[Faith-talk] Satan and the Saint for Wednesday, July 2, 2014

[Paul]

This is Part 6 in this series.

In our examination of the four demonic categories given by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 10 through 12, we have already discussed the first three.  If you remember, we dealt with principalities, the first category, then powers, and yesterday, the rulers of the darkness of this world.  We need not refer to these again.

Now we come to that last and most unusual category; namely, spiritual wickedness in high places.  This form of demonic entity can be translated as wicked spirits in high or holy places.

When studying this category of demons, we could very definitely characterize them as religious devils.  They are extremely interested in religion, no matter what label it bears--be it Buddhism, Hinduism, Mohammedism, Confucianism, Christendom, or Judaism, or any other area that causes an individual to worship.

It is almost impossible to designate any one area in which these wicked spirits operate as being predominant over another.  Their main objective would appear to be to confuse and distort the minds of men so that they may be led away from the main teachings of the Word of God and be caught up in worship of almost anything and anyone apart from the God of creation and the one true God who reveals Himself, not only as the God of creation, but also as the God of the bible.  They are extremely active in the ranks of true believers.  Here they would tend to overstress the importance of a particular sect, denomination, or specific belief.

There are believers who become very dogmatic and rigid in all sorts of external matters, feeling that they are truly performing the will of God.  Yet, in so many instances, behind this dogmatism, these wicked manipulative spirits are dominating the mind to such an extent that professing Christians occasionally become illogical, ridiculous and even fanatical in some of their conclusions.

One area that vividly expresses this is in the area of foods.  I do not know if you have ever met a sincere professing Christian who has the idea that he must be a vegetarian in order to please God.

I shall never forget my first encounter, as a young Christian, with a brother in Christ named Peter, whom I loved and respected for his knowledge of the Word of God and his boldness in witnessing for Christ.  We had fellowship in the things of God until he became acquainted with a group of Christians who persuaded him that, in order to please God, he must become a vegetarian.

To make a long story as short as possible, it was not long before Peter espoused this doctrine himself, dogmatically, as well as emphatically.  He got so carried away with this teaching that he said, if a Christian eats meat, he will not be caught up in the Rapture.

One evening, Peter and I stopped in a restaurant, and I could hardly believe my ears when he ordered only vegetables, and I ordered meat and potatoes.  Then, he began to exhort me as to how displeasing it is to God for a believer to eat meat.  I knew he was quite sincere and earnest and realized that he thought he was telling me the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  Yet, I plainly discerned that he was being led astray by one of these seductive spirits.

I silently prayed that God, in some way, would give me the right words that my brother would be delivered from this pseudo-Christian teaching.  All at once, I seemed to hear a word of wisdom from God.  Looking at my friend, I made a very startling statement.

"Peter," I began, "if moses or the prophets or any of the apostles would have been vegetarians as you suggest, they would be in hell right now."

This was a most drastic statement, and one that I was positive would awaken in him a very quick request for proof.  I continued by saying, "Do you realize that, when God delivered Israel from Egypt, He instituted the Passover lamb and commanded them to eat it? In fact, if a family was small, you remember God told them to divide it among other families, but they were to eat all of it." This means that God made His own people "Meat eaters." If any Isrealite would have rejected this teaching and become a vegetarian, he would have been cut off from among the people and lost forever.

I went on to say that, when Jesus commanded His disciples to prepare the Passover in the Upper Room, they did so in obedience to the Son of God.  Here again, if one of them decided to be a vegetarian, as Peter decided to be, they would have been rejected by our Lord and lost in hell eternally.

Knowing that Peter had a hang-up about eating fish, I reminded him of the fact that, when our Lord took the five loaves and two fishes from that little lad, it was not two carrots and five turnips, but two fishes and five loaves that were fed to the multitudes.

I am happy to report that the next time Peter and I ate together, he no longer foolishly persisted in being a vegetarian, but ate protein that is so essential in the form of meat.

This is only one little aspect in which Satan plays havoc with the child of God.  He also does so in the keeping of days, the wearing of clothes, and we could go on and on.  God willing, we shall do so in the coming days.

And there, my fellow saints of the Most High God, is the conclusion of this article.  Lord willing, tomorrow we will have Part 7 of this series.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul