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Friday, May 1, 2015

The Devil's Deception



One of the biggest misconceptions people have today is that God and Satan are equal opposites. God is the ruler of Heaven and is the embodiment of good, whereas Satan is the ruler of Hell and represents all things evil. This dualistic belief however is a lie harkening back to the ancient Gnostic teachings of the First Century AD.
    Satan is a created being (what many would call an "angel") and is not equal to God in any way. In fact, even though he is in open rebellion against God, Satan still has to answer to God and seek God’s permission before he can do anything. (Job 1:6-12)
    Furthermore, Satan is not the “Ruler of Hell”, nor does he currently reside therein. According to the Bible, Hell was created—not for bad people, as some would believe—but rather as a place of punishment for Satan and the other fallen angels. (Matthew 25:41) That being said, Satan is currently in heaven accusing us before God, and will not be cast out until the End of Days. (Revelation 12:10-12)

    Heaven is God’s courtroom. Satan is the prosecuting attorney, accusing us day and night while Jesus speaks in our defense. (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:24-25)
   
    Another huge misconception people have is that Satan makes them sin. I’m sure you’ve all heard the phase “The Devil made me do it”? Well, this is simply not the case.
    According to God’s word, we sin on our own, tempted from within. Very rarely does a temptation come from an external source.  (Jeremiah 17:9, Mathew 15:19, James 1:13-15) In fact, the only biblical examples I can think of where someone was tempted externally are when Satan deceived Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, and when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness. Aside from that, sin usually follows the example of Achan in Joshua 7:19-21.

   The truth is, Satan has always wanted to be equal with God—if not greater than Him. This attitude of self-deification was the sin that caused him to fall in the first place. (Isaiah 14:12-15) So if Satan can deceive the world into thinking that he is more powerful than he is, or that he and God are equal opposites, then he can enjoy some small measure of victory before his eminent destruction. But Satan is a defeated enemy. Jesus conquered both sin and death when he rose from the dead. Therefore, it is through Jesus Christ alone that our freedom is found. For there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:11-12)

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.”
~ Romans 8:1-4 New Living Translation (NLT)


The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”
~ Romans 16:20 New Living Translation (NLT)









1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Riley, for this clear, concise and scriptural explanation. It was helpful for me, and I shared it with my sceptical friend whom I've been praying for and sharing with for a couple of years now.