Jesus said I AM seven times. Satan said “I will” five times. There is a big difference between I AM and I will.
Jesus said,
“I am the bread of life. (John 6:35).
“I am the light of the world. (John 8:12).
“I am the door. (John 10:9).
“I am the good shepherd. (John 11:25).
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6).
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1).
In Isaiah 14:14-15 it is said of Lucifer,
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will be like the most High.
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isaiah 14:14-15)
Jesus declared himself I AM out loud, before many, Satan said quietly in his heart. Jesus declares the reality, Satan declares his individual desire. Jesus is eternally I AM, satan was created and generated ambition later.
Jesus was, and is, and is to come (Revelation 1:8) and what He purposes will come to pass (Isaiah 46:10. Satan WILL NEVER, EVER, EVER HAVE ANY OF HIS WISHES, HOPES, AMBITIONS, GOALS, OR PURPOSES ULTIMATELY COME TO PASS. (Revelation 20:10).
Jesus did it all, He paid it all, it is finished.
Friends, remember, satan is a defeated foe. He is active, but moot. He is around, but vanquished. Those of us in Christ are victorious through Christ’s eternal act of submission, crucifixion, and resurrection, His love, and His will.
A post on Instagram by the ever-solid Doreen Virtue (it’s here) about channeling reminded me that in 2011 I had written a series of essays examining what channeling is (AKA ‘automatic writing’), and had examined three highly popular books that these allegedly Christian authors had published. I revived and updated those essays, I also shortened them splitting them up to examine each author in turn.
Neale Donald Walsch wrote “Conversations with God” (1995), William P. Young wrote “The Shack” (2007), and Beth Moore wrote “When Godly People Do Ungodly Things” (2002). All three were Christian bestsellers. All three are unholy and blasphemous.
Automatic writing is when a writer clears his mind, gives his will over to another entity from the supernatural realms, and allows his hand to be used as a transcriber, thereby allowing the entity to produce the work, and not the human writer through his own mind or consciousness. Not even the scriptures were generated in this manner. The Bible’s authors received inspiration but were mentally and emotionally present. The Holy Spirit inspired their own minds and personalities to write. The authors didn’t zone out and become robots as another entity produced the works.
The point of the 2011 essays was not so much to examine the content of what these writers wrote about. Though discernment lacks in many a Christian heart these days, the ungodly moments in those books eventually become apparent to the readers who call upon the Spirit for light and illumination.
Turning to the point of this essay, I noticed similarities in the emotional lives of today’s ‘Christian’ automatic writers used by spirit or a ‘force’ from the other side. Hopefully I will provide an understanding of how satan works in the emotionally vulnerable.
One thing these automatic writers who channel these supernatural entities people all have in common is they all had a Christian-ish background. The second thing they all had in common was sexual abuse, parents who were distant either physically or emotionally, and/or trauma of severe kinds that usually resulted in a deep depression through to adulthood. It was in the depths of their depressions at the bottom of their turmoil that they began to experience the “call” from the other side. Here are their stories. Today, we look at Neale Donald Walsch.
Neale Donald Walsch, 81 years old. Photo Source- Facebook
Neale Donald Walsch was brought up as a Roman Catholic, he was an altar boy, actually. Born Again Christians know that Roman Catholicism is not Christianity. It is a false religion. However, in a conference on ‘God and Love’ at the Fort Collins Lincoln Center, Colorado in what looks to be about twenty years ago, Walsch described his growing disillusionment with the rigidity and minutiae of Catholic traditions as a youth and mocked it cynically in a ‘humorous’ speech at the conference.
His family encouraged his quest for spiritual truth and eventually he wound up informally studying comparative theology for many years. In that quest, Walsch sadly did not turn to the Bible but to himself.
He was at an incredible low point in his life. A fire had destroyed everything he owned, his marriage had broken up, he was in a car crash and suffered a broken neck, then became unemployed and homeless. Living in a tent, Walsch picked up cans in order to eat.
He had no faith to cling to, and no way to resolve his anger. In 1995 Neale Donald Walsch realized his life was a mess. He said, “I woke up one night just angry, really frustrated, and wrote down what was on my mind” in an angry letter to God. God ‘answered’.
As described here, Walsch has said, “After writing down all of his questions, he heard a voice over his right shoulder say: “Do you really want an answer to all these questions or are you just venting?” When Walsch turned around, he saw no one there, yet Walsch felt answers to his questions filling his mind and decided to write them down. The ensuing automatic writing became the Conversations with God books.
Walsch’s own words, “To my surprise, as I scribbled out the last of my bitter, unanswerable questions and prepared to toss my pen aside, my hand remained poised over the paper, as if held there by some invisible force. Abruptly, the pen began moving on its own. I had no idea what I was about to write….Out came….Do you really want an answer to all these questions, or are you just venting? … Before I knew it, I had begun a conversation.” (New York Times article).
From Amazon
Walsch’s spiritual stance is that we are all one with God and that helping people is the satisfaction to life.
No. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy HIM forever.
What resulted from Walsch is a cottage industry of false religion permeating the world. Wikipedia states that “Conversations with God, was published in 1995 and became an international bestseller. It remained on the New York Times Bestseller List for 135 weeks. Six of his other books have made the Times list in the years since. He has published 28 books and his works have been translated into 37 languages.” His books are not a small problem.
Screen shot from his book 1, chapter 1.
“In the spring of 1992 an extraordinary phenomenon occurred in my life. God began talking with you. Through me.” ~Neale Donald Walsch No, God doesn’t talk to me thru Walsch. God talks to me thru His Son! (Hebrews 1:1-2)
God is not speaking today. True, in the past He has spoken directly to several people in the Bible (not as many as you’d think) and in various ways, too. But He has spoken in His word, which is complete and sufficient for all training. (Hebrews 1:1-2; 2 Timothy 3:16).
Neale Donald Walsch’s Conversations with God contributed to the New Age religion and its growth. The counterculture hippie movement of the 1960s had by the 1970s morphed into the New Age movement containing elements of the early twentieth century Victorian Theosophy spiritism, 1050s UFO mania, and Helen Schucman’s 1975 A Course in Miracles. Shirley MacLaine’s 1983 book Out on a Limb added much fuel to the fire of fervency for a holistic spiritualism devoid of God. I remember that book, it caused a huge stir.
What has been, it is what will be, And what has been done, it is what will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9).
Satan from before the beginning of human history through to now and beyond, will try to poison God’s Gospel. In some people, man’s inherent pride will click with this notion that God selected them specially to speak directly to them and they will be used in this way to pervert the Gospel. Some who seek a man-made religion will pick up these wrong theories and philosophies and connect through these unfortunate authors and their books. Millions.
When I was on the path toward the cross but not there yet, I was curious about religion. But my pagan mind didn’t know which religion to choose. I did not know at the time the God chooses us, we do not choose God. I bought the trilogy Conversations with God and I read book 1. The book did not make sense to me. It meandered, it was internally contradictory, and it was boring. I didn’t even bother to read Walsch’s book 2 and 3, they stayed on my shelf, unread, until I was born again and I then threw them all out. I thank God for preserving me until the time He appointed the moment of justification.
Sisters, when an author says that God spoke the book to him or her, run. The only book God spoke in is the Bible, and the only authors who had a conversation with God are the 66 authors who were inspired by the Spirit, not possessed by a spirit.
And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ —Matthew 4:3
Did satan not know Jesus is the Son of God? Of course satan knew. We see that he and his demons knew this in Luke 4:41,
And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
And we see that the demons knew that Jesus is the Son of God in Mark 5:7,
And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”
And James 2:19 says even the demons believe, and shudder!
Throughout scripture we read that satan knows full well who Jesus is. So why would satan begin his temptation by saying, “IF you are the Son of God…”?
Because he wanted to get Jesus to doubt. Ergo, satan’s is a deceptive skepticism.
Satan himself has no doubt whatsoever that Jesus is the Son of God. However, satan’s issue is that he thinks he can beat Jesus in a contest of wills. Satan believes he can usurp Jesus from His position as King of KINGS and Lord of LORDS. We know satan knows that God is highest, and we read satan’s conviction that God won’t be God on his throne forever, that satan himself will usurp Him. These are the five “I wills” of satan in Isaiah 14:13-15. Satan doesn’t doubt a thing.
Satan isn’t skeptical of God’s existence nor is satan skeptical of who God is. Satan’s scheme is to get US to doubt.
Scripture warns us repeatedly about deception-
fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock… (Acts 20:29)
We picture a fierce wolf with fur standing up and fangs bared. But that is how they are inwardly. If we saw the fierceness in the wolf, we would know he was a wolf. What we see in false teachers is a pleasant demeanor, smiles, apparently helpful and meek. A Joel Osteen, not a Hulk Hogan. The false ones are disguised.
false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:13)
What they bring, however, is philosophy and empty deceit (Colossians 2:8)
Their disguise and pleasant demeanor hides a purposeful destruction-
false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies (2 Peter 2:1).
We see the philosophy and empty deceit in the tactic satan used with Christ, “IF you are the Son of God…”
Sowing doubt is an age-old tactic of satan, and why not? It works. However there has been a shift from false sowers who sow doubt about God’s word, (like Rob Bell) to those who claim to be Christian but sow doubt about God’s existence. (Like the IF:Gathering). It is a significant shift.
Ten years ago Rob Bell made headlines. He was a self-proclaimed ‘Evangelical’ who sowed doubt about the inerrancy of scripture as God’s perfect word. Bell was the perfect ‘Hath God said?’ guy. His method was to ask questions under the guise of sincerely seeking truth but what he was doing was actually sowing doubt and using dishonest skepticism to do it. The following are actual Rob Bell questions from his book Velvet Elvis-
What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and…
“But what if, as you study the origin of the word ‘virgin’ you discover that the word ‘virgin’ in the gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find out that in the Hebrew language at that time, the word ‘virgin’ could mean several things. And what if you discover that in the first century being ‘born of a virgin’ also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had intercourse?”
And these questions are from his book doubting the existence of hell, Love Wins,
What if heaven is open to all, rather than a select few?
What if hell doesn’t exist at all?
The women of the IF:Gathering, a subject on which I’ve written a three-part series, questions the existence of God. No, these women are not atheists. They are not Wiccans believing in goddess power. They claim to be Christians, and claim to study God’s word, IF He exists, that is. This screen shot is from the latest bible study:
Doubt in a believer happens occasionally. Doubting one’s salvation temporarily is natural. Doubting an interpretation of a doctrine is all right. Doubting that Jesus is the Christ was something even John the Baptist pondered. John the Baptist didn’t doubt the scriptures’ promise that Messiah will come. He doubted for a moment that Jesus was the promised Messiah that had arrived. There is a difference.
No, this is the ignoble doubt of God’s existence. Ignoble because God has shown Himself to all people and those who fail to accept His existence are suppressing that truth in unrighteousness. (Romans 1:18-19)
There is nothing noble about that. It is satan’s assault on our own faith and the baseline truth it rests on: God is One and there is no other. He is real. Believers don’t doubt God’s existence. If you doubt He is real, you’re not a believer. It is not a faith question, then, but a problem of deliberate suppression of the truth that brings wrath.
Believers are held responsible even for sincere or temporary doubts. Elderly Zechariah was rendered mute because of the doubt he voiced when the angel foretold that he and Elizabeth would bear a son. (Luke 1:18-20). And Zechariah was just doubting a one-time prophecy, not God’s existence entirely.
Jesus rebukes us for our doubts, even when they are honest, sincere, and soul-searching. Either harshly as in Matthew 14:31 to Peter, or gently, as in John 20:27-29 to Thomas.
We are told that when we ask for wisdom,
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. (James 1:6)
We must not doubt. (Mark 11:23, James 5:15, 1 John 5:14-16).
Dishonest skepticism is not doubt. Don’t confuse the two. Dishonest skepticism emanates from a false worker of iniquity. It is a satanic tactic designed to get you to doubt what you know and thus diminish your faith. Learn the difference and avoid any person, teacher, or organization that institutionalizes either skepticism or doubt.
It’s High Summer here in the US now. It’s vacation week for many people, and there’s a holiday coming up. I’m going to re-post some angel essays I’ve done in the past. So, it’s Angel week here on the blog!
Chris Koelle, illustrator The Angel speaking with John on Patmos
Angels figure very, very prominently in the NT. People don’t really know this, or they overlook angels in the Bible. But once you see how often they are out and about, you can’t unsee it. At the other end of the scale, some are so preoccupied with angels they nearly fall into angel worship.
Once you start studying angels, you realize how frequently they are mentioned in the New Testament. And as for the nativity story, make many appearances! So let’s get to know these incredible beings better.
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. (Hebrews 13:2 KJV)
From the Bible, we know that God created angels. (Colossians 1:16-17). We know that angels interact with humans at the behest of God. (Luke 1:26-38). They deliver messages. (Daniel 9:20-23). They fight for territory. (Daniel 10:20). They guard humans (Matthew 18:10) and report to God on the actions of children, anyway (Matt. 18:1-14) and perhaps to individually minister to adult Christians also (Hebrews 1:14).
cherubim, mosaic, Mont Sainte-Odile, Alsace, France
Angels are divided into hierarchies and troops, including both good and evil angels, and special categories such as cherubim, seraphim, and the archangel. They are invisible. (2 Kings 6:17). They look like men sometimes, (Genesis 18:1-2) and other times they look like glory (Matthew 28:2-4) and other times they look like metal and lightning (Daniel 10:5-6) and still there are other angels who look completely unusual and beyond description (Revelation 4:6-8). [For the record, with one debatable exception, angels are not biblically described as having any wings]
Surely, it is a blessing that there is a class of created being whom God uses for His glory and for our help. It is a blessing also to think that we may entertain one of them at some point in our lives!
It is not well for us to miss the opportunity of the presence, the conversation, and the prayers of the good. The influence of such guests in a family is worth more than it costs to entertain them. ~Barnes’ Notes
But do not forget, there is another class of angels. There was a rebellion in heaven, and the highest angel, one created to guard the throne itself, tried to vault himself above God and was kicked out of heaven for it. His name is Lucifer, whose title is now the devil, adversary, satan. And even though a third of the multitudes of angels lived with God, and saw His glory and knew His heart, Lucifer was apparently so convincing that they sided with him against God, and so they were kicked out too. (Revelation 12:3-4,9)
Not everything supernatural is from God! If you entertain angels unawares, it may be a good angel sent to minister to you. Or it may be a fallen angel, sent by satan to thwart you, deceive you, or hinder you. (also 1 Tim 4:1-3; 2 Cor.11:13-15) “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).
In this we must be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Barnes’ Notes again:
If there is danger that we may sometimes receive those of an opposite character. yet it is not wise on account of such possible danger, to lose the opportunity of entertaining those whose presence would be a blessing.
If you are reading this whether you are a Christian or a non-believer, be aware that deceit comes in a guise wrapped in a beautiful package. Fallen angels would look just like the glorious angels, as stated above in the Corinthians verse. If you are a Christian, you should be praying daily to receive wisdom, and it will be given to you without reproach.
You should be in the Word daily so that you will know the truth from a lie. Without His help, you are at the mercy of an adversary who can and does ‘appear to us unawares’ and always for the purpose of destroying us!
NOT EVERYTHING SUPERNATURAL IS FROM GOD!
Angels might surround you unawares, and it surely would be a blessing to discover in the hereafter that you’d entertained a Holy Angel!
He was God’s covering cherub, it is believed the highest of the high angels, and the most beautiful. (Ezekiel 28:14-17). Since he is an angel he is therefore a created being, thus, under God’s sovereignty. The eternal clash between good and evil is not one of equal opposites, but one of rebellion of a created being against an uncreated, holy powerful God. (Isaiah 14:13-14)
We hear satan’s actual voice three times in the Bible. Once in Genesis 3:1-5 when he (as the serpent) is talking with Eve in the Garden of Eden. There, he insinuated to Eve that God is not good enough to her by not letting her have all the fruit of the Garden. The second time we hear him speak, it’s in heaven to God about Job. (Job 1:7-11). There, he told God that God was being too good to Job. The third time is when satan tempts Jesus. (Luke 4:1-12). In that scene, he used several the schemes in his arsenal (temptation of the body, temptation of power, temptation of testing God) and when he failed, he went away until another opportune time. (Luke 4:13).
These scenes tell us that satan has many schemes in his bag of tricks, he is not hesitant to use them against people, or Jesus or even GOD, and that he never quits.
Satan is mentioned in the Gospels twenty-nine times. And twenty-five of those times, Jesus is the one talking about Satan. Satan is mentioned in seven Old Testament books and every New Testament book.
He has different names to which he is referred. That Old Serpent, Adversary, Devil, Satan, (which is a title)
Satan is a real person. He is not allegory, a metaphor or a figment. If you believe he is an allegory or figment or just an evil force, then you destroy the integrity and truthfulness of every NT book, each Gospel, a quarter of the Old Testament, and the character of Jesus. It is not possible to disbelieve satan is real but also believe the rest of the Bible is truthful, historical, prophetic, and the word of God.
He is real and thus has a will, goals, plans. He is seen spoken of in Isaiah 14:13-14, But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
So his goal is to supplant God….usurp God…BE God!
Satan is not in hell. He is not the ruler of hell. So where is he? He is roaming up and down upon the earth. (Job 1:7, Job 2:2; 1 Peter 5:8). Satan is the prince of the air. (Ephesians 2:2). Satan is in heaven accusing the brethren. (Revelation 12:10; Job 1:6). God has granted limited and temporary sovereignty to satan, for he is the god of this world. (2 Corinthians 4:4). From this we see that satan has been granted much latitude by God on earth, the air and in heaven.
Satan is busy! He is accusing the brethren, roaming the earth, fighting the holy angels, sowing tares among the wheat, ensnaring the unwary, polluting the doctrine. He is wreaking devastation and destruction. (John 10:10). And much more!
What is satan’s destiny? When satan rebelled in the primordial past, God prepared hell for satan and his angels. (Matthew 25:41). There will be no offer to repent and no opportunity to come to salvation. The devil and his angels’ futures are fixed. (John 16:11). Meanwhile, God uses their evil for our good and His glory.
During the time since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden, satan has been allowed latitude in each of the three spheres of earth, air and heaven. However, midway through the Tribulation, he will be thrown out of heaven and access will no longer be granted to him or his angels. Perhaps satan thought he would be able to go on like this forever. God’s patience is longsuffering, but it does have an end, and satan gets tossed. He and his angels will be furious and will wreak their fury on the population of the earth. Woe to the people! (Revelation 12:7-17).
At the conclusion of the Tribulation, satan will be thrown into the abyss and locked up for 1000 years. When 1000 years is over, he will be let out for a little while to foment one last, short, rebellion that God puts down with a word. (Revelation 20:3; 8). Finally vanquished, he will be thrown into the lake of fire, the place prepared for him in the prehistorical past. His angels will be thrown there too, (Revelation 20:10) along with every person who followed him. (Revelation 20:15).
If you are a believer and are struggling or strong or persevering or weak: He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. We need not fear satan, but we do need to appreciate his capabilities and thus rely on the Holy Spirit more than ever. And to the lost: make no mistake, satan is real.
Oh, woe to those who disbelieve Jesus’s words about future judgment for sin and His word to John in Revelation about the Book of Life. If your name is not written in it, you will be thrown into the Lake of Fire to be tormented forever.
Look at the cross! God’s love of humanity- expressed through Jesus- triumphed over evil and sin and death! (Colossians 2:13-15). Holiness wins too. (John 9:39). All one needs to do is look at the lake of fire- the place prepared for the devil and his angels, and all those who follow satan. (Matthew 12:30-32). Unless you believe in Jesus, you are actually following satan by default. When you die, you will follow satan right into the Lake of Fire.
A caution: Satan is real, powerful, and we are continually warned in the Bible not to dally with him or his flavors of sin and perversion. It’s dangerous to ignore these sober warnings from the One who knows all! However it’s just as dangerous to excessively focus on the devil. Some people look for him around every rock, attribute every major and minor thing to satan, and see him as an equal with God battling it out for the universe.
Our own sin nature advances satan’s goals for him much more than we’ll ever know. We are usually too puny to even be bothered with by him. Focus on obeying Jesus and slaying our own sin, while being mindful we do have an actual living adversary. Balance is best.
Now for some encouragement to the brethren:
“Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)
“Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.” (John 12:31).
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6).
Thanks be to God for Jesus!
Those are a few facts about satan. As always, read the word for yourselves to see if these things are true.
Further Reading
The Wiles of Satan, William Spurstowe (Puritan Paperback)
Angels figure very, very prominently in the NT. People don’t really know this, or they overlook angels in the created order. At the other end of the scale, some are so preoccupied with angels they nearly fall into angel worship.
Once you start studying angels, you realize how frequently they are mentioned in the New Testament. And as for the nativity story, they figure prominently, making many appearances! So let’s get to know these incredible beings better.
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. (Hebrews 13:2 KJV)
From the Bible, we know that God created angels. (Colossians 1:16-17) We know that angels interact with humans at the behest of God. (Luke 1:26-38) They deliver messages. (Daniel 9:20-23). They fight for territory. (Daniel 10:20). They guard humans (Matthew 18:10) and report to God on the actions of children, anyway (Matt. 18:1-14) and perhaps to individually minister to adult Christians also (Hebrews 1:14).
Angels are divided into hierarchies and troops, including both good and evil angels, and special categories such as cherubim, seraphim, and the archangel. They are invisible. (2 Kings 6:17). They look like men sometimes, (Gen 18:1-2) and other times they look like glory (Matthew 28:2-4) and other times they look like metal and lightning (Daniel 10:5-6) and still there are other angels who look completely unusual and beyond description (Revelation 4:6-8). [For the record, with one debatable exception, angels are not biblically described as having any wings]
Surely, it is a blessing that there is a class of created being whom God uses for His glory and for our help. It is a blessing also to think that we may entertain one of them at some point in our lives!
It is not well for us to miss the opportunity of the presence, the conversation, and the prayers of the good. The influence of such guests in a family is worth more than it costs to entertain them. ~Barnes’ Notes
But do not forget, there is another class of angels. There was a rebellion in heaven, and the highest angel, one created to guard the throne itself, tried to vault himself above God and was kicked out of heaven for it. His name is Lucifer, whose title is now the devil, adversary, satan. And even though a third of the multitudes of angels lived with God, and saw His glory and knew His heart, Lucifer was apparently so convincing that they sided with him against God, and so they were kicked out too. (Revelation 12:3-4,9)
Not everything supernatural is from God! If you entertain angels unawares, it may be a good angel sent to minister to you. Or it may be a fallen angel, sent by satan to thwart you, deceive you, or hinder you. ( also 1 Tim.4:1-3; 2 Cor.11:13-15) “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).
In this we must be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Banres’ Notes again:
If there is danger that we may sometimes receive those of an opposite character. yet it is not wise on account of such possible danger, to lose the opportunity of entertaining those whose presence would be a blessing.
If you are reading this whether you are a Christian or a non-believer, be aware that deceit comes in a guise wrapped in a beautiful package. Fallen angels would look just like the glorious angels, as stated above in the Corinthians verse. If you are a Christian, you should be praying daily to receive wisdom, and it will be given to you without reproach.
You should be in the Word daily so that you will know the truth from a lie. If you are a non-believer reading this after the rapture, know that your odds of learning the truth have diminished but you can pray to Jesus to forgive you of your sins (if you are truly sorry for your bad acts and thoughts, that is) and He will forgive you. He will send the Holy Spirit to you to help you discern the truth from a lie. Without His help, you are at the mercy of an adversary who can and does ‘appear to us unawares’ and always for the purpose of destroying us!
NOT EVERYTHING SUPERNATURAL IS FROM GOD! “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders,” (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
Angels might surround you unawares, and it surely would be a blessing to entertain a Holy Angel, but YOU should not be unaware of satan and his angels’ counterfeiting abilities!
Thus says the LORD: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ (Jeremiah 6:16)
Watch the path of your feet And all your ways will be established. (Proverbs 4:26)
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:6)
My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. (Job 23:11)
All our righteous walking with Jesus is not without intervention by angels, strength of the Holy Spirit, and the will of God, because satan the adversary always tries to hinder us. He attempts to knock us off the path. He works to misdirect us.
because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. (1 Thessalonians 2:18)
Gill’s Exposition says of the Thessalonians verse,
Satan does all he can to hinder the preaching of the Gospel, the hearing of the word, the profession of religion, and the saints coming together, and having spiritual conversation with each other; being, as his name “Satan” signifies, an enemy to Christ and his interest, and to the souls of men: indeed he can do nothing but by divine permission, nor can he hinder the will of God, and the execution of that, though he often hinders the will of man, or man from doing his will; he hindered the apostle from doing what he willed and purposed, but he did not hinder the will of God, which was that Paul should be employed in other work elsewhere.
Stay true to the Lord and His ways. Stay in the Word, and stay praying. God promised to those who walk in His paths that they will find rest for their souls. Though as we see in the Jeremiah verse, some refused to walk in His ways.
The old way isn’t the popular way! It is being abandoned daily by people who have decided that new is better. They are leaving the Bible, the old songs of the faith, old fashioned worship, praising the Lord, and preaching. Seeker services are replacing old time worship of the Lord. Yet, God has not changed, Heb. 13:8. I can find no room to change myself. I think I’ll ask for the old paths and walk in them. How about you? The enemies are changing the signs, but the Lord will knows the way. Let’s ask Him and He will lead! (source)
Amen!
If satan changed the signs on your path, would you still know which way to go?
El Panecillo is a tourist attraction in Quito Ecuador. I was in Quito some years back and I snapped a photo of the famous statue. Then I messed with it in Photoshop and it came out like this:
Kind of end of the world doomish, don’t you think? I always titled it in my writings or categorized it in my files as “Angel of Quito”. Here is my original:
Here is the statue from wikipedia, full-on:
But before I even was saved, or knew Jesus, or knew the background of the statue, I was interested in it. I learned that it was called “The Woman of the Apocalypse.” But then I learned even more about the statue and what I learned made me sad. Because it is all wrong, I tell you, all wrong. Here’s the scoop.
The statue is not of an angel. It is of Mary, Jesus’s mother and termed in Catholic circles, The Madonna. Traditional iconography of Madonna statues is that she is standing on the globe and stepping on a snake, which indeed she is in the Quito statue. More unusual, are the wings. Madonnas are not typically adorned with them. The circle above her head is the circle of twelve stars as referred to in Revelation 12:1–18. Protestants usually interpret the verse describing the woman with 12 stars as mother Israel and her 12 tribes of sons.
However the iconography that the Catholics ascribe to Mary is heinous in the extreme. For example, transferring the commonly understood interpretation of the woman as a sign of Israel, to her instead being Mary is very bad. Secondly, the twelve stars are the tribes, but to Catholic tradition, she is Mary, Queen of Heaven. “The Catholic teaching on this subject is expressed in the papal encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam, issued by Pope Pius XII. It states Mary is called the Queen of Heaven because her Son, Jesus Christ, is the King of Israel and heavenly King of the Universe. The Eastern Orthodox churches do not share the Catholic dogma, but have themselves a rich liturgical history in honor of Mary. The title Queen of Heaven has long been a Catholic tradition, included in prayers and devotional literature, and seen in Western art in the subject of the Coronation of the Virgin, from the High Middle Ages, long before it was given a formal definition status by the Church.” (source).
There is only one Monarch in heaven, Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Mary, of course, is not royalty and her station as shown above the world is a false elevation of who she really was: a forgiven sinner just like us.
Worst of all are the iconic depictions of her stepping on the snake. In Genesis 3:15 we read, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” This is the prophetic pronouncement from God to Adam and Eve in the garden of the coming hope, Jesus Christ. Switching HIS work to crush sin and death (Dan 9:24; Rev 20:14) to Mary’s work is idolatry in the extreme.
As Matthew Henry said in his commentary of the crushed snake and bruised heel, “A gracious promise is here made of Christ, as the deliverer of fallen man from the power of Satan.” Mary does not deliver us from sin, though the cumulative iconography and traditional teachings of the Catholic Church is that she does.
So all that time when I was in Quito and I had been looking at this iconography in statuary and paintings, I never knew how wrong it was. After having snapped the photo and worked with it on my computer, I never knew how dishonoring it was to the Lord. But now that I am saved, I detected immediately the erroneous parts that made up a dastardly whole.
I don’t quite know what I’m trying to say here, other than how easy it is to be deceived. As a non-believer of course, the things of God make no sense and that person is not expected to be able to detect the nuances or differences between true and false doctrine, symbols, or idolatry vs. true worship. But as an unsaved person, I absorbed those false views, and after salvation I had to work at dispensing with the false notions that had littered my mind and heart.
Even Christians though, are often fooled by religious works that mirror something that seems full of truth but isn’t really. I have been surprised lately when mentioning some of the false things contained within Roman Catholicism, that fellow believers are not aware that they are even false in the first place, never mind being able to point to the bible on how or where.
Please always stay within the Word, in prayer, and in fellowship with Christians in these troubled days. We need each other, the false is everywhere and the true is harder to find. Bless His name, though, because on the Last Day, He will not be hard to find. He is coming in great power and glory (Rev 1:7) to demonstrate in power and glory (Mt 24:3) that HE IS FAITHFUL AND TRUE! (Rev 19:11). He is the only true God and there is no other. (Is 45:5).
Sometimes people have a hard time believing that satan is god of this world. (2 Corinthians 4:4). It doesn’t mean satan is outside the sovereignty of God, or that he is equal to God. It just means that he has been given authority for a time to operate freely in influencing humans.
GotQuestions explains it this way: The 2 Corinthians verse means that it “is a major influence on the mind-set expressed by the ideals, opinions, goals, hopes and views of the majority of people. His areas of influence also encompass the world’s philosophies, education, and commerce. The thoughts, ideas, speculations and false religions of the world are under his control and have sprung from his lies and deceptions.“
Since satan’s original sin was pride, it is natural that he would want to see himself reflected in anything and everything. He wants to use the earth as a personal mirror, reflecting himself back to himself in as many human endeavors as possible. To this end, he has been fairly successful.
For example, the names for the days of the week originate from Roman, Greek, and Norse mythical false gods. Anything from an ancient myth from any culture is not from God but in fact is satan’s attempt to create a false religion apart from God.
The days of the week are named after false gods in satan’s image.
Sunday:The name comes from the Latin dies solis, meaning “sun’s day”: the name of a pagan Roman holiday honoring the sun god, whom Romans called Mithra and Apollo.
Monday: The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon monandaeg, “the moon’s day”. This second day was sacred to the goddess of the moon.
Tuesday:This day was named after the Norse god Tyr. The Romans named this day after their war-god Mars
Wednesday:The day named to honor Wodan (Odin). The Romans called it dies Mercurii, after their god Mercury.
Thursday:The day named after the Norse god Thor. In the Norse languages this day is called Torsdag. The Romans named this day dies Jovis (“Jove’s Day”), after Jove or Jupiter, their most important god.
Friday:The day in honor of the Norse goddess Frigg. In Old High German this day was called frigedag. To the Romans this day was sacred to the goddess Venus, and was known as dies veneris.
Saturday:This day was called dies Saturni, “Saturn’s Day”, by the ancient Romans in honor of Saturn. In Anglo-Saxon: sater daeg.
The planets are named after Greek gods, corporations and technologies are named after characters and gods in myths (Delphi, Oracle, Amazon, Aetna, Ajax, Juno, Nike, Pandora radio), the elements on the periodic table are named after gods, (Mercury, vanadium (Vanadis) and thorium (Thor); titanium was named after the Greek Titans.
“The name of the titanium dioxide mineral, which has been approved by the International Mineralogical Association, honors Pan Gu, said in Chinese mythology to be the first living being who created the world by separating yin from yang (forming the earth and sky).”
It is amazing how satan has saturated all cultures with things that divert from the one True God. (Matthew 16:22-24). It’s like the old subliminal advertising, subtly and not even consciously absorbing what satan wants you to absorb. As Christians operating in the power of the Holy Spirit we can see these ploys for what they are, and use our armor to ward off encroaching worldiness. But as a mental exercise, try to keep how many things in our world are named after false gods and you will be amazed at how long the list gets, very quickly.
God has all the power and the victory. He won and He will prevail at the end of days. Satan’s day will end and he will be tossed into the lake of fire, there forever to be tormented for his sins. (Revelation 19:20). In the meantime, let’s continue praying for the people who are deluded into thinking that the false gods are real and the real God is not, and for revival of many hearts in these days of Noah.
And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ —Matthew 4:3
Did satan not know Jesus is the Son of God? Of course satan knew. We see that he and his demons knew this in Luke 4:41,
And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
And we see that the demons knew that Jesus is the Son of God in Mark 5:7,
And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”
And James 2:19 says even the demons believe, and shudder!
Throughout scripture we read that satan knows full well who Jesus is. So why would satan begin his temptation by saying, “IF you are the Son of God…”?
Because he wanted to get Jesus to doubt. Ergo, satan’s question is a deceptive skepticism.
Satan himself has no doubt whatsoever that Jesus is the Son of God. However, satan’s issue is that he thinks he can beat Jesus in a contest of wills. Satan believes he can usurp Jesus from His position as King of KINGS and Lord of LORDS. We know satan knows that God is highest, and we read satan’s conviction that God won’t be God on his throne forever, that satan himself will usurp Him. These are the five “I wills” of satan in Isaiah 14:13-15. Satan doesn’t doubt a thing.
Satan isn’t skeptical of God’s existence nor is satan skeptical of who God is. Neithr is satan unsure of himself. Satan’s scheme is to get US to doubt.
Scripture warns us repeatedly about deception-
fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock… (Acts 20:29)
We picture a fierce wolf with fur standing up and fangs bared. But that is how they are inwardly. If we saw the fierceness in the wolf, we would know he was a wolf. What we see in false teachers is a pleasant demeanor, smiles, apparently helpful and meek. A Joel Osteen, not a Hulk Hogan. The false ones are disguised.
false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:13)
What they bring, however, is philosophy and empty deceit (Colossians 2:8)
Their disguise and pleasant demeanor hides a purposeful destruction-
false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies (2 Peter 2:1).
We see the philosophy and empty deceit in the tactic satan used with Christ, “IF you are the Son of God…”
Sowing doubt is an age-old tactic of satan, and why not? It works. However there has been a shift from false sowers who sow doubt about God’s word, (like Rob Bell) to those who claim to be Christian but sow doubt about God’s existence. (Like the IF:Gathering). It is a significant shift.
Ten years ago Rob Bell made headlines. He was a self-proclaimed ‘Evangelical’ who sowed doubt about the inerrancy of scripture as God’s perfect word. Bell was the perfect ‘Hath God said?’ guy. His method was to ask questions under the guise of sincerely seeking truth but what he was doing was actually sowing doubt and using dishonest skepticism to do it. There is a difference between honest questioning and dishonest skepticism.
The women of the IF:Gathering, a subject on which I’ve written a three-part series, question the existence of God. No, these women are not atheists. They are not Wiccans believing in goddess power. They claim to be Christians, and claim to study God’s word, IF He exists, that is.
Doubt in a believer happens occasionally. Doubting one’s salvation temporarily is natural. Doubting an interpretation of a doctrine is all right, until you work it out under the illumination of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit eventually supplies confirmation of all of the above, if you pray and seek Him.
Permanent skepticism, though, is not noble. Being skeptical of God’s existence is not all right. But what we see from the dishonest questioners is the ignoble doubt of God’s existence. Ignoble because God has shown Himself to all people and those who fail to accept His existence are suppressing that truth in unrighteousness. (Romans 1:18-19).
It is satan’s assault on our own faith and the baseline truth it rests on: God is One and there is no other. He is real. Believers don’t doubt God’s existence. If you doubt He is real, you’re not a believer. It is not a faith question, then, but a problem of deliberate suppression of the truth that brings wrath.
Believers are held responsible even for sincere or temporary doubts. Priest Zechariah was rendered mute because of the doubt he voiced when the angel foretold that he and Elizabeth would bear a son in their advanced age. (Luke 1:18-20). He was a priest, well versed in the scriptures, and an angel was telling this to his face, but Zechariah still asked how this is possible. The angel responded,
And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.
Jesus rebukes us for our doubts, even when they are honest, sincere, and soul-searching. Either pointedly as in Matthew 14:31 to Peter, or gently, as in John 20:27-29 to Thomas.
We are told that when we ask for wisdom,
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. (James 1:6)
Dishonest skepticism emanates from a false worker of iniquity. It is a satanic tactic designed to get you to doubt what you know and thus diminish your faith. Learn the difference and avoid any person, teacher, or organization that systematizes either skepticism or doubt.
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