Welcome to answers to the big questions. I'm your host Allen Sonter, and I'm glad you could join me. In the last episode, I explained what death is.
You might remember that the death we see happening all around us is something like asleep and is the result of sin, which is disobeying God. We die because we have been barred from eating the fruit of the tree of life. But there's another death, the second death, which is the wages of sin or the punishment for following Satan instead of God.
For those who suffer this death, there is no resurrection. It is eternal death. Those who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are safe from this death.
I hope that none of you who are listening to these words will ever die. That death. You don't have to if you accept Jesus.
In the last episode, I promised that today I would try to answer the question why does a good God allow suffering? The news bulletins seen on television or heard on radio seem to bombard us endlessly with reports of suffering, death, injustice, wars, accidents, disasters and the cruelty of people to one another and to animals as well. As we examine the events that cause suffering and death, we find that they can be classified into several categories. The first category I shall call the results of man's selfishness.
Every time people do things that are intended to benefit themselves at the expense of others, they are operating according to Satan's principles and the result is suffering or injustice to those who are disadvantaged. All self serving behaviour, from small acts of selfishness to major international wars motivated by greed and the grasping for power, are examples of people accepting Satan's principles and his rule in their lives. Religious intolerance is one manifestation of Satan's principles at work.
The suffering and death caused either directly or indirectly as a result of this selfish behavior has brought untold misery to the human race. Then there are accidents of all kinds happenings that cause pain, suffering and death without the conscious intention of anyone. These form a second category of events which cause suffering.
Accidents can result from many causes, but God does not cause them. Satan is the author of the behavior or factors that cause accidents. Natural disasters are a third category of pain producing events.
Some people call them acts of God. Really, a loving God does not do such acts. The apostle Paul calls Satan the ruler of the kingdom of the air or the prince of the power of the air.
That's in Ephesians two, verse two it's Satan who causes natural disasters as he claims to be in control of nature. The story of Job illustrates what Satan's destructive power can do when God allows. Suffering and death caused by sickness and disease make up a fourth category.
Patients in hospitals across the land and millions of graves in our cemeteries attest to Satan's power to produce disease and death. Now you will notice from my comments about the various factors causing suffering that I think that all suffering and death is ultimately caused by Satan, or at least is the result of people following his principles of living. But the fact that Satan causes suffering and death does not answer the question as to why a good God, if he is all powerful, allows Satan to carry on with his devilish work.
Surely God could stop all this trouble if he wanted to. And why wouldn't a good God want to? A university lecturer who taught me some years ago turned his back on God as a result of a terrible accident in which many innocent children died. He reasoned either God is allpowerful and could have saved those children, but did not.
So he's cruel, or God wanted to save the children but was too weak to do so. So God is either cruel or weak. In either case, I don't want to serve Him.
My lecturer's dilemma is one which troubles most of us at one time or another. The problem lies in the fact that we see only a small part of the problem that God faces in dealing with Satan and his rebellion in the universe. Right at the outset, God decided that he would deal with his creation according to several fundamental principles.
These were the embodiment of his character. So he could not be the perfect God that he is unless he consistently followed them. One principle is that love is the only motivation God uses or accepts.
He does not force obedience, and if we don't obey him from love, he does not accept our obedience as evidence of our loyalty to Him. A second principle he lives by is that he will not prevent the intelligent beings he has created from making their own choices. He has given them what we call free will, and he will not take that away from them.
This applies to human beings on planet Earth, and it applies to angels and other intelligent beings created on other worlds throughout the universe. A third principle is that God deals only in the truth, never in lies. Satan, not God, is the father of lies.
Satan became proud and wanted the created beings to worship him. When he rebelled against God, the welfare of the whole universe was at stake. Satan charged God with being dictatorial in his rule and of expecting all creation to worship Him alone.
Now, it's true that God wants all this creation to worship Him because only by worshipping a perfect and loving God can our minds be uplifted and broadened. To worship anything less than God is to cramp and distort our minds and ultimately to lower us to the level of whatever it is that we worship. So God knew that it was not for the good of the universe for created beings to worship Satan.
But because God operated by the principles we have mentioned, he couldn't stop the angels or other intelligent created beings from believing Satan. And he would not do anything to put an end to Satan's rebellion that would make intelligent beings obey him out of fear rather than love. Satan is under no such restraints.
He can deceive and coerce, and he doesn't care whether he's followed out of fear, just as long as he is worshipped and obeyed. God's answer to Satan was to send his son Jesus Christ down to this Earth to show the universe that he is not a selfish and proud God, that he is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to save us. Jesus was to show us that God is kind and loving, and not a cruel tyrant, as Satan has led us to believe.
Jesus was also to show that he could live in this world without in any way accepting Satan's rule. But in doing so, Jesus knew that he would be killed by Satan if he did not accept his rule. So great was Satan's hatred of God.
God and his Son were willing for this to happen because when Jesus died, he would die the second death for all those who accepted him as their Lord and Savior. But for Jesus, there was a resurrection from this second death because he is God and he has the power over death. So here we have the scenario.
The universe is looking on, watching to see what Satan's rule will be like. All except for the angels that Satan has deceived into following him. Love God and they fear the results of Satan's action.
Then Satan gets human beings on planet Earth to accept his rule, and he now has an opportunity to show what he can do. Satan gets people to live by his principle of selfishness, with all its attendance, suffering and cruelty. He's also behind the selfish activities that pollute the planet and result in misery for millions.
He uses his knowledge of genetics to produce bacteria and viruses which cause disease. And then he pins the blame on God. He encourages people into lifestyle habits that cause organic disease, which he then attributes to God.
He also uses his power over natural phenomena to cause accidents and natural disasters. And then he calls them acts of God. And God doesn't intervene, because if he did, he would be taking away the free will of his created beings.
God must allow the inhabitants of other worlds to see the results of Satan's government. If God stepped in to remove the injustice, cruelty and suffering resulting from Satan's activities, the inhabitants of the universe would never understand how bad Satan's rule really is. Perhaps the greatest single event that turned the minds of the watching inhabitants of the universe against Satan was what he did to Jesus when he persuaded his human followers to crucify him.
The universe was shocked to see the length to which Satan would go in his fight against God. So the time will soon come when God will say enough, the watching universe will say, yes, God, please put an end to the misery. We know you are a God of love, and we want to serve you forever.
Because we love you, we can see Satan for what he is a cruel tyrant who is interested only in himself. Then Jesus will come back to planet Earth, this time as the King of the universe. But God is not only concerned about how the inhabitants of the universe look upon him, he's also very much concerned about us.
We're not just pawns in a cosmic game aimed at seeing who wins the right to rule the universe. He loves us and is very much interested in our welfare. For this reason, he often does step in and prevent suffering when his people, using their free will, ask him to.
When God's people ask him in prayer to take a hand in a particular situation without violating the principles he has set, god can say to Satan, my people have asked me to intervene in this situation, so I will honor their request and you must bow out. God maintains a delicate bAllence between allowing Satan to demonstrate the outworking of his system on the one hand, and stepping in to honor the free will of his people on the other. Only God in his infinite wisdom, knows where that bAllence lies.
Just because we can't see why God acts in a particular way in any given situation doesn't mean that God doesn't answer prayer or that he is unconcerned about us. The more we trust Him to do whatever he knows is best, the freer he is to put a check on Satan's power. And so, my friend, if you see suffering and injustice around you, just remember that God has to deal with an extremely complex situation that is bigger than just this planet.
The Apostle Paul assures us in chapter eight and verse 28 of his letter to the Christians at Rome that God will bring ultimate good out of every situation if we are willing to trust Him and be part of his plan for the universe. That doesn't mean that we will always like what God allows to happen to us, but it does mean that if we continue to trust Him no matter what the situation, he will give us the courage to go on. He will use us to be part of his overall plan and will ultimately reward us accordingly.
He will never allow Satan to destroy us or to force us to serve him. Well, that's it for now. In the next episode, I'll tell you what I believe the Bible has to say in answer to the question, what does the future hold? If you're one who wants to know what God says will happen, you won't want to miss the next episode.
You've been listening to answers to the big questions. I'm Allen Sonter and I hope you can join me next time.
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That more than I can bear and bear heartaches beyond compare with our trials in life I may never bow in prayer and I may never know Jesus really care. Is the trials that bring us close to Jesus and if the trials that bring blessings untold is the trial that bring us close to heaven and it's the trials that make you grow with the trials in life I may never know your Lord and I may never know the joy of praise with the fire I may never hear the words welcome me, my child coming glory shame if the child that bring us close to Jesus and if the trials that bring blessings and old is the trial that bring us love to heaven and if the trials that make you grow and it's the trials that make you grow I had so many tears and sorrows had questions for tomorrow living times I didn't know right from wrong but in every situation god gave me trusted consolation and he only gave me trials to make me strong through it all through it all I learn to defend upon his word. So I thank Him for the mountains and I thank Him for the valleys and I thank Him for the storms he's brought me for.
If I'd never had a problem, how would I know that he solved them? How would I know what faith in God could do? I'm singing through it all I learn to trust in Jesus I learn to trust in God through it all through it all I learn to defend upon his word oh, I learn to have I often hid my face while the storms haul above me and there's no hiding place in the crash of the thunder precious Lord, hear my cry keep me safe till the storm passes by till the storm passes over till the thunder sounds no. More till the cloud forever from the sky hold me down let me stand in the hollow of my hand keep me safe till the storm passes by many times Satan whispered there is no use to try for there's no end of sorrow there's no hope by and by but I know thou art with me and tomorrow where the storm bear the dark and the skies when the long night has ended and the storms come no more let me stand in my presence on that bright, peaceful shore in that land where the tempest never comes. Lord, may I dwell with thee when I don't.
Till the storm passes over till the thunder sounds no more. Till the cloud roll forever from the sky. Hold me back, let me stand in the hollow of my hand, keep me safe till the storm passes by.
Hold me back, let me stand in the hand, keep me safe till the storm is raging. The billows are tossing high, the skies are shadowed with blackness, no shelter or help is night care. Is thou not that we perish? How can the liar sleep, when each moment so madly is threatening a grave in the angry deep? The winds in the wave shall obey thy will be stace.
Beast, be still. Whether the wrath and the storms I'll see, or demons or men, or whatever it be, the waters can swallow their shape. Where lies the master of ocean and earth and skies? They all shall sweetly obey thy will.
Peace, be still, peace, be still. They all shall sweetly obey thy will. Peace, peace, be still.
Master. With anguish of spirit I bow in my grief today the depths of my sad heart are trouble. Awaken and save, I pray, for in some sin and of anguish we for my sinking soul and I perish, I perish.
Dear master, awaken and take control. The winds in the way shall obey thy will. Be still, be still.
Whether the wrath of the storms I'll see, your demons or men, or whatever it be, no waters can swallow the ship. Where lies a master of ocean and earth and skies, they all shall sweetly obey thy will. Peace, be still, peace, be still.
They all shall sweetly obey thy will. Peace, peace, be still. Master, the terror is over, the elements we rest her son in the comic is mirrored in heavens within my breath linger, o blessed redeemer, leave me alone no more.
I'm a joy I shall make the blessed harbor and rest on the blissful shore. The winds in the way shall obey thy will. Peace, be still, be still.
Whether the wrath of the storm tossy, or demons or men, or whatever it be, no waters can swallow the ship. Where lies the master of ocean and earth and skies? They all shall sweetly obey thy will. Peace, be still, peace, be still.
They all shall sweetly obey thy will. Peace, peace, be still. You have been listening to a production of three ABN Australia radio.
