Continued from 143/ The exposure of the true character of Satan
c. The Devil.
The word is diabolos from which we get the English word diabolical and means the false accuser; it can refer to a slanderer, one who tries to bring a person down by presenting a false picture. An accuser is one who charges someone with or declares someone to have committed a crime. Satan is described as the father of lies (John 8v46). All liars are under his control. Lying in the context of slander is a malicious attempt to bring someone down unjustly. This is his stock and trade. In (Revelation 12v10) he is said to be "the accuser of the brethren."
The oldest story in the bible, recorded in (Job 1v1-11 & Job 2v1-5) is a case in point. . Job was a man described by God as a perfect man, upright, a God fearing man, and one who hated evil. Satan was riled by this and entered the counsel chambers of heaven (which he still does today), pointing the finger and charging Job with "fair- weather religion". God had hedged him up, made him prosperous, surrounded him with a good business and family and possessions and loyal servants. Satan said take all that away and see how religious he really is (paraphrased from the book of Job). Not once but twice was this done, until even Job's wife advised him "to curse God and die." God allows it, only to show Satan that Job's faith was independent of his external circumstances. This is a gentle warning to Christian believers, to avoid giving Satan the opportunity to accuse you in the courts of heaven, which he has done day and night since the beginning of time. He himself was cast out of heaven because of one sin, the sin of pride. He will accuse us before God whether rightly or wrongly. If he accuses us rightly too often, God may have to act in discipline against us, but that is a whole other subject.
d. Satan.
Means the adversary, who opposes all that is of God even though he knows in the end he will lose. He cannot touch God but he can touch us, and he does. He targets our minds and our bodies. Paul in (2nd Corinthians 12v7) refers to his illness as "a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me." He speaks perverse things in the church. He corrupts doctrines. We are advised by the apostle John not to believe every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." (1st John 4v1). Paul tells Timothy that serious error will beset the churches in the latter times "some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons." (1st Timothy 4v1). This is a serious warning to us all because he opens that section by saying "the Spirit speaketh expressly." He incites apostasy from God, he incites believers to sin, he circumvents men by wiles, he controls idol worship in the world, he takes bodily possession of people. He is in fact the enemy of all mankind . God chose men to replace him and he has since been our enemy. He is the adversary of all that is good, and all that is of God.
e. Deceiver.
We must take note of the all embracing statement of verse 9 "he deceiveth the whole world." Not only does he have the entire world in his power, but it is stated in the present tense, he is still doing it. He does it through false preachers and prophets, he does it through mass media communication. He causes people to err, to wander from safety and virtue and truth. He is a liar and all who are liars are his children. In 2nd Corinthians 4v4 Paul says "he has blinded the minds of them that believe not." In 1st John 5v19 it says "the whole world lies in the wicked one." R.V. In 2nd Thessalonians 2v9-11 we find that God uses Satan to delude those who have willfully refused the gospel. At the end, perhaps the saddest verse in the entire bible, "the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire." Evolution is a lie, atheism is a lie, pantheism is a lie, humanism is a lie, all religion without Christ is a lie. The entire world is being deceived. He is now, in this event, cast down to the earth, which produces a contrasting response from heaven and from earth.
The word is diabolos from which we get the English word diabolical and means the false accuser; it can refer to a slanderer, one who tries to bring a person down by presenting a false picture. An accuser is one who charges someone with or declares someone to have committed a crime. Satan is described as the father of lies (John 8v46). All liars are under his control. Lying in the context of slander is a malicious attempt to bring someone down unjustly. This is his stock and trade. In (Revelation 12v10) he is said to be "the accuser of the brethren."
The oldest story in the bible, recorded in (Job 1v1-11 & Job 2v1-5) is a case in point. . Job was a man described by God as a perfect man, upright, a God fearing man, and one who hated evil. Satan was riled by this and entered the counsel chambers of heaven (which he still does today), pointing the finger and charging Job with "fair- weather religion". God had hedged him up, made him prosperous, surrounded him with a good business and family and possessions and loyal servants. Satan said take all that away and see how religious he really is (paraphrased from the book of Job). Not once but twice was this done, until even Job's wife advised him "to curse God and die." God allows it, only to show Satan that Job's faith was independent of his external circumstances. This is a gentle warning to Christian believers, to avoid giving Satan the opportunity to accuse you in the courts of heaven, which he has done day and night since the beginning of time. He himself was cast out of heaven because of one sin, the sin of pride. He will accuse us before God whether rightly or wrongly. If he accuses us rightly too often, God may have to act in discipline against us, but that is a whole other subject.
d. Satan.
Means the adversary, who opposes all that is of God even though he knows in the end he will lose. He cannot touch God but he can touch us, and he does. He targets our minds and our bodies. Paul in (2nd Corinthians 12v7) refers to his illness as "a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me." He speaks perverse things in the church. He corrupts doctrines. We are advised by the apostle John not to believe every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." (1st John 4v1). Paul tells Timothy that serious error will beset the churches in the latter times "some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons." (1st Timothy 4v1). This is a serious warning to us all because he opens that section by saying "the Spirit speaketh expressly." He incites apostasy from God, he incites believers to sin, he circumvents men by wiles, he controls idol worship in the world, he takes bodily possession of people. He is in fact the enemy of all mankind . God chose men to replace him and he has since been our enemy. He is the adversary of all that is good, and all that is of God.
e. Deceiver.
We must take note of the all embracing statement of verse 9 "he deceiveth the whole world." Not only does he have the entire world in his power, but it is stated in the present tense, he is still doing it. He does it through false preachers and prophets, he does it through mass media communication. He causes people to err, to wander from safety and virtue and truth. He is a liar and all who are liars are his children. In 2nd Corinthians 4v4 Paul says "he has blinded the minds of them that believe not." In 1st John 5v19 it says "the whole world lies in the wicked one." R.V. In 2nd Thessalonians 2v9-11 we find that God uses Satan to delude those who have willfully refused the gospel. At the end, perhaps the saddest verse in the entire bible, "the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire." Evolution is a lie, atheism is a lie, pantheism is a lie, humanism is a lie, all religion without Christ is a lie. The entire world is being deceived. He is now, in this event, cast down to the earth, which produces a contrasting response from heaven and from earth.
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