If you tried to get on the Lifestream-related websites today, you already known we were hacked. I have spent most of the day just getting things back to normal. That included the Lifestream site as well as The God Journey site. It has truly been a mess. So if you had a difficult time navigating our sites or saw the disgusting splash page put up on The God Journey blog, you have my sincere apologies.
I’m even more convinced today that hacking, virus-creating and spamming ought to be capital offenses. They cause no end of time, expense and hassle, all because people want to make mischief, mostly for their own amusement or ranking in the dark side of the Internet.
The Internet is an environment that is totally man-created, not subject to any of the sicknesses and disease that wage war against our bodies. And in this pristine environment some have found joy in creating diseases, hacking people’s efforts, and trying to hijack other people’s work for profit or amusement. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? If sin hadn’t brought sickness into the world, then surely we would have done it to ourselves. Doing harm to others, exploiting people’s vulnerabilities, and creating hardship for self-gain is where the seamier side of human nature sinks.
So the next time you’re tempted to blame God for all the evil, sickness and pain in the world, maybe you might want to consider that it isn’t God’s doing at all. This is what human nature allows and what it thrives on. We don’t always do it in such overt ways as the Internet junk squad, but every time we think of ourselves above the people around us, treat our needs as more important than the person next to us, or wittingly or unwittingly create hardship for others we add to the brokenness of our world.
Conversely, whenever we put others above ourselves, act in kindness toward another person or seek to heal the brokenhearted we participate in God’s unfolding kingdom in the world. See Luke 4:18-19, where Jesus reads from the prophet Isaiah. There’s two very opposite spirits at work in the world. He is not the destroyer; he is the redeemer.
Very sorry you had to go through this. It must be an awful mess to have to clean up. I would have no idea where to start. I hope you are able to get things cleared up as easily and seamlessly as possible.
Being Loved By Him, With You,
Daveda
Ya . . . have you seen an elementary school playground lately? It seems like whatever the enemy gets started, we keep going, right from the get-go. Thank you for the emphasis you have placed on the Redemption of God. This has been a good paradigm shift for me.
Love,
Janna
Very sorry you had to go through this. It must be an awful mess to have to clean up. I would have no idea where to start. I hope you are able to get things cleared up as easily and seamlessly as possible.
Being Loved By Him, With You,
Daveda
Ya . . . have you seen an elementary school playground lately? It seems like whatever the enemy gets started, we keep going, right from the get-go. Thank you for the emphasis you have placed on the Redemption of God. This has been a good paradigm shift for me.
Love,
Janna
“So the next time you’re tempted to blame God for all the evil, sickness and pain in the world, maybe you might want to consider that it isn’t God’s doing at all.”
This is short-sighted. Of course it is man who brought the sin into the world, but God didn’t stop it. Not because He had partially abdicated as ruler of the world, as some people believe (usually this view is put in a superficially weaker form: “God has given us the freedom to act as we want”), indeed God Himself claims that he rules the world, even the thoughts of kings, and there is no disaster that is not done by the Lord (Amos 3:6). Everything that exists is sustained by Jesus Christ (Hbr1:3).
We don’t know why, we should not think we can explain why God allows the evil to happen. Neither the explanations of Job’s friends, nor apologies like “God didn’t it” can explain the mystery. All we can do is to trust God, who showed his love at calvary.
As to the mess on your website: I didn’t see it, I assume you have finished the cleanup by now. And I hope you have a good backup system in case there will be another attack 😉
Helmut
(Germany)
“So the next time you’re tempted to blame God for all the evil, sickness and pain in the world, maybe you might want to consider that it isn’t God’s doing at all.”
This is short-sighted. Of course it is man who brought the sin into the world, but God didn’t stop it. Not because He had partially abdicated as ruler of the world, as some people believe (usually this view is put in a superficially weaker form: “God has given us the freedom to act as we want”), indeed God Himself claims that he rules the world, even the thoughts of kings, and there is no disaster that is not done by the Lord (Amos 3:6). Everything that exists is sustained by Jesus Christ (Hbr1:3).
We don’t know why, we should not think we can explain why God allows the evil to happen. Neither the explanations of Job’s friends, nor apologies like “God didn’t it” can explain the mystery. All we can do is to trust God, who showed his love at calvary.
As to the mess on your website: I didn’t see it, I assume you have finished the cleanup by now. And I hope you have a good backup system in case there will be another attack 😉
Helmut
(Germany)