Don’t Blame it on God ! by Françoise Corticelli

I just returned from a stressful trip to France, where I went to visit my mother. She has been suffering from Alzheimer since a few years now and her health had taken a turn for the worse.

It was both physically and morally exhausting to have to empty her house and visit her everyday at the nursing home. Not only because my mother’s mental health and memory are almost gone—it is impossible to have a coherent conversation with her—but also because during my visits, I came into contact with many others who were in the same state as her or even far worse.

Recently I was contacted by different friends whose loved ones were sick, or who had just lost loved ones, telling me how they did not understand why God took away their loved ones, or why He allowed such things to happen.

As a Christian and a believer in the Bible for 45 years now, I cannot help being saddened by how some sweet believers picture God. Many think that  God is the author of the tragedies which occur : sickness, the death of loved ones, catastrophes, natural disasters, etc. (I even heard of some who believe that the September 11th terrorist attack was God’s way of punishing America !) They believe He has a reason for allowing these tragedies, not realising that in fact, He is not responsible for a single one of them.

In the Bible, when Jesus’s disciples thought they were going to die at sea during a storm, Jesus stood up in their ship and rebuked that storm, saying, "Peace, be still." And according to what Jesus said in John 14:10, it was God in Him who did the work. Jesus said that God did it. Well, if God caused the storm, God would be working against Himself in causing it to cease.

It was the same with the healings Jesus performed. Jesus said, "The Father in Me, He does the works." All the healings, all the miracles, all the works that Jesus did--Jesus said that God did them. Well then, if God is the author of sickness and disease, and God is healing people through Jesus, then God is working against Himself. But we know that cannot be possible, because Jesus said, "...if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand" (Mark 3: 24-25).

One Bible verse that is very clear on this subject is John 10:10: « The thief only comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I have come so that they can have life, and that they can have it more abundantly. »

He is contrasting His works with those of the devil, whom He calls a thief. That which kills, that which steals, that which destroys, is the devil's work! That is plain enough, isn't it?

Now if we consider Jesus' description of the Father by reading some of  His statements : "He who has seen Me has seen the Father;"  "the Father in Me, He does the works;" and the fact that Jesus "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil,"  it makes it impossible for one moment to accept the teaching that disease and sickness are of God! The very nature of God the Father refutes the argument!

As a 16 year old boy, Kenneth Haggin (Pastor of Rhema church--1917-2003), was lying sick in his bed, asking himself, "Who is responsible for this? Why me? Why have I been afflicted all my life, never able to run and play like other children, bedfast now with five doctors saying I have to die? Why me? I didn't have anything to do with it. Did You, God ?"  All he knew was what he had heard preachers and other people say, "It's God's work. God is doing it. »  Some said, "God didn't commission it, but He's allowing it for a purpose." That amounts to the same thing. So he asked God, "Did You cause me to be born prematurely? Did you rob me of my childhood? Why was I born this way? Dear God, are You responsible for it?"

But he found the answer in God's Word, right in this verse, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil...." (Acts 10:38). This verse tells you exactly what is happening.

Kenneth Haggin tells us : « Satan is the oppressor. Satan was the one who caused me to have a deformed heart and caused my body to be almost totally paralyzed. It was Satan who kept me bedridden for 16 months and gave me an incurable blood disease. But Jesus is the Deliverer! »

God is a good God, He intended for us to have a good life, an abundant life, and it is not His will for us to be sick and poor and defeated and fearful, to have marital problems, family and relationship problems, financial problems, etc.

It might come as a shock to some of you, but I don’t believe that God controls everything. Not every problem that comes into your life is ordained by God. GOD IS A GOOD GOD! He is not the source of your problems, and He is not the author of all the heartache and suffering you go through. You can’t tell Him : « Why haven’t You healed me ? Why did You let this person die ? »

He is not responsible either for all these tragedies that afflict our planet and that are commonly called « acts of God »: earthquakes, calamities, wars, diseases, babies being born sick or retarded, children dying. God is the Creator, not the destructor. God is never ever your problem !

The best way to overcome these lies is to get to know Him more intimately, to grow in  confidence in His loving character and personality. He is 100% good.

He is not mad at you, you are His beloved child, He IS love and He loves you. Don’t blame God !