THE RETURN OF SATAN

 

 

Admittedly, this title isn’t exactly accurate since Satan has never departed. Instead, the entire world is under his sway:

·       We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:19–20 (ESV)

 

But Satan’s control will grow:

 

·       “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24)

It seems that even now Satan is strengthening his deceptive grip. We see this in world affirms, the fall of great civilizations, the dimming of Light of Christ, and most clearly among those dabbling in the demonic world. In wiccan groups, I have even read that Satan/Lucifer has received a bad rap, claiming that even if he is not all “good,” he is both useful and reflects the diversity of life, as he should.

 

In light of these satanic advances, I think that it is imperative that we re-focus on the Biblical teachings about Satan lest we be deceived. Nowhere does the Bible give us the slightest endorsement of the Satanic:

 

·       “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this. (Deuteronomy 18:9–14; Leviticus 19:31)

Because Israel violated these commands, they were eventually destroyed (2 Kings 17:6-18). We too are destroyed when we engage in these practices. If we want wisdom, we must turn to the Lord alone and not to demons:

·       And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness. (Isaiah 8:19–22)

 

Many think that their spirit guides are compassionate friends. They refuse to consider that demons are perhaps master deceivers. They need to be warned:

·       For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. (2 Corinthians 11:13–15)

 

One indication of demonic activity is their attempt to turn us away from the Biblical Faith. Wiccans are aware of “negative energies and spirits.” However, they are reluctant to call them “evil,” and will not recognize their threat:

 

·       Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

 

Wiccans continually counsel against doubts by encouraging self-trust: “You just have to trust in your intuitions.” Therefore, they are defenseless against the deceptions of the demonic world:

 

·       Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. (1 Timothy 4:1)

 

Wicca has become fantastically popular, especially among young females, who experience Wicca as empowerment and a way to enhance their self-esteem. You might not be aware of their growing numbers because they generally keep their faith and practice hidden.

 

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AN EX-WITCH’S TESTIMONY:

“I grew up in a good home kinda chaotic until I was 7 that’s when my parents divorced. I had a brother a sister. I was left home alone a lot and started heading down destructive paths including satanic music, drugs, promiscuity, witchcraft movies, older friends and not having a lot of parental supervision.

 

I was introduced to witchcraft at a young age as well and later on I would come to know who Jesus is. My sister took her own life and that’s when things took a turn for the worst for me. I ended up seeking to be numb the pain and getting addicted to drugs. Which led down horrible paths. After getting clean I started looking to find mediums because I deeply craved contact with my sister. I ended up becoming a medium and starting into new age as well as psychic. I also sold crystals and knew all about crystals so called healing properties. That’s all lies I found out later. Only one can protect and heal from demons, Jesus Christ. When one day I noticed there was def evil presence around me. So I turned to Jesus Christ for help. And that’s when all hell hit the fan. I started getting horribly attacked by demons. I mean this has been completely hell on earth. I endure physical pain emotional pain and mental pain. I’m warning everyone that I can to please not do drugs or start into witchcraft, new age , yoga, tarot, psychic, crystals, chakras, and any thing that isn’t Jesus Christ! This has changed my entire life and I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. I have to hear demons. They press on my chest. They torment my mind with lies. They literally won’t stop talking ever. Some days I get no sleep at all. I get sexually molested by them. And much much more painful things. But the walk I have had with Jesus Christ has been awesome I now am walking with Him daily and yes I still have to battle with the enemy whom constantly is trying to pull me away and stop my walk with the Lord. But I have God on my side. He has shown me love and understanding. And I love Him the great I AM! So this is more of my warning to anyone one who things the spirit realm is anything to mess with. It’s a huge deal! You open that door to the enemy and he will take you to a new level of despair and pain. Demons are horrible they want to steal kill and destroy us. And anything that is not of the Lord Adonai is of the devil. And communication with the dead is against the word of God. And we should never ever think that we can talk to a dead loved one. That’s a plot of the enemy to get a human to interact with a demonic spirit so we open the door to communication and that opens doors to torment and hell.”

TWISTING SCRIPTURES TO FIT INTO OUR IDEOLOGY

 

 

It is easy to twist the Scriptures into whatever you want if you are willing to ignore the context. This is exactly what Evangelical Universalists (EUs) do.

EUs believe that everyone will eventually be saved, even though hundreds of verses claim otherwise, for example:

·       Matthew 25:46 “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

 

·       John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not (“never” ESV) see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

 

·       1 Corinthians 6:9–10 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

 

·       Galatians 5:21 I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

·       Ephesians 5:5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

 

How then do the EUs defend their claim? Let’s look at one example:

 

·       and through him [Jesus] to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. ²¹And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²²he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, ²³if indeed you continue in the faith… (Colossians 1:20–23 (ESV)

At first glance, it seems that Jesus will “reconcile to Himself all things,” saving everyone. However, if we look down to verse 23, there is a condition for salvation: If we “continue in the faith.” This proviso nullifies the EU’s claim that all will be saved. Instead, this promise of reconciliation pertain only to those who continue in the faith to the end.

 

Afterwards, Paul wrote that “Christ is all, and in all.” Does that mean that, eventually, He will savingly indwell everyone? This verse itself banishes this possibility:

·       Here [in Christ?] there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all [in His kingdom?].
(Colossians 3:11)

This verse is used to “prove” that all people are indwelt by Christ. Instead, Paul taught that if we are in Christ, He is in us! The entire chapter addresses only those who have receive Christ, rather than extending hope to those who reject Him.

 

Any interpretation is possible if you are willing to ignore the context, especially if your ideology has become fantastically popular and culturally attractive.

NOW THAT IT IS OVER

 

 

Joe Biden is now our 46^th president. All legal means to investigate the vote have been exhausted. Where do we go from here?

 

Many of us remain convinced that the election had been stolen. How do we move beyond what seems to have been a tsunami of hypocrisy and injustice? The Jewish exiles had been confronted with far worse. They had been taken into exile from their homeland for the final time after the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar had utterly destroyed their land. They had been stripped naked to humiliate them, their babies had been taken from them and smashed against the rocks, and they were march to march to Babylon.

 

What would they do once they arrived at their hated destination? Revolt? Passively resist? Fight a guerilla war? The question was answered for them by the Lord:

 

·       These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon…“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:1, 4–7)

 

To apply this to the present, let us not be as the democrats and even many of the republican and vow, “He is not our president.” Instead, despite their losses and suffering, the Israelites had been instructed to “seek the welfare of the city,” which had destroyed them. Why? God explained, “for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

 

We are called to peace and to leave the matter of justice to our Lord:

·       Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:17–21)

 

Let us show the world that we are confident that our God will work even through these disappointing circumstances, and that He is our supreme treasure and not this world.

 

How then shall we live? Confidently:

 

·       Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake. (Philippians 1:27–29)

 

Trials have always accompanied the Church. We endure for a heavenly purpose. I pray that the Lord will give His Church the courage to boldly carry forth His Truths during these difficult times.