Answer: In the beginning, our ancestors Adam and Eve didn’t suffer any pain at all. They had God in their hearts, worshiped Jehovah God and also managed and enjoyed all things God created, living a very blissful life in the Garden of Eden. But since they were tempted by Satan and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they had then lost God’s protection and care but fallen into the influence of Satan to be fooled and afflicted by Satan, living in agony and misery. Hence, the root cause of the sufferings in our life is Satan’s corruption.
Just as God’s word says, “Adam and Eve created by God in the beginning were holy people, which is to say, whilst in the Garden of Eden they were holy, untainted with filth. They were also faithful to Jehovah, and knew nothing of the betrayal of Jehovah. This is because they were without the disturbance of the influence of Satan, were without Satan’s poison, and were the purest of all mankind. They lived in the Garden of Eden, undefiled by any filth, unpossessed by the flesh, and in reverence of Jehovah. Later, when they were tempted by Satan, they had the poison of the serpent, and the desire to betray Jehovah, and they lived under the influence of Satan.” “Most people live in the foul place of Satan, and suffer its derision; it teases them this way and that till they are half alive, enduring every vicissitude, every hardship in the human world. After toying with them, Satan puts an end to their destiny.” “Satan corrupts people through the education and influence of the national governments and the famous and great. Their nonsense has become man’s life and nature. ‘Everyone for himself and the devil take the hindmost’ is a well-known satanic saying that has been instilled into everyone and has become people’s lives. There are other words of life philosophy that are also like this. Satan uses each nation’s fine traditional culture to educate people, causing humanity to fall into and be engulfed in a boundless abyss of destruction, and in the end people are destroyed by God because they serve Satan and resist God.”
For thousands of years, Satan just used atheism, materialism, and the theory of evolution, and other various harmful teachings and fallacies to deceive and corrupt mankind. All kinds of fallacies from the kings of devils, famous people and great people in ages past have been instilled into man’s hearts, like “Everyone for himself and the devil take the hindmost”; “Man will do anything to get rich”; “Those with brains rule over those with brawn”; “One’s destiny is in his own hand”; “There is no God or Savior”; “Man can fight against heaven and earth and conquer nature”; “Men should always strive to be better than their contemporaries”; “Money isn’t everything, but without it, you can do nothing” and so on. All these famous phrases are denying the existence of God and in enmity to God and truth. Living by this stuff, we all become extremely arrogant and conceited, refusing to obey anyone; we also become very selfish and dishonest, deceiving and harming others for our own profits; we don’t have a heart-to-heart talk with others; there is no trust even between parents and children as well as between the husband and the wife; if we don’t maintain the relationship with other people carefully, we will easily become enemies. In addition, being deceived by Satan’s fallacies and lies, we all worship money, authority, and position, rushing around for them all along; when we don’t possess them, we want to get them, but when we got them, we still desire to get more; if we lose these things, we will feel we lose the value of life and fall into pain. Think about it: Living under the influence of Satan like that, how can’t we feel pained?
Then, how are we able to break free from these sufferings? God’s word says, “Whether the words spoken by God are, in outward appearance, plain or abstruse, they are all truths indispensable to man as he enters into life. … They are rich in the reality of the truth of normal humanity as it is lived out by created mankind, rich in the truth by which mankind breaks free from corruption and eludes Satan’s snares, rich in the tireless teaching, exhortation, encouragement, and solace that the Creator gives to created humanity. They are the beacon that guides and enlightens men to understand all that is positive, the guarantee which ensures that men will live out and come into possession of all that is righteous and good, the criterion by which people, events, and objects are all measured, and also the navigation marker that leads men toward salvation and the path of light.” If we want to be free of these sufferings, we have to believe in God and read God’s words. When we understand more truths, we will have the discernment between the positive things and negative things, then gradually we can break free from being fooled and afflicted by Satan. For example, if we understand the truth, we will have some knowledge and discernment of our corrupt dispositions, we will know what thoughts in our mind are not in line with God’s will but belong to our satanic dispositions; then, we seek out God’s will and requirement in God’s words, after that, we act on God’s will rather than satanic dispositions; as such, we will achieve peace and joy in our heart. Besides, if we understand more truths, we can perceive our erroneous pursuit and see clearly that pursuing money, fame, and position is neither the right path of life nor true happiness; those who possess wealth and position often live in various pains and have no peace in their hearts even though they live in luxurious houses and drive nice cars. After we see through these things according to the truth, we will get our pursuits changed and set the right goals for the life, no longer being bound by fame and living much freely!
Hence, the more we understand the truth, the more we are able to act on God’s words in everything, then we’ll always have God’s presence and protection. As such, we will have real peace and joy in our hearts and gradually break free from Satan’s affliction and achieve a happy life!