RELIGION: Lucifer
Updated: Jun 6, 2022
1. The Prophecy (1995)
Director: Gregory Widen
There’s an old saying in some Spanish-speaking countries: “The devil knows more because he’s old than he does because he’s the devil.” Experience is an unquantifiable advantage, and many movies grapple with Satan’s unfathomable age (or simply play it for laughs). The Prophecy is an avowedly crazy movie with an earnestly ’90s gothic punk plot about the jealous angel Gabriel (Christopher Walken) seeking to smuggle the soul of a recently deceased war criminal in the body of a little girl so that he can continue a petty war with God. Showing up near the end to explain this cosmic conflict to the hapless human protagonists is Viggo Mortensen’s Lucifer, a hissing, snarling creature who only wears the ill-fitting guise of a man.
In speaking about his portrayal of the character in an interview, Mortensen said that “The Devil can be anything. Can do anything. He doesn’t have to yell. He has power.” Mortensen’s Devil absolutely doesn’t need to yell to get his point across. Even his brief pep talk to Elias Koteas’ overmatched hero, while certainly well-meaning, is enough to make you believe a person might die of fright just talking to this guy. The terror he causes in others is compelling, but the moment that sells his immortality comes during a Native American exorcism ritual in which he intercedes. The stunned participants have lost their place in the chant, and Lucifer impatiently feeds them their next lines, as you or I might to a child who’s taking too long to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. It’s ennui, disdain and encyclopedic knowledge all wrapped into one line. He’s learned a lot from being so old, but he still snarls with delight at the thought of ensnaring a couple more human souls before he takes his leave: “I love you,” he seethes, covered in blood, somehow pleading at the same time he’s threatening. “I love you more than Jesus.” — Kenneth Lowe
Satan’s Ten Strategies Against You
Article by John Piper
Founder & Teacher, desiringGod.org
. . . that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs. (2 Corinthians 2:11)
One of the most sobering facts about life is that all humans have a supernatural enemy whose aim is to use pain and pleasure to make us blind, stupid, and miserable — forever. The Bible calls him “the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world . . . the accuser” (Revelation 12:9–10), “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31), and “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
He is our “adversary [who] prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Yet, in the most appalling and unwitting bondage, the whole world willingly “follows the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). At his most successful, his subjects march obliviously to destruction, and take as many with them as they can.
The “good warfare” (1 Timothy 1:18) that I wrote about under the title “Awake and at War” includes the daily resistance of this enemy (1 Peter 5:9; James 4:7), the daily refusal to give him an opportunity (Ephesians 4:27), and the daily stand against his schemes (Ephesians 6:11).
Satan’s Leash — and Impending Doom
God is sovereign over Satan. The devil does not have a free hand in this world. He is on a leash, so that he can do no more than God permits. In effect, he must get permission — as in the case of Simon Peter, where Jesus discloses, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has asked to have you, that he might sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:31). And the case of Job: “The Lord said to Satan, “Behold, Job is in your hand; only spare his life” (Job 2:6).
So evidently God sees the ongoing role of Satan as essential for his purposes in the world, since, if God willed, Satan would be thrown into the lake of fire now, instead of at the end of the age. “The devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and . . . will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10). His complete defeat is coming and sure. But not yet.
Unwitting Servant of Our Sanctification
God intends that part of our preparation for heaven be a life of warfare with hell. He calls it a “good warfare” (1 Timothy 1:18) and a “good fight” (1 Timothy 6:12). It is good, not because we might be killed (which we might! — Revelation 2:10), but because these fire-fights refine the gold of our faith (1 Peter 1:7), in life and death.
God is the great General in this warfare. He has given us the walkie-talkie of prayer to call for help: “Take . . . the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times” (Ephesians 6:17–18).
He sees behind enemy lines, and knows exactly the strategies that will be used against us. He has written them down in a wartime manual “so that we would not be outwitted by Satan.” The reason we will not be outwitted is that “we are not ignorant of his designs” (2 Corinthians 2:11).
Primer on Satan’s Strategies
If you need a refresher for what those “designs” are, here is a summary. May God make you a mighty warrior! May he “train your hands for war and your fingers for battle” (Psalm 144:1).
1. Satan lies, and is the father of lies.
“When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). The first time Satan appears in the Bible in Genesis 3, the first words on his lips are suspicious of the truth (“Did God say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?”). And the second words on his lips were a subtle falsehood (“You will not die”). John says that Satan “has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him” (John 8:44). We are dealing with the essence of falsehood and deception.
2. He blinds the minds of unbelievers.
“The god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4). So he not only speaks what is false. He hides what is true. He keeps us from seeing the treasure of the gospel. He lets us see facts, even proofs, but not preciousness.
3. He masquerades in costumes of light and righteousness.
In 2 Corinthians 11:13–15, Paul says that some people are posing as apostles who are not. He explains like this: “Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.”
In other words, Satan has servants who profess enough truth to join the church, and from inside teach what Paul calls “doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). Jesus says they will be like wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15). Acts 20:30 says they will not spare the flock, but will draw people away to destruction. Without God’s gift of discernment (Philippians 1:9), our love will be suckered into stupidity.
4. Satan does signs and wonders.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:9, the last days are described like this: “The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power, and with signs and wonders of the lie.” That’s my awkward translation. Some translate it “with false signs and wonders.” But this makes the signs and wonders look unreal. In fact, some people do say that Satan can only fake miracles. I doubt it. And even if it’s true, his fake is going to be good enough to look real to almost everybody.
“God intends that part of our preparation for heaven be a life of warfare with hell.”
One reason I doubt that Satan can only fake his miracles is that in Matthew 24:24 Jesus describes the last days like this: “False Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” There is no hint that these “signs and wonders” will be tricks.
Let your confidence be grounded in something far deeper than any supposed inability of Satan to do signs and wonders. Even real signs and wonders in the service of anti-Christian assertions, prove nothing, even when they are done “in the name of Jesus.” “Lord, Lord, did we not do many mighty works in your name?” To which Jesus will reply, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:22–23). The problem was not that the signs and wonders weren’t real, but that they were in the service of sin.
5. Satan tempts people to sin.
This is what he did unsuccessfully to Jesus in the wilderness — he wanted him to abandon the path of suffering and obedience (Matthew 4:1–11). This is what he did successfully to Judas in the last hours of Jesus’s life (Luke 22:3–6). And in 2 Corinthians 11:3, Paul warns against this for all the believers: “I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”
6. Satan plucks the word of God out of people’s hearts and chokes faith.
Jesus told the parable of the four soils in Mark 4:1–9. In it, the seed of the word of God is sown, and some falls on the path and birds quickly take it away. He explains in verse 15, “Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which was sown in them.” Satan snatches the word because he hates faith which the word produces (Romans 10:17).
Paul expresses his concern for the faith of the Thessalonians like this: “I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain” (1 Thessalonians 3:5). Paul knew that Satan’s design is to choke off the faith of people who have heard the word of God.
7. Satan causes some sickness and disease.
Jesus healed a woman once who was bent over and could not straighten herself. When some criticized him for doing that on the Sabbath, he said, “Ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” (Luke 13:16). Jesus saw Satan as the one who had caused this disease.
“God is sovereign over Satan. The devil has no free hand in this world. He is on a leash, and can do only what God permits.”
In Acts 10:38, Peter described Jesus as one who “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” In other words, the devil often oppresses people with illness. This too is one of his designs.
But don’t make the mistake of saying every sickness is the work of the devil. To be sure, even when a “thorn in the flesh” is God’s design for our sanctification, it also may be the “messenger of Satan” (2 Corinthians 12:7). But there are other instances in which the disease is solely attributed to God’s design without reference to Satan: “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). Jesus feels no need to bring Satan in as the culprit in his own merciful designs.
8. Satan is a murderer.
Jesus said to those who were planning to kill him, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth” (John 8:44). John says, “Do not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother” (1 John 3:12). Jesus told the blameless church at Smyrna, “The devil is about to throw some of you into prison. . . . Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).
To put it in a word, Satan is blood-thirsty. Christ came into the world that we might have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10). Satan comes that he might destroy life wherever he can and in the end make it eternally miserable.
9. Satan fights against the plans of missionaries.
Paul tells of how his missionary plans were frustrated in 1 Thessalonians 2:17–18: “We endeavored the more eagerly, and with great desire, to see you face to face; because we wanted to come to you . . . but Satan hindered us.” Satan hates evangelism and discipleship, and he will throw every obstacle he can in the way of missionaries and people with a zeal for evangelism.
10. Satan accuses Christians before God.
Revelation 12:10 says, “I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, ‘Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.’” Satan’s defeat is sure. But his accusations haven’t ceased.
It is the same with us as it was with Job. Satan says to God about us, They don’t really love you; they love your benefits. “Stretch out your hand and touch all that [they have], and [they] will curse you to your face” (Job 1:11). Their faith isn’t real. Satan accuses us before God, as he did Job. But it is a glorious thing that followers of Jesus have an advocate who “always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
Satan Will Not Win
Those are some of Satan’s designs. The path to victory in this warfare is to hold fast to Christ who has already dealt the decisive blow.
1 John 3:8: “The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil.”
Hebrews 2:14: “Christ took on human nature that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil.”
Colossians 2:15: “God disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him.” In other words, the decisive blow was struck at Calvary.
Mark 3:27: “No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man.”
Revelation 20:10 says one day the warfare will be over: “The devil . . . [will be] thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone . . . and will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (See Matthew 8:29; 25:41)
Resist!
James says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you!” (James 4:7). How do we do that? Here is how they did it according to Revelation 12:11: “They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” They embraced the triumph of Christ by his blood. They spoke that truth in faith. They did not fear death. And they triumphed.
The New Testament highlights prayer as the pervasive accompaniment of every battle. “Take . . . the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Ephesians 6:17–18).
“Do not be outwitted by Satan. God sees behind enemy lines and tells us all we need to know to not be ignorant of Satan’s designs.”
As the close of this age draws near, and Satan rages, Jesus calls us to wartime prayer: “Watch at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36). Similarly, Peter makes an urgent call to end-time prayer: “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers” (1 Peter 4:7).
Even Jesus fought against the devil on our behalf with the weapon of prayer. He said to Peter in Luke 22:31–32, “Satan has asked to have you that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.” So Jesus illustrates for us the opposition of a specific satanic threat with prayer.
And, of course, Jesus instructed us to make prayer a daily weapon for protection in general: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13). That is, deliver us from the successful temptation of the evil one. Do you confront the designs of the devil with the focused and determined power of prayer?
No Neutral Zone
The question is not whether you want to be in this war. Everyone is in it. Either we are defeated by the devil and thus following, like cattle to the slaughter, “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), or we are resisting — “resist him, firm in your faith!” (1 Peter 5:9).
There is no neutral zone. You either triumph “by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony,” or you will be enslaved by Satan. Therefore, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3), and “wage the good warfare” (1 Timothy 1:18). Pray without ceasing!
The Lord Jesus is no less a warrior today than in the days of old. So I urge you again: Come to him as willing soldiers of the Prince of Peace and learn to say, “He trains my hands for war” (Psalm 144:1).
John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Providence.
1 “re-think!” … No.7 … No.7 THE DEVIL — SATAN — SERPENT Man has said that a Holy God could not possibly create the Devil! So man concocted a yarn about the Devil starting out as an anointed cherub or angel and that he rebelled against God and was removed from heaven! Did God lose control just for a moment? Did this angel pull ‘a fast one’ on God? Did he force God to adopt ‘plan B’? The answer is an emphatic ‘No’, for God has been and is and will be in control of all things. He can therefore declare that all things work together for good for His glorious, triumphant plan of the ages. In this present age God has purposed to draw out a people to Himself for His name (Acts 15:4) so that they can be processed to maturity/perfection and be then the means of setting all men free. God is the ‘trainer’ who controls our ‘work-out’ that we become spiritually strong and God calls these ones ‘overcomers’. Alas more Christians today fear the Devil more than they fear God or truly love God. Their songs in their services quite often give the devil more advertising than they do the Lord! I heard a preacher comment that the devil must be Pentecostal for he gets more acknowledgment in those circles than anywhere else! ALL THINGS Observe how ‘all things’ is mentioned in the context of God’s purposes and control. (Eph 1:11) In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of His own will: If God says. He knows all things and controls them, who is ‘man’ to deny such? Let us, for example, observe how God fully controlled Pharaoh for His purposes: (Rom 9:17) For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Pharaoh acted as the devil in hindering God’s people from coming free from Egypt. (Amos 3:6) Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? God can never be taken by surprise. No wonder He promises never to leave us. (Rom 11:36) For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen. Everything in one’s life is known of God for it has His purpose in it. (Col 1:16) For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: We can surely relax knowing our times are in His hand (Psalm 31:15). (Col 1:17) And he is before all things, and by him all things consist (=hold together). GOD MADE THE SERPENT — THE DEVIL — SATAN The Serpent, the Devil and Satan are three aspects of the one and the same spirit-being (Rev 12:9) And the great dragon was cast out (of Eden when Adam left!), that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth (the lower realm of man’s fallen, carnal nature), and his angels (spirits) were cast out with him (to attack from the outside), (Genesis 3:1a) Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had Revised: May ‘05 2 made. The devil is called and depicted as a serpent firstly because he is of the earth, earthy and secondly he has the nature of a beast . . . a crafty beast for he will appear as good but will not be that. (Isaiah 45:7) I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. (Isaiah 54:16) Behold, I have created the smith that blows the coals in the fire, and that brings forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. SATAN — this title means ADVERSARY ... one who always GOES AGAINST or is opposed to YOU EXPRESSING CHRIST. SATAN DESPISES THE CROSS. WHEN PETER OPPOSED THE DEATH OF JESUS, he was addressed by Jesus as Satan .. Get thee behind Me, Satan (Mark 8:33). Subtle Satan operates in the RELIGIOUS realm for he is very religious! Well ... there is the synagogue of Satan (Rev.2:9) mentioned. ‘Synagogue’ means ASSEMBLY or GATHERING ... thus the above title can be placed upon any gathering/fellowship that opposes or ignores the work of the cross in every life even to the point of opposing the Holy Spirit in His liberating work! DEVIL — this title means ACCUSER or SLANDERER. SERPENT — this title means TO HISS which is derived from a word meaning TO WHISPER ... just like a person speaking behind their hand to get your attention — saying ‘Pssst’ (meaning listen to this!). The serpent started out preaching in the Garden of Eden ... but preaching the opposite to God’s word! ... and he is still doing it today! The serpent’s word encompasses all the opposition consisting of lying, slandering, twisting utilizing scriptures against those who have been awakened to the plan and purposes of God. His greatest work is to replace the things of Christ ... hence expressing the anti-Christ (remember, antiChrist simply means ‘INSTEAD OF CHRIST’). SOME THINGS THE DEVIL DOESN’T HAVE OR CANNOT DO! All the actions of the Devil … within and without … are not in the control of Satan. The Devil has NO POWER except what our fallen thinking gives him through fear and ignorance. Ignorance is the absence of truth just like darkness is the absence of light. Earlier circumstances (e.g. a curse) can sometimes give the Devil power to manifest in a situation or person, but such expressions are not permanent and eventually all such negative effects will be destroyed. 1 Corin. 15:25-26) For He (CHRIST) must reign till He has put all enemies under Hi feet. (26) The last enemy to be destroyed is death (therefore that means sin is no more because the wages (or outcome) is death. (Hebrews 2:14b) … that through death, He (Jesus Christ) might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the Devil. Since the victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ, even death is no more and we will overcome death and experience resurrection life of the fullness of Christ. THE PURPOSE OF HAVING SUCH A CREATION The Devil is like a ‘mallet’ on God’s carpenter bench. When the project is complete, the mallet is no longer needed. Because God is in control you will never be tested more than you can handle to overcome in order to walk victoriously. God’s chastening rod is the devil just like He used the Philistines mostly to spank His people Israel in the old testament. The enemy is used by God to test God’s sons: however, you will not be tested above that which you can overcome and be the stronger for it. (John 10:10) The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Notice that the opposites go together … abundant life is promised in place of the Devil’s negative thoughts. 3 When one knows their enemy, all fear is gone concerning him especially when we also know that Christ overcame him at Calvary and he has no more power over you. The only influence and authority he has over one is when that one gives in to the thoughts that the devil and his ‘angels’ create. (1Pe 4:12) Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: God doesn’t always remove the tough situation, but enables each one to go through it O.K. Jesus had to learn the same thing in the same way. (Heb 5:8) Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; An athlete trains by battling weights or pushing himself to improve on times so that his strength and endurance increases. Training is a hardship so that when the real race is on, the runner excels. Individual ‘battles’ are purposed so that your faith in the finished work of Calvary can increase ... thus you get numbered among the overcomers of Revelation. Their testimony is that they are being changed from glory to glory in to the image of His Son by the Spirit (2 Corin. 3:18). (1Peter 5:8) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: (9) Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. (10) But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. (11) To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Your flesh will tell you it is suffering! When one has grasped the truth that we are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God (because we were crucified with Christ – Gal. 2:20) the question arises, ‘Whoever heard of someone attacking a corpse?’ (Job 23:9) On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hides himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: Sometimes it is hard to see God’s hand in one’s circumstances at the time of battle … but later your eyes are opened to see the maturing change He has accomplished in you. GOD WANTS ‘SONS’ NOT ‘WIMPS’! (Job 23:10) But He knows the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. (Psalm 119:7) I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. We are to learn that we are righteous now (not going to be so) because of Christ Jesus, then we walk in that truth and those around us are affected by such a walk. FROM THE BEGINNING If there were something before ‘the beginning’ then that ‘something’ would then be the true beginning. Remember that the Devil was a murder, thief and a liar from the beginning. We have seen that the Devil was a serpent from the beginning. (John 8:44) Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. ‘The beginning’, says Webster’s dictionary, equals the time or place of starting or coming into being. (1John 3:8) He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. The question that has to be answered by each one is ‘Did Jesus really destroy the works of the Devil?’ Yes He did and through His 4 grace He has given the same victory to us. THE DEVIL’S END (Rev 20:2) And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years (See! God is in charge all the time. He could have bound the enemy at any time, but He only did it according to His overall plan), (3) And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. In this time the Devil’s works of darkness will just ‘run out of steam’ as righteousness increases in the earth). In the natural realm there is no such thing as a bottomless ‘pit’. A pit is like a cylinder whereas a bottomless one would be a tube! In the spirit the bottomless pit is a vivid picture of the carnal mind that can go to great depths of unfathomable depravity . . . all the aspects of the beast-nature that stems from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God placed darkness on the earth (Genesis 1:2). Verse (3) He brings in the light and the darkness is swallowed up by it. In the end of God’s great plan, all the Devil’s darkness (murder, lying, stealing and destroying) will be no more for righteousness will reign in every part of God’s creation. The Devil, being a spirit, is only seen and known by his evil works of darkness and ignorant negative thoughts. No more thought promotions to tempt you for all his actions will be swallowed up once and for all time by the righteousness being released from within the saints. What a mighty glorious victory!
Satan's empty bag of tricks
Luke 4:13-20
4 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him [Jesus] until an opportune time.
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners*br /> and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord"s favor."
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Week 2 (January)
Satan had temporarily reached the bottom of his bag of tricks. Every avenue of attack he'd tried on Jesus had been thwarted. His demonic attempts to foil divine plans had been frustrated.
Jesus had turned aside every temptation. The lure to satisfy natural bodily desires by wrong means? Resisted.
The appeal of doing the dramatic even if it meant not following the divine plan? Rejected.
The temptation to take the short-cut, to manipulate the divine will? Cold-shouldered.
Powerful temptations, flooding in one after another.
Satan, of course, had has lots of practice. He had successfully trapped Adam and Eve in Eden, Moses at Horeb, and David on his rooftop terrace. The Amalekite spoils had been used to bring down Saul. The Old Testament is filled with the accounts of those Satan had successfully broken.
Now he brought all of that cunning and experience to bear on Jesus. But Jesus stood his ground.
And suddenly, Satan was out of ideas. There was nothing else he could think of to do with this 30-year-old carpenter from nazareth. There, in the scorching dryness of the wilderness, hell had exhausted itself.
So Satan left. Temporarily to be sure, but he was gone. And although he did return, perhaps often, to tempt Jesus, the Gospels tell us that Jesus was always victorious.
The writer of the Hebrews sums up what all this can mean for us: Our high priest tasted all, and in a way that every one of us can identify with.
Jesus can identify with me, the PK (preacher's kid), and He can identify with my friend Ron Williams, who came to Christ from a "pagan" environment.
Roman Catholics often pray to deceased persons believing that these "saints" have special access to God. These saints supposedly form a kind of bridge between God and man since they can identify with their fellowman and yet they have an "in" with God because they were extra good or holy people on earth.
What a travesty that idea is on Luke's powerful account of Christ in the wilderness! This "one mediator between God and man" tasted all. Therefore I don't need a back-door approach to God. Christ, the God-man can identify with me and I with Him.
Sometimes we say of each other: "Well, you don't understand. You've never gone through anything like this." With Jesus there need be no fear of misunderstanding.
And in the face of temptation, I can't really improve on the defense Jesus used in the wilderness. To achieve victory over Satan, Jesus quoted scripture. And what a power the Word of God demonstrated!
During period of religious intolerance in Florence, Italy, four hundred years ago, some Bibles were confiscated by the authorities. To keep these Bibles from trickling out into circulation before being destroyed, they were locked in an empty prison cell to await a bonfire.
What a graphic testimony of that Book's power! The authorities were so respectful of its power that they locked it up in jail!
This same power is available to us. And Christ stands ready through His Holy Spirit to give us all the aid necessary so that Satan will arrive at the bottom of his bag of tricks and come up empty-handed against us... and we'll still be there standing erect. Bloodied from the battle perhaps, but unbowed.
I wrote this meditation while a missionary in Italy. It originally appeared in the Standard, a weekly take-home curriculum piece for what is now the Eduring Word adult Sunday school curriculum published by The Foundry.
-- Howard Culbertson
Truths For The Journey
Don't Believe These 5 Lies Satan Uses to Discourage You 7/16/2019 2 Comments We can often live in fear and anxiety because of Satan's lies. He seems to use tricks of “smoke and mirrors.” Jesus said that the devil is a liar—and the father of lies.[1] The devil cannot “make” us do anything, but he is a master deceiver who is very much experienced at making people believe anything that interferes with God’s plan. Jesus Christ, in contrast, is called “the way, the truth, and the life,” and his plan is for each person to experience life “more abundantly.” Here are five lies that cause us to fear and the Biblical truth that sets people free from those fears if they will believe and trust God’s word. I can’t The worst thing about the “I can’t” lie is that it stops us before we start. It fills us with fear as we face our biggest obstacles and challenges. “I can’t overcome alcohol.” “I shouldn’t expect to have a good marriage.” “Everything I touch turns out wrong.” “I’m a failure.” “I can’t follow God.” “I can’t start that business.” In contrast, God is the creator of potential—and the completer of fulfillment. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me..” [2] Yes, that verse is specifically about Paul’s learning to handle both plenty and poverty without being distracted from his life’s purpose by either. Still, if God is the great creator, if he knows us, if we will one day be rewarded for what we have done, then we may assume he has a plan for us—something we can do. No, we can’t do everything, but we can do anything he wants us to do. That includes overcoming our sins and failures by his grace and with his help and accomplishing his will for our lives. Whether it is something people consider to be great or small, God looks on the heart, and the very act of seeking to serve him is a success. And failure is an essential part of success. “ For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.” [3] The only way to never fail is to never attempt. So don’t be afraid to attempt that which God is leading you to do through prayerful and Biblical wisdom. Don’t fear and believe the lie of “I can’t.” God won’t “God won’t help me.” “God won’t forgive me again.” “God won’t hear me.” God won’t love me.” These are real cries of the hurting heart. And God is ready for that: “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” [4] God is not frustrated at our weaknesses and failing. Ask Peter after his denial of Christ. Ask the woman who was so ashamed that she could not even look up, but washed the feet of Christ with her tears. But he is severe to those who stubbornly persist in rejecting his grace. It’s Okay to be weak, but we must guard our hearts against being willfully and stubbornly resistant of God’s grace. The key differences? Sincerity and repentance. “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.t.” [5] Nobody cares This is a lie from Satan, “the accuser,” much too close to the first recorded lie. His approach to Eve was that God did not have her best interest at heart. She could have more than God was offering. Although she had known only good, she could know both good and evil. And that experiential knowledge of evil brought pain and misery. God cares. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things??” [6] And people care. It is natural to retreat from people when we hurt, to hide, to isolate ourselves. It is natural, but it is counterproductive. The healing comes as we choose the supernatural, God’s plan. And God’s plan involves accepting the provisions God has made, including people. That is one function of the church: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching..” [7]That may take letting some people inside your life, opening yourself up, sharing your hurts when you just want to hide. But God intends to use his people. Will everyone respond rightly? Maybe not. In fact, probably not. In any group of people, some will let you down, but in a good church, there will be someone with whom you can connect. One function of pastoral leadership is to help people make those connections. If you are in our area, we would like to help. Please feel free to contact us or come for a visit to a service soon. We are here to listen and we care. I don’t matter You matter to God. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” [8] You are worth God assuming human flesh, dying on a cross to take the punishment for your sins, and rising again. You matter, not because of what you can do, not because of who you are, but because of whose you are, if you are a child of God. A loving parent cares for the child, even in the child’s failures. Your own parents are, or were, fallible. But your heavenly father is not. Yet we know by observation and by scripture that God’s children—and all people—suffer. The “why” behind suffering is a topic of its own, and has been a lifelong passion of Phillip Yancey, who wrote the book Where Is God When It Hurts.” This is a good source for deeper consideration of this topic. It’s too late This is a powerful lie of the devil. The feeling of urgency which should prompt us to action becomes his tool to intensify despair and fear. The feeling of guilt which should prompt us to repentance, this the devil uses to make us hide from God because of fear instead. But what does God say? The mercy of God is “new every morning.” [9] I love Psalm 103:8—“The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy." —because it begins and ends its description of God with his mercy. And lost opportunity? True, yesterday cannot come again. But should we throw away today because of that? You might be surprised at how encouraging it is to do something rather than to stagnate in yesterday’s sorrow. This has all been written for the perspective of a person who has a relationship with God. It’s never too late to start. The first step in truly dealing with fear based on the lies of Satan is to begin a relationship with God. For more about knowing for sure of the forgiveness of God, having a real relationship with him that can bring peace and relief from fear, click here. [1] John 8:44 [2] Philippians 4:13 [3] Proverbs 24:16 [4] Psalm 103:13-14 [5] Psalm 34:18 [6] Romans 8:32 [7] Hebrews 10:25 [8] John 3:16 [9] Lamentations 3:23
Go to Chapter One Section
The Death of Satan
How Americans Have Lost the Sense of Evil
By Andrew Delbanco
Chapter One: The Old Enemy Comes to the New World
Once, Satan was understood to be everywhere. But when he attacked, he gave the "fatal stab unseen," and his slyness--his very essence--was confirmed by the difficulty of recognizing him. This was always true of him, as Baudelaire made clear in his famous remark that the devil's cleverest wile is to convince us that he does not exist. One way to track the approach of modernity is to follow the devil's decline into invisibility, a process that has seemed, for centuries, as ominous as it was inevitable and that began a long time ago. "It is a policy of the Devil," remarked one Englishman in the years before the first American settlements, "to persuade us that there is no Devil."i As long ago as 1600, Satan had embarked on his modern project of feigning humility.
He had once been a braggart crowing in God's throne, as in the medieval mystery plays: "Aha, that I am wondrous bright . . . / All in this throne if that I were / Then should I be as wise as he." But by the time of the high Elizabethan drama of Marlowe and Shakespeare two centuries later, he has put on a disguise or stepped behind the curtain; he has become the debonair Mephistopheles and the poisonous whisperer, Iago. Yet a millennium before, in the early Christian era and into the Middle Ages, when the air was thought to be so thick with demons that a needle dropped from heaven would have to pierce one on its way down, his appearance and attributes had already been subject to fierce debate. This was in part because there was no sacred text in the Judeo-Christian tradition hat exhibited him with entire clarity. "We gather not from the four gospels alone any high-raised fancies concerning this Satan," Melville remarked many centuries later, "we only know him from thence as the personification of the essence of evil."
Scripture, of course, is full of images of evil--the serpent of Genesis; the Lucifer of Isaiah; Beelzebub in the Gospel of Luke; St. Paul's Belial, the "prince of the power of the air," and the devil who speaks to Christ like a pimp: "All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it." But the devil as a figure of identifiable aspect exists in the Bible only sporadically and in fragments that only later were assembled into a unified concept.
It took centuries for this to happen. The Christian devil emerged slowly as the amalgamation of all the scriptural elements--a process that can be followed at the linguistic as well as the doctrinal level. The Hebrew word Satan, which means obstructor or adversary, is given in the Book of Job to the agent of God who is sent to test Job's constancy, and to the obstacle against which David must prove his kingship in the first Book of Chronicles. This Satan, as one writer genially puts it, has "access to Heaven . . . and [is] evidently on good terms with the Almighty." When the Old Testament was rendered into Greek in the third century, the Greek word diabolos (from dia-bollein, to tear apart) was chosen to translate this Hebrew Satan, and at the same time a different Greek word, satanas, was used in the New Testament to denote, not a tempter sent by God to test men, but an enemy of God himself. This new Satan appears most vividly in the Book of Revelation as "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan . . . cast out into the earth." (Still another word, daimon, was used to signify various evil spirits from the Hebrew texts, such as the demon bride in the apocryphal Book of Tobit.) To compound the confusion, the Greek diabolos and satanas were both rendered as "Satan" in the Tudor-Stuart English translations, culminating with the standard King James version of 1604. By the later Renaissance, therefore, when the Bible had become the central vernacular text of every literate Englishman, a permanent consolidation of subtly different meanings had taken place, and Satan had reemerged as a unified contradiction, an inherently paradoxical creature.
But even before the contaminations of translation, he had already been ambiguous in the Hebrew Scriptures. In the Book of Job he has a certain independence, standing apart from the other "sons of God," and answering God's query "Whence comest thou?" with a renegade's insolence: "From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." When God takes up this gambit, and holds up his servant
Job as "a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and eschewethevil," Satan concentrates his insolence into a specific taunt, daring God to test Job by tormenting him: "Put forth thine hand now, and touch all that [job] hath, and he will curse thee to thy face." Thus begins the contest over Job's endurance--initiated by a cheeky, meddling Satan who doubts the possibility that a faithful man can exist in the world, and who thereby challenges his father's dominion. Show me this perfect man, he says, and I will reduce him to sputtering curses. Yet once God accepts the challenge, Satan subsides for the rest of the narrative into a mere agent of God's will, as if the master has decided to humor this upstart by agreeing to his plan at Job's expense. Evervthing Job has-his family, his possessions--will be fair game; only the man himself will be spared: "And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand." After this dismissal, the story becomes a conversation between God and Job from which Satan is shut out.
With the scriptural canon still in flux, early Christian cosmology was continually redrawn and refined, and Satan's habitat, hell, was as unstable a concept as the devil himself. Some of the Apostolic Fathers considered hell as an amalgamation of the Hebrew Sheol and Gehenna--the former a place of eternal torment, the latter a kind of purgatory, a way station for souls awaiting salvation; others regarded it as a permanent prison for the damned. The distinction between God's angels of righteousness, whose office was to punish sinners, and the demons who stood watch over them in hell was also elusive. Inevitably, as one scholar puts it, "a curious question emerged: are the demons in hell keepers or inmates? Eventually they came to be both."(6)
Even the moral meaning of the events in the Garden of Eden was a matter of dispute. For the Gnostics, whose intellectual prestige peaked in the second century, the serpent was not a deceiver at all, but a giver of knowledge, the source of man's moral understanding. He was the generous creature who liberated man from the darkness imposed by a tyrannical God. (This is the beginning of a long tradition that culminates in the dark, magnetic heroes of Byron and many other romantic writers. In cases where Scripture provided only hints of cosmic history-such as the tantalizing accounts of Christ's descent into hell ("I am he that liveth, and was dead . . . and have the keys of hell and of death")(7)--It took centuries for the doctrine to become hardened into orthodoxy. First introduced as a creed in the middle of the fourth century, the idea of Christ's descent into hell slowly became part of the liturgy and took on the character of a violent assault--the harrowing" (from the Old English hergian, to raid) of hell--as an important feature of the Last Judgment.(8)
Despite all the controversy over his nature, power, and habits, the devil, along with his subordinates and his dwelling place, has received sustained attention from only three major councils in the history of the church--in the sixth, thirteenth, and sixteenth centuries (Braga, Fourth Lateran, and Trent). A great deal of the European lore about Satan in fact derived from pagan traditions, from figures in Teutonic and Scandinavian folklore like Wotan and Loki, while the visual image of the devil had immediate sources in such predecessors as the Celtic horned god Cernunnos, the satyrs, and the Greek god Pan.
As this visual image of Satan emerged, there was still considerable disagreement over what exactly had precipitated his fall. According to Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, the fall of Satan followed the creation of man and was occasioned by his festering jealousy of Adam as a rival in the affections of God. In the fourth century a variant idea was introduced (by Lactantius): that the object of Satan's jealousy was not Adam, but Christ, who stood in the mind of the jealous angel as a kind of favored older brother. Both of these accounts had at their heart the problem of what we would call sibling rivalry." Meanwhile other theologians, notably Origen, were convinced that Satan fell before the creation out of pure jealousy of God himself--a chronology that eventually became the orthodox version, as narrated, for example, in Milton's Paradise Lost. It is striking how close in both the "Oedipal" and the sibling-rivalry versions the ancient story of Satan's fall runs to the paradigms of modern psychoanalysis.
A great deal of early Christian writing is devoted, then, to the exposition of the nature of Satan's pride. For some writers it is a desire to supplant the father; for others it is Satan's need to believe in his own self-creation, or to govern himself without higher authority, or to achieve apotheosis without walting for permission ftom God. When these ambitions are thwarted, and Satan is reduced not merely to subservience but to exile and disgrace, the plot of evil in the Christian tradition comes to center on man. The story becomes a tale of revenge, and Satan's satisfaction comes ftom his power to distract, inveigle, and corrupt God's new human favorite. The story of Satan's work in the world becomes the tale, in psychoanalytic terms, of the id breaking free from the superego--with the result that the ego is left broken and permanently in pain.
Despite the fluldity in early Christian thinking about Satan, there was always, along with this central idea that man's sin rccapitulates Satan's pride, another constant element that unified these views into something we may call a tradition: the idea that Satan is a being without a center. This idea emerged at a time when the Christian community was small and riven, huddling in the face of persecution and-since the faith was fragile and new--intensely wary of heresy. Satan bears the marks of these stresses. He is, at bottom, a deceiver; he is falsehood, doubt, despair. He is the embodiment of fear. As a picture of his physical appearance begins to take shape (in the third and fourth centuries), he is often a creature of mingled parts--"a beast," according to Athanasius, "like to a man to the thighs but having legs and feet like those of an ass." Sometimes handsome, he is also able to disguise himself as "giants, wild beasts, and creeping things."(9)
One of his favorite haunts is the theater, where makeup and costumes and the whole spectacle of feigning are devoted to the exhibit for profit or pleasure. He is an enthusiastic gambler, enticing men to mock God's providence by betting their fortunes on blind chance Wherever he can, he subverts and inverts the structures and customs of ordinary life; he and his followers ride horses sitting backward in the saddle. Sometimes he is singular and sometimes plural--dispatching an army of demons with thin, windy voices who take on false appearance (schemata) and enter the bodies of their victims. Thus begins the tradition that demons bloodless and cold, a legend invoked by women who claimed to have been raped by the devil and to have known their assistant by the coldness of his flesh. In some traditions the devil has a three-pronged penis capable of filling a woman's vagina, anus, and mouth simultaneously; he is not so much a rapist as a superequipped seducer who finds willing partners among women whose desires are beyond the competence of ordinary men. "You are the Devil's doorway," Tertullian said of Eve.(10)
All these bewildering attributes are finally reducible to one: Satan has no essence. He is the torturer and flatterer, the usurer and the bearer of bribes, the satyrlike angel with the giant and multiple phallus, who knows the wantonness of women; but he can also transform himself into a lascivious temptress with silken skin. He is, in effect, a dark counterpart to Christ: an embodied contradiction, a spirit who chooses, at will, the form of his incarnation. As one of his most learned students, the historian Jeffrey Burton Russell, has put it in a nicely oxymoronic phrase, he is "pure--though purely corrupt--spirit."(11)
At the heart of early Christian diabolism, then, is the difficult idea of a devil who is simultaneously corporeal and inessential. He is contemptible and petty, yet if one reads about him in Patristic texts, one is struck above all by how vividly he inhabits the writers' imagination. He is a brilliant presence in the illuminated manuscripts and mosaics and oils--a semi-human creature with the features of a dog, or a half-ape, or some times he is a human figure with tail or horns, or simply an ordinary man with devious eyes. In all these forms he is a living actor in the world, a creature with whom men entered into contracts and pacts. (This notion proved to be a convenient basis for the persecution of Jews and others whose religious practices could be interpreted as satanic covenants.) Satan leaves his mark on the very landscape--in craters left by meteorites, in sandbars upon which ships run aground, even in odd rock formations, canyons, and gorges that seem carved out of benign nature with the purpose of malevolent distortion. One still encounters place names today that derive from a time when the devil was a mischievous wanderer at play in the world-Devil's Peak, Devil's Slide, Devil's Gorge.
When America was founded, Europe had moved to the edge of modernity, and the devil as an imaginable creature was coming under the pressure of a new skepticism. The westward movement of European civilization was, in the first instance, a triumph of empirical science and a blow to a cosmology that held the world to be flat and the oceans untraversible. Distances that could once only have been imagined could now be measured; places that could only have been surmised could now be seen. It was inevitable that this reorganization of reality would reach what Cotton Mather, at the end of the seventeenth century, called "the invisible world," the place from which the devil made his visitations.
Before the invention of the astrolabe and quadrant, by which latitude could be roughly calculated and a coursed plotted out of sight of land, European mariners could any dream of ocean voyages. Before these instruments came aboard Portuguese ships in the early I400S, long-distance trade had been limited to the range of oar-driven galleys that hugged the shore, and sailors had a well-founded horror of the open sea. With their square-rigged ships and navigational cunning, first the Portuguese, then the Spanish broke out of this imprisonment, and eventually forced new continents into the European consciousness. Beyond range of the naked eye from the European mainland there had long been a watery expanse of forbidding legend--an imaginary geography interrupted only by the uninhabitable isles of the Hesperides and the Antipodes, which were thought to balance Africa on the other side of the vast, unknown ocean. There was some unconfirmed evidence of other lands to the west--garbled accounts of the hot springs of Greenland, and the occasional washing ashore of strange tree branches onto beaches in the Canaries, the Azores, and even the Hebrides. Columbus, who took the minority view that a westward voyage would lead him directly to the East Indies, did not fully realize that he had found a new continent until his fourth voyage, in I498. Amerigo Vespucci, who remained in posthumous competition with Columbus until the United States settled on a name ("Columbia" was used interchangeably with "America" even into the nineteenth century), was convinced from the start that he had found a new world. He reported that the "Indians" were cannibals, and, in a double insult to the propriety of their women and the virility of their men, he claimed that the females were so lascivious that they enlarged the penises of their lovers by subjecting them to the bites of venomous insects.[12]
Despite such horrors and titillations, the discovery of the New World constricted the European imagination as much as it enlarged it. Driven by an appetite first for gold, then for salable commodities--fish, fur, skins, timber, spices, slaves--Europeans found that the quasi-magical world which ghosts and devils inhabited was growing smaller as the charted world grew larger; as early as the first decade of the sixteenth century a young geographer at Lorraine had added a plausible map of America to his edition of Ptolemy. The mythic ocean of the tropics-green and boiling--which had existed in the imaginations of sailors who had no means to venture south of the twenty-fifth parallel, soon disappeared, to be replaced by the hospitable South Atlantic of Magellan and da Gama. Though the Spanish and Portuguese were the first to traverse the Atlantic east to west, and to report the wealth and savories of the southern American continent, it was left to the Dutch, English, and French to devise a way to settle the more northern regions, which Jacques Cartier, as he said of Labrador in the I530S, was "inclined to regard . . . as the [land] God gave to Cain."[13] The invention that drove this process was not a navigational instrument or new arrangements of masts and sail; it was the idea of the joint-stock company, by which the risk of outfitting ships for ocean transport could be spread among many investors and the slim chance of gain thereby made alluring.
Not long ago, this story of the rational Western mind bringing order to the dream-chaos of an unknown country was commonly presented as a story of heroism. Now it is more usually told as the upheaving of European hypocrisy onto clean shores--the invasion of a virgin continent by a culture whose record was "deforestation, erosion, siltation, exhaustion, pollution, extermination, cruelty, destruction, and despoliation."[14] As modern historians look back on the volley of events from about 1490 to 1640, they have tended, especially in recent years, to see in them a shriveling of the reverent imagination and the onset of an instrumental attitude toward nature. And it is true that by the end of the sixteenth century the New World was already being regarded less as a wondrous park of God's profusion and more as a storehouse of commodities. If the first discoverers brought back enchanting stories of armless men and fountains of youth, those who followed later (entrepreneurs like Sir Walter Raleigh and Captain John Smith) began to look at the landscape and the natives with the cold eye of the soldier and surveyor. From our distance of time, one way to watch this process is to register the systematic extinction of one fanciful species after another in the European mind. Columbus, at the end of the fifteenth century, came from a world where centaurs, satyrs, cyclopes, and dragons were still believed to inhabit the forests of Europe, and he was sure he had found the tracks of lions and griffins on the island of Jamaica. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, when Lewis and Clark were dispatched into the Louisiana Territory by President Jefferson, the imaginary bestiary had been almost totally depleted, and their charts and inventories include no animals that we have not seen in the zoo.[15]
We have now reached the point in the career of this story where the "discovery of America" (the very phrase is now rejected as an insult to the people who had lived there before Europeans gave it a European name) is regarded as something of a pornographic joke. One consequence of this has been the discrediting of a national mythology. We have gone from what Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., has recently called "exculpatory history" to what may be called culpable history. The names of Columbus's ships, for instance, which every schoolchild used to recite as a litany of courage symbolized in three plucky little boats called Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, are now exposed as nicknames for Castilian whores. Columbus, in some recent assessments, has become a semi-crazed charlatan who claimed for himself the 10,000 maravedi and the silk doublet he had posted as a reward for the first man to spy land--even though a sleepless sailor in the crow's nest really deserved them.[16]
There can be no doubt that the European settlement was a violent process whose cost in human blood was concealed in the tropes of contemporary witnesses, not only in the reports of the first voyagers, and later the English and French, but also in erotic metaphors that in due course came from faraway poets, as when John Donne celebrated in the early 1600s his mistress's body--"O My America, my new-found land!"--by likening his palpating hands to roving explorers of the New World. In our own time such charming analogies have been indignantly rebuked. And in a mood that seems the cultural equivalent of deathbed confession, we now prefer to speak of the land as "widowed" rather than virgin; we know that most of its native inhabitants died from smallpox or measles even before the arrival of the main force of Europeans (having been infected by the first scouting parties), and many of the rest from gunfire. Once celebrated as a triumph of the adventurous European spirit, the settlement of North America now seems to us a bloody business enterprise decorated with the language of piety. In this revision of history we seem to take a kind of ghoulish pride.[17]
Despite the discomfort of having a glorious history exposed as a fraud, there is much to recommend the new story. It is, on the whole, less distorted than the old, which, in the version most directly concerned with the settlement of what would eventually become the United States, featured heroic Englishmen huddled in the snow, staying alive by the warmth of their faith and the mercy of a few exceptional Indians. The fact is that the real story, like most human experience, was a mixture of cowardice and decency, and our early historians knew this better than we do. They told it not as a monotone celebration or indictment but as a contrapuntal story, and that remains the best way to tell it. They knew, as one eighteenth-century South Carolinian, David Ramsay, put it, that at its center was "such a crowd of woes, as excites an apprehension, that the evil has outweighed the good." And in some places--such as Puritan New England, where the medieval Christian cosmology had been transported largely intact--they warned against "imputing to the Devil too much of our own sin and guilt."[18] This caution, delivered while the invisible world continued to wane and the measurable world to supplant it, raised pressing questions for early Americans: Where was the devil to be found? Could he survive at all in the New World of rationality? And if so, in what form?
© 1995 Andrew Delbanco
QUESTION
How do I know the Bible is not just mythology?
ANSWER
That the Bible originated in the mind of God makes it not only unique among all books, it is unique among all the treasures on earth. President Abraham Lincoln appropriately referred to the Bible as “the best gift God has given to man.” Indeed it is. It reveals God’s eternal plan of redeeming the fallen human race. Yet even though billions of copies of it have been distributed throughout the world, many continue to question its truth. Is the Bible a book of mythology, or is it the true, inspired Word of God? This question is of the greatest importance to every person, whether they know it or not.
Many religious texts claim to convey a divine message. The Bible, however, stands alone in that God left absolutely no room for doubt as to whether or not this is His written Word. If anyone undertakes an honest effort to examine the facts, he will find the Bible most assuredly has God’s signature all through it. The very same mouth that spoke all of creation into existence also gave us the Bible.
Unlike mythology, the Bible has a historical framework. Its characters are real people living in verifiable locations during historical events. The Bible mentions Nebuchadnezzar, Sennacherib, Cyrus, Herod, Felix, Pilate, and many other historical figures. Its history coincides with that of many nations, including the Egyptian, Hittite, Persian, Babylonian, and Roman empires. The events of the Bible take place in geographical areas such as Canaan, Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and others. All this certifiable detail refutes the idea that the Bible is mere mythology.
Unlike mythology, the Bible has many confirmations in sciences such as biology, geology, astronomy, and archaeology. The field of biblical archaeology has absolutely exploded in the last century and a half, during which time hundreds of thousands of artifacts have been discovered. Just one example: at one time, skeptics used the Bible’s references to the Hittite civilization as “proof” that the Bible was a myth. There was never any such people as the “Hittites,” according to the science of the day. However, in 1876, the first of a series of discoveries was made, and now the existence of the ancient Hittite civilization is well documented. Archaeology continues to bolster the Bible’s historicity. As Dr. Henry M. Morris has remarked, “There exists today not one unquestionable find of archaeology that proves the Bible to be in error at any point.”
Unlike mythology, the Bible is written as history. Luke wrote his Gospel as “an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us . . . just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses.” Luke claims that he had “carefully investigated everything from the beginning” and so wrote “an orderly account . . . so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught” (see Luke 1:1-4). Did Luke include miracles in his account? Yes, many of them. But they were miracles verified by eyewitnesses. Two thousand years later, a skeptic might call Luke’s account a “myth,” but the burden of proof rests with the skeptic. The account itself is a carefully investigated historical document.
Unlike mythology, the Bible contains an astounding number of fulfilled prophecies. Myths do not bother with prophecy, but fully one third of the Bible is prophecy. The Bible contains over 1,800 predictions concerning more than 700 separate subjects found in over 8,300 verses. The Old Testament contains more than 300 prophecies concerning Jesus Christ alone, many with amazing specificity. Numerous prophecies have already been fulfilled, and they have come to pass precisely as foretold. The mathematical odds of someone making this number of predictions and having every one of them come to pass are light-years beyond the realm of human possibility. These miraculous prophecies could only be accomplished with the supernatural guidance of Him who sees the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:9-10).
Unlike mythology, the Bible has transformed a countless number of lives. Yet many people allow the views of others—who have never seriously studied the Bible—to shape their own opinions. Each of us needs study it for ourselves. Put it to the test. Live by the Bible’s precepts and experience for yourself the dynamic and transforming power of this amazing Book. Apply its teachings on forgiveness and see how it can mend a broken relationship. Apply its principles of stewardship and watch your financial situation improve. Apply its teaching on faith and feel a calming presence in your heart even as you navigate through a difficult trial in your life. The Bible works. There is a reason Christians in various countries around the world risk their lives daily to expose others to the life-giving truth of this remarkable Book.
Ultimately, many who reject God and His revealed Word do so because of pride. They are so invested in their personal beliefs that they refuse to honestly weigh the evidence. To accept the Bible as true would require them to think seriously about God and their responsibility to Him. To accept the Bible as true might require a change of lifestyle. As Erwin Lutzer stated, “The truth is, few people have an open mind, especially about matters of religion. . . . Thus, perverted doctrines and prejudices are easily perpetuated from one generation to another.”
Millions die every year having bet their eternal souls that the Bible is not true, hoping against hope that it is nothing but a book of mythology, and that God does not exist. It is a risky gamble, and the stakes are very high. We urge everyone to read the Bible with an open mind; let it speak for itself, and may you find that God’s Word is truth (John 17:17).
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10 Powerful Ways Satan Seduces God's People
You are here:
10 Powerful Ways Satan Seduces God's People
8:00AM EDT 9/20/2019 JOSEPH MATTERA
(Pixabay)
Seduction toward evil and away from God has been prevalent throughout history ever since the fall of humankind. The fact that we see all kinds of seduction resulting in leadership scandals in the body of Christ today should not be surprising—the enemy targets the most influential among us so he can destroy the faith of the most amount of people (Zech. 13:7).
The enemy of our souls utilizes this more than any other method to get believers and churches off track. The following are 10 forms of seduction Scripture warns us against:
1. Seduction away from the simplicity of the gospel.
I am amazed at how quickly Satan was able to muster up false apostles, teachers and distorted versions of the Gospels in the first-century church! Consequently, Paul warned the Corinthian church that the devil was attempting to allure them away from a pure, sincere devotion to Christ (2 Cor. 11:1-6). Even now we see distortions of the gospel with the pervasiveness of hyper-grace preaching, espousing an antinomian heresy that there is no law or standards in the New Testament—to the point where believers are told they never have to confess sin post-conversion, a clear violation of 1 John 1:8-10.
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2. Seduction through a doctrine of demons.
The apostle Paul warned Timothy to be aware of the seducing (deceiving) spirits and teaching (doctrine) of demons (1 Tim. 4:1-2). John the apostle even warned against the infiltration of the spirit of the Antichrist, which came in the form of Gnosticism that denied that Jesus came in the flesh (1 John 4:1-4).
There are many false religions in the world created by the teaching of demons; however, the writers of the New Testament are more concerned with unbiblical teachings surfacing within the church more than those outside the church.
3. Seduction away from the will of God
In spite of the fact that Eve walked with God in the Garden of Eden, she was deceived by the words of the serpent into thinking God was holding back His best from her (Gen. 3:1-8, 1 Tim. 2:14). Truly, this narrative teaches us not to allow any voice to be greater in our life than the voice and Word of God!
4. Seduction through beauty
Paul said that Adam was not deceived by Satan when he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (1 Tim. 2:14). This amazing passage teaches us that Adam willfully disobeyed the awesome God he fellowshipped with in the Garden of Eden. The reason he turned away from God was the allure and seduction of the beauty of his wife Eve! Furthermore, we see that the beauty of women in those days was so great that even many heavenly beings (sons of God) left their holy position in God's kingdom (Jude 6, 2 Pet. 2:4) to be intimate with the daughters of men (Gen. 6:1-4).
I find both narratives above to be profound because in both instances (Adam and the sons of God), we see beings who walked personally with God in a sinless ecosystem who were able to be seduced by the beauty of women. Of course, who can forget the sad accounts of Samson (who allowed the beauty of Delilah to cause him to divulge the secret of his power—see Judg. 16) and King David (who allowed the beauty of Bathsheba to cause him to commit adultery and murder her husband to cover up her pregnancy with him; see 2 Sam. 11). Truly this is why Lemuel wrote, "do not give your strength to women, nor your ways to that which destroys kings" (Prov. 31:3).
5. Seduction from the pseudoreligious person.
Scripture warns of being misled by a person using religion as a way of connecting and seducing their victims. Proverbs shares a narrative about a woman who seduces a naive young man who strayed near her house by claiming she was religious (she used their common faith to justify their companionship). Unfortunately, this young man did not realize he was exchanging his destiny and promise for one night of pleasure (see Prov. 7:6-27).
I have seen Satan take down many leaders who were seduced because they allowed themselves to be in proximity to a person they were sexually attracted to under the guise of ministry, prayer and private counseling. Consequently, the Bible doesn't teach believers to overcome lust by facing and conquering it—we overcome it by fleeing it, as Joseph did when Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him, and as Paul instructed Timothy (see Gen. 39 and 2 Tim. 2:22). Unfortunately, those who want to be seduced allow themselves to be put in situations and environments conducive to the lust of their flesh.
6. Seduction through the abuse of power.
Paul warned Timothy against those who are lovers of self and who utilize their position of power to creep into households and take advantage of weak women who are burdened with their own sins and led astray by their passions. Abusive leaders can easily figure out which people in a congregation or a company they are able to control and seduce (see 2 Tim. 3:1-6 and Mark 12:40).
The apostle Peter also warned against false teachers who exploit people with their false words (see 2 Pet. 2:3). Consequently, when a leader crosses the line, and desires and demands more than they should—or acts unbecomingly toward an individual—that's a sign of seduction.
7. Seduction through false prophets.
The apostle Peter warned the church against false prophets who use their gift to exploit others to gratify their own sensuality (2 Pet. 2:1-2). Jesus warned the church of Thyatira because they tolerated a woman prophetess who used her prophetic gift to seduce God's servants into practicing sexual immorality and to worship idols (see Rev. 2:18 -22).
Unfortunately, there are numerous prophets today who use their gift to impress people so they can get their money and also to sexually seduce their naive victims. Jesus said we will know false prophets by their fruits (see Gal. 5:22-24); not by their gift (Matt. 7:15-20).
8. Seduction through precocious power.
Paul instructed Timothy not to make a recent convert a church leader (elder) lest they become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil (1 Tim. 3:6). The fall of the devil is highlighted in Isaiah 14:12-14, in which he was enamored with his position of power, which caused him to be puffed up with pride and attempt to elevate himself above the throne of God. I have seen many people destroyed after they are given a position of authority. I have found that success tests a person's heart even more than failure. Truly, the proximity to power seduces and allures the dark, unredeemed places of the soul.
9. Seduction through false signs and wonders.
Scripture teaches us that God allows the evil one to manifest himself in the world through false signs and wonders so that those who do not love the truth will be seduced and misled by them (2 Thess. 2:9-12). Moses even warned the children of Israel not to follow a prophet who moves in signs and wonders if they present a message that causes people to stray from the one true God (Deut. 13:1-5).
Even demonic civil governments and tyrants have used false prophets who perform miracles in order to deceive those who dwell on the earth (Rev. 13:11-14). Consequently, signs and wonders should follow believers; believers should not follow signs and wonders if they do not want to be seduced (Mark 16:15-17).
10. The seduction of the good life.
There are many Christians who attempt to use God to prop up their self-centered lifestyle. Their primary goal is to live a life of comfort as consumers, and they are attracted to a gospel that appeals to their narcissistic tendencies of self-aggrandizement and actualization. They love it when people preach a "crossless" Christ, because they equate the gospel with fulfilling a contorted caricature of the American dream (one that is foreign to the intent of the original framers and founders of the USA) with their consumeristic view of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
This is in spite of the warning of Paul the apostle who said that those who live to be rich fall into temptation and into a snare along with many harmful desires that plunge them to ruin and destruction. "For the love of money is the root of all evil. While coveting after money, some have strayed from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (1 Tim. 6:10). Paul also charges the materially rich in this world not to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches but only in God who is the source of all of our riches and resources (6:17).
Unfortunately, the seduction of money and living the good life is so great that the rich young ruler chose money over following Jesus—to which Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:17-26). I have seen many Christians forsake living lives as disciples of Jesus once they started making a lot of money and had more options; however, I also have close, wealthy friends who are very sincere followers of Jesus and are not seduced by the love of money.
The purpose of this article is not only to warn the readers against being seduced, but to increase our discernment in regards to the methods and expressions of seduction used by Satan to destroy God's people.
HOW SATAN SEDUCES YOU!
2012 July-August
Most people today feel pressured to "go along" with values and practices God abhors. Have you fallen victim to the devil's attack on our society?
Have you been deceived by the devil? Are you sure?
How can you know?
Far more than most people even begin to realize, the entire society around us is being turned upside down. Although the media try to make this all look good on the surface, your Bible reveals that the end result will be awful!
When I was growing up, people would have been shocked by the ready availability of abortion on demand. They would never have envisioned condoms being distributed to students by school authorities. “Living together” without benefit of marriage would have been seen as scandalous, and it would have been unimaginable to think of homosexual couples entering into “same-sex marriages” while celebrating their divergence from long-standing values of decency.
Yet, today, these practices and others like them are commonly accepted by countless millions of people around us—even many who call themselves Christian. But even nominal “Christianity” is now under attack, as most of the Western nations are rejecting almost every vestige of their former Judeo-Christian heritage. It used to be that people would at least acknowledge the authority of the Bible, even while going against much of what it teaches. Today, biblical values themselves are being undermined by a barrage of Satanic propaganda.
Satan, the “god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4), is very clever, indeed. And he uses clever and even highly educated human beings to assist him in his campaign to make evil seem good. The Creator God knew that as the end of the age approached, increasing numbers of vain, rebellious human beings would lend themselves to purveying evil. Scripture plainly warns us: “ Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5:20–21).
Yet, most average men and women simply do not realize that they are being cleverly seduced by a carefully orchestrated campaign to make evil seem good. They do not see the ways in which “mainstream media” cooperates with, and even promotes, the ideas of those who would totally undermine the morality of the Western nations. For younger people today, they can barely—if at all—remember a time when Western society truly upheld the values of respect for the family unit, the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman, a basic standard of morality as found in the Ten Commandments, and the protection of all human life—including the unborn child in its mother’s womb.
Today, by contrast, the modern God-rejecting slogan is, “If it feels good, do it!” Practically an entire generation of Americans, Canadians and other English-speaking peoples has been educated and propagandized to basically despise the God of the Bible and the standards of conduct to which hundreds of millions of our ancestors at least gave lip service—and frankly followed, at least partly, according to their understanding, in their daily lives. What happened?
SOME FEW UNDERSTAND
There are a handful of thoughtful commentators who have recognized this trend and spoken out to expose it, more than I can acknowledge in this brief article. One such exposé is found in a book titled The Marketing of Evil. Author David Kupelian, in this fascinating and very important document, lays bare the reality of the agenda behind those who are—whether knowingly or unknowingly—helping Satan undermine long-held biblical values in the Western nations.
What is going on? Kupelian writes, “The plain truth is, within the space of our lifetimes, much of what Americans once almost universally abhorred has been packaged, perfumed, gift-wrapped, and sold to us as though it has great value. By skillfully playing on our deeply felt national values of fairness, generosity and tolerance, these marketers have persuaded us to embrace as enlightened and noble that which all previous generations since America’s founding regarded as grossly self-destructive—in a word, evil” (pp. 11–12).
Many will find Kupelian’s claims unbelievable, unless they approach his book with an open mind. He goes on to explain the propaganda plan of certain homosexual activists who are “following an in-depth, published plan laid out by professional Harvard-trained marketers” (p. 12). Kupelian asks, “How can this be happening in America? How does child molesting become ‘man-boy love’? How does crushing a baby’s skull and sucking out his brains become a ‘constitutional right’? How does quoting the Bible become ‘hate speech’? How exactly is evil made to appear good, and good made to appear evil? How has America—which still boasts an 80 percent Christian population—seen fit to embrace what can only be called a culture of death, rather than a culture of life?” (p. 13).
TAKE IT SLOW AND EASY?
One of the key tactics often employed by Satan and his emissaries down through the ages is to make changes happen so gradually that the average person does not realize the enormity of what is occurring. This is the “frog in the pot” strategy. When a frog is first placed in a pot of lukewarm water, all seems pleasant and safe. But then, as the water is heated very slowly, the unthinking frog is steadily being boiled to death—before it realizes what is happening!
Because the above-described changes, though truly massive, are taking place over a number of years—or, in some cases, even a few decades—the vast majority of people do not grasp the enormity of these vast changes in “normal” morality, nor do they see the danger of what is going on. Most people are lulled to sleep by the constant drumbeat of propaganda messages that insist these massive changes are simply matters of “fairness” or “equality” or “being nice”—and certainly in any case that the shattering of long-held values is not “hurting anyone.”
“Hurting anyone?”
Does the unborn baby girl who has had her brains sucked out get a chance to complain about the loss of her “woman’s rights”? Do children with “two mommies” or “two daddies” have the chance to experience both maternal and paternal love? What message is sent to young people when they see adults in the name of “sexual freedom” becoming “slaves” of their lusts and whims, putting physical stimulation and even “disposable income” ahead of the value of having a traditional family? It should not escape our notice that there are non-Western societies, right now, that are watching this moral toboggan slide of the West. Will they let this evil enter their own societies, or will they do what they can to crush the West before that evil spreads further?
You may be shocked to learn that your Bible clearly reveals that, before the end of this age, the United States and the British-descended nations will actually become “slaves” of nations that have not weakened themselves as we have done.
Meanwhile, for most average people, the Internet and other diversions keep them occupied—often so busy that they simply do not take time to think. Of course, if they did sit down and carefully think through where these developments are leading, most sensible people would know better. They would read history and realize that every empire or nation that has followed the current course of the Western nations has come to nothing.
THE “KEY” TO UNDERSTANDING
For centuries, though it was followed imperfectly, the Western nations at least made some show of looking to the Bible as the ultimate standard of morality. But in recent decades, our educators, politicians, and even most of our supposed spiritual leaders, have done their best to abolish the idea of a “real” God, and use human reasoning instead to establish their own standard of morality and decide how everyone should live. Increasingly, a hedonistic way of life is being forced on us, through government dictates that regulate our workplaces, our home lives, our medical care, our marriages and so many other aspects of our daily lives.
In all of this, one element is conspicuously missing. In the New Testament of your Bible, one of the very first commands quoted by Jesus Christ in Luke 4:4 is, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” Somewhere along the line, Americans and Britons who used to believe firmly in the idea of a real God—and in standards of conduct based, at least loosely, upon the Ten Commandments—have lost sight of any semblance of that God. This is not surprising, as countless of our religious educators and leaders have propagandized our youth—even those who become ministers—with the concept that the Bible is not directly inspired by God, that it cannot be relied upon implicitly and that mankind therefore can invent its own standard of conduct.
When you understand this one “key,” everything else falls into place! For the majority in our Western nations have truly forsaken God, and now look to themselves—through the prism of their own vanities and lusts—to decide what is right and what is wrong. Yet Scripture warns us: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). Millions of aborted babies have experienced this for themselves—and will, at the future resurrection called the “White Throne Judgment” (Revelation 20:11–15), be able to look their parents in the eye and ask, “Why didn’t you obey God’s word?”
AN ANCIENT PROPHECY
In a prophecy given to our ancestors, which certainly refers directly to our present age, the Creator God warns, “But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it” (Leviticus 26:14–16).
Indeed, as various mental, emotional and physical diseases become more and more rampant because of fornication, adultery and homosexual activity, the breakup of families, the abandonment of children and other “fruits” of our moral breakdown, there will indeed be “sorrow of heart.” Truly, the way of “sexual freedom” and “easy divorce” leads not just to AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, but to premature death.
As I grew up in the 1930s and 1940s, I appreciated my mother and dozens of her friends as dignified, educated and respected women who led the activities in their homes, bought the food and other needed items, hired maids and gardeners on occasion, taught and nurtured their children, and provided a “haven” for their husbands after a long day of work. These women used their tremendous God-given capacity to assist their families—and the entire society around them—in providing a decent, crime-free and healthy environment for all.
After World War II, however, the “Women’s Lib” movement began to propagandize women with the idea that their roles as homemakers and mothers were “not fulfilling.” Ladies who did not work outside the home were increasingly belittled as “slaves” of men and as throwing away their potential. Traditional marital roles were attacked as “antiquated” and “unhealthy” and as “keeping women down.” Feminist activists recognized that marriage had to be a prime target of their attack against traditional moral values. As feminist author Robin Morgan stated, “We can’t destroy the inequities between men and women until we destroy marriage” (Kupelian, p. 112). As feminist author and journalist Jill Johnson stated, “Until all women are lesbians, there will be no true political revolution” (ibid.). This may sound extreme, and indeed these ideas are often “watered down” for the average person being “sold” on the idea of feminism, but they are real and are dangerous.
And these ideas have real, often tragic, consequences. Consider the effect on children. Judith Wallerstein, a researcher whose groundbreaking work involved a 25-year study of children of divorce, asks, “What about the children?” As an expert in this field, she has described a terrible emptiness and frustration inflicted upon generations of young people by this newfound “freedom” propagated by the radical feminists.
The Marketing of Evil describes this problem in detail. “Looking back at America’s decades-long divorce ‘experiment,’ Glenn Stanton, Focus on the Family’s marriage expert, summed up its results. While adults suffered terribly, children ‘fared even worse,’ he noted. ‘Many saw the innocence of childhood evaporate the day their parents announced the divorce. Others described being ‘scarred for life.’ They told countless stories of being crippled by anxiety, possessed by anger, disoriented by confusion and immobilized by fear of total abandonment. Their behavior, grades and physical and mental health plummeted. They were different children. In fact, they didn’t see themselves as children any longer. Divorce forced them to become adults, even before they became teens. We now know these children carry these problems cumulatively into adulthood” (Kupelian, pp. 115–116).
Again, the results of these “social experiments” increase children’s sorrow and frustration, and lead to drug abuse, deadly disease and even suicide. Indeed, the way that “seems” right to a man often does end up in death!
DESTROYING OURSELVES?
By leaving the God of the Bible out of the picture, nations that once at least professed to uphold biblical values are now beginning to destroy themselves. And the results—particularly in the U.S. and Britain which ought to know better—are startling! Yet, millions who have been seduced by the false promises of the secularists and anti-God forces—ultimately led by Satan and his demons—are virtually unaware of the problem, and increasingly are unaware of the God of the Bible and any semblance of Jesus Christ’s teachings! I refer to the “God of the Bible” because—as most of you know—there are so many false “gods” out there today. There are literally hundreds of concepts of what God is or is not. But the deep “fear” or awe of the true God—the Creator, the One who inspired the Bible—is entirely absent in the minds of most people.
Dear reader, you need to think about how the above-described changes have begun to affect the mental health and happiness of millions of people, the stability of homes and families—and the ultimate survival of the Western nations. If the U.S. and Britain are to continue and prosper, the restoration of profound respect for that God must be recovered—and, frankly, must be increased to where it ought to be!
If any of you reading this have not yet received and studied our vital booklet, The Bible: Fact or Fiction?, please take action and request your free copy. It can open your eyes to the true revelation of our Creator and His way of life—which is being subtly and not so subtly undermined by Satan in the various propaganda campaigns described in this article. You can read it or order it online at TomorrowsWorld.org, or request your free printed copy by contacting the Regional Office nearest you (listed on page 30 of this magazine).
Finally, may God help all of us be sure that we face reality. As the end-time prophetic events inspired by the God of the Bible swiftly begin to take place, human beings cannot afford to “hide their eyes” from the Truth much longer. You, yourself, need to face the basic issues of life: “Why am I alive? Is there a real God? Should I obey that God or go my own way?” Most people do not face or even understand these vital questions. Yet the Apostle Paul challenges us: “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them” (2 Corinthians 4:3–4). Satan is ultimately the one behind the “marketing of evil” through which he seeks to seduce as many as he can. Satan the Devil has indeed “blinded” the vast majority of mankind from understanding the Truth. If you are beginning to understand what I have written in this short article, God may be opening your eyes and removing that blindness! May this article help you to think, to take heed, and to prove to yourself the right answers to the key questions of life. This magazine and the Tomorrow’s World television program are dedicated to helping you gain true understanding. May God help you to understand—and to change!
January 14, 2018
When the devil takes your soul
Hide beneath the covers young one, dim your light so he sees you not;
Silence your sounds all at once, so he hears you no longer.
Stay forever still young soul, so he feels no energy from you.
Breathe quietly and sweat not, for he may sense your smell.
In the still of the night, fear takes a hold of you, for you know not where he lurks, you know not where he stands, he may appear at any time ready to take a hold.
When he holds you, it starts with passion, it starts with adoration, it continues with moments of joy and then before you know it he’s taken your soul.
Buried deep beneath the surface you fail to breathe a true breath. So shallow in your delicate lungs, fog resides within. It clouds your vision of a life well lived. You see nothing but shadows and darkness therein.
You can’t see further than your parched skin, for there is nothing to entice your soul to live again.
You make the choice to surrender to the dark abyss, it’s the only invitation you are able to accept.
You jump right in, committed and at ease, for this is the simplest choice you’ll make this season.
Into the fire you leap with no pain, numb to the core, nothing matters anymore. As you disintegrate it is with much relief, for you no longer embody constant retreat. Torture is the final act in your life filled with much the same, for now may you Rest In Peace with your soul reclaimed.
9 Ways Satan Seeks Your Destruction
We must be constantly alert to the fact that Satan is working overtime to see to our downfall or weakening. Here are nine ways our great enemy seeks our destruction.
2014
10 Aug
Are you ever overwhelmed by how difficult it is be to live a life that is pleasing to God? If the temptations of the world and the sin within our own hearts isn’t enough, Satan is also working overtime to see to our destruction, downfall, or weakening. He has no compassion, he doesn’t care how hard life is for you or all the things you have gone through. He rejoices in our difficulties and only wants to add to them.
Satan is cunning and crafty. He is also more powerful than we give him credit for and therefore a being to be guarded against and fought against. He has the experience of all kinds of evil on his side as well as the fact that he never grows tired and never gives up spewing his hatred for Christ and his bride.
He hates them because . . .
they have escaped out of his hand,
they oppose his kingdom and government;
they hate sin, and pant, and pray, and strive for holiness.
James Smith
Here are some ways that our great enemy seeks our destruction.
1. He plants doubts and lies (Gen. 3)
One of the biggest doubts he plants in your heart is about the goodness of God. “How can a good God possibly let some of these horrible and hard things happen to you?”
2. He fights against your faith (Eph 6:12)
One thing the Devil is not is lazy. He is very active roaming around seeking to destroy. He has an arsenal full of tactics and will not hesitate to do whatever it takes to maim our faith.
3. He will tempt you with sexual immorality (1 Cor. 7:5)
Both in person and online sexual temptations abound and Satan will make sure to set them before your eyes. He would like nothing more than to take your purity and ruin your marriages.
4. He will try to cause disunity amongst Christians (Mt 13:38-39; 2 Cor 11:13-15).
Beware of even the smaller conflicts that arise between brothers and sisters. The Devil is well skilled at using such things to erode fellowship and breed discontent.
5. He will slander you before God (Rev 12:10)
Over and over, he will throw all your sins before the throne of God in an effort to discredit you. While he will not succeed, he won’t give up trying.
6. He will try to take you down through pride (1 Pet 5:6-8)
Pride is a dangerous sin because it gives birth to almost every other sin. So Satan will spend a lot of time trying to convince you of the fact that “self” is king.
7. He will persecute you for your faith (Rev 2:10)
The torture and murder of Christians thrills Satan in the most sickening way. But the persecution of Christian can also be brought about in a milder way, through shunning, discrimination, slander, injustice, and unkindness.
8. He will try to cripple your faith through fear (2 Cor 4:8-9)
Fear has its place--you are called to fear the Lord. But Satan will tempt you to fear earthly things instead. This kind of fear will blind you to the power, goodness and sovereignty of God. It will cause you to take your eyes off of Jesus and onto our circumstances.
9. He will try to sidetrack you with worldly things. (1John 2:15-16)
We are a people who are easily distracted especially by all the new, shiny and exciting things that world has to offer. Therefore Satan will use the beautiful things, even good things, to draw your attention and devotion from Jesus.
Satan can never take away our salvation. God is greater and will lose none who belong to him. But he can do a lot of damage and cripple us in our quest for intimacy with God and personal holiness. Therefore we must be alert because Satan will attack when we are not ready (1 Peter 5:8-9), we must know the devils antics (2 Cor. 2:11), and we must stand firm against the attacks and deceits of the devil. (Eph. 6:11). God has not left us defenseless. He has given us an armor that we must know and wear at all times.
Someday we will be able trade in our armor for a royal robe and crown. Battles will be a part of the past and our future will hold nothing but peace and joy. But until then we must encourage each other to not give up in the fight, or to run away in fear. We have a most powerful God on our side!
"Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them. For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory." Deuteronomy 20:3, 4.
Six things Satan wants for your life
The enemy has a plan for your life: to steal, kill, and destroy.
God calls us to “be alert and of sober mind,” watching out for the schemes of the devil who “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). The devil wants to devour our lives, keeping us from the joy of living in a relationship with Jesus.
Six Things the Devil Wants for Your Life
1. For you to doubt God
In John 20, the disciples shouted that they had seen Jesus raised from the grave, but Thomas’ doubt kept him from believing in the miracle of salvation. Jesus appeared to Thomas and said, “Stop doubting and believe" (John 20:27).
When the devil tempts you to doubt God, don’t let your circumstance determine your God; let your God determine your circumstance.
2. For you to live in fear
Fear is not the absence of faith, it is the misplacement of it. The devil doesn’t want to rob us of our faith, he wants our faith to be in anything but God. Life in Christ is life not in fear!
Psalm 34:4 says, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears."
3. For you to feel insecure
Don’t let the devil tell you that you are unloved or not good enough! You are God’s handiwork and, in Christ, we are not only good enough, “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Ephesians 2:10, Romans 8:37).
4. For you to avoid the church
The more uninvolved you become with the body of Christ, the harder it is to persevere in your faith. It isn't easy to follow Jesus in a world that doesn't. When we leave the community we were made for, we are destined to be devoured (1 Corinthians 12).
5. For you to be led astray
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves" (Matthew 7:15). When we rely on the words of men or ourselves in place of God’s Word, we can lead others away from Jesus and be led away from His truth ourselves.
6. For you to fail
The devil wants to destroy us. He wants us to settle for what the world has given us and accept our lots. 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 says, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” When you feel like you’re going to lose, take heart, Jesus already won for you!
Don’t want to be devoured? “Stop doubting and believe" (John 20:27).
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