{"id":27420,"date":"2026-08-05T08:57:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27420"},"modified":"2026-08-05T09:51:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T13:51:15","slug":"27420","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27420","title":{"rendered":"Is God All Powerful?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Matthew West - Do Something\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/b_RjndG0IX8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Wednesday, August 5, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/email.cac.org\/t\/d-l-wadyll-dkgktyktu-y\/\">READ ON CAC.ORG<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>There is only one question which really matters: why do bad things happen to good people?<br>\u2014Rabbi Harold Kushner<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Through his classic exploration of the book of Job, Rabbi Harold Kushner (1935\u20132023) questions the common belief that God is all-powerful:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The author of the Book of Job \u2026 believes in God\u2019s goodness and in Job\u2019s goodness, and is prepared to give up his belief \u2026 that God is all-powerful. <strong>Bad things do happen to good people in this world, but it is not God who wills it\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There may be a sense of loss at coming to this conclusion. In a way, it was comforting to believe in an all-wise, all-powerful God who guaranteed fair treatment and happy endings, who reassured us that everything happened for a reason\u2026. But it was comforting the way the religion of Job\u2019s friends was comforting: it worked only as long as we did not take the problems of innocent victims seriously. When we have met Job, <strong>when we have&nbsp;<em>been<\/em>&nbsp;Job, we cannot believe in that sort of God any longer without giving up our own right to feel angry, <\/strong>to feel that we have been treated badly by life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From that perspective, there ought to be a sense of relief in coming to<strong> the conclusion that God is not doing this to us. <\/strong>If God is a God of justice and not of power, then He can still be on our side when bad things happen to us. He can know that we are good and honest people who deserve better. Our misfortunes are none of His doing, and so we can turn to Him for help. Our question will not be Job\u2019s question \u201cGod, why are You doing this to me?\u201d but rather \u201cGod, see what is happening to me. Can You help me?\u201d <strong>We will turn to God, not to be judged or forgiven, not to be rewarded or punished, but to be strengthened and comforted.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Kushner describes the divine intimacy we can experience when we are released from the belief that God is responsible for our suffering:&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We will be able to turn to God for things He can do to help us, instead of holding on to unrealistic expectations of Him which will never come about\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We can maintain our own self-respect and sense of goodness without having to feel that God has judged us and condemned us. We can be <strong>angry at what has happened to us, without feeling that we are angry at God.<\/strong> More than that, we can recognize our anger at life\u2019s unfairness, our <strong>instinctive compassion at seeing people suffer, as coming from God who teaches us to be angry at injustice and to feel compassion for the afflicted. <\/strong>Instead of feeling that we are opposed to God, <strong>we can feel that our indignation is God\u2019s anger at unfairness working through us, that when we cry out, we are still on God\u2019s side, and He is still on ours.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>=============<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/app-link\/post?publication_id=2863497&amp;post_id=209814261&amp;utm_source=post-email-title&amp;utm_campaign=email-post-title&amp;isFreemail=true&amp;r=2dkj2&amp;token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozOTkyMzY2LCJwb3N0X2lkIjoyMDk4MTQyNjEsImlhdCI6MTc4NTg2NDgwMywiZXhwIjoxNzg4NDU2ODAzLCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMjg2MzQ5NyIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.JeJh5GHx7hWRqDkk7UpDaGL0Be3741ciPKimNgAgL4w\">Haiti 1992 &#8211; Loosing the Chains of Injustice&nbsp;<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ode to Lilut, the Bluntchlis, and Justice Bradley&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/@bradleyjersak\">BRADLEY JERSAK<\/a>    AUG 4<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/@bradleyjersak\"><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>THE SOLDIER PLAYED with the safety of his M-16 assault rifle, and I thought I was going to be sick. It seemed like an awful nightmare, but I was awake\u2014more fully awake than at any previous moment of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/b5abd1b7-4462-4773-9306-4585ef314b49?j=eyJ1IjoiMmRrajIifQ.ND0qR5RKsmVnltuWgIlyr3BY7uwq2Kt9ZzX29UJK4cg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!Dcf_!,w_530,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc73353d-0dcb-4d31-95a5-0b0722b8fa5e_1258x992.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><\/td><td><\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It was November 1992. Desarmes, Haiti. After a&nbsp;<em>coup d\u2019etat<\/em>, the paramilitary&nbsp;<em>Macoutes<\/em>&nbsp;no longer merely terrorized the countryside; they were actually running it. And they wielded an iron fist in this village in the Haitian outback. Groups larger than three could not meet without a permit. Youth groups and farmers\u2019 co-ops were forbidden, their leaders arrested. Checkpoints monitored traffic on the dirt roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lares, a Haitian national serving the&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/90b35ca7-71bf-4ff1-995f-ded7acb02cd2?j=eyJ1IjoiMmRrajIifQ.ND0qR5RKsmVnltuWgIlyr3BY7uwq2Kt9ZzX29UJK4cg\">Mennonite Central Committee (MCC<\/a><\/strong>)&nbsp;as an agricultural trainer, had been arrested for allegedly distributing a disparaging letter against the local military chief. The soldiers had hog-tied him and beaten him with clubs about the head, ears, back, and thighs. We tried to bribe them but now they also declared their true intentions:&nbsp;<em>\u201cTonight, we will get drunk and beat him to death. By morning, he will be dead. No bribes.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/746a06b1-dd66-4611-83d2-7ca1526bbecc?j=eyJ1IjoiMmRrajIifQ.ND0qR5RKsmVnltuWgIlyr3BY7uwq2Kt9ZzX29UJK4cg\">Ron Bluntchli<\/a><\/strong>, our MCC host and guide, was standing face-to-face with an armed guard and speaking boldly in Creole:&nbsp;<em>\u201cGod is your judge, and he is watching you! You will stand before him one day. He sees you now, and you will answer to him. He will hold you to account for this! God will not tolerate this injustice. Set this man free now!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/6cb1478d-998f-4768-afc3-39ef121afbd3?j=eyJ1IjoiMmRrajIifQ.ND0qR5RKsmVnltuWgIlyr3BY7uwq2Kt9ZzX29UJK4cg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!eV5u!,w_509,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6bdfc6af-7a84-44e1-9da6-0e6e5ac8b87f_1654x1346.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ron Bluntchli &#8211; \u201cI am a human being. But at this point, I\u2019d rather be a dolphin.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Questions began to race through my mind: Would they really kill Lares? Would they kill Ron? Would they dare? What about me? Could I escape with my wife, now six months pregnant? God? Where are you? What are you doing? What should we do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As I listened, the Lord spoke to my heart:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><em>\u201cIs not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter\u2014when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;(Isaiah 58:6\u20137)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>I could longer spiritualize those verses away. This is very real, and in this context, it is&nbsp;<em>exactly<\/em>&nbsp;what Isaiah was talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But how?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How could we liberate this actual prisoner\u2014bound in actual nylon cords\u2014from an armed, flesh and-blood oppressor? To break this stalemate could easily escalate the crisis, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I watched and waited, focusing on keeping my head and my churning bowels together. Ron would not back down. He believed that without witnesses, the&nbsp;<em>Macoutes<\/em>&nbsp;would stir up the courage to kill Lares. A crowd began to gather. Mugginess and tension pressed in. We cried out to the Lord in prayer, but despair threatened to win the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was beginning to see through the blindness of those Christians who accuse organizations like MCC and Christian Peace Maker Teams of being \u201ctoo political.\u201d I had heard it before and even wondered myself: \u201cShouldn\u2019t they stick to relief work or channeling their energies into \u2018soul-winning\u2019? Why do they have to get so political?\u201d In the Haitian context, where life and death stand in stark contrast every day,&nbsp;<em>souls are people<\/em>. And the people are naked, starving, and oppressed. There is no fence of ambiguity to straddle. The choice was as simple as it was hard: we could either walk away now in silent acquiescence to the misery and evil or we could speak out and act for justice and mercy, hoping to overcome evil with good. To follow Christ in the moment left us no choice, regardless of what the critics believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In North America, people in my demographic rarely understand this. Dom Helder Camara, the former Archbishop of Recife, Brazil once lamented,&nbsp;<em>\u201cWhen I gave food to the poor, they called me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now I was getting a crash-course on kingdom justice and mercy. I was coming to realize these are not merely temporal matters of politics or philanthropy that can be isolated from one\u2019s spiritual life. They are of eternal importance and will be addressed when Christ renders verdicts on Judgment Day. (cf. Matthew 25)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/acebebd6-0e0e-4e3a-a535-ac4c712b5444?j=eyJ1IjoiMmRrajIifQ.ND0qR5RKsmVnltuWgIlyr3BY7uwq2Kt9ZzX29UJK4cg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!xwYT!,w_506,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc9d2f0a8-6f14-408e-bebe-de27bd4c90db_1500x1000.jpeg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Matthew 25 &#8211; The Judgment of Sheep and Goats<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When the Day of Judgment comes, what we have done or neglected to do for the naked, the hungry, the prisoner, the sick, and the oppressed will be identified with what we did or did not do for the King. He will ask:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><em>\u201cDid you feed me and clothe me or did you not? Did you welcome me, visit me, comfort me, free me, or not? You either came to me or abandoned me. If you helped them, you helped me. If not, I don\u2019t believe I know you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>On that day, whether we were \u201cleft\u201d or \u201cright\u201d in our earthly politics will matter little when the divine judge beckons us to his left or his right. Whether we were conservative or liberal in our theology will flee from our minds. Even whether we said \u201cthe magic prayer\u201d will ring shallow in that moment. But whether or not we did justice, loved mercy, and walked humbly with God will be of paramount concern (Micah 6:8). The New Testament teaches that we are saved by faith in the grace of God and not by performative works (Ephesians 2:8\u20139). However, it also states that a truly living faith will not fail to reproduce the character of Christ in our lives, by which I mean our&nbsp;<em>actions<\/em>(James 2:26).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ministries of Matthew 25 are not afterthoughts of Christian charity held in place with refrigerator magnets. They are the foundation of the very throne of God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><em>\u201cRighteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;(Psalm 89:14).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Once we have heard, we must follow through with action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/d5e5d1cd-99dd-4756-9538-1230ebd7079f?j=eyJ1IjoiMmRrajIifQ.ND0qR5RKsmVnltuWgIlyr3BY7uwq2Kt9ZzX29UJK4cg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!7Ur4!,w_1100,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb3458d03-663a-45b9-8514-7363b2a3cca6_727x500.jpeg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Tonton Macoutes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Back to Haiti. As I stood there trembling, a little boy with a bright white, perfectly ironed shirt approached me. The boy, Lilut, was eleven years old, with very dark skin and bright white teeth. In the middle of this moment of hell, he smiled comfort at me and began to rub my back. I saw Jesus looking at me through those big eyes. They said,&nbsp;<em>\u201cIt\u2019s going to be okay.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ron continued to lay his life on the line, demanding immediate release of the prisoner. The guard rebutted: \u201cWe cannot release him without a court order.\u201d What an odd \u201cjustice\u201d system. You could arrest, sentence, and punish a man without so much as a warrant or any shred of evidence, but to free him required a trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cThen let\u2019s go to the judge,\u201d Ron countered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe judge is in the next town,\u201d the guard replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThen we\u2019ll go to the next town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have no truck.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ron pulled out his keys. \u201cWe\u2019ll take my truck.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the unrelenting pressure from Ron, foreign witnesses, and the entire village, the chief ran out of excuses. They loaded the prisoner and a handful of soldiers into the back of Ron\u2019s pick-up and disappeared with Ron at the wheel down the riverbed road. Eden and I waited anxiously and prayed through the night. What would happen? What if they didn\u2019t return? What would happen to Ron? What if the soldiers came for us next? How would I get Eden back to Port-au-Prince? What if\u2026?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eventually, God broke through my troubled thoughts with a measure of peace. I found some dry bread with avocado to settle my stomach and was finally able to get a little sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next morning, we heard the truck returning. Villagers poured out of their homes and lined the dusty road. The whole crew was returning, but now the ropes had been removed from Lares. He stood in the truck box smiling and waving at the crowds in this impromptu remake of Jesus\u2019 triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He was free! Men, women, and children began to chant in unison,&nbsp;<em>\u201cGod is able! God is able!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Apparently, the courthouse in the next town had put Lares in custody for the night (which likely saved his life) and the judge had thrown out the case for absence of evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And there was Lilut, bright white eyes, teeth, and shirt, smiling at me through the dust\u2014little Jesus in our midst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/6f647b9b-76d8-4b05-afff-81511be4e39a?j=eyJ1IjoiMmRrajIifQ.ND0qR5RKsmVnltuWgIlyr3BY7uwq2Kt9ZzX29UJK4cg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!c_nO!,w_527,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0a5a39f0-2453-40a2-a593-84841ea3e780_962x1290.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Justice Jersak &#8211; circa 1996<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>P.S. Immediately after our Isaiah 58 encounter, I wrote in my journal, \u201cIf the child in Eden\u2019s womb is a boy, name him \u201cJustice.\u201d Three months later, Justice Bradley Jersak was born.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday, August 5, 2026 READ ON CAC.ORG There is only one question which really matters: why do bad things happen to good people?\u2014Rabbi Harold Kushner Through his classic exploration of the book of Job, Rabbi Harold Kushner (1935\u20132023) questions the common belief that God is all-powerful: The author of the Book of Job \u2026 believes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27420"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27420"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27427,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27420\/revisions\/27427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}