The devil as the source of tragedy

Greetings to you, dear friends! Grace to you and peace from Father God and our Lord Jesus Christ!During these past days we have been discussing how our sins and the sins of others cause different tragedies in society. Also we talked about how repentance and life in compliance with God’s Word brings healing, blessing and prosperity. Today I would like to talk about the devil as the source of tragedy.We have already established that the devil also causes suffering for people. The Bible calls him ‘god of the present age’ and our adversary. 
 «Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith…» (1 Peter, 5:8-9).
 You might want to ask why the devil (and not God) is the ruler of this earth. The answer is that God entrusted the rulership of the earth to humans for a time and He cannot take it back before the set time. 
 «May you be blessed by the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men» (Psalm, 115:15-16).
 God Who has created heaven and earth has blessed people living on earth and gave him the rulership rights. Afterwards a man who walked under God’s rule had to govern this earth. But, unfortunately, the man gave these rights to the devil. The devil openly spoke about it to Jesus when tempting Him in wilderness. 
«Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him,„All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours» (Luke, 4:5-7).
 Did you notice that during the temptation the devil told Jesus that all the kingdoms had been given to him? Who gave him all of it? Was it God? No, it wasn’t! It was Adam and Eve who disobeyed God. 
«Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?» (Romans, 6:16).
 We become the slaves of the one we obey. Adam and Eve had a choice. But since they gave themselves to be slaves of sin and death, death (the devil) started ruling over people and everything that was entrusted to them. By his choice the man made the devil his god; for this reason he controls the lives of people, families, cities and countries. The devil is the specialist in three areas: stealing, killing and destroying. 
 «The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly» (John, 10:10).
 The devil is a thief, and even though he tries to mask his actions, the fruit of his rule are obvious on earth: they are death, poverty, tears, misery and tragedy. Here is why the Bible calls us to pray this way: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.If people will pray for it, then the fullness of God’s original purpose will be established on earth. There are no tears, no poverty, no hatred, no illness, and no death in heaven where the fullness of God’s will exists.We will continue tomorrow! God bless you!Pastor Rufus Ajiboye

Support us so we can do more

We’ll get right to the point: we’re asking you to help us support our Church online minisry. We’re a nonprofit that relies on support from people like you. If everyone reading this gives €12 monthly, Spirit and Truth city Church can continue to thrive for years.

Similar Posts

  • Do You Hear What God Speaks? II

    Apart from the voice of our common sense, we often hear the voice of our feelings. Also feelings have a voice. But neither this voice always reflects what God says. Our feelings are changing, quite often they depend on outer factors – our mood, weather, how tired we are, etc. If we listen to our feelings only, our chances to constant success are eliminated.For instance, you can often feel lonely, weak, unloved, a failure, etc. Nevertheless, such feelings often do not accord with reality. If you are lead by your feelings and take them as truth, you will not be able to enjoy the life in abundance that God has prepared for you. God gives this life only to those who hear His voice and follow Him!
  • Doctrine shows us which direction we should take

    When we read the Bible we receive doctrine, which means we start to see where we should go. Through the reading of the Bible we are shown the direction for our thought life, our words and all other areas of our lives.Besides, the Bible is profitable for reproof. Quite often we start walking the way the Bible has shown us, but then we somehow get distracted, lose the right direction and get sidetracked. It is through reproof that we are shown that we have taken the wrong path
  • The truth shall make free

    Many people today are running here and there in search of freedom, deliverance and happiness. However, God has place in our hand the responsibility of delivering ourselves from the snare of the devil“Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler” (Proverb 6: 4-5).
  • How important for us is to use our homes and special celebrations for the spiritual work we are called to do

    My dear friend, I would like you to think how you could use your times of special celebration, parties and other opportunities for bringing the gospel to your unsaved relatives, friends and acquaintances.In 1 Corinthians 10:31 the bible reminds us that whatever we do, we must do it for the glory of the Lord:“So whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”
  • Worthy Goal for Life II

    Yesterday we started talking about our goals. Everyone has them. We discussed that there are worthy and less worthy goals. We also saw that after meeting Christ, Paul devoted his life to Him; earnest expectation of Christ to be glorified in his body and through his life became his main goal in life. It is very important to ascertain for ourselves what our goals are.You and I have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ and we have peace with God. But it is just the beginning. Having been reconciled with God is just the beginning of the Christian walk. What awaits us afterwards? Through faith we gain Access to God’s grace and we expect the glory of God to be progressively revealed in us and through us.