Genesis 1:31 tells us that “God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” Everything was in perfect harmony with everything else. None of God’s creatures ever hurt another or made another unhappy. Where, then, did these obnoxious things come from? Where do the diseases from which mankind suffers come from? Why do animals and human beings hurt and kill one another now when they did not do this originally? Why does the lion eat other animals now instead of straw like the ox, as it did before? Consider the experience of the apostle Paul. A dedicated soldier of truth for the Lord and writer of many of the books of the New Testament, Paul had a physical infirmity. In 2 Corinthians 12:7, he tells us where his infirmity came from. “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” Paul says that his problem was from Satan. He also says that he was given the problem so that he would not become proud because of the abundance of God’s revelations to him. God revealed to Paul the whole truth concerning Satan’s rebellion, and it is easy to see that this privilege might have tended to make Paul proud. You see, God did not afflict Paul, but He allowed Satan to do so. Another text that shows that the devil is the cause of pain and suffering is Luke 13:11. “And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.” Here a woman is described who was paralyzed in a bowed-together position, probably with arthritis, for eighteen years. Did God do this to that poor woman and make her suffer for eighteen years? Of course not. God is the ultimate of love and kindness. In Luke 13:16, Jesus explains who did do this to the woman. “And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?” You see, Satan afflicted this woman just as he afflicted Paul and just as he causes sickness and suffering in our world today. Satan is the one who causes all disease and suffering in our world. Satan does not have the ability to create. This is one of the reasons why he became jealous of God. Satan cannot create, but he can and does tamper with what God created. Satan tampers with the biological information contained in the genes of the living cells and causes mutations to occur, which in turn cause variations in God’s creatures. Thus Satan has changed beneficial types of life into the types that annoy or cause damage and sickness. He changed the lion, for instance, which in the beginning ate straw like the ox just as it will do in God’s new earth, into a beast which now kills other animals. As we behold the earth today and everything in it, we are looking at what God created as defiled and changed by the devil. Even human beings have been greatly changed since creation. Why does God tolerate such a thing? The earth as it came from the hands of the Creator was beautiful beyond description. All nature was one harmonious whole, without dissension among any of God’s creatures. There was no sickness, no pain, no misery or trouble of any kind. All the animals trusted one another, and they trusted Adam and Eve. Adam could call to the animals of the forest and they would immediately come to him. He could call to the birds of the air and they would gladly come and sit on his finger or on his shoulder. All nature was in perfect harmony with itself and in perfect harmony with God. But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, Satan claimed dominion over the earth. God must allow him to have his own way, even though God thoroughly detests all the evil and trouble, for one of the purposes of this drama on earth is to make the entire universe understand completely the vile nature of sin (which, you will remember, is the transgression of God’s law, the Ten Commandments. 1 John 3:4). The purpose of this drama is to show that men cannot “do their own thing” without causing misery, pain, death, and destruction. The purpose of this drama is to show the abominable things people will do when they disregard God’s law. So God allows Satan the free run of the earth to cause all kinds of havoc. God must allow this; for if He did not, Satan could accuse God of restricting his actions. Then when things got worse on the earth, Satan could claim that it was God’s fault because He restricted Satan’s actions. God must allow Satan to run his own show in this theater of the universe as he sees fit; otherwise all this misery and unhappiness on the earth will have been in vain, and the great controversy would remain unsettled. Why do you suppose Satan has changed God’s creation in such a degrading way? One of the reasons is to discredit God. Often when there is sickness or death, when there is a flood, an earthquake, a tornado, or a hurricane, God is blamed for it. The devil is responsible for all the misery, suffering, pain, and death, and the whole world blames God for having created the earth in such a condition. But in spite of the fact that the devil has changed God’s creation so extensively, much of its original beauty remains. Are you beginning to understand Satan a little? Satan is the arch-deceiver, the arch-liar. He has the entire world believing that God’s personality and character are like his. The Bible makes it very clear that God is loving, gentle, meek, kind, longsuffering, and totally just. But Satan has mankind convinced that God is exactly the opposite. In the minds of men Satan has transferred his personality to God, and God is blamed for everything that Satan does. Satan degenerates the wonderful creation of God by his mutations and then deceives the human race into believing that God created all the ills of this world. Today, when people get sick, they try to understand why God makes them suffer. When one of their loved ones dies, they accuse God of taking him. Yet these people say that they love God. How can a person love someone who does such terrible things to him? You see, most people do not even know the God they claim to love. If God were the way they think He is, their relationship to Him would be a pretty sick one. The next chapter will discuss who God is and what His personality and character are really like. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” No, we do not wrestle with men. Our real enemies are the devil and his numerous evil angels. Remember, the devil and his angels are engaged in a fight to the death. We are engaged in a war for our total mind, soul, and, body. Yet most people are completely unaware of this fact. Satan does not want to die, and he will do everything in his power to prevent from occurring the situation for which Christ is waiting before returning to this earth. The devil will play dirty. He will use every foul trick imaginable. He will put forth the most believable of lies. The entire human race is expendable to Satan in his efforts to prolong his life. If you can imagine the meanest, most despotic, sadistic, arrogant, ruthless, self-centered, unjust, totally depraved personality possible, you might get some idea of Satan’s personality. And remember, he is the most intelligent being of God’s entire creation. He has been so subtle in his lies and deception that he has fooled the entire population of earth, the actors in this theater of the universe. Good A.M......
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 09:45:32 +0000
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