TEACHINGS

You don’t need the devil help by Henry Miranda

You are well on the way to hell all by yourself unless you repent of your ways and turn to the truth, which is God’s truth. You don’t need the devil’s help to get to hell. You are doing a fine job on your own. The devil is only there to assist you on your journey to hell, and he wants to ensure you don’t get lost along the way.

The only goal that the devil has is to keep us from establishing a relationship with God. If he fails and we come to know God, then the devil tried to keep us from growing and developing a deeper relationship with God. The devil desires to keep us from experiencing God’s love in our lives and from having God’s presence in our lives. He wants to stop God’s power that is actively at work in us when we belong to God.

The Bible tells us that God created the devil as a cherub, the most powerful of God’s angelic beings. Sometime after his creation and before the creation of mankind, the devil rebelled against God and took one-third of the angels with him into rebellion.

God assuredly included this information that some angels have departed from Him, for it tells us that the angels that stayed with Him are praising God and serving Him and are doing this of their own free will.

The devil is a fallen angel who rebelled against God. The devil is often identified as the serpent in the Garden of Eden, whose persuasions lead to two corresponding Christian doctrines. One is “the original sin,” which is the disobedience of Adam, and the other is “the Redemption of Jesus Christ,” which in turn brings us to a relationship with God.

God placed Adam and Eve in the garden for two main reasons. The first was to have fellowship with them; while enjoying an exchange of love. The second was to test their competency. God is not a tyrant or a dictator; He does not force Himself on us. God let Adam experience the consequences of their actions. Had Adam not disobeyed God, there would be no sin in nature.

That brings us to the question, “Why did God create sin”?

God did not create sin. He only allowed it. We may contemplate why God permitted sin, but beyond that, the subject is incomprehensible and must be left in the hands of God. Martin Luther said, “This is so high that no other answer can be given then, that so it has please God.”

God, in His Omniscience, knew that he and Adam would sin, and he could have stopped it, seeing he is Omnipotent, but he did not. God’s only part in allowing sin into the world was that he led man to experience the consequences of his actions. If Adam and Eve had not disobeyed God, there would be no sinful nature.

God knew that Adam and Eve would fail, and so he made provisions for it in eternity past. Sin was included in God’s plan, and man is responsible for it, yet God always has control over sin.

“But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:19-21 NKJV).

God did not warn Adam and Eve that they would be separated from Him. He warned them that they would be physically and spiritually dead. Spiritually dead is separation from God. God’s point is that we are spiritually dead until we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We cannot understand spiritual truths. We become spiritually alive only after we believe the truth about Jesus and are willing to yield ourselves to Him.

The separation between God and mankind exists because God is perfect, and mankind is imperfect. One imperfection we all share as human beings is selfishness. Selfishness is a cornerstone emotion that governs all of our actions. Despite God’s warning, Adam and Eve were kicked out by the gardener because they wanted what they wanted. This is the original sin—disobedience due to willful selfishness. Willful selfishness is a source of evil in our world and a sort of separation between God and us.

“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity” (Isaiah 59:1-3 NKJV).

The reason God permitted sin was to allow us to have a free choice between good and evil. This can only be possible if sin is present. God created us to have fellowship with Him, but He warned us to choose for ourselves whether or not we wanted fellowship with Him. God could have created beings who would do his bidding, but that would mean they would have to be mindless with no will of their own.