Flirting With Satan

"But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil"  (Heb. 5:14, ESV).
"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil..." (Isaiah 5:20, ESV).

Some Christians think it's cool to dabble in the occult and experiment with its luring temptations. The most popular and largest segment of the occult is astrology, which has been around for at least 4,000 years, as an adventure into supernaturalism.  It seems "innocent" enough, but it opens the door to satanic activity in your life, such as using Ouija boards, palmistry, Yoga, TM, crystals, seances, tarot cards, or channeling.

Paul encountered sorcerers in Ephesus in Acts 19 and, when they repented, they brought all their sorcery texts and burned them publicly. Remember, Simon the Great had been a sorcerer and, after believing, sought to buy the gift of God with money, and today this heresy is known as simony.   King Saul sought advice from the witch of Endor, a medium, and was punished with death with his sons as a result. 

Of course, they don't see the harm, but a mature believer realizes that this domain belongs to the devil and will steer clear of it--it's no joke!  You cannot partake of the Lord's Table and the table of demons!  The Bible clearly condemns astrology and any type of star worship in Isaiah 47:13 as follows:  "You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you."

Contrary to popular thought, the magi were not astrologers but noticed a sign in heaven and knew the Scriptures were being fulfilled from a prophecy of Jacob.  Nowhere does God condone astrology and a believer in Christ is disobedient to lend it any credence.

Why is this so serious?  Even if you don't take it seriously and are just playing around, your testimony is jeopardized and it speaks of your lack of faith in God.  Also, you have a responsibility to obey Scripture and not to do anything that makes your brother stumble (cf. 1 Cor. 8:12).  We don't play around with Satan but take him seriously as our adversary.  Anyone who is into occult practice, such as consulting the stars for advice, is doing the work of the devil and in league with him, and will be judged--i.e., we are not to call evil good (cf. Isa. 5:20).  If you don't worship God, you'll still find something or someone to worship--it's our God-given nature!  Soli Deo Gloria!

The Battle Is The Lord's

We are engaged in a mop-up effort to fight our vanquished foe, the devil, and despite his defeat, the battle has just begun for us as believers living on his turf.  We must not remain ignorant of his deceitful schemes lest we are caught in his web.  Note, nevertheless, our victory is assured, and we are fighting from the victory at the cross, not for victory--Satan's already in a no-win situation.

The tools of his trade are psychological warfare, mind-games, lies, propaganda, drugs, "education," and ignorance, et al.  Satan knows our vulnerabilities and weaknesses and strikes at the most opportune time, often when we are on a spiritual high or in special need.  He's always at work "seeking whom he may devour."

Our threefold enemy is the world-system, the carnal nature or flesh, and the devil and his legions.  Note that our worst enemy is ourselves:  "We have met the enemy, and he is us!" (This is quoted from the Pogo character by Walt Kelly.)  We are also on Satan's hit list and are targets of his animosity and cruelty. What does Satan foster, but division, divisiveness, contention, and polarization?  Remind you of someone?  His main strategy is to divide and conquer, the opposite of the Spirit that unites us in Christ as one body.

The best strategy in warfare is to "know your enemy" according to Sun Tzu, in The Art of War.  In warfare, the troops do not need to wonder why, but to do and die (from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade). There are casualties in every war, and that is why it's imperative to arm ourselves with the full armor of God--to fight a spiritual war with natural weapons is sure to defeat.  The Word of God is our only offensive weapon and that is why it's important to stay in the Word and not to become negligent in the discipline.  Job One is holding down the fort and taking back the turf that Satan has stolen as the god of this age, the prince of this world.  Note that we are not to give the devil an opportunity or beachhead, and never to compromise with him.  Our SOP (standard operating procedure) is to "watch and pray" that we enter not into temptation and to stay alert to his dirty tricks--remember, Jesus said, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak [we're human and can fail in the flesh]."

One of the tactics he uses is to accuse us before the Father, but "there is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (cf. Romans 8:1).  The only way to silence the devil is to fight with the Word just as Jesus did, saying, "It is written."  Satan has no answer to it and must surrender or flee.  We can rest assured that we are "more than conquerors" in Christ and our battle strategy is to "stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." We are never to forget that we are on the winning side and our victory is assured because "greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world" (cf. 1 John 4:4).

However, we have two natures, and the one we feed or cater to is the one that wins over and dominates--therefore sow to the Spirit, not the flesh!  In the final analysis, we are to "rejoice that our names are written in heaven" and not to get a big head or sense of insecurity or inferiority, as we fight the devil with God on our side--we're in a win-win situation in the end, and there's no losing proposition at all in Christ!  Soli Deo Gloria!

A Dead Heat

"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ"  (2 Cor. 10:5, ESV).
"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace" (Acts 20:24, NIV).

Are you Christ's competition?  In God's economy: greatness is not how many serve you, but how many you serve; the way up is down; humility comes before honor; emptiness comes before fullness--we must confess with John the Baptist:  "He must increase; I must decrease" (cf. John 3:30).   You commence growth in spirituality once you become cognizant that it's not about you!  Christ defeated Satan at the cross and the battle has been won to the chagrin of Satan, who thought he was winning when Christ went to Calvary.

God used the worst atrocity in history to bring about the devil's defeat (cf. Acts 4:28)--he stands defeated and we fight from victory, not for a victory--the battle is the Lord's. We all have individual races to run that comprise God's will for our lives and to gain its prize; however, we must compete according to the rules.  The battle is won! Satan is a defeated foe.  Jesus is the victor and we are in a mop-up effort to proclaim it to the world, notwithstanding Satan's resistance.

When we have completed the will and purpose of God, our time on earth is up and we go to meet our Maker (cf. Acts 13:36, ESV):  "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption." Hebrews 12:1 (ESV) says, "And] let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."  We all have different races and are to find God's will and plan for us.  We are all to compete as an athlete who runs for a perishable crown or wreath, but ours is an imperishable one and it isn't a sprint, but a marathon. Jesus won and we are just members of the winning team.  Our enemy is the world, the flesh, and the devil--not each other! We are our own worst enemy.

We all finish in a dead heat--there is no elite Christian who is above the others, though God is not unjust to withhold due reward for those who win their personal race and find God's will for their lives to do it.  The rule of this world is "winner takes all."  It's not "each man for himself" in a life ruled by the law of the jungle, but each of us looking out for each other's interest.  "One for all and all for one!"  We pray:  "For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory..."  We are mere stewards of the riches of God and will be rewarded according to our faithfulness in these blessings.  We are all members one of another of the same body, some being an eye, and some an ear, for example.

In God's economy, all believers are winners and are members of His royal family that will rule with Him in the Millennial Kingdom, and even judge the world and angels.  You have a different race to run than I do, for instance; mine may be only a week long, while God expects you to endure a year to finish His will.  Note that the race is not a sprint, or how fast we go, but how we endure and how faithful we are--God isn't looking for our achievements or success, but our obedience!  As Mother Teresa of Calcutta (recipient of 1979 Nobel Peace Prize and now canonized) said, "God doesn't call us to success, but to faithfulness."

Christians are in an angelic conflict with the forces and authorities of darkness and the demonic realm, that we can only defeat by wearing the armor of God.  There is plenty of rewards to go around and share with the members of the kingdom of God, and it all belongs to God; we are just stewards of the blessings of God and are here to demonstrate our faithfulness and worthiness of eternal reward. Nothing in this life is permanent--we have spiritual green cards and are only passing through, as our real citizenship is in heaven (per Philippians 3:20).  We are stewards and God has leveled the playing field:  "The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof'  (cf. Psalm 24:1).

There is no caste system in the body of Christ, for we are all royalty and equally members one of another--having different gifts, but the same Spirit.  We are all on the same team as a family in Christ!  When one part is honored, the whole body is honored. We must be careful that we are not competing with God; He is on our side and when we join Him we cannot lose the battle--which we fight in the name of the Lord with the full armor of God described in Ephesians 6:12ff.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Do You Know The Devil's Schemes?

Charlie Riggs says we should be aware of the wiles of the devil so we don't get entangled in his web. "We are not unaware of his schemes" (2 Cor. 2:11).  Even though the cartoon character Pogo said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us" we are our own worst enemy--part of the EVIL TRIUMVIRATE of the world, the flesh, and the devil--and Sun Tzu, in The Art of War, said to know your enemy, [Lord Nelson told his troops who were quarreling, "Gentlemen, the enemy is over there."] this is Satan's turf and we live in enemy-occupied territory. The devil is the "god of this world [age]" (2 Cor 4:4).

The battle has just begun, but the battle is the Lords! "If God be for us, who can be against us?" When we become saved, the battle is initiated. Remember the battle-cry of King David facing Goliath: "I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts!" Live in victory over the foe! The battle-cry of the Reformation was "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" by Martin Luther. who had quite a fight with the devil?

The devil is perfectly capable of putting evil thoughts into your mind, (recall what Jesus said to Peter when he rebuked him: "Get behind Me, Satan."), but don't blame the devil for your own evil, for Jesus said "for from within, out of man's heart proceeds evil thoughts..." (Mark 7:21) As examples, Satan "rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census" (2 Chron. 21:1), and Peter told Ananias that Satan had filled his heart to lie to the Holy Spirit.

Let's not think there is a devil around every corner and all our evil thoughts must be demonic. We are plenty of evil ourselves ("The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9). You may not be able to pinpoint which thoughts are yours and which are the devils, but remember Martin Luther said that you can't keep a sparrow from flying over your head, but you can keep him from making a nest in your hair. Satan wants you to believe a lie because he is the father of lies. He is deceptive and the accuser of the brethren before God day and night. The Holy Spirit convicts with an open and shut case, Satan accuses. The primary area of Satan attacks is our pride, which was the first sin of Satan. Even though Satan can instill evil, we are still responsible (Mea culpa) and we still decide to act on our thoughts or not to.

Satan uses psychological warfare or mind games (he messes with your thinking) and his number one strategy is to divide and conquer. But don't ever give the devil an opportunity: submit to God and he will flee from you. "Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). There is the story of a Civil War soldier who couldn't make up his mind what side to be on, so he wore half gray and half blue; he got shot at by both sides. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:12).

Don't be a sitting duck waiting for the devil to attack--be proactive and anticipate that he "prowls around like a roaring lion," as Peter says. He has subtle tactics and his multitudinous demons do his dirty work. One of his strategies is to accuse you and make you feel guilty but remember "there is, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," according to Rom. 8:1. There is a big difference between the open and shut case of the Holy Spirit's convicting ministry and the vague accusations to make you feel guilt and shame.

We must daily pray "Deliver us from evil." The M.O. of the devil is "to steal, to kill, and to destroy;" [his name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek Apollyon] he wants to ruin your life; whereas God has a beautiful plan for your life. We can be assured that the battle is the Lord's and again "greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).   Soli Deo Gloria!