Open the eyes of my Heart
Why does God allow Evil and Suffering?
The key is to solve the Epicurean Paradox.
God gave the devil a certain period of time to demonstrate his own government to see if it really is better than God's.
But sure enough all we can see is tragedy and sorrows. Satan's reign will come to an end.
"It's not yet time."
... but "the time is very close"
Script of video available at https://oteomh.org/script-why-evil-and-suffering/
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Why did God set everything up this way knowing we would fail?
Why even bother testing us if He knew what would happen?
And why did God plan the cross right from the beginning before he had even created Adam and Eve?
We know God planned to send Jesus as Savior from the very beginning because of the very first word in the Bible.
The whole of the gospel is right in that first word.
Before Adam and Eve were even created, before anything else happens, God already knows what He’s planning.
Why if He knew everything did you go ahead and create a world that would be so evil?
So the very first word in the Bible is “in the beginning”.
That's one word in Hebrew.
And if you look at the individual letters they actually have meaning.
And the meaning when you lay it out is: “Son of God”, “destroyed”,” by his hand”, “on the cross.”
The very first word, before anything else happens, the plan is in place.
God knew we would need it.
So let's go back before the Earth was created. Lucifer was in heaven
This was him usurping God's authority. He decided that he would be equal to God.
He wanted to be God. This happened before the world was created.
Two-thirds of the angles did not side with him. The angels had a choice to make.
Were they going to follow Lucifer, this beautiful creature of light, incredible beauty and intelligence?
Who is worthy? God or Lucifer?
To get a good answer, we need to start with a good question. So here's the question:
Why didn't God get rid of Satan right away when he rebelled?
If we answer this question, a lot more will make sense.
The next 20 slides are adapted from the YouTube video:
Why Did God Spare Lucifer When He Rebelled
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msJVz4L4Aq0
However, all of them collapsed unlike the heavenly kingdom of God.
Meanwhile, according to the Bible, Lucifer the devil will make one final attempt to build yet another kingdom upon the earth.
The Bible calls it the anti-Christ kingdom which is a New World Order the elites are working on now.
The Bible goes on to say that it will prosecute the believers and it will last hardly seven years.
The Earth is going to be governed by godly rules by Jesus and his resurrected followers.
Then at the end of the thousand year’s period, the devil will be released once again for a little while to tempt the people of the world.
This event is called the Battle of Gog and Magog.
(YouTube video end.)
Satan is now the ruler of this world.
However...
God is giving Satan a chance to prove himself.
In fact, any finite length of time is an instant when compared to eternity.
God was giving Satan a fair chance. Here is a perfect world. Okay, now Satan take over. It's your chance to prove what you can do. Let's see how you handle this portion of the universe.
So it’s not an unending stretch of time.
It’s a very specific time period that God has allowed Satan to rule this earth.
It has almost been 6000 years since the beginning of creation. Satan knows he has a set amount of time.
When Jesus cast the demons out of the demon possessed man, the demon shouted,
They knew Jesus had turned up way too early. This was not the time he was supposed to overthrow their rule.
But God is still keeping an upper hand. God will not let things go totally out of control. We were given dominion over the earth and this answers the question: Why do I need to pray and ask God for something that He already knows I need?
Here is the reason.
God gave us dominion. God does not have dominion over this world.
We can ask God to have input into our life to do something.
But God will not simply take that authority without permission.
If you walked down the street and saw a house that desperately needs repairs, do you have the authority to just go ahead and repair the house?
Of course not! The house does not belong to you.
But if the owner asks for your help, then you are allowed.
It is the same with us on this earth. God has given us ownership and responsibility over the earth.
We must recognize our needs and ask for His help.
He does not have right to simply change our life without us first asking for help.
And we do have that ability to choose because -
If you read the Hebrew in Genesis, where God is forming the man, the word for "form" is not spelled correctly in Hebrew.
When God formed man, the Hebrew word has an extra “yod”. It is not an error and copying because it has always been there.
The Rabbis always wondered why the extra letter was added. They came to the conclusion that God has given us to natures.
We have the ability to choose right from wrong, but God did not give the animals a choice. They only have one nature.
When God formed the animals, the Hebrew word is spelled correctly with only one of that letter “yod”.
God knows Satan is going to make a mess of things and God does not want us to be left at the mercy of Satan without a choice or chance to escape.
Jesus needed to be fully God and fully man because if he was only fully God He would not have authority on Earth to do anything.
He has to be a man. Only man has authority on Earth.
Satan may be the ruler, but we are the ones who have authority.
Jesus needed to be fully human so that as a man he had authority in the world to make changes.
And as God he had the ability and the power.
Before Satan could ruin this world, God set in place a plan.
We are not just under Satan’s rule with no way out.
Now we understand what is meant by:
God has made this world good.
He knows what is going to happen. He really doesn't want it, but He has to prove the point to the entire universe and so he is also offering a way out for us because we are caught in this test.
God knows that Satan's way will only lead to death. So God has given us a way out to life.
When you see the whole picture of what is happening here with Satan and his testing ground, then this verse has much deeper meaning because really God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
He really, really wants us to turn.
He has given us the choice. He has given us the option.
He knows how difficult the situation is,
... and when we choose God's way,
The angels in heaven are watching this unfold, this test.
And when someone decides not to follow Satan, there's a big cheer goes up in heaven.
Good someone got it. Someone got out.
Satan will not be allowed to be the ruler of this world for the last thousand years, the Millennium.
This physical world will still exist, but not under Satan's rule.
Satan has a certain amount of time to prove his point.
Then God will say, okay, your time is up. Now Jesus is going to reign for 1000 years.
Let's see how his kingdom goes.
So let's go back to the Epicurean Paradox and see if we can solve it now.
See below for flow chart .
Evil exists? Yes.
Can God prevent it? Yes.
Does God know about all the Evil? Yes.
Does God want to prevent Evil? Yes.
Then why is there Evil?
Here we get down to the key question. Some options are:
It is necessary for the universe to exist? No
“Another reason” - what is another reason?
Is it to test us? But If God is all knowing he would know what we would do if we were tested. Therefore there is no need to test us.
But you see this test is happening on a cosmic level for the whole universe to understand what is happening.
It's not just our test.
Is it because Satan exists?
But An all powerful, all knowing, all good God could and would destroy Satan.
And the answer to that is “Yes”, He will destroy him.
It's just not time yet.
Could God have created a universe without Evil? Yes, He could.
Then why didn't he?
Well, the universe will exist without evil when this testing period is finished.
Once this is proven, then God can and will create a universe with freewill but without evil.
So the final box –
Could God have created a universe with freewill, but without evil?
that is the whole process that's happening here.
That is the reason why we are in this world right now.
There's an end to this.
God set a decreed time for these problems to exist.
If you only look within this time frame, you will not find the solution. Because it is outside of this period of testing time.
If you don't make a choice, your default is with Satan. You were born in Satan's kingdom. You have to actually make a choice to move out of his kingdom.
Jesus is the only way to God because He is both man and God at once.
He is the only one who can bridge the gap from death to life.
Pray and ask God to open your eyes and heart to His love, repent of the things He brings to your mind, and accept the forgiveness He offers through Jesus Christ.
Be baptized in water as a testimony of being buried and raised to new life.
And receive God's gift of the Holy Spirit to enable you to live a life pleasing to God.
Search to know more of Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and walk in His ways always.
Summary and additional thoughts
Part 1: Why did God not get rid of Lucifer when he rebelled? -> To get rid of evil forever, while still keeping free will.
Before Genesis and before the Earth was created, Lucifer chose to rebel against God.
One third of the angels sided with Lucifer, which indicates that two-thirds did not. The angels had a choice to make. If God had finished off Lucifer and his angels at once, His loyal angels might think that God is a tyrant and maybe Lucifer would have made a better leader than God. They would also feel compelled to follow God out of fear, rather than love. That's why God is letting his angels see how unfit Lucifer is and what a mess he makes on planet Earth in contrast to all that Lucifer boasted.
This planet has become a testing ground where the character of Satan and the nature of his kingdom are contrasted with the character of God and the nature of His kingdom.
God decreed a set amount of time for Satan to rule the earth. It is not an unending stretch of time. It has almost been 6000 years since the beginning of creation. And Satan’s time is almost up. Even the demons know they have a set amount of time and an appointed end. When Jesus cast the demons out of the demon possessed man, the demons shouted, “What do you want with us son of God? Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time? The demons knew this was not the "appointed time" in history for Jesus to overthrow their rule and cast them into the Lake of Fire.
It has taken time for Everyone (man and spiritual beings) to really grasp how disastrous Satan's alternative is. “Time” is the one element that is absent from the Epicurean Paradox. There is a coming end to the existence of evil.
After everyone understands the deadly nature of sin and the destructive nature of Satan's philosophy, God can, and will, destroy Satan and sin. He will also have to destroy those who stubbornly resist his grace and cling to Satan's alternative. God is just as eager to resolve the problem of sin and suffering as we are to have him do so, but He is waiting until He can do it on a permanent basis and until He can both preserve our free will and prevent evil from ever appearing again. From the beginning of Genesis, God set a decreed the amount of time Satan would have to rule this world. God cannot simply stop everything before that time is complete. He is fair and just. However, God will make sure that the plan of salvation, our escape from Satan’s domain, is always available. (This was the reason for Noah’s Flood – the blood line of the Messiah was in danger, and so God had to step in earlier than the decreed time. Only when the plan of salvation is threatened does God intervene in history to stop evil.) From the very first word in the Bible, even before sin had entered the world, God had a plan for us to escape from the evil that was coming. He knew what would happen to a world ruled by Satan. The first Hebrew word in the Bible translates into English as “In the beginning”. The Hebrew letters of this word mean: “Son of God”, “destroyed”, ” hand”, and “cross.” Basically the message of the entire Bible.
We each play a part in the controversy between Christ and Satan. As the controversy ends, every soul will fully understand the principles of both kingdoms and will have chosen to follow either Christ or Satan.
Part 2: Why create beings, such as Lucifer, with the ability to do wrong? -> To create “Love”
In order for “love” to exist, there must be two independent beings who choose to love one another. So in order to create “love”, God had to create beings with the choice to love or not to love. Without choice, there could be no love.
At the end of time, only those who have chosen freely to follow God, and chosen to love Him, will live in the new Earth.
Maybe this is how "love" is created, without being forced or robotic.
And this is how free will can continue to exist without the presence of evil.
Part 3: Why do humans have to be part of this test? -> To create a Bride for Yahshua
Why are we caught in the middle of this? Maybe there is something greater that awaits us because we have endured this test. No angels will become the Bride of Christ. Angels long to look into these things – our salvation which is not only for attaining eternal life, but most importantly, to become the Bride of Christ. The ultimate expression of love between two people is marriage; thus the marriage of the Bride to Yahshua will happen at the end of this testing time.
And maybe God also wanted to create “faith’ and “hope”. Angels cannot experience these because they are in the presence of God and thus do not need either hope or faith.
If we see something, we do not need faith that it exists; if we have obtained something, then we do not need to hope for it.
Contact email - openheart3 [at] mail.com
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