why do bad things happen to good people?

When confronted with this question, Jesus turned it around ...

Luke 13:1-5

There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.  

And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 

I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 

Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 

I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

... in essence, the question is not about why bad things happen to good people, instead it is why should good things happen to bad people?  The thing is, we have all sinned and we are all deserving of worse happenening to us.  Our only hope is to repent of our sin and turn to Jesus for salvation.

If two believers agree on every single thing and never disagree, then one of them is not thinking...

falling away

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,  and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away,[b] to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.  Heb 6:4-6

consequences

Maybe God is telling our nation something...  if only we would listen.

To those who may have doubted whether or not our nation is under judgement, consider the following...

When I read the Bible, I see a pattern in how God treats nations.  

When the both the northern kingdom of Israel and then the southern kingdom of Judah turned their back on God, the same pattern revealed itself each time:

1) first the people turn their back on God and seek after other "gods"

2) God then abandons the nation to sin, allowing them to engage in their wickedness to the fullest extent, so that it is obvious to all they deserve judgement 

3) then the people fall under the rule of wicked leaders

4) then they are attacked by a foreign invader

5) then they are overthrown and their wealth and property go to foreigners  

6) those that survive are forced to live in a pagan nation, under a pagan government

We are only now waking up to the realize just how far along we are in the process.

Our nation has been in the process of turning its back on God for the last 100 years.  The rejection of God was popularized and formalized back in the 1960s and has continued growing.  What we are seeing now are just "tip of the iceberg" symptoms of a larger problem of the heart.

The fact of the matter is that we are already well into steps 5 through 6 in the process.  Our wealth and property is being stolen by international opportunists.  Our children are being sold into debt slavery to foreign nations.  

Those who live in a pagan nation should only expect to have pagan leadership.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel never repented of their idolatry and they never were again a nation.  The remnant of the Kingdom of Judah repented and cried out to God in their captivity and were again returned to their nation.  Which will we be?

That is, unless we are truly on the brink of the rise of the antichrist and beast world religious and government system.  This global new world order system could not come to power with the United States as a superpower and center of Christian influence.  The agenda has always been to collapse our economy and reduce our influence in the world.

If that is the case, then it is time to look up, for our redemption is drawing nigh!

remnant

Unless the Lord of hosts
Had left to us a very small remnant,
We would have become like Sodom,
We would have been made like Gomorrah.

Isaiah 1:9