Rod Bell and satan

The more famous “Red Letter Christians” making the Christian News seem to have one thing in common. And it's not good. I'll use Rob Bell as my example but they all share a similar outlook – with satan -

satan speaks three times:

. Did God really say?

. You will not surely die

. You will be like God

Rob Bell et al. speak three times:

. Did God really say?

. You will not surely die

. You will be with God 

Clever? You bet!

In Luke 9:46 “An argument started among the disciples about which of them would be the greatest.”

Gee, I wonder who would tempt someone in that direction?

satan uses the same characteristics that brought about his own downfall to wreak havoc in our lives as well. Pride and striving, two things that set satan against his Creator sets us against our Creator and against each other.

President Reagan had a sign on his desk that said, “There is no limit to how high and how far a person might go, as long as he doesn’t care who gets the credit.”

satan, and those who follow his lead strive for credit and applause. Sadly, those in the Church are not immune from this tendency. What led to satan's downfall will destroy us as well, unless we cease our striving and allow God to be in control.

That is after all what it means to be humble. “God opposes the proud but gives His grace to the humble.”

C.O.Y.O.T.E.

I don't know if it still exists, but there used to be an organization, in Nevada, I think it was, made up of prostitutes and those who use and abuse them called C.O.Y.O.T.E.

It's an acronym that stands for, “Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics.”

Yep, that's what we need. Those who sell their bodies for cash and drugs defining the moral parameters of society.

It's nothing new of course. In the book of Psalms we read:

“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, "Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.”

Psalms 2:1-3

Every soul who has rejected God's Truth feels imprisoned, constrained, tied down by the prison they have constructed for themselves. 

They are slaves of satan in every sense of the word. 

In bondage to sin. 

Incapable of freeing themselves. 

Because these people are so dull of mind and slow of thought (sin makes us stupid), they actually believe that true freedom is to be found in a total rejection of their Creator.

That's why there is such a rage mounting against Christians and the teachings of Jesus around the world. It hasn't reached a critical mass of opposition – yet – but it's coming.

The stakes are enormous. There is only one force standing between what human nature wants and what it feels it's forced to accept. And that force is Jesus and those who follow His teaching.

Only Jesus keeps the powerful from completely obliterating the weak.

Only Jesus keeps the law from descending into anarchy.

Only Jesus stands in opposition to those who long for an atheistic world power.

As history winds down and as Jesus slowly but surely withdraws His hand of protection, those who oppose God and everything to do with God are going to get exactly what they want – an eternity without any influence of God.

satan’s hatred for Israel

I’ve long wondered if God loves Israel because it is the most persecuted people on earth. Or, are the Jewish people the most persecuted people on earth because God loves them.

Ever since coming into existence 4,000 years ago, hatred for Jews has caused nation after nation to attempt the destruction and annihilation of the Jewish people. While satan hates all of us, his hatred for the Jewish people knows no bounds.

It appears as though satan believes that if he destroys the Jewish people, he could somehow prevent his own destruction. After all, the Saviour of the world was to come through the Jewish people. To that end, satan has used everyone, including Christians in his plan to destroy the Jewish people. Irenaeus, Tertullian, Eusebius, Origin, Augustine, Ambrose of Milan, and of course Martin Luther all allowed theirs and all humanity’s inherent tendency toward hatred to be brought to bear against the Jewish people.

Of course anti-Semitism has existed from the days of Abraham.

How has satan gone about his plan to rid the world of a Saviour?

He incited Pharaoh to order the death of all Jewish newborn males.

He incited Egypt, Amaliekites, Amorites, Philistines, Canaanites, Midianites, Ammonites, Babylonians, and the Romans to destroy the Israelites.

He incited Herod to kill males born within a two year period of Jesus

It seems as though satan has always been left guessing as to God’s plan. Perhaps even to the true identity of this Saviour. “IF you are the Son of God . . .” was the frequent phrase during the temptation of Jesus. Through storms on the Sea of Galalie and attempts to kill Him through angry mobs, satan tried to eliminate Jesus before God’s plan could be carried out. Finally, at the crucifixion, satan thought he’d won, but God “made a spectacle of satan and his demon hoard” through Christ’s resurrection.

Not satisfied, in 70AD, satan incited Rome to kill 1.1 million Jews and brought into slavery another 97,000. In about 135 AD Rome killed another 500,000 Jews. Scattered throughout the world satan incited those operating under the banner of Christ Himself in the Spanish Inquisition, the pogroms in Russia and of course Hitler’s attempts to wipe out the Jewish people once and for all time. satan’s greatest effort will come in the near future in what is going to be called The Great Tribulation. At that time, two-thirds of the Jewish population will be killed along with one third of the rest of humanity. This last attempt, like all those before will end in failure for satan, while at the same time bringing greater and greater numbers of Gentiles and Jews into the Kingdom of God. 

I Drove Right By

Have you ever done that? Before the days of GPS, at least a couple times I’ve been driving along, looking for a certain business and had to turn back because I drove right by the place. The sign was large. The claim,“You can’t miss it,” had it been made, would have been true. 

But miss it I did.

It's the same with the fact that, “The glory of God is us fully alive.”

It’s a message that's written all through Scripture.

How do we miss it?

Reality is, we’ve had help. We've been purposely distracted. Like kids fighting in the back seat, our concentration has been divided. In the same manner when we read the Bible satan is there to distract us. his main task in life is to block us from finding life.

. God offers to make us fully alive.

. satan has come to steal, kill and destroy, to maim and mangle and cripple.

It's takes steely concentration to grasp the former and avoid the latter.

Have you ever heard of original sin? Of course you have. The problem with that concept is that before sin there was original glory. Before hate, love was here first.

Jesus didn’t come to earth to bring us to glory.

Jesus came to restore us to glory.

Jesus came to take our shame and bring us safely home to the greatest love in the universe.

Don’t miss this opportunity. You may not get the chance to turn around and try again. 

The Warrior Jesus

Gentle Jesus

Peaceful Jesus

Jesus was all about love

Those are familiar terms, more familiar than “warrior” Jesus. Yet, at least for this stage of history, Jesus is more of a warrior than anything else. 

Although it's nothing like anyone will see when Jesus returns with undiluted wrath poured out against evil and those who have deliberately sided with evil.

For now, earth is enemy territory. It’s satan’s turf and the very coming to earth of God in the form of Jesus was the establishing of a beachhead deep, deep in enemy territory. From the time that He was born, Jesus encountered battle after battle. 

Atheists of course note how violent the Bible is, especially the Old Testament - actually only the Old Testament. In fact, Jesus uses the violence of humans toward one another to turn away from Him those destined for hell.

“One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in the universe - a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death and disease, and sin. The difference is that Christianity thinks this Dark Power was created by God, and was good when he was created, and went wrong. Christianity agrees. This universe is at war.”

former atheist, C. S. Lewis - Mere Christianity

Like Jesus, we too have been born into the midst of battle. There is no sitting on the fence. “Those who are not for Me are against Me,” said Jesus. There is no neutrality. You’re making a choice of sides even as you read this. Since that is the case, you may as well know, the Winner has already been decided. 

Let’s Get to the Heart of Matters

“You are never a great man when you have more mind than heart.” 

Beauchene

Atheists of course place a great deal of emphasis on the mind. They practically worship the mind. The heart, however is central to the message of the Bible for the heart is central to we, who He created.

The heart, as the Bible uses the term is the essence of human nature.

The heart is the main target of our mortal enemy, satan.

God longs for us to look within to where He resides.

satan schemes for ways to get us to look outward to looks and possessions and jobs, all the things that will never last nor will they ever bring life.

The heart is the prize to be protected at all cost. When we look at the lengths that our Creator went to protect our heart from eternal destruction, can we doubt its value or import?

“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” 

Deuteronomy 6:5

“All a person’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.” 

Proverbs 21:2

“The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 

1^st Samuel 16:7

“For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” 

2^nd Chronicles16:9

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

“Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.” 

Psalm 119:1

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 

Luke 12:34

“Create in me a clean heart oh God.” 

Psalm 51:10
Who we are and even more importantly, Whose we are is the heart of the matter.

People often wonder why there is some much wrong going on in the world.

Wrong things happen actually because things are wrong really. 

One of the dangers is to accept disaster as God’s appointment, as part of His design. 

It is not God’s design, but His permissive will. God’s order is: no sin, no satan, no sickness, no limitations.

The unaided intellect of man recognises this and says, “I will declare that sin and evil and redemption and Jesus Christ have never existed. I will conduct my life on rational lines.”

Then comes the permissive will of God: sin, satan, difficulty, wrong, and evil.

Just Agree With Him

satan loves to accuse us, day and night.
You’re no Christian. Look at how you lie.
You’re no Christian. I doubt that you’re even saved.
You’re no Christian. Look at how weak your faith is.
You’re no Christian. You wish you were just as rich as the guy next door.
You’re no Christian. You’re thinking what she’d look like in just her underwear.
You’re unworthy to call yoursel . . .

Shut-up you little schmuck. That’s right. I’m unworthy. I’m unworthy today. I’ll be unworthy tomorrow. And I was unworthy when Jesus died to pay the penalty for all the sins that you keep yapping about. You say I’m weak in faith. Well, guess what? You’re right. I’m prone to wander. I’m prone to fail. But God gave me enough faith to trust Jesus for my salvation and that makes me a winner and you a loser.

Sold Into Slavery

The Bible tells us that we were born into slavery to satan. Jesus redeemed us. At a price born by Himself, Jesus freed us from the power of sin, only to take ownership of us Himself. In fact, it was God who gave us to Jesus as a gift. And what a wonderful thing that was. That type of redemption has provided for us life eternal in the presence of purity and perfection. Adopted into the family of Creator God, we have been given everything that the soul could ever want.

How should a person react to a gift like that?

Love doesn’t half describe it, yet Jesus says, “The one who loves Me is the one who obeys Me.”

. A servant who is loved and who loves h/her owner in return, when tempted to betray that owner must surely say, “I can’t do that to my Master. He saved my soul.”

. If the chance to gain wealth by dishonesty, one redeemed by Jesus must turn away.

. When tempted by sorrow or trials, Jesus’ brother or sister need not fear but instead we take hold of His hand a wade into the thick of it.

. When those around us let others do God’s work, we who know what it’s like to be lost must with joy pick up the slack. “Jesus gave His all for me. How can I do any less for Him?”

. When lusts of any kind turn my head, as a servant I will set my face like a flint and with my eyes on the prize I will finish the race, I will fight the good fight, I will remain faithful.

Is That A Christian Song?

We were driving down the road with the radio on. My son listened for a bit and asked, “Is that a Christian song?”

It was a secular station so I replied, “I doubt it.”

He listened a bit more, heard the word “life” and said, “Yep, he said life. It’s a Christian song.”

My son missed the part about the singers wife leaving him and his “life” stinks, but my son heard the word life and he knows that Jesus is intimately connected with life.

For anyone who’s listened to both Christian and secular music, the difference couldn’t be more clear. Both cultures sing about what we know.

Secular:
Hurt
Rejection
Overdose
Suicide
Sex
Violence
Violent Sex
Women’s bodies
Cheating and being cheated on
Satan / Devil
Money and being rich
Fast Cars
Looks
Dancing
Drinking Booze
Doing Drugs

Christian:
Love
Joy
Peace
Faithfulness
Forgiveness
Jesus
Rescue
Beauty of life
New Life

Secular and Christian songs both talk about love, but there too the difference is stark.

Secular love:
I can live without you
Obsessive
Possessive
Needy, Needy, Needy
Desperate
Clinging
Violent
Dangerous
Or even anti-love

Christian:
Freedom giving
Uplifting
Joyous
Generous
Forgiving
Faithful
Honest

Call Me Names

Hugo the atheist says I’m a bigot.

Hmm. What should I do?

What should I do if Hugo calls me a hypocrite?

What should I do if Hugo says that I’m:
A Liar
Dishonest
Mean
Violent
Selfish
Obnoxious
and any other character defect he can think of?

Should I say he’s wrong?

How can I, for he’s not wrong?

I’m all those things and more. In fact, to varying degrees, every human on the planet is a hypocrite, a bigot, a liar, selfish, self-obsessed and so on.

This of course poses a problem for those atheists who, on the one hand claim to be good and therefore not in need of any Saviour God. On the other hand, recognising that being “good” implies honesty, they’re forced to admit that they do wrong things. Therefore they must admit that they are only “good” in comparison to those who are far worse, and they are in fact not at all good in comparison to those who are much better. Lying to oneself to avoid recognising these inner contradictions makes being an atheist very difficult indeed.

While I’m only a tiny fraction of those negative characteristics compared to before Jesus came into my life, I’ll be those things to some degree until the day I die. And then, unlike Hugo who will stay the same on into eternity, I’ll be transformed completely.

I have no reason to deny my earthly reality.

Let satan and all his friends criticise and even defame me for the rest of their lives.

Messiah Jesus came to die for sinners such as me (Romans 5:8).

I’m a sinner.
He’s my Saviour.
Since I’m not an atheist I have no need to deny who I really am.

1,000 Years

For decades I’ve read about the part in John’s Revelation where after a period of 1,000 years of peace and justice, satan will be released for a “little while.” (Revelation 20).

What’s up with that? God brings total peace and justice to earth and then allows it to all fall apart? - Again!

I think I finally get it. Adam and Eve had a perfect Father. They had a perfect home environment. There was nothing lacking in their lives. After the fall there was nothing and no one for them to blame for choosing to bring the influence of evil into the universe. Nevertheless, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed satan, and both of them (as do present-day atheists) insinuated that what they did was God’s fault. Ever since then, people have been blaming everyone and everything (except ourselves) for the horrors that we inflict upon each other. The current fad, led by atheists the world over, is to blame religion for the world’s ills. “We aren’t the problem,” they say. “It’s not our destruction loving nature that turns everything we touch into crap, including religion. No. It’s religion’s fault!”

Two famous atheists, Marx and Engels put it bluntly, “Abolish all religion and all morality.”

Wilfully ignoring our own sinful nature causes people to believe that eternal banishment to hell is tremendously unfair. “How dare God inflict such a horrific consequence for the simple sin of rebellion against one’s Creator?”

Ya, right. The SIMPLE sin of choosing evil over Love.

When Jesus returns for a thousand year reign, the basis for that idea is going to be removed. We are going to see that there is no one to blame save our own evil nature for the savagery and pain and betrayal and rebellion that we find so common among ourselves. For 1,000 years there is going to be peace and perfect justice. Just as it was before Adam and Eve made their fateful decision. For 1,000 years the power and influence of evil is going to be held at bay. Security and abundance will be available for all - for those who honour God and for those who don't.

And then, after 1,000 years of nothing but good, after 10 centuries (if this is a literal time-frame) of no one lacking for anything, the power and influence of sin will once again be allowed into our midst.

Why?

I think this is the point. If you look at James 1:13-15 you’ll see that there was nothing in Jesus to which satan could make his appeal. Jesus was tempted - it’s true - but there was nothing in Him that would find evil attractive enough to make Him give in to that temptation. For us, it’s completely different. Atheists would like us to believe that we are born good, but that is simply not the case. Like iron filings being drawn to a magnet, the evil that is in us from conception is drawn to the evil influence that is present in the world. Remove one or the other (the evil in us, or the evil influence in the world) and peace and justice CAN exist. For 1,000 years the influence of evil (satan’s “power to deceive the nations” Rev. 20:3) will be removed from earth. Without the evil influence in our world tempting us, our predisposition to evil will be “switched off” so to speak and we will actually accept goodness and justice. After 1,000 years, however, evil is going to be allowed once more to enter the scene. Our evil nature will come back to life and we will know that it truly is evil that we love; that we truly do love evil more than good.

When satan’s power to deceive the nations re enters the mix, sin loving men and women will turn with a vengeance on the One who provided them with everything they ever needed. This shows that even without evil being allowed to exercise its power to deceive us, OUR resident evil nature lies dormant, ready and waiting for something to attach itself to. The stench of our spiritual rot to which satan makes his appeal will be out for all to see.

God’s justice and wrath toward evil and toward those who love evil (those who have wilfully chosen to not allow God to remove this curse through faith in Jesus) will be incontestable. The consequence of hell will be seen as totally appropriate for those who would rebel against their Creator.

“Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are His judgments." Revelation 16:6; 19:1,2

Who Defines You?

We allow satan to define who we are. We give him permission to inhabit areas of our lives that he has no business entering. So, since we're out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we're free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom! Romans 6:16-18

If Jesus has set you free. Live like it!

Freewill Rejection of God

I just read - again - how some atheist is worried that those in heaven will use their freewill to reject God.

Ya - that’s likely.

If I’ve rejected satan’s temptations while here on earth, why would I suddenly accept those lies as worthy of my time once I’m in heaven? How stupid would someone have to be to do that?

“Oh, but it happened once before,” the atheist says. “What’s to keep it from happening again?”

Happened before? Ah, you mean when satan wanted to “be” God? When satan wanted to be the master of his fate and the captain of his soul? Listen, it’s satan and atheists who want to usurp the role of God - no one but satan and those who follow him want to take away from God His place of Lord, Master, Saviour.

I assure you, no one in heaven is going to look at those in hell, “whose smoke from their torment rises forever and ever,” and say, “I think I’m going to go over there.”

Now, there will be people who desperately and fruitlessly try to change their minds but I assure you, it won’t be those who are in heaven.

What’s Driving You? (3)

Most have heard the phrase, “He’s so heavenly minded, he’s of no earthly good.” So rare is someone like that, that I’ve not met even one. Not in my whole life. In fact, it’s been my experience that the more heavenly minded a person has been, the more crucial they’ve found it to be focussed on the needs of earth. Let me give you an example.

On the weekend Wendy and I attended a workshop on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. That’s a long term to describe the brain damage that occurs to the pre born child when the woman drinks alcohol while pregnant. Six of our seven adopted children have been affected by this tragedy. Hundreds of parents and grandparents were at this conference. Most were, like us, people who had adopted children with FASD. Some were mothers who too late realised that they had damaged their children by drinking while pregnant. Virtually all were people who loved the Lord; we were a huge room filled with heavenly minded people. All who spoke at some point during the weekend gave God’s love for them as the reason for sharing their love with disabled children. There were three characteristics of these heavenly minded people that stood out at this conference:
Love;
Joy;
Peace.


This post has to do with Peace:
Fetal Alcohol brain damage is devastating. There is no treatment, no recovery, no cure, no growing out of it. This is organic brain damage that alters a person’s ability to cope on so many levels. One of the greatest areas of damage is the inability or diminished ability to learn from mistakes. It’s been estimated that 75-80% of our prison population is made up of people with Fetal Alcohol Brain Damage.

Caring for these children - and they remain children despite their chronological age (eg. Our 33-year-old daughter behaves like a 14-year-old and that is who she will always be) is a challenge to say the least. Yet to listen to the parents at this conference there was an all pervading sense of peace that was heard throughout the weekend. My own comment was that, “I have peace because I trust in God, not a theoretical trust but in reality.”

“Those who trust in the Lord are like Mt. Zion; unmoved by any circumstance.”

God has rescued all of these children from homes where drug addiction, neglect, physical and emotional abuse were the norm. He is not going to do that and then just leave them hanging. I’ll preempt atheists right here who will say, “But He didn’t rescue them from FASD did He?” You have to understand, this kind of comment comes from people who cannot envision “good” unless it is absent pain, suffering and loss. Hyper allergic to pain, atheists cannot see any good in anything unless it comes packaged in pleasure. We, and not God invited evil into the universe. Rather than making Himself absent from the consequences of our decision, rather than remaining aloof to suffering, God took His own medicine. He came into this world to use suffering for a much, much greater good. In fact, our Creator has used evil itself to bring about its own defeat - not its destruction but its defeat.

“Will not God, who did not spare His own Son, also give us everything that we need?”

We can release our loved ones to His care knowing without doubt that He has their best interests in mind. We can have peace knowing that we can love without needing to be loved in return. We can give of our time, our money, our emotions, our selves not needing a reciprocation of those efforts on the part of those to whom we are showing love.

“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are fixed on You oh Lord.”

satan roams around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. And what does a lion look for? For the weak, the lame, the damaged. There are few more vulnerable to evil attack than children damaged by their mother’s alcohol use. Our children’s lives are precarious at best. Many fall and fall hard and yet the parents that we met had about them a peace, an ease of life, a joy and a love that truly is supernatural. That is why we can abide by these words, “Do not be anxious about anything (be at peace) but in everything, by prayer and petition and with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and if you do this, the peace of God which is beyond human comprehension will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

The workshop that we attended had become a community of people who were able to experience peace in the fullest sense of the word. This, not of our own ability or will but peace as a gift of Creator God.

Extravagant Love!

This series that began more than two months ago gives real life examples of where our Creator shows us how to love extravagantly.

In like manner we are told to give our lives away, to die to self.

The example of Jesus of Nazareth, our Creator, is to love extravagantly.

Our last trip to the lake this summer made a profound impact on our kids. The grandeur of Creation hit home. The knowledge that they are not a bit player but a chosen and important character in this story made them sit up and take note (Ephesians 2:10). They have a significant part to play, and they know it. They have a significant part to play because God has chosen that for them. They are loved by the greatest love in the universe and they have a duty to give that love away.

Creator God, not satan, but Creator God defines who you are. As His child, as an heir to the riches of His glory, you are destined for glory, both now and for eternity. Those who know this in the core of their being are those who are able to love extravagantly.

satan knows the damage you will create for him if you love extravagantly and it terrifies him. he will do everything he can to destroy your effectiveness in life.

“Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.” From Paul’s letter to the Ephesian Christians - 4:31,32

Nahum 1:7 - The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.

THIS is love!

“Extreme Ways”

No, not by Moby - Jesus.

When christian marriages crash, the scenario almost always follows a similar path to the temptation of Christ.

Both partners are led into the desert - deep into the desert.
Harsh nights.
Danger lurking.
The Fasting turns to a starvation for love that seems to never end.

Unlike Jesus who turned to the Word for direction, people in failing marriages turn FROM His Word. Assuming their problems are God’s fault (Isn’t He supposed to protect us?), they try their own wisdom only to find their problems get even worse.

And then it happens -
satan makes his offer:
Let me provide for you.
Let me give you what you need.
Follow my direction (worship me) and I’ll give you everything you’ve ever wanted.

Too late do we say to God, in the words of a Buddy and Julie Miller song,
“You can have my heart if you don’t mind broken things.”

Imagine the Outrage!

What must it be like to be satan, a Being filled with rage and the all consuming desire to steal, kill and destroy, to realise that even as he kills the human shell that held God the Son, he was all along serving God’s plan of redemption.

That is what it’s like to be the biggest loser in the universe.

Shooting into your own basket.

Firing a shot into your own goal.

Passing to the opposing player.

Lining up at the wrong starting blocks.

Running into the wrong end-zone.

Over and over and over again, satan’s screw-ups are legendary. Every time he tried to outwit his Creator, foil his Creator’s plans, disrupt what his Creator was trying to accomplish, satan wound up helping Creator God carry out His plan to defeat evil. Examples?

he tried to use Sara’s inability to bear a child to cause dissension in the family. Instead she was a model of God’s mercy.

he tried to disqualify Moses from leadership by stirring up Moses’ anger. Instead, Moses went into 40 years of training.

he led Daniel into slavery and wound up watching him attain the power of royalty.

he oppressed the Israelites in Egypt only to watch God use them to punish Egypt.

he tried to impress upon God, Job’s misplaced faith and instead helped to create perhaps the greatest theological work ever written on suffering and God’s sovereignty.

he imprisoned Paul only to help Him spread Christianity throughout the known world.

he used fear to embarrass Peter out of discipleship and instead Peter became the head of the Church.

he used soldiers to crucify God and instead provided the means of salvation for billions.

Pass, satan, pass! Ooops sorry. Wrong team. Pfft!

This is the guy who wanted to rule heaven and instead is condemned to an eternity in hell.

The king of fools followed only by fools.

Like atheists, denying God while the whole time serving His purposes; mocking the Bible while all the time fulfilling It's prophecies.

satan - he began as a servant of God, he will always be a servant of God.

satan on his knees begging God’s permission to do anything at all.

satan, totally and completely powerless except in what God allows him to do.

The only things dumber than satan are those who follow him.

It’s Impossible

Have you noticed that it’s impossible to hurt those who love you without hurting yourself even more?

satan is the archetype of this dilemma. his hatred of his Creator has sealed his fate, as is the case for all those who follow his lead.