DiscipleDave said
Why would the enemy have a need to test anyone? It is the enemies goal to keep us in sin, to keep us in anger, to keep us in porn, to keep us in jealousy, to keep us lusting, to keep us fighting, to keep us hating each other.
What? Can God prevent bad things from happening to people? Sure He can, He is God. But He does allow bad things to happen, if you don't believe that then read the Book of Job. We are put in situations because God desires to test us to see how we respond to that situation.
Know you not that satan has no power at all. It is God that allows satan to do what he does. satan does not test us, he can care less about us, and if it were up to him, he would just kill every soul that is living in sin right this second. But it is God that does not allow satan to take lives.
satan fills a person to start a lie about you, and in a few weeks, that lie, that false rumor has cost you your job. Tell me, Did God know that you were going to lose that job because of a false rumor? Sure He knew. Could God have prevented it from ever happening? Sure He could He is God. But guess what. God allowed satan to do what he did, God allowed the rumor to get started, God allowed that person to get fired because of that false rumor. WHY? Because God wanted to see how that person would handle that situation, would that person curse God, would that person FAIL to LOVE the one who started the rumor, would that person turn away from God because they lose their job? Would that person have Faith that God may have something better for them? Will that person worry because they have no job or Trust God? God allows satan to do what he does to TEST us, to see how we will respond to the TESTS.
We see Scriptural proof of this testing. When Abraham was told to sacrifice his son, notice what God says to Abraham
Gen_22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
So it was a TEST for Abraham, and God wanted to see if he would do it or not, that is why God says NOW I KNOW, this indicating that He did not know before that point. Free Will was given to us by God. Please read the article
Does God Know Everything to better understand that topic.
my point is satan does not test us, he has no reason to test us, his only goal is to keep us sinning. he does that through false doctrines, false teachings, and false beliefs. God does test us.
Act_14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
Rom_2:9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
Rom_5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
1Th_3:4 For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.
satan can do nothing at all without God having knowledge and/or approval of it. So then any evil thing that happens to a person, it is because God has knowledge of it, and/or approves it.
If you would have read the article
The Meaning of Life
You would not believe it is satan that is testing us.
^i^ Responding to post number 8