Although a war is being fought against them in the spiritual realm, most people are not aware of their convert enemy, Satan. A recent survey revealed that nearly 70% of the American public believes Satan is real, but this stat doesn’t reflect the average person’s appalling lack of knowledge about his true nature or activities.
Many in our society have some idea of Satan, or the devil, but their understanding of him is confused and distorted because they have bought into popular images of the devil.
For example, they may see him as a jokester who goes around tempting people to do mischievous things. They don’t see the devil for the malicious being he really is. The widespread arrogance can be simplified to three major errors in people’s approach to the spiritual realm and spiritual warfare
1. Denying The Existence of Evil Forces
a. The first error is to deny the existence of evil spirits and the spiritual world in general. People, instead of believing that Satan could be a cause for the world ills, but rather it was due to accidents by nature or that people can be evil due to poor socialization.
b. The Bible tells us beyond a shadow of a doubt, however, that the spiritual world is realm, and that there are evil as well as good spiritual forces The apostle Paul identified these evil force as “principalities,” “powers,” “rulers of the darkness of this age,” and “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
c. The existence of Satan is an undeniable fact. In 1 Peter 5:8, the Bible calls Satan “your adversary the devil.”
d. The wickedness of the visible world is influenced, fueled, and powered by the spiritual underworld. Evil spirits influence things across our everyday lives. Everything that is good is attacked by Satan.
e. When Satan can distract us from reality of the supernatural realm, he can divert us from finding spiritual solutions for critical issues.
f. You know you are in a physical battle when you get shot or you see someone else bleeding from being shot.
2. Attributing to Satan Everything That Goes Wrong
a. We must be cautious not to give Satan undue attention. This approach often leads to a fascination, fearfulness, and overestimation of his power. It can lead to people attributing Satan certain qualities that only God has like omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. People end up living in fear of Satan rather than with trust with God.
b. Not all bad things come from Satan.
c. Sickness may sometimes be caused by an evil spirit, but not always. While satanic attack is a possible cause, the book of Job indicates, sickness does not necessarily come from the devil. Jesus clearly distinguished between the healing of sickness and the casting out of demons. When sickness is caused by willful sin or natural causes, then casting out demons will not bring about healing.
d. Viruses is not being demon-possessed. If you break your arm in an accidental fall, you do not have a demon in your arm. These things happen because we live in a fallen world. It will happen to the righteous and the unrighteous. It will continue to be this way until Jesus returns.
3. Believing that Christians are Immune from Satanic Attack
a. Third, some Christians think that believers are immune to demonic assault. Paul’s harassment by a “spirit of divination,” which possessed a servant girl (Acts 16:16-18). The clear warning of 1 Peter 5:8 is that we need to be on guard because the devil is on the prowl, seeking those who he can devour.
b. Sometimes believers tend to joke about the devil, but the demonic underworld is not something to be careless about. Jude said that even the archangel Michael “dared not bring against [Satan] a reviling accusation, but said, ‘The lord rebuke you!’”
c. Many Christians think they can just go to church, and not cause any trouble to the devil or anyone else. Yet when their sons are on drugs or their daughters are pregnant and want abortions, they learn about spiritual warfare because of personal necessity. Satan opposes the people of God in every way he can and seek to destroy human life. It is unrealistic to think we can ignore our enemy.
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