Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel – Why Does God Allow Children to Go Through Difficult Times?

0:00 My place is beautiful, mom. I'm going to be very happy. It's absolutely.

0:09 Yeah, I wish this question was asked at the very beginning of the segment because it's going to take about two or three hours to answer it. But I will say it in... However we try. Yes, not a problem. If God is all-powerful and loving, why is there still suffering? Yeah. Okay. All humanity, all human beings... Whatever they say, including questions, is built on assumption. Reason being, because we do not know everything, that's why everything we say and everything we ask is based on an element of assumption because we do not know everything. That's why even the question we ask, are we really sure we knew exactly what we asked?

0:49 Not really. Because since we don't know everything, therefore everything is based on assumption. And you know what? This question also is asked by a lot of people who do not believe in God and the existence of God. Okay. It's a very common question. Why? Because they'll say, okay, he's all loving. You Christians say you believe in God.

1:09 He's all loving. He's all powerful. Well, where is it? Evil is everywhere. You know, destruction is everywhere. So where is this loving God, this all powerful God? Sometimes it's good to answer the questioner with a question and or to reply to the questioner with a question rather than an answer. And the Lord Jesus did that in certain times.

1:29 So reply to the questioner with a question. Why? Because when you question the questioner, you are allowing them to open up within their own assumptions to realize if they had really understood what they asked in the first place. So when somebody says there is so much evil in the world, then I'll ask that person, when you are assuming that there is evil, aren't you assuming there is also good? Because if they say there is no good, then my question to them, how did you know there was evil if you had not seen good? How did you know it was light if you had not seen darkness?

2:10 So since you're assuming there is evil, you're also assuming there is good. Since you're assuming there is also good, aren't you also assuming there is a moral law that allowed you to differentiate between what is good and what is evil. If there is no moral law, how would we know what is good and what is evil in the first place? It is that moral law that gave me that capacity and ability to determine what is good and what is evil. They will say yes. Well, since you're assuming there is a moral law, aren't you also assuming there is a moral law giver who is God whom you are denying? Since there is no moral law giver, there is no moral law. Since there is no moral law, there is no good. Since there is no good, there

2:51 is no evil. Then what's your question? So now when we come and say there is suffering, well, where is this all powerful, all loving God? You know, when God pre-warned Adam in the Garden of Eden, he said, do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. See, we need to pay attention. Why did God pre-warn Adam? He pre-warned him because he is a son and he pre-warned him because he loves Adam. That's why he created him. So don't eat from the tree of the knowledge. It's a tree of knowledge. It's not an apple. It's not a fig. An iPhone should remove that sign. It's not an apple bitten on the side. Please, that's not biblical. All right, so just somebody came up with this idea through their own head. So nothing to

3:38 do with the Holy Bible. The Holy Bible says very clearly it's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So why are we assuming it's apple, fig, orange, whatever?

3:47 No, it's not.

3:48 It's the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

3:50 Now, why?

3:51 Because God said the day you're going to eat from it, surely you will die. Surely you shall die.

3:59 Why?

4:00 Because what God is saying, the day, my beloved human being, the day that comes that you become the definer of what is good and what is evil, you will destroy yourself. Why? Because you don't know everything. So since you don't know everything, your definition will not be accurate 100%. My fear is you will define good as evil and you will define evil as good. You will die, my son. You need to let God be the definer.

4:29 Why?

4:29 Because God is all knowing. And the all knowing is the only one that qualifies to define what is good and what is evil. Because he knows all, not partial. But because we know partially, our definition falls short. So when we look at the situation and we say there is suffering, where is God? But this is our definition.

4:53 God looks and says, it is absolutely perfect because what I know is not what you know. Therefore, the way I define things are totally different to the way you define them. Stop defining them your way. Let God define them because he's the only one who qualifies. Therefore, stop looking at the situation your way. Entrust it to God for God is good. Yes, of course. A three-year-old girl, a Syrian three-year-old girl, I'll never forget this. The mother called me, this is a long time ago, a while back, a few years back. She called me, she said, please come and pray over my daughter. She has leukemia in Westmead Children's Hospital. May the Lord heal every sick soul, children and adults, whoever they are, wherever they are.

5:43 Amen.

5:44 So we went to Westmead Children's Hospital. I entered the room. I saw all those wires and things, and she had to go through radiation and chemotherapy, you name it. Poor girl, like she was suffering, only three-year-old. She contracted it at the age of a year and a half, and for a year and a half, she was suffering immensely nonstop.

6:07 She never complained about never cried, never winched, three-year-old girl. Anyway, she moved on to heaven. She moved on to heaven. The mother called me after that. She said, I want to see you. I went. The mother said, I have to tell you this about my daughter. She put me to shame with her faith. You know, when I went to see her in Westmead Children's Hospital, this is the honest truth. When I came to pray on her, she turned her eyes. She was very frail, very weak. She turned her eyes to look at me. I saw an adult eyes. The eyes changed. They were not her eyes.

6:56 This is the honest truth. They were not a little kid's eyes. Could have been the Lord's. It was an adult, massive eyes. Anyway, I went to see her. She said, My daughter in her last moment, extremely weak, she did with her hand like this to me, said, Mom, come closer, because she couldn't speak loud. So she said, I brought my ear very close to her mouth. She wanted to tell me something. She said, Mom, very frail, very weak voice.

7:29 She said, Mom, while you were here, the Lord Jesus was standing at the end of the bed. Literally, huh? No dream, no, no, no, no, literally. She said, the Lord Jesus was standing while you were here. He looked at me and he said, my daughter, I thank you for carrying my cross. You know, a three-year-old kid can't make up stories. They're angels. They say it as it is.

8:04 If they love you, they'll say it in your face.

8:05 If they don't, they'll say it in your face.

8:07 They're angels. So she said, the Lord Jesus was standing right there and then, mom. He said to me, I thank you, daughter, for carrying my cross faithfully. Today, I came just to say thank you. Tomorrow, my daughter, I'm calling you to me. No more pain, no more tears, no more suffering, daughter. You've done your job and you've done it beautifully, daughter.

8:40 You were faithful. You carried the cross. She said.

8:45 She said mom.

8:47 I beg you.

8:48 I'm going to ask you for two things.

8:51 One.

8:52 Don't ever wear black for me.

8:56 Because.

8:58 The Lord also showed.

8:59 Me what I'm going to be. My place is beautiful mom. I'm going to be very happy. It's absolutely.

9:12 She said, Mom, it's absolutely magnificent. The Lord showed me what I'm going to be. Don't ever wear black for me. And secondly, don't ever cry for me. Don't ever cry for me, Mom. I will be very happy. The following day in the morning, she passed away.

9:35 Wow.

9:39 The Lord is real, my beloved. The Lord is real. Come back to Jesus Christ of Nazareth. For there is no other way. And this is what I meant. Don't come back as an Orthodox, as a Catholic, as a Protestant. Come back as the one who was created as to be his image and likeness That's what I meant. Come back to Jesus Christ like come back to the Lord and then be Orthodox What is the point of me and being Orthodox and I'm distant from the Lord What does it benefit me for being a Catholic and I'm distant from the Lord. I What does it benefit me for being a Protestant and I'm distant from the Lord?

10:20 I need to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ of Nazareth. All glory to his holy and mighty name. Until I have that personal relationship, nothing will save me. Pope Cyril VI. Oh my goodness.

10:39 What a man.

10:41 What a true child of God. What a saint. What a figure. That I stand in awe before him. And when I stand before him. I have nothing that I can do. But put my head at his feet. That's all I can do. I can't go and say. Things to him. What can I say to someone. Who puts me to shame. With his love for Christ. With his sacrifice for Christ. With his faithfulness for Christ. It's not a time to talk. It's a time to learn. And when we learn. we be silent. We don't talk. Those who learn, they hear to be educated. So we need to come back to Christ and then be a good Christian Orthodox, a good Christian Catholic, and so on. Something like that, unless she truly lived it. And I witnessed it.

11:42 The girl. The doctors were astonished that she is not even crying. Three-year-old child. The doctors said the amount of pain we can see that, like the pain she should be screaming on top of her voice. Not a whisper, not a whisper throughout the year and a half. And not only that, talking about Christ and talking with confidence and saying things that no one can make up unless they are truly living those things. Because of what she said and what happened and the way she lived and the way she bore the cross happily.

12:28 Not whinging.

12:29 A three-year-old child. For the Lord's sake. Saints struggled with the cross. This is a three-year-old child. She doesn't know anything. So those eyes must have been the Lord's hundred percent because the Lord was in her and all over her. The suffering. That's why God said, don't define what is good and evil. Let God define it because your definition will definitely fall short. My child, you will hurt yourself because you do not know everything. You will base your definition on assumption. And my fear is one day will come and that day will come definitely where you will say to good evil and to evil good. And that's what the world is doing today.