Why Bad Things Happen to God's People by Derek Prince

Author:Derek Prince [Prince, Derek]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Destiny Image, Inc.

Chapter 10

DISCERNING THE SOURCE

Some of the advice offered to Job had touches of “the prosperity gospel” in it. Therefore, it was necessary in our previous chapter to offer some clarity regarding the biblical perspective of prosperity. Like the advice of Job’s friends, much of what is taught in the church today is incomplete. Such erroneous teaching can bring condemnation to those who are suffering—not as a result of sin, but according to God’s will and for their eternal benefit.

Well-meaning friends can be prone to focus on perceived fault rather than true need. Job had three such friends who did the right thing in coming to comfort him. But instead of communicating God’s perspective, they focused on their own soulish thoughts. That mistake, as Scripture infers, can actually have its roots in the occult.

THE SOURCE OF ELIPHAZ’S TEACHING

It is very interesting that Eliphaz reveals one of the sources of his teaching as an evil spirit. Here are his own words:

“Now a word was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a whisper of it. In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair on my body stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence; then I heard a voice saying” (Job 4:12-16).

This was a visitation of an evil spirit that brought great fear with it. What the spirit said in this encounter is really the crux of the Book of Job:

‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker? If He puts no trust in His servants, if He charges His angels with error, how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before a moth?’ (Job 4:17-19)

The spirit’s message was that it is ridiculous and presumptuous for anyone to claim to be right with God, nor can any person be righteous in the presence of God. This, of course, was not true. Job was declared righteous by God Himself. Additionally, it is the clear teaching of Scripture that saints in both the Old and New Testaments were declared righteous by God because of their faith.

ZOPHAR SLAMS JOB

In the course of their words, Job’s friends set forth a fearful catalog of all the terrors that await the wicked. It is as if they were telling Job what he should expect. Zophar spoke the following in Job 20:20-29:

“Because he [the wicked] knows no quietness in his heart, he will not save anything he desires. Nothing is left for him to eat; therefore his well-being will not last. In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress; every hand of misery will come against him. When he is about to fill his stomach, God will cast on him the fury of His wrath, and will rain it on him while he is eating.

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