Issue of God creating evil (John replies): "Certainly! God is infinite in His divine essence and will, therefore also ubiquitous. However, as the personified God and true Father of His children, He dwells only among His children in the heaven of heavens." 2 (Says Satan): "All right, so you irrevocably acknowledge the ubiquity of God. Then be also good enough to tell me whether God is supremely wise and good and, consequently, all-knowing and all-seeing. And does He, thanks to His supreme wisdom and infinite goodness, always choose the best and most suitable means to achieve His purpose?" 3 (Says John): "Certainly! For God Whose essence is the purest love, can never be anything but supremely good and wise. I already know what you are aiming at, but go on asking. I shall answer every one of your questions." 4 (Satan continues): "Has God created all things in the whole of infinity, or is there any other god who has mixed what you call evil and bad in between the works created by your good God? Or is it possible that the one good God could have created both good and evil?" 5 (Says John): "In the beginning of all existence was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all things were made by Him. This Word Itself became flesh and dwelt among the created flesh, but the darkness did not comprehend It. 6 he Lord Himself came to His own into His property, but His own did not recognize the light, the learned of the world did not recognize the Word, nor the children their eternal, holy Father. For you alone kept all minds captive so as to prevent them at all costs from knowing Him Who from eternity has been, is, and will be, all in all. 7 Since God is the sole Creator of all things and there is nowhere any other god besides Him, it is obvious that whatever originates from Him cannot be anything else but good and perfect.
8 He created all spirits as pure and good as He is Himself. However, He gave the spirits absolute freedom of the will He had instilled into them, enabling them to do whatever they chose. And, in order to teach them how to use these gifts, He gave them simultaneously with the free will laws sanctified by Him, which they were free to observe or not. 9 And they all observed these laws, except for one. This one, who was also the first created and endowed with the greatest light of knowledge, rejected God's laws with his free will and opposed them, disregarding the consequences. 10 Thus, this spirit, with his free will instilled into him by God, reversed the divine order within him; he became opposed to those spirits who had not misused their free will and in himself evil and bad. And then, compelled by his own adverse nature, he had to leave the company of the other spirits and keep at a distance until such time when he will turn back voluntarily and reenter the order the Lord has given to all spirits without exception, namely, the order of love. 11 To God and all of us who are now pure celestial spirits, you, the spirit who became opposed to God's order, are not evil since you cannot ever harm us. Evil and bad you are only against yourself, for while you remain in your opposition, you harm no one but yourself. 12 You tried to set a trap for me, assuming that I would be compelled to say that God had created also evil, considering that you, as an evil spirit, are God's creature too. But, as far as thinking is concerned, I am an eternity ahead of you, well aware of the cunning of your wisdom. Therefore, can only advise you to save yourself the trouble of any further questions with a view to trapping me, for in rivalry with me, you will not ever have a chance to win. 13 I can see it in your mischievous eyes that you would have liked to prove to me at the end of your questions that we have the most impure concept of God, quite unworthy of Him, and that we ourselves would have had to admit the existence of either two Gods - one good and the other evil - or a God of hybrid character and, consequently, a bungler of His works. However, this is not so, but exactly as I have just described to you. 14 "God would, indeed, be imperfect if He had not endowed His created spirits with a completely free will, but instead only with a will under compulsion. However, as for that, you yourself provide the best counter-evidence. The fact that you, although under severe judgment, are in a position to oppose the Creator as long as it suits you, proves only too clearly how free and perfect God has created all spirits, including you. You, too, can with perfect freedom act in accordance with the Lord's will, like all of us. 15 I assure you that there is no other spirit in all the heavens who demonstrates God's infinite perfection more clearly than you! You are, so to speak, the Lord's greatest masterpiece and, therefore, cannot be bungled work where the Lord is concerned. 16 This makes it quite clear that you could never trap me with your absurd opposition, for whatever you know, I have known for a long time. And that is another proof of God's endless perfection, that I - a spirit freed from your substance - am capable of resisting you mightily in all your intentions. (Sunsets to Sunrises, chap. 198) The reason why the Lord allows Satan to do evil(Says Martin): "Is that evildoer still not resting? O Lord, if I had just a spark of Your omnipotence I would attach him forever to some other globe. As long as that evil being is not fettered forever, matters will not improve on the poor globes. 2 Probably Your material creation, O Lord, has already been in existence for some decillions of earth years, or even sun years. 3 And through all those unimaginable aeons, and even prior to that, Satan has existed just as evil as at present. All the endless tribulations and punishments have failed to better him at all and, also in the future, nothing is going to change him for the better. 4 In view of these facts, I think he should be banned forever to some uninhabited globe so that the rest of creation can be left in peace. 5 For if You, O Lord, allow him a certain - even if most restricted - freedom, matters will never improve in the whole of infinity, and we shall always have our hands full with him. 6 Naturally, You, O Lord, see the whole situation much clearer than we do and know why You have so much patience and forbearance with Satan. I have only described this matter from my point of view, and that is what I would do about it. I realize that You will be doing what is right in the light of Your everlasting love and wisdom." 7 (Say I): "My dear son Martin, you speak as your wisdom teaches you, and another one would speak differently again; but he who sees into the depths of My order will speak as I do. 8 What does it matter if this being destroys something, since we can make it whole again? Did you not go through his school on earth, and were you not completely destroyed? And behold, you have been restored for all eternity. 9 Tell Me, does it still worry you how you fared when you were in your state of destruction? You say no, it does not worry you at all. Well, the same will be the case with trillions of others of your kind. 10 Very many are, of course, sick and suffer a lot, but we are able to help them. And when healed, would they still suffer because of their former illness? That is most unlikely, for one whose health has been restored, soon forgets what it was like to be sick, and then he does not often show much pity for the others who are sick and suffering. 11And that is how it is now with you. You have been healed forever and no longer know pain, fear, and terror, as does he who is still very sick. 12Therefore, we healthy and mighty spirits must have a lot of patience with the extremely sick Satan, and that all the more so because he must serve us through his sickness. 13Or do you really think that Satan, who is under compulsion, can do unimpeded as he pleases? There you are very wrong! 14 Satan can do only as much as he is permitted to do. Although his designs are very wicked, he cannot carry them out without My permission. And why I occasionally allow him to carry out his evil designs is still beyond your comprehension at this stage. But when you have gained more experience through the activity of love in all the heavens, many things will become clear to you which, at present, you cannot comprehend. (Sunsets to Sunrises, chap. 189)
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