In Deuteronomy 28 is a theology of suffering you won’t hear preached. God gives Israel a list of 60-plus bad things He’ll let happen to them if they don’t keep their covenant with Him.

Just look at the pure misery God promises the Jews: “If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;
[59] Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
[60] Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
[61] Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
[62] And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God.”

As my pastor (Richard Jordan) explains, “The word ‘wonderful’ in the passage doesn’t mean something super-fantastic and, ‘Glad I got it!’ Rather, it means something to wonder at, such as, ‘Man, how much sicker can we get?!’ ”

Jordan continues, “God promises them back there, ‘I’ll smite you with the botch of Egypt.’ Sounds bad, huh?! I'd just as soon not know what that is! He even promises every sickness and every plague which is not written. I mean, He’s going to give them all the ones that are written and then, ‘With the ones I didn’t put in, I’m going to give you those too! And ye shall be left few in number.’

“The trouble that came to Israel gave them an idea about God’s attitude toward them. He says, ‘If you’re not keeping my covenant and you get sick it’s because I made you sick! I’m going to put those diseases on you. I’ll make you sick, and while you’re sick in the bed trying to get well, I’m going to let the Gentiles come and steal your crops! And you’re going to be too sick to go out there and fight. Now, if you keep my covenant and a Gentile even pokes his head into your field, one errand boy with a stick could make a thousand of them flee.’

*****

I visited a retired married couple this past summer in Middletown, N.Y., who I had thought a lot of as Christians because they had a prison ministry. But then I found out they were big-time inner-circle followers of the worldwide total-fraud evangelist Morris Cerullo.

As a website article reports on him, “Morris Cerullo is an ordained Assembly of God Minister and ‘Healing Evangelist.’ His personal ministry mansion and two-story home is over 12,000 sq ft. It is behind two secured gates in the richest neighborhood in America and has been estimated at over $12 million. Cerullo and his wife are the only two that live there, and report that they are on the foreign field 70% of the time... Cerullo's sky limousine, a Gulstream G4, is estimated to be worth $50 million. He has two full-time pilots and a stewardess who said in depositions that the plane has a gold-plated interior. He has had three similar private jets since. Cerullo claims to be a miracle maker, but is under investigation for being a money taker.”

This woman I stayed with got angry when I quoted Jesus’ famous saying, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” She had no idea how to explain the passage to fit her “health and wealth” beliefs.

As Jordan explains it, “Israel was under the curse of those curses back there (in Deut. 28) and the wealthy people were people violating God’s Word, going against it, while the poor people were God’s people. That’s why He said ‘sell all that you’ve got and give it to the poor and I’ll give you the blessings in the kingdom.’ Little different kind of economy than today, huh?

“Now, if you lived in that economy, or thought that’s where we are today, and you got sick, you would have to think, ‘God made me sick and is trying to teach me something through my suffering. He’s telling me I’m out of the will of God.’ ”

Under today’s program, Paul says tribulation is designed to work patience and is the context for Believers to apply the Bible doctrine that gives them the capacity to gain experience. This is why unbelievers often don’t get why a loving God allows suffering.

“Tribulation will teach you that you better stay by the doctrine because that’s all that works,” says Jordan. “The only thing that’s going to work in your life is who God’s made you in Christ, and when you stay with that, and you have that patience just to stay with the truth, you get some experience and that experience gives you hope.

“You know, I’ve asked myself this question many times: ‘Why would I want to know about all this information (in the Bible) if I never had a time in my life when I needed it and could see it live in me?’ And all of a sudden, when you think about it that way, the tribulation isn’t tribulation so much.

“The justice of God can give you peace, but it can’t give you patience. He can give you access, but He can’t give you experience. Patience comes from the experiences of life. You develop persistent fortitude; the unwavering endurance by just sticking with the Word.

“In Galatians 2:20, Paul says the only thing you’re ever going to learn in life—you’re just going to learn it at different levels—is it’s ‘not I but Christ.’ ”