The issue of evil in the world is puzzling for many people who find hard to believe that a “good God” could create such an evil world.
It is interesting to note that the Bible clearly and simply states that “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31a). It does not mean that everything bad or very bad in the world was created by someone else. It only means that anything not good or not very good in the world cannot be attributed to God. Who then is responsible?
See, Romans 5:12 reveals that “sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” This passage is referring to the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the consequence thereof.
I find useful to think of sin and death like two sides of a coin. It is clear to me that Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan (the devil or serpent). They found the one side of the coin (sin) that Satan showed them so attractive that they could not notice the other side (death). Sad to say, the same thing is still happening in the world today. May God help us….
I have titled this message “I wonder why!” intentionally. I am wondering why Satan (the devil) is not mentioned in Romans 5:12. We know that Hebrews 2:14 does not hide the fact that the devil (Satan) holds the power of death. This verse explains why God became flesh (Emmanuel), namely, “so that by his death he might to destroy him who holds the power of death -that is, the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death”. (Hebrews 2:14, 15)
Let’s go back to Romans 5:12. I cannot help thinking that the Holy Spirit does not mention the devil in this verse in order to keep the focus on man’s responsibility because the Bible was not inspired for the sake of the devil but rather exclusively for the sake of man. Having understood what I am sharing in this message, I can say confidently that what the devil does is none of my business in the sense that it has no power over me and my descendants, in Jesus’ name.
I now understand that without man there would be no sin in the world and without sin in the world death would be nowhere to be found and, therefore, no one would be slave to the devil, but this is not the case unfortunately.
The fact is, the devil cannot affect, or function in, the world except through man (male & female). The devil can only destroy a family through a member of that family, he cannot inflict pain and suffering in the world only through human beings. The irony of the situation is that even the very man or woman and even child through who the devil sneaks in to carry out his wicked plan of stealing, killing and destroying is not spared and even his or her offspring eventually fall victims.
I hope I am speaking to someone out there, especially Africans. Some of us are in the habit of turning to the devil through his agents (witches, Wizards, juju men, herbalists) for protection, success, to curse people, or even kill by revenge. Please note that inviting the devil into your situation or your life is inviting death over anything and anyone related to you. Satan will use you to do evil to others in the world but you will eventually suffer the same from him.
Hence, the peoples we see going around cursing others seem to amount to nothing in life, as if they themselves are under curse.
I strongly believe that we need more than God’s forgiveness in life. We need him to help us not sin because every sinful act we commit and fail to repent from is like a bad seed planted in the soil that the devil will be quick to water so that it will bear bad fruits (consequences) in our lives. The devil loves it when we sin because without sin he cannot sneak in to cause havoc and confusion.
Lord help us your people to be wise and understand that not everything that glitters is gold. May we be empowered by the Holy Spirit to see both sides of the coins the devil shows us so that we will not fall into temptations, in Jesus’ name!
