On Earth as it is in Heaven

I have often heard people ask the question, "If God is so good why did he create the devil?" Often when they ask the question they do so with a smirk as if the question itself somehow disproves God's existence. The answer to the question is simple: God didn't create the devil. God created Lucifer, who was a beautiful angel in heaven who evidently was musically inclined and was in charge of worship of the Lord. He chose to rebel against the Lord through the use of his free will along with a host of other angels. After this point he is referred to as the devil, or Satan (which means adversary), or the evil one, or the enemy, etc. So, Lucifer created the devil, not God.

To have love we must have the freedom to choose it. Love is an act of our will, not our emotions. Where this ability to choose love exists, the ability to choose evil must also exist. God doesn't allow evil, we do, because He gave us "dominion" over the Earth. See, there is a big difference between God being sovereign and God being in control. Just because God is sovereign (supreme; top of the food chain) doesn't mean He is in control of everything that happens on Earth. I am sovereign over my lawn, for example, but if I tell my 6 year old boys to take care of it I will likely end up with a bunch of weeds unless they come to me for instructions. If a person believes God literally controls (or ultimately allows) everything that happens on Earth, they will have a very perverted view of God. This is Satan's #1 goal - making people believe God (who is love) is doing the things that Satan is (who is evil). If God is really in control of everything that happens here, Jesus certainly wouldn't have told us to pray, "Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." In Heaven, God's will is being done. On Earth, not so much. On Earth, God's will is only being done to the degree we are stepping into our identity as His sons & daughters and "ruling over the Earth and subduing it" by establishing the Kingdom of God (Reign, or rule of God) on Earth as it is in Heaven.

"For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed." - Rom. 8:19