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| She's coming for your friends |
Be
sober!
Be
alert!
Your
adversary (the devil) prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Resist
him, steadfast through faith…
…knowing
that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brothers
who are in the world.
After
you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace (Who called you to His eternal glory in Christ) will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen & establish you. (1 Peter 5:8-10)
Continuing our theme of “seeing” things differently -
from God’s perspective, let’s now talk about our enemy, and how we should “see”
him.
Seeing Satan is important. He hates it when you see him. Satan doesn’t
want to come into the light and be seen.
He is a creature of darkness, always hoping to stay hidden and out of
your sight and out of your mind. And if
he is seen at all … he wants you to think he’s beautiful, cuddly, safe, and
trustworthy. It’s easier for him to take
you and your friends as his prey if you don’t see it coming.
The master deceiver tells us: “Pay no attention to the
man behind the curtain.”
So ... PAY ATTENTION!
Be alert!
Your enemy is smarter than you, stronger than you,
more experienced than you, and he never rests … he will find a way to get you
(and everyone you love) to be his servants if he can.
Satan is his proper name, and Satan is the devil. There are lots of misunderstandings about
him, lots of crazy teachings and strange ideas.
Some are scary like a horror movie, some things are true, and most are
not. Here I want to use lots of
scriptures and a few of my thoughts to focus your attention on the main things
you need to know in order to survive this enemy. This is more about how you should “see” him
and understand him in order to combat him.
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| Who is he chasing here? |
Satan is your worst enemy
First, you need to know that he is real, and he is very bad. There are no words to describe how awful he
is, but we can do some comparisons.
Satan is worse than Hitler, Stalin, the Pope, Osama Ben Laden, Vladimir
Putin and Vlad the Impaler combined. If
you added up all rapists and mass murderers, they would not be as sick and
terrifying as Satan. All other bad guys
are usually nothing more than Satan’s tools, messengers, angels … he used them
to make people suffer, but it is Satan who is behind the curtain, manipulating
them.
He is the enemy of God, and he is THE enemy of
mankind.
He wants to devour your
children and your friends. He loves
lies, deception, torture and death. He
wants to use you, then kill you and your family and friends. And while making you suffer or killing your
body is (apparently) fun for him, his ultimate goal is to be sure you and your
children and everyone you love will spend eternity together with him in the
lake of fire.
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| Child attacked by a lion |
And he will succeed more than he fails, according to
Jesus (Matthew 7:13-14).
Consider that – most people you know will be his meal.
Satan is your “best friend” – your greatest blessing
Oddly, Satan is not only the cause of suffering, he is
also the provider of “great” things. Satan
has given people “wonderful” relationships, hot girlfriends, riches, fine
houses and cars. But these weren’t gifts
at all – they all come with strings attached.
You get to be rich and popular and pretty, and he gets your soul.
Why? Because he doesn’t want to win every battle, he
wants to win the war. But we are so
stupid and blind, we often think that if we’re doing well it’s because God
loves us. Remember how Satan tempted
Jesus? With food after a forty day
fast. Yahweh isn’t the only one who
offers food to the hungry. Satan’s very
first temptation involved a piece of delicious fruit with a side-order of knowledge.
Sometimes the “good” things we enjoy; like our nation,
our family, our friends, our education or material goods – are not blessings at
all. Sometimes they are bait. Sometimes that yummy looking cheese
is our last meal.
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| What's your cheese? |
The cheese in a mousetrap doesn’t appeal to me at
all. But I’m foolish for other kinds of
bait. The trick to resisting Satan is to
know your own “cheese.” What is irresistible
to you? Remember: it won’t necessarily
be evil by itself. It’s usually
something that won’t kill you or destroy you right away, or you’d be too smart
to fall for it.
What’s your cheese?
Again: don’t merely read over this to get to the end
of the article. Rather, stop and think
about it. Because one thing’s for sure:
Satan knows what your cheese is, and he’s having a blast sucking you in. All fishermen love finding just the right
bait to lure their prey – it’s fun for them.
So – what bait are you foolish for?
Peter’s advice above is personal and perfect. He tells us exactly how we should “see” Satan
… as a hungry lion, and we are the prey.
When he advises us to be sober, he’s not writing merely about us
avoiding alcohol, but about us avoiding anything that would make us lazy in our
watch for the devil. Whatever makes you
stupid, or forgetful, or sleepy, or lazy or to look the wrong way. Shoot, sometimes it can even be to make you
good at following God! Soon comes pride,
or overwork, and then suddenly you’re vulnerable again.
“Be watchful” is an expression that means something to
anyone who has served in the military and had to stand watch. I used to stand watch over military aircraft
on my base occasionally. They gave me a
flashlight and a white belt. We used to
joke about it. If the Commies invaded
while I was on watch, I was expected to fight them off with a flashlight? Shoot, there were plenty of guys in my own
squadron I couldn't have beaten in a fight with a flashlight as my only
weapon.
On the other hand, the people at NORAD were constantly
vigilant. We had planes in the air,
ships and submarines at sea and missile silos on full alert, 24x7. Our enemy was real, he was very dangerous,
and our nation had men and women watching diligently.
As disciples of Jesus we must be the same. We must be aware and watchful. You should go through all of your life with a
big flashing CAUTION sign in your mind’s eye! We are at war, and the enemy is
not Islam or Al Qaeda. They are amateurs
compared to Satan.
Satan disrupts our communication
Right now, for example, Satan wants me to mess up this
article. He is doing what he does to all
writers, preachers and Christian teachers: he will try to make us lazy so we
don’t double-check our facts. Then if I
make a mistake you may doubt me, and you might ignore this message.
If that doesn't work, he’ll help me make this long and
boring, knowing that you will not read it closely. Satan loves a short attention span!
Do you think I’m being paranoid?
Check this out, from Jesus’ parable about the 4 kinds
of soil:
“These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is
sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word
which has been sown in them.” (Mark 4:15)
Satan is alive and active and he is here as I write
this, and with you as you read it (or not).
Yes, Satan has the power to hide the good news, so
that people don’t even see it:
If our gospel is veiled,
it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so
that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God. (2
Corinthians 4:3-4)
Stop! Don’t
merely read over that … go back and think about it for a minute!
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| Must we be sexy or angry to be effective? |
Let that thought settle
in your mind as you try to talk to people about God. Most people who see their audience isn't listening either start screaming dire warnings, or seek to improve their presentation. Preachers are always talking about new visual
aids, great sound systems, power point multimedia stuff, fancy clothing, or
even grungy clothing … whatever it takes to get attention. We even have “worship” leaders to soften us
up with music and make it all tasty and yummy and appealing, so we'll shout praise God - and be happy.
They forget that it’s not about how skilled a
communicator a person is … if Satan blinds the mind of the audience, that’s
it. Shoot, if even the Apostle Paul’s
good news could be veiled, should his response be to take a public speaking
class, or produce a slicker video? No –
rather we try to be good and clear in order to be effective, but we must also
remember that we are not entertainers!
We who teach, preach, make disciples, or in any way
communicate about God – we are messengers, not entertainers. It’s our job to deliver God’s message (Luke 14.16-24), not our own. It’s our job to deliver it accurately and
well – but it is not our job to
embellish God’s message. As soon as we
start trying to make it “sound good,” then we are playing with fire. Speak the truth in love, and know that
sometimes Satan will interfere. If/when
that happens, ask God for help – don’t try to defeat Satan on your own. You will fail, believe me.
In the same way when we communicate with fellow disciples,
we are training, equipping, and developing one another to do battle. We are fellow soldiers (1 Cor. 9:7, Phil
2.25, 2 Tim 2.3-4, Philemon 2), and so our training to be “on watch,” to remain
diligent, and to keep watch out for the flock (each other) is too important to
be reduced to silly things like entertainment or popularity.
Very few excellent battlefield commanders are
popular during the heat of battle, and none are entertaining. But if they lead their guys to victory and
get them out alive – they will be loved more than any silly USO act.
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| Trained, armed, watchful and effective |
Ask any Marine combat vet about their sergeants who
took them into harm’s way. Do they wish
he were nicer? Better looking? Meaner?
No – you’ll find most of the time they mostly wanted their sergeant to
be effective. (On the other hand, you’ll often hear
different things from military guys who served in peacetime. Consider that as you think about your
brothers at church – most churches have made their peace with the local Philistines. So it’s pretty easy for them to talk about
what they “like” – the style of music and/or preaching … it’s all about what “we
like” these days.)
Yes, Satan is right here, right now, trying to block
our communication. If he can’t mess up
the communicator, he’ll mess up the listeners.
If that doesn't work, he’ll help the audience forget quickly. That’s why God has so many ‘reminders’ and
memorials! If that doesn't work, Satan
will introduce fear, confusion, mistrust … or perhaps pure laziness. He will do whatever it takes to ruin your
effectiveness.
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| Satan is a handsome, kind lion king. Surely he won't eat us! |
Satan is Lord
Did you notice in that last passage above (2
Corinthians 4:3-4) that Paul referred to
Satan as a “god”? He is a god,
indeed. Anyone or anything worshiped by people is a god.
Not only is Satan a
god, but he is also a king over a kingdom and a father over a household. Hopefully this language sounds familiar to
you, since it’s the same kind of language we use to talk about Yahweh, the one
true God.
One of his titles is “Beelzebub,” which is (roughly)
the lord, boss, or head of the household of demons. He is the lord of evil, he is the god of this
world.
SEEING Satan as the god of this world is
important. Usually we are tempted to see
people as “good” or “bad,” as saved, Christians, disciples, lost people,
sinners, or whatever. But from God’s
point of view, there are only two kingdoms: His and Satan’s. Everyone who ever lived or ever will live –
is a part of one kingdom or another. We
are subjects of the king to whom we submit.
Sin is nothing more (or less) than bowing at the throne of Satan. And all of us who are now a part of God's kingdom ... we used to be part of Satan's - ALL of us!
You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you
formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the
desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath,
even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with
which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive
together with Christ….”
(Ephesians 2:1-5)
Remember: “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the
unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel.” Since that’s true, how
can we look down on sinners? How can we
hate or despise a person who sins? Can
you afford to have an attitude problem with someone who is living according to
their own god, and who is blind to the truth?
Is it his/her fault?
How arrogant can we be?!? We who can see dare to mock the blind man for
tripping over a curb?
This is what love and grace are about. As the song says, “Why did my Savior come to
earth, and to the humble go? Why on the
cross be lifted up? Because he loved me
so.”
People in Satan’s grasp are not to be feared, admired
or hated. They are to be pitied. They are blind and don’t know it. And why?
Because Satan poked out their eyes.
And that’s why God has us as messengers to bring the
prodigals home – to seek and save the lost.
He has given us the task of rescue.
Then once we’ve rescued them from Satan’s kingdom and reconciled them to
our Father, we help them grow in God’s kingdom until they are strong enough and
mature enough to join us in the battle against evil.
Satan is lord of a kingdom, and most of the people in
this world are blindly following him down the road to destruction, while most
who call themselves Christians are more concerned with fashion, their hobbies,
their earthly nation, their church or even their physical family to care enough
to rescue those who are dying.
And that puts a giant smile on Satan’s face! Satan loves a lazy, misdirected disciple. Anything that keeps us from seeing him
sneaking up on us is good for him!
Satan’s Magic
Satan is called a liar and the father of lies. He is the master deceiver. Let’s use another word for his deception:
magic. He is better than Penn &
Teller and Houdini and all magicians put together, but he uses many of the same
tricks. One of their tools is
“misdirection.” Misdirection is when the
deceiver gets you to look the wrong way while he does the trick elsewhere. If you’re checking out the pretty assistant,
you’re not seeing what his hands are really doing.
Consider today’s fascination with ‘demon possession,’
or other “supernatural” things. Satan
loves this stuff, because it’s a perfect misdirection. While you fret over that – you are not making
disciples, you are not strengthening others, you are … well, you’re doing NONE
of God’s work. It’s just idle
chatter.
Speaking of idle chatter, most of what we argue about
at church or with the government is much the same. Scholars spend their lives in idle
chatter. I’ve had several encounters
with this. Well-meaning people get so
involved in some issue or another, they refuse to listen to the truth until
you’re telling it the way they want, or in the building they want, or from a
mouth with the education they want, or…?
They did the same thing to Jesus (Luke 7.31-35).
Pay Attention!
One more thing: don’t hate Satan. Don’t fear him. Don’t curse him. Satan is to be respected and watched out
for. In Jude (scripture below) some men
are mentioned who “revile angelic majesties,” and it’s revealed that they are
fools. Even the archangel Michael didn’t
trash talk Satan. It is not smart to
taunt a powerful murderer.
The only reason we can survive Satan’s attacks and
deception is if we stick together under God’s protective umbrella. If we have good pastors/elders, teachers and
brothers and sisters … they aren’t trying to charm us or impress us, but to
protect us and guide us. And they do
this best when they keep us close to God.
We should run from Satan, and stick like glue to God. But we must not hate or disrespect Satan. That’s just stupid.
As long as we stay close to God, we have nothing to
fear. Or as David wrote: if Yahweh is
your shepherd, you can fear nothing – even death itself.
As long as we keep watch diligently – expecting an
attack – we can fight it off. But
letting down your defenses, getting lazy or inattentive … these are cracks in
the walls that Satan can slip through and get access to your soul.
Conclusion
There’s much more to say about this, but I will stop
now. I hope you will take this as a
personal challenge, and ask yourself the simple question: What does Satan do to
you – to keep you from being effective?
How might he distract you? What’s your cheese – How might he lure
you?
Various scriptures & quick thoughts
Below are some more passages about Satan. As you read over them, I hope you’ll take
your time and think and pray on them. Ask God to show you the truth, and erase some
of the ignorance that is rampant among believers.
For example: These days it’s popular for Christians to
say things like “God has a plan,” and “God’s in charge,” and we even sometimes
sing a song that claims “this is my father’s world.” If this is your father’s world, and Paul said
“the god of this world” is Satan … maybe you should re-think that song (or your
allegiance).
I’ll try to keep my comments to a minimum, but just
read these, and prayerfully re-think things, asking God to open the eyes
of your heart
Satan does not want you to read on. But if you do, he doesn’t want you to pay
attention to details, or commit these to be parts of your life. He’d much rather you concern yourself with
other things.
So – who’s your
daddy?
How to resist Satan
Do this stuff.
In this order.
It’s simple, but it’s hard work, so work hard:
1.
Submit to God
2.
Resist the devil (and he
will flee from you)
3.
Draw near to God (and He
will draw near to you)
4.
Cleanse your hands (you
sinners) &
5.
Purify your hearts (you
double-minded)
(James 4:7-8)
Satan’s magic: distract and trap. How should we react? Read carefully:
Flee from youthful desires &
Pursue:
Righteousness, faith, love and peace,
With those who call on the Lord …
From a pure heart
But: refuse foolish and
ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. The Lord’s
bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach,
patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition,
if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,
and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil,
having been held captive by him to do his will.
2 Timothy 2:22-26
Satan’s people
…Make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices
righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin
is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God
appeared for this purpose: to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is
born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin,
because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of
the devil are obvious:
Anyone who does not
practice righteousness is not of God,
…nor…
The one who does not love
his brother.
1 John 3:7-10
Satan & the church …
Remember as you read these that the church is an
earthly part of God’s eternal kingdom.
We are children of the king, but also we are His servants, slaves and
soldiers. Satan is at work to stop
us. So he has spies among us who are
messing-up our communications, leading us in bad directions, and causing us to
disdain each other. Look at how Satan
operates within the church:
Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one
of you with his neighbor,
for we are members of one another. Be
angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down
on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.
Ephesians 4:25-27
But refuse to put younger widows on the list, for when they feel sensual desires in
disregard of Christ, they want to get married, thus incurring condemnation,
because they have set aside their previous pledge. At the same time they also
learn to be idle, as they go around
from house to house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies,
talking about things not proper to mention. Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear
children, keep house, and give the enemy no occasion for reproach; for some have
already turned aside to follow Satan.
(1
Timothy 5:11-15)
This next one is about pastors (elders) in a church
of Christ. They were supposedly the
leaders of the church. They ate the
Lord’s Supper each week with their church family, and seemed to be good
guys. That’s why they are called “hidden
reefs,” because they do to human souls what coral does to a ship: they disembowel
her. They LOOK good … but they are
actually evil! Do you have these at your
church? Would you recognize them if you
did?
…These men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject
authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he
disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare
pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” But these
men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which
they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are
destroyed. Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they
have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of
Korah.
These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts
when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without
water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead,
uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam;
wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
(Jude 8-13)
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| My, he looks like us but strong and handsome |
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers,
disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan
disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if
his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end
will be according to their deeds.
(2
Corinthians 11:13-15)
Look carefully at your “sheep”!!
In this case a brother sinned and was
“disfellowshipped” or “shunned” by the church, which was proper. But he repented, and still the church kept
him “locked-out” of their fellowship.
Paul understood that this gave Satan an opportunity. The lamb that strayed would now be easy
prey. So Paul wrote that they should now
let the lamb back into the fold and comfort him.
Sufficient for such a one
is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary
you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be
overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for
him. For to this end also I wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether
you are obedient in all things. But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive
also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it
for your sakes in the presence of Christ, so that no advantage would be taken
of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
(2 Corinthians 2:6-11)
Remember that Satan is our accuser – Jesus is our
savior!
Then he showed me Joshua
the high priest standing before Yahweh’s
angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
(Zechariah
3:1)
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| he's king of the world! |
Satan is King
“If Satan casts out
Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? If I
by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this
reason they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God,
then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
(Matthew
12:26-28)
“Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be
cast out.”
(John 12:31)
(John 12:31)
“Now I have told you
before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. I will not speak
much more with you, for the ruler
of the world is coming, and he has nothing in me; but so that the world may
know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded me. Get up,
let us go from here.
(John 14:29-31)
(John 14:29-31)
This is when Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to
Damascus. It’s specifically about Jesus
sending Paul to the Gentiles, but it’s also God’s call to you. Rescue people from the kingdom of Satan!
“And I said,
‘Who are you, Lord?’
And the Lord said,
‘I am Jesus whom you are
persecuting. But get up
and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you
a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also
to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing
you from the Jewish people and from the
Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to
light and from the dominion
of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an
inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’
(Acts
26:15-18)
Satan fouls up our plans:
But we, brothers, having been taken away from you for a
short while—in person, not in spirit—were all the more eager with great desire
to see your face. For we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, more than once—and yet Satan hindered us.
(1
Thessalonians 2:17-18)
No Fear
Since the children share
in flesh and blood, [Jesus] likewise also partook of the same, that
through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death (that
is, the devil)
…& might
…free those who
through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
Hebrews 2:14-15
Fail & Recovery
We don’t have to fail, but we will. And when we do, we can recover and be even
stronger. During the last supper Jesus
told Pete that Satan was about to take him down. But then Jesus said that after he had gotten
over it, he needed to rise up and help his bros:
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded
to sift you like wheat; but
I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you
have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
(Luke
22:31-32)
Soldiers of Christ, arise
Finally,
Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
Put on the full armor of God,
…so that…
You will be able to stand firm
against the schemes of the devil.
For our struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world
forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in
the heavenly places.
Therefore, take up the full armor of
God,
…so that…
You will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done
everything, to stand firm.
Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and
having put on the breastplate of
righteousness….
Ephesians 6:10-14
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