Why does God allow the world to just get worse? Why Would He allow all this crazy end times stuff?
Even if you understand all the ins and outs of the book of Revelation and Bible prophecy, there’s still one nagging question that may haunt your mind: Why would God let the world go through all this stuff?
This is an intriguing question, and to put your heart at ease, yes, God has a logical reason for allowing the world to go through all the crazy “end time” events that are going to occur. It’s all part of His plan for humanity. To learn the basics of this logical answer, just click play.
It is impossible to figure out God’s plan for humanity by reading your badly mistranslated English Bible. And if you don't understand God's long-term plan for mankind, you won't be able to understand why He's allowing so many problems in this age - including the massive problems and traumatic events that will occur at the end of this age.
Once you translate a few key Greek and Hebrew words in the Bible accurately and sort it all out, you see that God has a plan for the ages (various forms of the word “age” are all over the place in the Bible but you’d never know it because our English translators absurdly translate it as its antonym “forever”). Each age is a stage in God’s educational plan for mankind. Simple.
The general “why?” of Revelation is that what we call “last days” or “end time” events are really just the events of the end of this age – the one we’re in right now. After this, there are two more ages, and then the “consummation”. (See my book Hell Is A Mistranslation for more details.) So the events of the end of this age are really just a transition to the next age – the millennium, when Jesus will rule the earth for a thousand years (see Rev. 20:3-6).
But why do they have to be so drastic and difficult? Why do the last days have to involve so much death and suffering? Doesn’t God love people?
Here’s the answer to that question. Perhaps you’ve noticed that there has been a lot of death and suffering throughout human history. Is that God’s fault? Yes and no. It’s our fault in the sense that we (humanity) are the ones who do most of the stupid stuff that causes the vast majority of the problems in the world.
But it’s God’s "fault" in the sense that before He ever created the world and put us in it, He knew that mankind would do stupid stuff and that it would cause pain. (We know this because the Bible says Jesus is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world – see Rev. 13:8, which means God knew Christ’s sacrifice would be necessary before He even created us.)
Before He even created mankind, God knew He was eventually going to have to allow us to do stupid stuff for a certain period of time, without too much interference on His part. Just like any good parent. If He always controlled us to the point where He never let us “explore the other side”, He would have had to essentially just make us robots, which He didn’t want; He wanted beings made in His image with some semblance of decision-making capacity. But He also knew as soon as He created us, we’d want to use that decision-making capacity, and not always in a smart way!
So God knew He was going to have to let humanity make its own decisions apart from Him for a while to get the stupidity out of our system, just like a father eventually has to let his children make decisions of their own and reap the consequences on their own. That’s how people learn.
Now, religion says that God’s ultimate plan for human beings is to burn and torture most of them for gazillions of years while He parties with a few “smart ones” who happen to be lucky enough to hear the right message and believe it. But that’s not what the (accurately translated) Bible says. As I already mentioned, the Bible says that God has a plan to teach all mankind in stages, to operate the way He designed us to operate – in love and wisdom. Simple.
It’s just that this age/stage we’re in right now is the toughest one. It’s the “being stupid and reaping the consequences” stage. It’s not fun, for us or for God. There’s a lot of pain in this world. Much of the pain we experience is our own fault. But sometimes people experience pain that’s not their own fault at all. That’s part of the lesson mankind must learn – our actions don’t just affect ourselves, they affect others too. The lesson is, only God’s way works.
But in this age, mankind is being allowed to do things every way but God’s way, and see how it works (not very well, obviously). Not only is God allowing humanity to do stupid stuff, He’s also allowing their stupidity to be accelerated and increased by the work of Satan. (Obviously there are some Godly people God has chosen for Himself in this age, who do their best to resist Satan’s evil ways, do things God’s way in their personal lives, and be salt and light to the world, but we won’t win the battle in this age – our victory is primarily in the next age and beyond.)
Now, the antichrist’s reign is going to be the culmination – the ultimate shining example – of man’s governance of himself apart from God. God has to let this happen. Otherwise mankind could turn to God later on at some point, and say, “Hey wait a minute, God, You never let us really try it our way!” Once the reign of the antichrist has happened, God will always be able to “play the videotape” (so to speak) of this age and its antichrist-ruled ending, and say to humanity, “So, how’d that work out for you?”
This is why God is letting the world just get worse and worse, despite the efforts of well-intentioned Christians who are trying to “win the war” in this age. There’s nothing wrong with trying to help people or make the world a better place, but we must understand that God is letting Satan rule the world and handpick its leaders in this age (see Luke 4:5-6). God is letting Satan win in this age, for a good reason! It’s so that humanity will never want to experience it again!
Some may say, “But what about Wormwood (the heavenly body, probably a dwarf star, that will draw near to earth and cause worldwide earthquakes and all sorts of disaster, death, and starvation – see the 6th Seal through the 4th Trumpet of Revelation and my articles about it)? Why does God have to allow so much suffering? Surely He’s in control of the stars and the heavenly bodies, etc. – why doesn’t He stop it and lessen humanity’s suffering?
I’m glad you asked! God certainly controls the motion of the heavenly bodies and He certainly will bring Wormwood close to earth at exactly the right time, to cause all the disasters we read about in the 6th Seal through the 4th Trumpet of Revelation. Why? To get the suffering of this stage/age over with faster.
You see, the elite leaders of this world are already planning a one world government with a “philosopher-king” (a.k.a. the antichrist) at the helm (see Rev. 17:12-13, Luke 4:5-6, and do some research on your own about the power structure of this world, I’m not going to go into proving this here). This is their ultimate dream. They want a public, outward one world government with the ultimate people-control mechanism – a mark on everybody without which no one can buy or sell. (If you don’t believe this is already in planning go to YouTube and search “Russo Rockefeller interview”.)
But Satan and his handpicked elite world leaders have a problem. They know most of the world’s population would hate the idea of a one-world government. Even now the common people are only kept from rebelling because they think they have democracy (the reality is, money rules all, therefore the international banking families who have virtually the exclusive right in all the world to the greatest power in the world – the power to create money out of thin air – rule all).
What I’m saying is, Satan’s elite face a lot of obstacles from the common people in reaching their ultimate goal of a one-world government. For the first time in history, the elite have the technology to institute the mark of the beast, with everybody’s number connected to one central computer. For the first time in history, the communication and travel technology exists to enable the formation of an efficient one-world government. Only the will of the people stands in the way.
God knows this. He knew before He even created mankind that this would be a problem for Satan’s elite at this stage in history. That’s why He wound up Wormwood and set it in motion so that it would draw near earth right about now (see the chapter called The Way of Escape in my book End Times Explained for more details on the possible timing). You see, when Wormwood causes “the end of the world as we know it”, and the water supply is scarce, food is scarce, and there’s a couple of nuclear world wars to boot, mankind will be so desperate for restoration of order, peace, and the food/water supply, that they will be ripe for a “savior” who will step in and say “I’ll fix everything, but I need to form a one-world government to do it”.
Yes, Wormwood will cause great devastation, death, and human suffering, just as many natural disasters throughout history have done, except on a larger scale. Throughout history God has seen fit to allow many natural disasters. He could’ve created a world without them, but He didn’t. Why? Is He a sick, sadistic monster? Of course not. Let me put it to you this way: When all of humanity has been living together in peace, prosperity, love, and harmony for a few million years, do you think any of us is going to care whether we “died early” in this age and missed out on a few years of not-so-easy existence? Do you think a person born blind who lives a difficult life for a measly seventy years in this age, is going to bring a lawsuit against God for allowing Adam to sin and bring pain and suffering into this world? Of course not. At that point we will all see the wisdom God showed in allowing us to work the evil/stupidity/sin (pick your word) out of our system.
When you realize that the pagan doctrine of conscious death is not true and that the Bible simply teaches when you die you’re unconscious, as if you’re sleeping (see Ecc. 9:5 and my article Soul, Spirit, and What Really Happens When You Die in the Hell Mistranslation section of this site), suddenly natural disasters are not such a big deal. Early death just causes people to experience less difficult years in this difficult age. Big deal.
I’m not saying I want people to die. God forbid. I’m saying in the light of God’s ultimate plan, an “early” death in this age is no big deal, just like a 6-year-old missing out on one of her friends’ birthday parties is no big deal in light of her whole life. Is she going to care when she’s 30? No. She probably won’t even remember!
Just like a 6-year-old who cries as if it’s the end of the world when she can’t go to her friend’s party because she misbehaved or because of extenuating circumstances or whatever, we cry as if it’s the end of the world when bad things happen in this age. I’m not saying these things aren’t difficult. I’m not saying pain and suffering in this age shouldn’t break our hearts or that it doesn’t break God’s heart. I’m sure God doesn’t enjoy watching it any more than a father enjoys watching his son make some bad decisions and reap the ugly consequences. I’m just saying it’s a necessary stage in the education of mankind, and God lets it run it’s course for a reason.
The massive pain and suffering in the world is actually part of the lesson that “sin/stupidity/hurts everybody”. (The vast majority of it is totally unnecessary – if the world were run by benevolent people instead of Satan’s handpicked creeps, there would be virtually no problems in the world.) But what about natural disasters?
I personally believe God created a world where natural disasters do happen sometimes (there are natural reasons for these disasters, and God obviously built the world in such a way where they happen sometimes though not often) for a reason – so that people will have more of a chance to turn their hearts toward the big questions of life, such as “Why?” and perchance seek Him.
This may sound sadistic to many people, but remember, death is a painless, peaceful state – probably much easier than staying alive in this age! – and suffering for a while here on earth means little in the light of the millions upon millions upon millions of years we’ll live together in perfect happiness with no problems once we all learn our lessons. The fact that most people don’t seek God or turn away from their football games or think beyond their next meal, even despite the occasional natural disaster which begs the question “Why?”, is just another lesson that mankind will learn which God will point out to them later on.
I imagine God might say to mankind something like, “You had every chance to seek me. All sorts of things happened to try to snap you out of your non-God-seeking-stupor, but you never snapped out of it. So you see that no man can boast. Every person needs My grace. Even those that did seek Me only did so by My grace and My choosing (see Eph. 1:4). I loved you from the foundation of the world, even before I created you, which is why I provided My Son to fix things for you. I love you. Now have you learned your lesson?”
So you see that Wormwood, just like all other natural disasters throughout history, is allowed by God for a purpose which can only be understood by looking at the grand scheme of things - the long view, God’s long-term plan for humanity. And beyond this, Wormwood in particular will be brought near to earth at the exact right time to allow the antichrist to arise and make most of humanity putty in his hands. (See my article on Planet X/Wormwood).
Wormwood will be an accelerator to get this painful age over with quickly, when the time is right. If God didn’t send Wormwood, we might have to suffer through many more decades or even centuries of exploitative rulership by Satan’s handpicked leaders before they would succeed at bringing in their one-world government, the mark of the beast, etc. Wormwood will speed the whole thing up and get it over with. In the grand scheme of God’s plan, it is a merciful accelerator to get this painful age over with much faster than would otherwise be possible.
So that covers the “Why?” of the first two big events of the “end times” – Wormwood and the rise of the antichrist. But what about the 3rd big event of the end times, the 7 Bowls of God’s wrath poured out on earth (after the rapture, see my Revelation Timeline)?
Well, this only lasts about two weeks (actually 10 days, see my article on the #2 Little-Known Secret to Understanding the Book of Revelation). This short outpouring of God’s wrath is the equivalent of a spanking for the ungodly people still left alive on earth who refuse to turn to God even though His displeasure is obvious at this point in history.
One more thing many people wonder about the end times is “Why would God allow His people to go through the tribulation (Wormwood, the wars, the rise and persecution of the antichrist, etc.)?” (I humbly request you read Matthew 24:26-32 and my articles on the Rapture if you think the rapture is pre-tribulation. Please note, the tribulation and God’s wrath are two completely different things.)
First of all let me say that God will provide a way of escape from the effects of the tribulation for those few believers who heed His instructions as outlined in the Word (see my soon-to-be-released resource End Times Explained - more info below). But most believers will go through the tribulation. Why would God allow this?
Well, think about it – many believers will be martyred during the tribulation (and will get their reward from God for it). But there are some believers who will live right up to the moment of the rapture. These believers are the only human beings who will never experience death. There is a work God has to do in a person before He allows them to get their immortal body – before He can trust them with immortality. Much of the work will be done supernaturally by Him, but much of it also has to be done through learning and experience. Experiencing death (which the vast majority of humanity will experience, most of them twice, see Rev. 20:6), although death is an unconscious state, seems to be an extremely powerful lesson for human beings.
This is why God will make sure most people experience death once more, even after they believe and acknowledge God’s way is best. Most Christians who believe in this age will die before being given immortal bodies at the rapture. And unbelievers in this age, even after they confess and bow before Christ at the white throne judgment (see Philippians 2:10-11 and my article The Plan of God For Humanity) will experience death one more time after they believe and are judged/corrected by God. Why does God do it this way?
It must be because death, as the natural consequence of sin (Rom. 6:23), though it is painless, is still an extremely powerful lesson to those who experience it. It’s almost as if God says (just like a father might say), “I know you’re sorry, but I can’t take away all the consequences of what you did immediately. This consequence will help you learn your lesson.”
Now, the only people who will never experience death are those Christians who are alive at the rapture. God somehow has to teach them the lesson that death would normally teach, and qualify/judge/test/correct them, but in another way, so He can trust them with immortality. Those believers who hold on to their faith through the tribulation (the greatest worldwide persecution of believers the world has ever seen or ever will see) without becoming part of the “great falling away from the faith” Paul spoke of in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, will have demonstrated that by God’s grace their character is developed to the point where they can be trusted with immortality despite never having experienced the vivid “death lesson”.
And of course, those Christians who are wise and mature enough to discern and obey God’s escape instructions for the end times and thus escape the effects of the tribulation, by the very fact that they are part of the tiny minority of believers who have done so, will have demonstrated that God’s grace has worked in their life to the same degree or more than those who didn’t escape but held on to the faith anyway.
The bottom line is, no one will ever be able to say to God, “How can You trust these people who never experienced the natural and just consequence of their sins (death)?” The very fact that they either went through the tribulation without losing their faith, or had the wisdom to see it coming and to discern God’s escape instructions beforehand, shows that these are ready to experience immortality without ever having experienced death.
Please realize, this is not because these people are inherently better than anyone else – rather it’s because God’s grace has worked in them in a great way. Everything we have is of God, and no man can boast (Eph. 1:4, 2:8-10).
So we see that, as always, God has a logical reason for everything He does.
I believe I’ve given you the answers to the biggest “Why?” questions that come to mind when thinking about the book of Revelation and the end times.
For a complete Scriptural explanation of the “Why?” of human history, see my book Hell Is A Mistranslation.
Thanks for reading.
- Marc Speed
My book End Times Explained will include:
* 7 Little-Known Keys To Understanding the Book of Revelation
* An easy-to-understand Revelation Timeline in “this will happen, then this…” story form – a logically provable explanation of virtually every passage in Revelation
* The secret to understanding the non-chronological “Interludes” at key points in Revelation, WHY God included them – and each “Interlude” explained
* Why God will allow the crazy events of the end times to occur
* The rarely talked about Old Testament passage that reveals how and why God sent the “4 Horsemen” of Revelation
* The watershed event that will be known as “the end of the world as we know it”
* The rapture found in Revelation (you’ll be amazed you couldn’t see it all along!)
* Learn why according to the book of Revelation a “2012 Planet X Conspiracy” isn’t too far from the truth
* What the modern economy has to do with Revelation, and how its leaders are already planning the mark of the beast
* The most likely living candidate for the antichrist – a man that fits more literal Biblical criteria for the antichrist than any man in history (and no, it’s not Obama!)
* The shocking DUAL identity of Mystery Babylon – proven with logic and common sense from the Scriptures
* Why “aliens” will be a part of the great end times deception – and where they may be revealed in the Book of Revelation
* What to watch for, what to do, and where to go (when the time is right) – the Bible’s instructions for wise end-time believers
* Packed full of unique insights you won’t hear anywhere else
Click on the books below to find out more about End Times Explained and Hell Is A Mistranslation, which together explain both the near-term and long-term future of the human race.
The WHY? of Revelation Explained Copyright 2010 Marc Speed