A complete salvation 6: to be a saint (3): be alert to the devil

A complete salvation 6: to be a saint (3): be alert to the devil and evil spirits

Dear All:

To continue: A complete salvation topic 6:
To be a saint (3): be alert to the devil and evil spirits

Someone who likes to argue might say:" Getting to know some knowledge about God, how come this world does not seem to be a perfect world that it should be? There are a lot of sufferings, pains, unfairness and wicked things, diseases and crimes."

Because this world is corrupted by the sins of man and evil spirits. Surely God build perfect world as revealed in REVELATION:
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,... There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (REVELATION 21:1-4)
And we Christians are supposed to be the citizens of the kingdom of heaven!

"Why not now? Why the devil and evil spirits are allowed?" Some might ask.

Because we need to learn to distinguish what is really good and evil: being close to God, everything is good; being away from God and disobeying the truth, everything is bad and wicked. Since we are not mature enough to understand, accept and believe in this truth, we need to see with our own eyes and experience it. Like the parable about the lost son taught by Jesus Christ (LUKE 15:11-31), that younger son would never realize that he was wrong until he learned from his experience.

Also, because we need to grow up and we need to become like a firm saint so that to be qualified as the holy citizens. The wind and storm actually can help the trees to grow stronger and roots to go deeper. Only those who really love God's righteousness and holiness more than anything else will walk on and stick to the road to heaven. Hardships will produce really refined gold.
"We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one." (1 JOHN 5:19)
"For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believe the truth but have delighted in wickedness." (2 THESSALONIANS 2:11-12)
"His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (MATTHEW 3:12)

Back to the topic, usually, the devil and evil spirits is a topic that one wants to avoid talking about. Because they sound like something terribly bad yet out of our control. But without knowing the enemy or ignoring the enemy only gives much more chances for the attacking
and the victory chances for the enemy.

We know that angels are also created by God. There are a lot of works done by them: like Gabriel who sent messages to Mary, Zechariah (LUKE 1:19,26) and Daniel ( DANIEL 9:21); like Michael (one of the chief princes) who defeated the devil (REVELATION 12:7-9) and helped to fight the devil (DANIEL 10:13,21); also like angels who helped Peter's miraculous escape from prison; and angels who served Jesus Christ etc.
Nowadays, there are also quite a few testimonies reporting that some Christians got saved by their guardian angels in some critical moments.
"Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation." (HEBREWS 1:14)
"The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them." (PSALMS 34:7)
Guardian angels will be responsible to escort the saint to get through the place occupied by evil spirits (between earth and heaven) to the gate of heaven after one's death.

1. The stories of the devil and evil spirits:

We know that the devil and evil spirits are falling angels. The devil, also called Satan, used to be one of the chief prince called Lucifer and was in charge of 1/3 angels.
" You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God;...Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I (God)
ordained you." EZEKIEL (28:13)

The fall of Lucifer:
"Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor...."EZEKIEL (28:17)
"Because you think you are wise, as wise as a god,..." EZEKIEL (28:6)
"You said in your heart,' I will ascend to heaven;... I will make myself Most High.'" (ISAIAH 14:13-14)
"...till wickedness was found in you....you were filled with violence and you sinned." (EZEKIEL 28:16)
How silly is the devil! He thought his glories and power belong to himself. He is thankless and forgot that he was created. Here again, we see the wicked fruit produced by the pride of self and lead to all the disobedience, corruption and all kinds of worst things.

Was driven out of the heaven:
"How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn!" (ISAIAH 14:12)
"...an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth." (REVELATION 12:3-4)
"And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down - the ancient serpent called the devil, or
Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him." (REVELATION 12:7-9)
"So I (God) drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, ..." (EZEKIEL 28:16)

Went down to the earth:
"But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short." (REVELATION 13:12)

2. What other crimes did the devil commit?

(1) Lured Eve to eat the forbidden fruit through the serpent such that original sin gets into man.
"The great dragon was hurled down - the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan,..." (REVELATION 12:9)

(One story although not explicitly mentioned in Bible explained why the devil hate man so much. After God created Adam, because man is made in the image of God and is given the status of son of God, angels supposed to worship man. But Lucifer disobeyed with pride of self . Later on, he even rebelled. After he was defeated and driven out of Heaven, like all the wicked ones, he didn't repent his crimes - disobedience to God who created him and grant a lot of the glories to him; ignorance that he is just a created; and being filled with wickedness and violence. Yet he put all the blames on man.)

Although got lured, Eve did listen to the devil and man's free will also yielded to sin, disobeyed God's command and were enticed by pride of self to eat the forbidden fruit.
"the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished." (NAHUM 1:3)
The sentence is:
"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (GENESIS 3:15)

However, most of people still listen and follow the devil's voice nowadays. Make the choices to disobey our conscience only for some cheap material stuff or pride of self. Hold the devil's dictionary as the
guidance to some empty success; even though people who were there already told them according to their own experience that money, fame and power do not bring real happiness, joy and peace to man. People still choose the way to death yet think themselves smart. What one can complain about their fate?

"But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ." (2 CORINTHIANS 11:3)

(2) There is one part that I don't understand before which is in (GENESIS 6:1-6): "...the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. " (GENESIS 6:2)
Immediately followed by God's judgment that man's age is limited to 120. (GENESIS 6:3) "The Nephilim were on earth those days - and also afterward - when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them." (GENESIS 6:4) Immediately followed by man's great wickedness and God's judgment - the flood. (GENESIS 6:5-6) Here, these evil things were actually done by the evil spirits. Bring more great violence and sins to man. Guess these did not happen after the flood, because:
"For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought flood on its ungodly people,..." (2 PETER 2:4-5)
"And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home - these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day." (JUDE 1:6)

(3) Evil spirits put all kinds of bad and wicked ideas into people's mind: such as committing suicide, killing people, adultery and other wicked and criminal ideas; also a lot of diseases. Part of their work was revealed in the books of Gospel and ACTS.

One of the unique thing that only Jesus can do and proves that he is the Son of God is to drove the evil spirits out of people. No other man or prophets can do it: Elijah, Elisha, Laozi, Budda and Muhammad.
"A new teaching -- and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." (MARK 1:27)

3. The sentence to the devil and evil spirits is clear in Bible and they will be destroyed at the End of the Age:
"Satan's doom." (REVELATION 20:7-10)
"They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is LORD of lords and King of kings - and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers." (REVELATION 17:14)
"And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur..." (REVELATION 20:10)
No salvation for the evil spirits, even the smallest one.
"For surely it is not angels he (Jesus Christ) helps, but Abraham's descendants." (HEBREWS 2:16)

4. More about being alert to the deceit of the devil:

The devil is cunning and deceitful. The only purpose of the devil is to destroy man and get them to hell rather than heaven. He lures people nowadays with money, fame and power as long as man would like to
choose the way to death. He always can find reason to accuse and attack man as shown in JOB. He is skillful in enticing, for example, as shown in (GENESIS 3:1-4) and (LUKE4:1-13). Hallelujah! Jesus wins the test and temptations and sets an example for the followers like us.
He also tries hard to lure people away from the salvation of Jesus Christ. Because if there are more people follow Jesus, the Kingdom of heaven will come to earth earlier and the doom of the devil will come
earlier.

"The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and
order them to abstain from certain foods,..." (1 TIMOTHY 4:1-3)
These remind one of some astray of the Catholic in history.

How about the second largest religion - Islam? The "angel" talking to Muhammad seems violent:
"the 'angel' caught him forcefully and press him so hard that he could not bear it anymore."
"for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." (2 CORINTHIANS 11:14)
Without the knowledge of the love of God and without thanksgivings, there is only submission. Most critically, although admitting that Jesus was born from virgin Mary, Jesus Christ is listed only as a prophet. All what devil care is that people will not call for Jesus' name and receive the salvation.

Christmas is the biggest festival of the world. Suppose to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and the salvation to all the human beings. But a false figure jumped in and steals the role - Santa. Why there are quite a few movies trying to convince the kids that Santa is real? How could they accept Jesus Christ after they find out that Santa is false? Seems full of warmth and talks about sharing gifts. But changes people's focus on the real one we should celebrate. And why his name is Santa? What's the name of the devil? - Satan!

"...in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his scheme." (2 CORINTHIANS 2:11)
"...and then the devil comes and take away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved." (LUKE 8:12)

5. We must be alert to and fight against the devil and evil spirits:

Although in spiritual world, the devil cannot be in different places at the same time, for he is just an angel. Yet in spiritual world, there is no much secret. The problem is that they know what man is thinking, but man is not aware of it. That's why they can deceit man easily. When one becomes more spiritual with Holy Spirit dwelling in, one will face direct attacks from the evil spirits and the fights are unavoidable. We must be alert to them and fight against them:

(a) If man's free will does not yield to them, they cannot enter man's mind. Therefore, say "No" to any wicked and bad ideas. Shake off any bad ideas even though they seem enticing. When you are facing several choices, there might be two voices in your mind -- one is good and one is evil. Make sure to make choices in accordance with your conscience.
"...and do not give the devil a foothold." (EPHESIANS 4:27)
"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like 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 sufferings." (1 PETER 5:8-9)
Follow Jesus Christ's example and be mature to resist any temptation.
Rebuke them away: "Away from me, Satan!'" (MATTHEW 4:10)

Since in a lot of cases, evil spirits deceit people based on their own weakness. Therefore, in a lot of cases, fighting against the evil spirits are similar as fighting against one's sinful nature.

(b) Call for Jesus Christ's name. Jesus' name has power over the evil spirits as demonstrated in the books of GOSPEL and ACTS and also nowadays. In Jesus' name, we can also drive the evil spirits out of
people.
"He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work." (1 JOHN 3:8-9)
"Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." (LUKE 10:17)

(c) Read the Bible frequently. God's words have living power that we can keep the evil spirits away from us. Reading Bible is surely a very practical and useful way to help and protect us in our daily life. And we will win the battle for sure through our faith in God.
"...and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one." (1 JOHN 2:14)
"Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming." (EPHESIANS 4:14)

(d) Turn to God and rely on Him. Know that we are winners through our faith.
"...without being frightened in any way by those oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved - and that by God." (PHILIPPIANS 1:28)
"If God is for us, who can be against us?" (ROMANS 8:31)
"But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one." (2 THESSALONIANS 3:3)
"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (JAMES 4:7)
"Come near to God and he will come near to you." (JAMES 4:8)

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 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. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil
comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." (EPHESIANS 6:10-18)

All glories, praises and thanks be to God.
God bless us to stand firm
In Jesus

servant of Christ