In First John 4:16 we are told that “God is love.” “Then why does He allow so much suffering to go on in the world?” is often the response to that statement. Why indeed? Before we get into that let us examine the “God is love” thesis. Looking around the world we find poverty, crime, pain, mental and physical disease, famine, drought, flooding, earthquakes, deadly cold and heat waves, water shortages, power shortages, wars, financial disasters, etc. Globally, human beings are in a constant strain to defeat the effects of all of the negative things that are happening and have been happening to them for thousands of years. So why does man–God’s most cherished creation whom He made in His own image and likeness–continually find himself having to recover from the effects of such catastrophes while trying to prepare for the next wave? Would a loving God allow those things to happen, especially to “Christian people” in the world’s “Christian nations?” of which there are at least a dozen.

And the thought that He might be the One who actually CAUSES THOSE CATASTROPHIES is out of the question according to those who call themselves His people. Contrary to near universal church opinion, He is the One Who either inflicts or allows Satan to inflict such curses on mankind. One cannot help but notice that the same bad things that happen to non-believers also afflict believers. Not only that, but their methods of recovery from such problems is also the same, if they recover at all. Read Would God Do That? Key word–Would.

So what is the problem? In the Holy Bible where God speaks to those who expect to spend eternity with Him He mentions the world “sin” approximately 500 times while bringing up the word “love” approximately 1400 times. Doesn’t that tell us something? Indeed it does. The problem is that man’s wishful thinking based on a combination of false information and lack of information has given him the wrong impression about the connection between love and sin relative to God’s will for mankind. While contemplating this important topic, let us remember that “The curse without a cause does not exist” (Pro. 26:22) and “There is a way that seems right to a man, but that way leads to destruction” (Prov. 14:12).

“God is love.” However, He is also wrath (Ps. 5:5). In Colossians 3:5,6 speaks about “the wrath of God brought against the children of disobedience.” Disobedience to what? is the ultimate question that will be answered in this series. The Lamb of God is also the Lion of Judah. For every loving promise He makes, there is a caveat (condition) that must be met in order to receive the blessing. There is also a warning relative to that caveat. This is where those who believe IN God and Christ are deceived by Their enemy into ignoring the caveat. There is one general condition that absolutely must be met in order to RECEIVE WHAT GOD WANTS US TO RECEAVE. THAT CAVEAT IS OBEDIENCE TO HIS LAW OF LOVE WHICH IS HIS HOW-TO MANUAL TELLING US HOW TO RECEIVE WHAT HE CHOSE TO MAKE AVAILABLE TO US.

Think about this. No one asked the Almighty to do what He did for Adam and Eve. He alone decided to create the paradise known as Eden, turn it over to them, give them the entire earth and authority over it and everything on it, under it and above it and promise them eternal life–IF THEY OBEYED HIS COMMANDS. They were to care for the garden and to obey His command concerning what they could eat. They were given permission to eat of every tree in paradise–EXCEPT ONE. With that command came a warning: DISOBEYING HIS COMMAND WOULD RESULT IN SPIRITUAL DEATH FOLLOWED BY PHYSICAL DEATH.

Just as it is His great joy to give man everything he needs in abundance for him to enjoy, it is his great anger when man will not do what He requires in order to receive those promised blessings. Both the promised blessings and the promised curses are plainly spelled out in His Holy Bible. However, man embraces the promises (“headlines”) but rejects the conditions (“fine print”) for receiving them. This attitude is running rampant throughout the world today. I read recently that “generation Z” is demanding to be paid without having to work. As I have said many times, “As goes the church, so goes the nation.” The church expects to be blessed by God while ignoring the conditions He imposes for receiving them.

The Old Testament God’s wrath is understandable considering the price He would one day pay so that man could receive the promised blessings which included eternal life. The Word (Logos)–the Old Testament God–came to earth as a man, suffered incredible pain and died by one of the most physically and psychologically horrible methods of death known to man. Having made those sacrifices for man, He has every right to demand obedience in order to receive the blessings He promised to His people in Leviticus 26: 1-13 and Deuteronomy 28:1-14. When people assume that all they need to do in order to receive the promises is to believe in Him; when they reject His loving Words to the contrary spoken by those He sends to speak and write those Words, thereby proving that they (the people) despise Him and His Father (the Godhead) …. You can understand why They curse those who do so (Lk. 10:16). Read The God of the Old Testament. Key word–Old.

This rejection of Biblical “fine print” explains why the world is in the throes of global destruction as you read this posting. This is why God has poured out and continues to pour out on mankind the many curses listed earlier. Those curses that are outlined in Matthew 24:1-8 where Jesus is telling His disciples what will happen to the world IF the people follow the rider on the white horse–Satan. Note that the rider would go out “conquering and (to continue) to conquer” mankind spiritually. Note also that the Lord called those curses the “beginning of sorrows” (vs 8). He said that all of the disasters that the people of the world will have suffered up to the display of His wrath (the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord–read about these horrors using the key word Tribulation) would not equal what would come on them just before His return.

So what is the “sin” that has caused ALL of the world’s problems and will ultimately bring about the destruction of the world during the time just ahead of us? The answer involves the Godhead’s love for mankind and mankind’s lack of love for Them. Their (God and Christ) reaction to man’s lack of love for Them will eventually bring this world to a halt, but not before most of her people will have been killed or have died and those who survive will have been enslaved. In the following posting we will examine the concept of sin, man’s involvement in sin and God’s reaction to sin. Intertwined within this discussion the Biblical Truth of God’s love for man and man’s deliberate rejection of that love will be discussed. L.J. https://proveallthingsofgod.net