I couldn’t tell you how many times I have heard people say they can’t believe in God because He allows suffering and evil on the earth such as wars and famines.

Much of this is caused by a misunderstanding of earth’s ownership which this video by cvcnow.com portrays.

In Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, Satan made a curious offer to Jesus. If the Lord worshiped Satan, he would give Jesus the nations of the world. 

“And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.” (Luke 4:5-6 NASV)

In these verses, Satan claims ownership of the earth and all its kingdoms, because they had been handed over to him.

What is equally stunning is that Jesus never challenged Satan’s claim of ownership. Christ accepted it as true.

According to Vine’s dictionary, the Greek word for ‘handed over is ‘paradidomi’. It means “to surrender i.e. yield up.” One of the meanings includes “put in prison” as the word is used in Mark 1:14 referring to John the Baptist’s imprisonment.

Because of man’s sinful condition, the earth is now under Satan’s control. We are in a satanic prison because we chose evil over good. We are under Satan’s thumb.

The Apostle Paul says it clearly in 2 Corinthians 4:4:

in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (NASV)

The Greek word for “god” used in this verse is “theos.” the same word used to describe Jehovah.

Now understand Jehovah is God of heaven and earth, but Paul is saying Satan functions as humanity’s god, because man willfully chose Satan over Jehovah.

We made our choice in the early chapters of Genesis and continue to make the same choices today.

Then we set back and blame God for all the world’s woes, as if it is His fault.

But it is equally true that God gave Jesus authority over the earth and He is willing to intervene if we call on Him:

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28:18-19 NASV)