satan Archives - Page 3 of 4

You might be surprised to learn what is the biggest threat to Christianity.

Despite what you might hear from some churches, It’s not gay people.

Despite what you might hear from some politicians pandering for votes, it’s not democrats (or republicans). Not Obama either!

Despite what you might hear from some preachers, it’s not Muslims.

Despite what you might hear from some men, it is not women preachers.

It’s not greed or gluttony. It’s not sports. It’s not Hollywood. It’s not Wall Street. It’s not Russia or China.

No, the biggest threat to Christianity is the one that is probably present in all of the lives and congregations which say the things above, and which Jesus primarily concerned Himself with during His ministry.

The biggest threat to Christianity.

I’ve written on this before, but I’m doing so again because legalism is such a threat that I am firmly convinced that if we had to choose between self-righteous religious legalism and committing sin, we should choose sin every time.

Why? Here are four reasons:

Legalism is the Worst Kind of Sin

It’s doesn’t look like sin! But at it’s core, legalism fosters pride, arrogance, judgmentalism, and self-righteousness.

So in other words, sin is better than legalism because at least sin admits it is sin. Legalism is still sin, but masquerades as righteousness. That makes legalism not only sin, but sinister as well.

Legalism is of the Devil

Literally. Satan is a legalist. We often think that Satan temps us to sin, but I think that sin is only “Plan B” with Satan.

Satan’s primary goal is to turn us into legalists. Rather than turn someone into an outright sinner, Satan would much prefer to have everyone think they are completely obedient to the Laws of God, and are here on earth to get others to obey God also.

Satan wants us to think that because of our obedience to the law of God, we are making God happy. That if we can just conform our lives to a set of rules and behaviors, then we are right with God.

If you gave Satan a choice between an army of religious legalists and an army of Satan-worshiping anarchists, Satan will choose the religious legalists every time. Religious legalists do more damage to the cause of Christ than any anarchist has ever done. Worse yet, religious legalists perform their evil in the name of God, which makes it infinitely more evil.

If you sin, and sin blatantly, at least you will recognize you have sinned, and can fall before God in repentance and confession. God would rather have this than self-righteous, devilish legalism.

Legalists are Far from the Kingdom

Jesus said that tax collects and prostitutes were closer to the Kingdom of God than were the legalistic religious leaders of His day.

The same thing is true today. So called “sinners” know something about themselves and about God which no legalist will ever understand. “Sinners” know that they are sinners and that if God loves and forgives them, it is not because of anything good or Godly in themselves, but is purely out of God’s grace.

Though legalists always pay lip service to grace, they don’t actually believe it. Though they may believe that they were originally saved by God’s love and grace, they believe that God’s continuing love and grace for them is based on their own personal godliness and holy lifestyle.

But since life in the Kingdom of God is based on understanding God’s love and grace, then people who think they are living in the Kingdom according to strict observance of law are not actually living within the Kingdom.

Again, those who the world considered “sinners” know that if they are to be accepted by God, they can depend on nothing but God’s unmerited grace. This is the position in which we should all approach God, but as long as a person thinks they are obeying God, they will never approach God begging for mercy and grace.

Yes, Jesus said that “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). But Jesus was not calling His followers to become more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. He was saying that when it comes to personal righteousness, you have to be more perfect than the scribes and pharisees, which is impossible! Therefore, don’t even try! Fall upon the grace, mercy, and love of God instead.

Legalists Are Blind

The last reason sin is better than legalism is because no legalist ever believes they are a legalist. This is partly what makes this sin so insidious. While most sinners know they are sinners, no legalist ever recognizes their legalism.

Instead, they are “standing up for truth!”, “defending God’s righteousness!”, “calling on people to return to God!”, “living as salt and light!”, or some other such phrase. As such, they are blind to the true condition of their hearts, and believe themselves to be champions of the truth and defenders of the Gospel, but in reality, they are whitewashed tombs, the blind leading the blind.

In a strange turn of events, the sinner who can see God’s ways and God’s love and God’s forgiveness is better off than the legalist. The legalist, seeing only his own self-righteousness, thinks that in order to gain God’s love, everyone needs to be as righteous as he is. The sinner however, knows without a doubt that he can never attain that level of righteousness, and so despairs of ever achieving God’s love. They are left with beating on their chest and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” which is what God wants anyway (Luke 18:13).

So how can you know if you are a legalist? Tomorrow I will write about 10 Signs You Might be a Legalist.

God Cannot Look Upon Sin?

By Jeremy Myers

63 Comments

Have you ever heard someone say that God cannot look upon sin? I have, and a reader recently sent in this question:

It has been told to me that God cannot look upon evil, so why does the beginning of the book of Job portray God and satan conversing?

I have written about this before as part of the book I am writing on the goodness of God and the problem of violent portrayals of God in the Old Testament. Regarding this question of whether or not God can look upon sin or be near evil, I wrote this:

Sometimes we get this crooked view of God where He cannot look upon sin or be near sin because sin would somehow taint His holiness. Such a view gives sin way too much power and gives God way too little.

God is not like a pristine white couch upon which no one can sit for fear of it getting soiled. No, sin cannot be in the presence of God because whenever God draws near to sin, the raging inferno of His love and holiness washes all sin away. God can no more be tainted by sin than the ocean could be dyed red with a single drop of food coloring.

This is why God takes all sin upon Himself in Jesus and in the Old Testament.

Sin crushes, enslaves, and destroys humanity, but it vanishes away into nothingness at the smallest touch of God’s blazing holiness.

God Cannot Look Upon Sin (Habakkuk 1:13)?

This idea that God cannot look upon sin or see evil probably comes from Habakkuk 1:13. In one translation, for example, it says this:

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong (NIV).

Ironically, the text then goes on to say that God does in fact tolerate wickedness and evil. Habakkuk is a book where the prophet asks numerous questions to God such as this one. The prophet Habakkuk looks around him at what is going on in the world and has trouble reconciling it with what He knows about God, and so He asks a whole series of challenging questions about God’s behavior and actions. Habakkuk 1:13 is one of those questions… the first one actually.

Habakkuk does not believe that God cannot actually see evil. No, Habakkuk knows that God sees everything that goes on in the world. From the very beginning, God saw that Adam and had sinned, and He saw when Cain killed His brother Abel, and He saw when the people on the earth became so wicked that a flood was going to destroy them all. We could go on and on throughout the Bible to see that God both knows the evil that is going on in the world, and He sees it. God sees every bit of evil in this world.

So to say that God cannot look upon sin is not accurate biblically, and is not what Habakkuk 1:13 teaches. Instead, it seems that what Habakkuk is saying is that God, by not seeming to do anything about evil, appears to be looking upon evil with approval. But we know that God does not look upon evil in approval; He disapproves it. So how then is it that the treacherous seem to be in God’s favor, and the wicked seem to win at everything? This is what Habakkuk is asking.

And if we look around in the world, we often have the same question. Why do the wicked prosper? Why do the treacherous thrive? (Jeremiah 12:1). Job asked a similar question as well in Job 21:7.

God Can Be in the Presence of Sin

Which brings us back to the specific question that was sent in. Obviously, if God cannot look upon sin or evil then God should not have been able to look upon satan, or even allow satan to enter His presence. But according to Job 1, God does both.

This dilemma goes away when we realize that it is not true that God cannot look upon sin and evil.

In fact, far from averting His gaze or blinding His eyes to all the sin and evil that goes on in the world, God dives right into the thick of it. He finds the vilest places, the most terrible times, and the evilest situations, and jumps in there.

Why?

Because He loves us too much to leave us in the darkness of sin, and because the light shines brightest in the darkest of areas.

Look at it this way: To say that God cannot look upon sin or be in the presence of evil is to deny that Jesus was fully God. Did Jesus come to this earth? Of course! Did He ignore sin and keep Himself away from all who were sinners! Far from it! Rather, He sought out the sinners. He hung around the prostitutes and tax collectors. He laid hands on the lepers and showed love to adulterers.

And on the cross, Jesus took our sin upon Himself. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says He became sin for us! He took the curse upon Himself (Galatians 3:13).

And if Jesus reveals God to us, then we can assume that God also likes to hang out with sinners and show love to the wicked. To say that God cannot look upon sin is to say that sin can defeat and defile God; that sin is more powerful than the righteous holiness of God! May it never be! God is not so weak and powerless!

So when satan comes into the presence of God in Job 1, God is not threatened by satan. God sees satan, talks with satan, and even agrees to let satan have his way with Job (which I actually have some major problems with, but that is a topic for a different post).

So don’t say God cannot look upon sin.

Instead, be grateful and thankful that God can look upon sin, and in fact, looks upon it every second of every day, and not just looks upon it, but decides to do something about it.

It is only because God can look upon sin that He sent His son Jesus Christ to do something about sin, and it is only because God can be near sin that He is able to be with each one of us in the midst of our sin and filth.

God loves us so much, He is willing to walk with us and be near us through the worst of our sins.

What are the Signs of Demonic Possession?

By Jeremy Myers

179 Comments

In a previous post we considered the question, “Can a Christian be demon-possessed?” we said no. But if a non-Christian is demon possessed, what the the signs of demonic possession, and is a Christian able to make the determination that someone is possessed by a demon?

Let us consider first the signs of demonic possession.

What are the signs of demonic possession?

We must be extremely careful on this question, because many people have been falsely labeled as being a possessed by a demon, and such an accusation can be terribly frightening and disturbing.

Furthermore, I do not think that the signs of demonic possession are as obvious as many seem to think. Satan, after all, masquerades as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). We can assume that Satanic minions also use similar tactics to deceive and trick people into thinking something is good and holy, when in fact, it is of the devil.

When we read of the ministry of Jesus in the Gospels, we find many circumstances where Jesus encountered people who were possessed by demons. For example, there is the man possessed by a legion of demons (Mark 5:6-13). Here is a video adaptation of this event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz_s-cCpqGY

But there are also times when Jesus accuses the religious leaders of His day of acting according to their father, the devil (John 8:44). They, of course, showed no signs of demonic possession. Instead, they were the religious elites of the day. Of course, some could argue that they were not possessed, but were only being influenced by Satanic forces. This might be true.

But then there is the example of Judas. Scripture says that Satan entered Judas (Luke 22:3; John 13:27). This did not cause Judas to start spewing vile profanities, or have his heard start spinning in circles. No, he acted pretty normal, and did what most religious people of his day wanted him to do… to accuse Jesus of being a false Messiah and give Him over to the Roman officials for crucifixion.

I guess all I am saying is that when it comes to signs of demonic possession, we shouldn’t rely on Hollywood to tell us what these signs of demonic possession are. Scripture is our best guide on this, and it seems to indicate that while demonic possession sometimes results in strange, erratic, vile, and violent behavior, demonic possession can also result in what appears to be good religious behavior as well.

So what are the signs of demonic possession? I don’t think there is a list by which to determine whether or not someone is possessed by a demon. At least, there is no such list in Scripture, and even if we could compile such a list, it would have to include many of the things that the religious leaders of Jesus’ day were involved in.

Furthermore, such a list would also be misleading because what we often think of as signs of demonic possession might actually be signs of some sort of mental illness or other mental incapacity.

I know a family who had an eleven-year old daughter who behaved in terrible ways. They eventually became convinced that she was possessed by a demon and took her to a pastor to see if he could exorcise the demon. I personally think she had some serious mental issues, but do not think she was possessed. But I don’t think her exorcism session with the pastor helped her very much. What does it do to the mind of an eleven-year old girl to know that her parents think she is possessed by a demon? There is nothing good that comes from that.

So this brings us to the related question:

Can a Christian determine if someone is Demon-Possessed?

If there is no good list of indications or signs of demonic possession, then there is not sure and certain way to determine whether or not a person is possessed by a demon.

I know that some people point to passages like 1 John 4:1 which says that Christians are to discern the spirits to see whether or not they are from God, and the text goes on to say that “any spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God” (1 John 4:2-3).

By these passages, some believe that one sure sign of demonic possession is whether or not a person can say that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.

I once tried this “test” on a man who I thought might be possessed by a demon. He was homeless, and my wife and I were talking to him outside of an Arby’s. We had just bought him some food and were talking to him while he ate. We found out he had no clothes other than the tattered clothes he had on, and so my wife got in the car to go the nearest department store to buy him a pair of pants, a sweatshirt, and a coat.

While she was gone, the man launched into a filth-laden tirade against Christians, God, and Billy Graham. His behavior was so erratic, that I decided to run this little test from 1 John 4 on him. I asked him if he could say that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh. The man got extremely upset when I asked him this question, and refused to even say the name of Jesus. He kept referring to Him as “that man.”

My wife came back with the clothes right about then, and he thanked us and went on his way.

Was he possessed by a demon? Did he exhibit any signs of demonic possession? Based on my experience with this man, some would say yes. I might be wrong, but I came away believing that I had misunderstood 1 John 4. I think it is another one of those texts we rip out of context so that we can label and condemn certain people with mental problems.

Take, for example, the incident in Matthew 8 where two demon-possessed men loudly proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God and ask why He has come (Matt 8:28-29). They clearly knew Who Jesus was and had no problems admitting that He was there in the flesh, and that He was the Son of God. Furthermore, why would a demon-possessed person be unable to admit that Jesus came in the flesh? It makes no sense for a demon to deny this.

No, what John is talking about in 1 John 4 is the specific false teaching he is writing against in his first letter. These false teachers were saying that Jesus was not fully human, that He did not come in the flesh. John says that anyone who says this is not speaking the truth of God. In 1 John 4, John is not saying that anyone and everyone who is possessed by a demon cannot confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.

I wrote elsewhere about the similar statements in 1 Corinthians 12:3.

So what are the signs of demonic possession, and can a Christian determine if someone is demonically possessed? The truth is that there is no sure and certain list by which to determine if someone is possessed by a demon, nor is there a step-by-step guide to follow if we think someone is possessed.

Don’t Focus on Signs of Demonic Possession

One thing I do know for sure: Some Christians give way too much credit to Satan, and spend way too much time thinking about demonic powers. Satan and his forces are a defeated foe. They’re in retreat. The more we talk about them, and the more we think about them, and the more we are scared by them, the happier they are and the more power they get in our lives.

Instead of worrying about a demon behind every corner and whether or not our neighbor exhibits sings of demonic possession, we should be filling our minds with Jesus, focusing our minds on Christ and Him crucified, and praising Him for the victory He has won on the cross over all the principalities and powers. One book that has really helped me see that it is unhealthy (and dangerous) to focus on satanic influences is Overrun by Demons by Ice and Dean.

When I was a pastor, a woman in my church once asked me to cast the demons out of her car. She said that her car usually ran fine, but that her car would often not start very well, especially on Sunday mornings when she was trying to get to church. As a result, she felt her car had a demon, and she wanted me to exorcise it. I refused, and told her that a mechanic would do just fine.

It is a true story, but this is the way some people think about demons and the spiritual realm. They see a demon under every rock and Satan behind every bad thing that happens in our life. But this is given the demonic realm too much credit.

Don’t spend your life running around scared by the devil. He wants you to be scared of him, but as a believer in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit indwelling your life, he has no more power over you than he has over God Himself. Is God scared of the devil? Of course not! So you don’t need to be either.

Also, if you are looking for signs of demonic possession in the lives of others, please stop. Those who fill their lives looking for these kinds of things are sure to find them, and when you do, it will either fill you with a smug satisfaction about how that coworker you dislike is so evil because she is possessed by a demon, OR it will fill you with terror, dread, and a sense of hopelessness because you fear that someone you love is possessed by a demon and there is not much you can do about it. Either way, you are not viewing that other person the way God views them through the lens of Jesus Christ.

So don’t look for signs of demonic possession. Instead, look for signs of God at work in the lives of others. Look for glimpses of glory shining through. Look for evidence of grace, mercy, and hope. Look for healing, redemption, and forgiveness. As we look for these signs in the lives of others, we will inspire them to live in these ways, and in so doing, expand the rule and reign of God on earth.

What do you think? Are there clear signs of demonic possession? If so, what are they? Should these be things we focus on in life, or, as I suggest above, should we instead focus on Christ and Him crucified?

Can a Christian Be Demon-Possessed?

By Jeremy Myers

34 Comments

A reader recently sent in the following question:

Can a Christian be demon-possessed? And do Christians have the authority to say someone is demon-possessed? The Bible says to discern the spirits, but what if you’re wrong and say something is from the devil, but it is actually from God?

There are three questions here, each one requiring a careful answer. So let’s take each questions one at a time over the next three blog posts… When they are done, I will include links to all three at the bottom of each post.

So let’s tackle the first question in this post:

Can a Christian be Demon-Possessed?

I do not think a Christian can be demon-possessed.

Christians cannot be demon-possessed because we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

There is a whole lot of theology behind the nature and origin of demons (I do not think demons are fallen angels), but the main thing to remember is that they are unclean spirits. Demons are unholy spirits or evil spirits.

When a person believes in Jesus for eternal life, they are immediately regenerated, indwelt, baptized, and sealed by the Holy Spirit. Believers are the dwelling place of God. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19).

Since God dwells in us, I do not think that God is going to share His dwelling place with an evil spirit.

For the Holy Spirit to share His dwelling place with an evil spirit, or to get replaced by the evil spirit, would imply that the evil spirit was more powerful than God. We know this cannot be true, for greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4).

There are numerous other Scriptures which help answer the question of whether or not a Christian can be demon-possessed (cf. Col 1:13; 1 John 2:13; 2 Cor 6:15-16). One resource I found online which does a pretty good job showing this is an article by Don Stewart called “Can a Christian be Demon-Possessed?” He summarizes his article this way:

Scripture does not teach that a Christian can be possessed by a demon. The believer is “in Christ,”- one of His. Every example in the Bible of a person being demon-possessed concerns an unbeliever – there are no examples of believers being possessed. Furthermore, we must be careful not to rely on stories of believers and demon-possession – many other explanations are possible. The Christian, who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, need not fear demon possession. Yet, demons do attack believers in various ways. Therefore, it would be wrong to say that they cannot have any affect on the Christian

So can a Christian be demon possessed? I say no.

However…

[Read more…]

God Sometimes Withdraws Protection

By Jeremy Myers

35 Comments

Frequently, due to sin, rebellion, and the other factors, God simply withdraws His protective hand and allows sin, Satan, and chaos to have their way.

Everything we have seen in the Chaos Theory leads up to this final point. God has incarnated Himself into the world in such a way that He gives away aspects of true freedom and power to His creatures to do with it what they will. But when we misuse this freedom and power, God does not (indeed cannot) simply stop the ways we abuse our freedom and power, for then it would no longer be genuine freedom or power.

As a result of our rebellious decisions and misuse of power, nature flies out of control and creates chaos all around us. Satan, who is at war with God and His creation, seeks to destroy anything that comes from God or aligns itself with God. And wherever sin is found, it eats away at everything it touches. Through His incarnation and by His infinite wisdom and foreknowledge, God slows the death and decay down, and rescues those who are perishing in sin and destruction, but frequently, due the nature of sin, the consequences of abused freedom, and the misuse of power, God cannot stop the natural results of rebellion. When this happens, nature falls into chaos, the destroyer destroys, and sin brings death.

When humans persist in sin despite God’s frequent attempts to call them toward obedience and to warn them of what will happen if they continue down the path they are on, there comes a point where sometimes, God simply withdraws His hand of protection and allows people to suffer the consequences for their sin, for chaos to reign, and for Satan to bring death and destruction. I have put this principle last because I think that this element of the Chaos Theory is the last resort for God.

When bad things happen to us in life, we should not be too quick to believe that God has withdrawn His hand of protection, but instead, should go first consider some of the other elements of the Chaos Theory as possible explanations for what has happened to us. So also with some of the terrible events in Scripture. We must not be too quick to say that God has withdrawn His protection from a certain person or place so that sin, death, and the devil can have their way.

[Read more…]

4 Reasons Sin is Better than Legalism

Legalism is the Worst Kind of Sin

Legalism is of the Devil

Legalists are Far from the Kingdom

Legalists Are Blind

God Cannot Look Upon Sin?

God Cannot Look Upon Sin (Habakkuk 1:13)?

God Can Be in the Presence of Sin

What are the Signs of Demonic Possession?

What are the signs of demonic possession?

Can a Christian determine if someone is Demon-Possessed?

Don’t Focus on Signs of Demonic Possession

Can a Christian Be Demon-Possessed?

Can a Christian be Demon-Possessed?

However…

God Sometimes Withdraws Protection

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