Does Satan Literally Invent All Diseases?

This question may seem to have an obvious answer – “Yes!  He’s bad and God’s good!  If it’s good, God made it, and if it’s bad, Satan made it.  Good God, bad devil.”)  Yet when you start to think it through, the answer might not seem quite as clear-cut.

Is Satan really so smart that he can devise ways to alter DNA to create genetic problems?  Do you remember from biology class how incredibly complex DNA is?  Satan is only a created angel, so what would give him the ability to be “God-like” when it comes to being a creator, just in an evil manner?  Can he really invent new classes of evil biological beings that destroy other biological beings?  Are viruses and bacteria and genetic illnesses his handiwork the way that lions and eagles are God’s handiwork?  That would seem to promote Satan to the “creator” class along with God, wouldn’t it?  Man with all his super-expensive lab equipment cannot produce life, including damaging life-forms like cancer cells or antibiotic-resistant germs.  If man, God’s crowning achievement, can’t even do it, how could an inferior being – a fallen angel – somehow be able to pull it off?  Wouldn’t this be something only God can do?

Another thing to consider is that death did not come into the world by SATAN – it came into the world because of SIN (Genesis 3:19).  Satan did not have the power to do ANYTHING in this world until Adam sold out to him.  He would never have been “the god of this world” as we know him today if Adam had not sinned.  I will go along with the notion that sin was Satan’s idea – he sinned from the beginning.  But Adam was under no obligation to join him in sin.

Here is something else to consider.  Did SATAN invent the diseases that would be poured out of the vial in Revelation 16:1-2?  I think it would be a bit much of a stretch to hold that this “vial” means that God will “allow” Satan to do the dirty work or that heaven has a collection of things the devil made waiting to be poured out as judgment.  I see no reason not to accept this passage at face value and believe that God created these judgments for sin and put them in a vial.  Perhaps someone will object, “But you are saying that God created something that wasn’t good or very good,” and I would respond that God said that everything He made in Genesis 1 was good or very good.  There was no need for a vial of sickness in heaven in Genesis 1 before man fell because there was no need for judgment of unrepentant sinners, so He would have had to create that vial of sickness later.

So is the answer that God created everything, but did so in such a way that it was subject to corruption if sin entered the picture?  This would be consistent with the idea that God created Lucifer, who was capable of becoming corrupt if he made the wrong choice, though he did not HAVE TO sin and become corrupt.  Furthermore, God made MAN, who was also subject to becoming corrupt (spiritually dead) if he sinned.  That doesn’t mean that man HAD TO sin, but when he did, he was created in such a way that sin would corrupt his very nature and make him a slave to sin. Satan did not create that arrangement; God did.  Satan only goaded man in the direction of that corruption.

So now we have to ask, “Does the Bible give us any direct testimony on this subject in either direction?”  And as usual, we’ll find that it does.

Let’s consider the DNA thing.  Can Satan actually create DNA?

Apparently, he CAN!  The Egyptian sorcerers caused a stick to become a snake.  Snakes have DNA.  When Moses pronounced a plague of frogs, the Egyptian sorcerers did the same.  Frogs have DNA.  Now they were unable to produce gnats, which have DNA, and I can’t tell you why that is because God doesn’t explain it.  But based on the testimony of Scripture, it appears that Satan CAN create DNA.  He may not have been the original inventor of it, but it seems that he is able to replicate it when it suits his purposes.

So therefore, we would have to conclude that Satan could create other DNA-based organisms that are harmful to man, and he would have the right to do so after Adam allowed him entry to the earth to corrupt it.

Now we need to consider the testimony that when God created the earth and everything on it, it was all “good” or “very good.”  Sickness is NOT good and certainly not VERY good.  Therefore, it could NOT have been part of God’s original creation.  If God didn’t create it, it stands to reason that Satan, who is always out to hurt God’s creation, created it.

I don’t know all the medical ins and outs of boils, but Satan was able to smite Job with boils from head to toe, as well as a number of other painful and annoying ailments.  It is clear from the book of Job that SATAN, not GOD, did this.  So once again, Satan is capable of producing sickness and putting it on someone.

Next, we see that there are “spirits of infirmity” whose function is to make people sick.  The woman who was “bowed over” in Luke 13:11-16 had one, and Jesus did not declare the name of some crippling disease that was the problem.  Rather, He said that SATAN had bound her for 18 years.  While the mechanics of the disease might seem complicated, the physical problems were all caused by an evil spirit who was doing Satan’s work in the woman’s body.

So while at first it was tempting to conclude that Satan isn’t smart enough to create living organisms or diseases, the Word forces us to conclude that he is.  And it is clear that sickness and affliction are his works.  So yes, Satan CAN invent diseases and He is the ultimate source of the diseases that go around today.

However, Satan is an outlaw.  He is NOT God’s leg-breaker sent out to avenge sin.  God says that vengeance is His (Psalm 94:1, Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30).  That means Satan has no moral right to do anything that he does, though he has the legal right to be on the earth and mess things up because Adam gave him that right.  Those of us who are in Christ have authority over Satan and all his power (Luke 10:19), so we can stop him from afflicting us.

So if something is good, God made it.  With the exception of God’s acts of judgment, if something is bad for you, Satan made it.  Good God, bad devil!