of the people that struggle in life, they're actually blessed because they have nothing. You know, I find that the message of Jesus Christ is a whole lot easier to talk to people that have a need than people who think they got it all together, right?

[00:18:53] Don: And that's where I think even the comforts that we have right now. It can be a curse It can be a curse and it happens [00:19:00] both ways but The beauty of it, because I know, uh, myself and I've probably mentioned this before in one of our, our shows here that, you know, with all God, life is insane, you know, I mean, to be born in life, to have to die, to realize that somewhere along the line, there's going to be a date and not to have.

[00:19:17] Don: A plan for that not to have a plan beyond that. That's crazy And that's where I think god gives us a plan He gives us an opportunity and we once you step into that and you realize this is just the beginning of things I mean we we have a short time in life right now, but Beyond all that they talk about eternity, so right now even if I struggle even if I go I mean what can this world do to me?

[00:19:40] Don: You know As long as my heart is right as long as i'm seeking after god. I mean I can die I mean it could die tonight. It wouldn't really matter because i've got eternity in front of me But before I got to that point life was tough because I didn't you know, I didn't realize and you know I wasn't thinking most people don't They think that their life's gonna be forever.

[00:19:59] Don: [00:20:00] Everybody else is dying, but they're never gonna die. You know, and uh, so they don't think about this stuff. And, yeah, that's where I think we need to. We really need to and, and realize that yeah, good or bad, whatever happens in our life, God's in control of that. But sometimes good for a bad person. Yeah, 

[00:20:16] Justin: and I think what we understand is very limited.

[00:20:20] Justin: We're, we're limited to our own understanding. So I think it's hard to completely understand God and his will because he has a will and he has a plan. And we're not always told what his plan is. No. We're not always, shown what he's doing behind the scenes. Yeah. And I think that's a hard thing to understand.

[00:20:40] Justin: What we, we cannot see. Right. And I think that's why in the Bible it says we must walk by faith, not by sight. Yes. Because we're limited to what we can see. Right. In the physical. Yep. In the physical realm, we're kind of limited. Yeah. And I would say that we're We're not limited in the [00:21:00] spiritual realm and I think that that's another thing to That I would want to point out is that I think that God operates in a different dimension as us you know, everything that we have in the world is Man made in a way time time itself is all man made.

[00:21:17] Justin: Yeah, I don't think God operates on a level of time We've created time. Yeah, that's true. I think things just happen in the world's cyclical. Everything is cyclical. If you just look around, you'll see history repeats itself over and over again. Everything is just cyclical. I think we kind of have things a little bit skewed by keeping everything linear and thinking everything is just happening linear.

[00:21:42] Justin: I think it really is cyclical, but I think that it's just important to understand that. There is a higher level of understanding that you don't have because we're limited to our own understanding. It takes faith, it takes belief, it takes hope to, break past the barriers of [00:22:00] your limitations, the limitations that you have.

[00:22:02] Justin: Oh, yeah. When you just think of everything under your own understanding. Yes, it says that God created us in his image. So does that mean we're exactly like God? I don't think so. I think it means we're created in his image. Right. What he could imagine. Right. That's the way I would interpret it.

[00:22:21] Don: Yeah. Yeah, he gives us different things. Talks about the eyes of the Lord upon you God hears our prayers God, you know all the senses we have You know God has the Bible talks about him having that so he's given us Basically, his makeup, you know, as far as our body is concerned, but actually we are spiritual beings given a body to use, you know, and so I know my mother in law, I might have shared that before too, but my mother in law, I know I used to sit down and she was in a wheelchair and stuff.

[00:22:52] Don: I would tell her, you know, the Bible says. Things are going to be new when we get past this world of ours, no matter what condition we are in. There is [00:23:00] hope. I mean, It's a, it's a new body. It's a new everything. And a lot of times in life, we fail to realize that this body of ours is just on loan. This isn't something that we keep, you know, it's our soul, our soul lasts forever.

[00:23:14] Don: It's a spiritual being and that's where in life, a lot of times what happens is the body is ruling the soul. Right. You know, the flesh basically wants to take things easy and does all kinds of things that maybe it shouldn't want to do, even though your mind says, I shouldn't be doing this. But whichever is the strongest is the one that's going to rule you.

[00:23:33] Don: And that's where God in his divine nature tries to make our souls strong so that we can control this body. And 

[00:23:40] Justin: our soul is, our soul is what? Because I think our soul is often confused by like being a spirit, and it's, it's not, 

[00:23:48] Don: right? Yeah, our soul is like, like our mind, our whole thought process.

[00:23:52] Don: Right. It's, it's who we really are. I mean, we can take a picture of ourselves and say, They say, yeah, that that's me, but who we [00:24:00] really are, and that's the part where the Bible says the soul never dies. You know, even though the body passes away. I know my father, you know, I, I was fortunate enough to be with him when he did pass.

[00:24:10] Don: And, and I realized when I was sitting there looking at him that he wasn't there anymore. You know, his body was there, but he wasn't there anymore. 'cause God takes all that. And that's where, uh, you know, we go, we've got a. A better I always tell people we've got a much better place beyond all this, you know That god has prepared a place for each and every one jesus talks about that He said I go to my father and I prepare a place for you So and that's where eye has not seen or ear heard either has entered into hearts of man The things that god has prepared for those that love him that have learned to love him He's got a thing of beauty and that's where Christians, as we walk in the things of God, we always have this hope.

[00:24:50] Don: We always realize that this is just a temporary thing. You can endure a lot, you know, you realize that this is not the end of the world, something happens or whatever, you know, this too [00:25:00] shall pass, but someday we're going to be with him for eternity. And as far as our bodies, whatever it might be, I know I got hardware in my body.

[00:25:08] Don: It really doesn't matter anymore, you know, cause it's gone. It's just a temporary thing that's used while we're here, which is nice. It is nice. 

[00:25:16] Justin: And I would say that in a way everything that we understand about death is kind of Skewed to a degree in a way because we haven't experienced it yet, right?

[00:25:28] Justin: No, so when we do experience that it's our first time experiencing it. Yeah, so I think a lot of what the world therefore a lot of what the world Has been taught about just dying in general. Yeah, it could be skewed to a degree Yeah, because as you say, this is a temporary body for our Eternal life.

[00:25:47] Justin: That's right that awaits us. Yeah, that's there for us

[00:25:52] Justin: If you'll believe Yeah, if you'll hope if you'll have faith, that's right. If you'll walk in it. 

[00:25:58] Don: Yes desire Yeah, [00:26:00] if you'll 

[00:26:00] Justin: desire it is exactly and I think that The eternal life is something that's so hard to understand because we're limited in this life That's right.

[00:26:11] Justin: And this goes back to what I was saying before about how we're limited in our own understanding How are we gonna understand eternal life if we don't even understand our regular life? Yeah, 

[00:26:22] Don: I think there's only so much we can understand. I think 

[00:26:25] Justin: that's true. And I think that But because of our limitations, we have to look to the spirit.

[00:26:30] Justin: And that's kind of what I'm getting at is because of our limitations in our regular life, we have to look outside of our limitations. We have to let the spiritual inside. We have to look to our spirit, want to approach God. We want to embrace God and bring him into our lives because we need to be you.

[00:26:51] Justin: able to be greater than our own limitations. Yes. Yes. And he allows us to do that. He gives us life, he gives us life more abundantly than we [00:27:00] previously had before. Oh yeah. I mean, that's, that's something that's generic, but it's, it's so needed because up until then we are just limited in what we can, how we can operate in this physical body and in our soul.

[00:27:15] Justin: Like you were saying, , it isn't until we get into a place of, spirituality, I would say that allows us to. Be something that we've never been before that allows us to be born again It allows us to yes die to our old self and right born to a new cell. 

[00:27:32] Don: Oh, yeah Yeah, there is a there's a special fire and a special energy I know what you're saying here Justin because you know, once God gets part of your life What are the limits and that's where I'm not a lot of times people try to Preserve their life.

[00:27:46] Don: They try to, you know, I'm sitting there, you know, people, 80, 70, whatever it is, they're trying to live longer and whatever, you know, but without God, what? What? Pardon my French. What the heck is that? You know, what is that? Cuz so I live an [00:28:00] extra 20 years, but you know, there is a spark in God that gets, you know You have a person that's truly born again with God living inside of them, Not saying that they're careless, but they don't care about a lot of things the way other people would As far as life itself, you know that they realize that they're gonna be working for him They're going to be working and doing things for him, realizing that the Bible says there's a reward on the other side.

[00:28:26] Don: So, you know, what happens to me, it happens. I'm not going to sit there and worry about this. I'm not going to worry about, different diseases coming my way or whatever it might be. If they do, my dad used to say, Come what may. Come what may. It happens, it happens. I play the cards that are dealt to me.

[00:28:43] Don: But you know what? The king lives inside me. And there is a fire. And myself, I, you know, I'm hoping I can open up my life to get that fire inside me. Because I know you read in history. Because I remember reading recently about Billy Sunday. You know, This is back in the 1800s. Professional baseball player, and he [00:29:00] came, and he heard a message.

[00:29:01] Don: He heard a message about Jesus Christ, and it touched him. And he opened up his life that night and gave his life to God, and God started working in his life. He gave up a professional baseball contract, and he started preaching the gospel, but he was on fire. This was not a guy that was polished. He didn't go to some seminary or some university.

[00:29:21] Don: He was a baseball player, you know, he was with the guys that were spitting, uh, tobacco and stuff like that. But this guy here had a fire. Because he found something that was real he found it mean everything else. It didn't matter the fans It didn't none of this stuff. He found something was real and his message was real He struck the hearts of the common fault Oh he did, you know and and they say that I mean i've read and it's probably more three hundred thousand souls were accredited to This Billy Sunday, you know, and then you look back at the one individual that he listened to And all the sources that brought that one individual to Billy Sunday And [00:30:00] that's where I always say to myself each and every one of us You never know how god's going to use you and what what type of fire he's going to allow to be Developed inside of us that we become contagious, I know if you get into the book of acts it says they could always tell Those that were with Jesus because of their love for one another.

[00:30:19] Don: Because back in those days, the Romans hated the Jews, the Jews hated the Romans, the Romans and the Jews hated the Gentiles, and the Gentiles hated Everybody was hating everybody. But all of a sudden, those who were with Jesus, there was a different love. It didn't matter. Even if they were persecuted, which they were.

[00:30:35] Don: I mean, they, considered it all Glory to be able to suffer sometimes for the name of Jesus Christ, because for what they were about, because they realize this life is such a fleeting thing. It's only temporary beyond all that. It's you say, why God, why God? Well, that's why God, we need God in our life.

[00:30:55] Don: That's why God is a part of our life. He wants to lead us. He wants to direct us [00:31:00] a lot of this. We don't understand how he does it, but he does it and I always say there's a Diamond in the rough is a diamond sure enough and a lot of times we find diamonds we find individuals that fire up You know that they grab a message and say hey, you know what?

[00:31:15] Don: I need this in my life. Oh, yeah I need this got any more questions. Justin. 

[00:31:20] Justin: Yeah, that's actually I mean that answered My main question, that's good. No, that is good. Okay. I do have another question So I've seen from what I've read and what I've seen online and stuff like that and the stories and testimonies that I've heard This is a question that I have for you just personally.

[00:31:41] Justin: Why does it seem like When some people pray to God, God appears to them, or he speaks to them, and he answers their prayers. But for others, 

[00:31:55] Don: there's silence. Yeah, that, [00:32:00] you know, you can't really put a a good answer on that. I can, I can use examples of that. I can use Daniel in the Bible and he was praying about a vision that he had and all of a sudden I think it was, I think it was Angel Gabriel, not positive on that, but came to him and said that God heard him the very first time.

[00:32:18] Don: first day, but it took 21 days for him to respond to it because there was a battle going on. See, a lot of times there's a spiritual battle going on. We don't see, we don't understand , the forces that are working behind the tactics involved. Yeah. And we pray. I know we have to have faith that God is because everything I believe as far as my beliefs, everything happens because of prayer.

[00:32:41] Don: I believe, you know, I've mentioned this. about every individual that comes to God, I believe it's because of prayer. Otherwise God would have everybody finding him. Everybody would grasp everything. Everybody would want and desire after God. But you know, if you can find an individual that will spend time on her knees or [00:33:00] wherever.

[00:33:01] Don: Putting out your name before God, it creates things happening. A lot of times we don't see, we don't see what's actually happening behind the scenes. We say, well, God's not listening, you know, must be a bad day for him or something, or he's too busy. He's too busy for me to, but you know, the Bible, the Bible says that that's not the case.

[00:33:18] Don: That's not the case. He hears everything. He experiences everything. He wants to hear from us, and he wants us to intercede because a lot of times he's created us in a way where he ties his hands. in a way where unless we pray, even like Jesus, I mean, Jesus, I mean, they said that he had the spirit of God since the day he was born.

[00:33:39] Don: I always joke about the fact that he probably never cheated at marbles or anything that you could cheat at in his day. You know, as far as his friends are concerned, Jesus never did anything wrong, you know, and he, and he didn't. But, Yet, he had to find time for prayer, and I think a lot of our strength, a lot of the resources, a lot of that comes into our life.

[00:33:58] Don: It's because of our [00:34:00] prayer life, of a communication. It's like me with you, Justin. If I didn't talk to you for a couple of months, there would be a divide, probably, you know? Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, you know. But. We see each other often, so there's a closeness, and it's the same thing with God. I think He wants us to be close to Him.

[00:34:17] Don: He wants to love us. He created us to connect with Him, and that's where prayer, you know, a lot of times we do pray, we don't see. It's just like my, my kids, getting back to kids again. Everything they ask me, do I give it to them? You know, I don't. You know, you only give things that You can see their need or you give it in a way where you might help them.

[00:34:38] Don: But, my boy, when he was 14 years old, he wanted to drive my car. Well, I wasn't gonna let him drive my car. He was too young to be doing that. He physically, he could, and I've caught him doing it when I wasn't home, which is wasn't good. wasn't good for him. But, uh, but no,

[00:34:54] Don: you don't give them everything they want at a certain age, even though they might desire it. But yeah, [00:35:00] it's, it's a tough question because we can't see behind the scenes. Like sitting here right now, you know, talking with you, Justin, there's things happening right now and you can't see what God's doing on that.

[00:35:10] Justin: Yeah, the spiritual realm is constantly at work. It is. There's always. You know, people use the term spiritual warfare. I think that's pretty accurate. I think there's a lot of things that are going on that are good. And I think there's a lot of things that are going on that are bad around you all the time.

[00:35:26] Justin: There's things that are trying to throw you off. There's things that are trying to get you off your game. And this doesn't have much to do with. My question, but the question was because I feel like I do understand it to a degree I do feel like everyone's encounter with God is different.

[00:35:45] Justin: I think that God is gonna speak to people in different ways He's gonna find the best way because he knows you better than anybody does. He created you and Breathed you into your mother's womb. Yeah, and [00:36:00] that's what it says in the Bible. Yeah, so He knows you well, he knows you better than you know yourself.

[00:36:06] Justin: So he's going to communicate to you and he's going to encounter you, in my opinion, in the best way that he knows how. So I feel like in some ways. When some people are, like myself are asking that question, maybe God has to reveal himself to people in that way, because that's the best way to encounter God in their lives.

[00:36:27] Justin: Yeah. That's just the, maybe they needed that kind of sign. Maybe they needed a sign of an angel or something like that. I see where angels, there's an angelic experience or a supernatural experience that people, these people have. And then. I think even other Christians and believers start to wonder about it and they say, well, why am I not getting this?

[00:36:48] Justin: Why am I not getting this spiritual experience? Why? You know, I'm praying all the time. I'm going to church. I'm, you know, dotting my I's crossing, crossing my T's. Why am I not getting the same kind of treatment? [00:37:00] And I think there is no easy answer to that question. Even though I asked you the answer, I don't think there is any answer, easy answer to that question.

[00:37:09] Justin: I think it does go by saying that everyone's encounter everyone's relationship with God is different. 

[00:37:14] Don: It is it is Yeah, you're absolutely right there. Justin, and I know a lot of people will spend years and stuff. Myself I I pray to god that for people in my life in different circumstances that fire me up, that show me that God is there and alive.

[00:37:31] Don: When I see things happening or something, is all of a sudden just lined up perfectly, I've always given God glory. I'm always saying, praise the Lord for this. And even in the doldrums, sometimes I look, I try to find some excitement to praise God or be grateful for whatever I have all this stuff, because I know the Bible says that God inhabits the praises of men, you know, and it's just like me, you tell me I'm, I'm good looking, I'm, I'm, I'm a hard worker, uh, you know, I'm intelligent, all that [00:38:00] stuff, I'm going to want you around, you know, and I'm also going to want to continue to do things for you because I know that everything I do for you You appreciate.

[00:38:08] Don: Right. You acknowledge the fact that I exist and I'm helping you. There's nothing worse than doing something for somebody and they don't even acknowledge. There's a value there. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And you know, you've all of a sudden God is valuable and it becomes a source and you start to look for God in everything.

[00:38:27] Don: Everything you do, going to grocery stores and stuff. I mean, sometimes I look for God in clerks. You know, people putting Stock we're pushing carts. I look at everybody's got their own story, you know, and and like you're talking about angels The Bible says sometimes we entertain angels unaware.

[00:38:43] Don: We don't even realize there's an angel. That's right I say to people sometimes you could be my angel, you know It's true. Oh, yeah, you know and That's where I think in life, the angels are our servants. God wants to use them. The Bible says that [00:39:00] angels protect us. We have guardian angels. Angels do a lot of the spiritual work that we can't see.

[00:39:06] Don: But when we give them an opportunity, the day we start to believe and open up our hearts and minds to Jesus Christ, all of a sudden they're on duty. I think there's an excitement going on because. Justin is getting it. You know, I mean, I think I'm going to send a legion there to help this guy, you know, to be able to develop whatever area of ministry, because he's gotten it.

[00:39:27] Don: He's, He's realizing that I'm real, and I'm going to send my angels to him and just work with this guy. 

[00:39:34] Justin: And so he, so God doesn't really need angels to do his work for him. They're more of like a supplement to his glory. Well, 

[00:39:42] Don: I think he uses angels to help, in doing certain things. And the Bible talks about the angels of the Lord protecting, or revealing things, uh, and doing.

[00:39:53] Don: doing things. So there's angels that are used by God. And I know the Bible talks about those that fear the [00:40:00] Lord, that the angel of the Lord will protect them. And so when we get to a point of acknowledging and by fear, I don't mean being scared of God, but respecting God for who he is. Right. You know, and A lot of people get an attitude about God, they say, well, who needs a God?

[00:40:16] Don: You know why God in all these areas here? I mean, I mean, what has he done for me and stuff? That's dangerous ground to be in because God is real, you know And it isn't until we are broken and sometimes people have to get to the bottom before they reach out for something But God is real. He's the one that wants to restore us heal us as we talked about in the Previous podcast.

[00:40:38] Don: God is wanting to be there for us. Yeah, and I think 

[00:40:41] Justin: it comes to a point where we get to a a certain point in our life where we need to We reach out to something that's Higher than us. Yes has a greater authority than us has a greater understanding than us. That's something that is Greater than us in general and actually you just [00:41:00] knocked out my next question Which was which was two at a time.

[00:41:04] Justin: Yeah, which I was gonna ask you Why does God need angels to do any work for him? Well, check that one off So okay, Don having Understood all of what we've said so far, what you've said so far, and just looking at understanding how angels work and how God sends angels to do certain things for him, to get certain messages across and things like that are things that are, I would say a little hard to understand a lot of things in the spiritual realm are hard to understand, but just knowing how this world is working today, 

[00:41:38] Don: the wars, 

[00:41:39] Justin: the wars that are breaking out.

[00:41:41] Justin: So. In the Middle East, the division that's being caused, the tensions that are heating up. They say we're approaching World War III. Like I was saying before, things are cyclical, right? Right. And it seems like with all of the chaos that's going on in the [00:42:00] world, is God in control with everything that's happening in the world?

[00:42:05] Justin: Right. Is he in control? Yes. Does he have control? 

[00:42:09] Don: Yes. That's my question. That's your question. That's my question. Okay. Yeah, I do believe God is in control of everything. But I, I realize a lot of these come into play. Because if you get into the Bible, the Bible talks about a lot of unrest. And I know right now in Israel, I mean, if you read the Bible, it's all about Israel.

[00:42:28] Don: And it's all about what happens to Israel. And, you know, you see the forces of evil working against what's happening. in this world right now. I think God is allowing a lot of that. And most of this here is a drawing. I think God is reaching out to people. And sometimes you have to have a lack of God in people's lives to get them to realize how miserable life can really be.

[00:42:52] Don: Because I know we live in a society today where they've basically taken God away from all the young people. They've taken God outta [00:43:00] schools. They don't teach the principles of God. You know, they've managed to get kids raised up. I know I, I probably mentioned this once before 'cause I, but I remember running into a guy about a year ago that his 9-year-old grandson never knew who Jesus even was.

[00:43:15] Don: He knew who Santa Claus was, but he didn't know who Jesus was. You know? You see the attitude of the young people in a lot of areas. They're, they're hungry, they're hungry for something, but they're not getting it, you know? And that's where I think God is allowing some of this to happen because it's going to open up the eyes and maybe bring a whole multitude of individuals that are going to realize who He really is.

[00:43:38] Don: It's going to be interesting in this world when people, because the Bible says that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. When this world comes to a point and realizes who was crucified on that cross, a couple thousand years ago, I mean, our world right now is living like they don't need this, this man that died on that cross, but someday, someday they're [00:44:00] going to realize that is what every man needs.

[00:44:03] Don: And for people that are wise enough. Right now to be reaching out to them, we can go through these troublesome trying times with a peace in our heart because we realize that, the better days are in front of us, you know, this world might fall be falling apart alongside of us. But I realize that.

[00:44:21] Don: My next days, my eternity lies before me. My God is before me. And that's where you get, if you get into the Bible and you read about the apostles and their lives and how they were martyred and all this stuff, they praise the Lord right straight through all of it because they realize that. There was something better in front of them and like Paul's talking about he talked about laying his treasures before the Lord Someday, these were the individuals that he had ministered to and shared Jesus Christ, too And that's where I think a lot of that's going into this world is gonna bring people Hopefully to God and open up their hearts.

[00:44:56] Don: So he's in control. He's in control. We're not out of [00:45:00] control yet, Justin Okay, so 

[00:45:01] Justin: the good news is I have no more questions 

[00:45:05] Don: Ah, I can breathe easy now. Yeah, you 

[00:45:07] Justin: can relax a little bit. But I would like to just give you one final closing. Is there anything when you think of the question, when you think of the terms, why God, is there anything, I guess, lastly, that just comes to mind that you'd like to add for 

[00:45:23] Don: people?

[00:45:24] Don: Yeah. Well, I know myself, uh, why God is in the hearts of a lot of different people and circumstance happened, but if you read the book of Job and God opened up the avenue for the devil, whatever, to So, what he did, he lost all of his kids, he lost all of his animals, and then, you know, Job still praised and trusted God.

[00:45:46] Don: He had a relationship with God, still trusted him. So then the devil comes along and he says, yeah, you know, as long as Job's body is protected, he's going to continue to praise you. So God opened up the avenue where, the devil could touch his body. He had [00:46:00] boils all over his body from head to toe. But he never said, why God, you know, he trusted God throughout the whole thing.

[00:46:09] Don: And, and that's where we have to get ourselves into that place where, we just need to trust him. We need to trust the fact that he created us as you alluded to earlier. Well, we were in the womb of our mothers. God had a plan for each and every one of us. And there is a reason why we are part of all this, but we will never completely know this.

[00:46:29] Don: God's got all those answers. So we go through all these questions. God has all the answers for all of that. But to get ourselves into a place where we trust in him, where we realize we need him. We need a spirit working inside, just the born again experience to have a divine nature, the something that's going to create true happiness in our life, true joy, comfort, peace, all this stuff.

[00:46:52] Don: If we're struggling in depression and anger and bitterness and substance abuse, all this stuff, you know, asking [00:47:00] why? Well, that's the answer. The answer is Jesus Christ in our life, and he's the one that's waiting. Waiting for each and every one of us to reach out to him. He wants to be our strength and give us an avenue of hope.

[00:47:13] Don: Yeah, and 

[00:47:13] Justin: he's saying, why haven't you come to me sooner? That's 

[00:47:16] Don: true. You know, that is true. 

[00:47:18] Justin: I think so. I think that wraps it up for 

[00:47:21] Don: today. This was a good one, Justin. 

[00:47:23] Justin: I think so too. Hey, we're glad you guys found your way here today. And we hope you can join us again next week for another good word.

[00:47:32] Justin: Until then, stay 

[00:47:34] Don: blessed by the best. See you guys.[00:48:00]