OUR DIRECT ENEMY - SATAN? OR DEMONS? So many in the church today believe that its Satan who tempts Gods children and lures them into sin. They believe that Satan is behind their spiritual problems and that they are directly struggling with the devil himself. The truth is, they are not wrestling against Satan, but rather his network of demons. Even when a child is tempted to sin, that temptation doesnt come from Satan directly, but through Satans army of fallen angels (demons). Its as if we believe theres an imaginary evil being out there that comes to our door each day to tempt us, when in reality, we are being approached by evil spirits! It seems that everybody wants to think its Satan tempting or oppressing them, but nobody wants to think its an evil spirit or demon.Angels are NOT omnipresent, and cannot be everywhere at once. There is ample proof of this fact in scripture, but one clear example is found in Daniel chapter 10, where an angel was dispatched to answer the prayer of Daniel, but was withheld by a demonic spirit (the prince of Persia):Daniel 10:13, But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.This angel was held back and could not immediately attend to those prayers because an evil spirit held him up from reaching Daniel! Angels, including demons, cannot be more than one place at once. Satan, being a demon himself and the leader in his kingdom, is unable to be more than one place at the same time.The odds of a person actually getting attacked or oppressed by Satan is extremely remote. There are very strong and evil demons which can make it seem like Satan himself is involved, but it is rarely the case. Satan is merely the leader of his kingdom, and uses the evil spirits under him to carry out his plans in this fallen world. Putting things into perspective Lets stop for a moment and picture yourself in a war against another country. You realize that your country is fighting Country X, but should your attention be focused on the king of Country X? Or the troop thats standing 50 yards from you with a gun in his hand ready to kill you? Far too often, we as Christians point our fingers at Satan, but completely ignore the troops the enemy has sent out against us. Its about time we guard ourselves against the messengers that Satan has set against us, lest we become vulnerable of the plans Satan has against us.Its time that we recognize the messengers that were sent to directly oppose us. Satan indirectly oppresses Gods children, but its the various ranks of troops under Satan that carry out the actual battle plan and directly oppose the children of God. Ephesians 6 isnt saying that we struggle against Satan himself, but against the various ranks of demons that are under the lordship of Satan:Ephesians 6:12, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but againstprincipalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.Lets not wash Satan clean here by putting everything on the demons, but lets also not forget whos standing 50 yards from us who would love to put a bullet through our skulls!Your enemy would love for you to approach the war with your eyes on the evil leader and ignore the troops / messengers coming towards you. If you did such a thing in a physical war, wouldnt that put you at a very vulnerable position? You wouldnt last 10 minutes on the battle field before getting struck down! The same is true in the spiritual realm. Its only wise to keep your eyes on the direct enemies in any war.Dont get me wrong, we arent to see demons so much that its all that were looking at. I am a strong advocator of keeping our minds and hearts on the Lord Jesus Christ, and on positive things that uplift us and keep our eyes on the Lord. But on the same token, its never wise to ignore a messenger that Satan has sent to destroy us. Paul himself made it clear that its never wise to be ignorant of Satans devices:2 Corinthians 2:11, Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. Demonic Hierarchy Satan dictates or rules a host of evil spirits in a well organized demonic hierarchy. There is proof of this demonic structure in scripture. A good example is found in Daniel where an angel had to fight the prince of Persia, which is clearly not a human being, but an evil spirit that was placed in charge of the kingdom of Persia to carry out Satans plans there:Daniel 10:13, But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.Further insight into this hierarchy and how Satan oppresses people, is found in the book of Acts:Acts 10:38, 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.If you look up the word for oppressed in this verse, you will find the Greek word katadunasteuo, which means, to exercise dominion against, that is, oppress. The word dominion here does not refer to ownership of a person (its God who owns every soul, see Ezekiel 18:4), but rather an army that is under your rule. Satan exercises his army of fallen angels (his dominion) against us.Now if you look up the word dominion in the the 2006 Merriam-Webster dictionary, under definition #3 it speaks of an order of angels, referencing to Celestial Hierarchy, which speaks of a host of angelic beings, including principalities, powers, etc. In Ephesians 6, we find that the powers of darkness come in different ranks and powers:Ephesians 6:12, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but againstprincipalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.Satans kingdom is made up of an army of fallen angels. When Satan was cast out of heaven, he drew with him a third of the angels, which are now fallen and known as demons or devils:Revelations 12:4, And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.Revelations 16:14, For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.Satan is known as the lord of the flies (Beelzebub), because there are so many evil spirits that are under his rule in the kingdom of darkness:Matthew 12:24, But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.Satan is the leader, and a host of fallen angels are under his rule carrying out his evil plans. How Satan oppresses When a person is said to be turned over into the hands of the tormenters (Matthew 18:23-35), they are not directly tormented by Satan, but by the army of evil spirits in his kingdom. Satan may issue a command in his army to oppress a person or to carry out a certain task, but he himself rarely gets involved because hes only one spirit and cannot be everywhere at once. When we hear of Satan oppressing a person, it is actually a demonic spirit within his kingdom that is doing the dirty work according to Satans rule and leadership. For example, if you look at Luke 13:11, we find the woman with the spirit of infirmity. It clearly tells us that she was bound by Satan, but who was carrying out the actual dirty work? A spirit of infirmity! Luke 13:11,16, And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmityeighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?Our enemy is obviously Satan, but its not him that we directly struggle against, its against the demonic army of evil spirits that is under his rule. It is important that we learn who our enemy is and how he carries out his plans, so we can effectively wage spiritual war against them.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 20:30:49 +0000
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