If God is love; then who is Satan?
Satan is the opposite of love.
He is everything that God is not.
PERHAPS SATAN IS JUST A “CONCEPT”
Oh; so maybe he isn’t real; just a “concept” of anything that isn’t godly?
Not at all!
He is as real as real can get.
Do you believe the scriptures?
Let’s look at a few of them that speak of Satan.
SATAN IS THE ORIGINATOR OF ALL SIN
We know that sin is anything or anyone who rebels against God or disobeys His commandments. It could be that sin actually originated with Satan instead of Adam and Eve (not letting them off the hook though.)
In the beginning there was an angelic being named Lucifer; created by God to be perfect in all his ways. He is spoken of in Ezekiel 28: 12-19: Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, thus says the Lord God: “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz and diamond, beryl, onyx and jasper, sapphire, emerald and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared.”
We know that he was intelligent and full of wisdom. He was beautiful, probably the most beautiful creature ever formed. He had supernatural powers. God even allowed Lucifer to have a certain amount of authority in His governing of Heaven. In Ezekiel 28:14 we read: You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
HE WAS THE FIRST TO BE GIVEN FREE-WILL
Like mankind later; Lucifer was given free-will. He was able to make his own decisions and choices.
Somewhere along the way Lucifer became very prideful of this perfect beauty that he possessed in his being. He took pride in his own powers; and he desired to become more powerful than God.
He even thought of himself as higher and better than God. That was and this still is Lucifer’s greatest sin – pride and self-worship. No one will ever be better than God. Lucifer was deceived by his own vanity and his admiration of his own splendor.
NO ONE CAN EVER BE BETTER THAN GOD
God judged Lucifer for these sins of pride and self-worship. We read about this in Isaiah 14:12-15: How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart; I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Yet you, shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.
The scriptures note that God threw Satan to the earth. This fact is verified straight from the mouth of Jesus in Luke 10:18 when Jesus is speaking with the seventy who He sent out and they have returned with great joy saying “even the demons are subject to Your name!”
Luke 10:18 “And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven.”
Though he was cast out; Lucifer still had access to Heaven. He could still approach the throne of God; but he no longer had any authority in God’s government, and he could no longer dwell in Heaven permanently as his home.
I suppose this not-so-strict and loose arrangement of him being allowed to come and go as he pleased was allowed just in case Lucifer ever decided to repent and seek God’s forgiveness.
Have you ever wondered what would have happened if that had come about?
EVERY SIN CAN BE FORGIVEN; BUT FIRST ONE HAS TO REPENT
EVERY SIN CAN BE FORGIVEN; but first one has to repent. Lucifer had too much pride for that. It never happened; he only grew worse and worse and more self-centered and more power-hungry than ever.
As time went on I suspect he probably added bitterness to those sins of pride and self-idolatry; and usually after bitterness comes hatred which usually turns into pure evil. The cycle of unrepented sin continues on and on and never ends well.
Sometimes the jealous sinner gets around to revenge. Satan couldn’t manage to govern the heavens anymore, so he decided to create his own form of government here on the earth. Many places in the scriptures lead us to believe that one-third of the angels fell with Satan in rebellion against God and these have become his demons.
CONTROLLING RULERS IN ORDER TO TRY TO RULE THE EARTH
It is also thought by some that Satan sometimes inhabited the bodies and/or controlled certain kings and rulers of the earth. This is pretty easy to see if you look back over history.
One mention of such a theory is given in the reading of that same passage found in Ezekiel which refers to the King of Tyre. The passage actually refers to a man with superhuman powers. This King of Tyre is thought by many to have been controlled and/or inhabited by Satan.
The Book of Isaiah also contains certain passages that refer to kings/rulers which Satan either dwelled in and/or controlled. The main king spoken of in the Isaiah passages is The King of Babylon.
It is a typical pattern in the bible to mention all the evil rulers, then follow with a dual reference to Satan. These satanic controlled rulers are typically called antichrist. There will be another antichrist that will come toward the end of the world as we know it. He will force the whole wide world to bow to him and try to control the earth. We know that all evil originates from Satan; and so it is logical that Satan has done and/or controlled many of the horrific atrocities of mankind through the centuries of time by using the front of a human ruler.
Another thing to consider is the fact that both the King of Tyre and the King of Babylon put themselves in the place of God and demanded that the people bow down and worship them. This was exactly as Satan had done right before God cast him out of Heaven.
KNOW THAT SATAN IS REAL
Satan is real; and he is out there prowling around like a roaring lion still looking for his next victim to deceive and use up. The Apostle Peter declares this in 1 Peter 5:8: Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
That is what Satan does; he uses people up until they are empty and tired and useless and willing to do anything; even put their souls into his hands.
He wants people to be too tired to be brave and courageous enough to follow God.
He loves men and women who are weak and controllable. That way he can snatch them right out of God’s Kingdom and increase the numbers of his rule. With him; it is all about the numbers, and he will stop at nothing to get there.
He has boldly and rebelliously declared “I will make myself like the Most High.
BE SURE THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL AT ALL TIMES
This attitude is the arrogant self-worship that caused God to banish him from ever living in Heaven again.
At that time God changed his name from Lucifer (morning star) to Satan (adversary.) The one who reigned with God became the enemy of God from that moment forward.
God is always in control. He is always looking out for His people’s best interest.
Satan can do nothing unless God allows it.
Yet; Satan wanders the earth accusing God’s people before God night and day. Just read the story of Job to get a very clear picture of this process in action. For some reason God allowed Satan to cause Job to suffer. If you are curious as to why; that just might be another good study to dig into.
God was in control then; and God is in control now.
The encouraging words of Jesus can be found in Luke 12:32: “Fear not little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.”
God is greater than Satan.
God is bigger than Halloween.
Do not be afraid just believe and trust in God. He will only allow Satan to go so far; as a matter of fact, God has declared there will be an end to Satan.
Following the second coming of Christ, Satan will be bound in a bottomless pit. He will remain there for 1,000 years as Christ rules and reigns on the earth and restores it from the havoc that Satan has caused for over all of the years that mankind has existed.
ANTICIPATE THE TIME OF PEACE THAT IS COMING
For 1,000 peaceful years the chaos that this evil, self-centered, spoiled-brat-ruler has caused will be gone; and there will be peace. It is a time that we all long for and anticipate with great pleasure.
At the end of that time Satan will be released for a short period of time; then caught again and thrown into an eternal fire that burns forever and ever.
One day the world will be free of this evil entity called Satan.
So now you know.
WHAT WILL YOU DO TO ACT ON THE KNOWLEDGE THAT GOD BRINGS TO YOU?
Hopefully, like me; you long for the day when this evil being is put away forever and peace and harmony is restored to the earth.
If that is so; (and the holy scriptures proclaim it) I would now have to ask the obvious question of why you would want your child to be dressed like Satan on Halloween?
Will you teach your children that Satan is evil and bad then turn around and buy them a costume that they can wear in order to look and act like him?
Really?
Have you thought about the hypocrisy and the implications of this?
Why would you want to bring MORE of the knowledge of this enemy of God into the world?
Why would you want to celebrate such a rebellious and hateful being?
Hasn’t there been enough?
Do we all not long to rid the world of him?
HOW COULD HALLOWEEN POSSIBLY CONTRIBUTE TO RIDDING THE WORLD OF EVIL?
How does Halloween contribute to riding the world of evil and bringing in the peace and harmony of God’s Kingdom?
Why on earth would we dress up in imaginative costumes of what we “think” Satan looks like?
You know our creative minds and imaginations are actually totally wrong about his appearance anyway. He isn’t a skinny man in a red suit wearing horns and carrying a pitch-fork. The scriptures tell us he is charming and deceiving in every way and that he will appear to us as an angel of light in order to deceive us.
Whether the costume is worn in correct or incorrect form though isn’t the point; why would anyone in their right mind want to pretend to be Satan; much less teach their children to do so?
A TRAP OF DECEPTION
Do you not realize that you please him when you do this; because you make it all that much easier for your innocent little children to be deceived. “After all” he will say to them; “have your parents actually told you that I am evil?”
Remember how he talked to Eve about God in the garden?
Sounds a bit familiar.
Do you really want to be a part of that?
I haven’t the time to go into the subject of demons and witchcraft and witches here. However; those subjects and Satan are the typical things that usually permeate our community celebrations of Halloween each year. A wise parent would look into a full definition of the truth and examine their conscience about how much their child should participate in such activities.
How would you feel about the possibility of your daughter growing up to be a witch?
Don’t laugh too hard. They DO really exist you know.
IN THE END; THESE THINGS ARE NOT MAKE BELIEVE JUST FOR FUN
Witches are not always just figments of our imaginations on Halloween. You would be shocked to know how many people you interact with day-in and day-out that are knowingly practicing and participating in magic and witchcraft.
The scripture has things to say about this; but that is a subject for another article.
I’m still amazed at a conversation I had with a devout believer a few years back and he told me that he was best friends with a witch. My ears perked up and I asked him the obvious question: “why?” He just smiled and said “Oh, she isn’t a BAD witch; she is one of the good ones.” This was a leader in the local church who was very heavily involved in the ministry. This was someone who everyone admired who was doing all sorts of wonderful things for The Kingdom of God; yet, he was deceived. He had never even considered what the scriptures have to say about ANY type of witchcraft.
I wanted to cry.
I hope my questions haunt you like Halloween.
Do you want your daughter to grow up to be a witch or your son to grow up to be a warlock?
Popular fictional stories and the constant bombardment of advertising and the shelves of our local markets have softened our reaction to such things.
Today witches and warlocks are being presented to us as wonderful and lovable characters. They are adored on the big screens and touted from the classrooms by the educators. We have lost sight of the concept of what these things really are and what they are all about.
YOUR CHILD IS TRUSTING YOU FOR THE PROPER GUIDANCE
I hope you consider the fact that you can present any idea to a child at a young and impressionable age and they will accept it because they trust you. Perhaps that is why so many young people living today consider Halloween to be one of the most popular and cherished holidays of our culture. They would NEVER think of ignoring it and hoping it goes away; mostly because their parents never taught them the truth. They grew up thinking all of the evil in this holiday was just a normal part of life. How sad is that?
How will things ever begin to change from that mold? It seems very important to our present culture that we pay attention to how we live in our homes and how we feed ourselves and how we spend our money; they get that because people have put emphasis on these things as if they really do matter and as if they really do make a difference.
What about the things we feed our minds and hearts and souls?
Do those things not matter?
YOU are their example to look up to.
What are you allowing in your home?
What are you letting your child’s intellect feed on?
For example; here is a little test you can try if you have children under twelve. Ask them if they know any spells and see how many they can repeat to you. You might be shocked to hear their answers.
Now it all seems just so simple and innocent and just “pretend” fun. They will grow up one day though. They may grow up to treatment for psychological damage because they stumbled into a path they did not need to go down. It all starts with pretend and play. You are their protector until they are old enough to come up with their own logic on such subjects. Do you want to destroy your child’s trust in you this way?
THE IRONY OF THIS HOLIDAY
The same people who will say you shouldn’t use alcohol in the name of “fun” will think it is perfectly alright to use costumes of Satan and witches and demons on Halloween.
The same people who would scorn you with furious anger if you gave their child a cupcake on a normal day; those who would forbid you from ever being around their child again because you gave them SUGAR; will personally take their children door-to-door and let them fill up their bags with sugary treats from the homes of perfect strangers year after year and think they have done something wonderful for their child. They will defend their actions as if they were good deeds that make them qualified for a scout badge, or mother-of-the-year.
Go figure.
A HISTORY LESSON IS ON THE WAY
I’ll leave you to ponder those spooky questions and possibilities and move on to the subject of the history of Halloween in our next article.
How did we all actually come to these traditional practices in the first place?
Perhaps we may see more answers to some of these puzzling questions if we just go back and look into the past a bit.
It may be a little frightening; but hey; it is that time of the year!