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(How Satan Became Evil) In the eternity past, before God created the human race, He created a vast angelic host, unseen today by human eyes, nevertheless, real and dangerous (Colossians 1:16). The most preeminent angel was Lucifer, known as “son of the morning” (Isaiah 14:12). He was the most dazzling and the most beautiful, the most intelligent, the most glorious creature of light ever to come from the hand of God. Lucifer was appointed as the honor guard to His throne (Ezekiel 28:12-15). His primary task was to guard the throne of God. Instead of responding with great humility and privileged to serve God in that supreme honor, Lucifer became narcissistic, occupied w/ self-importance, unwilling to be subservient to anyone, he grew increasingly dissatisfied with his position, his arrogance spark the flame of his ego to craved to posses the very power and glory of God, he desire to rule the universe (Isaiah 14:13-14). Lucifer rebelled against God and persuaded one-third of all the angels to join his uprising (Revelation 12:4). This heavenly revolution divided the angelic host into two hostiles forces:
This revolt between the angels of light and angels of darkness inaugurated a prehistoric conflict which continues into the present and will not conclude until the end of human history. God convened a trial to judge the defiant angels. God was the Judge and the Prosecutor, Satan the defense attorney. After evaluating the evidence against Satan and the fallen angels, God pronounced them guilty and condemned them to spend eternity in the lake of fire, (Matthew. 25:41, Revelation 20:10) God graciously postponed the judgment in response to an appeal lodged by Satan at the conclusion of his trial. Satan argument impugned the character of God: How could a loving God cast His creatures into eternal fire. To resolve Satan’s appeal trial God created the human race. Through mankind God will display His perfect justice. Like the angels, mankind has been endowed with volition (free-will), the freedom to choose for or against God Satan must now contend with the volition of man. Through the decisions of the human race God will vindicate His judgment and refute Satan’s accusations against His character. Satan is Lucifer’s new title give support to this appeal trial. Satan means “adversary, accuser.” Satan was the adversary of God at his prehistoric trial (Zechariah 3:1-2) and continues to act as the accuser of our brethren (Revelation 12:10), remaining the irreconcilable enemy of God. Satan is never a spectator of the human history but he goes on the offensive to influence and to win the allegiance of mankind. In his first operation, Satan tempted Eve to commit the initial human sin of rebellion. Adam chose to join Eve and follow Satan’s lead. Adam’s disobedience condemned all mankind (Roman 5:12). Though the human race is condemned, God has not deserted it. God’s magnificent grace is available to every human being. The sublime manifestation of His grace is the plan of salvation for mankind the redemption which Christ paid once and for all. Anyone can be saved by faith alone in Christ alone (Acts 16:31a). Human history demonstrates the volition determines a person’s eternal destiny (John 3:18, 36). Satan loses his appeal trial when just one person believes in Jesus Christ. The faith of millions magnifies the grace and sovereignty of God and continually vindicates the perfect justice of His decision. Each believer becomes a testimony of God’s grace and witness for the prosecution against the accusation of Satan. The world is the arena of Satanic painful, ceaseless, invisible and futile revolution- a do or die warfare, a fight to the finish, the most stupid war against his Creator (Ephesians 6:10-17) and His beloved children. The planet earth is therefore the battleground between the redeemed humanity and the forces of Satan who uses every trick, any method, every ruse at his command, to neutralize or destroy the plan of God for the human race (2 Corinthians 2:11). The world is not the home of the believers, this is not our finale’, we are just pilgrims, travelers – this is not our world, we do not belong here! Do not let the world squeeze you into its moulds and thereby, trapping you in. God created man to have dominion over the earth but when he disobeyed God, he surrendered his ruler ship of the earth to Satan. Today, he is still the god of this world (2 Corinthians. 4:4), meaning to say, he is the ruler of this world. Satan has the prerogative to award the kingdoms of the earth and their glory to any person of his choice (Matthew 4:8-9). The Devil will exercise his temporary authority in the great Tribulation by establishing the “man of sin,” the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire (2 Thessalonians. 2:3-9, Revelation 19:20). Satan manipulates the people under his power- strictly for his own purposes, and then dismisses them when they cease to be useful to his cause. Satan’s treatment of Judas Iscariot exemplifies his lacks of integrity and virtues. Satan implements his authority in the world through his demons who recognizes him as their supreme commander- known as Beelzebub the ruler of the demons (Matthew 12:24). Beelzebub means “master of the heavenly dwelling” or “master of the flies,” a term used by the Jews as a term of derision for Satan (Leviticus 18:21, Jeremiah 32:35). These highly organized and specialized demon forces operate both actively and effectively under the command of demon generals, in the same way, the forces of angels operate. During the Age of Israel, Satan attempted to destroy the spiritual life of Israel by alienating them from the true God by promoting elaborated pantheons populated with all kinds of gods of the polytheistic religions, some of these gods demanded offering even human sacrifices (Jeremiah 32:35). Satan also promoted the ecumenical mental attitude that is why the Israelite did not obey God concerning the annihilation of the Canaanites whose religion enticed the Jews to sacrifice their own children to appease the demons (Deuteronomy 32:17, Ps. 106:34-38). Today, in the Church Age, Satan is too subtle to tempt believers to offer their children as sacrifices. Instead, he distracts believers from the plan of God by appealing to the old sin nature or OSN (1 John. 2:16). To succumb to these seductive lusts carries a high price the road to destruction is paved with miseries, ending with sin unto death. But this need not happen. At salvation God frees the believer from the power of Satan (1 John 3:8b). We are all born into the devil’s world. Our spiritual death is the proof of our citizenship of the cosmos diabolicus. Regeneration transfer us from the family of Satan (John 8:44) to the Royal family of God (1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 1:5-6, John 1:12, Acts 26:18). As children of God we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and can never be demon-possessed or indwelt by Satan. We have the options of the filling of the Holy Spirit and learning Bible Doctrine as the only means to repel satanic or demonic influence. Only through Bible doctrine resident in our soul can we defend ourselves against Satan & his demons (James 4:7). To resist the devil is to have the fortification of Bible doctrine in the kardia. J. R. Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries
DEMONS dem'-mon, de-mo'-ni-ak, de-mon-ol'-o-ji (daimonion, earlier form daimon = pneuma akatharton, poneron, "demon," "unclean or evil spirit," incorrectly rendered "devil" in the King James Version): The word daimon or daimonion seems originally to have had two closely related meanings; a deity, and a spirit, superhuman but not supernatural. In the former sense the term occurs in the Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 106:37; Acts 17:18. The second of these meanings, which involves a general reference to vaguely conceived personal beings akin to men and yet belonging to the unseen realm, leads to the application of the term to the peculiar and restricted class of beings designated "demons" in the New Testament. In the New Testament we are told practically nothing about the origin, nature, characteristics or habits of demons. In a highly figurative passage (Matthew 12:43) our Lord speaks of demons as passing through "waterless places," and in the story of the Gadarene demoniac (Luke 8:31) the "abyss" is mentioned as the place of their ultimate detention. The method of their control over human beings is represented in two contrasted ways (Mark 1:23-26 with Luke 4:33-39), indicating that there was no fixed mode of regarding it. With these three scant items our direct information ceases. We are compelled to infer from the effects given in the limited number of specific instances narrated. And it is worthy of more than passing mention that no theoretical discussion of demons occurs. The center of interest in the Gospels is the person of Jesus, the sufferers and the cures. Interest in the demons as such is absent. Certain passages seem to indicate that the demons were able to speak (Mark 1:24,26,34; Luke 4:41), but comparing these statements with others (Mark 1:23; Luke 8:28) it is seen that no distinction is drawn between the cries of the tormented in the paroxysms of their complaint and the cries attributed to the demons themselves. In other particulars the representation is consistent. The demons belong to the unseen world, they are incapable of manifestation except in in the disorders which they cause--there are no materializations, no grotesque narratives of appearances and disappearances, no morbid dealing with repulsive details, no license of speculation in the narratives. In contrast with this reticence is not merely the demonology of primitive people, but also that of the non-canonical Jewish books. In New Testament usage the demon is invariably an ethically evil being. This differentiates the New Testament treatment from extra-canonical Jewish writings. In the New Testament demons belong to the kingdom of Satan whose power it is the mission of Christ to destroy. It deepens and intensifies its representations of the earnestness of human life and its moral issues by extending the sphere of moral struggle to the invisible world. It clearly teaches that the power of Christ extends to the world of evil spirits and that faith in Him is adequate protection against any evils to which men may be exposed. The New Testament demonology differs from all others by its negation of the power of magic rites to deliver from the affliction. The ancient Babylonian incantation texts, forming a surprisingly large proportion of the extant documents, are addressed directly to the supposed activities and powers of demons. These beings, who are not trusted and prayed to in the sense in which deities are, command confidence and call forth prayer, are dealt with by magic rites and formulas The Jewish non-canonical writings contain numerous forms of words and ceremonies for the expulsion of demons. In the New Testament there is no magic. The deliverance from a demon is a spiritual and ethical process In the New Testament the range of activities attributed to demons is greatly restricted. According to Babylonian ideas: "These demons were everywhere; they lurked in every corner, watching for their prey. The city streets knew their malevolent presence, the rivers, the seas, the tops of mountains; they appeared sometimes as serpents gliding noiselessly upon their victims, as birds horrid of mien flying resistless to destroy or afflict, as beings in human forms, grotesque, malformed, awe-inspiring through their hideousness. To these demons all sorts of misfortune were ascribed--a toothache; a headache, a broken bone, a raging fever, an outburst of anger, of jealousy, of incomprehensible disease" (Rogers, op. cit., 145). In the extra-canonical Jewish sources the same exuberance of fancy appears in attributing all kinds of ills of mind and body to innumerable, swarming hosts of demons lying in wait for men and besieging them with attacks and ills of all descriptions. Of this affluence of morbid fancy there is no hint in the New Testament. A careful analysis of the instances will show the importance of this fact. There are, taking repetitions and all, about 80 references to demons in the New Testament. In 11 instances the distinction between demon-possession and diseases ordinarily caused is clearly made (Mt 4:24; 8:16; 10:8; Mk 1:32,34; 6:13; 16:17,18; Luke 4:40,41; 9:1; 13:32; Acts 19:12). The results of demon-possession are not exclusively mental or nervous (Mt 9:32,33; 12:22). They are distinctly and peculiarly mental in two instances only (Gadarene maniac, Mt 8:28 and parallels, and Acts 19:13 f). Epilepsy is specified in one case only (Mt 17:15). There is distinction made between demonized and epileptic, and demonized and lunatic (Mt 4:24). There is distinction made between diseases caused by demons and the same disease not so caused (compare Mt 12:22; 15:30). In most of the instances no specific symptoms are mentioned. In an equally large proportion, however, there are occasional fits of mental excitement often due to the presence and teaching of Christ. Conclusions: A summary of the entire material leads to the conclusion that, in the New Testament cases of demon-possession, we have a specific type of disturbance, physical or mental, distinguishable not so much by its symptoms which were often of the most general character, as by its accompaniments. The aura, so to say, which surrounded the patient, served to distinguish his symptoms and to point out the special cause to which his suffering was attributed. Another unique feature of New Testament demonology should be emphasized. While this group of disorders is attributed to demons, the victims are treated as sick folk and are healed. The whole atmosphere surrounding the narrative of these incidents is calm, lofty and pervaded with the spirit of Christ. When one remembers the manifold cruelties inspired by the unreasoning fear of demons, which make the annals of savage medicine a nightmare of unimaginable horrors, we cannot but feel the worldwide difference between the Biblical narratives and all others, both of ancient and modern times, with which we are acquainted. Every feature of the New Testament narratives points to the conclusion that in them we have trustworthy reports of actual cures. This is more important for New Testament faith than any other conclusion could possibly be. It is also evident that Jesus treated these cases of invaded personality, of bondage of depression, of helpless fear, as due to a real superhuman cause, to meet and overcome which He addressed Himself. The most distinctive and important words we have upon this obscure and difficult subject, upon which we know far too little to speak with any assurance or authority, are these: "This kind can come out by nothing, save by prayer" (Mark 9:29). Prayer at this point does not refers to the believer's ability to persist, endure or persevere in prayer but to the eager confidence on the basis Bible doctrine residence and functional in the soul. Please note that exorcism is a pagan and cultic doctrine. The Lord Jesus Christ, the apostles or disciples cast out demons. J. R. Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries
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Copyright ©2003-2007 J. R. Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries |
12/05/06