Satan is referred to as the Prince of the Power of the Air. What does his kingdom consist of?
Did he create evil?
He is the father of lies.
Yes. Evil comes from evil.
Could we say God invented evil, but Satan was a tool? I don’t think that works. Abner Doubleday invented baseball, but we could say God invented the game, Doubleday was merely a tool. It is dishonest.
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Evil is inevitable in a creation where creatures (both humans and angels) are given libertarian free will. God didn’t create or invent evil; he allows it. Satan didn’t create or invent evil any more than you or I did; evil is a consequence of the way we all choose to exercise our free will.
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It originated from Lucifer. Ezekiel chapter 28. Lucifer sinned when pride over took him. Isaiah chapter 14 , how art thou fallen from heaven, o, Lucifer, son of the morning… Lucifer wanted the mercy seat, to be Messiah, not cherub, to protect the mercy seat. He elevated himself to equal terms with God. Pride rotted away his heart. His mind is twisted and Evil. Satan means adversary and accusser. Satan trys to deceive and corrupt humanity, leading them away from God. Rebellion against God is serious, and God won’t tolerate it. Lucifer made his decision, rather than obedience, he chose rebellion. He had free will, and he turned on God.
This doesn’t quite “work.” Do you think there would be no evil without Satan? Was Satan solely responsible for the angels who chose to follow him? Would humans never have disobeyed God without Satan’s influence? If all evil is attributable to Satan, why would God not simply have destroyed or banished him the moment he disobeyed? Why would God allow this supernatural evil to roam the globe, influencing and deceiving humans?
I believe the conclusion is inescapable that, as I state above, moral evil is the inevitable consequence of creating beings with free will - angels and humans alike. I believe the conclusion is inescapable that evil is the price God was willing to pay for giving free will to angels and humans alike. If there were no Satan and never had been, human evil would look still pretty much as it does. Why God allows supernatural evil to influence and deceive humans (if this is what you believe) is a great mystery.
God is using Satan to test people. Read John chapter 3. Most people have free will. They can choose to follow Jesus or Satan. Pride originated from Satan. When you look at Romans chapter 1. Reprobates choose to follow Satan. No one is forcing them. Those who are children of light have humility. Those are Reprobates have pride.
Revelation chapter 13. One world religious system is test. Satan as false Christ will come 6th trump. God wants them tested. Jesus is using Satan to test people near future. That’s Why Jesus didn’t destroy Satan and fallen angels in first earth age.
Sin originated from Lucifer. He coveted the mercy seat. He wants to be Messiah and King. Lucifer deceived one third of God’s children, revelation chapter 12. We’re in the flesh to be tested. God’s election didn’t follow Satan in first earth age. They stood against the rebellion.
Ephesians chapter 1
1 Peter chapter 1
Romans chapter 11
The Elect are predestined and chosen before foundation of the world
They are already judged. The election are called and chosen out of the world, to plant seeds for God, share Gods Truth.
I told the truth, and documentation. If no one can accept the truth. It’s not my problem. It means, those individuals have Spirit of stupor, and can’t understand. Isaiah chapter 6 and Romans chapter 11.
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I left my reply below. I told the truth. Peace.
You hold the truth? 
and those who disagree with you are in a stupor?
Wow.
Romans chapter 11. Israel didn’t obtain what it seeked, but the election obtained it, rest were blinded.
Three different groups.
Spiritually dead. They have Spirit of slumber
2 Corinthians chapter 4. Reprobates have unclesn Spirit. They don’t have holy Spirit or Spirit of slumber. Romans chapter 1.
Romans chapter 11, and 1 Peter chapter 1. The Elect have Holy Spirit.
Three different groups. I documented it.
Spiritually dead have Spirit of slumber
Reprobates have unclesn Spirit
Election have Holy Spirit
Kathairo in Greek means - demonic Reprobates.
Akathartos in Greek means - unclesn Spirit
Ovopa in Greek means - called and chosen
Iepevs in Greek means - priest, elected and seperated by God
Eklegomai in Greek means - election, chosen
Ekletos in Greek means - divine selection, election
Proorizo in Greek means - predestinate, ordain.
Diakoneo in Greek means - Deacon, teacher, elect
Nuwm in Hebrew means - Spirit of slumber. Isaiah chapter 29. The spiritually dead.
Chrisma in Hebrew means - Holy Spirit
I went back to the Greek, and Hebrew texts. I have strong concordance and Greek lexicon. I told the truth. I moved on.
Do you think anyone posting here doesn’t have those? Even the archaic Strongs?
There is more to interpretation than casual word study.
You do not “hold the truth”
Well, let’s test that logic. God uses Satan to “test” (beguile and deceive) people … those who fail the “test” are doomed to eternal torment … but God loves all and wishes for all to be saved … so why does this omnibenevolent God allow this supernaturally evil being to “test” people at the price of eternal torment? Life wouldn’t be “testing” enough without supernatural evil to egg things on?
As with virtually all simplistic, connect-the-dots versions of Christianity, it just makes no sense. Hence, the fallback position is the “mystery” of God’s ways - a euphemism for “Yeah, it really doesn’t make any sense, does it?” Apparently, God’s ultimate test is whether we can convince ourselves we believe things that make no sense.
Believe me, I’m sympathetic to the theological house of cards in which you live. Been there, done that - or at least tried to do that. But it is a house of cards. There are deeper understandings of Christianity.
Back to my spiritual stupor, which is really rather pleasant …
We have all heard the word and it’s meaning over and over. What is SIN? But, never has there been a word so vague and unclear as this little word “SIN”. “To miss the mark” and I still ask what are we talking about?
There is a problem in much of what we call Bible study. You see we have a real problem separating the ERROR being described from the EXAMPLE use to make the teaching clear. The word SIN is only an example or illustration, “To miss the mark”, But just what mark, what are we trying to say?
When we discuss Bible we often reduce the topic to a verse, a sentence, a phrase, or even a word, then we analyze the thought right to what we believed when we started.
I will not go into a long discussion of what makes up this problem, instead I am going to say it now in the beginning. Then, I pray, we will explain the problem and some of how it came to be.
God is absolute GOOD, to turn from God in any way is EVIL, evil that leads to sin! Sin is the result of evil. The Evil of turning from God.
The problem is, “To miss the mark” is so much more than just doing wrong. The origin of the problem is in the age-old discussion of what is Good and Evil. Down through the centuries of life on earth people have debated and discussed and tried to tell where Good and Evil come from, they mostly fail to get the answer.
Let me note here so many preachers often say “Sin” leads to Evil. That is simply backwards and such a teaching leads to many kinds of error in understanding of the subject. God is absolute GOOD, to turn from God in any way is EVIL, Evil that leads to SIN. Sin is the RESULT of EVIL NOT THE CAUSE OF EVIL. It is not possible to turn from SIN and say this is wrong I will not do this anymore, I will serve God. This is not good enough you must turn to God’s Grace through the work of the Cross, the source of all GOOD!
The righteousness of God is needed because man has no righteousness acceptable to God. No one was ever saved by the Law of Moses for by the law is the knowledge of sin. And there were the traditions and laws of men that date back to Ancient Times which said man by knowledge and his ability can overcome evil and come to God.
God created the world and space, and time, and MAN because He Wanted too. He was making a creature for FELLOWSHIP. A creature that could and by a free choice would, choose to love and fellowship with Him. Because Adam and Eve had a right and the ability to choose, Satan stepped in to deceive them and try to get the obedience and fellowship for himself. Satan tried to be as God but failed. But, he did not give up. He is still trying to be as God, to be the object of worship. Yes, Satan is alive and real and still going about the earth to deceive and accuse people.
PLEASE CAREFULLY PAY ATTENSION HERE!
To focus so much on evil is to fall for Satan’s deceit.
To focus so much on evil is to think about and focus on the opposite of GOD.
We must not allow Satan’s lie to keep us from the truth. Satan says you are so evil you cannot know God and be good or Holy. But that is Satan’s LIE. All of mysticism says that the Flesh even matter is evil, made by a Demiurge (a lesser god and made in error.) Babylonian and Egyptian Mysticism that resulted in Greek Philosophy all say that the flesh is evil. Even to the point of at times saying the relation of a man and wife is evil resulting in children born in sin. This idea was interjected into Christian thought from the teaching of Philo in Egypt to Origin and later made more final in the theology of Augustine. These early teachers were heavily influenced by Gnostic mysticism.
If you have thought that the way people in our time think is new or different, you are wrong.
The problem has always been people thinking moral right is
“What I want right Now”,
and moral wrong is
“Anything that keeps me from what I Want”.
People try to live as close to the world as they can get. How close to the world can I stand and still be called a Christian. When all of your focus is on how close to the world can I live, you are concentrating on the world. You are concentrating on what is evil and how close to evil can I live. It is hard to see truth, it is hard to see Jesus.
When God gave Adam and Eve the right and ability to choose to have fellowship with Him or Not, it was not a new idea. The angels of heaven had already done that. So, it may not be so strange that God gave humans the ability to choose to obey Him or Not. He wanted a creature that could, had the right too and would choose to love and fellowship with Him. All the choices we make and all of the “Good” and “Bad” we may do is a free choice God created us able to make.
Here I find the most terrifying truth I have read in the Bible.
God gave us the ability and right to make our own choices,
(now think about this),
God will honor those choices! Even if it means we reject Him.
Hell (eternal separation from God) is the clear truth that
God will honor every choice.
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A professor once asked his students at the university this question: “Did everything that exists, was it created by God?”
One student boldly answered: “Yes, it was created by God.”
“Did God create everything?” asked the professor.
“Yes, sir,” answered the student.
The professor asked: “If God created everything, then God created evil, since it exists. And according to the principle that our deeds define us, then God is evil.”
The student became quiet after hearing this answer. The professor was very pleased with himself. He boasted to the students that he had once again proven that belief in God was a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said: “Can I ask you a question, professor?”
“Of course,” answered the professor. The student stood up and asked
“Professor, does cold exist?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course it does. Have you ever been cold?”
The students laughed at the young man’s question.
The young man replied:
“Actually, sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we think of as cold is really the absence of heat. A person or object can be studied to see if it has or transmits energy. Absolute zero (-460 degrees Fahrenheit) is the complete absence of heat. All matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We created this word to describe what we feel in the absence of heat.”
The student continued. -
“Professor, does darkness exist?”
The professor replied,
“Of course it does.”
The student replied,
“You are wrong again, sir. Darkness does not exist either. Darkness is really the absence of light. We can study light, but not darkness. We can use Newton’s prism to break white light into many colors and study the different wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple beam of light can penetrate a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark any space is? You measure how much light is present. Isn’t that so? Darkness is a term that man uses to describe what happens when there is no light.”
Finally, the young man asked the professor,
“Sir, does evil exist?” This time hesitantly, the professor replied,
“Of course, as I said. We see it every day. The cruelty between people, the many crimes and violence all over the world. These examples are nothing more than manifestations of evil.”
To this, the student replied,
“Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does not exist for itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is like darkness and cold, a word created by man to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not faith or love, which exist like light and heat.
Evil is the result of the absence of Divine love in the heart of man. It is like the cold that comes when there is no heat, or like the darkness that comes when there is no light.”
The professor sat down
That’s a nice story, and a good use of metaphor and while the points made are true… it’s not a “true story” that can be attributed to Albert Einstein.
Perhaps, but it is useful for beginner Christians!
Don’t you think the story would serve better, if it were true?
The principles are important, but diminished by falsely attributing it to Albert Einstein. It becomes the spreading of a lie, instead of the spreading of those truths within the story. The devil is in the details, so the saying goes.
I don’t think there is anything there that can be called the devil’s trick. A physicist explained the basics of physics to a future student. As I recall, Albert Einstein was a genius and a son of the Israeli people. He simply checkmated the atheist professor.
– maybe you missed my point. It’s not true Farid.
The story is made up.
Here’s the problem… You share a story like that-- a wonderful story, full of solid theological principles. Then, someone thinks to find out more details about the story itself and they find it isn’t true at all. --They easily throw out all those good principles with the untruthful story. It’s easy for them to conclude that Christians are just propagandists, or worse-- dishonest dealers.
Yes, my friend, I understand you! But sometimes we go to the movies and read books created by people, and still, there is some truth in them, and here we have to choose: to accept it or not. Anyone could have been in Einstein’s place.)))