Expert: Thurman C. Petty, Jr. - 11/17/2005

Question
Why does God allow war with all its killing and raping? Since God is the one who decides the outcome of the battle not a person's arms and legs, why not simply settle the dispute between the two waring parties without bloodshed?  

Answer
Dear Richard,

Thank you for your question.

The picture on our planet looks pretty bleak, doesn't it. And according to Bible prophecy, it will get much worse before Jesus returns.

Why doesn't God put a stop to it? Why doesn't He put an end to wars and violence of every kind? And why didn't He save His Son from dying on the cross of Calvary?

There's a great war going on behind the scenes—a war between Christ and Satan.

Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
Rev 12:8  But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
Rev 12:9  The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Rev 12:10  Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
Rev 12:11  They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
Rev 12:12  Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."
Rev 12:13  When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.

You see, God gives all of His creatures a free will—freedom of choice. If that were not so, we would be no better than androids, doing things by instinct rather than by choice. Neither one of us would be happy with that scenario.

Adam and Eve led us into a world filled with sin. God could have stamped it out, nipped it in the bud. But He chose to let us have our own way, to choose whether or not we would follow Him, or if we'd follow the devil instead (anything that is done for selfish motives is sin).

Michael and the dragon are still fighting. Satan hates God and wants to hurt Him. That's why he put Jesus on the cross. He wanted to torture Him. But Satan went to far: he killed Christ, and because of the death of Jesus, Satan sealed his doom. Christ won the war when He died for our sins on Calvary, but like in most wars, the battle continues. Satan wants to hurt Christ, and he knows that the best way to do that is to hurt His children—those who serve Christ as their Savior.

One day God will call an end to the war. God will be shown to be fair in all His dealings and Satan will be shown to be a liar and a murderer. He and all his angels and the people who served him rather than accept Jesus as their Savior (by far the majority of people who have lived on this world) will be destroyed in the lake of fire. After that “there will be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.” Rev. 21:4

I suggest you read my book WHEN THE DEVIL GOES TO JAIL to discover how it all ends. You'll find the entire text on my web site www.PettyPress.com. Click on “Books”.

Thurman C. Petty, Jr.
Instructor, Bible Studies
Allexperts.com
Petty@hyperusa.com