How do you know? How do you know it is not God. Is not Jesus God? I don't know how you could possibly tell from your point of view. I'm not sure why you ignore the SOP, for if you did not, you would easily tell.

Amen, Mountain Man.
Let us remember the words of Paul:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."
Galations 5:22-23

If we have passion, but no Fruit, we do not belong to Christ!
What good is it to win the argument, yet lose your soul?

Mountain Man, I agree that Jesus allows or limits evil angels destructive powers.
This gives rise to two questions: why does Jesus either allow or limit demonic power, and how do evil angels accomplish their foul manipulations?

I believe that the book of Job gives us some major clues as to what is happening: this planet is a courtroom; Satan is the prosecutor; Jesus is the defense council; Humanity is the evidence; all unfallen beings throughout the universe are the jurors; and God is on trail.

If God allows Satan too much power, then the Earth will be swiftly destroyed and no one will be saved. On the other hand, if God limits Satan too much, the Devil will not be able to make enough of a case to show the contrast between the opposing views of the prosecution and defense councils.

How God arrives at the proper balance between permission and restraint only He knows.
It is sufficient for us to comprehend His motives.

As for the second question: God occasionally works through miraculous means, but for the most part, He uses people. So it is with Satan. Since, he was the highest of the angelic host, second only to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we must assume that his understanding of physics, ecology, hydrology, seismology, meteorology etc. is surpassed only by God.

With this in mind, it is perfectly plausible that given Devine permission, he is capable of manipulating the physical functioning of the Earth and its concomitant systems. The requirement then is gaining permission to do so.

Since Adam and his descendents were granted dominion over the Earth, the Devil's first step would be to obtain their acquiescence. He can then say to the watching universe: "Humanity has accepted this course. Therefore, if God does not allow it, He is unjust!"

Lets examine one among the numerous examples of this process in action:

"Amid substantial public opposition, Japan on Tuesday restarted one of more than 40 atomic reactors that were taken out of service in wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Kyushu Electric Power Co. said it had restarted the No. 1 reactor at its Sendai plant in Kagoshima prefecture"

Sci-Tech Today


Fukushima is still spewing life devouring radiation into the Pacific, and the Japanese leadership is already green lighting nuclear reactor restarts! Japan is located on one of the most active geological sites on the entire Pacific Rim of Fire. This makes it a target for numerous earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis. It is also, extremely vulnerable to huge Pacific typhoons.
(Both God and Satan know what the logical conclusion of this scenario will be)

Since Fukushima, "...Japan has had to make up for that lost generating capacity largely by burning coal and natural gas. Japan, which has little fossil fuel of its own, must import that material, and power costs have risen substantially for businesses and households. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who came to power in late 2012, says Japan needs nuclear power and can operate plants safely. Utility companies have suffered and Japan's trade deficit has risen. That has complicated Abe's efforts to improve the economy."

ibid.


Could Japan survive without nuclear power generation? Yes! Would it be more expensive, monetarily? Yes!
(Satan working through human leaders to destroy lives and the planet)

"For the love of money is the root of all evil".
1Timothy 6:10

" 'Japan's big business association is under the strong influence of the nuclear power lobby, and it has long demanded that the government restart the plants as soon as possible,' said Koichi Nakano, a professor of Japanese politics at Sophia University in Tokyo. This lobby 'is very well represented among the power elite behind Abe's government, so it has long thought that if this government cannot resume nuclear power generation, no other government can.' "

ibid.

Much of Prime Minister Abe's campaigne funding came from the "power elite", who have a financial interest in restarting Japan's nuclear reactors.
(Being a master of human psychology, Satan knows exactly how to manipulate us into helping him to destroy ourselves and the planet)

"For the love of money is the root of all evil".
1Timothy 6:10


"...not everyone is convinced the NRA's (Japanese, Nuclear Regulation Authority) new measures are sufficient. Others have complained, for example, that the NRA approved a management plan for the Kyushu plant even though its operator had not finished conducting some earthquake stress tests on some aging equipment, and some documents were incomplete. Others say evacuation plans and other emergency measures are still inadequate."

" 'The new so-called strict guidelines do not meet global standards and focus on hardware, whereas the main lesson of Fukushima is that human error was a major factor contributing to the meltdowns," said Jeffrey Kingston, a professor at Temple University and author of "Contemporary Japan.' 'This means much better training and nurturing a culture of safety, but it is clear that these significant risks remain unaddressed in the rush to restart. Yet again corners are being cut and public safety is being risked to help the bottom line.' "

ibid.

(Satan working through people: his deceptions convince those in charge of safety that the "bottom line" is of more import than human lives and the planet)


"For the love of money is the root of all evil".
1Timothy 6:10

As God unites with humanity for our salvation, so Satan unites with humanity to accomplish our destruction.

For instance, if Satan, with his supernatural knowledge of hydrology, meteorology, and volcanology, knew that a huge increase in volcanic activity was releasing greenhouse gases in amounts nearly fatal to the Earth's weather and ecosystems: would he not work mightily to influence leaders around the world? Would he not dangle massive amounts of money in front of their eyes and blind them to the consequences of their greed? Would he not, as he did with Eve in the Garden, mingle truth with a lie and convince them that global warming is a completely natural phenomena. Knowing full well that nature was at its tipping point and just one more feather-light straw would crush the spine of the Earth?

What is Satan's plan for humanity?

Just a few thousand more coal burning generators, a few hundred million more cars, a few million less hectares of forest, and we will all be "rich and in need of nothing", while billions of unsaved souls slowly starve to death on a dead planet that once bore the image of God's Perfect Love...

Prodigal One, thank you for sharing. Great insights. I am thankful Jesus is in control. I am glad He manages the outcome of our choices. I am happy He leaves nothing to fate, chance, natural law, evil men, or evil angels. I am grateful He works to ensure nothing and no one exceeds the limits He sets.

APL, please answer my question.

I suppose it doesn't matter to you really whether Jesus allowed or caused damage. And that's why you see no need to answer the question of how do you determine whether Satan causes harm or Jesus does.

But then, how can you be so sure Jesus allowed the storm to hit rather than caused it?

But then, how can you be so sure Jesus allowed the fallout to blow around the world rather than caused it to blow?

But then, how can you be so sure Jesus allowed the fallout to kill the life in the ocean rather than killing it Himself?


I believe the results of Fukushima are going to cause people to blame global warming on them. I believe Fukushima is playing a major part of the end of the world. But global warming will be blamed, and people will pat themselves on the back for changing their lightbulbs and think they are helping.

How do you know, given your idea about the character of God, that He didn't cause men to choose a poor place, cause the storm to blow, cause poor planning or a lack of a plan, and then just arbitrarily kill the animals to promote Sunday laws?


Or are you saying, it makes no difference?

What have they got to lose? They're toast anyway, just as well make some money on the way down.

But what about the rest of us? They had no problem in producing toys with lead paint. Can you imagine how they dispose of contaminated materials? Spread the pain.

There should be an absolute ban on Japanese imports to any other country!

Again, it doesn't really matter if Jesus Himself is employing the forces of nature to cause the death, disease, and disasters people blame on global warming or if He commands holy angels to do it or if He permits evil angels to do it - the results are the same, namely, Jesus is in control of the outcome of the Great Controversy. He manages the consequences of our choices in ways that ensure things play out according to His will. He does not sit back and permit evil men and evil angels to manipulate things however they see fit. Jesus does not make people make bad decisions. They are free to think and act as they choose. However, Jesus is free to manage the outcome of their thoughts and actions ensuring things play out according to His will. For example, Jesus is free to intervene and prevent man-made disasters. He could have prevented 911. He could have prevented Fukushima. But for reasons that make sense to Jesus He chose to allow things to play out the way they did. More than that, He worked to ensure they did not play out some other way. He leaves nothing to fate, chance, natural law, evil men, or evil angels.

1) "Since the Flood, fire as well as water has been God's agent to destroy very wicked cities."
2) "The same destructive power exercised by holy angels when God commands, will be exercised by evil angels when He permits."

Kland, I have answered your question. Now, please answer mine.

Why does Jesus withdraw His protection and permit evil men and evil angels to cause death, disease, and disaster? Why doesn't He intervene and prevent it?