Is sickness caused by the devil? This seems to be the view of some who blame Satan for everything that goes wrong.
A Christian celebrity recently told his audience of thousands that Satan had made his child sick. I’m not sure how he knew the sickness was the work of Satan, but I do know that a lot of people are convinced that Satan is the guilty one in all problems, whether it’s sickness or the traffic lights changing at the wrong time. All we have to do to overcome his evil, they think, is to persuade Jesus to bind Satan, cast him or the demon out of the afflicted, and that person will be well again.
PERSUADING GOD
This persuasion is to be accomplished in a number of ways. It’s the prayers of giants in the faith or large numbers of believers; it will happen when the afflicted one builds up enough faith; it’s praying in tongues; it’s telling God to His face that He said He would heal so He has to do it; it’s giving large amounts of money to ministers thought to have the power to heal or to persuade God to do His duty.
The only Biblical option concerns prayers of faith, using words with meaning. However, what’s missed commonly today is James’ instruction on the need for righteousness along with faith:
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (James 5:16).
Notice that James makes no mention of the devil in this equation. The common cause of sickness, according to James, is sin, and the failure to confess it and deal with it.
Our problem in and out of the Church today is that we’ve turned our backs on the Bible, or that we only want to nibble at little bits of Scripture or what the minister told us; to use those few phrases or verses which appeal to our faulty human nature. In truth The Bible is there to study so that we can get the big picture, not snapshots.
THE BIGGEST CAUSE OF SUFFERING
There are many causes of sickness and suffering, including the work of the devil. Ultimately, however, there’s one central cause, and that’s sin and the Curse which came because of it. Since the fall of man in the Garden, our choices and actions have brought a curse on a world which was previously perfect and saw no sickness. Sin ravages humanity, and God, not Satan, cursed the world. The curse affects our bodies, our minds, and all of nature. Nature is running down. We are not evolving, we are devolving.
We would all agree that a child has not done anything deserving of the terrible things some children suffer. However, we’re all affected by sin and by the Curse, from the moment we come into the world. It’s like an awful disease which spreads to everyone, regardless of age or experience.
Death was and is the result of Adam’s disobedience. Paul stated the situation clearly, when he said “sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned…” (Romans 5:12).
SOMETIMES IT IS THE DEVIL
It’s true that some of the sicknesses described in the Bible, particularly the New Testament, were caused by the devil or by demons. Jesus many times cast demons out of people who then were made whole. However, it was normally clear to everyone present that this was not a normal sickness such as most of us suffer.
SICKNESS MAY COME FROM THE LORD
There are also clear statements in Scripture showing that sickness is sometimes the direct work of God Himself. We read where God told Moses He wanted Moses to serve Him:
Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? (Exodus 4:11).
It’s difficult for us to even imagine that God inflicts illness on people: isn’t He there to put everything right as soon as possible? Isn’t He running around fixing all the problems Satan causes? However, it is Biblical, and this is not just an Old Testament phenomenon. Paul told the Corinthians that some of them were sick because of their abuse of the Lord’s supper. Their sickness and even death, he said, was a judgment:
“For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment” (1 Corinthians 11:29-31).
Jesus’ disciples asked him about one man who had been born blind. They thought one of his parents had caused the blindness by their sin, but Jesus answered,
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned…but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (John 9:3).
It doesn’t occur to us that sometimes the Lord has a purpose for our suffering.
DIDN’T JESUS BRING HEALING AND THE DEFEAT OF SATAN?
While it’s true that Jesus’ work on the cross defeated Satan and death itself, we are all still in the fallen world which was cursed, and even Satan can be used by the creator of all things. You can find passages of Scripture, even written after Jesus died and rose again, in which the Lord actually allows Satan to inflict sickness for His own purposes. Paul wrote how a “messenger of Satan” was sent to afflict him with some debilitating disease. Paul pleaded repeatedly with the Lord to take it away, but God’s answer was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
Paul’s response was this:
“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities” (verse 10).
How many of us want to humble ourselves to the extent of taking pleasure in God’s affliction of us? I confess, I don’t, even though I know it’s the right and godly attitude.
THE ATONEMENT
There are those who insist that the healing of all sickness is in the atonement of Christ. “…by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). It’s true that Christ lifts the Curse from those who accept Him and follow Him in faith. However, we still die. Why? How is it that since Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, not one of us stays healthy for long, whether we receive healing during our lives or not? It’s because we haven’t yet received our immortal bodies. When we do, the promises of God through the atonement will be fulfilled. We’re still in our fallen bodies now, and as Paul wrote:
“…flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption” (1 Corinthians 15:50 NKJV).
Our present bodies cannot exist in the perfection of heaven. We will have to be changed, or resurrected, when Christ comes for us. Until then, this “tent” we are living in; this temporary accommodation for our spirits, must go. Every single one of us will die, physically. We arrive at death because our bodies are in decay. They break down. They get diseased. They fail, and sooner or later, they cannot go on. For the believer, this is a release into the perfection of eternity.
HEALING NOW
Whatever the cause of suffering, there is healing available now through prayer (though not by the hand of any healer or super-spiritual minister). In the verse I quoted above from James, we see the means to find relief from such troubles, so long as it’s in the will of God. Some people protest that invoking the will of God is a lack of faith, and that God cannot heal unless we believe that He will do it. On the contrary, our God wants us to submit to His will, and to humble ourselves. Doing so does not neutralize His power at all, as some claim:
And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed (Matthew 8:2-3).
Notice here that Jesus didn’t cast out any demons. He was healing a disease common to humanity at that time.
We need to stop blaming Satan for everything, while at the same time being aware that he is at work to bring down our faith and our hope.
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 