WHEN CHRISTIANS STAND SIDE BY SIDE WITH SATAN
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from the Afrikaans Version: Wanneer Christene hand om die lyf met Satan staan
Translator: Lynda Botha
This incident happened some time ago, but I want to reveal to you how easily satan can trick a child of God. The reason for this is, in my opinion, because God’s children want to achieve a compromise with the world or, to express it lightly, to be more accommodating to the worldly notions.
In this case it didn’t involve just one child of our Lord – No; it involved a great number of God’s children.
Furthermore, they weren’t just, so to speak, regular children of God – No, they all occupied one or another leadership position within the church.
I first heard about it on the radio and thereafter someone called me to ask my opinion concerning the notions stated by this church. In this letter I will rather refer to this church denomination as the x-church since I have a great amount of respect for several of their preachers.
In any way, someone asked my opinion regarding the decision made by the x-church to compile a committee designated to conduct an investigation whether satan really exists.
Since most x-church preachers I’ve met, are beautiful children of God, I am not going to discuss this ridiculous conduct by the x-church any further.
Here is how I perceive this matter regarding satan’s existence:
Firstly, we need to understand and believe what our Lord tells us in His Word:
2 TIM 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”
2 TIM 3:17 “God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work.”
If you don’t believe the Scripture you've just read, it would be utterly pointless for you to continue reading this letter.
Anyone who denies the existence of satan, make themselves, in my opinion, guilty of blasphemy.
Because you are then declaring that Jesus, who is according to the Word also God, are lying on a continuous basis.
Here are two examples, and in both cases these authors have not experienced these events with Jesus. They wrote this according to what He conversed with them, as they wouldn’t have known about it otherwise.
The first event:
MAT 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.”
Did you observe what you’ve just read?
Jesus and Jesus alone were led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
Furthermore, we read:
MAT 4:2-10
2 “For forty days and forty nights He fasted and became very hungry.”
3 “During that time the devil came and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”
4 “But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, “People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
5 “Then the devil took Him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple,”
6 “and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, “He will order His angels to protect You. And they will hold You up with their hands so you won’t even hurt Your foot on a stone.”
7 “Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, “You must not test the Lord your God.”
8 “Next the devil took Him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.”
9 “I will give it all to You,” he said, “if You will kneel down and worship me.”
10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, “You must worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.”
Matthew could’ve only known about this event if Jesus informed him about it.
So now, if you are questioning the existence of satan – and I write this part with great apprehension, but the Lord knows my intent – then you would also question whether Jesus lied about what happened to Him.
The second event:
LUKE 10:16-18
16 “Then He said to the disciples, “Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting Me. And anyone who rejects you is rejecting Me. And anyone who rejects Me is rejecting God, who sent Me.”
17 “When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to Him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use Your name!”
18 “Yes,” He told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!”
Do you know what these great theologians who are questioning the existence of satan must have read numerous times before?
LUK 10:18 “Yes,” He told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!”
If you are reading this and you are still questioning the existence of satan, it says without question that you are also deliberating whether Jesus is lying about what He saw.
I can only call this type of theology nothing else but diabolical.
Do you remember what you’ve have read?
2 TIM 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives..”
Also read the next Scripture:
REV 12:7-9
7 “Then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels.”
8 “And the dragon lost the battle, and he and his angels were forced out of heaven.”
9 “This great dragon – the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world – was thrown down to the earth with all his angels.”
Remember, this is the Word of God that you’ve just read, and you can now see the ripple effect which is taking place:
If you are questioning the existence of satan, it is only logical that you will also question the existence of angels. Because, according to the Word, which you don’t quite believe, satan was an angel of God, and as the saying goes: "The plot thickens."
I mean, the "plot" of satan's existence "thickens."
So, if the angel who became satan who tempts people to sin doesn’t exist, then surely there is no such thing as sin either.
I can be doing things that you and other people might not like, then it is not considered a sin, but according to you it is rather considered as something that’s not nice or improper.
You could also be doing things that others or myself might not like, that is not considered a sin, then this would be unacceptable to us, but acceptable to you.
So, if satan who tempts people to sin doesn’t exist, there would be no need for a Saviour to take away our sins, since there would be no sin to take away.
JOH 1:29 “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
JOH 15:22 “They would not be guilty if I (This is Jesus also God Himself) had not come (There from the beginning of creation) and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin.”
So, if satan with its accompanying sin doesn’t exist, then you have yet again read another lie.
"The plot thickens" even more, the satanic "plot."
In other words, it would seem the only next logical step would be is for some Christians to raise questions about Christ the Redeemer. Then it wouldn’t be not long thereafter where the church or some denominations begins to wonder about the existence of God Almighty.
Remember Jesus the Saviour who took away the sin of the world and told us about His personal experience with Satan, is God. He is God who became flesh:
JOH 1:1 “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
COL 1:15 “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God, He existed before anything was created..”
How terribly tragic and sad it is not that there are certain groups and denominations within the Church of Christ, who would allow ministers, who studied for quite a few years under their own professors, in their pulpits that stand side by side with satan in these last days by signifying through their actions, that both Jesus and God are untruthful to us. No wonder our Father forewarned us in His Word:
2 TIM 4:3 “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.”
2 TIM 4:4 “They will reject the truth and chase after myths.”
Therefore, child of God, although there are people who seem to be standing side by side with satan when they are reading the Word, let us rather read the Word the way Jesus said we should:
MRK 10:15 “I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
MAT 11:25-27
25 “At that time Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike.”
26 “Yes, Father, it pleased You to do it this way!”
27 “My Father has entrusted everything to Me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”
Whenever we read the Word in such a way, we will not believe the evil lie that satan doesn’t exist, and then we will not be overpowered by satan and hauled off to hell.
Let us remember what our Lord wrote to us in His Word:
1 PET 5:8 “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”
Also:
JAM 4:7 “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Greetings,
Sakkie