Mon, Nov 12th - 4:33PM
WHO AND WHAT IS SATAN?
"But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul) filled with the Holy Spirit, set his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtility and all mischief, you child of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for an entire season. And immediately there fell upon him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking someone to lead him by the hand (Acts 13:8-11)."
"Child of the devil" can also be translated as son of Satan. When ever people choose to stand in direct opposition to God and His will they are identified as being children of Satan. They are not neutral in their feelings, they have chosen to persecute Christians in particular. In verse ten we see Paul utilize similar language as was used back in Genesis to describe the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Elymas was elusive, difficult to perceive, with the ability to penetrate deeply into the deputy's business, artful, crafty, and able to operate insidiously. He was just like that serpent in the Garden of Eden and able to get close to the deputy.
We need to always remain alert to the possibilities of someone being subtle enough to infiltrate our congregation in order to actively work towards preventing us from doing God's work. Satan will send these individuals into our midst every time we decide to step out in faith and go where God leads us, and do what God tells us to do. We also must remember that God will deal with these sorts of people and that we are not to be vengeful whenever we accurately identify them being in our midst.
"Who ever is born of God does not commit sin; for His seed remains in them: and they can't sin, because they are born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: who ever does not do righteousness is not of God, neither they who do not love their brother (I John 3:9-10)."
Here in I John we find further reference to the children of the devil. Anyone who does not seek out doing righteousness is not a child of God but a child of Satan. That is the black and white cutting line. Not all people are children of God. All people could be children of Satan though. Only those people who choose to do what is right and who love their brothers and sisters of faith in Christ Jesus are children of God. Wicked people automatically fall into the category of Satan's children. Those who lie are not children of God.
If we read the next few verses of I John 3 we also discover what the message from God has been since the very beginning of time: We should love one another. We also discover that Cain was a child of Satan in that he murdered his brother because his own works were evil in the sight of God. Cain knew that his works weren't acceptable to God, and yet he refused to change. He chose to do things his way and then couldn't bear living with the constant reminder that his works were not acceptable, so he killed his brother to eliminate the reminder. Bad choice in life. Cain chose to live a life dedicated to death and not life. Cain did not love his brother. So if we love our brothers and sisters we then pass from death into life. Hating a brother or sister in my heart is considered by God to be murder, and no murderer has eternal life but death. This distinction continues with the reminder that God's love for us was demonstrated by Him laying down His life for us, so anyone who wishes to claim to be a Christian must be willing to lay down their life for all other believers in Christ. There is no room for negotiation, no offer to discuss options. Christians must lay down their lives for other Christians.
"For some are already turned aside after Satan (I Timothy 5:15)." "If any man teach otherwise, and does not consent to wholesome speech, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, from which come envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such people withdraw yourself and do not associate with them (I Timothy 6:3-5)."
You see, wholesome speech arises from out of modesty within the heart. A person normally is not simply immodest in their dress or speech. Their immodesty originates in their heart and it permeates their entire perspective on life. They will speak coarsely, dress provocatively, and behave promiscuously. It rarely is an either/or proposition. Modesty is such a huge issue because it is not centered in how one dresses in public. Many people believe that that is all there is to modesty, but it arises from within our hearts and affects our entire life.
We also find here that those who are children of Satan are very proud of themselves. They tend to focus upon those sorts of questions that are foolish, misguided, and lead to strife. They seek to divide others into groups, choosing to place people into filing cabinets of their choosing. The trap in this approach to relating to others is that we can fall into thinking of "us and them." They are too different from me for me to be able to like them. They do not speak my language, I can't possibly have anything in common with them. However, as children of God we all have Christ Jesus in common. We all have been born again. We all have the Spirit of God living within us now. We have unity of thinking, of spirit, of eternal life. This is in contrast with the children of Satan, who have conflict of belief, mistrust of those who are different from them, and have no common language with which to discuss things amongst themselves.
That is all for today, beloved. We are treading towards the conclusion of this study on Satan. We have discovered several things about this person. We have reached a better understanding of who he is and what he is. We now know that Satan is not the equal of God. Satan is a created being, once having been a holy angel who lived in heaven with God. Satan is not one part of a divine duality. He is a fallen angel, one who pridefully thought he could become just like God and rule the heavens. He is a liar, deceptive, subtle, difficult to perceive, prefers to remain in the darkness out of sight, and uses people to do his dirty work in this world.
I pray that grace and peace of Christ our Lord and Savior be yours this day! May you be transformed upon rebirth in Christ, the old things of your life passing away and everything becoming new. Consider the caterpillar. Before metamorphosis, it crawls around looking constantly for leaves to eat. After the transforming process is completed it has changed appearance completely and now seeks to eat completely different food. Is that not what the Bible teaches us about being born again in Christ? We used to clothe and eat a certain way before we believed in Christ, and afterwards we dress differently, feed ourselves differently, and in general have changed dramatically. We behave differently, just as the caterpillar acts differently after transformation into the butterfly. Ponder this.
~Eric
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Fri, Nov 2nd - 6:48PM
WHO AND WHAT IS SATAN?
So what sort of relationship exists between the wicked people of this world and Satan? Or is there none?
"The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels (Matthew 13:38-39)."
This comes out of the parable about the tares among the wheat. Here the "good seed" is not the Word of God but instead it is that which the Word has produced: the children of the kingdom. God has sown these all around the world according to His will. The world in this case is both geographical and ethnic: the earth-world and the world of men. The wheat automatically becomes Satan's focus for activity. Where children of the kingdom are gathered, there, in their midst, will be found children of the wicked one as well. These wicked people claim to be children of the kingdom and outwardly act so much like the true children of God that only the angels, in the end, may be trusted to separate them. So great is Satan's powers of deception that the "tares" often really think themselves to be children of God (Matthew 7:21-23). So this becomes a description of the condition of the church itself. It is a mixture of true children of the kingdom and those planted there by Satan who can believe that they too belong to the kingdom. It is a mingled condition that will not be straightened out until the end of the age. This also points to the importance that each and every true child of the kingdom must educate themselves so that they can discern who may or may not be an agent of Satan's. We need to remember that unbelievers in general are never called children of the devil, but only religious unbelievers are called such.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind of creature there: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come out, and sever the wicked from among the just. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:47-50)."
Here again, God depicts the condition of the world church of His believers. It will require the efforts of the angels to separate out Satan's children from among God's. Within the church today it is ever so easy to pronounce with the lips that one believes in Jesus and has been saved. But what else can be utilized to determine if they have truly undergone conversion? Do they love the other believers? Do they appear at all times to be humble and meek? Do they seek to do good works? Are they regularly studying God's Word? Do they practice prayer at all times? Are they seeking ways to help those who are less fortunate? Are they avoiding all appearances of wickedness and evil in their conduct and personal life? Are they avoiding profanity in their speech? Are they modest? Are they doing those things God says are pleasing to Him? These things are tools to be used to try and figure out who is truly a child of the kingdom, and who may not be.
As can be readily seen, it is a very complicated picture within the church of Christ Jesus. Believers must become well educated in God's Word in order to discern the truth about what Satan has always done, and will always do. Satan seeks to mislead by creating counterfeits, mimicking the true church, and planting deceived people within congregations of true believers in order to sow dissent and friction.
May the grace and peace of Jesus Christ be with all of you!
~Eric
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Name: E J Rajaniemi
