Fri, Dec 21st - 10:35AM
WHO AND WHAT IS SATAN?
Why can't those who do not believe in God seem to be able to change their minds? Why is it, when they read clearly explained passages in the Bible that they are unable to understand exactly what is being stated? Here below is the beginning of the reason:
"In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which do not believe, otherwise the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine out to them...For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (II Corinthians 4:4, 6)."
"The god of this world" was explained to us back in John 12:31 as being the prince of this world, or Satan. Satan has blinded the people who do not believe in either Christ or God. They remain either completely isolated from salvation, or else they are half way there and facing a solid wall that blocks them from heaven. Why would Satan want to keep us blinded? He does this so that people will not notice the Light of Christ shining upon them. This Light gives us the knowledge of the glory of God. So Satan wants to keep us in the dark as far as knowing anything about God. Satan does not want people to realize that Jesus Christ is the image of God, that He is God.
"And he said, Hear therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And on said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said to him, How? And he said, I will go out, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all of his prophets. And He said, You shall persuade him, and prevail also: go out, and do so (I Kings 22:19-22)."
I propose to you that this "lying spirit" was none other than Satan. God used him to bring judgment upon Ahab. But here is where we can see the continuation of Satan as a lying spirit. He began by lying to the angels in heaven, carried it over into the Garden of Eden, and trotted on down through time to this point in history concerning Ahab. Satan ls a liar. Those who claim that they would rather believe in, and worship, Satan are deluded people. Who in their right mind would prefer to believe in a person who lies all of the time to you? Whatever they promise to do for you, is a lie. Whatever they claim won't happen to you, is a lie. Whatever they claim they won't do to you, is a lie. Whatever they claim about God, is a lie.
"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be released out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, God and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea (Revelation 20:7-8)."
As you can see, the description of Satan remains consistently the same throughout the entire Bible. He is a deceiver, a liar, a being who is difficult to spot for he is elusive. He enjoys operating in the background shadows of history, ruining lives and entire nations. His only goal is to lead people away from belief in Jesus Christ. He could not prevent Jesus from coming in human flesh. He could not prevent Jesus from becoming nailed to that wooden cross. He could not prevent Jesus from dying upon that cross. He could not prevent Jesus from being resurrected either. So since that time Satan has concentrated upon deceiving people about Jesus Christ, about what constitutes being a disciple of Christ, and about what it means to be saved. We are shown here that Satan has been very successful in his strategy.
"In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God perhaps will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will (II Timothy 2:25-26)."
Here is why Christians are to be attempting to teach unbelievers about Jesus Christ. Christians are motivated by the need to try and free those who have been ensnared by Satan, to help lead them to the truth. It is one reason why we are to love all people unconditionally.
"But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him (I Samuel 16:14)."
Here again we are provided evidence of Satan's influence to mislead/deceive people who choose to not trust in God. King Saul initially listened to God's voice, but he did not dedicate himself to living according to the statutes of God. Over time he became obsessed by fame and fortune as king of the people. He allowed himself to become a captive to Satan, mistrusting those around him, believing that David was scheming behind his back to steal the throne away from him. Unbeleivers pick this verse as one that demonstates the wickedness of God. But it only depicts the reality when people freely choose to be disobedient to God's laws. Satan is waiting eagerly in the wings, biding his time. People today are deceived into thinking that if "there is no harm, then there is no foul". They fail to realize that they are incapable of determining whether or not there has been any harm.
"Then shall He say also to them on the left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (Matthew 25:41)."
I only gave the opening verse, please read the following five verses for the complete text. Eternal punishment awaits each and every person who remains deceived by Satan upon their physical death. Death cements the judgment, nothing can, or will, alter their final destination. No amount of prayers can change the outcome. No amount of contrition will alter it. All of those people who choose to ignore helping those who are less fortunate than themselves risk eternal damnation. Their actions condemn them.
Here is the final destination of all who refuse to believe in God, in Jesus Christ, or both. Here is where the people who teach that Jesus Christ is not God will wind up. Here is where the people who teach that there are many ways into heaven will end up. Here is where the people who teach that the Bible is not the Word of God will end up. Doubt and unbelief lead to eternal damnation, separation from God, exclusion from heaven.
This completes this study about who and what Satan is. I hope that it clarifies your picture of Satan and enables you to perceive what goes on around you in a new light. We don't fight against flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers in those all around us. We are to repeat what Jesus uttered from up upon the cross: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."
~Eric
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Tue, Dec 11th - 6:13PM
WHO AND WHAT IS SATAN?
Are you driven to fulfill your lusts? Does this dominate your thinking each day? Do you spend your evenings prowling the night clubs for the means to satisfy your lusts? If so, this verse is addressed to you: "You are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father are what you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not live 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 lies (John 8:44)." There is an inherent contrast between those who are the children of God and those who are the children of Satan. One is of the light while the other prefers to remain in darkness. Light reveals what darkness hides. Light allows one to clearly see what is happening while darkness causes errors in sight and in knowing accurately what is happening. Personal choices can't be properly made while operating in darkness. Jesus was replying to a group of Pharisees and other Jews who were having immense difficulties understanding that Jesus is God in the flesh. They believed (incorrectly) that because they were physical descendants of Abraham that they automatically were righteous and had nothing to fear about sinning. They relied completely upon their deeds to keep them clean, not spending enough time ensuring that their thoughts, words, and motivations were right with God as well. They were spiritually lost. So Jesus identified who their spiritual father actually was based upon their beliefs. They were immensely offended by this, and wished to then allege that Jesus was a Samaritan and a devil. This interchange continued until these men finally sought to stone Jesus to death right then and there. As righteous as they thought they were they were not very peaceful men, rather, they were quite violent by nature. But then, many people who are driven to fulfill their lusts become violent when they are thwarted in this seeking. "Then Satan entered into Judas Isacariot, who was one of the twelve apostles (Luke 22:3)." We can know that the wicked can be possessed by Satan, and must then do his will and not their own. Here Judas Iscariot became unhappy over how Jesus Christ was proceeding in His earthly ministry. Judas was a subscriber to the belief that the Messiah was to come and immediately reinstate the Davidic kingdom and kick the Romans out of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel. He looked forward to a return of the "glory years" when David and Solomon were rulers. Needless to say, Judas was disappointed. So his bitterness and unbelief opened the door for Satan to enter in and use him. We all must remain on guard today to not give place for Satan to enter into our own lives and use us his personal vehicle of destruction. "But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land (Acts:5:3)?" Here again, someone gave Satan a means to enter into him by being deceitful. It was not wrong to keep part of the sale price of their land, but it was wrong to claim that the entire sale amount was being given for the common good when in fact it was not. So it was with Ananias and his wife Sapphira. "Where in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience: among whom we also all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others (Ephesians 2:2-3)." I once walked wholeheartedly according to the whims of this world. It is a world controlled by "the prince of the power of the air," which is Satan. This designation clearly implies through what medium Satan works the majority of his influence: the atmosphere and air that we breathe. What uses the atmosphere? Our entertainment industries all utilize the atmosphere to broadcast their amusements into our homes and workplaces. TV, radio, satellite, and wireless. They all move through the atmosphere to reach us wherever we may happen to be. Satan desires us to pursue the fulfillment of our lusts. He will go to any lengths to distract us away from any consideration of God, Jesus, salvation, and eternity. What better means than to get us to seek out satisfying our basest human urges and lusts? So Satan fills the airwaves with music that speaks of freedom, drugs, sex, and feeling good at all costs. He overlays it upon bone-tingling bass guitars, drums, and organ music that can stir up our emotions and desires. When caught up in this web of seething feelings one has no time to think about anything else. Release is the over riding need. Nothing else matters. Thus we end up with the rock and roll culture, the punk rock culture, the dead-heads, the groupies, young women obsessed about having sex with musical "icons" behind stage at concerts, and all sorts of other activity. All is aimed at distraction from God. Of course, Satan leaves no stone unturned. He also traps the intellectuals into fulfilling their "mental lusts." People desire to know everything they can know, and know it about everything that ever was. People wish to know where we came from. They wish to know why we are here. They wish to know how we came to be here. And so Satan leads those people along on a merry chase through space, time, and rock strata. People wish to be logical, elimating all emotions so that they can't be mislead nor hurt by feelings. But that is a trap. There are those who wish to simply feel all of the emotions all of the time. That is a trap as well. Lusts of any kind will lead us into distraction from God and lead us away from Him. Lusts can't be fulfilled, they are a bottomless pit. They are a hole within us that can't ever be filled, except by God. Next time I will look at how the wicked people of this world are blinded by Satan, deceived by him, trapped by him, troubled and then punished together with him at the Final Judgment of God. I pray you enjoy this Advent season. Worship Jesus in spirit and in truth. Get connected with Him and walk with Him each day, do not become bitter because you think that He allows children to starve to death in other countries. Bitterness opens the door for Satan to reach into your heart and turn you against God. Love God for all that He has already done for you, and for what He promises to do for you in the future! Grace and peace be yours. ~Eric
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Name: E J Rajaniemi
