Tag Archives: devil

Start Believing in Satan Again

Christians are sinking too deeply into the scientific age in which we live. Accordingly, everything must be tangible and explainable scientifically. This leads to skepticism and a disdain of the spiritual and miraculous.

As a result, we lose focus of the war raging around us and Satan moves into the realm of myth, while God assumes the mantle of villain.

Strangely, in our age, people vilify God as powerless, until they need someone to blame and the Father suddenly becomes real again. There is nothing like tornadoes and floods to activate the faith of atheists.

Studies show that “Nearly six out of ten Christians [in a broadest sense] either strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with the statement that Satan ‘is not a living being but is a symbol of evil,’ the survey found.” /1

God’s people must resist this trend and start believing in Satan again. We must take him seriously and realize the danger of his venom. He stands against God’s people in every situation and he is tireless in his villainy.

His fingerprints have been on every evil thing since the beginning of time. God, however, is consummate goodness. “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5, NKJV).

The contrast could not be any clearer.

Christians need to be looking for Satan’s fingerprints on every tainted surface. He will do anything to destroy us spiritually (1 Peter 5:8). His goal is to decimate your marriage and enslave your children.

The drug dens and porn shoots are under his careful supervision. He cheers on the abuser and whets the thirst of the drunkard. He empties a woman’s heart and leads her to the street corner to give away her last possession.

His breath is in the false teacher’s mouth as he spews lies and deceives the people. No arena is safe from his disease.

When will we call his hand? How much longer will we blame God for Satan’s handiwork? Can we imagine the level of evil in this deed?

Satan is somewhere plotting your downfall and aligning himself against your children to steal their bodies and souls. Do we care? If so, fight back with the Word (Matthew 4) and be sanctified (Romans 12:1-2).

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1/ http://tinyurl.com/c97d6e

–Richard Mansel @ www.forthright.net

Satan does not quit!

Satan is a dogged pursuer with tireless energy. He comes at us when we are weak or strong. His opportunism knows no bounds and his viciousness, no limits.

Satan is a spiritual being so he does not require sleep or rest. He has tools available to him that we do not have. Human wisdom, wealth or wiles cannot defeat Satan. His powers of deception are too strong (John 8:44).

We must be constantly prepared if we will survive his onslaught. God is our only hope (Revelation 20:11-15). Without the proper weaponry and defenses, Satan will ravage us like a defenseless child (1 Peter 5:8-9; Ephesians 6:14-18).

Joseph was a handsome and virile young man far away from home (Genesis 39:1-6). Although he was a slave, Potiphar had put everything except his family under his authority. As he went about his work, a temptation arose.

Potiphar’s wife began to desire Joseph and pursued him. Joseph refused to succumb (Genesis 39:7-9). So she became relentless in her pleadings to wear down his defenses (Genesis 39:10).

While he stayed strong morally, he may have also been battling his own human passions as a young single man.

Satan attacks where we are vulnerable. Jesus went without food for forty days and Satan appeared offering him bread (Matthew 4:1-3). Spiritually, Jesus refused his offer. However, his body passionately craved the bread.

When we leave a door open, Satan runs in. He saw something in Joseph that gave him hope that this temptation would destroy him.

In the realm of morality, lust has destroyed countless spiritual lives. We must be resolute, so we can withstand the attacks (Ephesians 6:10-12).

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13, NKJV).

Satan’s arrows will continue to fly so we must remain close to God and armed for battle at all times (James 4:7-8). We can never grow smug or overconfident or we will soon find defeat.

Temptation is like water torture, the drops are relentless and maddening. However, we all have weaknesses that we struggle with. This energy contributes to Satan’s power.

We must be fiercely honest if we will close all the doors we have open for Satan. God’s Word will help us every day so we can stand fast in our faith (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Richard Mansel @ www.forthright.net

Satan: Hiding in Plain Sight

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The Barna group did a survey among “Christians” in America and discovered that almost seven out of ten do not believe affirmatively that Satan is real.

By clouding man’s vision with deception, he has been hiding in plain sight and becoming increasingly dangerous, thanks to advancing technologies.

Satan has been blinding the eyes of mankind for a very long time. Possibly the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing men that he does not exist. We often facilitate his deception by not holding him responsible for his evil behavior.

Insurance companies have “Acts of God.” Why not have “Acts of Satan?”

We know that God is actively working in our world providentially (Psalm 37) and that he tests us so we can grow (John 15:1-8). However more we could say about how God acts in our world today, Satan is still wreaking havoc on the world, destroying souls and lives. He is relentless and without any hint of goodness.

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8, NKJV).

He devours people and fights against God in every way imaginable. Yet, Christians do not give the Devil the blame he deserves. Instead, we absolve Satan by blaming God for everything. We all hate being falsely accused, yet we do it to God all the time. Satan tears our loved ones apart and we turn and blame God.

We hold congressional hearings and demand accountability if a product on the market injures a handful of people. Yet, sin kills billions and the disinterest is deafening.

Satan eclipses all of the evil Hollywood can ever conceive. The evils that men do pale in comparison to what Satan does to humankind. He devours people’s souls, using them at will against God and his children and brings them to the eternal fires in hell (Matthew 25:46).

Millions claim that they hate Satan, yet do whatever he tells them to do. His voice perfectly mimics their own and convinces them that they are doing their own will, while controlling them like a puppet. They aspire to great heights but instead wallow in Satan’s filth.

He stands in crack dens, whorehouses, governmental offices, abortion mills and places of worship, leading his hideous chorus. He is thrilled as we disobey God and eagerly give our children to him.

Pagans promote Satan as real while Christians pretend he does not exist. The absurdity is astounding!

We must return to God’s Word with the realization that Satan is real and study anew who he is. Satan will quote Scripture and appear righteous (Matthew 4:5-6; 2 Corinthians 11:14-15). Therefore, we must become knowledgeable of his tricks (2 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 6:11). Jesus must become the breath of our existence.

God has given us everything we need to repel Satan’s attacks. We can resist Satan and he will flee from us (James 4:7). Cling to Christ and Satan will have no power over us anymore. We must walk worthy of being in Christ (Ephesians 4:1) and give no place to evil (Romans 12:1-2).

We can develop a greater hatred of sin and do a better job of filling our time. Our companions must be wholesome and our minds focused.

Finally, we must not allow public shame to overshadow the pleasing of God. We must be courageous and follow God no matter what the price.

Satan is real. Do we care?

–by Richard Mansel @ www.forthright.net

The Accuser Has Been Thrown Down

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Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the ruling authority of his Christ, have now come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, the one who accuses them day and night before our God, has been thrown down.” Revelation 12:10 NET

Satan is the accuser. His mission is to keep man away from God. His methods are many, his wiles devious.

The very word “Devil” means an accuser, a slanderer. While purporting to help and point out a more advantageous way to get through life, the prince of demons is setting a trap.

He accuses man before God. “See, he does righteousness for what he can get out of You, not for Your sake.”

He accuses man to himself. “You are really nothing more than dust, a worm, lowdown scum.”

He accuses God before man. “And you think the Almighty could really love you?!”

He accuses man to man. “It’s a conspiracy! They’re out to get you.”

Around the table of the Lord, the shrillness of Satan’s slander is still. The artificial lilt in his friendly voice fades away.

Eating the bread and drinking the cup reinforce our knowledge of God as just and justifier of men.

Communion binds us together in love and sacrifice.

Our repeated thanksgiving drives home our desire for the one great good, the presence of God.

Replaying the scene of Golgotha softens the heart as we see the divine mercy.

Just as Judas left the first Supper, we note at our gathering today the absence of the one who put it in his heart to do evil.

The accuser has been thrown down.

The salvation of God has come.

— by J. Randal Matheny @ www.forthright.net