If God Is A God Of Love
Why Is There So Much Pain, Suffering And Death?

When God created the earth, it came from His hands perfect in every way. Mankind was perfect and so were all the other living creatures. Even all the plants were perfect. (Gen 1.) So what went wrong? Why did God allow thorns and thistles, pain suffering and death?

To understand this we need to go back a little further in time. Back to when God was first talking about creating this world. Lucifer the very first angel that was created, who held the highest position of all the angels which was the covering Cherub, and he wanted to be involved in the planing of this world. But because he was a created being he could not be involved, for only God creates. He became jealous of God and started very carefully to cause discontent among the rest of the angels. Eventually he deceived one third of all the angels that God's law was unjust and that holy angels like themselves needed no law. He then refused to pay homage to the Father and Son. War broke out in heaven and the Lucifer or the devil and his angels were cast out of heaven.

God made the world that He had been planing. But He would use it to prove His law was good and just and that the devil was wrong. In the middle of the garden home that God made for the first two humans, Adam and Eve, there were two trees. One was the tree of life of which they could eat freely. The other was the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the fruit of which they were forbidden to eat. The only place the devil could tempt Adam and Eve to do wrong was from this tree. If they stayed away from it he could have no access to them.

But one day Eve wandered from Adam's side and found herself beside the forbidden tree. Not only was she beside the tree, but she found herself talking with a serpent. That old serpent, called the Devil and Satan deceived Eve into eating the forbidden fruit telling her that if she ate it she would be like god, knowing good and evil. Eve gave some of the fruit to Adam who ate it knowing the consequences of his actions.

Because Adam and Eve chose Satan as their ruler, God had to let him have his way in this world. But, God in His infinite mercy promised to put enmity between man and Satan, and that a Messiah or Saviour would come and die for the sins of mankind. Those who believed and obeyed this Saviour would one day go to heaven, and then one day be restored to this earth.

Satan was the prince of this world (John 12:31; 14:30.), but Jesus Christ through His death on the cross of Calvary redeemed it to Himself. This world rightly belongs to Jesus both by creation and redemption. However, lots of people still choose to have Satan as their ruler. It is Satan's rule of lawlessness not God's, that has put this world in the condition that it is in.

Soon Jesus Christ will return and take His loved ones to heaven. After a while Satan, his angels and all those who chose to follow him and lawlessness will be burned up in the lake of fire. Sin and sinners will be no more. There will be a new heaven and a new earth. God shall wipe away all tears from the saints eyes, there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. Oh! How wonderful that sounds. That is the way God planned it in the beginning and how He will restore it.

All heaven and the other worlds are watching this drama on this earth unfold. They watched in horror as Satan and his angels took possession of those who beat, insulted, and eventually kill the beloved Son of God. By this act alone they see fully why God is right and Lucifer was wrong. If God had destroyed Satan immediately when he rebelled there would always be questions in the mind of some as to who was right and who was wrong. God did not want this. Now there are no questions in the minds of those in heaven or the other world. What about you?

Do you really believe that the One who gave up His throne in heaven, where all worshipped Him, one who was born in a stable to a poor family, lived a life of hardship, suffered rejection, ridicule, torment and abuse, gave Himself to die for your sins and mine, is really the one causing all the pain and suffering? Or do you now see that all the pain, suffering and death is caused by the archenemy of God, the lawless one, Lucifer, the devil? We firmly hope that you will be able to yes to the latter.

© February, 2004 by D & S Goeldner.

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