Welcome to answers to the big questions. I'm your host, Allen Sonter and I'm glad you could join me. In previous episodes, we have alluded to a battle that's going on in this world and indeed in the whole universe, between God and Satan.
We've explained that God is the creator of the whole universe and Satan is an angel that God created, but who became proud and wanted to be equal with God. He rebelled against God and tried to persuade the other angels to join him in his rebellion. He was successful in getting one third of the angels to join him and he also deceived Adam and Eve, the first humans created on this Earth to disobey God by doing what Satan said would make them like God.
That's how the cosmic war between God and Satan came to this earth and caused all of us to become involved in it. In today's episode, we'll look in more detail at this cosmic war as we answer the question who will win the war between good and evil? Let's begin at the point where the war came to this earth. God had recently created this world, including two humans, a man and a woman, Adam and Eve.
God created them with the ability to reproduce, so they were to be the parents of all the human race that would inhabit the earth. God put Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden called the Garden of Eden, that he made especially to be their home. In this garden he placed two special trees the Tree of Life, which produced fruit that was able to keep them alive forever, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which they were told would cause them to die if they ate of its fruit.
The fruit of this tree wasn't poisonous, but God put it in the garden to test whether Adam and Eve would trust him and obey him. God warned Adam and Eve that there was an enemy, Satan, who would try to persuade them to follow him in rebellion against God. They were told that the only place Satan could have access to them was at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
If they stayed away from that tree, Satan couldn't attack them. But Satan was very clever. He didn't openly appear anywhere around that tree.
Instead, he pretended to be a beautiful serpent and came and rested in the branches of that tree, waiting his chance to catch Adam and Eve. As I said, God had warned Adam and Eve to stay together and not to go near that tree. But as they were busy looking after the garden, eve wandered away from Adam and without realising it, came close to the tree where the serpent was waiting for her.
Suddenly, she heard someone speak to her. It was Satan disguised as the serpent. Eve was surprised to hear a serpent speaking, so she stopped to listen.
This cunning serpent caught her attention by asking whether God had told them not to eat fruit from any of the trees in the garden. Eve replied that the only tree they could not eat from was this particular tree and that if they ate its fruit or even touched it, they would die. Satan then told Eve a deliberate lie.
He said you will not die. He then picked some fruit and ate it himself, saying that God had told them not to eat it because if they did they would become as wise as God. He said that God didn't want them to become as wise as he was so that's why he told them not to eat this fruit.
Satan made it appear that God was trying to keep Adam and Eve from becoming wise but that the fruit was actually good for them. The serpent said that it was because he had eaten this fruit that he could now speak. Eve was deceived into thinking that maybe God was trying to keep from them something that was good.
So she ate the fruit. At first she felt good, but then she felt guilty. She took some of the fruit and went to find Adam.
When he realized what Eve had done he knew that she had disobeyed God and that she must die. He couldn't bear the thought that he would be left alone and he tried to convince himself that what the serpent said might just be right. In desperation he took the fruit and ate it, hoping that there was just a chance that they would not die.
But alas, God cannot overlook disobedience and the guilty pair was soon called to account. As a result of their disobedience and lack of trust in God, they were driven from the garden and prevented from having access to the tree of life. God cursed the ground for their sake so that henceforth they had to work hard to make a living from the soil.
Much of the detail I have given about how Satan gained control of Adam and Eve comes from the third chapter of the book patriarchs and Prophets by Ellen White. Because they accepted Satan's lies instead of God's truth, adam and Eve gave to Satan the rulership of this earth and joined him in rebellion against God. Their nature became sinful and by themselves they had no power to resist Satan's temptations.
All Adam's descendants have this weakened sinful nature. But God didn't leave Adam and Eve without hope. He told them of a plan he had made to give them a way to come back to his side in the war between good and evil.
Adam and Eve's knowledge of evil caused stress and damage to their human bodies, so they began to die. Then, because they had no more access to the tree of life, their bodies eventually deteriorated to the place where they died. Adam lived for 930 years.
But as the centuries passed, the lifespan of humans has become shorter. Until now we live only about 70 to 90 years. Even if we follow all the rules of health, we know a very few people make it to 100.
Satan told eve you will not die. Ever since that day, he has been trying to make it appear that what he said was true. He's told us that we are made of a body and a soul.
The body goes into the grave, but the soul never dies. If we have lived a good life, it goes up to heaven and lives on there forever. If we are wicked, God sends our souls down to hell, where we burn forever for our sins.
Satan uses his evil angels to deceive people by having them impersonate those who have died. These evil spirits pretending to be the souls of the dead, come and talk to loved ones who are still alive to convince them that their departed ones are in heaven. But the Bible tells us in the second chapter of Genesis that when God made humans, he formed them from the dust of the ground, then breathed the breath of life into the lifeless body.
And this body plus breath became a living soul. So the soul is not something separate from the body that can go on living when the body has died. Without the body, there is no soul.
God tells us clearly in Ecclesiastes chapter nine and verse five, that those who are dead know nothing until the resurrection. However, as I said a few minutes ago, god has made a plan for those who want to be loyal to Him to come back and join God's side in this war between good and evil. So we have two kinds of people in the world today those who want to be on God's side and those who want to follow Satan and be on his side.
Satan and his angels are doing everything they can to control the lives of everyone on this planet and to persuade as many people as they can that God is a cruel tyrant who wants to destroy everyone. Satan uses his evil angels to cause as much trouble as he can and then blames it on God. On the other hand, God tries to help people see the truth of what Satan is doing.
He loves everyone and tries to help those who ask for his help. Because God can use only love as a motivation, and because he allows everyone to have freedom to make up their own minds about whose side to be on, he decided to deal with Satan's rebellion by giving him time to show what his selfish form of government is really like. He could have destroyed Satan as soon as he rebelled, but if he'd done that, everyone in the universe, including those loyal to God, would have served him from fear of being destroyed like Satan.
So instead of destroying Satan, God allowed him to show what his government would be like. So in the end, everyone in the universe who didn't follow Satan would see how bad Satan's government really was. Then, at the end of the experiment, all of God's loyal subjects would say to him, please get rid of this terrible world of sin.
Please destroy the rebel so we can serve you again with joy. Then God can destroy Satan and his evil angels along with those humans who insist on following Satan, and all the loyal beings in the universe will be relieved and thank God for putting an end to rebellion. However, in the meantime, this war between good and evil continues.
But because God is the all powerful creator and Satan is only a created being, god has made some rules which allow Satan to show what his system is like, but puts a limit on his power. God allows Satan to do certain things, but within limits. However, just before the end of time, god will allow Satan to have more and more control so that things get worse before God steps in and puts an end to the rebellion.
The first chapters in the book of Job in the Bible tell the story of how God allowed Satan to hurt Job. But at the end of the book, when Job had shown that he was faithful to God despite what Satan did to him, god stepped in and gave Job back all that Satan had taken from him. Indeed, God gave Job much more than he had lost.
One of the interesting rules that God has put on Satan appears to be that when God's people pray to him to step in and stop Satan from doing harm, god can say to Satan, my people have asked me to step in and stop you from doing this harm, so you cannot do this. I said earlier that God made a plan to save people who want to be loyal to him. God offers us a way out so that although we may die at the end of our lives on this earth, we can be brought back to life to live with Him forever.
This plan is called the Plan of Salvation. And it works like this someone who sins against God must die because sin causes death. But there are two kinds of death.
The first death is the death we die when our bodies wear out and our hearts stop beating. The Bible calls this death asleep because it lasts only until the resurrection. And then we're awakened to meet Jesus at his second coming.
All humans, including those loyal to God, eventually experience this death and sleep till the resurrection. But then there's a second death. The Bible calls this death the wages of sin.
It's experienced only by those who have rejected God's offer of free salvation in Jesus. It happens at the end of the war between good and evil, at the end of the thousand years that start after the second coming of Jesus. There's no resurrection from this second death.
It's final and eternal and wipes out all who have persisted in rebellion against God. Now, in God's plan of salvation, the Creator Himself has agreed to die the second death for anyone who will accept God as his or her Lord and ruler. In other words, if we decide that we want to be on God's side in this war between good and evil, we must pray to God to accept our allegiance to Him and allow Jesus to live in our hearts in loving obedience to all his commands.
He then writes our names in his book of life, and we are counted as his subjects. The only being that can die for everyone is God, the Creator. Any created being could die for himself alone, but God can die for everyone he has created.
When Jesus died on the cross, he died the second death. He received the wages of sin for everyone. But not everyone accepted what Jesus did.
Only those who accept the death of Jesus on their behalf will be given eternal life. Those who reject the death of Jesus on their behalf will end up receiving the wages of their own sin and will die the second death. Thus, the plan of salvation is a way in which God showed how much he loves humans by dying the second death in the place of every person who will accept his offer in a way we cannot understand.
Jesus, the Son of God, by whom God created the world and all the living creatures on Earth, came down to this Earth as a human, lived a sinless life and died in our place so that we do not have to die the second death if we accept his free offer of salvation. Although he died the second death because he's God, he rose again on the third day that will forever retain his humanity as a reminder of the infinite sacrifice God made to save human beings. Of course, when Jesus came to this Earth, he was born as a baby and lived for 33 and a half years before being crucified by the Romans at the demand of the Jewish leaders.
Satan did his best to turn Jesus aside from his mission. Once Jesus died on the cross, Satan knew he had lost the war and that humans who accepted salvation provided by God would be saved from his power. But Satan doesn't give up easily.
He still tells his followers that they will eventually win against God. Satan has loyal followers all around the world, and he's told some of them that at the end of time, satan will be left in control of this planet, which he says is rightfully his because humans chose him instead of Christ as their ruler. According to Satan, he will raise his followers back to life and they will take over this Earth and live here eternally.
That's Satan's version of how things will finally work out. My information about this point comes from page 45. Of Roger Morno's book a Trip into the Supernatural.
But of course, as usual, Satan's version is a lie. The truth is that God will win the war and make this earth new, while Satan and his followers will be destroyed in the lake of fire. So I want to say to you today, dear listener, if you want to be on the winning side, accept Jesus as your savior today.
Go to Him and put yourself in his hands. He will accept you if you come to Him in faith, believing that he has died for you and will come again to take you to be with Him forever. You've been listening to answers to the big questions.
I'm Allen Sonter, and I hope you can join me again next time.
if you have any questions or comments in relation to today's program, you can call 3ABN Australia Radio within Australia on 024-97-3456 or from outside of Australia on country code 6124-973-3456.
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And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people saying with a loud voice fear God and give glory to him. For the hour of his judgment is come and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of water come and give glory to his name for the hour of his judgment is come. Dear God, let all heaven and earth proclaim.
We will worship him and praise his holy name. There is a battle raging deep within the soul of one who died to save us, of another to control. But we are free to choose, and our destinies at hand.
Will we serve the God of heaven all the prideful ways of man, dear God, and give glory to his name, for the hour of his judgment is gone. Dear God, let all heaven and earth proclaim. We will worship him and praise his holy name.
There is power with the lion's mighty roar, who's seeking to destroy us, to find us ever more. And there's a lamb who upon a cross was slain, who died to redeem us, to restore us once again. But, oh, how long will we resist his home to come out from the world and follow him in God's word? There are people, we are told, who stand purified, who only live for him.
Fear God and give glory to his name, for the hour of his judgment is gone. Dear God, let all heaven and earth proclaim. We will worship him and praise his holy name.
For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together. And every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
And the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondmen and every free men hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne and from the rock of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath has come and who shall be able to stand? And behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end. The first and the last sky to the garden.
Still his steps were heavy and slow. Love and a prayer took him there to the place only he could go get money. Jesus loves me so he went willingly to get sickly.
He felt all that was sad, wicked or bad. All the pain we would ever know. While his friends were asleep, he fought to keep his promise made long good.
Jesus loves me. So he went willingly to get sin the hardest thing that ever was done the greatest thing that ever was known the biggest battle that ever was won this was done by Jesus the fight was won by Jesus jesus loves me so he gives his gift to me from gifting to a production of three ABN, Australia radio.
