Joseph Prince’s Teaching that Natural Disasters such as COVID-19 are only Caused by Satan & not God is a Lie (Subtitle: Is COVID-19 Caused by God or Satan?): Part 2 of 3 Parts – By Rev George Ong (Dated 30 Dec 2021)
(This article was also sent to Rev Dr Ngoei Foong Nghian, General Secretary, NCCS office, and for the attention of the Executive Committee Members.)
Preface
If Joseph Prince teaches that Satan who loves to kill and destroy is the chief culprit who is responsible and has the power to cause all the natural disasters on earth, then we need to ask – why doesn’t Satan cause more tornadoes, hurricanes, massive flooding and earthquakes to occur every other day? In that way, more people would be killed and destroyed at a quicker pace and within a shorter period. Since believers are his chief enemies, why Satan doesn’t cause earthquakes and hurricanes to occur at places where the majority of believers are residing?
Introduction
This is Part 2 of the above same topic. For those who missed Part 1, please click here to read.
Who causes natural disasters?
Joseph Prince teaches that it is Satan who is solely responsible. The scripture teaches that God is the cause of them, either directly or indirectly.
Just a few scriptures as starters while the bulk of the rest will be unfolded in the ensuing discussion:
Psalms 148:7-8 NLT
7 “Praise the Lord from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths, 8 fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather that obey him.”
Psalms 115:2-3 NASB
2 Why should the nations say, “Where, now, is their God?” 3 But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.
Amos 3:6 NASB
6 “If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it?”
Amos 3:6 ESV
6 “Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?”
God is certainly aware of every single natural disaster that occurs on the earth, and many of such disasters are either directly or indirectly caused by Him.
In this article, I will seek to further prove Joseph Prince’s doctrinal stand that it is Satan and not God, who is the sole cause of natural disasters, is not only unbiblical but a lie.
Joseph Prince is teaching a different God of the Bible. He is teaching a God, who isn’t revealed in the scriptures, but one which he concocts out of his own imagination.
A. Satan Did Not Take The Place Of Adam To Control The World When Adam Fell.
In ‘Destined To Reign’ Pages 143-144 Joseph Prince wrote,
“When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them dominion over the world. But when Adam sinned, he handed this dominion over to the devil. That’s why we live in a fallen world today, where we see sicknesses, diseases, wars, earthquakes and floods around us. These are not the “acts of God”. They are the acts of the devil! Jesus did not come to destroy lives, but to save lives (Jn 3:17). So anything that you see in the world that is destructive is the work of the “ruler of this world”. But guess what? His lease on this world is running out, and we are edging closer and closer to the day when Jesus will return for us. Hallelujah!”
Joseph Prince argues that Adam had world dominion and was the ruler of this world, but abdicated this role when he fell into sin and passed on this time-limited lease of world dominion or as ruler of this world to Satan. Before the expiry of this lease (which will expire when Jesus returns), God has been rendered powerless (though Joseph Prince would not put it in such a term, but that is what his doctrine would imply), as He couldn’t stop Satan from using natural disasters to destroy the world and kill people as Satan has the legal right to do anything he wishes.
The truth is when Adam fell, Satan didn’t really gain anything. All Satan got was a curse from God and that he will be decimated from the earth, eventually.
Next, Joseph Prince has told a lie that Adam had world dominion.
Did Adam possess such massive dominion over the world that when it was transferred to Satan, Satan could wreck the earth with great calamities such as, “pestilences, diseases, wars, earthquakes and floods”?
Adam was never the first “ruler or god of this world,” that he had passed over to Satan. What kind of dominion did Adam originally possess? Genesis 1:28 gives the answer:
Genesis 1:28 NIV
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
God never said that Adam had world dominion, who was to dominate over the entire creation and that he controlled everything, including pestilences, sicknesses and the imposition of natural calamities, such as earthquakes and floods over the earth. He merely gave dominion to Adam and Eve, over the fish, birds and animals and commanded them to fill the earth. So, don’t ever listen to the rubbish that Joseph Prince is churning out.
In God’s pronouncement of His judgement on Adam and Eve, He didn’t mention that Adam would lose his position of world dominion or as “ruler of this world.” The joke is that since Adam didn’t have world dominion and wasn’t the “ruler of this world” in the first place, how could Adam lose something and pass or hand over that which he didn’t possess to Satan.
Adam or Eve also didn’t lose their dominion over the fish, birds and animals completely. They may have lost the dominion over them in degree but certainly not in kind. Even today, humanity is still in much control over the fish, birds and animals.
And nowhere in the Bible was it ever mentioned that when Adam fell, he passed on the title, “the ruler of this world” or his world dominion to Satan. This is a lie that Joseph Prince has concocted out of his own imagination to support and prevent his Grace Theology from being uncovered.
This is because his Grace Theology falsely states that the New Covenant God, as opposed to the Old Covenant God, is a God of grace and love, who will never judge believers and the world with natural disasters because of the cross. So Prince has to place all responsibility of natural disasters on the devil and leave God totally out of the picture.
B. Whether Natural Disasters Are Due To Adam’s Curse Or Satan, God Is Ultimately Responsible.
Furthermore, there is this view put forth by Joseph Prince that natural disasters occur because we live in a fallen world through Adam’s sin.
Romans chapter 8 speaks of the earth groaning in birth pains awaiting the return of the Lord to renew it. Earth is groaning because of the curse which came upon the earth through Adam’s sin. These groanings include natural disasters. The earth is groaning with earthquakes and hurricanes because of the curse which came about because of Adam’s sin. Joseph Prince thus pushes the view that it is Satan, through Adam’s sin, which causes it.
Others argue that natural disasters are due to the fallen state of man, and have nothing to do with God, who is a God of love and grace. The argument is, “We live in a fallen world, and that is why natural disasters occur.”
What they are saying is that Adam’s sin or fall is the cause of every natural disaster. Adam’s sin or fall has caused all the earthquakes and famines, etc, and God has nothing to do with them.
This may seem to be a sound argument. But on closer scrutiny, there are far too many loopholes for it to be accepted as a biblical argument.
Does this mean that Adam’s sin is the main cause of every natural disaster? Don’t you agree that to posture the view that every earthquake and hurricane, etc, are caused by Adam, who has been dead thousands of years ago, is to give him too much power?
If that is their argument, they have made Adam to be much more powerful than he really is. They are saying that Adam, who has been dead for thousands of years, is the culprit who has caused all the natural disasters that have resulted in the death of millions even to this present day!
There are also those who hold the view that it is the sins of the people who bring these disasters as divine judgements on themselves, and they insist that God is not to be blamed.
(Joseph Prince only blames the fallen state of man in Adam and the devil, and not God. Prince will never say it is the past or present sins of the people that cause the earthquake as he falsely teaches that all our sins have been forgiven, not just past sins, but also our present and future sins, without the need for confession or repentance.)
So this view (not Joseph Prince’s view) says that it is the people who are to be blamed for their unrepentant sins. God is merely allowing natural disasters to be used as divine judgements for their sins, but He is not the cause of them, and He is not to be blamed.
Though it is indeed sinful and rebellious people who have brought earthquakes or hurricanes on themselves, the fact remains that natural disasters would not occur without God’s permission. Natural disasters are God’s curses on a world that is filled with increasing sin and wickedness.
Joseph Prince, who postures that those natural disasters are caused by Adam’s sin and the devil, also teaches that God is unhappy with them, and that He, as the New Covenant God of love and grace, will never use such calamities to hurt and kill people.
We have to ask Joseph Prince, if that were so, why doesn’t God stop these disasters? If God doesn’t stop such calamities, does that imply that He is not all-powerful? Any position that implies God is not all-powerful cannot be the true and biblical position. Is Adam or the devil so powerful that they can cause something that even God cannot stop?
It is pertinent to note that Adam’s curse was not just a curse that originated from nowhere and released on the earth through Adam’s fall. It should be more accurately explained that Adam’s sin resulted in God’s curse and judgement that are displayed in natural disasters.
Even if we grant that it was Adam’s sin, which brought the curse on the earth, which resulted in natural calamities, one would have to ask the question – who released the curse?
Genesis chapter 3 records the curses of the Fall that came upon the devil, the man and woman, and the ground. Where do these curses originate from? – From the very lips of God. That’s what the Bible in Genesis 3 says. It was a curse that originated from God Himself. The curses of God came upon the devil, man and woman, and on earth. The curse was God’s curse because of His judgement.
So, if curses are groanings, which “include natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes,” even though they were released through Adam’s sin, these curses originated from God. Creation is not just a curse by Adam’s sin, but more fundamentally, it is God who laid a curse on it:
“For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God” (Rom 8:20-21 NIV).
Because God by His own will is the one who subjected it (Rom 8:20), consequently,
“… the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Rom 8:22 NIV).
Many scholars have interpreted such groaning as referring to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. If they are right, then the source of such disasters is God Himself, as He was the one who had cursed it. That is why we have natural disasters on planet earth, which God had cursed, even today and till Christ’s second coming. Creation is under God’s curse. If the groaning creation which is cursed has anything to do with natural calamities, then God is the one who had caused it.
Prophet Amos said,
“…When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it” (Amos 3:6)?
C. How Do We Explain The Passage In Luke 4:5-8 Then?
Luke 4:5-8 NASB
5 And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 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. 7 Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” 8 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
The above passage doesn’t mean that Satan has dominion over everything on earth. It doesn’t mean he is operating out of God’s control. Satan isn’t called the Father of lies for nothing (Jn 8:44). God is still in control over everything, and that includes Satan.
Who is the real ruler of mankind? – God, not Satan.
It is significant that in the Book of Daniel, the fact that “God is the ruler of mankind and bestows it on whom He wishes” is mentioned 4 times:
“…the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes…” (Dan 4:17 NASB).
“…the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes” (Dan 4:25 NASB).
“…the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes” (Dan 4:32 NASB).
“…the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets over it whomever He wishes” (Dan 5:21 NASB).
What does this indicate? This indicates that God, not Satan, is the sovereign ruler of mankind. What Daniel said about God and what Satan said to Jesus clearly contradicts.
Daniel said God, “bestows it on whomever He wishes” (Dan 4:17; 4:25; 4:32; 5:21).
Satan said, “I give it to whomever I wish” (Lk 4:6).
Who are you going to believe?
We had better be believing Daniel, a righteous man, instead of Satan, who is the Father of lies.
Yes, Satan is “the ruler or god of this world,” in so far as he is ruling over the kingdom of darkness, which includes unbelievers in every nation who are in rebellion against God. But that doesn’t mean that he rules over everyone and everything on planet earth.
D. What About 1 John 5:18-19?
1 John 5:18-19 NIV
18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
In the context of 1 John 5:18-19, the fact that the whole world is under the control of the evil one certainly does not include believers. Believers are under the covering and protection of God, and the evil one cannot harm them, unless God permits as was in the case of Job.
What Satan has control over is his kingdom of darkness, comprising his demonic spirits (Eph 6:12) and unbelievers. So, Satan was probably offering Jesus control over his kingdom of darkness in Luke 4:5-8.
If God truly is “ruler over the realm of mankind” (Dan 4:25), whatever authority Satan has over the rebellious mankind, and demonic angels must be granted by God.
God wants everyone to be saved and delivered from being under the control of Satan (Acts 26:18; Col 1:13; 1 Tim 2:3-4; 2 Pet 3:9). But God allows Satan to rule over those who love darkness and choose to rebel against Him.
E. God Has Supreme Authority Over Satan.
God did not lose any control over Satan at the fall of man. The devil can only do what God permits. This is proven from the episode of Job. Satan can only ‘harm’ Job to the degree that God allows him to (Job 2:1-7).
Satan isn’t that powerful that he is allowed to do anything he wants. Satan and his demons are used as God’s agents to attain His purposes. In 1 Samuel 16:14, we learn that it was God who used an evil spirit to deal with King Saul,
“Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him” (1 Sam 16:14).
God, out of His sovereign purposes, permitted one of Satan’s demonic spirits to afflict Saul.
In another instance,
“…God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech” (Jud 9:23 NASB).
This evil spirit of Satan is used by God to work against designated evil persons. Evil spirits are under God’s sovereign control.
Demonic spirits cannot work against anyone and harm them, especially God’s people without His consent.
If Satan and demonic spirits can indeed wreak havoc on people on planet earth with reckless abandon and at their own will, then God has lost control, and that means He is not all-powerful – that scenario is certainly impossible, as a God who isn’t all-powerful isn’t God at all.
So, the teaching of Joseph Prince that when Adam fell, Satan gains an authority that was so massive that he could cause earthquakes, floods, pestilences, such as COVID-19, that killed about 5.4 million people and one that goes beyond God’s control is false. In the first place, if Adam hasn’t got such massive authority, how could he pass on such authority to the devil?
Satan and the demonic powers aren’t that overwhelming, not just in the Old Testament, but their powers are also limited in the New Testament.
Jesus gave His disciples the authority over demons:
“And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases”
(Lk 9:1 NASB).
“The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven” (Lk 10:17-20 NASB).
Jesus can only give that which He possesses. If Jesus can give His disciples authority over the powers of Satan and his demons, it is only logical that He must first have authority over them. Satan does not operate entirely on his own authority, but he and his demons are under the authority of both Father God and the Lord Jesus.
A concrete example is when the devil has to ask permission from God to attack Peter for a season:
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Lk 22:31-32 NIV).
Satan does not wield total authority over the earth and his world, but he operates under God’s control.
F. Satan, As ‘The God Or Ruler Of This World’ Does Not Control Over Everything On The Earth, Including Human Governments & The Weather.
Paul designates Satan with the title as “the god of this world” (2 Cor 4:4). Jesus describes him as “the ruler of this world” (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). So, Joseph Prince may argue that because of these two titles of Satan, he can cause massive natural disasters that destroy people.
But does the fact that Satan is called “god or ruler of this world” mean that he can do anything he likes? Does that mean he is operating out of God’s control? Does that mean God has no power to limit and curtail his evil activities?
What did Jesus say in Matthew 28:18?
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt 28:18 NIV).
What does it mean for Jesus to have all authority in heaven and on earth? It means that Satan can only operate under the Lord Jesus’ consent or approval.
Satan is also under the control of Father God, who gave Jesus all authority in heaven and on earth as Jesus calls His Father as “Lord of heaven and earth” (Matt 11:25; Lk 10:21 NIV). It goes without saying that Father God must have all authority over heaven and the earth since He is the one who created the universe and is the Lord over all His creation.
Satan is called the god or ruler of this world, not because he is the all-powerful one who controls everything on planet earth, but that the people of the world, who are unbelievers are following Satan, and they are under his control or influence.
Whether the unbelievers realise it or not, they are serving Satan as their god or ruler, and they are under his kingdom of darkness. But this does not mean that Satan has total control over the earth.
Again, one must remember that Jesus refers to Father God as “Lord of heaven and earth” (Matt 11:25; Lk 10:21). Paul, too, like Jesus, refers to Father God as “Lord of heaven and earth” (Acts 17:24).
Hence, Satan cannot be said to exercise complete control over the earth, and his authority must be limited to that which is permitted by Father God, who is known as “Lord of heaven and earth”.
We must note there is a difference between the two words ‘world’ and ‘earth’. Father God is spoken as Lord of the earth, which refers to the physical planet upon which we live. Satan is spoken as ruler of this world, which refers to people and their system in this present age, rather than of the physical earth itself.
God ‘does not have complete control over the world’, because ‘He does not have complete control over all the people of the world’. This is because He has given man free will, and many have chosen to reject God and serve Satan. Because unbelievers in this world have chosen to serve Satan, Satan has become the god of this world in which these unbelievers dwell in in this present age.
But though believers are “in the world” they are not “of the world” (Jn 17:11,14). Though believers live among the people who belong to the kingdom of darkness, they belong to the kingdom of light; the kingdom of God. Believers, who are the sons and daughters of God are not under the control of Satan.
So, God has total and sovereign control over the entire earth. Satan, by God’s permission, only has control of the world – the unbelieving people who belong to the kingdom of darkness and its evil system. That is why John wrote that the “whole world (not the whole earth) lies in the power of the evil one” (1 Jn 5:19).
God is the one who has total authority over the earth, as Jesus refers to Father God as “Lord of heaven and earth” (Matt 11:25; Lk 10:21), and Daniel refers to Him as the “ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whomever He wishes” (Dan 4:25). As the ruler, God has sovereignly allowed Satan to rule over that part of humankind that rebels against Him.
God has indisputable control over the governments of the earth. Satan has limited control over the governments only because they are run by unbelievers. But from Daniel 4:17, we are clear that God has the ultimate control. Satan has control only to the degree that God permits him:
17 “‘The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people.’ (Dan 4:17 NIV)
Just as God has ‘lifted’ King Nebuchadnezzar up, He can also bring him down. Similarly, God, not Satan, can do the same to any government of the earth.
Paul has made it clear that,
“…there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God” (Rom 13:1 NIV).
God can place one in authority, but at the same time, He can also remove him. No one can have any authority unless it is God, who permits him to. Even evil rulers, such as Pharaoh, are placed by God to fulfil His purpose (Rom 9:17 NIV):
17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth” (Romans 9:17 NIV).
In Jesus’ conversation with Pontius Pilate, He made the same point as to who has the ultimate authority:
So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin” (Jn 19:10-11 NASB).
In the Old Testament, evil governments have been used by God to punish His disobedient people. The evil Assyrians were used by God to conquer and exile His people – the ten tribes. The wicked Babylonians were used by God to bring His judgement and to exile the remaining two tribes.
Just as God can exalt an evil government, He can also bring it down. When King Herod failed to give glory to God, he was struck dead:
21 “On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” 23 Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died” (Acts 12:21-23 NIV).
So, Satan has influence over human governments only because God permits him to. Because God is the ultimate ruler, He can thwart any of Satan’s schemes any time if He so wishes.
Not only does the rule of human governments belong to God, but it also comes under the authority of the Lord Jesus. John wrote that the ruler of governments is the Lord Jesus:
“and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and “the ruler of the kings of the earth” (Rev 1:5).
Joseph Prince and others have wrongly presumed that because Satan is “the ruler or god of this world,” he has the power to control the weather and is the one who is responsible for causing all the natural disasters: floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and pestilences such as Covid-19.
There are plenty of scriptures that contradict such a false view, which I have listed here and the bulk of the rest in the ensuing discussion. God is the one who controls the weather, and in many cases, He uses the weather to judge, kill and destroy:
Prov 30:4 NASB; Jer 14:22; Job 37:3,6,10-13; 1 Sam 12:18; Gen 7:11-12; Deut 11:17; Isa 28:17; Isa 30:30; Ezek 38:22; Psa 78:44; Psa 146:6,8; Psa 147:8, 16-18; Jer 14:12; Amos 4:7; 2 Pet 2:5.
Jeremiah 14:22 NIV
22 “Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, Lord our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.”
Job 37:3,6, 10-13 NIV
3 “He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth.” 6 He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’ 10 “The breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen. 11 He loads the clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them. 12 At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commands them. 13 He brings the clouds to punish people, or to water his earth and show his love.”
Amos 4:7 NIV
7 “I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up.”
Indeed, the weather is under God’s sovereign control. He could use it for productive means to bless some or destructive ends to curse others.
God’s display of His power through His control of the weather is to cause fear in the people:
Ex 20:8; 1 Sam 12:18; Ezra 10:9; Psa 55:8; Psa 97:4; Matt 14:30; Matt 27:54.
God also uses His control of the weather to protect and provide for His people:
Gen 41:30-31,36; Gen 45:11; Deut 8:15-16; 1 Kgs 17:1-16; Ezek 36:29-30.
All the above scriptures simply mean God has sovereign control over the weather, not Satan.
G. Who Causes Adverse Weather & Natural Disasters?
When an earthquake or a tornado or a pestilence strikes, we have to ask the hard question – who causes it?
Joseph Prince rules out God. The argument goes (through his false Grace Doctrine) – how could the New Testament God as opposed to the Old Testament God, who is loving, gracious and merciful cause such untold suffering and deaths on the people? He further argues (through a faulty exegesis of John 10:1-10) that it isn’t God, but the one who is causing such calamities is the devil because he has come to kill and destroy.
Even if one holds the view that it is Satan who causes natural disasters, one would, at the same time, have to admit that God must have allowed Satan to cause them. This is because God is the one who has the ultimate power and authority over the earth, not Satan, and God has sovereignty even over Satan himself.
So Joseph Prince must answer the question, how could a loving, gracious and merciful God have allowed Satan to cause such massive destruction to the earth and senseless suffering to the people? Why didn’t God who is all-powerful stop Satan from causing such natural disasters?
Some scholars are of the view that natural disasters are just the forces of nature at work. These disasters happen randomly, and no one (whether God or Satan) is to be blamed.
But who created the forces of nature in the first place? Even if those forces act randomly, it is God who has determined or permitted those forces to act randomly, and so He is ultimately ‘responsible’.
To say that it is not God or Satan who is responsible for earthquakes and tornadoes, but they are due to natural causes in our fallen world of sin, does not solve the problem either.
If natural disasters are due to natural causes and man’s sin, someone must have decided that they would occur at a given time and place. The role of God cannot be easily removed from natural disasters.
Assuming if Satan is the one who causes natural disasters, then God is the one who has permitted him to do so. God, being God, must be able to stop him anytime, or else, God is not God. If God has permitted Satan to cause natural disasters, God must still bear the responsibility, as the earthquakes could not occur without His permission.
Assuming Satan is the cause of natural disasters, there is no possibility that God could not stop Satan. If such a possibility exists, then Satan would be more powerful than God. This is what Joseph Prince is teaching.
He teaches that Satan has taken over the authority and dominion of Adam when he fell, and Satan has now gained control over the world. And Satan now has a ‘legal right’ to do whatever he pleases on the earth, causing natural disasters and pestilences and killing masses of people because he has taken over Adam’s world dominion.
Let’s assume that were true – that God could no longer restrain Satan from causing damage to planet earth through natural disasters because He had allowed Satan to inherit the powers of world dominion from Adam.
This would simply mean that God did not have the wisdom and foresight to foresee that Adam would fall, and Satan, who is supposedly smarter than God, has now gained the power to do anything he likes to planet earth, something which God could have regretted. But this is preposterous!
If Joseph Prince teaches that Satan who loves to kill and destroy is the chief culprit who is responsible and has the power to cause all the natural disasters on earth, then we need to ask – why Satan doesn’t cause more tornadoes, hurricanes, massive flooding and earthquakes to occur every other day? In that way, more people would be killed and destroyed at a quicker pace and within a shorter period. Since believers are his chief enemies, why doesn’t Satan cause earthquakes and hurricanes to occur at places where the majority of believers are residing?
Even if Satan has the power to, would God permit Satan? If your opinion is that God won’t allow Satan to do that, aren’t you admitting that Satan can only cause damage to earth with God’s permission?
So, whether God directly causes natural disasters or indirectly by permitting Satan to cause them, we cannot run away from the conclusion that God is ultimately ‘responsible’.
Even if Satan is not involved and the natural disasters are due to the evil of man, God is still the one ‘responsible’ as He is the one who had sent it to judge the people for their sins.
Indeed, God not only accepts responsibility, but He also insists He is the one who has the power to cause both prosperity and disaster:
Isaiah 45:7 NIV
7 “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.”
Never try to apologise for God – He does not need the help of man to protect His reputation. Never try to twist the verse to say what we want to say – to make it more appealing to our comfort zone. We must allow the word of God to say what it ought to say – no matter how unpleasant it may sound to our human ears.
H. What Does The Scriptures Say About Natural Disasters?
1. What About Earthquakes?
Does the Bible say that it is the devil who is the cause of natural disasters such as earthquakes? Absolutely not. According to the Bible, earthquakes may occur as a result of God’s anger, wrath, punishment and judgement on deserving and unrepentant sinners. Let’s look at the numerous scripture texts:
Jeremiah declared:
“But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, And the nations cannot endure His indignation” (Jer 10:10 NASB).
Isaiah warned:
“From the Lord of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire” (Isa 29:6 NASB).
Ezekiel announced:
“In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel” (Ezek 38:19 NASB).
The Psalmist proclaimed:
“Then the earth shook and quaked; And the foundations of the mountains were trembling And were shaken, because He was angry” (Psa 18:7 NASB).
Jesus prophesied:
“and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven” (Lk 21:11 NASB).
John pronounced:
“I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood” (Rev 6:12 NASB).
The angel stated:
“Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake” (Rev 8:5 NASB).
Psalms 77:18 NIV
18 “Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked.”
Haggai 2:6 NIV
6 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.”
Isaiah 13:11-13 NLT
11 “I, the Lord, will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their sin. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of the mighty. 12 I will make people scarcer than gold—more rare than the fine gold of Ophir. 13 For I will shake the heavens. The earth will move from its place when the Lord of Heaven’s Armies displays his wrath in the day of his fierce anger.”
Nahum 1:5-6 NLT
5 In his presence the mountains quake, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles, and its people are destroyed. 6 Who can stand before his fierce anger? Who can survive his burning fury? His rage blazes forth like fire, and the mountains crumble to dust in his presence.
Numbers 16:31-34 NIV
31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. 33 They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. 34 At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!”
As the Book of Revelation testifies, and as we approach the end of this age, more earthquakes are expected as an indication of God’s judgement and wrath on the earth:
Revelation 6:12 NIV
12 “I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red.”
Revelation 8:5 NIV
5 “Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”
Revelation 11:13 NIV
13 “At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.”
Revelation 16:18 NIV
18 “Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.”
After perusing the above texts, did you go away with the idea that the earthquakes would be caused by Satan as postured by Joseph Prince? No! They would all be caused by God.
I have exposed Joseph Prince for lying as he teaches that earthquakes and all other natural disasters come from Satan and not God. Joseph Prince is teaching a different God of the Bible – his own concoction of what he perceives God to be.
Two other earthquakes occurred when Jesus died (Matt 27:51,54), and when He was resurrected (Matt 28:2).
Another earthquake occurred when Paul and Silas were singing praises to God at midnight in a Philippian jail:
“Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose” (Acts 16:26).
We would have to ask Joseph Prince – could the devil have caused that earthquake?
Satan would be stupid if he did as the jailer and his household gave their lives to the Lord Jesus after God had performed the powerful earthquake (Acts 16:29-34). It is definitely God who had caused it as it can’t just be a coincidental act of nature. The earthquake opens the jailer’s heart to think about God.
If one is embarking on spiritual warfare against the devil praying against an impending earthquake, one may be barking up on the wrong tree. One should be interceding for the mercy of God on behalf of the people who may be affected.
If Joseph Prince marshals his church to pray against Satan for causing a certain earthquake that had hit a country, they may be doing the wrong thing as Satan is unlikely to be the one who had caused it.
Would it be more scriptural for them to pray for God’s mercy for the people who are affected and also for them to repent of their evil ways for resisting the true God?
2. What About Hurricanes Or Strong Winds?
Although the hurricane is not found in scripture, there are equivalent or lighter versions of it when God causes strong winds to be present.
Again, Joseph Prince would see hurricanes to be the work of Satan, and never the initiative of a loving and gracious God. On the contrary, hurricanes (or strong winds) that buffet nations are portrayed as acts of judgement of God on His disobedient people and the ungodly (Jonah 1:4; Ezek 13:13):
Jonah 1:4 NIV
4 “Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.”
Ezekiel 13:13 NIV
13 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury.
But what about the storm in the Sea of Galilee (Mk 4:35-39 NIV)?
Many postured the view that Satan must be the one who caused that storm, as God would never send a storm that could harm His own Son, Jesus, and the twelve disciples. But if God didn’t send the storm and Satan did, the issue remains that He must have allowed Satan to send it. So, God cannot be absolved from such a responsibility.
Some pointed out that because Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves on the Sea of Galilee, storms of such nature must be demonic. They are of the view that God couldn’t have caused it as Jesus would never rebuke that which God has caused:
“He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm” (Mk 4:39 NIV).
Yet, one must remember that in Psalm 107:23-30, it was God who caused the storm in the sea (V25) which He later stilled (V29) to calm the fears of His people (V28):
Psalms 107:23-25, 28-29 NKJV
23 “Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters, 24 They see the works of the Lord, And His wonders in the deep. 25 For He commands and raises the stormy wind, Which lifts up the waves of the sea. 28 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. 29 He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.”
Could it well be that it was God who started the storm in the Sea of Galilee too as He had in Psalms 107:23-25, 28-29? It is not farfetched to posture this possibility as it was not God that Jesus rebuked but the wind and waves. It would be too presumptuous to base our position on this single episode and conclude that it was Satan who had caused the storm at the Galilean Sea.
Numerous scriptures demonstrate God is in sovereign control of the wind, and He is the one who had initiated it. God can start and stop the wind at will:
Genesis 8:1-3 NIV
1 “But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth.”
Exodus 10:13,19 NIV
13 “So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts.” 19 “And the Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea. Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt.”
Exodus 14:21 NIV
21 “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided.”
Numbers 11:31 NIV
31 “Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp, as far as a day’s walk in any direction.”
Psalms 48:7 NIV
7 “You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind.”
Psalms 78:26 NIV
26 “He let loose the east wind from the heavens and by his power made the south wind blow.”
Psalms 135:6-7 NIV
6 “The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. 7 He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.”
Psalms 148:8 NIV
8 “lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, 9 you mountains and all hills.”
Jeremiah 4:11-12 NIV
11 At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse; 12 a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them.”
Jeremiah 10:12-13 NIV
12 “But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. 13 When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.”
Jeremiah 51:16 NIV
16 “When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.”
Amos 4:9 GNT
9 “I sent a scorching wind to dry up your crops. The locusts ate up all your gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and olive trees. Still you did not come back to me.”
Amos 4:13 NIV
13 “He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth—the Lord God Almighty is his name.”
Jonah 4:8 NIV
8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
Haggai 2:17 NASB
17 “I smote you and every work of your hands with blasting wind, mildew and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares the Lord.”
Revelation 7:1 NIV
1 “After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.”
In all of these passages, was Satan the one who had caused the strong and blasting winds (hurricane)? Absolutely not. It was not Satan but God who had caused them. God used the wind as a means of judgement.
Though Satan is the god or ruler of this world, he does not have autonomous control over natural disasters such as the power to cause strong winds, or hurricane or an earthquake anytime or in any place he wishes.
God has sovereign control over the initiation or termination of every natural disaster that occurs on the earth. Jesus’ rebuke and termination of the storm on the Sea of Galilee is an unmistakable proof that God can stop a natural disaster immediately if He wishes.
If God is sending or allowing a natural disaster, there must be reasons. If God sends or allows a hurricane that causes widespread destruction, one reason is that He is warning and judging the sins of the people.
The most plausible reason is that He is warning and judging disobedient people to repent while there is still time. If they don’t, they will face an even greater outpouring of His wrath in the lake of fire.
God, who starts the winds, can also with the same power stop them anytime.
There isn’t a single scripture that attributes natural disaster to Satan, except in the case of Job – where Satan caused a strong wind that resulted in the death of Job’s ten children.
As far as I know, this is the only one Bible verse that ascribes to Satan for having started a great wind that caused the death of Job’s children. There is only one occasion where a destructive wind is attributed to Satan, and even then, he had first to obtain permission from God:
“when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you” (Job 1:19 NIV)!
The reason why Satan could harm Job and his children was that he had God’s permission (Job 1:12). Can we now see that God is sovereign even over the wind that was caused by Satan? God had to approve it, or Satan could not have caused the wind that killed all of Job’s children.
3. What About Famines?
Some people have the wrong understanding that it is Satan who causes all famines. The truth, according to scripture, is that God has often taken responsibility for famines. Famines are often reflected in the scriptures as a consequence of His wrath upon sinful people who deserved such judgements. From the witness of scriptures, famines aren’t caused by Satan. God is usually the cause.
Famines are used by God as an expression of His wrath and judgement on His straying people. Let’s peruse the list of scriptures:
Jeremiah 11:22 NIV
22 “therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine.”
Jeremiah 29:17 NIV
17 “yes, this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.”
Ezekiel 14:13 NIV
13 “Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its people and their animals.”
Deuteronomy 32:23-24 NIV
23 “I will heap calamities on them and spend my arrows against them. 24 I will send wasting famine against them, consuming pestilence and deadly plague; I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.”
2 Samuel 21:1 NIV
1 “During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the Lord. The Lord said, “It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
2 Samuel 24:12-13 NIV
12 “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’” 13 So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come on you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”
2 Kings 8:1 NIV
1 Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the Lord has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years.”
Psalms 105:16 NIV
16 “He called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food.”
Haggai 1:9-11 NIV
9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
Other passages that talk about famine include:
Isa 14:30; Jer 14:12,15-16; 16:3-4; 24:10; 27:8; 34:17; 42:17; 44:12-13; Ezek 5:12,16-17; 6:12; 12:16; 14:21; 36:29; Rev 6:8; 18:8.
After reading all the above passages of scriptures, does one get the idea that it was Satan who had the power to cause these famines, as Joseph Prince would posture? Certainly not. God is the one who “sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt 5:45).
God is also the one who sends a famine upon evil people, and believers, who live among those evil people, would be affected too. What if believers are affected by famine? If God sends a famine upon an evil nation, the righteous who live in that nation should pray and trust that God will provide for their needs.
In the New Testament, Paul teaches that if we ever go through a famine, it cannot separate us from the love of Christ:
Romans 8:35 NIV
35 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”
Did Paul say that Christians will never be faced with a famine (as Joseph Prince would falsely teach)? No, but he implied that they might be faced with one. Paul knew from the Old Testament scriptures that famines could be sent by God to judge the wicked. But Paul has also affirmed that even famines cannot separate believers from the love of Christ. Paul didn’t say that believers will never be faced with a famine. But famines shouldn’t affect our love relationship between God and us.
I. Natural Disasters Could Also Harm Christians.
Why does God allow natural disasters to affect believers too? A hurricane would devastate both the homes of unbelievers and believers. It would take the lives of both non-Christians and Christians too.
Shouldn’t believers, being God’s children, be spared from God’s wrath? If so, how then can we say that it is God who had sent the natural disasters that would also harm His own children?
On the other hand, if our view is that Satan is the one who has brought about natural disasters (which is Joseph Prince’s view), we are still confronted with the same problem – then why didn’t God stop Satan, but instead allow him to harm His own children?
If one argues that God cannot stop Satan from causing these natural disasters, that means God is not sovereign over Satan and the forces of nature – and that to me is close to heresy.
Noah did escape God’s wrath in the flood, but he was still affected in that he lost everything, except his family. Was Satan the one who had caused the flood that wipes out the world? No. It was God who sent it (Gen 6:17; 2 Pet 2:5) because He has the power to kill and destroy.
Why?
God had given the people enough time to repent, but they refused. He was brimming with righteous and burning anger with the unrepentant people of the world that He had to destroy them.
It cannot be helped that God’s righteous judgement on unbelievers does affect believers too. If believers were to escape by coming out alive from natural disasters, they could not avoid the adverse consequences caused by them. Their homes can be destroyed the same way as the unsaved.
Although Noah escapes the flood, he cannot avoid the mess of building the ark and staying with the smelly animals for quite a season. Although the righteous Lot escaped with his life when God’s judgement fell upon Sodom (and Gomorrah), he lost everything in the destruction of the fire.
When God’s judgement fell upon the wicked, the adverse effects on the righteous cannot be avoided. Jesus had warned believers in Jerusalem to flee (Lk 21:22-23) – to avoid being slaughtered by the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
In AD 70, when the prophesied judgement of Jesus came on Jerusalem, though the believers in Jerusalem who listened to Jesus fled and their lives were spared, they lost their homes and possessions (Lk 21:22-23). Although Christians who took heed to Christ’s warning escaped with their lives, they lost everything they had by leaving them all behind in Jerusalem.
When God’s judgement falls upon the wicked through natural disasters, the adverse suffering of His people cannot be avoided. We have to face the fact that believers would also suffer when God judges the wicked through natural calamities.
So I hope you can understand why when COVID-19 hits the world for the last 2 years, both the unrighteous unbelievers and the righteous believers have contracted the disease and many have even died from it. There is no such thing as God will always protect believers from tragedy or natural disasters such as COVID-19 as Joseph Prince falsely teaches – his oft-repeated phrase – no virus can come near you.
One cannot jump to the naive conclusion as Joseph Prince always does, that God is not responsible for natural disasters just because His covenantal people had to suffer the adverse effects. Just because it can affect believers does not mean that God is not the one who causes natural disasters.
Even the lives of believers can be lost. But even if the saved were to die from such natural disasters, take heart because they will never face the eventual and everlasting wrath of God that the unsaved would suffer by being sent to the lake of fire.
The righteous cannot escape the effects of God’s wrath, even though it is not directed at them. Even though wars between nations are not natural calamities, it does paint the same picture that both believers and unbelievers can be injured and even killed.
But this is not to say that believers should be resigned to their ‘fate’ and they shouldn’t cry to God for help. God may, in His sovereign will, choose to deliver believers (not every) from their suffering and save their lives. There is no need to fear, but we can choose to trust God:
Jeremiah 17:7-8 NIV
7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. 8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Prophet Jeremiah did not say that the one who trusts in the Lord will not have the problems of hot weather and drought to cope with. But throughout the drought, God will supernaturally provide for him.
This brings to our mind the supernatural providence of Elijah when he was fed by ravens during a time of famine in Israel (1 Kgs 17:1-6). The righteous can trust God in what David wrote, “…in days of famine they will enjoy plenty…” (Ps 37:19 NIV).
Obedience to God and common-sense wisdom must be observed to avoid being caught in the full blow of God’s wrath that is aimed at the ungodly and lessens the adverse effect.
In obedience to God, Noah had to build his ark, Lot had to run for the hills, and the Jerusalem Christians had to flee from their city in AD 70. In Acts 11, when Prophet Agabus warned of an imminent famine that could be catastrophic to believers in Judea, an offering was received by Paul and Barnabas for their relief (Acts 11:28-30).
Such things can still occur today, and we must be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is telling us and do the necessary.
Elisha informed a woman of impending famine and told her to stay away for a while (2 Kgs 8:1-2):
2 Kings 8:1-2 NIV
1 Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the Lord has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years.” 2 The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.
What if she refused to listen to Elijah?
In Revelation 18, God’s people were warned to come out of ‘Babylon’ to avoid being caught up in God’s impending judgement on her:
Revelation 18:4-8 NIV
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “‘Come out of her, my people,’ so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; 5 for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. 6 Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup. 7 Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn.’ 8 Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”
Demos Shakarian, the late president and founder of the Full Gospel Businessmen (International), shared a moving account of how believers escape from the brink of death. God had spoken through an illiterate boy (prophet) to believers living in Armenia in the late 1800s and warned them of an impending holocaust.
As a result, thousands of Pentecostal Christians who believed in such supernatural manifestations fled the country, including Shakarian’s own grandparents. Not long afterwards, the Turks invaded Armenia and slaughtered over a million Armenians, including those Christians who refused to heed God’s warning. It behooves us to be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit and be obedient to God during such times of testing.
But no matter what happens, we must learn to trust God even though things don’t make sense to us. One must soberly remember that sometimes the godly can become the severe victims of a natural disaster or pestilence, such as the COVID-19. Job had to suffer the trauma of having lost all his 10 children when God allowed Satan to cause a strong wind that resulted in their deaths.
Losing one child is already traumatic enough. Losing all 10 children in one go can drive a parent to go mad. But thank God for Job, who persevered, as he had learned to trust God even though the reasons why God had to test him were not made known to him.
“Trusting God is most challenging when His silence to our deepest pain is most deafening.” (George Ong)
Conclusion
In summary and to recap, the Bible has testified that God is sovereign over the earth, and this includes Satan’s kingdom as well. Yet, Joseph Prince has deceived many believers that Satan possesses more power than he actually does – that he can even control the forces of nature and cause natural disasters: earthquakes, floods and pestilences such as Covid-19, to kill and destroy.
The truth is God is sovereign over the forces of nature, not Satan:
Job 38:22-38; Jos 10:11; Jer 5:24; 10:13; 31:35; Psa 105:16; 135:6-7; Matt 5:45, etc.
Joseph Prince has the reckless abandon to teach the doctrine that Satan has direct control over the forces of nature to bring about natural disasters when there isn’t a single text that could support such a stand.
So, the teaching of Joseph Prince that it is Satan who causes an earthquake or hurricane or pestilence such as Covid-19, and even though God would like to curtail Satan’s powers and stop these disasters, He can’t, is totally unbiblical, an insult to God and an affront to His sovereignty.
Joseph Prince teaches the false doctrine that since God is a God of love, He is not responsible for sending the natural disasters, but Satan is. The result is a serious doctrinal error because God’s wrath is trivialised and His warning for the people to repent of their sins, through natural disasters, is annulled.
When people do not take the opportunity to repent of their sins from natural disasters, their destiny would be the lake of fire. That is why I have said time and again, that the many false teachings of Joseph Prince can lead one to hell.
We must never forget that God is a God of judgement both in the Old Testament as well as the New. All the earthquakes in Revelation in the New Testament are attributed to God’s judgement. The last one will be the greatest earthquake the world has ever experienced (Rev 16:18-20).
Never forget that the God who judges yesterday still judges today. If God will banish wicked people to hell, why would He not judge evil and unrepentant people on earth through an earthquake or pestilence such as COVID-19, or some other natural disasters?
Rev George Ong