[Faith-talk] FW: Satan And the Saint, Part 2 for 6/27/14

Mon Jul 14 02:37:28 UTC 2014

Joanne, It was Part 4, sent on Monday. Only I never found it in the 
list archives.

Thanks, anyway.

Blessings,

Linda

At 09:33 PM 7/13/2014, you wrote:
>Hello Linda
>This is Joanne Jordan. I think I saw that you deleted this one by accident.
>I am forwarding it to you.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Faith-talk [mailto:faith-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Paul
>via Faith-talk
>Sent: Friday, June 27, 2014 12:48 PM
>To: Helena Short
>Subject: [Faith-talk] Satan And the Saint, Part 2 for 6/27/14
>
>Yesterday, we looked at the "mystery of iniquity" from the standpoint of the
>creation of Satan.  If you have studied yesterday's article carefully, and
>thoughtfully, you must have come to a definite conclusion.  What was that
>conclusion? If you concluded that Satan is an imponderable in our
>theological concept of God and His loving, protective care, you would not be
>too wrong in your deduction.
>
>There are three definite statements in the Bible relative to God, three
>definitions of God Himself.  They are:  God is spirit, God is light, and God
>is love.  Nowhere can we harmonize in any logical or easily-to-be-understood
>way the reason for Satan's existence in the light of what God is and in the
>light of what God can do.  This is all the more reason why the Bible speaks
>of him and the effects of his personality as "The mystery of iniquity."
>
>As we have already seen, a mystery suggests someday, somehow, and somewhere
>a solution.  I cannot think of any factor theologically that is more
>baffling and disconcerting to the mind of the thoughtful believer in the
>Word of God than the question, "Why did God ever make Lucifer?" It is well
>for us, once and for all, to dismiss this question from our minds because
>the solution lies in the future.
>
>Let us turn our attention to some of the diabolical acts of this person who
>we know rebelled against God, took one-third of the angelic beings with him,
>and is now the archenemy of both God and man.  The very titles given to him
>in Scripture denote his character.  He is not only called a liar, but he is
>the father of lies.  He is described as the serpent, the god of this world,
>the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.  He has always
>used a twofold attack in the role of adversary.  He is called the great
>adversary.  The very term means to be against or opposed to.  Satan is not
>only opposed to God and all that He stands for, but he is opposed to every
>individual who pledges loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ, and becomes a
>follower of His.  When the Apostle Paul Said, "We are not ignorant
>concerning his devices," speaking of Satan, he revealed a truth that every
>child of God sooner or later becomes knowledgeable of.
>
>We may not have any more room in this post to consider Satan's role as an
>adversary.  It appears he has never changed his tactics, but from the very
>outset in the Garden of Eden, he accused God to man.  This is only one side
>of his opposition.  He said to the woman, "Yea hath God said, ye shall not
>eat of every tree of the garden?" In other words, he accused God of
>concealing something from man that would be most desirable for him to
>discover.  God had made it crystal clear that man was not to taste of the
>tree of knowledge of good and evil.  In fact, he was not even to touch it.
>This was the only prohibition God put upon our first parents.
>
>Satan, in his subtle manner, placed a great big question mark in the mind of
>Eve.  In language of today, we might say that Satan said, "Don't pay any
>attention to God.  Look at that tree, look at that fruit, look how beautiful
>it is, how harmless, how delicious.  Go ahead, take it and eat it." The sad
>story says, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that
>it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
>took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with
>her; and he did eat.
>
>Notice the sequence.  She saw, she took, she ate.  Satan has never changed
>the progress of temptation which leads to sin.  Let me make it very clear
>that there is no sin in temptation.  In fact, the holiest and purest men and
>women who have ever lived were sorely tempted.  Even our precious Lord was
>tempted in the wilderness immediately after His baptism.  Only when
>temptation is yielded to does it become sin.  Nevertheless, Satan uses the
>eye-gate frequently to call attention, whether in a visual or mental way, to
>something that is contrary to the will of God.  As long as he can keep the
>Christian occupied with that sight or thought long enough and strong enough,
>he knows the normal reaction will be to take or to participate or to
>disobey.  It is always at the point of disobedience that sin occurs.
>
>The main factor I should like to point out is that in this instance, as in
>the story of Job found in the book that bears his name, you will see Satan
>hard at work accusing God to man.  He did it to Eve, he endeavored to do it
>to the Lord Jesus Himself and to Job through the comforters, and even his
>wife who suggested that he curse God and die.
>
>The second area that the adversary is hard at work in is accusing man to
>God.  Probably the greatest insight into this is found again in the book of
>Job.  You will remember that God gave His appraisal of Job to Satan by
>saying, "Have you considered My servant Job that there is none like him in
>all the earth?" God embellished this by pointing out that Job was upright,
>that Job despised evil and followed that which was wholly good in the sight
>of God.  Satan very quickly replied, and we just simply give a free
>translation in the common vernacular, "Why shouldn't Job love you? You gave
>him everything his heart desired.  You have made him rich, powerful, he has
>excellent health.  Why shouldn't he love you? Besides all this," Satan went
>on to say, "You have built a hedge round about him, making it impossible for
>me to touch him.  Oh, but I have news for you, God.  You just let me at him,
>and he will turn around and curse you to your face." In essence, that is
>what Satan said to God  regarding Job.
>
>Well, we all know the story if we have even had a casual perusal of the
>book.  Yes, Satan is extremely subtle and will use every possible area of
>attack.  Could it be, dear Christian, that you are facing some terrible
>imponderable trial, some unexplained testing? Perhaps there may be areas in
>your life that you are almost ashamed to face.  You feel you could never
>even discuss them with a fellow human being, though he be a Christian.  Let
>me say that such feelings and such sensations are frequently satanically
>produced.
>
>Tomorrow, we shall turn to another characteristic of this diabolical
>creature, Satan.  Until then, if the adversary is endeavoring to produce
>guilt complexes, to cause temptation, trial and difficulty to come into your
>life, remember there is only one way, and just one, and that is to resist
>him.  Take your God-given authority as a child of God and in the strength
>and might of the Spirit of God say, as our Lord did, "Get thee behind me
>Satan."
>
>And there you have the second part of the late Dr. Ralph Montanus' series on
>Satan and the saint.  In the meantime, I pray that you were and will
>continue to be fed with strong meat relevant to knowing something about our
>ultimate enemy that you didn't know before, and that you will eventually be
>able to use your God-given authority to chase him away.
>
>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.  Lord
>willing, tomorrow we will present Part Three of this series.  Your Christian
>friend and brother, Paul _______________________________________________
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