Satan, the Devil And His Demons Are A Spiritual Test, Contrary To The Beliefs Of Many Christian Churches And Christian Organizations

    PITTSBURGH, PA, July 25, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ -- For centuries mankind has been debating why God might allow Satan to exist. Is there an underworld? If so, is Satan the ruler of that dark place? Or is it all just a myth? Dan Corner, Director of Evangelical Outreach recently had this to say:

Part of reality is spiritual reality. Just because you cannot see something with the naked eye, does not mean that it does not exist. The spiritual world influences the natural realm. God is real, but so is the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph. 6:12).

Unlike many people believe, the devil is NOT: (1) God's equally powerful counterpart, (2) the ruler of the underworld, (3) a myth or (4) merely the symbol or personification of evil. The devil is indeed a REAL spirit being with a personality, emotions, intellect and will, and he is not in the lake of fire yet (Rev. 20:10). In fact, the Lord Jesus dialogued with him (Mt. 4:3-11). Showcasing the wicked character of this relentless, scheming arch enemy of mankind are some of his names and titles: Satan, the dragon, the serpent, the father of lies, the god of this age, prince of the power of the air (TV, radio anyone?), the tempter, the adversary or enemy, Lucifer (meaning bearer of light), the avenger, the false accuser of the brethren, and Beelzebub, the prince of demons (Rev.12:9, Jn. 8:44, 2 Cor. 4:4, Eph. 2:2, Mt. 4:3, 1 Pet.5:8, 2 Cor. 11:14, Psa. 8:2 and Rev. 12:10, Mt. 12:27, and Lk. 11:15).

God could get rid of the devil now if he wanted, but he is allowing the devil to roam freely around the earth among us which is part of our spiritual test (James 1:12). God is a testing God (1 Thess. 2:4; etc.), and he wants us to overcome the works of the devil, our sinful nature and the world, which we can only do with God's help and his enabling grace.

"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings" (1 Peter 5:8-9).

We must continue to heed these warnings and submit to Jesus until the very end of our life (Rom. 11:19-22; Col. 1:23; Heb. 3:14); these warnings were written to Christians as the devil already has the rest the world under his control: "…and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will" (2 Tim. 2:26).

Satan has one main goal for you and your family and friends – to devour you; that includes various, serious problems in this life and damnation in eternal fire afterwards! He gives us thoughts and temptations; if the thoughts and suggestions coming into your mind do not align themselves to obedience to God's Word, they are from the Tempter! Do not entertain them; to "resist" these thoughts is to resist the devil. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).

There are many ways in which demons can deceive people, but the more common ones are through occult involvement such as astrology, Ouija boards, fortune-telling, seances, etc. Dear reader, if you have ever dabbled with such, ask God to forgive you and renounce all such behavior.

Know that the devil can also formulate deceptive religious teachings to mislead you away from God (1 Tim. 4:1). The deceiver is behind many miracles, visions, dreams, and near death experiences. "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons" (1 Tim. 4:1).

The devil can even quote scripture as we see when he tempted Jesus in the desert. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." (Mt. 4:6).

However, when the Father of Lies (as do his servants) quotes Scripture, it is distorted and used out of context in order to lead us astray. To avoid getting deceived by such false teachers who quote verses out of context, we must consider the verses before and after the verse in question. Additionally, when trying to arrive at the proper interpretation of Scripture, we must consider all verses on the subject in order to get a complete picture.

We must be alert to the devil's schemes. Another one of his schemes is to hide evil behind a beautiful facade or a blissful feeling of peace and well-being. The devil can and does duplicate peace which he does in both transcendental meditation and in Catholicism after one receives the Eucharist (communion wafer). "... in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes" (2 Cor. 2:11).

"And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14).

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1).

"Do not give the devil a foothold or opportunity" (Eph. 4:27).

I've noticed in my Christian life, believers who let down their spiritual guard and who are unwilling to go to the extreme of giving the devil no foothold and of being open, faithful and bold about their Christian beliefs; they get swept away or they "fall away." They give the devil some opportunity to tempt them into sin, ever so gradually as it may be, and they turn back to the darkness and spiritual death they were in before their salvation.

Give the devil, the tempter, no place;
Slam the door in his scheming face.
Be faithful to God in your spiritual race;
Endure to the end for salvation is part of grace.

Dan Corner, a former pastor and ex-Catholic, is the author of a number of books including 'The Believer's Conditional Security: Eternal Security Refuted', 'The Myth of Eternal Security' and 'Is this the Mary of the Bible?'.

Dan is available for media interviews, including debates, and can be reached using the information below or by email at [email protected], by phone at 724-632-3210 or by mail at PO Box 265, Washington, PA, 15301. His websites are https://www.evangelicaloutreach.org (EOMIN.org), http://www.AlcanceEvangelistico.org (DBN-MIN.net) and http://www.EternalLifeBlog.com.

After graduating from college, Dan Corner got saved by reading the Bible. For over four decades, he has diligently served the Lord Jesus. Dan Corner's pastoral, apologetic, counter cult and street evangelism experiences have equipped him to contend for the faith and win souls to Jesus from many backgrounds.

He is an ordained minister and director of Evangelical Outreach who pastored for almost seven years and has authored hundreds of Christian articles, answered thousands of emails and letters and has written several books of vital importance in our day.

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