I recently received an email in which someone was asking some very common questions about the goodness of God. I want to briefly address those questions related to the main theme, “Why does God allow evil?”
Question:
If the good God is the creator of all humans, animals and life, and also the creator of the devil and is almighty, why does He not fight and beat the Devil / Satan / Yahweh, and death, and all sins? Even if the first humans sinned and were accidentally fooled into worshiping Satan as their God, why can’t good God, fight and beat evil Satan and death once and for all and liberate mankind?
Answer:
Let’s pretend that your Dad gives you a house as a gift, and along with the house he gives you the title deed to the house, you therefore become the legal & rightful owner of the house. Then someone comes along and deceives you, and you end up giving the title deed to that person. You have given away your legal rights of ownership to the house. It would be illegal and evil for your Dad to go kill that person and steal the house from them. In ignorance (by way of deception) you legally gave the house away. A just and holy Dad can’t go kill the other person and steal the house back. If your Dad were to kill that person and steal the house, then he himself is a criminal and is ungodly. If you legally gave the house away, and your Dad wants you to again receive the house, he will have to buy it back from the person who tricked you – any other means is ungodly and illegal.
Genesis 1:26-28 NKJV Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (27) So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (28) Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Psalms 115:16 NKJV The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s; But the earth He has given to the children of men.
When we come to understand the concept of authority, then the Old Testament will begin to make much more sense. God made man and gave us dominion (authority / rulership) over all the earth and everything in it. He literally gave it to us as a gift as we see in Psa 115. We were the owners & rulers of the earth and God was over the heavens – that was His goodwill to give us a special place to preside over. When we sinned, we bowed the knee to the devil and gave him the legal right to rule & reign over mankind and the earth. It was a legal transaction. Father can’t illegally steal it from the devil. Man had the title deed. Man was deceived. Man gave the title deed to the devil. Man’s mistake doesn’t excuse Father to go be a murderer and a thief and kill the devil and give the earth back to man. Instead, Father had to come up with a legal means to get mankind out from under the authority of the devil. The legal means was that He sent Jesus who washed away our sins and redeemed us from law & curse, thereby stripping Satan of his authority over mankind. Please watch the authority playlist to get well-established in the concept of authority and rulership over the earth.
Question:
If God created Satan, why does He allow the evil to be, and all suffering to happen, if He loves us? Why doesn’t He end the evil?
Answer:
God does not allow evil. His method of dealing with things is not evil. Our idea of justice would be to go slaughter the devil and every evil angel. That is not our Father’s method because He is not a killer & destroyer such as the devil himself. How does God do things? He sent Jesus to this earth to “destroy the works of the devil” and to “destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil.” How? Jesus destroys Satan’s works of sickness by healing the sick & casting out demons. Jesus destroys the power of sin by making us new creations whose sin nature is put to death and who receive the good nature of God. Jesus destroys Satan’s power of death by giving us resurrection life. God’s method of “destroying” doesn’t involve killing but involves good methods.
Through Jesus we can experience full salvation which includes preservation protection from all harm. Not many churches are teaching about full salvation, therefore most ‘Christians’ are no more protected from evil then all the unbelievers. However, since I learned the truth about full salvation, I haven’t been to a doctor in more than 6 years. I live in health. I live in protection. I live with prosperity & provision. In the picture below you can see the various aspects of ‘full salvation’ that Jesus provides. This is our personal victory over evil – we can and should live unharmed in this life. The exception would be if we allow ourselves to be martyred should such a circumstance arise.
Jesus has stripped the devil of authority and now He is seated in heavenly places at the right hand of our Father. We are in Christ – we are the body of Christ – Jesus is the head of Christ. We now partake of Jesus’ all-authority-in-heaven-and-earth. Jesus began demonstrating the authority (kingdom) of God in the earth by healing, devil casting, dead raising, and fulfilling people’s needs. He has given us the same authority that He has. Now it is our responsibility to continue ‘destroying the works of the devil’ by doing the same deeds that Jesus was doing. The culmination of this is that the sons of God (us) shall get all things subdued under the feet of Christ.
Hebrews 10:12-13 NKJV But this Man (Jesus), after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, (13) from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.
Romans 8:19-21 NKJV For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. … (21) the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Key point:
It is our responsibility to take up the works that Jesus started and continue them. Our exercising of authority (like Jesus & His disciples) is what destroys the devil’s works. God gave us the tools to destroy evil: a) full salvation through Jesus, b) all authority in heaven & earth, c) Holy Spirit, d) power of God. It is our responsibility to put these to good use. Let us keep in mind the picture below. We are ‘in Christ’ and we are seated in a position of authority above all things. We are above the devil and all of his works. It is our responsibility to exert our God-given authority over the devil and his works to bring them to naught. As you study the authority playlist, in particular the teachings “Great Faith – Authority” and “Identity in Christ – Authority,” you will see that God has equipped us to destroy evil and now we need to get busy doing so. This is how victory over the devil & evil comes forth – through believers exercising authority.
Watch the Transformations video to see how local churches have gotten victory over evil in recent decades – we need to step up and do the same.
Please also watch the Goodwill of God playlist to get strengthened in full salvation and live this life unharmed by evil. Remember the scriptures that say:
Psalms 91:10-11 NKJV No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; (11) For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep (protect) you in all your ways.
Luke 10:19 NKJV Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Question:
Or is not God superior to Satan? Is Satan equal to God in power? Didn’t God create Satan? If not, who created him?
Answer:
Yes, God is superior to Satan. Satan is not equal in power. God did create Satan, yet he fell because he wanted to be worshiped. Please watch the teaching I have about Satan’s identity.
God bless you abundantly!
Bobby