Jehovah's witnesses teach that a big issue of the rightness of God's rulership arose in Eden. In there book, What Does The Bible Really Teach, this is said:

"10 To find out why God allows suffering, we need to think back to the time when suffering began. When Satan led Adam and Eve into disobeying Jehovah, an important question was raised. Satan did not call into question Jehovah’s power. Even Satan knows that there is no limit to Jehovah’s power. Rather, Satan questioned Jehovah’s right to rule. By calling God a liar who withholds good from his subjects, Satan charged that Jehovah is a bad ruler. (Read Genesis 3:2-5.) Satan implied that mankind would be better off without God’s rulership. This was an attack on Jehovah’s sovereignty, his right to rule."

So they view the exchange that happened at Gen 3:2-5 as a challenge to God's right to rule. God agreeing to allow Satan prove that he is the better ruler made Him allowed the world to be ruled by Satan. It is taught that Satan would show by his rulership whether he is a good ruler or not. After the challenge is proved false by the end of the world, Satan and his cohorts will be destroyed. That would be after the one thousand years.

The article further went on to prove that this was the reason God doesn't interfer with human rulership, so as not to help Satan until he and the humans he rules finally realize that Jehovah is the better ruler, not Satan. In other words, God won't help Satan in any way till the time to prove his point elapses. These, according to JWs has brought the evil we see around us because Satan is running his tenure.

There are challenges to this conclusion reached by the witnesses.

1. Satan has been sentenced before the end of his rule already:

JWs believe that Gen 3:15 is about Satan being crushed by Jesus one day in the future. Why? Because of the deception in Eden. In fact, what God did after Adam sinned is like a court session where God asked all the individuals involved what happened, and finally pass judgment on them. How can Satan be sentenced for a future destruction when he is yet to prove his point?

So obviously God's plan was not to execute Satan immediately.

2. Noah's flood will be like God helping Satan then:

If Satan, who the witnesses view as a stubborn student on the chalkboard, is running his tenure, why then does God come to assist him by destroying evil men during Noah's day? Yet, Satan's tenure of ruling the world is still ongoing? Should the destruction not have been an end to the challenge if it was true?

We also know that God destroyed the Sodomites for serious sin on their part. Is that not God helping Satan if the JW is correct? Or at least a breach of contract.

3. God ruling the Israelite would have been God helping Satan:

If Satan was still running his tenure, why does God have a special people, the Israelites, whom He ruled? Would that not have been like God helping Satan in his rulership of the world?

4. Why did God send the Demons to Tartarus during Satan's tenure?

Why were the demons not killed immediately when they sinned since it was because of Satan's challenge that he was left alive according to JWs? Or did the demons also raise their own individual challenge to God? Some witnesses might say that it was because of the same issue of Universal Sovereignty raised by Satan, that's why they were not killed. But why then were they sent to Tartarus? Which is a form of punishment. And why are they sentenced to destruction in the future when Satan's rulership has not ended?


The witnesses also say that Satan introduced another challenge to human integrity during Job's day. According to them, Satan is saying that no man can ever remain faithful if he undergoes severe suffering of his property or when his life is threatened.

The witnesses say everyone is facing this challenge on earth. But there are some issues here. If job has proved that a man can still be on God's side after severe suffering, why is it being said by the JWs that the challenge is still ongoing? Has Job's integrity not debunked it? Jesus' integrity too proved Satan a liar.

We can see that this position of JWs is not sensible. God has always been in charge. See how Dan 4:17 puts it:

17 This is by the decree of watchers, and the request is by the word of the holy ones, so that people living may know that the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind and that he gives it to whomever he wants, and he sets up over it even the lowliest of men.”

True Satan is called the ruler of the world, but not the ruler of every individual. God is still the Ruler. But since God takes time to execute judgment, those evil ones like Satan uses that time space to deceive and cause havoc. Satan goes out to get people to be against God, and those he gets is viewed by God to be under the rule of Satan. There was no contract of rulership. God let's Satan have all that chose to disobey Him. God has already passed sentence on both Satan and those who follow him, but because of God's patience, Satan is rather using it to deceive.

We need to know that God doesn't always execute judgment speedily. At times He passes a judgement, but then fixes time of execution in the future. The time lag is what people misuse. There is a reason for the time lag.