But it's time that we knocked this sacred cow in the head. It's time it was slaughtered, cut up and eaten for dinner so that the Body of Christ can rise up - more than conquerors and put this 'doctrine of devil's' - under our feet, where it belongs.

Some people become really defensive when it comes to this particular doctrine. They're protective of it because they learned it from their dear, old grandmother, or from the Sunday school teacher who taught them their first Bible stories. But these saints came by the suffering doctrine honestly. It's been passed down from one generation of Christians to the next since about 300 A.D.

 Let's look back at history, and see how it all started.

At the time, the Body of Christ was suffering persecution in far greater scope than Christians today have ever known. Roman emperors, in an attempt to gain political popularity, began striving to out-do one another by slaughtering Christians in increasingly horrible ways. One emperor fed a group of them to the lions. Another tried to put on a more spectacular show by burning them at the stake... and so it went.

 You can imagine what happened at the meetings the believers were having at that time. Their sermons, their prayers and their discussions all began to focus on one topic - suffering and persecution.

 Unaware, for the most part, of God's power to protect them, those early Christians didn't know how to believe Him for deliverance. Instead, they simply trusted God to get them through the suffering, to give them strength to endure the pain without denying Jesus. They took some of the things different ones had written and armed themselves with the Word of God-and they got good at it!

Their faith eventually grew so strong in this area, that many looked forward to the opportunity to prove His power in the face of lions, fire or at the edge of a sword. One of the most famous stories that came down from that day was about a believer who had been sentenced to burn at the stake. He promised the other believers who would be watching his execution that if the power of God were enough, he would hold up one finger for them to see.

 When the day of his death came and the flames engulfed him, his fellow believers looked intently to see what his report would be. Sure enough, through the smoke, they saw him lift his hand and hold up not just one, but two fingers. He wanted them to know that the grace of God was more than enough!

For those early Christians, honoring God in the midst of persecution and suffering became the primary focus of their faith. It became the center point of their Christian walk. Then, suddenly, the persecution ceased. A new emperor took power and put a stop to it. And suddenly, those believers didn't have anything to talk about or pray about.
 

Often after fighting a monumental battle for their lives - and after winning that battle - people have difficulty refocusing on what to pray about! And it was at this point in history - when the persecution stopped - that this doctrine of "glorifying God" through suffering, sickness and poverty began.

 It quickly grew into a major religious dogma. The problem was and is now, that it wasn't based on the Bible. It was born out of the misdirected fervor of those early Christians, who had so focused on glorifying God through persecution, that they didn't know what to do when the persecution stopped. So they replaced the lions and the burning stakes with all kinds of trouble and pain-mostly sickness and disease.

 Their intentions were good. They loved God. But the fact is - that there is no comparison between suffering from burning at the stake because you refuse to deny the Name of Jesus, and suffering from sickness or poverty. Those two kinds of suffering are just - not the same thing.

Let's take a look at just what the "suffering doctrine" is about:

The "Suffering Doctrine" of religious tradition is a destructive counterfeit of the true Bible teaching on the suffering that the believer must be prepared to go through.

 The suffering doctrine has these basic suppositions:
Since suffering happens and since God runs and controls everything -- then suffering is either authored by God or allowed by God.

If God authors or allows suffering it must be:

• as the punishment (loving correction, discipline) of His children,
• so that He can have opportunities to demonstrate His faithfulness to us in hard times,
• so we in turn can demonstrate our trust in Him in spite of adverse circumstances or
• to test our free will and make a way for us to grow spiritually.

Therefor, if we suffer, it must be God's will that we suffer and:

• We should be content with the assurance that God (through His GRACE) will help us get through it.
• We should be content with the assurance that God will NEVER ask us to bear any burden which we are unable to bear (even if it KILLS us).
• We should be content with the assurance that our suffering WILL end when we DIE. (As opposed to the unbeliever whose suffering will never end.)

But I contend that it falls into a unique category of doctrines – "the doctrines of demons."
 

The subtle danger of this doctrine is twofold.

First it places the believer in a state of non-resistance to the Devil and his darkness, and second, it places the blame (whether called that or not) (directly or indirectly) on God.

The fruits of this teaching have been – among others:

• premature death
• unnecessary suffering
• the belief that God has dropped, left, abandoned or forsaken the person.
• loss of faith
• living in hypocrisy, (i.e., believing a sickness is God’s will, yet seeking to be rid of it medically).

God the Father is on His throne in Heaven, Jesus is seated there at His right hand and the Holy Spirit is here with us on earth.

The functions of the Holy Spirit are, among others, that of comforter, counselor, teacher, reminder, spokesman, provider of power and giver of divine gifts.

The Father and Jesus have ALREADY done – All they are going to do until Jesus returns and gathers His saints.

The Father – sent His only begotten Son – to redeem us from the curse of the law. And, the Father – sowed His singular seed (Jesus) into the earth for the express purpose of producing and harvesting an abundant crop of sons of God! Sons that look like, act like and talk like Jesus!
 

Jesus – came here, lived a sinless life, destroyed the works of the Devil wherever he found them and produced good works in their place. He taught and trained students to teach others to be - just like Him. He voluntarily and systematically took upon His own body the full curse of EVERY sin, sickness, disease, dysfunction, perversion and pain, paying the FULL and FINAL penalty FOR us.

He did this by taking it upon his body - carrying it all to the cross of Calvary where He became the Atonement for us, by shedding His own blood and dying FOR us, and thereby redeeming us from the curse of the law. Then according to plan, he was buried, and after three days, having defeated the Devil, the Father resurrected Him from the dead.

After this He gave His followers last minute instructions.

First, to go an wait for the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and second, told them that once they received the Holy Spirit and power, to go into all nations - teaching, preaching, healing – and baptizing those that believe.

Then he told them that those that did believe, and were baptized, would - speak in tongues, not be hurt by deadly things, cast out demons in Jesus’ name and heal by the laying on of their hands – just as the other followers of Jesus did.
 

Jesus set up an ongoing system to train and equip believers – to continue to: act as Jesus did, say what Jesus said and do what Jesus did.

The Father sent the Holy Spirit with the same power and the same gifts that He had provided for Jesus in the earth.
 

Jesus after His resurrection, proclaimed – "ALL AUTHORITY HAS BEEN GIVEN TO ME!" And then turned around and said that we were to have the same dominion and authority – by the power of attorney – of His Name! The Name of Jesus!
 

What I am saying – is that God the Father delegated running of things here on earth – to Jesus! And that Jesus delegated running of things here on earth – to us! So, who is supposed to be running things here on Earth? WE ARE!
 

Another supposition of this doctrine and religious tradition concerns the sovereignty of God.

The supposition is that since God is sovereign, He can do ANYTHING he wants - including: breaking His own promises, lying, and contradicting Himself in His own Word

Now the proponents of 'the suffering doctrine' don't just come right out and say this directly. They couch it all in really religious sounding terminology to make it sound better. But it's STILL what they're saying when you boil it all down.
 

IS God sovereign?

Yes - God IS a sovereign God!

And our sovereign God has made many sovereign promises and covenants. And our sovereign God sovereignly KEEPS His sovereign promises.
 

The Word says that God is not a man - that He should lie!
(Ouch!) But that's pretty plain isn't it?
 

Yet another supposition of this doctrine and religious tradition is that we (mankind) cannot know the will of God because He is so mysterious.

Well, lets look at what the Word of God has to say about that.

This actually nails it - but let's look at a few more.

So What IS the will of God?
 

Now I don't want to get too theological or scientific for you, but how - would YOU express your will to me?

You'd tell me right?

Using WORDS right?

And if I weren't where you are and you wanted to SEND it to me - you would WRITE it down - using WORDS right?

So then - your written WORD - would be your WILL right?

Is it too deep for anyone to grasp that God's Word - His written Word - the Bible - IS the will of God?
 

Again Eph 5:17 says: Don't be ignorant, but understandwhat the will of the Lord is.

The definition of a "fool" is someone that is ignorant - on purpose!
 

So it should be pretty clear that we CAN know the will of God - IF we read the Word of God.
 

Let me add this, If you think that God has some secret, mysterious, individual "will" for your life - outside of his general will, you are mistaken.

Now He DOES have a plan for you - just like you have plans for your kids. But that plan is within the general will of God. AND, that plan DOES NOT include God making, causing or allowing sin, sickness, disease, poverty and lack to be a part of your life.

God is a GOOD God! He says that it is His desire that everyone receives salvation - [sozo: saved, healed and delivered -wholeness - nothing missing, anything broken - whole].
 

So then, if God is not the author of suffering, who is?
 

God in His Word describes Satan as the destroyer. Scripture says that Satan comes ONLY – to steal, kill and destroy.

That describes Satan - NOT God!

God didn't put sickness and disease on you to teach you something! He didn't kill your family members, or sabotage your business.

Would you do that to your kids?

Perhaps they are rebellious and refuse to obey you. So you mail order a vile of some dangerous virus and put it into their food - you know - to teach them a lesson!

If you as a parent were to do that to one of your children, they would take away your kids and throw you in prison! You would NEVER do that! And Father God is a MUCH better parent than you are!
 

What if I walked up to you, and stuck my nose in your face and told you that "You dad MAKES ME SICK!"

Wouldn't you consider that as an insult?

Well, that is exactly what religious tradition is saying about your Father in Heaven! They dress it up and make it sound religious - but that is still what they are saying!
 

When someone is sick or dies and people ask, why? - religious people suddenly feel obligated to start making excuses for God! And begin justifying how HE comes to steal, kill and destroy. How you never know what God is going to do - because He's so mysterious. It never occurs to most people that Satan would use organized religion and religious tradition to perpetuate lies about God - but he does.
 

What makes this doctrine a doctrine of demons - is the fact that it removes the blame from Satan and removes the blame from us - and places it squarely on God! Which is a lie! And then it twists scripture to support that lie.
 

God is a GOOD God! And ONLY good - all the time!

He is now and he always has been. And if ANYBODY tells you different - they are perpetuating a lie of the devil! I don't care how 'pretty' or 'religious' they make it sound or how they weave it into other teachings.
 

The What-Abouts

Well Tim, what about in the Old Covenant where it said GOD smote this one and that one, and God DID this and God did that?
 

This one's a little more complicated, so rather than go into fine detail, I'll generalize to keep this as simple as possible.
 

The Hebrew language prior to 1948 was, for the most part, a dead language and had to be resurrected. Much was learned about the language, but some things are still unclear. Dr. Robert Young in his work "Hints and Helps to Biblical Interpritation", indicated that, in translation, the causative tense was often mistakenly used for the passive tense. Therefor many of the destructive things that have been attributed directly to God causing or making them happen were simply permitted by God. And many, if not all, of those were only "permitted" due to the fact that His direct intervention would go against what he had already spoken. A good example of this is in Deu. 28, where in verses 1-13, the blessings of hearing and obeying God's law are listed and in verses 14-62+ are listed the curses of the law. Note that one is either under the blessing or the curse - there is no middle ground - no neutral zone. Note also that the blessings are listed FIRST and that they are conditional to hearing and obeying. Now let's say that I fail to hear and obey. This is stepping out from under the blessing and into the curse. God did not change, move or take any action at all! I was the one that changed and made the move. The curse is the LACK of being under the blessing. God is not executing the curse - He doesn't have to!
 

OK, if I say to you: "If thou shalt flip the light switch to the 'on' position, thou shall be blessed with abundant light." "But, if you do not flip the light switch to the 'on' position, thou shalt live in utter darkness, and shall stumble and fall and suffer injuries, and become frightened, frustrated and confused, and be unhappy and blind and on and on…"
 

Now, if you don’t turn the light on - AM I the one CAUSING you injury? AM I the one CAUSING you to be blind, unhappy, frightened, frustrated and confused? NO! I'm not directly involved AT all! I just spoke the rule or law into existence and made it legally binding on you, on myself and on everyone else! In fact, if it became a spiritual law, I would not even be legally able to remove the effects of the darkness from you. For, they are the automatic penalty for not hearing and doing what I said.
 

In other words, when it says, "The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land…" "The Lord" is really passively doing NOTHING - one way OR the other! And may even be legally constrained FROM action by His OWN Word.
 

Now remember, Jesus the Redeemer, has redeemed us FROM the penalties (the curse) by paying (or taking upon himself) each and every penalty (curse) FOR us. In my little example of the light switch, Jesus would have paid each and every one of the penalties for YOU not turning on the light! He would have voluntarily suffered the blindness and injury and taken upon himself the fear, frustration, confusion and unhappiness FOR us - allowing us to step into the light!
 

We no longer have to pay the penalty (or suffer) anything that Jesus paid (or suffered) for us! This was called the Atonement. God's law required hearing and doing - and the penalty for not hearing and doing was death. God also spoke into existence an atonement, (a way to escape - by the sacrificial shedding of blood to cover up your transgression). But this atonement was only temporary because of the impurity of the less than perfect sacrifice. Jesus WAS the perfect (permanent) sacrifice. And HE paid for and carried the entire curse to the cross - for us. And if he did - then we are no longer required to carry or suffer any of the penalties of the curse.
 

What about Job and Paul's "thorn in the flesh?" Well I have an hour long tape called the "What-Abouts" that goes into great detail about these two. But here's Job in a nutshell. Job opened the gate in the hedge of protection around him by allowing fear to rule over him, and by the words of his own mouth. God just points it out. Satan attacks with the goal of forcing Job to curse God. Satan fails and God restores to Job double his losses in every area.
 

What about Paul's "thorn in the flesh?" If you ask religious tradition what the "thorn in the flesh" was - they speculate all kinds of things! Bad eyes, arthritis, stuttering, sickness, disease and on and on. And then tell you that they don't really know for sure.
 

That's when I ask them, "Why DON'T you know? And while they are still starring at me like a cow at a new gate - I say, "The Bible tells you what it is, right in the same verse that that mentions the thorn!" Guess what? Most have never read it! Or - have read right over it! Primarily because they were "told" what it said in seminary.
 

Now the Bible says that there is a very real, scriptural suffering that every serious believer must face. The Apostle Paul talked about that suffering. He said:
 

So, what else did Jesus suffer?

Jesus also suffered persecution - religious persecution - from the religious bigwigs of his day as well as demonic persecution. He also suffered rejection from his nation, his town, his friends, his family and his followers. He also suffered insult, slander, discreditation, betrayal, false accusation, religious and racial hatred, ridicule, etc…

In addition, as we will see later, Jesus also suffered the resisting of all the temptations and pressures that come from every direction.
Now these ARE the sufferings that every Christian (that is doing anything for Jesus) can expect to suffer.
 

But there is MORE that Jesus suffered!

Jesus became the perfect sacrifice of all sacrifices. He was not only the Passover Lamb, but was also the Atonement Aza'zel or scapegoat upon which was placed all the sins, perversities, evils, faults, iniquities, mischief as well as the punishments and curses for the people.

At the cross, God the Father, placed all of these things upon Jesus including the full 'curse of the law.' Here are just a few examples from the 46 plus verses of curses from Deu 28:15-61 that were placed upon Jesus:

Since Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, and atonement - and we are NOT… we as Christians DO NOT QUALIFY to suffer anything that was included as part of that sacrifice. And that includes EVERYTHING listed in the 'curse of the law.'
 
 

As I've said, some people have mistakenly decided that sickness and disease are their part of Jesus' suffering. They say, "I guess this is just my cross to bear!" But that can't possibly be true.

• for doctrine, (instruction (the function or the information):--learning, teaching.)
• for reproof, (proof, conviction:--evidence, to convince/charge of a fault, blame, censure.)
• for correction, (a straightening up again, i.e. (fig.) rectification (reformation):--to lift up or straighten out.)
• for instruction (paideia)(tutorage; i.e. education or training; nurture.) in righteousness:

Does God discipline His children?

The answer is "Yes," but what does discipline really mean? And what is said about it in the New Covenant?

Discipline:
People tend to think about the word 'discipline' primarily in terms of punishment. But, what is the root word in "discipline?" Disciple! Jesus was the teacher and the disciples were the students or learners. Discipline primarily refers to education and training. And, even when "correction" may be implied by the context - that "correction" need not imply a "spanking" or "punishment," but rather a paradigm shift, course correction or a pointing in the right direction.

In the following scriptures, I want you to focus on the Greek word 'paideia.' In Ephesians 6 (below) notice that it is translated "nurture" - a far cry from corporal punishment.

The following passage is one of the places people quote to "prove" that God "spanks" and "punishes" his children. I'd like you to read it through twice. First read it with punishment in mind, then, I would like to ask you to read it again, and translate the word 'paideia' back to its primary meaning of "educating" or "training" and see how it reads.

Does God spank or punish His children?

God (figuratively [not literally]) flogs (or spanks) by not supernaturally intervening on a son's behalf when that son steps over into darkness (in this context by refusing to learn or by rejecting training) and thereby falling into the devil's hands. (No, God is NOT "using" the devil to spank the son. The devil is 'self' employed and "like" a lion, always waiting for the weak to fall - always seeking whom he may devour.)

However, God is listening, ready and waiting to supernaturally pull the son back out of the darkness the instant the son repents. In actuality, the son initiates his own spanking as well as determines its duration.
 

How does God teach and train His children?

NOT the devil, not sickness, not disease and not poverty!

According to Isaiah 53:4, Jesus bore our sicknesses, diseases and pains. "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).

Jesus, as our Savior, bore our sickness in His body.

• We are not qualified to do what He did.
• We are not qualified to be the Redeemer.
• We are not qualified to be the spotless, sinless Savior of the world.

What then is our part of the suffering Jesus did on the cross?

Take a look at the last part of verse 5 again and you'll see it.

"...by his stripes we are healed."

• Our part of Jesus' physical suffering at Calvary is healing!
• Our part of the penalty for sin, which He suffered, is forgiveness, cleansing and peace!
• Our part of His death is deliverance from the bondage death brings!

 That's true. But once you step out in faith to receive all that Jesus suffered to provide for you, you will run head-on into a totally different kind of suffering. The Bible talks about Jesus' experience with this second kind of suffering in Hebrews 2:10. I'll include the whole passage here so you can see the context of it - because it all relates to Jesus' suffering, but I want you to pay special attention to the last verse:

Was Jesus made perfect by his sufferings on the cross?
Or was he already perfect when he went to the cross?

Of course he was already perfect! Otherwise he would not have qualified as the "perfect" sacrifice. Well then, to what "sufferings" then is this scripture referring?

Let's jump to the end of the full passage in vs. 18.

So let's recap the kinds of suffering that you and I can expect to go through.

If you are a passive, do-nothing, spectator Christian; not doing anything that might do any damage to the devil's kingdom - chances are - that you may never actually suffer any of the following.

But, if you are an active Christian and are doing anything for Jesus - you can expect these kinds of suffering in some form or another:

Persecution (both demonic and religious), rejection, insult, slander, discreditation, betrayal, false accusation, hatred (religious and racial), ridicule, temptation and the suffering that comes from resistance.

We, of course, don't have to endure as much pressure as Jesus did.
We'll never have to resist to the point of sweating blood, because He did that for us.
But if we are to fulfill the call of God on our lives, if we are to partake of all the divine privileges Jesus purchased for us through His death and resurrection, we will have to resist trials and temptations.
We'll have to resist sickness, poverty and every other foul thing the devil tries to pressure us into receiving.
 

I shake my head when modern day Pharisees accuse faith preachers of saying that the Christian life shouldn't include any suffering. Or say that we believe that we should just float along through life on a bed of roses, healed, prosperous and happy. 

Just think about it for a minute! Let's say you wake up one morning with all the symptoms of the flu. You have that cold, clammy sweat running down your forehead, stuff is running out of your nose and you ache from head to toe. The first thing that pops into your head is to grab the cold medicine (you know, the kind that just about makes you completely numb), pull the covers up and tell your wife to call the office for you because you're too sick to go to work. You lie there in your bed, moaning and groaning all day - suffering for Jesus. "I guess I'm just bringing glory to the Lord," you say.
 

Let me ask you this: How does the Lord get any glory out of you having the flu? What glory is he getting out of you staying in bed all day shivering and blowing your nose, surrounded by piles of used tissues? Now what kind of recruiting poster does that make for the Kingdom of God? That's not even a good testimony. And it certainly doesn't compare with getting burned at the stake!
 

But now, let's set up another scene. Say you wake up one morning with all those symptoms we've just described. But instead of cowering in bed, you throw the covers aside and say, "No, devil! I'm not submitting to this sickness. Jesus paid a high price for me to be healed, and I intend to walk in that healing!"

You swing your legs over the side of the bed, put your feet on that cold floor and your aching body just recoils. It practically begs you to get back under the covers. And, the last thing you feel like doing is reading your Bible. But you don't care what your body feels like doing. You reach over to the night stand, open that Bible and start reading out loud, "Bless the Lord, O my soul... He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases." You walk around the room declaring the Word of God, determined to talk in faith, walk in faith, act in faith and resist the devil until he runs from you and takes his filthy flu with him!
 

Now you tell me, which of those is the higher kind of suffering?

You know the answer as well as I do. There's far more suffering in resistance to sickness than there is in submitting to that sickness. And what's more - when you suffer by resisting and you defeat the devil, you truly DO bring glory to God! And, you prove once again that His power and His Word are greater than anything the devil has. You prove once again that He is faithful to His covenant. And, you rub the devil's nose in the fact - that greater is He Who is in you than he who is in the world!

Now, that's the kind of winning attitude every Holy Spirit filled, baptized believer ought to have - all the time. We ought to set our sights on being just like Jesus - who never yielded to the pressure of the devil. We ought to be like the Apostle Paul who said: 

"...Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities [weaknesses], that the power of Christ [the Anointed One and His Anointing] may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities [weaknesses], in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's [the Anointed One and His Anointing] sake: for when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

There's an element of suffering in that - but remember, a good soldier doesn't just run out onto the battlefield without any training, without any weapons and without any plans, standing there until he gets shot or run over.
God wants an army of warriors - not crash-test-dummies!

No! A good soldier gets properly equipped and gets the proper training. He learns how to use his weapons and listens to his commander so he knows the battle plan.
That soldier may start out thinking like a civilian, but the more he trains, the more his attitude is changed. He no longer thinks about the hardship. It no longer bothers him to fall into a mud-hole. It no longer upsets him to have to sleep in the dirt.

His training has made him tough and hard in mind and body. A change has come over him. Instead of focusing on his own discomfort, he focuses on the fact that he believes in and is proud of the army he has joined. He takes joy in the fact that he has become a powerful instrument of war!

You may be looking for a way out of the suffering that comes from resisting the devil. But that's okay…

Just put yourself in training, get into the Word and…

• Find out about your helmet of salvation, your breastplate of righteousness, your belt of truth and your shoes of the preparation of the gospel.
• Find out how to wield the sword of the Spirit (the Word of God) - just like Jesus did.
• Find out how to use your shield of faith to stand against the devil and your sword of the Spirit to cut him down to size.

Fellowship with Jesus and meditate on His Word until, with your heart, you can see Him looking squarely into your eyes and saying, "Soldier…

• You're one of the best this army has.
• You've been trained in the Word.
• You know how to walk by faith.
• You have My power and My anointing to put the devil and all his works under your feet.

When that happens, you won't be looking for a place to run and hide.
You won't be lying in bed whining about suffering for Jesus.
You'll be on your feet, enduring hardness like a good soldier - whipping the tar out of the devil, and bringing genuine glory to God!