Divine Milieu...The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil...The Problem Of Evil...

A Warfare Worldview:

“A worldview that combines belief in the Trinity with a recognition of the war torn nature of this world.… is a view of the world that understands that there are good and bad spirits significantly involved in the affairs of the world.”
~Greg Boyd, Satan and the Problem of Evil: Constructing a Trinitarian Warfare Theodicy



Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul and faith

And I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game

I stuck around St. Petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the Czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain

I rode a tank
Held a general's rank
When the Blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah

I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made

I shouted out,
"Who killed the Kennedys?"
When after all
It was you and me

Let me please introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached Bombay

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint

So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, have some taste

Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste,
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name,

But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game…


With the response to Barry McGuire’s, Eve of Destruction - I thought through the use of the Rolling Stones, Sympathy For The Devil I would begin to address the Problem of Evil. I believe that the Rolling Stones profoundly hit on some truths in this song - as wars wage, cruelty and hatred is perpetuated, all in the name of political freedom the powers and principalities behind the systemic evil laugh and prod us humans on to engage in such madness and insanity.

As the Apostle Paul wrote, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12 TNIV).

The struggle is not against "flesh and blood" - if it has "flesh and blood" it is not our enemy. It is what is going on behind the scenes in the spiritual realms, what Mick Jaeggar is singing about, Lucifer being present at all the significant world events and behind all the evil.

“…we feel secure when we bracket off the complexity and ambiguity, and convince ourselves that the world unfolds according to a divine blueprint. We assume that everything can be explained by appealing to God’s will or the wills of people. This theology works only so long as we can in fact bracket off reality. But when reality in all its unfathomable complexity and war-torn horror encroaches on us….victims suffer and so does our theology.…we can and must know that our whole environment is under siege by forces that hate God and all that is good. By our own rebellion we are caught in the crossfire of a cosmic war, and we suffer accordingly.”
~Greg Boyd, Is God To Blame

“To have say-so means that the explanation for our choices lies within ourselves, and thus we are ultimately responsible for the effect these choices have on ourselves and others . Not everything happens because God wills it or specifically allows it. Agents will many things even though God doesn’t. God has a reason why he creates agents free, but he doesn’t have a reason for why agents freely make the particular decisions they make.
God is infinitely intelligent, of course, and thus is able to perfectly anticipate a response to each decision. In this sense he assigns a reason to each decision after the fact. What others intend for evil, God intends for good (Gen 50:20). But the reason why the decision was made in the first place ultimately lies within the agent, not God.”
~Greg Boyd, Is God To Blame

“…God could have created a world in which his will is always done. Had he chosen to do so, however, a world in which his will is possibly not done would have been ruled out. Thus he would of ruled out a world in which other agents make free choices….this means he would of ruled out a world where love is possible.
…if God decided to create a world where love is possible, he thereby ruled out a world in which his will is always done. If he chooses to create this kind of world, he can’t guarantee that his will is always done, not because he lacks the power but because of the kind of world he created. Just as a triangle can’t be round, so too a world that includes love can’t guarantee that God’s will always comes to pass.
There is no reason to avoid saying God can’t do something so long as we are clear that this ‘can’t’ is the logical consequence of decisions God made.”
~Greg Boyd, Is God To Blame

“Scripture says we suffer under the tyranny of a ‘ruler’ or ‘god’ or ‘power’ of this world (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Cor 4:4; Eph 2:2; 1 Jn 5:19).
~Greg Boyd, Is God To Blame