THE lying liars and the lies they tell

Have you ever heard a lie that had small nuggets of truth associated with it?  It’s like a chocolate covered doughnut that has sprinkles on it.  The lie is the doughnut, and the sprinkles are the truth.  While the truth can be seen, it is barely noticeable when it is eaten.

Now that I have all of you salivating over this imaginary doughnut, I want to talk a little bit about our enemy.  So let me ask you an honest question, do you feel awkward bringing up his name in the midst of a conversation?  Do you find yourself looking for words like enemy, or our adversary?  I do.  It feels off to say the following sentence, Satan is influencing my thoughts today, please pray for me.  Or how about this sentence, You are under Satan’s influence, and you need to start praying for the Holy Spirit to guide you.

We live in a weird world today.  Paganism, and Satanism is on the rise, and getting its own monuments outside of public buildings.  There is a growing trend of Christians who believe that  Satan is not a real entity.  Many preachers teach that hell is not real.  And Bible believing Christians feel embarrassed to talk about the influence of Satan on theirs and others lives.

And it is all about influence, NOT demonic possession.  Everything in the current media is focused on exorcising demons and the increase of exorcisms.  Nothing focuses on the day to day influence that a demon, or Satan can have on you.  What kind of influence?  Anything that could change or alter your behavior towards God, or towards sin.

So when I say THE lying liars and the lies they tell, I am referring to Satan and his demons working overtime to give you the doughnut, with enough sprinkles on it to get past your truth meter, or to trick you.

To use myself as an example.  I have been in the process of writing several books over the last year, and just completed my first one.  All of these books are related to being a Christian.  Throughout the process I have had a nagging feeling that no one will read the book, and at times I have had to force myself to continue work on them.  This became so regular that I wrote on the potential influences that our adversary can have on our lives, through influence alone.

The name of the book is The Interview and it is now available for purchase through Amazon on the Kindle, and through paperback.  If you want to see numerous examples of how THE lying liars and the lies they tell can impact your life, read this book.

Buy it now for the Kindle for $3.99 or in Paperback for $6.99

The Bible…Review 3

So…before I get to what everyone is talking about this week let me give my quick two second review of this last weeks episode.  Once again, I feel like they missed a big opportunity by skipping two critical points in the Bible.  For anyone who has read this blog you would see that I am a big advocate of the idea that the Old Testament points to Jesus.  The Bible missed on a huge opportunity to demonstrate this by skipping over the book of Isaiah and his prophecy of the suffering servant.  Additionally, did anyone else notice that they tried to pass off the prophecy of Jesus onto Daniel?  For some reason that stuck out with me.  It would appear that the producers of the Bible wanted to get into the whole prophecy thing but then gave the viewers the cheap and watered down version.  They passed on Daniel’s 70 7’s prophecy which is an incredible prophecy that was fulfilled to the day!  Again…here they can demonstrate the absolute power of God, and pass on it.

Oh and by the way…for a more realistic look at the 3 wisemen READ THIS POST.  I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the producers…probably didn’t do their homework.

And now to the contreversy of the week…

Well…it is a little odd to say the least.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know if this is intentional.  It’s hard to believe that the producers of the show were sitting in a room saying…”He doesn’t look enough like Obama.”  Look there is no way that Obama is the anti-christ.  If you have read my posts you know where I stand on both the men pictured above.  But I will have to say…that the likeness is…well…funny.

A detective who ignores evidence…is not much of a detective

So I have been studying the wonderful topic of hermeneutics.  If you haven’t heard of it, don’t worry, I am sure you are not alone.  If you have been reading our blog for a while, we have talked briefly about hermeneutics.  Stated simply hermeneutics is the study of the Bible.  Sure a textbook definition would be much lengthier, but this will work for now.  So I came across a topic while reading that I thought was interesting. You see, there are several wrongs ways of studying the Bible.  One of the more common wrong  ways  of interpreting the bible is called the selective evidence fallacy.  This fallacy occurs when we cite just the evidence that supports our favored interpretation or when we dismiss evidence that seems to argue against our view.  An analogy, imagine a detective going into a crime scene.  He dismisses the finger prints that clearly point to the person that did it, because he decided as he approached the scene that someone else did it.

The above example is something we hear of on several occasions.  Each time we hear about we are outraged that someone would do that.  The odd thing is that most people offer no outrage when people use this same approach when interpreting the Bible.

Take the book of Job for example.  Let me know show you selective evidence in practice from Kenneth Copeland.  This can be found at the following link:  http://www.kcm.org/real-help/article/acting-fear-look-jobs-life

We all know the Copeland has a favored interpretation that the book of Job has to fit into.  This would be an interpretation that would have to include the use of faith in some fashion.

The first point that Copeland makes:  The sacrifices that Job made were supposed to have only been once.  Since he did it multiple times, Job sacrificed in unbelief.  As a result, the thing he feared came upon him.

Here Copeland needs to find a way to blame Job for his misfortune.  The fundamental premise here is the Job no longer walked in faith, and as a result of this HE brought down this judgement on himself.  The reality is that there was nothing wrong with what Job was doing.  In fact the Bible mentions nothing about Jobs unbelief, rather we see God commending Job at the beginning.  As for the sacrifices… The author specifically mentions that this was his custom.  Another thing the Bible says is the Job was BLAMELESS, and UPRIGHT.  Initial Evidence here indicates that if Job was upright and blameless, and his sacrificing, must have been as well.  Remember it was his custom, something he regulary did.  If what Job was doing was wrong, would he be upright and blameless?  Probably not.  In order for Copelands theology to hold he must insert or read into some of the things in the Bible.  There is nothing in the beginning of Job which indicates that Job’s sacrifice is wrong.  Further more there is nothing to indicate that Job’s sacrifice was due to unbelief or a lack of faith.

The second point Copeland makes:  Job was not aware of a personal Devil.  Instead, Job believed that God was the reason for what happens to him.

Here Copeland again must fit the book of Job into his theology.  His theology regarding this is that God has no authority on Earth.  Here Copeland has to look for evidence to support his theology in order for his theology to hold true.  The book of Job however tells a different story.  Again, we see at the beginning of Job where God allows Satan to do things to Job to test his faith.  Copeland ignores key evidence at the beginning of the book where God grants authority for Satan to hurt Job in a test of his faith (Job 1:6 – 12 and Job 2:1 – 6), and where God explains how he is the Creator of everything (Job 38 – 42).  This evidence in the Book of Job is contrary to the evidence that Copeland submits (or lack of evidence).

The book of Job is an illustration of God’s authority on Earth.  This very point is contrary to Copelands theology which denies God’s authority on earth.  This is a perfect example of the selective evidence fallacy.

HOLY WAR (but NOT Jihad)!!!

God’s Word makes it very clear that all Christians are in a very dangerous and deadly battle – we are called to MAKE WAR!  That is why we are given instructions on how and who and with which weapons we are expected to fight. Check out what Eph 6:10-18 has to say about it:

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Not only are we expected to fight, but we are expected to WIN – BIG TIME (cf. Romans 8:37).

Over the coming days we are going to look at the various aspects of the Armor of God… and see how each to be used to increase our effectiveness for our Supreme Commander-in-Chief. But before we strap on the Armor and go out Rambo-style to kick tail and take names I think it’s important for us to examine just exactly who who or what is/are the enemy.

Far too often I see Christians assuming that we need to fight against people and their messed up thinking… their ideologies (aka their politics), but it seems to me that verse 12 above makes it pretty clear that this is not the case. Let’s take a peek at what God says about it elsewhere (Ephesians 2:1-3):

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

One can derive from this passage, and the one from chapter 6 above, that Christians have three basic enemies: the World (culture), Satan/the Devil, and our own wicked Flesh… NOT other people!!! Nowhere does it talk about political entities… Hmmm…

Now for those of you who know me you know that I personally have a massive disdain for certain political views and that most of these views are held dear by a certain political party here in our country. This, of course, leads me to have VERY strong negative feelings about that party. But I have to stop and ask myself are rage… frustration… outrage… disgust… against a political party (and thus many of the people in it) a good use of my time and energy?

If our enemies are the World, our own flesh and Satan, aren’t we already fighting on 3 fronts? No military expert would tell you that is a winning battle plan… So why on earth would we want to add a 4^th? It is a losing strategy, it is harmful to other people, the reputation of Christ and when you get down to the bottom of it, in almost every instance, fighting against other people it is downright sinful…

When I studied this out to teach it on our recent youth retreat I think I found that, we can reduce this fight to a two front battle. I deeply believe that if we will rightly focus our efforts it will make us more effective for the cause of Christ – I welcome your comments on whether or not the following makes sense.

In spiritual warfare we often (rightly?) begin by focusing on Satan as the primary enemy. Let’s look at some of his names (characteristics) to understand him better and fight him better. As I studied out his names I saw a pattern or progression unfold that made a lot of sense to me and helped me focus my battle efforts – hope it does the same for you.

In simplest terms the Devil is God’s enemy… Satan HATES God and would love nothing more than to replace Him. We see this in these names: Satan (which means Adversary) 1 Peter 5:8; 1 Timothy 5:15; Enemy/Opponent – Matthew 13:28; Evil One – John 17:15…

He is not powerful enough to oppose/fight God directly so he employs a round-about attack by going after God’s people and doing everything in his power to keep others from becoming God’s people… To do this Satan has masterfully influenced the culture toward greater and greater depravity and evil. God recognizes this ploy and has warned us in other names that have been given to Satan: Prince of the Power of the Air (which means he controls unbelievers) – Ephesians 2:2; Ruler of Demons – Mark 3:22; Ruler of this World (which means he rules the world system/culture) – John 12:31; God of this Age (which means he influences the thinking of this world) – 2 Cor. 4:4; Beelzebub (Lord of the Flies) – Matthew 12:24; Belial (which means that he is worthless – just like the corruption he has brought to the world) – 2 Cor. 6:15

Satan then uses the Culture/World to provide temptation for our flesh (the second enemy listed above). We see this in his names: Tempter – 1 Thes. 3:5; Serpent of Old – Deceiver in Garden – Rev. 12:9, 20:2

God warns us from falling to these schemes in 1 John 2:15-17 when He says:

¹⁵Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

However, Satan is stubborn and will not give up… through the World/Culture will try to tell you that certain sins are OKAY… he’ll try to convince you that they are not that bad… He’ll provide you with every kind of justification from “I’m just wired/born this way” to “God wants me to be happy and this will do it” to “I/they deserve this”… But I’m here to tell you IT’s NOT OKAY…

Satan is a masterful liar (cf. John 8:34) – Though he tries to make it look good, pleasing and harmless, sin is an affront to God and His Holiness and it is harmful to our soul and damaging to our lives and relationships! Sinning is telling your heavenly father that you know best – it’s basically giving God the finger… and though God is loving and forgiving that is a dangerous game to play…

Once Satan has trapped you in one of his schemes and he has hooked you with some type of addictive sin, he then capitalizes upon our temptations and failures. God calls him the Accuser  (Rev 12:10) because Satan bad-mouths you to God, in your mind and to other people. He is called the Dragon/Destroyer (Rev. 9:11; 12:3, 7, 9) because he uses your sinful mistakes to ruin your life. He is called a Roaring Lion (1 Peter 5:8) because he wants to swallow you up in the consequences of sin and keep you from experiencing fellowship with God. He is a Murderer (John 8:34) because he leads people to eternal death (aka Hell). The term “Devil” actually means “slanderer” ( Matt. 4:1) because If he can’t get to you any other way, he’ll try to destroy your/God’s reputation.

So, what I see from all this is that if Satan is the deceiving force that is corrupting the culture we only truly have to fight the battle on two fronts… We need to Submit to God and resist the devil (James 4:7-8).  And we need to MAKE WAR against our sinful nature (cf. 1 Cor. 9:27, Galatians 5:16-26). John Piper would say that the war against our own flesh is the most important aspect of this… but I’d have to respectfully disagree… I think both prongs of our counter-attack are equally important… If we fight directly against Satan (and we’ll see how to do that in coming posts) then the culture will be effected which will minimize temptations as much as possible, making it easier to fight against our sinful desires…

I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen sin’s painful effects on a lot of people’s lives and I’m hopping mad about it… I’m ready to strap the armor on and get it on with Satan in God’s mighty power… Will you join me?

Why does God allow bad things to happen?

I know Kevin promised updates on the G90X on Monday’s.  Well…Kevin is not here, and I felt like I needed to post this.  I will give an update tomorrow on the G90X.

This piece is a companion piece to “Is God Evil”.  Just to recap… Two common arguments used by atheists and agnostics alike is that God is either evil because He is in control of everything and allows bad things to happen or He is not in control.  In the “Is God Evil” blog I refuted both of those points using God’s Word as the foundation.  So the natural response…If God is in control, and God is not evil…why then would He allow these things to happen?

I first began to think about this topic because I had my own motivations to study it.  I was curious about why God would allow a recession of this magnitude and other bad things I saw in the world around me.  I also was faced with a discussion with an agnostic/atheist who said they refused to believe in a God that would allow such horrible things to happen.  This gets to the heart of the matter for a number of atheists and agnostics.  Why? 

Recently I had a conversation with a woman that I have worked with for nearly a year.  Somehow during the conversation she had mentioned something about a trial, so I inquired.  It turns out that her son had been murdered.  The story is painful.  All I could think about was what my response would be had something like this had happened to my kids.  Anyway, her son had been shot because of an argument that went out of control.  The guy that shot him then proceeded to pour gasoline on him and set him on fire.  As she is telling the story she begins to cry, and then the most amazing words came out of her mouth… “I am so grateful that he was saved.  I know that I will see him again.”  Amazing!!  Here, this mother had lost a son, in the most extreme way, and was still grateful to God.

So why would God allow this to happen to her child?  Why would God allow a child to be raped (as David pointed out on several occasions from the “Is God Evil?” post)?  We could look at the cause of evil in the world today.  How the fall of man has allowed sin/disease into the world.  I would rather focus on the “why?” as opposed to the “how?”  Perhaps the “how?” can be addressed in a future post.

The first thing that has to be said when looking at the question “why” is that we have no way of knowing why God does the things that he does.  As smart as we all like to think we are we have no idea.  The perfect illustration to this is the book of Job.  To understand what I am talking about you have to understand Job.  Job was upright and blameless.  He had not committed any specific sin when God allowed Satan to strike at him.  Thus Job (and his friends) asked the question….why?  Why would God do this to him?  Now Job claimed he had done nothing wrong, and if he only had the opportunity to present his case to God he would be able to explain this.  Job friends said that he had to have done something wrong…otherwise why would God punish him?  Neither was right.  God responds in Chapters 38 – 42.  God challenges Job’s by asking him a series of questions.  Basically God asks Job…”Who are you?”  He does this in a sarcastic manner.  Jobs response in 42:2-3 shows the lesson to be learned.  There are things we cannot comprehend, things we will not understand.  God makes this point very clear to Job, and Job gets it.  What is the first answer to “why?”  We will never know until God reveals it to us.

There are additional answers that we have been able to identify from the New Testament that allow us to understand why God would allow these things to happen.  In my comments to the “Is God Evil?” post I identified a few. 

The question was asked then…”Does God really need to allow these things to happen to display Himself?”  The answer is yes.  Yes, He does. 

–          It allows a witness

We draw this example from Christ.  1 Peter 5:1 is an example of how suffering allows us to be effective witnesses.  Peter watched the suffering of Christ.  For this reason he was able to be an effective witness to the event.  Can you speak to suffering, if you have not seen the misery that comes with it?  Can you speak to anything with wisdom, if you have not participated?

–          It develops our capacity to comfort others

Look at 2 Corinthians 1:3-7.  Paul is making two distinct points.  First, that God is the father of compassion and comfort.  God will always be there to comfort us.  Also Paul makes the great point that the suffering we endure will create patient endurance and allow us to share our comfort.  Seriously, who is more able to provide more comfort in times of suffering?  Those who have not dealt with any, or those who have?  This was Paul’s point.

–          It is a training tool

Suffering allows us to grow.  James 1:2-4 tells us that trials will help us persevere.  The Bible verse here says it all. “… that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” See the parallel passage in Romans 5:3-5 “³Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

–          It displays the awesome power of God’s grace

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 displays this point.  Here Paul is under attack, and describes the thorn in his flesh (suffering).  Paul pleaded with God three times.  God’s response?  My grace is sufficient.  God did not tell Paul, okay I will make it all stop.  God responded by saying, I get it, and my grace is enough for you during these trials.

It is hard to endure or even watch the evil and suffering that exists in the world.  How do you, from any perspective answer the question, “Why would God allow that to happen?”  Rape, child molestation, murder, genocide etc…  Look at the above answers.  As painful as it is for us, our faith has to reside in God, otherwise…what else is there?  Man? Randomness?  Chance?  These things happen for any number of reasons that will be beyond our control.  We must, in all circumstances, know that we must continue to have faith in God.

LOST Series Finale

Sunday night was bitter sweet for me. LOST is over… Yeah, I can admit that I’ve been a huge fan of the show. My wife and I didn’t start off watching it, but got caught up in about season 3 by renting the first two seasons on DVD just before season 3 launched. This series has been one of my favorite shows of all time and the finale didn’t disappoint.

Of course, there are plenty of things to criticize about the show’s world view… but seriously, who forms their belief system over something they know to be fiction? There are, however, at least a few parallels to biblical Christianity (this is often true of great literature)… So, to put LOST to bed, so to speak, please allow me to point out just a couple of these.

First of all… the concept of the show started out simple enough, but then it got REAL complicated – REAL quick… Not everything made sense – no one could ever quite understand all the rules governing the island and those living on it – good people went bad, people with dubious pasts redeemed themselves. To the very end everybody had their own opinions as to why such and such was happening (from the tiniest detail to the over-arching purpose/meaning)… In fact, the most helpful episodes were the reruns that included the writers’ and/or directors’ commentary – but even these sometimes brought more confusion and questions than they provided answers.

Isn’t that just like real life, though? Life starts out real simple, but gets REAL complicated – REAL quick. Not everything that happens to us makes sense – Why do bad things happen to us or people we know? Why does the economy stink? Why do folks get laid off? What is the Purpose of Life? Why is the government so jacked up? The questions roll on and on… And the stronger the questions and challenges the less we know how to deal with them on our own!

Sorting it all out can be crippling! So people turn to various religions and try all sorts of theories (remember the hatch… Hugo’s unlucky numbers… Daniel’s crazy insights and ideas – including the nuke… Desmond’s idea last night). But even when they find the right place (we believe this to be the Bible) to search for reliable answers to life and morality (I mean, just how are we supposed to fight the “Smoke Monsters” in our lives – whoever he is) the waters can still be muddy because people often have a hard time understanding it or it leads to more questions!

SPOILER ALERT: Two of my favorite places in this last episode is where Jack initiated Hurley by passing him the bottle as Jacob had done for him – “Now, you’re like me”. Kate said “I know you don’t understand, Jack… But if you come with me, you will.” She touched his life profoundly and then led him to his father, who could (and did) provide the answers.

Both of these scenes demonstrate the kind of evangelism we need to have in the Church today… a passionate compassion for other people that leads them to be their best by seriously engaging in a relationship with God. In both scenes a life-altering decision was made and it was initiated by one of the characters simply asking them to make a decision. The decisions were tough but because of the love and care and friendship that had been invested between them the decision was really not all that hard… But still, one had to ask and the other had to accept. Demonstrating their decision wasn’t complicated – instead, it was so easy Hurley asked “Is that it?” It is the same for sharing and accepting God’s free gift of salvation. Through Jesus there is redemption for everyone even someone as evil as Benjamin Linus (I was glad to see them bring that character around for good through admitting his failures and apologizing). But for that to occur they must be presented the Good News that forgiveness and a new life are available though Jesus… this means that we are going to have to do a much better job of just lovingly asking our friends and family to make a decision (just like Kate and Jack did) – I’d venture to say that we will often get similar responses as the ones depicted on the show… acceptance (even if there is some reluctance at first).

That is what Robert and I are trying to do with this venue… it’s our driving force… our passion… our purpose: To connect with you and share life with you – to show you the way to the God and place (God’s Word – the Bible) where we’ve found our answers – And, we want to do this with No Shame, No Fear and No Apologizing – though we ourselves have been LOST, even though we fail… We sincerely hope you will come along with us and see where this ride takes us – It’s wilder and more awesome than anything Jack, Sawyer, Kate, John or Hurley could ever have imagined!

Is God Evil?

Is God Evil?

What a question to ask.  When you look out at everything happening in the world how can you not help but to wonder?  We have seen a number of calamities over the last 10 years.  Just to name a few, September 11, Katrina, Haiti, wars, a tsunami, and recently earthquakes and volcanic activity.  In addition to these major events innumerable amounts of people have suffered pain because of cancer, murder, rape, kidnappings, divorce or whatever.  If God is a God of love how can he allow these things to happen?  An agnostic said to me once, “I refuse to believe in a God that allows these things to happen.”  And I’ve seen an Atheist write, “If their God is so loving why does he allow violence?”

Atheists will use the following argument to show that our God is not in control, and/or our God is evil:  “Your God says that he is in control of everything, this means that he allows bad things to happen.  This can only mean one of two things…God is evil because he allows evil things to happen to others, if you say that he is not Evil, but is in fact love, then God cannot be in control of the world because of all of the evil that happens.”

If you have ever been in a heated discussion with an atheist, or even an agnostic, this topic surely came up.  With an atheist, it came up as another reason for them not to believe in God at all.  If it was an agnostic, it came up as a reason for them to not believe in the God of the Bible.  Thus, either directly or indirectly, they claim that the Bible is errant, after all the Bible emphatically claims that God is good (cf. 1 John 1:5, Psalm 25:8, Genesis 50:20).

So the real question is…Is God Evil?  The simple answer….NO!

And not just a simple no, or a feeble no.  Not the kind of no you hear from your child as you ask them questions when they know they have been caught in the middle of a lie.  The answer is a very strong NO!

To prove this “NO” I am going to focus on two key points used by atheists and agnostics to formulate their opinion…God is not in control, and God is Evil.

God is not in control: Atheists and Agnostics alike will try to tell you that bad things happen because God is not in control.  So what do we know so far about God being in control?  We know that God is omniscient (all knowing), omnipotent (all powerful), omnipresent (everywhere at once).  We can confirm that God is everywhere, and that he knows everything.  But what does the Bible say about God’s control.  How does he demonstrate it in the Bible?  If you look at the Bible you will notice that God demonstrates He is in control, not only by the large things, but also with the smallest things. 

God’s word is really fascinating when is comes to His power.  God could simply say that I am in control of everything and be done with it.  But, what God does is demonstrate his power. Sometimes He does so in the most extreme circumstances (Sodom and Gamorra), others in the most simplistic circumstances.  Here are a few verses… God’s own words… about his control.

Matthew 10:29 – God demonstrates that he is in control of the small things.

 Mark 1:27 – God has the ability to intervene against evil spirits.

Amos 3:6 – God controls disaster.

Matthew 8:27 – God controls nature.

Proverbs 21:1 – God controls our leaders hearts.

Luke 22:31-32, Job 1:12 – God controls Satan

The Bible does not give us a simple statement, like… “God controls everything.”  The Bible gives us a complete picture of what God controls… which is everything.  Birds, demons, natural disaster, human hearts, nature, and even Satan himself.

All of this will lead some to the conclusion: Well, if God is in control of everything… God must be evil.  This is where atheists will try to catch you. 

God is evil: If God is in control over everything, we now have to show that the result of that is that God is good, rather than evil.  To demonstrate this we need to look at one of the deepest characteristics of God: His love.

God’s love is all over the Bible.  Included in this is the ultimate display of love, the sacrifice for others.  If God is love…how can God be evil? 

 How much does God loves us?

1 John 4:8 – God IS love

Romans 5:8 – God has demonstrated that love through Christ

Romans 8:38-39 – There is nothing you can do that can separate you from God’s love.

And the ultimate display in love…

John 3:16 – God sacrificed his only child because of His love for you.

Many question the motivation of God.  I know that I certainly have.  It has to be a natural reaction in some cases.  No matter what, there are two things that are constant, God is in control and God is love.  Everything our Father does is because He loves us … because He loves you.  The problem with the argument presented by many is that they try to force God into being one thing or the other.  If God is in control He is evil, if God is not evil there is no way He could be in control.  God is perfect in nature, and is perfectly capable of being in control of everything, and being love at the same time.  The next question some will naturally ask…why?  Why would God do these things?  Well….It’s not so much “do” as it is “allow”. God doesn’t do anything evil, but He does allow evil to exist and persist, for now. Why? Because He loves us too much to make us simply be puppets. We don’t always know what the specific reasons for bad stuff happening is, but what we can always bank on is that ultimately everything that happens branches out from His love for us. How does that work? Well… maybe next time.

Strategery against Satan

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸And in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:10-18, NIV)

So what are the strategies against Satan?

1.     Understand who you are in your relationship with Christ.  One of the hardest realizations of my growth had to be realizing the truth about who I am in Him (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17).  For me this was the step immediately before repentance.   Ultimately, only God knows you as well as you do.  But until you are open about your own weaknesses you cannot hope to address them.  This would include identifying your sin and then repenting for it. This is demonstrated in a 3 step process described in Romans 6… We need to know who we are in Christ (Romans 6:1-10)… We need to consider ourselves dead to sin (Romans 6:11)… We need to submit ourselves completely to God (Romans 6:12-14).

2.     Know that you cannot defeat him on your own (James 4:4-10).  Here is a solid piece of humble pie for many of us.  You have to come to the conclusion that you are not in control.  Even those who do not have a type “A” personality will try to control a situation when it starts to spin out of control.  One of the hardest things for me to do is to realize that God…is in complete control.  Even when “bad” things happen.  You have to learn to let go of that control and walk in faith and trust God. This faith in God, is essential.  Another bad cliché?  No, the absolute truth.  The only true way to defeat Satan is to accept Christ and to trust Him (Ephesians 6:16-18).

3.     Know that God loves you.  The most powerful moment in my life was truly understanding the depths of God’s love for me.  I am His child.  He loves me, defends me, protects me, and most importantly He forgives me.  Realize this, Gods love for you is so complete, that even when you do stupid things… He will forgive you.  God has never abandoned you.  Despite your choices, which have put you at odds sometimes with God, God will always be by your side.  This is an extremely important strategy to defeat Satan because for one simple reason, forgiveness.  Satan wants to convince you that the sin you just committed is the one that will break the camel’s back so to speak.  He wants you to think that THIS TIME God will not forgive you – The Bible calls this condemnation.  This is an absolute lie, and I can say that with downright confidence because God has promised this (see Romans 8:1). Knowing that God loves you requires faith.  God’s love can cover you with protection that you cannot imagine.  You MUST accept this very simple truth.  This can provide an armor so to speak that you have to put on (Ephesians 6:13-14).

4.      Understand that Satan is as real as Christ.  Everyone has heard the over used phrase “the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”.  Sound like a cliché?  It isn’t.  Satan shows intelligence (2 Corinthians 11:3), emotions (Revelation 12:17), and that he has a will (Isaiah 14:12-14, 2 Timothy 2:26).  The Bible also shows that he is a created being (Ezekiel 28:11-19), and that he is a spirit being (Ezekiel 28:14).  Satan manifests himself in this world through rulers, authorities, powerful people, EVIL PEOPLE (Ephesians 6:12).  Do not fall prey to the thinking that the devil isn’t real.  Do not believe the lies that Satan is some story.  Do not cringe when you mention Satan or when others mention him.

5.     Prayer, Prayer and MORE PRAYER (Ephesians 6:18)

6.     Read, Study and Memorize God’s word… (Ephesians 6:17). This is our only offensive weapon in the Armor of God… Don’t believe it? Check out how Jesus Himself used His knowledge of the Bible to defeat Satan in Matthew 4:1-11.

Even knowing these will not guarantee that you will have success all of the time.  Satan will score, but the outcome of the game has already been determined.  Christ is victorious in a blow out.  You have to be vigorous in your defense, and be prepared.  Because the cool thing is that if you have totally placed your faith in God, you don’t even have worry about the outcome.  Your fate has been decided.

If you have learned anything over this year it is that life is fleeting (Think of Chile, Haiti, the Olympic accident, etc).  The search for truth that you may be agonizing over may end in an instant.  At that point you will know the truth, and will find out that Satan, and God are both real.  As each of us have seen or read about tragic and unexpected deaths of some nature or the other… The point is we all know that this life can end in a split second.  No warning or lead up.  Just over.  In that moment Christ will reveal himself to you as your judge.  You may think that you have years to take a journey to determine the truth.  In reality, you may only have a fleeting moment before the truth will be revealed.

What about this Satan Character?

God created everything.  This would include Satan.  Looking at the timeline presented in the Bible we know that Satan and his bunch of rebels were kicked out of Heaven before the creation of Adam and Eve.  Satan was the best and brightest of the angels.  But he had a flaw.  He wanted to be like God – Really, he wanted to BE God.  This naturally caused a rift between God and Satan, and of course God wins.  With Satan, 1/3 of the angels departed from heaven (we know them now as demons).  If we know that Satan fought against God because he wanted to be like God, we can draw some conclusions.

1.  Satan is not God thus,

2. Satan is not Omnipotent (All Powerful) and,

3. Omniscient (All Knowing) and,

4. Satan is not Omnipresent (Everywhere at once). 

These four simple points cover a lot of area.  Because Satan is not God, he cannot know everything that is or will be, and he cannot be with us all of the time and He can (and will be) defeated!

All of these points are critical to gain understanding of our common opponent.  Satan is an aggressive opponent, and knows how to attack people.  This statement implies a level of omniscience.  However, we have already established that he is not omniscient. So how does he know?  I believe Satan is an excellent observer of human behavior.  Let’s be honest – he has had thousands of years of observations to draw from. 

Observation is a highly effective strategy that is often used in business, sports and war.  People are taught to watch for cues that indicate what people are thinking, how they might respond, when to press, and when to lay back and let it ride.  Anyone’s personal experience is limited to maybe 20 to 30 years of active observation.  Satan, though, has all the years going back to Adam and Eve to draw from.  This gives me reason to believe that while Satan is not omniscient he certainly can provide a very educated guess as to how you will respond to temptation. 

While we are all created uniquely, we all are prone to various kinds of temptations which are not unique.   Our mistakes are not the first of their kind in human history.  This is Satan’s tactical advantage over us.  He knows that while we are unique in our creation, our response to temptation is not.  After thousands of years of observation of personality types, and responses, he knows how to trip a trigger and crawl into your life.  There is hope, though… See 1 Corinthians 10:13 While Satan has millennia of experience tripping people up, God, though the Holy Spirit, has been equally practiced at helping God’s people deal with sin… More on this later.

Everyone has their pressure points.  Do you believe that it is a coincidence that the same issues appear over and over in your own life? I never thought about it until recently.  Then it finally dawned on me:  Satan is real, Satan is clever and Satan is a very astute observer. 

The attacks can be sudden, and from out of nowhere.  There can be long pauses between attacks (demonstrating Satan’s lack of omnipresence).  Rest assured, if you are making an impact for God, if you are beginning to grow in your faith, or beginning in your path towards the truth, you will attract his attention and his ire.  This is where understanding your opponent’s tactics will really help you. 

Satan deals in half truths.  He wants to present you an option that appears to be in the nature of the Bible and God’s word.  This is the trick of Satan. 2 Corinthians 11:14 says that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. Here is an example.  If you are beginning to grow in your faith, then it is fair to say that you are trying to rid yourself of some bad habits.  Stress is a fantastic way to push people back to a default habit or personality trait.  Apply a little stress, and the normal person will revert.   Let me use examples out of my own life. Things like success are a difficult temptation for me because, while I have my moments, I am not a humble guy.  Another example for me is fear of betrayal.  Satan knows my weaknesses, and knows what I need to see in order to feed my arrogance and paranoia.  But this is not limited just to me!   Satan’s desire is for you to revert.  God’s desire is for you to succeed by becoming more like His Son – See Ephesians 5:1-2. 

Look at these startling statistics.  The Bible mentions Satan over 180 times, Jesus mentions him 100+ times.  Despite that, 60% of believers believe that Satan isn’t a real living being, but rather a symbol of evil.  The greatest achievement of Satan is to have convinced the world that he doesn’t exist.  Not only has he convinced the world but also believers. 

If you are a believer let me boil it down a little more strongly…You are willing to have faith that Christ was born of a virgin, Christ is the son of God, Christ lived without sin, Christ died on the cross for your sin’s, Christ was resurrected, and God created angels, …Do you really think it is so farfetched to believe that Satan is real?! 

Next time, we will look at specific strategies for defeating this very real and active enemy, but as a preview you may want to take a look at the following passages: James 4:4-7; Ephesians 6:10-18 & Romans 6:6-13.

Getting to know your Adversary

I am a firm believer of understanding an opponent.  In a competitive situation, it helps you to win.  One of the best strategies is to know how you will be attacked so that you can effectively defend yourself and/or pull of a counter attack.  But what do you do when you’re in a situation where your weakness gets continually exploited, and there is no appearance of a sound counter attack available? 

I don’t handle failure well because I hate to lose.  If I fail at something or do it wrong I over analyze, over criticize, and then come down hard on myself.   While all of us have very different lives, different challenges, and different successes we all have one common opponent.  Our opponent is relentless, ruthless, and cunning- the kind of opponent who is a win at all costs kind of guy.   He will outright lie to you, exploit your weakness, push you to the brink and tell you half truths.  The opponent I speak of, Satan.

I probably lost some of you with the very use of the word Satan.  Bear with me on this.  Up until a few weeks ago I had never given Satan much thought.  I understood what he represented at a conceptual level, but had never really pursued it beyond that.  To me, Satan was something in the Bible that had caused Adam and Eve to sin, and tempted Jesus.  I guess you could say that I thought of him in more of a historical context rather than something that was operating in the here in now.  Even from a social context, the look you get on most people’s faces is bewilderment when you mention the word Satan, or Devil… I’ve even gotten this “you’re weird” look a spiritual conversations!  

The Set Up…

For the last few years God has been really working on my life.  During this time my understanding of Christ has grown immeasurably! I guess that I first grew in my knowledge of Him from a business perspective (Many thanks to Liberty University’s MBA program). 

Since graduating, however, I have had time to get to know this God that I serve on an even deeper and more personal level.  I wanted to get to the heart of the matter and not have a vague understanding of Christianity… I wanted to know Him.  Kevin recommended that I dive into a personal study of theology.  So, I got a theology book by Charles Ryrie for Christmas, and away I went.  To say that I have been blown away by the amount of material that is in this book is an understatement.  While a number of things have changed, as far as my theological approach and general understanding, one of the biggest impressions left on me has been the chapters on Satan.

For those of you who believe Satan is some sort of metaphor for bad things, the Bible tells us you are wrong.  If, like I did, you think that Satan is an entity that only acted in ancient history but is no longer present and active, I care about you too much to not tell you that you are mistaken.  Satan is real, he hates us, and he is very much alive and active – that little booger is running around wreaking havoc on everything!  Here’s how the Bible describes him: Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

Your doubt and misunderstandings plays right into Satan’s strategy for ruining your life. In John 10:10 Jesus told us the bad news about Satan… “The thief [Satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy…” But Jesus didn’t stop there, he went on to tell us the good news: “[but] I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” What Jesus is saying here is that He wants us to know the strategies of Satan so that He can help us fight back and have a GREAT life, in Him!