Question:  Dear Greg,

            I read in a book that Satan is trying to remove God’s restraining power from the world.  Is this true?  In order to do so, he would have to kill true Christians.  Do true Christians assist God in restraining evil on earth?  I am thinking that there would still be some restraining power even if all God’s people were terminated.  Does a true Christian pay a higher price for the same sin committed by a non-Christian?  The Bible implies that when Christ returns, there would be some dead in Christ rising from the graves and some still alive.  Does the adversary tempt God’s chosen more than those who reject him?

            Richard

Answer:  Dear Richard,

            Perhaps the best way to respond to your question is to pose some questions about the terminology you use in reference to God and to Satan:

1.      What Satan is specifically “trying or not trying” is not revealed to humanity, so how do we know, and upon what authority would someone pronounce what he is “trying”?  The Bible says he is a liar and a deceiver and that he corrupts and misleads.

2.      God’s power need not be modified by the word “restraining”.  He has all power and he is sovereign.

3.      God does not need assistance—any help that Christians give to God and to his kingdom is help that God graciously allows us to render, but not something he “needs” or cannot do without.

4.      Sin is sin—no higher price for the penalty of sin is paid by any human being.

5.      Whether Satan is more interested in those who have accepted Jesus than those who have not is speculation.  It seems reasonable to humans, but we humans do not exist at the spirit level.  From our existence in time and space we cannot comprehend all that is involved in eternity.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht