« Mother Teresa had Doubts | Main | New Babies »
Satan and the Bigger Better Deal
By Marc | October 15, 2007
Julie’s post yesterday about doubt, combined with my own the other day on possessions got me thinking about the little weasel who wants to be behind the scenes of every selfish little act. Sometimes it’s just us being the self-serving jerks we all know how to be, but sometimes there’s a much more malevolent force at work.
Before I gave myself over to Christ, whenever a Christian would talk about Satan and spiritual warfare, I would sort of nod and back away slowly without making any sudden moves before these crazies started foaming at the mouth. I could handle them talking about God and Jesus and stuff, but the whole deal with demons and angels fighting for our souls was just too far-fetched. If you’re not a believer, you’re probably going, "Oh yeah, I can relate. The bible-thumper’s got his bible belt a little too tight. The crazy glazed-over look in his eyes isn’t just for show."
But it all makes sense to me now. No, I’m not "brainwashed". It’s not a case of "confirmation bias" because of the Christian I married. I came to Christ kicking and screaming. The thought of a spiritual realm with powers at work made no sense to me; it defied my "logic". I let my defenses down and sort of told God, "Okay, you got me. What now?" He started to work at transforming me. I can now see the influence that Satan had on me before that time.
If you don’t believe in all this, I really can’t make you. The Bible says a few times that non-believers see this stuff as foolishness. I did, and the person I am now can’t even imagine why. It’s almost like I’m remembering using someone else’s brain.
I know Satan is real and a threat, but only in the way that he could convince me to turn my back on God, on Jesus. I still have some of my old temptations, but they don’t have the same bind on me as they once did. But it’s not like the jerk’s not trying.
Satan’s first words to humans are indicative of what he’s all about. He asked Eve: "Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?" (Genesis 3:1) He’s causing doubt to fester in Eve’s mind. Not only was he trying to question God’s word, he manipulated his words to get her to justify her actions. (…any tree in the garden.)
His second words, also to Eve, were filled with deception, more doubt, and accusations.
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." – Genesis 3:4-5
He outright called God a liar and a deceiver. He wanted her to believe that God had selfish motives and wanted to keep all the power and knowledge to Himself. The chief liar, the accuser, the deceiver accused God of deception and lying.
But, when it came down to it, Adam pointed to Eve. Eve pointed to the serpent. The serpent offered no defense. His work was done. He did what he set out to do. Both the man and the woman shifted the blame for their own selfishness away from themselves.
And it keeps on going.
In the United States, we have many freedoms that many other countries simply don’t have. We have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to protect what is ours, and many other rights and privileges given us by our Constitution and various federal, state, and local laws. But just because something is legal doesn’t always make it right.
As an example, alcohol is legal to anyone (in most places) to adults over the age of 21. In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with it. There are medical benefits to alcohol in moderation. But with alcohol in excess we can justify just about anything. "I had anonymous casual sex, but I was really drunk." "I got into a fight because I had a few drinks in me." "Drinking makes me do things I don’t normally do."
Another example: we have a capitalist economy. "Go for all you can." I got mine; you go get yours (just don’t touch mine). We can justify a lavish lifestyle by telling ourselves, "I deserve this". We can look down on those less fortunate and judge them. "You know, if he’d just apply himself, he’d be as awesome as I am." We can whine about having to pay taxes on our income but complain when our roads aren’t fixed.
We will even tell ourselves that God doesn’t matter. We don’t need Him. We’re so smart, we’ve got it all figured out and have decided that he simply doesn’t exist. We also say that God is a loving God and wouldn’t possibly send someone to hell. (He doesn’t, we make that choice.) We also make God into a being that we can make into our own image, someone who exists on our terms, even someone we can control. We will do this to justify our sins and our selfishness.
Who’s behind all this "religion of self"? Partially it’s us. Partially it’s Satan. But, you can’t just say, "The devil made me do it." The devil has never made anyone do anything. He can influence people and is allowed into people’s hearts, but he doesn’t do the deed. We have that free will. Just as we can accept or reject Jesus, we can decide whether or not we’re going to listen to Satan. They still exist either way.
I have a sort of dilemma in calling Satan a weasel, though. For one thing, it’s insulting to weasels. Also, should I poke fun at him to show I’m not scared of his little tricks, or should I take it a little more seriously, so as not to take the threat lightly? I do know that "God is bigger than the boogey man." I do know that Satan would have no power at all if it weren’t allowed by God. I also know that for all of his pitifully low attack meter, he always rolls a 20 for initiative.
Satan’s whole goal is to hurt God in any way he can; he’s got this huge chip on his shoulder that won’t go away. He can’t attack God directly, so he uses his influence to cause us to doubt, turn away from, not believe in, hate God (as well as a lot of other things we can do to stay away from the light of salvation).
There are those who don’t believe in heaven or hell, those who think there’s only God, and there are those who believe what we are told in the Bible. God is God. Man is man. Satan is very real and very much at work.
Topics: Words | No Comments »
