Afflictions

God created a world that was all good (Gen 1:25), but it was marred by sin (Gen 3). Every affliction that man and all of creation are faced with is the direct result of sin (Rom 5:12-21, Rom 6:23, Rom 8:19-23, 1Cor 15:21-26). Some atheists think that a valid challenge to the existence of God is the suffering people experience in this life. They say that if God is good, then why does He allow evil. Some Christians are intimidated by this challenge as though this is a great difficulty to explain. The opposite is true. The Bible gives the only true answer to this question. First, if there is no God and the Bible is not His word, then the only resource to look to for the answer is man. Man is fallible (Jer 17:9-10). There are about 8 billion people in the world right now, there have been billions before us, and there are more yet to come. That adds up to an awful lot of opinions. The laws of logic tell us that a statement can only be either true or false, so not everyone whose opinions differ can be right. The only way for the word truth to mean anything is for it to be objective, transcendent, and absolute. The Bible claims to be the word of God, and it upholds that claim. You can look into more on that subject in the videos, books, and articles on this website. If there is no God and the Bible is not His word, that what basis is there for defining good and evil? That is the exact deception Eve fell for in the garden of Eden (Gen 3:5). Without God, the definitions automatically become subjective and arbitrary.

Another point to consider is that if God was to stop all evil, He would have to destroy all of us, because we all have sinned (Rom 3:23, 1Jn 1:5-2:5). Also, the Bible offers us the only solution to this dilemma. God foresaw the failure of man and made provision for forgiveness to the repentant and restoration of all that was lost in the garden of Eden (Rom 5:12-21, Rom 6:23, Rom 8:19-23, 1Cor 15:21-26, Rev 22:1-5). He came Himself in the flesh and gave Himself for us (Jn 1:1-14, Jn 14:7-11, 2Cor 5:19, Col 2:9, 1Tim 3:16). When people dare to deny God's existence while at the same time blaming Him for the evil in the world, they are ignoring His longsuffering, His mercy, and His grace. This doesn't mean that God will never judge anyone. We must all give account to Him (Mt 12:36, Rom 14:10-12, 2Cor 5:10. Rev 20:11-15).

There are various kinds of suffering we go through. It can be spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, financial, or circumstantial. God has provided ways to deal with these things. We can find peace of mind (Jn 14:27), stable emotions (Jn 14:1), physical healing (Jam 5:13-19), and financial blessings (Mal 3:8-10, Lk 6:38, 3Jn 2) through our relationship with Him. He also provides in our circumstances (Phil 4:11-13). Sometimes He brings us out of difficult circumstances, and sometimes He gives us the strength to go through them for His purpose (Jn 9:3, 2Cor 12:7-10). Sometimes it is God dealing with us, sometimes it is the devil harassing us, sometimes it is the result our poor decisions, sometimes it just part of living in this fallen world, and sometimes it is more than of these (Job 1-2).

Matthew 4:23-44 is an interesting passage. It says, "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them". There are five different afflictions described in verse 24: diseases, torments, demon possession, lunacy, and palsy. Diseases are various physical infirmities. We can think of them in light of the composition of the word: dis and ease. Torments can mean instruments of torture or acute pains.

Being possessed with a demon is more than being attacked by it. It is being totally under its control. The devil wanted to attack Job, but he had to get God's permission first (Job 1-2). Paul was afflicted by a "messenger of Satan", but instead of delivering him when he prayed, God gave him the grace to endure it (2Cor 12:7-10). God's purpose was to use it to help Paul stay humble. The most dangerous weapon the devil has is not disturbing our earthly circumstances. It is deception (Jn 8;44, 2Thes 2:3-12, Rev 12:9, Rev 20:1-10). Someone who is filled with the Holy Ghost, which is the Spirit of truth (Jn 14:17 &26), need not fear demon possession. There is only room for one tenant in this earthly house (Mt 12:43-45). The problem with the man in Matthew 12 is that after having the demon cast out of him, he did not replace it with receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:4 & 38, Acts 8:12-17, Acts 10;43-48, Acts 19:1-7). He left a vacancy sign hanging on him. Even the demon-possessed man in Gadara was able to find deliverance (Mk 5:1-20). He was possessed by thousands of demons. The demons said they were a legion. A Roman legion was 6,000 foot soldiers and 100 calvary. Yet when Jesus went to where he was, the man ran to Him and worshipped him. Even thousands of demons could not stop the man when he decided to go to Him.

Jesus also healed lunatics. A lunatic could be someone who has a mental health issue. The base meaning of this word is to be moon-struck. In application, it means to be mentally ill. Some say it could mean epilepsy. A man brought his son to Jesus who was lunatic and "ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water (Mt 17:15-18)". The Lord healed him by casting a demon out of him. This shows us that sometimes physical affliction can be accompanied by demon possession. Jesus said the woman that was bowed over for 18 years has a spirit of infirmity and was bound by Satan (Lk 13:11-15). Palsy is translated from the Greek word paralytikos which means paralytic. Thayer's Lexicon says it could also mean "suffering from the relaxing of the nerves of one side". This sounds like a description of a stroke. Exactly what it was is not as important as knowing that Jesus healed it. The centurion's servant was lying at home and grievously tormented by palsy (Mt 8:6), but Jesus healed him. Four men brought someone with palsy who could not walk to Jesus, and He healed him too (Mk 2:1-12).

So, these people had a variety of issues and some of them overlapped spiritually, mentally, and physically. Psalm 103:3 and James 5:13-17 also show this. The Lord has authority and power over all of them, and He has delegated this power to the church (Mk 16:17-20, Acts 3:1-10, Jam 5:13-16, etc.). They were even able to exercise this power before the received the Holy Ghost (Mt 10:1, Lk 10:9 & 17, Acts 2:1-4). Luke 10:19 says, "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you". The word power appears twice in the verse, but it is two different words in the original language. The first one means authority and the second one means ability. No matter what our affliction is, the Lord Jesus Christ has power over them all. The Lord has equipped the church with the power of the Holy Ghost and various spiritual gifts (1Cor 12:4-11) to help people be delivered.