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Viewpoint from Izabela Clarry 05/06/2015
 Izabela Clarry
Seventh-day Adventist Church
Following earthquakes in Nepal many people asked ‘why is there so much suffering in the world?’
Are natural disasters really ‘acts of God’, as insurance companies call them? Bible tells us that they are in fact ‘acts of the devil!’
People think that devil is nothing but a cartoon character. This is exactly what he wants, because if people don’t believe that the devil exists, then they will attribute all his works to God!
Bible says that ‘Lucifer’ was once a beautiful angel created with a free will (Ezek 28:12-17). God could have created him as a robot, not capable of doing anything wrong. However God doesn’t force obedience, He wants his creatures to worship him out of love and free will. He’s not a tyrant, but the God of Love
 Lucifer became proud, self-focussed and envious of God’s power (Isa 14:12-17). He persuaded a third of the angels to rebel and follow him instead. As a result they were expelled from heaven (Rev 12:7-9)
Bible says that Satan is responsible for natural disasters and calls him “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2, NKJV). We can clearly see that he used those powers when he afflicted Job (e.g. Job 1:18-19). Bible also depicts satan inflicting diseases on people (Luke 13:16), which stands in contrast to Jesus, who “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38)
This is the essence of the problem. God had warned Adam and Eve that if they disobeyed Him, they would die (Gen 2:17), as the ‘wages of sin is death’ (Rom 6:23). When they chose to listen to satan rather than God, sin came to this once perfect world, and with it death, sorrow and pain (Gen 3:1-7). Can you imagine this world if sinners like Adolf Hitler were immortal?
So how come Adam and Eve did not die that very day when they sinned?
Bible calls Jesus ‘ Lamb slain from the foundation of the world’ (Rev 13:8). God established a sacrificial system, which pointed forward to Jesus, the ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29). Jesus is the only person who never sinned. He is the One who died the most horrific death on a cross, so we, who have committed so many offences, can live one day with Him in Paradise. He took on himself punishment that we deserve, to give us eternal life, which we don’t deserve
It is on that cross of Calvary where the evil of satan’s character was fully revealed. But it is also where the love of God shone the brightest. What a Saviour, Redeemer, Friend and King we serve!
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