EVIL SPIRITS FROM ‘GOD’ (Part II): Divine Permissiveness

Let’s now turn to a more complicated answer to this question which was asked by brother Sadam in our Annual Bible Reading forum. We need to come to the truth that the evil and evil spirits in our world are not condoned by God but actually permitted by God. Everything good and bad happens in this world and to us under the allowance of the sovereign God we worship. This is what I call Divine Permissiveness.

Divine Permissiveness

While the Jews were primitive in their knowledge of God, it is true that God is all powerful and nothing is literally out of his hands. What Satan does is not organised, prepared, willed and ordained by God but by Satan (John 8:44). However, for Satan to fully exercise his will, it is due to the permissive nature of God.

It matters then that we discriminate between what God does and what he permits. Let’s take an example, in the event reported in Mathew 8:28-34. According to verse 28, the demons have acted as if they are in charge all this long with their victims but they know that their reign is subject to the divine permissiveness. They asked Jesus: ‘Have you come to torment us before the time?’ In other words, they knew that if it wasn’t for the divine permissive-nature, they could not act out their evil.

After these demons are cast out from the people, they are left in space and cannot access any other victim except by permission again. Accordingly, in verse 31, when the devils begged Jesus to let them enter the swine, he said, ‘Go’.  This does not turn God into the patron of evil but rather God is the absolute permission to every being natural and supernatural, conscious and unconscious to act and exercise out its will.

God is not just universal but the entire universe is in him (Genesis 1:1). Therefore, nothing can be exercised in him without his consent. It is because God’s permissive nature that evil is able to express itself. That is why it is incumbent on us beings with a conscience to be careful with divine permissiveness.

God, in his permissiveness, commanded Judas; “what you are about to do, do quickly” (John 13:27). Judas, like many of us who abuse our freedom within the confines of divine permissiveness, never thought twice but betrayed his master and he eventually committed suicide. God’s permissiveness is only dangerous to his guilty prophets and gullible creatures.

I have always told people at our fellowship that; if were God and had a law that says: ‘Thou shalt not commit Adultery’, I would make sure that every man that attempts to violate this law, does not erect at the action time. But thank God am not God, the real God supplies information and lets his creatures exercise their will to the realisation of the fruits of their freedom of choice abilities (Adam & Eve ate the forbidden tree, Samson and the Philistine Women, Ahab and his guilty Prophets, etc.).

When we get to know God more, his natural attributes and how he operates in this sinful world, we wise up and seldom fall victim not just of the devil’s evil but also of the divine permissiveness.  So what we see here is that Satan and his evil spirits take advantage of the divine permissiveness and exercise their will to the fullest. It is not a partnership between God and evil spirits but an opportunistic agent capitalising on the standard nature of God.

One of the truths I want you to part with is that Satan is powerless and purposeless. He is just a scavenger. He feeds on what you have hunted. If you don’t hunt he won’t feed. He is just exercising his evil traits within the freedom of divine permissiveness. Always ensure that you protect yourself from being his (Devil) playground as King Saul did in his desperate times (1Samuel 16:14-15).

As I address the Divine Providence next, I want to remember that the Bible cautions us with these words: Do not make room for the devil. (Ephesians 4:27 NRS)

God bless you and: THINK & UNDERSTAND (2Tim 2:7 NLT)

Pr ITM WHITE

The Gospel Hawker

iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)