Why does God allow evil ?

I just wanted to say that although there are some things God has chosen to keep secret (such as the hour of Christ's return, Mark13:32,33,35-37 Mat.24:42), this is one of the subjects God does provide us information about.In the book of Job, we see that Job was an upright and perfect manbefore God and that he rejected evil (Job 1:1). Then, a few verses later, Satan enters the picture. God told Satan about how perfect and upright Job was and how Job rejected evil (Job 1:8). Then Satan replies, Of course Job is good--look how much You protect Job and bless him; but if Job didn't have all those blessings and good gifts from You, Job would certainly curse Your name to Your face, God (Job 1:9-11). So God said, Ok, Satan. You have my permission to take away his possessions (Job 1:12). Satan then killed all Job's livestock and his children (Job 1:13-19). In verse twenty of chapter 1, Job responded by falling upon the ground and worshiping the Lord. Job said, in verse 21, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Verse 22 comments on this and says, "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." Obviously, if charging God foolishly here means blaming God for all Job's misfortune. However, the Scripture clearly says that Satan is the one who actually physically caused Job's misfortune. In chapter two the scenario repeats. Satan went to visit God again, and again God said, Ha! I told you Job was an upright and perfect man that rejects evil. Look how he holds fast to integrity even though you destroy him without cause (Job 2:1-3). (Again, we see no just reason for Job to suffer, only because Satan accusations against God!) Satan again says, That okay, but I bet if You afflicted Job with terrible health and with diseases, Job will curse You to Your face (Job 2:4-5). So God allowed Satan to smite Job with boils from head to toe (Job 2:7). Then the bulk of the book of Job is Job's painful laments and Job's arguments with his wife and with his friends. His friends tell him to curse God and die to relieve his pain. They tell him to repent of his sins, which Job has actually not committed, according to God. Job even takes up for God, saying that others are lying about Him (Job 13).

Job, too, believes that there is no cause (no sin) for his affliction. He begs God to tell him what sin he has committed, so that Job can make it right. In the end, God restores to Job his health, family, wealth, and reputation. As a matter of fact, he blesses him even more than before his trial (Job 42:12). And God is angry at Job's friends who spoke evil things about Him. God contrasts Job's righteousness during his affliction to the evil of his friends (Job 42:7,8). Anyway the point of the book of Job is to encourage us not to sin even though we are persecuted by Satan. Satan will not give up on us. His is determined to take away as many of God's followers as possible. There are also more verses in the Gospel that speak of suffering. In Matthew 24:6-22 Jesus tells us that there will be much more suffering before His return.

The BEGINNING of SORROW will be wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes (Matt.24:6-8, Mark13:7-8, Luke 21:9-11). Matthew 24:9, Mark 13:13, and Luke 21:17 say that people will afflict God's sheep and kill them because we will be hated by all nations FOR JESUS'S SAKE. Mark 13:9 adds to this saying that God's people will be taken to court, beaten in places of worship, and testified against in front of rulers and kings. And in John 16:2 says that there will be a time when whose who kill God's holy people think that they are actually doing God a service!

Jesus continues saying people will offend, betrayals of family members, hate one another, and will be put to death. Love will grow cold (Matt.24:10,12 and Mark 13:12, Luke 21:16). Matt. 24:22 says there will be great TRIBULATION, greater than the world has ever seen or ever will see! Luke 21:25-26 indicates that distress, perplexity, and fear will be upon the earth. All these things must happen before Christ returns to come get us (Matt.24:34). Jesus emphasizes over and over to WATCH for these signs and to not be deceived (Matt. 24:4, 33, 42, 44 and Matt 25:13, Mark 13:5,23,29,30,33, Luke 21:8,31,32,34-36). So all this increase in suffering can be explained by what Jesus said. Jesus indicated that these things will happen before He returns to come get us. That means there is little time left for us to repent and be saved when we witness such atrocities. And that also means that since there is little time left, Satan is working non-stop to persecute God's holy ones and cause us to be unrighteous and curse God for our sufferings, just like in Job.

He is desperately trying to seduce us into being separated from God. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things yet to happen, nor height, nor depth, NOR ANY OTHER CREATURE SHALL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD, WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD (Rom.8:35-39)!!!!! Jesus tells us (John 15:18-21) to remember that the world hated Him before it hated us, his holy chosen people. He says the reason that the world hates us and persecutes us is because the world hated Him and persecuted Him--if we keep His sayings and teachings, then they will hate us, too.

Jesus says they will do this because they do not know the One who sent Him (the Father). And finally, He makes the point (in John 15:25) that these things happen to fulfill a prophecy in Scripture which says, They hated Me without a cause. In John 14:16-18, Jesus says that He will give us a Comforter who will live with us forever--the Holy Spirit--to help us bear these sufferings, and to embolden us in these to spread the news of the Gospel. Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit of the Lord helps our infirmities and that the Spirit makes intercessions for us with groanings which can't be uttered. There is a condition, though--the Spirit makes intercession according to the will of God (Rom. 8:26-27). Also, we have support among our brothers and sisters in Christ. I think that oftentimes people forget that God has a will, a plan, a purpose. But one of the most powerful promises of God, one that we must remember especially in times of suffering, is that all things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are called to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us (Rom. 8:31)? We must not despair about evil because God has already decided what to do about evil.

We know through John's Revelation that the Satan, who has deceived human beings ever since we were created, will be devoured by heavenly fire and then cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. Along with him, the beast and the false prophet, and all those who followed Satan and believed his lies, they all will be cast into the lake of fire. Death and hell will also be thrown into the lake of fire, which is the second death, the permanent death from which none who enter will be saved. And all of them shall be tormented day and night, forever and ever (Rev. 20). This is God's way of permanently dealing with evil. You can believe or not. But every living creature will witness the end of evil. Dealing with evil in this way exposes why evil is bad, or another way to put it is it gives everyone the chance to see for themselves why it is bad to not follow God's law(1. Love God with all your heart, 2. Love your neighbor as yourself). We also learn through John's revelation that after the destruction of evil, God will wipe away all tears and there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain (Rev. 21:4). There will never again be anything which defiles, or lies, or is abominable to the Lord, nor any curse, nor night (Rev. 21:27, Rev. 22:3,5). So again, we must WATCH, and BE PREPARED!! Because we are constantly exposed to deceit that leads us away from Christ. We know that the warning signs has increased rapidly during the last century. So, we must be even more cautious to KEEP THE FAITH AND COMMANDMENTS OF JESUS.

Thank you for reading this. I hope this explained more clearly why God allows evil to exist and how we should deal with it.

Laurie Powery

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