Dear Brother,<\/p>\n
I tried searching for an answer from your questions collection for the question: Why God did not destroy Satan and allowed him to live to this date? Can you please clarify?<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n\t
“Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust<\/em>” (James 1:12-14).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
People grow when they overcome difficulties. Thus, coaches push athletes to run, lift weights, and do other miserable things so that they become stronger when the real test comes in the competitions. God pushes us to grow by having us face trials and temptations. Yet, God cannot directly tempt people to sin because it is against His nature, so He allows Satan and his minions to make life difficult for people within the limits God sets. “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it<\/em>” (I Corinthians 10:13).<\/p>\n
We can see this illustrated when Israel was in slavery in Egypt. God allowed a wicked Pharaoh to arise who made the Israelites lives difficult. That caused the Israelites to appeal to God for deliverance, which He did provide, but it also caused all the Israelites to want to leave Egypt when Moses led them out. God also used Pharaoh’s stubbornness to demonstrate His power and God’s reputation then protected the Israelites as they migrated to the land of Canaan.<\/p>\n
Satan’s final end has been declared and it is certain. But in the meantime, God makes use of Satan to cause people to want to leave sin and follow God. Satan’s antics also gives people a choice, so his temptations clarify who really desires God and who don’t care.<\/p>\n\t
Response:<\/h2>\n
Thanks a lot, brother.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Dear Brother, I tried searching for an answer from your questions collection for the question: Why God did not destroy Satan and allowed him to live to this date? Can you please clarify? Thank you. Answer: “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[235,890],"class_list":["post-15233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-satan","tag-testing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19079,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-god-gave-us-free-will-why-is-it-satan-can-still-tempt-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":15233,"position":0},"title":"If God gave us free will, why is it Satan can still tempt us?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Okay, I don't really know how to put this so here goes: If God gave us free will, why is it Satan can still tempt us? Answer: A good question. Free will means that God allows you to make choices in your life. God decided before making the world\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5438,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-satan-the-source-of-all-evil\/","url_meta":{"origin":15233,"position":1},"title":"Is Satan the source of all evil?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hey Mr. Jeffrey, Is every single evil ideology, false teaching and deceptive doctrine that is against God derived in some form or fashion from Satan? I noticed the Spirit says many will follow after the doctrine of demons in I Timothy 4. It got me thinking Answer: Since Satan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18737,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-a-conflict-over-whether-god-tries-men\/","url_meta":{"origin":15233,"position":2},"title":"Is there a conflict over whether God tries men?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The Bible says God tries men in Hebrews 11:17, but James 1:13 says God does not tempt us. Is there a contradiction? Answer: \"By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son\" (Hebrews 11:17). \"Let\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45722,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-all-temptations-come-from-satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":15233,"position":3},"title":"Do all temptations come from Satan?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Although I've read it several times before, I was discussing James 1:13-15 with my mother. In many of your explanations of this verse, you explain that Satan uses our own desires against us to break God's laws. I explained to my mother that our desires lead us into temptations\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9043,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-god-told-satan-to-lie-then-isnt-it-ok-for-us-to-lie\/","url_meta":{"origin":15233,"position":4},"title":"If God told Satan to lie, then isn’t it OK for us to lie?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If the Old Testament, even once, shows us that God told Satan to lie to a woman, would that be OK? If not, better read that book more closely. I'll bet that it shows that very clearly. Once, that should be OK, let's consider the original language, let's dance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7919,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-sin-comes-from-our-thoughts-does-this-mean-there-is-no-satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":15233,"position":5},"title":"Since sin comes from our thoughts, does this mean there is no Satan?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does the following passage mean that there is no Satan or demons that cause men to do evil?: \"He summoned the multitude, and said to them, \"Hear, and understand. That which enters into the mouth doesn't defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}