This is a letter I wrote to a lady who lost her son to disease over fifty years ago. She still asks “why does God allow such suffering”, and blames God for this. George Hagen
Dear _____. It was an interesting dinner with you. I have thought about some of the things that were said ever since. I am troubled by parts of the conversation. You said that people keep pushing books and evangelistic material at you. It seems that you resent this, or at least don’t want it. I submit that if no one cared anything about you, perhaps you would not be bothered by these from people you know. I believe that folks that do this are trying to help you. I know I gain nothing personally by offering the book that brought me to faith. I do it because I believe it will be useful to the other person.
I mentioned that a lady in Tacoma, Washington, who we had known for over fifty years, kept sending stuff to me. This included Bibles, a Bible on tape, books on faith etc. At first I sort of resented her “interfering” in my life. Later I simply ignored the material, but thanked her for it. She finally sent the book “Heaven Is So Real” in January 2004. I told you that it was put aside, but for some reason I decided to start reading it one night just before retiring. During the night I woke up to a bright light, went to the bathroom and then back to sleep. Around 2:00 AM I saw a huge flash of light that was terribly bright. It woke me and I awoke shaking and could not see for the light blinding my eyes. The shaking and bright light only lasted a little while, but I realized that this happening was a message from the Lord. I knew that the book was important, very important. I read it and reread it several times, and continue to read parts of it. This book changed my life completely for the better. For the first time I knew that Jesus Christ was Lord and Savior. Before this, for 79 years I had ignored Him. Now I am eternally grateful, literally, to Nancy Shelton who sent this book. I called her and she was so thankful that something finally got through to me after her efforts over fifty years.
You told us of the tragedy of your son and asked why God would allow the terrible suffering of this young man. His passing was terribly sad for you. We don’t know why God sometimes heals people and sometimes does not. We do know though that God does NOT cause these problems. We live in a world of sin, we are all sinners. I am a sinner even today, but am trying very hard not to do anything that is not pleasing to the Lord. The worst possible sin is the one I was afflicted with most of my life. I valued money and many things more than love for God. I often prayed and thanked our Heavenly Father for our good life and good health, but that was about it for praying. I didn’t know Jesus except of course I knew He died on the cross for some reason. I did not attend church. So my sin was in ignoring Christ and in valuing many things more than I did a love of God. My life changed in 2004 and if it had not, I know where I would have spent eternity – not in Heaven.
We have lost many friends of years back, and this is so sad. Beautiful memories of the good times we had together with them live on but will never be again. We know that some of them, and we hope all, have gone to a better place. This knowledge does indeed ease the pain of the loss, and especially for the loved ones in their immediate family.
We mentioned the tragedies of three of our kids, one was lost to us at about age 22, one was afflicted with crippling arthritis, a third with depression. It was not God that caused any of these problems, and with two of our kids it seems that He helped them largely overcome the illnesses so that they could lead normal lives. Satan is alive and well and is trying very hard and with great skill to alienate Christians from God. He would love to have us blame God for our troubles. When this happens, Satan has won. Illnesses occur in our sinful world, not because a person sins as many of the Old Testament people believed, but it is a natural occurrence because of diseases and other afflictions that are rampant in the world. To expect God to cure every illness is not realistic. The chances are even less if serious prayer is not involved, What God does is to make these problems easier to bear if we believe in Him and offer prayers.
When God created the universe, He saw that it was good. Genesis 1:31. But evil entered. The Bible declares that apart from our Lord Jesus, there is none who does good, no not one. (Romans 3:12). So God’s definition of “good” is different from ours. After we come to Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we will be prompted to really do good and love our fellow man. Before that, our “good” helps others but does not chalk up any points for a life of eternity with God.
After I came to faith in 2004, I started to read the Bible and have read it through three times. Now I continue to read it every day, picking out books and chapters that have been noted before as being most beneficial. Often when reading, a thought sort of jumps out at me. Several times it accused me of some sin that I had not realized was a sin. I immediately accepted this and prayed for forgiveness. Each time a “load” was taken from me that I hadn’t realized was a problem. An example is that I harbored a grudge against a prominent Democrat. Holding a grudge does not hurt the target person, only the person holding it. It is a very serious sin. To hold a grudge against God is fatal.
Am I perfect? Of course not. Before pledging my life to Jesus, did I ever do anything to deserve an eternity in Heaven. Absolutely not. I lived a good life and tried to help others along the way. But without really loving Jesus, these efforts only made me feel that I was a good person.
In studying the Bible, I came to realize the truth that Jesus stated “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. (John 14:6) In other words, there is no way to get into Heaven just by good works. But it is very simple, we just have to pledge our life to Jesus and then live as we believe he wants us to. There is a “sinner’s prayer” that is the first step. I took this step in 2004 and it changed my life. I found no downside to doing this, only more love for everyone, and I can’t help it, love for others just keeps coming out.
I know you were already tired of people “preaching” to you, but I am not preaching. I have a busy schedule most days and I would not have “wasted” time in writing this just to preach. I believe so much that Jesus will come for His faithful ones soon now, that I don’t want anyone to be left behind. I know that some in our church will not be taken to Heaven at this time, as they think that just attending church and doing good works will get them there. They might make it eventually, but they will have to go through the terrible tribulation first.
May the love of the Lord be with you. If you want to talk about any of this, please let me know.