The Purpose Of Sicknesses and Diseases

Can you remember when you read about Ananias and Sapphira for the first time? Were you shocked like I was when you did? God killed them both! God killed a human being. Two of them on the same day. Although you realized that they were killed because they sinned, did you also not expect God to be so violent or so strict? Well like me, you probably decided to investigate this.

You remembered the day you read how Jesus warned a woman that He will make her sick. How He threatened to kill her children if she does not repent. That was even worse than Ananias and Sapphira. With Ananias and Sapphira you suspected that it was God the Father or the Holy Spirit killing them and you did not think that Jesus would be capable of doing something similar.

The fact that Jesus warned a woman, a Christian, in the church, that He will cast her on a sickbed and that He will kill her children, if she did not repent, was a real shocker. Also when He threatened a few people in the church that He will bring tribulation over them if they do not repent. This sounded that He will bring calamities over them. You can remember that you never could have guessed that Jesus is so strict and so violent. It was when you read this part of the New Testament that you realized that Jesus is just like the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Then you realized that Paul does not differ much from them at all. He instructed the church to hand Christians over to satan so that their bodies can be destroyed so that at least their souls are saved. At another part of the Scriptures, he mentioned that it is better to lose an eye rather than to sin and to go astray. At first, you thought that these incidents were just isolated but then you read how Paul warned the church that many of them are sick and some even died because they failed to judge themselves. He said if they do not judge themselves then God will judge them and that is why many among them are sick and some died already. So this was not just isolated incidents. This is true for all Christians since Biblical times and even today. So how many children of God became sick and even died during the past two thousand years?

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You immediately understood what the word “judge” meant in this Scripture and other Scriptures”

1 Corinthians 11:30-32

30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

This Scripture clearly connects these things to us failing to judge ourselves, with God now obliged to judge us resulting in the chastisement of the Lord which Paul said can be observed as a result of the sicknesses and diseases and even death among them. But the Scripture that opened it all up for you was the following:

1 Corinthians 10:15

I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.

This verse opened the whole thing for you because you realized what had happened here. The congregation of Corinth got involved in seriously bad sins and unacceptable behavior, in general, and even when they come together as a church. Paul heard about it and he decided to write this letter to them to warn them of the consequences. So throughout the letter, he mentioned the particular sins and the unacceptable behavior that he was told about and then he asked them to judge themselves.

However, he started by telling them that they must first judge whatever he was going to tell them in the letter. He said in 1 Corinth 10:15, “I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.”

Then Paul told them not to provoke the Lord to jealousy by eating food that they know have been sacrificed to idols. He told them not to offend each other. He told them to act appropriately when they are together by regarding each other and not to act whatever they wanted to. He told them not to seek their own profit. He said do not lust after evil things. Do not get involved in fornication, Do not tempt God and do not murmur. He told them to flee from adultery. Then he asked them to judge themselves in this regard, referring to the sins he just mentioned. As I already said, we read that in 1 Corinthians 10:15

I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.

So in the letter, Paul mentioned all the sins that were reported to him that they were busy with and then he asked them to judge for themselves what he was about to say to them. He emphasized that everyone needs to judge for themselves.

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Then he proceeded by saying that they should keep the ordinances. That they should act appropriately. That a man should not be contentious. We should not be controversial, violent and argumentative. There should not be division among us. Women should know how to act appropriately and men should know how to act appropriately when we come together. We should not use the bread and the cup in an unworthy manner. So when Paul discussed all these things that were reported to him, he asked them to judge themselves and to examine themselves about these things. He did that five times and we will discuss a few of those Scriptures:

2 Corinthians 13:5

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you–unless indeed you fail the test?

1 Corinthians 11:13-14

13 Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?

14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?

1 Corinthians 11:28

But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

1 Corinthians 11:31-32

For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

You even read the same thing in other Scriptures that Paul wrote:

Galatians 6:4

But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.

Even John said that we should examine our hearts:

1 John 3:19-21

We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;

You realized that in all these incidents all sorts of sins have been involved. Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit, one man had the same woman his father had, many in the congregation who became sick or who died were involved in fornication, some of them were busy with the secret things of the deep secrets of satan and so on. Paul mentioned quite a few sins that the members of the church were involved with. Those were things that people in the world usually do. You have learned that this punishment is called the chastisement of God and that it only happens to Christians.

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Later, you found the same thing in the Old Testament. You read many times in the Old Testament how God warned people that if they do not repent that He will punish them. You have read many times, hundreds of times how He kept his word and He did kill them and He did bring all sorts of sicknesses and diseases and calamities onto them.

You learned that He was very strict with the nation of Israel. He also chastised them just like He did with the Christians in the New Testament. You even saw the curse of generational curse in action. You read how David and Bathsheba lost a baby boy who was killed by God because David sinned. You thought that it was really heartbreaking. Why must a small baby be killed because his father sinned? You were so glad when you read in Ezekiel 18 that even God felt that it was unfair for the son to pay for the sins of the father and the father to pay for the sins of the son. You read that this is the reason why God repealed this law. You are not really sure why God implemented this law in the first place. You suspect that He had no choice because of the extreme wickedness of the early Old Testament nations. Those people just did what they wanted to. They tormented and oppressed little children and the old and the widows and the strangers tremendously. They regarded them as second rate people and treated them like animals. God probably wanted to protect those poor people.

You remember how you read in the New Testament and the Old Testament how God killed thousands of people. How God made thousands of people sick. How God put fire onto people whilst they were walking in the wilderness. This was a bit of a shock too. You did not think that God will set people on fire whilst they were still alive. There they were walking in the desert when some of them suddenly caught fire. You read how He consumed people with fire from his face. How He caused the earth to swallow people up alive. How He hit them with pestilences and awful diseases.

You remember that you have read only once in the New Testament that the devil caused somebody to be sick. He kept a woman bound for several years. She could not walk straight because of that. Then there is the suggestion that Paul was tormented by a demonic spirit but the Bible does not say how. You did not even read once of the devil making a person sick in the Old Testament.

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You read that the devil even asked God to make Job sick to prove that when that happens that Job will curse God. The devil could not do it himself because of the impenetrable hedge around Job. He had to ask God to bring sicknesses and diseases and calamities over Job.

So when you compare God with satan, it bothered you that God appeared so evil and so bad because of what He was doing. On the other hand, although the Bible warned against the devil, he appeared to be a lot better than God in this regard. This is what you found in the Bible:

  1. The Bible says over and over again in hundreds of Scriptures that God killed people and that He made people sick.
  2. The Bible says that God created hell and that it is his will that many people will be tormented in hell forever. He also created Hades where people are tormented right now, since the days of Adam and Eve, just as they will be tormented in hell after the judgment of the great white throne.
  3. Although the Bible repeated this fact many times, the Bible actually recorded or suggested thousands and thousands of incidents where God either killed people or made them sick. Many of them occurred in the wilderness after the nation of Israel left Egypt.
  4. All these incidents were all connected to sin. Nobody was killed by God or caused to be sick by God whilst they were innocent. They were all guilty of sin. Sin was every time the direct cause of the death or the sicknesses, diseases or calamities. In fact, God warned people over and over in the Old Testament and the New Testament that if they do not repent or if they do not stop sinning that they will be punished with sicknesses, diseases, and calamities. He even mentioned quite a few times that worse things will come over them if they do not repent or stop sinning.
  5. Many times in the Old Testament and the New Testament, God said that if people repent that He will heal them. So He promised to do exactly the opposite, when people repent, of what He usually does when they sin. When they sin He makes them sick and when they repent He heals them.
  6. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that the devil can make people sick or kill people, directly, as God does.
  7. Nowhere in the Bible is there any example of the devil killing a person or directly making a person sick as God did.
  8. In the whole Bible, we find only two references suggesting that the devil or a demonic spirit had something to do with a person being bound or sick and another being tormented.
  9. Only once in the Bible do we find a Scripture that suggests that the devil steals, kills and destroys.
  10. So if God is responsible for thousands and thousands of sicknesses and diseases and calamities and deaths in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, and the devil only one sickness, one other incident that we do not really understand and one Scripture that says that he steals, kills and destroys, then there is a huge possibility that we do not understand what these three scriptures really mean.
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My opinion is that he tempts us to get involved in sin, that he lies about God and the word of God, that he steals the word of God from our hearts and that he destroys our faith. When we listen to all his lies, when we fall for his temptations and when we get involved in sin and when we allow him to steal the word of God from our hearts, we bring all these things over ourselves. That is why we get sick and why we bring all sorts of calamities over ourselves and why we die. The devil succeeds indirectly in destroying our lives. It is clear that he cannot do it physically himself as God can. He has to do it indirectly through temptations and lies. If he can get us to sin and to doubt in God and his word, we bring all those things over ourselves.

Someone once told me that if satan is not able to make us sick, yet he indirectly causes us to become sick through lies and deceit and temptations, and that happens 99.9 percent of the time, then he is indeed guilty as charged by the church who teaches that satan is the destroyer, the killer and the thief. He is to blame for everything.

This sounds fair but this view takes the blame away from where it really is. The fact is that he cannot touch us at all. We first have to fall for his lies by getting involved in sin and by believing his lies and by falling for his temptations. That makes us responsible and accountable and guilty. If we did not allow him to talk us into trouble, trouble would not have come. We do not have to listen to him. He suggests the crime but we commit the crime.

As I explained several times in this course already, sicknesses and diseases and calamities and even death are the natural results of sin. The chastisement of God is another aspect in the lives of Christians that makes us suffer. We all suffer because of this, unsaved and even saved people. Saved people even more because we are chastised by God also.

So the woman who was bound for eighteen years probably brought this disease over herself because of the temptations of the devil. He “suggested” and she “committed” resulting in her being in bondage for 18 years. The bottom line is that she was guilty of sin. In the fable of Snowhite and the seven dwarfs, the witch had a delicious blood-red poisoned apple trying to tempt Snowhite to eat the apple? In the fable, the witch was blamed for the subsequent disastrous results although everyone realized that Snowhite was very naive. She should have known what trouble she was about to let herself into. Couldn’t she discern the evil in the person who gave her the apple?

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There are a lot of theories of what the torment is all about that the specific demon caused in the life of Paul. The Bible did not say. I believe that it was a demonic spirit influencing or causing people to try to undo the work of Paul. This is the only thing that could be identified in the life of Paul that fits the description of a constant “thorn in the flesh”. If it was a disease, Paul would have said so. Why should it be a secret? Paul, however, said that it was a demon.

He was constantly followed by false apostles visiting the congregations that he ministered unto just to undo his work. They were always right behind him, teaching the opposite and trying to put all sorts of legalistic Jewish rituals and laws onto the shoulders of the saints. This was a big problem for Paul and he numerously complained about this and warned the saints against these false apostles. This demonic spirit and these false apostles had a lot of success in destroying the work of Paul. Many congregations that Paul planted ran after these people. They did not heed to Paul’s warnings and they fell for these lies. Imagine this, Paul ended up defending the legitimacy of his apostleship against the very members of the churches that he planted. They were actually the proof of his apostleship yet he had to defend his apostleship to these people. For Paul, this was indeed a thorn in the flesh.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that this torment was a sickness or a disease. However, the Bible does say that it was a demon giving Paul a hard time.

So although we read of thousands of incidents in the Bible of God literally and directly killing people and literally and directly making people sick, we never read that in the Bible about satan.

The Scripture that caused a lot of misunderstandings is the one that says that only good gifts come from God. The reality is that this verse only refers to the general goodness of God. It does not consider his judgment.

And then there is this “doctrine” that says that Jesus took all the punishment on him so nobody can be punished by God. It is apparently illegal for God to punish anyone after He punished Jesus. Well, this doctrine appears to be false. No wonder because there is no Scripture that support this statement. Not only the incident with Ananias and Saphira but many other Scriptures in the New Testament proves the contrary: In Corinthians where Paul said many of you are sick and some even passed away because you failed to judge yourselves, and so God had to judge them. Also where Paul said that if a person sins, like the son who had the same woman as his father, and Paul also referred to other sins that the congregation of Corinth was involved with. Christians like this had to be handed over to satan so that the flesh could be destroyed but at least the soul saved. These Scriptures and incidents all prove that this doctrine is not true.

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Now how does the devil destroy the flesh of people who have been handed over? The key here is that the person is treated like an unsaved person. In the spiritual world that has complications. When the church decides in their caucus or meeting to hand such a person over to satan because of him refusing to repent, it is aimed at isolating such a person and to make him feel that he faces his present situation alone. This is what churches are supposed to do and it does happen in house churches. Such a person has been rejected. He is an outcast. And right here at this moment, the Lord plays his part and He puts some kind of appropriate disease on such a person. The person also experiences evil activities all around him because he is not being protected. The “hand over to satan” action is like “although this person is a Christian, he is in great danger of losing his salvation, because of his sinful lifestyle, so lets put him in an “environment” where he will feel that he has already lost his salvation. The church expelled him and he does not experience God anymore. He is alone and now he is sick as well. This causes panic and this shocks people. The aim is that as soon as the specific person came to his senses, that he will run to the elders or the church members, tear his clothes and begs for help. He repents and the elders pray for him and heal him and restore him in the church.

The reason why satan does not make him sick (although the Bible says that he should be handed over to satan for the destruction of the flesh) is a bit confusing. Based on the Bible, and not on the reports of so many people who interpreted all these Scriptures incorrectly, the devil and all demons just cannot do anything to alter or touch or change anything in the natural world. It is literally like a ghost trying to pick up a glass of water. The ghost just cannot pick up that glass no matter how many times he tries to do that. That is why the devil cannot even give you a headache. He does not give you pain and then lies to you and tells you that the pain is cancer, in an attempt to get you to accept cancer in your body. No, he waits until he realizes that you have hurt yourself by practicing too much in the gym or by doing something stupid or reckless, and then he tells you that the pain is cancer. Sometimes people get involved in sin and by doing so they bring some medical condition over themselves.

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The devil then uses the pain or discomfort of that condition in an attempt to get people to accept cancer as well, in addition to the particular condition. In the spiritual world, thoughts can be “heard” by all spiritual creatures. Demons “hear” what we think and they hear what we tell other people and that is how they know that we are sore somewhere in our bodies.

That is why the devil cannot load a rifle to cause an accident. He needs a human being to load the rifle. He cannot break your hairdryer or vacuum cleaner to cause you harm. The devil always needs people and that is why demons possess people.

They have two methods that they use to have an impact on the natural world or to influence the natural world: Either they possess people and take over their bodies to achieve what they want to or they tempt and lie to people in an attempt to get them to do what they want to. This is how they pick up that glass of water. On their own, without the help of a human being, they cannot touch the natural world at all in any way, including your physical body. That is why they cannot cause a natural storm. That is why the storm mentioned in Mark 4 was a natural storm. Jesus rebuked the storm because it became life-threatening, not because it was caused by the devil. The devil cannot cause a natural storm.

We have power over natural disasters, that is why Jesus was so upset with the disciples. They feared and they had no faith to deal with the situation and that is not how Christians should act. We should always rise up to the occasion and do what needs to be done.

To understand this completely, I need to explain what true demonic oppression really is. People have asked me what does it mean when the Bible says that people are under the power of satan? What does it say and what are the implications of being under the influence or power of satan?

For instance, they read Acts 10:38

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Or Luke 13:16

And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

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In most translations, the words “oppressed of the devil” were used by the translators but in a few newer versions, the corrupt “minority text” was used, and the translations used the phrase “under the power of the devil”.

I think “under the power of the devil” suggests that people have less power than the devil. It suggests that people are kept in bondage because of the power of the devil and that is not true. Being “oppressed of the devil” suggests that people fall prey to the devil. He succeeds in making life hard for them. He causes things to happen to them that they do not want, which is a better translation. That is true and that makes a big difference. The first translation suggests that the devil can, especially when one brings it into perspective with Scriptures like Acts 10:38 and Luke 13:16, physically harm people whenever he wants to. And that is not true.

Most translations say that the woman of Luke 13:16 was kept bound by the devil and a few translations say that the woman was kept in bondage by the devil.

Based on the Bible, the devil can oppress people and he can keep people in bondage. Based on the Bible, he cannot harm people physically but he can cause them to be harmed and to be kept in bondage by getting them to act a certain way. He uses money, power and other popular incentives to do so. That is how he succeeded in getting politicians and the media and powerful people in this world to work for him or with him. However, they will never do it for free. They need to be paid. There is always one thing in common when it comes to all people who have been used or who are being used by satan. There is always some kind of incentive that makes them happy and keeps them hooked. To some, it is a position of power, along with the financial gain. To some, it is just money. To some it is pleasure. And as long as satan gives them what they want, he controls them. He uses people to change the world for him. That is how the devil controls this world.

The truth is that the devil and demonic spirits do this in the lives of all people. This is what happened to the woman of Luke 13 and this is what happened to the people that Jesus healed as mentioned in Acts 10:38. The devil oppressed them all by gaining control over their lives through lies and deceit and most importantly, through incentives. It is very similar to the sex industry and the illicit drug industry. Those in control gain from those that they control. The controlled are remunerated for their services but they lose their lives and their humility and their identity and their souls in the process. So although they gain something, they also lose something. Although they do not want to be controlled, they want to be there and they want this life-style because they get what they want. The incentive is the motivation to carry on with this bad practice.

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When the devil controls powerful people and politicians, he can change the world. The dark reality is that when he controls people he can harm them as well. Not physically but through the actions of these people. They help him to destroy and to kill and to steal, they are remunerated for that, but then he kills and destroys them, by getting them to do things that will harm them eventually. At the end of the day, he harms the politicians and the powerful people that worked for him as well as ordinary people who helped him to cause damage in this world and the lives of other people.

How does he harm them? He causes the politicians to make decisions that harm their countries and themselves. Just look at what certain political parties in many countries stand for. It appears that they do not love their own countries and it appears that they are on a path of self-destruction. They are on a path of self-destruction. The devil uses the worldly support systems to put people in bondage. The more money you owe the world, the more you are in bondage. The more you rely on the worldly support systems, the more you belong to this world. Political leaders play their part in this evil network. They are just as addicted to power and money as the sex workers and drug dealers are to drugs and money. They sell their souls and the well being of their countries their own people for power and money and pleasure.

This is how the devil oppresses all people. This is how he oppressed the woman of Luke 13. This is how he kept her in bondage for 18 years. This is how he oppresses the world. This is how the world is kept in bondage. The devil will determine what incentive will allow him to control a specific human being, then he will use that incentive to control that human being to help him to destroy, to kill and to steal. He will cause harm to people and the world, through that person. And then he will hurt even that person, by getting that person to bring bad things over himself, through the person’s own actions. This is what demonic oppression is. This is how the devil controls people, governments, and the world.

But we, as children of God, are not in bondage because we are not of this world. This is true if we are not dependent on the systems and the ways of this world. If we are dependent on the support systems of this world we give the devil a foothold in our lives. We should not do so. We should not allow the devil to get control over any aspect of our lives.

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But I do understand, it is easier said than done. We all started in this world. That day when we gave our hearts to Christ, that day our spirits were born and that day we got saved. Unfortunately, our souls and bodies did not get saved. Our souls and bodies were still dependent on this world although it did receive the ability to break away from the world on that wonderful day. We can allow the Zoe life of God to flow from our spirits into our souls and bodies. We can be delivered from all bondage. We can be saved from the world and it’s corrupt systems. It is when we live in obedience to the word and the will of God that we become successful and victorious in life. Peace floods the soul when Christ rules the heart.

But do not forget, you need to make the transition wisely. You cannot throw all support systems out without building up your most holy faith first. You cannot jeopardize the lives of your loved ones and your own life for that matter. You need to start with the smaller and easier stuff first. You need to study and know the word of God. You need to allow the Holy Spirit to build that word firmly into your heart. You need to allow the Holy Spirit to engrave the word of God on the tables of your heart. And you need to have faith before you step out in faith because without faith it is impossible to please God. I have discussed this whole process in detail in the series, “How to live successfully and Victoriously In Christ” which is available for FREE on my website. You need to listen to the whole course when you start this challenge. It will prepare you for this. You will know what to do and how to do it. It will equip you to live in faith, successfully and victoriously in Christ.

Someone told me that God did use satan once to put sicknesses and diseases and calamities on a person and that it is proof that satan can cause sicknesses and diseases directly. The person referred to Job. She implicated that if it happened once it can happen again.

Now, this is not what happened. I explained to her why:

I take note of what you say but there are a few confusing things and misunderstandings about Job. Job lived long before Christianity and long before the nation of Israel. Job lived even before Abraham. The book of Job is regarded by most scholars to be the oldest book of the Bible. It was written even before Moses wrote the first few books of the Old testament.

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The first covenant was with Abraham and then with Israel and Jacob and the nation of Israel and then the new covenant was the one God made with Christ and the church. Job was outside all covenants. He lived under unknown circumstances although, he did serve God and God treats everybody the same. Still, covenants include rules and regulations and laws and agreements.

Yes, Job was concerned about the well being of his children but God said that he was righteous and innocent. Bible scholars assume that the fear of Job was a sin before God but it could have been the normal concerns mothers and fathers have concerning the well-being of their children, just as they assume that the devil caused the storm of Mark 4. The Bible does not say the devil caused the storm in Mark 4. The Bible does not say that Job sinned in this regard. It is all assumptions. In fact, God said that Job was innocent.

And also, God gave satan authority to hurt Job. This permission was granted only in the life of Job during that specific incident. It was a once-off. Nowhere in the Bible did God ever repeat that special permission or authority. We are all sometimes guilty of reading things between the lines that are not there. Corinthians say that God judges us if we do not judge ourselves and that is why some are sick and some dead. It does not say that he called satan to make us sick and kill some of us. And if God made thousands of people sick and killed thousands of people himself, in the Old Testament and the New Testament, why would He suddenly decide to use the devil to do so in Corinthians and other incidents in the New Testament like with Ananias and Sapphira? He did it himself. There is not a single Scripture in the whole Bible, other than Job that God used the devil, and with Job, it was not even judgment. God was not punishing Job. God was bragging about Job, his righteous and loyal servant. It was God specifically wanting to prove to the devil that even if Job was punished and harmed as an innocent man, and even if things go bad in his life, that he will stay obedient and loyal to God. And that is precisely what happened. It was a contest. God bragged about Job. He was not cross with Job and He did not want to hurt Job. So it was not about judgment.

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For all these reasons, Job cannot be used to support doctrines but Job can be used as an example of a man who loved God so much and who was so loyal toward God, that nothing could cause him to turn his back on God. This is what Job is all about.

The church has been wrong about this. My wife struggled particularly with this. She did not want to believe that God causes evil things in the lives of people. She wanted him only to do wonderful and good things.

But what we don’t realize is that this does not make God bad. He is a good God who wants only good things for his children. He is extremely just and full of grace and full of mercy. The problem is that people do not understand what they let themselves into when they get involved in sin. It is bad and dangerous.

What David did was bad. He caused the death of one of his most loyal soldiers. It was practically murder. He took his wife. He started an affair with her. This is bad and the punishment was severe:

2 Samuel 11:27

…but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.

2 Samuel 12:15,18

And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he became sick. On the seventh day the child died.

Just remember, this happened because the law of generational curses was not yet repealed in the days of David and Bathsheba. After Ezekiel 18 people had to pay for their own sins but before that God still punished children because of the sins of the fathers.

The bottom-line is that God does not use satan to punish or to chastise his children. The Lord will never ever call His enemy and his children’s enemy to hurt or to harm them. He will do it himself because He will do it in love. Will we call an evil lunatic to come and give our child a hiding? Never!

I cant see why the church has a problem with this aspect of God. Why is it a problem? We know we can always trust God and we know that He is always fair. He will never punish us unfairly. Maybe it is for this reason that preachers say that God is not the author of sicknesses and diseases. Only the devil can be the author of something so evil and so bad. Only the devil is capable of doing such a thing. In a sense it is true.

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The devil would have loved to be able to kill us all and torture and torment us day after day. The Lord knows that and that is why He made it impossible for the devil and demonic spirits to touch us or our belongings. That is why He does not allow them to impact or influence the natural realm by picking up a glass of water or hurting people or damaging things, and this, this right here, is the impenetrable hedge that God has put around all people. Around his children and around unsaved people. The existence of the hedge is the fact that satan and demons cannot function in the natural realm. This is wonderful news! This means we are protected against satan. The church however, does not want it this way. The church wants it the other way round. The church wants the devil to be able to harm us and the church do not want God to chastise us.

Our first line of defense, this impenetrable hedge, can never be compromised because God keeps it place in spite of what we do or how we live. However, our second line of defense, our weapons of spiritual warfare or the spiritual armor of God described by Paul in Ephesians 6, is our responsibility.

This line of defense protects us against the lies and temptations and influence of satan and demonic spirits. It is also foolproof but unfortunately, we are responsible for how we use it. If we do not put it on or if we do not use it or if we do not use it correctly, then we are in danger. Even if we fail in this regard, the devil can still not harm us directly. But he can lie to us and deceive us and tempt us and if we fall for his lies and temptations he can cause us to bring all sorts of sicknesses and diseases and calamities over ourselves. At the end of the day, we can only blame ourselves when it happens.

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See also
Discipleship - Session 3

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