Why Are We Here?

By Carlton Foster – May 29, 2025

Where did This Controversy of Good over Evil Started?

The issues of “good” vs “evil” in this world started in Heaven. The Bible stated in Revelation 12:7-9, “Then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels.  And the dragon lost the battle, and he and his angels were forced out of heaven. This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels with him .” 

Revelation 12:17 further declared that “And the dragon was angry at the woman (the Christian Church) and declared war against the rest of her children (the Christian believers)—all who keep God’s commandments and maintain their testimony for Jesus.” These are evidentiary statements why this world is having so many problems. It was not always like this. Before the Earth was created, Satan was a magnificent angel called Lucifer ministering to God in the garden of Eden and around the throne of God. 

Satan’s Fall and the Establishment of Two kingdoms
(light and darkness)

                 In Ezekiel 28:12-17, God explained what had happened to Satan before the war in Heaven, “You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty.” God continued, “You were in Eden,  the garden of God. Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone—red carnelian, pale-green peridot, white moonstone, blue-green beryl, onyx, green jasper, blue lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald—all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you. Your rich  commerce led you to violence, and you sinned. So I banished you in disgrace from the mountain of God. I expelled you, O mighty guardian, from your place among the stones of fire. Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. Your wisdom was corrupted by your love of splendor. So I threw you to the ground and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings.”  

This incident established two kingdoms: Light and Darkness.  The Kingdom of Light belongs to Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of Darkness belongs to Satan. Jesus confirmed this when he was on earth and was about to be crucified by the Roman King – Pilot; Jesus stated, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).”  Satan on the other hand declares that the Kingdom of Earth is his; this was recorded in Job 1:6-7, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Again at another time, Satan took Jesus up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, “All these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:9). These events show that Satan is claiming that the Earth is his kingdom. Why? Because of what he did to Adam and Eve. Jesus confirmed his allegation in John 12:31-32 when he was about to be killed, “The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out, and when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” These statements explained why the world is like this; why good and evil incidents occurred on earth. Why are we involved in these controversies?

Why was the Earth Created?

                  Satan started these controversies before the world was created. He challenged God about the government of Heaven, that there is a better way to govern it. That God should consider governing heaven without laws. He said God should let the will of the inhabitants be free without being constrained by any law.  However, in Deuteronomy 32:3-4(NLT), the Bible confirmed that God’s government is just and good. It reads, “I will proclaim the name of the Lord;  how glorious is our God! He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!” God honors justice more than power; he could have destroyed Satan and all wickedness as soon as Satan sinned, but God is just, so, to give Satan a fair hearing to the unseen worlds, God created the Earth as the ground for the tribunal hearing of Satan’s accusations. 

 This was the beginning of the controversies of Good over Evil on earth. The Bible recorded this in Genesis 1:1-2,  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”  (Genesis 1:26-28). Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east (similar to the one in heaven where Lucifer was), and there he placed the man he had made (Genesis 2:8).

Adam and Eve were given the laws of nature and of God, as well as the ability to make their own choices and control their actions (Free-will). Humans were given the freedom to decide what to do, think, and feel, rather than being completely determined by external forces or prior events. This gift is often linked to the concept of moral responsibility, as it implies that we can be held accountable for our actions because we had the power to choose otherwise (Google AI). All this happened while Lucifer was still in Heaven. In the middle of the garden God placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9), but God warned them that they may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they eat its fruit, they will surely die (Genesis 2:16-17). This was to demonstrate to the unseen world the facts related to free-will, good, or evil.

Satan had access to the Earth and he communicated with Eve. God did not restrict his access because that would be seen as a manipulation of justice. The question was asked in Job 8:3 “Does God subvert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice? No! Most unbelievers stated that if God was good, he should just get rid of Satan and fix the issue of evil, but if he did that, it would be an evil action without justice. So, Satan told Eve a lie to destroy her innocence; one day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied.  “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’” “You won’t die!” Satan replied to the woman.  “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it too.  At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. They sinned against God by their disobedience and gave dominion of the Earth over to Satan. The Prophet Isaiah stated in Isaiah 29:21, “Those who convict the innocent by their false testimony will disappear. A similar fate awaits those who use trickery to pervert justice and who tell lies to destroy the innocent.”

God invoked a Court Injunction

                  What will happen to the trial of Satan’s accusation now that humans have sinned and fall under his Kingdom of Darkness? A just God makes the trial continue by sending Jesus as an advocate for humans. It is recorded in Genesis 3:14-15, Then the Lord God said to Satan in a symbolic tone , “Because you have done this, you are cursed  more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” God invoked this court injunction between Satan (and his demons) and Christ (and his followers), this is to prevent the trial from being cancelled.

What is our role, our goals and objectives

                  The injunction is this: if a human could live on this earth without ever sinning, then those who aligned their faith with this person, will be selected as the ones to be the jurors in this trial. So Jesus was born on earth, lived as a sinless person, died and raised to life again (Genesis 3:15). He was then given the power to search for other humans who are committed to follow him. These humans would be given a specific – holy role and objectives to be selected as legal jurors for the trial after the Millennium (Revelation 20:4). These are the main goals and objectives:

1. 1. To show how Bible prophecies are historically true.
      1. Explain Daniel 2 alongside historical facts (and their timeline) that relate to the different earthly kingdoms mentioned in Daniel 2.
      2. Show what the end of the world will be like (Rev 20) – which is the final judgement of the trial.
   2. To show genuine obedience to God by following God’s commandments.
      1. God called Moses to climb the mountain and appear before God. The Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “Give these instructions to the family of Jacob; announce it to the descendants of Israel:  ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.” (Exodus 19:3-6)
      2. God gave several other commands as well as a set of 10 commandments in Exodus 20.
      3. In John 14:15-17, Jesus said, “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be with you.”
      4. We must teach others to obey God’s laws and follow Jesus in all His beliefs.
   3. To show what the Kingdom of Darkness is.
      1. We are to show the contrast between the deeds of Satan, the Beast, and false prophets with those of Jesus and His followers.
      2. Identify the works of the Devil.  Jesus said to Satan followers, “For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).”
      3. We must also show the works of the Beast. Revelation 13:18 stated,  “…Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666”. We must preach the End Time Messages, especially those of Revelation 13 and 14.
   4. To vindicate the name of God.
      1. Christians are to let those who are in darkness know about the kingdom of God.  In John 9:60, Jesus said “Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead, Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.” 
      2. We must let the world know that God is good, just, merciful, and loving.
      3. Jesus said we must let our light shine before men, that they may see our good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).
      4. We are to use our personal testimonies as a witness because we will overcome evil by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony (Rev 12:11).
   5. To stay in God’s Kingdom by following Jesus.
      1. Jesus motivates us with these words, “But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. (John 16:32-33)”.
      2. Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne (Revelation 3:20-21).”
   6. To Show the Final Judgment – Controversy Ended
      1. John the revelator saw the end of the controversies on Earth; he said, “Then I saw thrones, and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge (jurors). And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They all came to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years (Revelation 20:4).”

THIS IS THE END-TIME BIBLE STUDY YOU GIVE TO OTHERS

FROM NOW UNTIL THE END OF TIME.