No, it's not "love me or I'll kill you." But it's "obey and live or transgress and die." "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

God will not force our love. He will not force our obedience.

But if we do not love Him, He will destroy us as the most merciful thing He could do.

By his power he [Satan] had controlled cities and nations until their sin provoked the wrath of God to destroy them by fire, water, earthquakes, sword, famine, and pestilence.

While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast. "The earth mourneth and fadeth away," "the haughty people . . . do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant." Isaiah 24:4-5. {GC 589.3}

Arnold, I asked why Ellen White wrote those words. Do you have an answer to that question?

Sure.

"By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he had uprooted himself from the sympathies of the heavenly beings."

She wrote it because it is true. Even though Satan didn't press the crown of thorns on His head, he is held responsible for shedding His blood. Even though Satan didn't flog Him, he is held responsible for shedding His blood. Even though Satan didn't nail Him to the tree, he is held responsible for shedding His blood. Even though Satan didn't pierce His side, he is held responsible for shedding His blood. Thus, he lost any vestige of sympathy the heavenly beings might have had for him, because they held him responsible.

Some might complain, "That can't be true. The Bible says the Romans crucified Christ. Now you're saying Satan killed Him. You keep changing your story. Which is it?"

It is sad that there are still those who cannot see that one does not have to perform an act directly in order to be responsible for it. If they saw things as clearly as the heavenly beings do, there wouldn't be confusion on this point. They would do better to trust the inspired word than their own feelings and opinions.

Now, your turn. Do you believe that it was Satan's will and by his power that Jesus died? Do you believe that God could not prevent Christ's death? One more bonus question: Can God prevent Satan from immediately dying, even though Satan has separated himself irrevocably from God long ago?

I wonder how the old-school, Bible-reading, EGW-believing Adventists answer these questions. I've only been a member for a quarter of a century. I like to hear the old-timers' point of view. Thanks.

Now, your turn. Do you believe that it was Satan's will and by his power that Jesus died?

Do you believe that God could not prevent Christ's death?

One more bonus question: Can God prevent Satan from immediately dying, even though Satan has separated himself irrevocably from God long ago?

Good for you! I still do not understand why you were so reluctant and came with counter questions which seemed to indicate you did not believe the quotation.

The point here is that he was responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. So often we hear our neighbors blaming God for calamities, sickness and death. God is not responsible for any calamity or death. Satan is the one who rejected God and thereby disconnected his connection with the only source of life in the universe, and his way became the way of death from the beginning.

Yes, it was the will of Satan that Jesus should die because he hates God and His Son. There is no such thing as a power to die, it is caused by the lack of the power which comes from the Life Giver.



I will answer this with a question: Do you believe that God is almighty or not? That should give you the answer.



Here the answer it the same as to the previous question. Either you believe in an everlasting and almighty God or you don't. Why do you question His abilities?

I will answer this with a question: Do you believe that God is almighty or not? That should give you the answer.

Here the answer it the same as to the previous question. Either you believe in an everlasting and almighty God or you don't. Why do you question His abilities?

But if almighty God could sustain the life of the most evil being there is, certainly He could have done that with the Israelites during their exodus to Canaan. Don't you agree?

No problem, Arnold

From the beginning it has been Satan's studied plan to cause men to forget God, that he might secure them to himself. Hence he has sought to misrepresent the character of God, to lead men to cherish a false conception of Him. The Creator has been presented to their minds as clothed with the attributes of the prince of evil himself,--as arbitrary, severe, and unforgiving,--that He might be feared, shunned, and even hated by men. Satan hoped to so confuse the minds of those whom he had deceived that they would put God out of their knowledge. Then he would obliterate the divine image in man and impress his own likeness upon the soul; he would imbue men with his own spirit and make them captives according to his will. {5T 738.1}