Satan in perspective We congregate in the Church as a part of the corporate body of Jesus Christ. We do so primarily to worship Him, to thank Him for upholding us in times of joy and sorrow. We gather together in the firm conviction in the promise of Jesus Christ “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” - Matthew 18:20. We seek fellowship in each other’s company to share and unburden. We also learn from the Pastors and elders the Scriptures in depth. Can the Satan also be in the midst of us? At the end of it all that we are required to lead our lives reflecting Jesus Christ in every action, at home, at work place, in the society and at Church. It then becomes a matter of serious concern when others claim to see the reflection of Satan in you. It is a concern for both parties and needs to be dealt with promptly. The problem may not be with you or the person who saw the reflection of Satan in you. It cannot be as simple as that. Satan is deception incarnate. He stays in the background and quietly does his dirty work. The moot question before us is whether the evil one can possess our minds in a physical sense. Maybe we are overstretching a point here. Probably we are overrating the capabilities of Satan in thinking in those lines. Having said that I may also add that we may be underrating Satan in believing that he has no access to our minds! He has, and he does it in a very clandestine manner. Satan can certainly influence our thoughts. When we are weak in our faith, when our motives are self-centered and not Jesus centered, when we have failed to put on the full armour of Jesus, Satan promptly sit on our shoulders and begin to murmur into our ears and begins to rule our minds. Paul prescribed the safeguard thus: “Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” - Ephesians 6:11. We hear about satanic forces prowling amongst Church congregations, at home and elsewhere, influencing the minds of people rendering them to become destructive forces in many ways. I have heard people talk about the presence of evil forces in our midst even during worship Services. My first response was reactive. But all this talk got me thinking and I did some quick research on the subject from a Biblical perspective. There are many schools of thought on the subject, but it would be stretching a bit if I try to discuss all that in this essay. I said Satan accesses our minds through his constant murmurings. This murmuring of Satan is not physical, and we do not hear him speak. However, it can pierce into our minds, and that is when we lose control of our poise; our actions become unpredictable and irresponsible. We hurt ourselves and others around us. Here is a quote from an article by Hank Hanegraaff: “The whisper cannot be discerned with the physical ear; it can, however, penetrate “the ear” of the mind. We cannot explain how such communication takes place any more than we can explain how our immaterial minds can cause the physical synapses of the brain to fire; but that such mind-to-mind communication takes place is indisputable. If it were not so, the Devil could not have tempted Judas to betray his Master, seduced Ananias and Sapphira to deceive Peter, or incited David to take a census.” Without exception, this can happen to anyone, laypersons as well as the clergy. When we see an intricate design in the trouble around us, we should know that the Satan had begun his work, probably, way back in time. Before we realise it, we are under attack by the evil one. He uses all those who are unmindful of the warnings the Bible presents us with; he afflicts those who fear him. This can become contagious in a sense that Satan will use the most influential to influence others. If Satan hates anything, he hates people congregating in fellowship and love for each other for the sole purpose of worshiping Jesus. If we are unguarded without the armour of God, he quietly starts his work of dividing us in all possible ways he can. Soon we will see disagreements, fights, politicking, blackmailing, Pulpit abuse and more. We may point fingers at each other without realising the fact that the one influenced by Satan is standing aside and allowing the disquiet to escalate. Look closely and you will find him with his deceptive smile, standing aloof, pretending to be righteous. I liked what Hank Hanegraaff stated in his article on the subject “No doubt much to the Devil’s delight we often depict him as either a cartoonish clown with an elongated tail, red tights, and a pitchfork — or as a cultural caricature. Far from silly or stupid, however, Satan appears as a cosmopolitan angel of enlightenment. He knows full well that without our spiritual armor we are but pawns in a devil’s game. In the final analysis, the whole of Scripture informs us that spiritual warfare is the battle for the mind.” We must unite against the formidable force of Satan, with prayer and supplication, putting on the ever protective armour of Jesus. Amen
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 05:45:30 +0000
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