|
Things
You Must Know about Satan
“My people perish for a lack of knowledge.”
by Pastor John Hamel
“Be sober, be
vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh
about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom
resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are
accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” (1Peter 5:8-9)
Satan has no respect
of persons, cultures or Nations. The
scope of his dominion by use of unnatural powers over intelligent human
beings is universal.
As
recently as thirty years ago even
Full Gospel and Pentecostal people lived in fear of the very subject of Satan and demon
powers.
In
the early 1990's when I announced I was going to be teaching a
series on the Believer’s authority over Satan and demon powers, we
immediately lost
half of our congregation. They
literally ran in fear. Apparently they believed he would leave them alone if
they would leave him alone.
However, one cannot be released from
Satan’s grip if one does not understand his
strengths, his weaknesses, his deceptions and his attributes.
The
Body of Christ has learned much in recent
decades about Satan’s strengths
and weaknesses, but there is much more to learn. That process begins right
here.
Satan Is a Human-Hater and a God-Hater
“And the Lord God
said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above
all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou
go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15)
Here is the drill.
God put man in the Garden of Eden and told him to stay away from the Tree of
the Knowledge of Good and Evil or he would die spiritually.
To die spiritually means to become separated from God.
Satan came into the
Garden and tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God.
Unfortunately, they fell for his evil ploy.
In His mercy God showed up in the Garden and promised man a
Redeemer to deliver him from his sin.
Satan, however, was not offered redemption.
Nowhere in Scripture is Satan ever once offered forgiveness.
But man is continually offered forgiveness because God is a
lover of humans.
Because
of this Satan’s
envy and anger has driven him to become a human-hater and a God-hater.
Humanity is the only part of creation for whom God does special
things. Jesus did not weep over
the mountains or the seas. He did not weep over the stars or the moons.
Jesus
wept when His human friend, Lazarus, died.
Jesus
wept over the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Jesus
wept over humanity while on the
Cross, asking God to forgive us for smashing His face, ripping His beard,
tearing His flesh, mocking Him, spitting upon Him, illegally arresting Him,
judiciously betraying Him and illegally executing Him.
Jesus did
not ask this for Satan on the Cross. This is why Satan
hates humanity.
Keep
this one thing in mind. You may be a Satan worshipper. You may be a
member of the Church of Satan. You may be a cult member who prays to
Satan. You may be believing that by association with Satan, you are
free from his harm. However, the Bible reveals you are not free from
his harm.
No matter how faithful you may be to
Satan, he will destroy you and
even kill you in a fast minute if it were to his advantage or pleasure.
Only Christ can protect you from Satan's hatred.
Satan Is a Living Person
“Ye are of your
father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and
the father of it.” (John 8:44)
The ability to lust,
murder, avoid truth, speak, lie and produce offspring are all attributes of
a living personality. Satan
possesses all of these attributes, therefore, he is a living personality. He
is not
a corporeity in that he does not live in a flesh and blood body like humans. Corporeities
live in physical bodies which make them "people."
Satan
is not a "people" or a human being. However, he is a living
personality. Although
he does not have a
physical body, he does have a spirit
body just like the angels, the Holy Spirit and God the Father have spiritual
bodies. Their
bodies are made of an higher materiality than a human body.
One
does not need to have a physical body to qualify for personhood
status. Although
one
must have a physical body to be a
human, it is not necessary to have a physical body to be a person.
Satan not only has a
spirit body but he has a
personality. He has a mind, a will, intellect (albeit damaged) and emotions. He
possesses every
other faculty and attribute that constitute a living personality.
Jesus spent over
one-quarter of His Ministry teaching Believers about Satan and demon powers,
as well as demonstrating human dominion over them and how to cast them out.
Satan is mentioned
over 200 times in the Bible with multiple attributes and acts attributed to
him.
He has over two dozen personal names
ascribed to
him. Just some of his names, which reveal his true personality, are as
follows: “Accuser”
(Revelation12:10); “Corrupter” (2 Corinthians 11:3); “Enemy” (Matthew
13:39); “Thief” (John 10:10); and “Oppressor” (Acts
10:38). Satan has over twenty additional names given to him in
Scripture. Each one describing a miserable, tormented wretch of a person.
Satan
is not an influence, an idea or an abstract design.
He is the very embodiment of evil and desires to sell humanity on two primary
lies.
First, he desires for humanity to believe that he does
not exist.
Second, he desires for humanity to believe that Jesus is an
insignificant nobody.
There is only one personal
"devil" and his name is Satan.
There are a multiplicity, potentially
hundreds of millions, of "demons" who are subservient to Satan.
Jesus
dealt with them all as living personalities and they are as real as anyone else in the
spirit realm.
All
Christians are commanded to learn how to deal
with them, as well. Ignoring them does not make them go away.
Ignoring them leaves one wide open to their influence and destruction.
Satan
is like a
wounded, angry dog. He has been in a very bad way ever since Jesus,
the Champion, spent a long
weekend in Hell kicking the authority out of him.
Satan Is the Author of All Sickness and Oppression
“How God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing
good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with
him.” (Acts
10:38)
There is an
overwhelming abundance
of infallible proof in Scripture that Satan and demons bind and oppress
human beings, and that God and Jesus come along by the power of the Holy
Spirit and set them free.
God seeks to set everyone
free. Satan
seeks to set no one free. (Isaiah 14:17)
All
physical and emotional sickness comes from Satan, not
from God. Satan is the author
of sickness and he uses unbiblical, religious teaching to trick humanity
into believing that sickness does come from God.
Jesus
referred to Satan as "the thief" and revealed that all stealing,
killing and destruction comes from him. Jesus also revealed that He,
Himself, came that we might live a life of abundance, including abundant
health.
"The
thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy: I am come that
they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
(John 10:10)
I
often refer to this as "the greatest revelation in all of
Scripture."
God
has three views of sickness. He calls it “captivity” (Job 2:7), “bondage” (Luke
16:13) and “oppression” (Acts
10:38).
Satan
Is a Crippling Binder
The following is just
a small compendium of examples of Satan binding human beings.
Satan smote
Job. (Job
2:7) Satan causes insanity. (Matthew 4:23-24) Satan causes blindness.
(Matthew 12:22) Satan
causes dumbness and epileptic
fits. (Matthew 9:32-33) He causes grievous vexation and torment.
(Matthew 15:22) He causes suicide. (Matthew 17:15) He
oppresses with unclean, immoral spirits. (Luke 4:36)
He binds with bondage and he oppresses with lust. (Luke 16:13; John 8:44)
God, Jesus and the
Holy Spirit do not
bind, they loose the captives. (Romans 8:15;
2 Corinthians 3:7; Galatians 3:13)
Jesus, by the power
of the Holy Spirit, came to set the
captives free. (Luke 4:18)
Satan Is Not Omniscient
“Howbeit we speak
wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of
the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of
God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the
world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had
they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1
Corinthians 2:6-8)
To
be omniscient is to know all things. Satan is not omniscient.
Only God is omniscient.
Here the Bible
reveals that if Satan knew the details about God’s plan to use Jesus to
rescue us through His bloody,
violent death, he never would have killed Him.
But Satan did not know of God's plan because he is not
omniscient. Therefore, he very foolishly killed Jesus.
He
not only killed Jesus, but he killed Him
illegally, not knowing that was part of God’s plan.
Satan only had the right to kill sinful man.
If he ever killed a sinless man, he would lose his claim and authority
over all mankind.
Well, that is exactly
what he did. He killed the sinless Man,
Jesus, to get Him out of his way, and in doing so, he broke God's Law.
This stripped him of authority over all of humanity.
Holy, Omniscient God outsmarted
Satan and let him walk right into the illegal murder of the Sinless
Man, Jesus, in order to break his hold on humanity.
If Satan knew
everything, he would have known what God was planning on allowing him to do.
But he does not know everything and his lack of omniscience cost him
authority over man.
The triumphant crucifixion of
Jesus was something Satan never even saw coming because he does not know all
things.
Satan
knows some things. But only God knows all things.
“And to make all
men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of
the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To
the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places
might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,” (Ephesians
3:9-10)
Almighty
God had a plan in His heart to rescue His
man before His man even fell. It was a plan that had been hidden in
Him from the beginning of the world. Satan knew there was a plan to
rescue man because God told him so in the Garden. (Genesis 3:14-15) But Satan knew
nothing of the timing or the exact execution of the plan because he is not
all-knowing. Only God is all-knowing.
Both
angelic and demonic principalities and powers are still learning about
God's plan of redemption and God’s plan for the ages. They are
learning it from the Church of Jesus Christ.
Even
the angels of God who possess tremendous
wisdom are not omniscient.
Neither angels nor demons know all things.
Satan
is a know-it-all, but he is not all-knowing.
Satan does not know
everything. Otherwise, he would have kept you and
me from being saved by the death of Jesus Christ.
Satan and Demons Fear Human Resistance
“Thou believest
that there is one God; thou doest well: the demons also believe, and
tremble.” (James 2:19)
“But he giveth more
grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto
the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he
will flee from you.” (James 4:6-7)
Satan and demons tremble at the very thought of
God and flee when
the children of God confidently resist them.
Sometimes it is not a matter of praying for your
healing, your finances or
even your family. Sometimes
it is just a matter of roughing Satan up with the precious Holy written Word
of God and the Strong Name of
Jesus.
However,
you must resist him verbally.
You must open your mouth and tell him to go from your body, your finances or
your family in Jesus' Name.
You cannot fight thoughts with thoughts.
You must fight thoughts with the
power of words. You must fight Satan with the power of faith-filled
words.
The
Holy Spirit told a precious 80-year-old woman in our congregation as I was
preaching along the lines of fighting thoughts with words, “Boss your
thoughts.”
The
Believer in Jesus Christ must boss the devil and boss their thoughts with
the power of authoritative, verbal voice commands. The Believer's
authority is voice-activated.
“And from the days
of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and
the violent take it by force.” (Matthew 11:12)
When I was a child
walking to school our shiny black Cocker Spaniel would sometimes follow me. I
would tell him, “Go home, Blackie!” but he would not obey.
I would tell him again, "Go home right now, Blackie." Still he
would not obey.
But when I would
stomp my feet and shout, “I said to go home, Blackie! Now go home right
now!” he
would take off running for home.
This
is exactly how one must deal with the devil.
Satan does not listen to whimpering.
Satan
does not obey suggestions. Satan
obeys authoritative voice commands when they are given boldly in the Name of
Jesus Christ.
It
is unwise and futile to keep expecting God
to do what He has told you to do in His Word.
Do not ask God to get the devil off of you or your family. Use your
authority, do it yourself and do not be a quiet, suggestive, wimpy one about
it.
Satan
fears the Believer who confidently exercises authority over him.
I
have often been amazed to discover the way Christians fear the devil. I tell
them, "You're afraid of the devil because you don't know he's afraid of
you. As a matter of fact, I believe Satan wakes up in a cold sweat in the
middle of the night. He jumps out of bed, throws on the light and gets
down on his hands and knees to look under his bed, making sure there aren't
any Christians under there who know their authority. Satan is a 'scardy
cat and the only power he has over a Blood-washed Believer is the power of
deception."
"Behold
I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions (Satan and demons),
and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Not withstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you;
but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven." (Luke
10:19-20)
The Redeemed of the Lord Will Take Satan’s Place
“And a voice came
out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that
fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great
multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty
thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us
be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is
come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the
righteousness of saints.” (Revelation 19:5-8)
Lucifer the
Archangel
once led all the worship in Heaven before the Throne of God. (Ezekiel
28:11-19)
However, as a result of his pride and his foolish belief that he could
overtake the Throne of God, he not only lost his position as Heaven's
worship leader, but he was also forced to give up his Heavenly
citizenship.
Now the Church replaces
Satan as the source of
worship before God.
God not only offers humanity forgiveness, but He also offers us the
very place in Heaven once held by Lucifer.
“According as he
hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love:” (Ephesians 1:4)
This is a source of
tremendous wrath for Satan. He
was stripped of all Heavenly prominence, authority and privilege and it was
given to man. (Luke 10:18-20)
Satan
was cast down and out and
redeemed humanity has been lifted up and over.
Satan
was thrown out and
redeemed humanity was given Throne-rights.
Satan
has fallen never to rise
again. Redeemed humanity has risen
never to fall again.
The
day is coming when Satan will no longer be allowed in the Presence of God.
The
day has come where all of redeemed humanity is now welcomed into
God's Presence once again.
Satan Is a God-Hater
and a Human-Hater
Satan Is a Real
Person - a Living Entity
Satan Is the Author
of all Sickness and Oppression
Satan Is Not
Omniscient
Satan and Demons
Absolutely Fear Human Resistance
Satan
Has Been Replaced before God with the Redeemed of the Lord
Resist
him boldly in Jesus' Strong Name and he will absolutely flee from you.
Be Blessed ... John and Barbara Hamel
How
to Be Born Again (Receive Christ as Your Savior)
How
to Receive The Holy Spirit & Power
Home
l Bible
Training l Top l Beliefs l
Contact
|
