If you’re familiar with some of my other writings, then you know I believe in taking themes and lessons from movies and TV series. While I’m not exactly a fan of everything that goes into some of those productions, there are often very useful lessons that can be extracted from them. Today, I want to talk about a great example of something that really stood out to me in a relatively new CW TV series that goes by a similar title to today’s episode. In the last few years, there have been quite a number of instances where I have hoped for certain outcomes despite the outward appearance looking extremely unlikely. Thankfully, in some of those situations, I have seen extreme negatives turn into positives by an act of unseen divine involvement. At the time of this writing, I’m still waiting on the biggest piece of my invention business to come together and the reason it has not yet is because of exactly what I’m referring to here.

Positive Expectation

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single [good, fulfilling its office], thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Matthew 6:22-23 (KJV)

Not long ago, my wife and I were looking for something new to watch and we turned to the CW website. While scrolling through all that was available, we landed on a series titled, “Sullivan’s Crossing” starring Morgan Kohan and Chad Michael Murray. I wanted to watch it because I had become familiar with Chad due to his acting in several Hallmark movies and I figured this would be a decent series. Fortunately, I was right and not long ago, we just finished the last episode of season 3. At some point in the first season, I began to notice a theme that kept repeating throughout the entire series. It was how each time a negative circumstance came up for either of the main characters, it often ended up with a positive outcome.

With much of the world following the prophecy Jesus spoke of the end times in Matthew 24:12 about evil increasing so much that many would be overcome by it, I’ve been increasingly on the search for anything that brings out the opposite. Finding this series really helped me reinforce the idea that global events and the direction of society does not have to make me into what Jesus warned about. The funny thing though is that I was never really the kind of person that could overcome negatives too easily. I know that it has been a part of God’s transforming process (along with my willingness) that I not be stuck in certain generational patterns of becoming increasingly negative with the passing of years.

As I pointed out in earlier episodes in this Supernatural Entrepreneur series, we have a choice when negatives come at us. Either we get stuck in them and they poison us forever or we learn the real heart of God and let Him change us so that we can overcome any evil that the devil or any person may throw at us. That choice presents us with opposing alternatives – to become a bitter, angry and toxic person (which only kills us in the end) or we learn how to throw off that poison and become better because of it. Many of us know the Bible verse that says “all things work for good…” (Romans 8:28) but, do we really remember that when people do very evil things to us??

In these last few years, I’ve had to process through this myself and I began to realize that this was not so easy to do in real life as it seems on paper. I’m sure you realize by now that the life God called me to has not (yet) been very much fun. The ancient training (wilderness) program of development is intended by God to be brutal and very unpleasant for reasons that I’ve explained in past episodes and books. Our human flesh will never fully obey God and for us to become what He intended from the beginning of time, we must have all that is wrong with us exposed and dealt with. Of many tests that come during this training period is the choice we must make in dealing with these extreme negatives that I keep referring to. Yes, we can point fingers and blame the people who do those things to us or we can see that God did not have to allow it from the beginning.

Which Is Really Better?

But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Genesis 50:20 (KJV)

Remember what Jesus said in John 19:10-11 that no one had any power over Him unless God had given it to them. Jesus had to submit to the actions of evil people who wanted to kill Him because it was His Father’s will. I think we often make the mistake of missing the point that the patterns of Jesus’ life will often show up in our own (and for the same reason). In that passage, Jesus never said the actions of those people were not considered a sin. In fact, He acknowledged that it was a sin that He was handed over and mistreated and that the person (Judas) who betrayed Him was guilty of the greatest sin.

So the point is not that people who mistreat us are off the hook just because God intends for us to go through various trials. No, sin is sin, regardless of the ultimate reason for it. But the only thing that matters to us is how respond to those evil people who are very much against us. To some here this probably sounds very academic but, if you are really going to find out what God’s calling is for you, believe me, you are going to experience this up close and personally at some point. In saying that, I must admit that I was not prepared for all that was going to happen to me in my last few years.

Rather than get into the whole list of those incidents, let me just say that God has shown either myself or my wife what He is ultimately going to do to each of those who have mistreated us. In at least two of those cases, it was shown that the person would end up in Hell but before that, other very negative things would happen to them in this lifetime because of their evil attitudes and behaviors. I guess you could say that, knowing what was coming to those people in advance made it easier to deal with what they did to us. Personally, it helped me feel better knowing that (even though I’m far from perfect myself) when a person does extremely wicked things to me (when all I wanted was to fulfill what God called me to) He was not going to let them off the hook.

All the Pharisees that wanted Jesus dead ended up in Hell for eternity, along with Judas who betrayed Him. In 70 AD, the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by Roman armies exactly as Jesus warned because they refused to listen to Him. Those who came against Elijah, Elisha, Moses, David and others were killed by various “acts of God”. Mistreating men or women who are called by God will never go well for you if you are so deceived into thinking you are above God’s law. You will pay the price in this life and in the next.

That Process…

And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.

Acts 24:16 (KJV)

So now that we’ve covered the basics here… let me say that the betrayals, attacks, and harassment I and my wife have had to put up with have ultimately served God’s plan to develop us in ways we were not able to see at the time. As Joseph said in Genesis 50, although people fully intended to harm us, God restrained them and used it for our good. The more I’ve experienced this, the more I’ve slowly started to change my mindset towards evil people. True, I did not at all have a positive attitude toward some of those attackers, liars and betrayers from the start. I wanted the same done to them as they did to me and it was a very long time before my mindset began to change.

I’ve been slowing learning that, for some people, God can change them and things will work out positively. It’s really a matter of the same pattern as He uses on us – time and pressure applied to them so that God’s chastisement can hopefully cause them to repent of their evil nature.

For our part, which is better ultimately… that those people stay evil for the rest of their life and end up in Hell or that they repent and stop their path to destruction? Which is better… that we leave on a negative note with people we could have had a long term positive relationship with or that God processes them so that we can have a bright future with them forever? Which is better for us and also for them. Does it really serve a purpose if they remain evil and their horrible behaviors drag around for the rest of our lives? Obviously not but that choice is up to them. Our choice is to develop the mindset of praying for a positive divine outcome so that we can all go forward in a productive way for everyone.

For the record, at the time of this writing, I am still waiting on God for the outcomes of the situations I’ve had to endure. I am not “totally there yet” with sincerely wanting positive outcomes for certain of those people who have treated me and my wife in the worst ways. If there’s one thing you should take away from this entire series, it is that God puts us through processes which require time to produce something new. Nothing big changes overnight – not for us and not for those who are against us. The choice remains for us however, what will we do in response? Let the evil poison us or learn to let it go. Not easy to do but with time, prayer and effort, we can get there. And that is something I’m very optimistic about!

To be continued…

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