If God Loves Us, Why Is There So Much Suffering In The World? - A Sermon By Elise Beatrice

TRANSCRIPT

If God Loves Us, Why Is There So Much Suffering In The World?

A Sermon By Elise Beatrice - Thursday, June 26, 2025

So, we love You, God, and we bless You, and we thank You.

Please, teach us, as always, and help us. And forgive us for the things we may not do, Lord, in oblivion.

We love You, and we don’t mean to sin against You.

Forgive us, Lord, for every time we wrong You in our lives.

Thank You that You have transformed us, and some of us truly no longer practise sin. And I pray for all people to come to that level

where they’re so sensitive to sin that they hate every bit of it and can’t stand it to the point that they have to examine themselves daily just to make sure there is not a single thing in them that is upsetting You, Lord, Father God. So yes, we love You, God, and we bless You, and we thank You.

Thank You for everyone’s attention and for Your great presence and Your Holy Spirit. In Your Holy Name, Lord Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Our Lord Jesus has spoken in Matthew 5:21-26,

Matthew 5:21–26

21 “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ 22 But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.

23 “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24 leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

25 “When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny.”

Yes, these are the teachings of Christ Jesus. As I have understood, when people say, “Why is there so much suffering in the world? If God is love, why is there so much suffering in the world?

There is so much suffering in the world because of disobedience to God. Of course, if the Lord points to us, “Beware, there is darkness,” and people still walk into darkness, they’ll be drowned by that darkness.

If the Lord points to us, “Beware, there is fire,” and people still rush into the fire for what they want, of course, they will be burned by that fire.

If the Lord says, “Beware, there are deeds of darkness all over, the teachings of demons and their deeds of darkness, do not associate with them, do not touch those filthy things!” But then, when people hear it, they ignore it and still go and embrace them; of course, they will suffer. They will suffer the consequences, not because of God, but because the darkness comes with a curse: it comes with illnesses, it comes with irritation, with frustration, with evil spirits polluting people’s bodies.

If every single person had listened to the Lord Jesus, if they had even listened to the Commandment that says, “Love your neighbour as yourself,” the devil’s deeds of darkness and his evilness would not have spread all over the earth and cause damage and suffering in all places.

“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder.”

And this is also God’s Commandment number six, “Thou shall not murder.”

Yes, the Lord, the Son of God, is bringing us now to understand that, besides the physical murder, there are also other wrong things we can do that are still considered by God as murder.

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who commits murder will be subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment!”

What is anger? If it is unrighteous anger, that emotion is stirred up by resentment, hatred, and more. And the Lord also said, “If we hate someone, it’s like we have murdered them in our heart.”

So, if we were listening to the Lord Jesus Christ, if an individual was listening to the Lord Jesus Christ, at least each one would strive to behave and not to seek to hurt their neighbour. For when we see the suffering of this earth, who caused it?

Injustice, corruption, deception, lies, bullies, gangsters, illegality, and any other sin. All this immorality, that is what causes the suffering on this earth, because people have turned away from God, and have opted for disobedience, rebellion and immorality over obedience to God, morality, and over righteousness.

What are the implications of having a burst of anger, of hating people and God? Those sinful emotions and actions are not Love. The opposite of love is hate. Love comes from God, but hatred comes from demons. Satan is the hater, he’s the rebellious one, he’s the liar, he’s the gangster, he is the murderer, he’s the bully of all bullies, the terrorist, the oppressor, he is injustice, corruption, the deception, the rapist, peodophile, the sexually immoral, the idolator, the thief, and the one behind any kind of sin. He has his kingdom of darkness, where he conditions people’s minds, leading them to hell. He has unrighteous anger and bitterness because he knows he will never prevail over God. For this, he seeks to drag as many people down with him as possible. He is bitter, especially now in this broken generation, for he knows that his time is short.

Satan is a being with over a hundred evil names. Every crime of any kind on this earth, every sin; he is the author of it; he is the one behind every evil action and behaviour.

So, when we don’t listen to the Lord Jesus, who is the One, who is the God of many beautiful names, we are teaming up with satan in the battle between good and evil to fight against the Hero, Jesus.

Every single good thing that exists on this earth belongs to God. It is the Character of God. He created us all in His image, meaning the image of God, that is good, in humans.

The image of God is the good side of all humans.

But most humans often let the practice of sin destroy that image of God in themselves to the point that they have become pure evil. When remaining on the evil side in the battle between good and evil, God’s image in each human can’t save them from the darkness and hell if they choose to remain on the evil side, teaming up with satan by welcoming his deeds of darkness.

So, we are in that battle between good and evil, and we can very well see around us what ‘evil’ is, what ‘right’ is and what ‘wrong’ is. But many still choose to do wrong things for what they want, for their own will. But by doing this, they are making themselves available to become the channels of satan, through which he damages humans, and their souls, out of bitterness, greed, envy, out of hatred, because he is out to drag as many people down with him as possible. And this is to get back at God, for he knows he will never prevail over God.

So, while he is lying to the whole population that he is the one who will rule, he knows and his demons know that will never come true, for no one can overcome the Lord God. No human, no demon, no satan, can prevail over God, and that is the truth that even demons cannot bear. They won’t ever go and tell the truth to humans, for they want humans to be deceived, and that is why they hide the truth from them.

But the Lord is in the midst of it, continuously pleading to all who want to hear, “I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to Judgement. If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court, and if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fire of hell.”

Do people even care about this when they hear this? Most people don’t, but I do care, and there are millions of people out there who care when they hear this.

“If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court.”

These are the very words of Christ Himself. You may say, “It’s just a word; it’s just a joke.” But what are the implications of calling people idiots? ‘Many have stated that Christians are the biggest idiots in the world.’

Do you even know what many believers go through from hearing such name-calling to the point that some are afraid to express their faith?

But are the Christians the biggest idiots in the world? No. But instead, the Christians who listen to the Lord Jesus Christ are the greatest blessing the Lord put in this world, as His channels, so that through them, He can save His creation from the darkness and hell, if they listen to the truth.

An idiot? This word had been put in the mouths of many to insult each other, oppress each other, bully many, and those are all sinful. And though you may think, “It’s just a word,” it did not come from the right place. The one who is standing there and calling another one an idiot; there is an evil spirit who wants them to use exactly the words that the Lord Jesus wants them not to use. Because demons are the opposition to good.

If Christ says, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Demons will say, “What do you care about your neighbour? Who is he to you? They’re not even your brother; they’re not even your mother - Well, even your mother and your brother are part of the neighbours.

If Christ says, “Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” the devil says, “Hate God; it is your life, you can do whatever you want, you don’t have to be a slave of God. But then, he deceives those same people into becoming his slaves. Some people keep on saying, "We don't want to be a slave of God." But they find no problem being a slave of satan and demons. And many humans listen to this.

In this battle between good and evil we’re in - many don’t know they’re in the battle between good and evil, but that is the truth, - Christ, the Hero, is there speaking how the things should be, but the devil, who is the villain, is also there in the midst of it, teaching people the opposite of the moral teaching, the opposite of the good teachings. The Lord says, “Love one another.” And the devil says, “Hate.” The Lord says, “Forgive.” And the devil says, “Don’t forgive, they just hurt you. Forgiveness is for cowards.” The Lord says, “Don’t hold a grudge.” And the devil says, “What? You have to hold a grudge until he pays for what he did to you. You must unite in evil to fight this.”

The Lord says, “Unite in good, and live in perfect harmony, as one..., as He prayed in John 17.” However, satan with his evil spirits of division are all there to separate families and cause them to quarrel, and to cause friends to hate one another.

The Lord says, “Do not touch the filthy things; the deeds of the darkness.” And the demons bring people to be addicted to those things, saying to them, “I’ll give you those deeds, they’re good; God does not want you to enjoy yourself, you have to have fun, you have to have life, you have to have this.” And he promises them all those things that are evil and demonic. Of course, many humans listen to that for convenience. They have this attitude, “What is in it for me?” “Oh, convenience, you’ll have what you want. Of course.” “Well, if I’m going to have something for myself, then I’ll go for those things.”

And if the Lord says, “Do not bow down to a graven image, do not worship idols.” The devil will say, “Well, there’s more than one God; you can even be god yourself. You can be whatever you want.”

Please note:

Since the God of Love, of Heaven and the Earth, the Creator of all things and beings, declares Himself to be the One True God, that makes all the other gods false. This means that they are all inventions of satan to keep people away from the One True God.

The devil is using many to cause damage and suffering and pain to billions of people.

God uses humans to bless others and to rescue them from the darkness, to help others to be built up, to be encouraged, to be loved and to love and to forgive.

Why does the Lord want us to love even our human enemy?

This is to prevent us from being the same as those enemies by inflicting back on them the pain they inflicted on us. This is to prevent us from promoting evil and from spreading the suffering, from serving satan, and from inviting into our bodies those same demons, who turned those human enemies into wicked people, to also turn us into wicked people.

So if someone hurt us, we pray for them and let the Lord heal us from the pain they caused us, so that we don’t pass their hatred forward by hurting other people or by hurting the same people back. But many who don’t know God, who don’t listen to God, someone hurt them, and they go and hurt them back. If you hurt their sister, they even go and hurt their brothers and sisters just to get back at them. You give them a small hurt, they bring you a bigger hurt. You’re even kind to some, and they hurt you for caring. You do good, obey the Lord Jesus, and some people hate you for it. And that is to spread the work of demons, even without realising it.

That is why this world is filled with suffering, because many humans opted to listen to demons, whom they do not see, yet they’re there, because their behaviour and their lifestyles reflect the character of evil spirits. We may not see them, but we see the result of their presence among humans, the consequences of listening to them reflecting in our own lives, in our behaviour. The same way as we see the result of listening to God reflecting in our behaviour.

When a human is punching you with his fist, or shooting you with a gun, you might as well visualise satan as the one with the gun. They just need the hands of humans to do it, just as they need the mouth of humans to pollute the earth with their insults, immorality and vulgarity.

So, since many humans are continuously inflicting pain on others and hating others, whoever you perceive as your enemy, someone who is against you - someone, obviously, who hates you, is being an enemy to you - but if you perceive that someone as an enemy, you should pray for that person. You don’t associate with them in their evilness, you don’t associate with their sins, and with their deeds, you don’t seek to become their friends if they are in the darkness, and want to be there, but at least, by praying for them, you are not spreading their hurt, you are not passing their sins forward.

A way to stop suffering on this earth is for humans to start obeying God. But since not all humans want suffering to end, for they have grown to love demons’ deeds of darkness, our only hope is The Lord Jesus Christ, who is coming again to end all evil.

Those who begin to obey God, fear the Lord, and turn from their own ways; they now begin to bless people instead of cursing them, to love people instead of hating them, to forgive people instead of holding a grudge. They now begin to really love someone because now they understand the love of God and the consequences of hating people, and who is indeed behind all kinds of hatred.

So, calling someone an idiot is not the way of God. That is a word from an evil spirit to make people feel useless about themselves. It is not just about a word, but the implications behind that word and what it leads to.

Make peace before you come to the altar before the Lord.

The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 18:15,

Matthew 18:15

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell them their fault, between you and them alone. If they listen to you, you have gained your brother.”

Bother here does not only mean your siblings, but also another believer or your neighbour, whom you know.

However, many people get upset for days with the other one. Yet the other person might not even be aware of what they have done. Then, you should go and speak to them. Maybe they did not realise that they hurt you, and you’re carrying this bitterness in your heart for days. So, if we were all listening to the Lord Jesus Christ, to the words of God, there would not be so much evil and suffering in this world.

Many humans take years before they can listen. And, in the meantime, during those years, when they’re not listening, they are causing a lot of damage to many people, either by insulting or just causing them to have sleepless nights without even realising what they’re doing. So we are continuously on this earth hurting each other daily, and demons are playing with us, using many humans against others.

The Bible says also in Ephesians 6:12,

Ephesians 6:12

“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

This is the truth, we know this now, and we have seen it happening in our own lives, time and time again. And if we truly are listening to the Lord, we should begin to pay attention to the words He speaks, to the words His prophets have spoken, to the words His Apostles have spoken, to the words of the Holy Spirit, Who is the One helping all the prophets of God to speak the truth, and all the Apostles, and even all the faithful servants of the Lord today. For we either listen to the Holy Spirit or to the evil spirits, to the Lord Jesus or to satan. But I choose to listen to the Holy Spirit, to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus continued in Matthew 5:22, saying,

Matthew 5:22

“And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”

You think it’s just a curse? But you curse someone, and they drop dead.

Because, as the Bible says in Proverbs 18:21, “The power of death is on the tongue.”

Proverbs 18:21

When you’re cursing someone with words, the devil might indeed come and inflict on them what you are cursing them with, if they don’t have the Lord Jesus’ protection due to their practice of sins. So, if you curse someone with death, they might just drop dead. It would not be God who has killed them, but satan, whose words you have summoned upon them.

But thank God that many have God in their lives, like I have God in my life. Somebody may curse me with whatever kind of words, but it won’t touch me because God defends the innocent. But those who don’t have God’s protection due to unrepented sins, somebody may curse them with evil words, and those demons can actually manage to strike them dead. So, while you’re just looking at the word, you must understand that there are always big consequences behind the words that we speak. That is why the Lord said, “If you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”But this is, of course, if you do not repent and let go of those ways, and you keep on using those ways until you die in your sins. But if anyone turns from those ways, the Lord is gracious to forgive them and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness.

So, there is a way out. You don’t have to live in the darkness and use the ways of the devil and demons. The Lord Jesus Christ can save you from the darkness if you let Him. He continuously saves those who truly want to be saved. If you genuinely turn from your ways and begin to listen to Him, you will soon testify the passage below to be true.

“Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God” (Ephesians 2:1-2).

Ephesians 2:1–2

So, coming back to what the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 5:23, when we do exactly what He says, and when we go to present a sacrifice at the altar, whether it is to give an offering or to donate something, God welcomes that, because what we give with no sin in the way, God is pleased to receive it, and God is pleased to bless us.

Matthew 5:23

The Lord Jesus continues in Verse 25, saying,

25 “When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny.”

This is to encourage us here to make peace, to not let any matter become rotten to the point that our adversary may take us to court. So, if you wrong someone or have taken something from them, if you don’t do anything about it, it is going to get to court, since some people just like to sue others, even for little things, instead of forgiving them. But if you did not do anything wrong, those people will have to give account to the Lord Jesus for the fact that they’re falsely accusing someone. But if you, indeed, have done something wrong, you’d better make things right, 'cos if you don’t, even the Lord will not rescue you because you have indeed committed sins.

The same goes with the Lord Jesus Christ; anyone who breaks His moral law will pay for it. They won’t be free again until they have repented of those sins and renounced darkness while they’re still alive here on earth.

So, obviously, among the Christians, if someone harms us, we have to learn to forgive them, for God encourages us to forgive and to pray even for those who hurt us and to love even our enemies. Those who are hurting us are obviously acting like enemies to us, but we pray for them.

By forgiving people, we don’t get to the level of bitterness because God wipes that pain from our hearts the minute we forgive.

God will always defend us when we’re innocent.

So coming back to the question, "If God Loves us, why is there so much suffering in this world?"

We must understand this: God's love is not the cause of evil, or suffering in this world, or humans' disobedience to good, but satan's hatred and humans' willingness to listen to the devil as opposed to God, embrace the deeds of darkness as opposed to God's ways, which are good. So the reason why there is too much suffering on this earth, there is too much pain and evil in this world, is because of disobedience to the One True God, to the Lord Jesus Christ.

I pray that this message will help you.

Lord Jesus, thank You so much for Your beautiful teachings and Your continuous pleading for us to hear. Thank You for Your love, Lord.

Thank You for helping us to see the truth of this life and the consequences of evil.

Lord, thank You so much for Your willingness to help us and to forgive us and to rescue those who want to hear.

I pray that they will; I pray that many will hear.

Lord, thank You for loving us, for Your greatness, for Your beauty, Your righteousness, Your faithfulness, and Your promise.

Thank You that You are our Hope. Thank You for the gift of eternal life.

I pray that many will come and welcome that gift for themselves.

Thank You for everyone that You save in every place daily.

Thank You so much, Lord. We love You and we bless You.

Please hear my prayer in Your Holy Name, Lord Jesus, Amen.