Father Of Lies

 Life ends at death so eat drink and be merry for tomorrow you die.

You are an eternal being. Life does not end when you die. One need not venture far to gather compelling evidence of this. From your inner conscience that provides your innate awareness of right and wrong to your own soul (life principle), and spirt (supernatural extension of your life principle that can be raised to communion with God) to thousands of first hand life after death experiences to one of the most well documented historical events in history of Jesus Christ’s proclamation of being the Son of God along with His prophetic declaration of his death, resurrection, and ascension into Heaven that was witnessed firsthand by over 500 people. Do not be deceived, you will be held accountable with the life given to you and the consequences are eternal.

How can there be a God when evil is allowed in this world, let alone a God that loves me?

Why is there pain in the world; seeing God is “loving to every man, and his mercy is over all his works?: Because there is sin: Had there been no sin, there would have been no pain. But pain (supposing God to be just) is the necessary effect of sin. But why is there sin in the world? Because man was created in the image of God: Because he is not mere matter, a clod of earth, a lump of clay, without sense or understanding; but a spirit like his Creator, a being endued not only with sense and understanding, but also with a will exerting itself in various affections. To crown all the rest, he was endued with liberty; a power of directing his own affections and actions; a capacity of determining himself, or of choosing good or evil. Indeed, had not man been endued with this, all the rest would have been of no use: Had he not been a free as well as an intelligent being, his understanding would have been as incapable of holiness, or any kind of virtue, as a tree or a block of marble. And having this power, a power of choosing good or evil, he chose the latter: He chose evil. Thus “sin entered into the world,” and pain of every kind, preparatory to death.

Now that we’ve established God’s innocence let us witness God’s love and inexpressible tenderness and lenity, from whom man revolted, the Sovereign against whom they had rebelled. “And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?” – thus graciously calling him to return, who would otherwise have eternally fled from God. “And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked.” Still there is no acknowledgment of his fault, no humiliation for it. But with what astonishing tenderness does God lead him to make that acknowledgment! “And he said. Who told thee that thou was naked? How camest thou to make this discovery? Has thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said,” still unhumbled, he, indirectly throwing the blame upon God himself, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” “And the Lord God,” still in order to bring them to repentance, “said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done?” (Gen 3:13) “And the woman said,” nakedly declaring the thing as it was, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” “And the Lord God said unto the serpent,” to testify his utter abhorrence of sin, by a lasting monument of his displeasure, in punishing the creature that had been barely the instrument of it, “Thou are cursed above the cattle, and above every beast of the field. – And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”: Thus in the midst of judgment God remembered mercy, from the beginning of the world; connecting the grand promise of salvation with the very sentence of condemnation!

But can the Creator despise the work of his own hands Surely that is impossible! Has he not then, seeing he alone is able, provided a remedy for all these evils, yes verily he has! And a sufficient remedy; every way adequate to the disease. He has fulfilled his word: He has given "the seed of the woman to bruise the serpent's head." -- "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life." Here is a remedy provided for all our guilt: He "bore all our sins in his body on the tree." And "if anyone have sinned, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." And here is a remedy for all our disease, all the corruption of our nature. For God has also, through the intercession of his Son, given us his Holy Spirit, to renew us both "in knowledge," in his natural image; -- opening the eyes of our understanding, and enlightening us with all such knowledge as is requisite to our pleasing God; -- and also in his moral image, namely, "righteousness and true holiness." And supposing this is done, we know that "all things" will "work together for our good." We know by happy experience, that all natural evils change their nature and turn to good; that sorrow, sickness, pain, will all prove medicines, to heal our spiritual sickness. They will all be to our profit; will all tend to our unspeakable advantage; making us more largely "partakers of his holiness," while we remain on earth; adding so many stars to that crown which is reserved in heaven for us.

Behold then both the justice and mercy of God! -- his justice in punishing sin, the sin of him in whose loins we were then all contained, on Adam and his whole posterity; -- and his mercy in providing an universal remedy for an universal evil; in appointing the Second Adam to die for all who had died in the first; that, "as in Adam all died, so in Christ all" might "be made alive;" that, "as by one man's offence, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, so by the righteousness of one, the free gift" might "come upon all unto justification of life," -- "justification of life," as being connected with the new birth, the beginning of spiritual life, which leads us, through the life of holiness, to life eternal, to glory.

And it should be particularly observed, that "where sin abounded, grace does much more abound." For not as the condemnation, so is the free gift; but we may gain infinitely more than we have lost. We may now attain both higher degrees of holiness, and higher degrees of glory, than it would have been possible for us to attain. If Adam had not sinned, the Son of God had not died: Consequently that amazing instance of the love of God to man had never existed, which has, in all ages, excited the highest joy, and love, and gratitude from his children. We might have loved God the Creator, God the Preserver, God the Governor; but there would have been no place for love to God the Redeemer. This could have had no being. The highest glory and joy of saints on earth, and saints in heaven, Christ crucified, had been wanting. We could not then have praised him that, thinking it no robbery to be equal with God, yet emptied himself, took upon him the form of a servant, and was obedient to death, even the death of the cross! This is now the noblest theme of all the children of God on earth; yes, we need not scruple to affirm, even of angels, and archangels, and all the company of heaven.