DAVAR

JAdmin · Moderator Joined: 26 Aug 2004 Posts: 279

In the Gospell according to Matthew Chapter VII the King James Version in the New Testament kept the authorized translation:

(KJV) Mt 7:17-18 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

heman

SA?TAN. The word itself, the Hebrew sa?ta?n, is simply an "adversary," and is so used in 1 Sam. 29:4; 2 Sam. 19:22; 1 Kings 5:4; 11:14, 23, 25; Num. 22:22, 32; Ps. 109:6. This original sense is still found in our Lord?s application of the name to St. Peter in Matt. 16:23. It is used as a proper name or title only four times in the Old Testament, viz. (with the article) in Job 1:6, 12; 2:1; Zech. 2:1, and (without the article) in 1 Chron. 21:1.
The word devil is derived from the Greek word diabolos ("to slander"), and the term devil can refer to a greater demon in the hierarchy of Hell. At the same time, the term devil is also derived from the same Indo-European root word for deva, which roughly translates as "angel."
It is easy to see how modern religions adapted the satan to mean "fallen angel".
Only rationalists like Maimonides and Abraham ibn Ezra, clearly denied (devils) their existence. Their point of view eventually became the mainstream Jewish understanding.
The Greek word daemon, daemon, appears in the works of Plato and many other ancient authors, without the evil connotations apparent in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible and in the Greek originals of the New Testament.
Some say that Isaiah 14:12. "How are you fallen from heaven, O bright star [or shining one], son of the morning [or son of dawn]! how are you cut down to the ground, you who ruled the nations!" is about the "devil". Part of this is due to the fact that the term bright star or shining one is translated in Latin to lucifer, which means shining one. Now, the context of the verse and a bit of knowledge of history reviels that this is about the Babylonian empire.
One of the main dieties of Babylon was "Ishtar", who was the "god" who was the morning star. Shining one, son of dawn is the morning star. The prophet was avoiding the use of the name of the not-god Ishtar. Reading verse 4, "That you shall take up this proverb against the **king of Babylon,** and say, How has the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!", it becomes clear that this is the king of Babylon and his nation that is being spoken of here.
While this mythological information is available to scholars today via translated Babylonian cuneiform text taken from clay tablets, it was not as readily available at the time of the Latin translation of the Bible. Thus, early Christian tradition interpreted the passage as a reference to the moment Satan was thrown from Heaven. Lucifer became another name for Satan and has remained so due to Christian dogma and popular tradition.
The idea that there exists anything capable of setting itself up as God's opponent would be considered overly polytheistic?you are setting up the devil to be a god or demigod.The notion of an angel having free will is alien to Judaism.
Free will requires the tension created by being a soul dwelling in a body. People can have free will, angels can't. There is a debate over whether they lack the potential for free will, or whether they simply percieve reality to clearly to have any choices to make. But in any case, without the fence-straddling of the human condition, there is no free will. HaSatan acts as a servant of God, not as an opponent or even disobediant child. Angels cannot sin, they cannot fall. (Soc.Culture.Jewish NewsgroupsFrequently Asked Questions and Answers)
The idea that there is a God in heaven above who fights against a god of the underworld, or hell, is not monotheism, however, it is the same duality found in other pagan faiths.
Through His prophet Isaiah, God profoundly states, "I form light and create darkness, I make peace and CREATE evil; I am God, I do all these things" (Isaiah 45:7)
Isa 54:16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy..

Consider this:[/b] If there were such an opponent and foe of God (Satan) as Christianity claims, don't you think God is capable of eliminating His created angel with a mere breath - or thought (anthropomorphically speaking)? If God spoke him (Satan) into existence; God could simply quit speaking and Satan would simply cease to exist.
(Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets, Jewish Publication Society, 1962, Philip Birnbaum, Encyclopedia of Jewish Concepts, Hebrew Publishing Company, 1991, Aryeh Kaplan, Jewish Meditation, Schocken Books, 1985.).

In the first entrance of evil into the world, the temptation is referred only to the serpent who spoke as moved just as Balaam in Nu 22:27 And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam?s anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.
Nu 22:28 And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?

In the book of Job we find for the first time a distinct mention of "Ha-Satan," the "adversary" of Job. But it is important to remark the emphatic stress laid on the subordinate position, on [b]the absence of all but delegated power, of all terror and all grandeur in it's character. It is especially remarkable that no power of spiritual influence, but only a power over outward circumstances, is attributed to ha-satan. The subordination and inferiority are as strongly marked as ever
Of the nature and original state of "Ha-Satan",nothing is revealed in Scripture.
As to the time, cause, and manner of his fall Scripture again tells us nothing; but it describes to us distinctly the moral nature of the evil one. The ideal of goodness is made up of the three great moral attributes of God?love, truth, and purity or holiness; combined with that spirit which is the natural temper of the finite and dependent creature, the spirit of faith. We find, accordingly, that the opposites of these qualities are dwelt upon as the characteristics of the Ha-satan.
The indirect action of ha-satan is best discerned by an examination of the title by which it is designated in Scripture. It is called emphatically in the Hebrew sa?ta?n and is simply an "adversary," . The derivation of the word in itself implies only the endeavor to break the bonds between others and "set them at variance"; but common usage adds to this general sense the special idea of "setting at variance by slander."
The subject of a test is illustrated, not only by abstract statements, but also by the record of the temptations (tests) of Adam and of our Lord. It is expressly laid down, as in James 1:13-16, that "temptation," is properly so called, "sin".
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.

The 'popular' image of the Devil has no Biblical basis.
The belief in huge creatures/monsters inhabiting the deep was widespread throughout the ancient world.
The sea serpent is a mythological and legendary marine animal that is traditionally thought to resemble an enormous snake. In the Old Testament there are several allusions to a primordial combat between God and a monstrous adversary variously named Leviathan or Rahab. At one place in the Old Testament, the Leviathan appears as a multi-headed sea serpent that is killed by God and given as food to the Hebrews in the wilderness.
Certain Jewish legends consider leviathan as an androgynous dragon that seduced Eve in its male form, and Adam in its female form.
In demonology a leviathan is any aquatic demon. They are great liars. Leviathans can also possess persons, being very difficult to exorcise; they try to possess every person, but especially women.
Some biblical scholars considered Leviathan to represent the pre-existent forces of chaos. In Psalm 74:13-14 it says "it was You who drove back the sea with Your might, who smashed the heads of the monsters in the waters; it was You who crushed the heads of Leviathan, who left him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. (JPS edition)" God drove back the waters of the pre-existent Earth (Genesis 1:2 "the earth being unformed and void with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water-" [JPS edition]) and destroyed the chaotic marine monster Leviathan in order to shape the unformed and void Earth in his liking.
DEMONIACS. This word is frequently used in the New Testament, and applied to persons suffering under the possession of a demon or evil spirit, such possession generally showing itself visibly in bodily disease or mental derangement.
It has been maintained by many persons that our Lord and the evangelists, in referring to demonical possession, spoke only in accommodation to the general belief of the Jews.
It is concluded that, since the symptoms of the affliction were frequently those of bodily disease (as dumbness, Matt. 9:32; blindness, Matt. 12:22; epilepsy, Mark 9:17-27), or those seen in cases of ordinary insanity (as in Matt. 8:28; Mark 5:1-5), the demoniacs were merely persons suffering under unusual diseases of body and mind. But demoniacs are frequently distinguished from those afflicted with bodily sickness, see Mark 1:32; 16:17, 18; Luke 6:17, 18; the same outward signs are sometimes referred to possession, sometimes merely to disease, comp. Matt. 4:24 with 17:15; Matt. 12:22 with Mark 7:32, etc.; the demons are represented as speaking in their own persons just like Ballam's donkey. Matt. 8:29; Mark 1:24; 5:7; Luke 4:41, etc. All these things speak of a personal power of evil. Twice our Lord distinctly connects demoniacal possession with the adversary. Luke 10:18.
Lastly, the single fact recorded of the entrance of the demons at Gadara, Mark 5:10-14, into the herd of swine, and the effect which that entrance caused, is sufficient to overthrow the notion that our Lord and the evangelists do not assert or imply any objective reality of possession. We are led, therefore, to the ordinary and literal interpretation of these passages, that the subjects of the adversary, who, in the days of the Lord himself and his apostles especially, were permitted by God to exercise a direct influence over certain men.

JAdmin · Moderator Joined: 26 Aug 2004 Posts: 279

Am very glad you brought up James, cause there's a great message there (for all of us) starting with chapter I:

heman

Notwithstanding: God controls the world;
Isa 13:11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
19 ? And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees? excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Isa 14:4 That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
22 For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.
24 ? The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:

And using the very same language we read:
Eze 26:2 Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:
Eze 26:3 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.
Eze 28:2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
Eze 28:12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

And the PURPOSE for the destruction of Tyre:
Eze 28:25 Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.
26 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.
What are we to understand by "the devil" so often mentioned in the Bible, and, spoken of in the "third personal pronoun, singular, masculine gender"? This is the question now demanding an answer, and the demand will be met by facts which will show the impossibility of the existence of the devil of popular superstition.
The theology of Christendom places the devil in juxtaposition with God.
It is the polytheism of paganism in its smallest form: and the philosophy of the ancients embodied in names and forms supplied by the Bible.
The doctrine of the devil has as intimate a bearing upon the truth of Christ as the doctrine of God.
First, the orthodox point of view:
He is the great nightmare, the great object of terror, the great fowler, with net-snare, exerting his utmost cunning and device--which are something superhuman--to entrap souls. Cruden describes him as "a most wicked angel, the implacable enemy and tempter of the human race... deadly in. his malice, surprisingly subtle possessing strength superior to ours, having a mighty number of principalities and powers under his command . . . He roves, full of rage, like a roaring lion, seeking to tempt, to betray, to destroy us, and to involve us in guilt and wickedness . . . In a word, he is an enemy to God and man, and uses his utmost endeavours to rob God of His glory, and men of their souls."
Common belief assigns something like omniscience to the evil being thus described; he is regarded as universally at work. He is also believed to be, in some sense, omnipotent, achieving his behests by a power superior to nature, and certainly more successfully than God in the mutual strife for human souls.
From the second point of view:
No one acquainted with the teaching of the New Testament will dispute, that it is necessary to understand and believe the truth concerning Christ. James, speaking of himself, and those who were Christ's, says, "Of his own will begat he us with the word o! truth" (James 1:18).
Now, this truth is styled "the word of the truth of the gospel" (Col. 1:5), "by which also ye are saved" (I Cor. 15: 2).
Therefore, the gospel consists of "the kingdom of God and those things that concern our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 28:31), elsewhere styled, "the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 8:12). From this it follows, that for a man to believe the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16), he must believe the truth concerning Jesus Christ. In view of this, let us ponder the following testimonies :--
"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL" (I John 3:8).

"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, (Jesus) also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might DESTROY HIM THAT HAD THE POWER OF DEATH, THAT IS, THE DEVIL" (Heb.2:14).
Is it possible to believe the truth concerning Christ, and be ignorant of the nature of the devil that he was expressly manifested to destroy with his works? It is unnecessary to answer the question. It is necessary to put it for the purpose of shewing that the doctrine of the devil (in whatever form the truth of the matter may be found to exist) is so far from being an unimportant matter, that it is one of the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, ignorance of which argues a fatal want of knowledge in relation to the first of divine principles. The doctrine of the devil is not an "advanced" subject, but bears upon the most elementary aspects of divine truth.

Now, we make bold at once to assert that the popular doctrine of a personal devil has no foundation whatever in truth, but is the hideous conception of the heathen mind, inherited by the moderns from the mythologies of the ancients, and incorporated with Christianity by those "men of corrupt minds," who, Paul predicted, would pervert the truth, "giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils" (1 Tim. 4:1).

In the first place, there are certain general principles which exclude the possibility of the devil's existence. "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). "Sin entered into the world, and DEATH by sin" (Rom. 5:12). This is an eternal principle; death and sin are inseparable. "God ONLY hath immortality" (I Tim. 6:16).
Therefore, the angels which kept not their first estate, were cast down to hell (the grave), and reserved under chains of darkness (the bonds of death)--(Jude 6; II Peter 2:2, 4), therefore Adam was sentenced to return to the ground (Gen. 3:19).

An immortal rebel is an impossibility. With God is the fountain of life (Psalm 36:9). "In His hand is the life of every living thing" (Job12:10), and He cuts away the life that is lifted against Him; He consigns all disobedience and sin to death.
Will it be suggested that God has made an exception in the case of the devil? The Bible devil is a sinner (1 John3:8): therefore the devil cannot be immortal. God is no respecter of persons, whether of men or angels.

Therefore the operation of His law, which links death with sin, would destroy the devil if he were a person; "for the devil sinneth from the beginning," and must, therefore, have been mortal from the beginning.
The theory of an immortal, supernatural devil, who was once an angel, has an air of plausibility and consistency about it, when not scanned too closely; but the idea of a mortal devil--who never was anything but a sinner himself---entrusted 'with a general jurisdiction over other sinners (for it is said he has the power of death and disease), for the purpose, not of dispensing the divine law, but of antagonising the Deity in His dealings with the human race--doing all he can to afflict and damn those whom Deity is represented as striving to save, is something exceedingly difficult to conceive.

If this is the Bible devil, why was it necessary that Jesus should die to compass his destruction?
He took part of flesh and blood, that "THROUGH DEATH he might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb. 2:14).
Why through death?
If the devil is a being separate from mankind, what had the immolation of flesh and blood on Calvary to do with the process of his destruction? If he were the strong, personal, active power of evil contended for, it wanted strength, and not weakness, to put him down. It wanted "the nature of angels," and not "the seed of Abraham," to enter into a successful encounter with "the personal power of darkness." But Jesus, to destroy him, was manifested in the flesh, and submitted to death. Victory crowned his efforts, and the devil was destroyed.

The doctrine of God's existence; of His creative power; of His relation to His universe, is not only implied in the appellations He appropriates to Himself, but expressly propounded. Isa 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
Isa 46:9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me.

The narrative of creation exhibits the natural serpent, "more subtle than any BEAST OF THE FIELD which the Lord God had made" (Gen. 3:1), as the tempter. The creature was endowed with the gift of speech (no doubt, specially with a view to the part it had to perform in putting our first parents to the test).
To suggest that the serpent was Satan in reptile form is again to go beyond the record, and enter a region where one guess or one assertion is as good as another.

The idea is forbidden by the sentence which condemns the serpent to eat dust all the days of its life. Paul evidently recognised nothing beyond the serpent in the transaction. "I fear," says he, "lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty," etc. (II Cor. 11:3).
Some people make a great difficulty about the serpent speaking; but surely there is as much difficulty about a serpent speaking under satanic inspiration as in one speaking by faculty divinely conferred for a purpose. If a "dumb ass, speaking with man's voice, forbad the madness" of a Balaam----(II Pet. 2:16)--why not a serpent be enabled to utter its thoughts when it was necessary to try the faithfulness of Adam and Eve? How otherwise could they be put to trial?
It is commonly believed that the devil was once a powerful arch-angel, and that he was driven out of heaven on account of his pride; after which, he applied his angelic energies to oppose God in all His schemes and movements, and do as much evil as he could in the universe, being assisted in this by a host of angelic sympathisers, who were driven down to hell along with him.

The case of the fallen angels is largely relied upon:.--
"If God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment" (II Pet. 2:4). ..
"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6).

This is all the information we have on the subject. It is scanty and obscure, but, such as it is, it points in a very different direction and to a very different occurrence from that indicated in popular tradition. It does not tell of angels being expelled from heaven to engage in marauding expeditions against human interests and divine authority, wherever their caprice might lead them; but of disobedient angels, not necessarily in heaven, being degraded from their position, and confined in the grave against a time of judgment. It speaks of them as in custody, "in chains of darkness "--a metaphor highly expressive of the bondage of death--in which they are held and from which they will emerge, to be judged, at a time when the saints shall sit in judgment (I Cor. 6:3).
Superficial believers in the Miltonic antecedents of "the Prince of Darkness," quote Rev. 12:7, in proof of them :--
"And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the Dragon, and the Dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven; and the great Dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

The things seen by John in "Revelation" were representative of events future to his time. This is evident from Rev. 4:1: "Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter." Hence, how absurd to quote any of his descriptions as applicable to an event alleged to have occurred before the creation of the world!

STAY TUNED....MORE TO COME!

heman

JAdmin · Moderator Joined: 26 Aug 2004 Posts: 279

heman

PART III Re: Does the LORD create evil or terrible trouble?
It is here where people think the word is most jealously cherished as the synonym of the popular "angel of the pit."
In the first place, if Satan is the popular devil, in what a curious light the following statement appears, addressed by Jesus, in the first century, to the church at Pergamos:--
"I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even WHERE SATAN'S SEAT IS: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, WHERE SATAN DWELLETH" (Rev. 2:13).

According to this, in the days of John, the apostle, Satan's headquarters were Pergamos, in Asia Minor. The fact is, the enemies of the truth were notably numerous, energetic, and powerful in that city, and indulged in relentless and successful persecution of those professing the name of Christ. This earned for the place. the fearful distinction of being styled by Jesus " (the adversary's) seat," and "the dwelling place of Satan" (the adversary).

Jesus, on a certain occasion, styled Peter "Satan ":--"But he turned, and said unto PETER, Get thee behind me, SATAN: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men" (Matt. 16:23; Mark 8:33; Luke 4:8).
Understanding "Satan" to mean adversary, we can comprehend this incident. In opposing the death of Christ, Peter was, therefore Satan, in the Bible sense.

This sense Christ actually defines: Thou (Peter) savourest (or favourest, or hast sympathy with) not the things that be of God but THOSE THAT BE OF MEN." Paul says, "Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto SATAN, that they may learn not to blaspheme" (1 Tim.1:20).
This also shows that the New Testament Satan is not the popular Satan: for no one ever hears of the popular Satan being employed by Christian teachers to correct the blasphemous propensities of reprobates.

The process of "delivering over to Satan," according to apostolic practice may be gathered from I Cor. 5:3-5:--
"For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed; in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."
The meaning of this is, simply, the expulsion of the offender from the community of the believers.

This is evident from the verse immediately preceding those I have quoted: "Ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed MIGHT BE TAKEN AWAY FROM AMONG YOU "; and also the concluding sentence, "PUT AWAY FROM AMONG YOURSELVES THAT WICKED PERSON" (verse 13). This was the apostolic recommendation in all cases of recalcitrance.

"Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them" (Rom. 16:17).
To repudiate the fellowship of anyone, was to hand him over to the adversary, or Satan, because it was putting him back into the world, which is the great enemy or adversary of God. The object of this was remedial :-- "Have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother" (2 Thess. 3:14, I5).

The object of it, in the recommendation to the Corinthians, was "for the destruction of the flesh "--that is, the extirpation of the carnal mind in their midst: for he says immediately after, "A little leaven leaventh the whole lump. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. Put away from among yourselves that wicked person" 6-7, 13).

"Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again, but SATAN hindered us" (I Thess. 2:18). Who obstructed Paul's travels?
The enemies of the truth. On several occasions they watched the gates of the city where he was, to intercept and kill him. He crawled out of a window and was lowered in a basket to avoid risking a confrontation.

Paul mentions names: "Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil The Lord reward him according to his works. Of whom be thou ware also, for he hath greatly withstood our words" (II Tim. 4:14). "As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth, men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith" (II Tim. 3:8). "Their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Phitetus" (II Tim. 2:17).

The orthodox devil took no part in the opposition which Paul encountered from these men. Who ever heard of Bunyan's "Apollyon" stopping him in the way, and defying him with arrows and terrors of the pit? Yet, if the New Testament Satan be the popular Satan, this ought to have been among his experiences.
"And after the sop, Satan entered into him. He then, having received the sop, went immediately out." (Judas)--(John 13:27).

If the Satan in the case was the popular Satan, the hard question would present itself,
Why was Judas punished for the devil's sin?
"It had been good for that man," said Jesus, "if he had not been born," showing that the in of Christ's betrayal was charged upon the man Judas.
There is another case where the sinful action of the human heart is described as the inspiration of "Satan" (Acts 5:3). Ananias and Sapphira went into the presence of the apostles with a lie on their lips; Peter said, "Ananias, why hath SATAN filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?"

The meaning of Satan filling the heart, crops out in the next sentence but one: "Why hast THOU conceived this thing in thine heart?" (verse 4); also in Peter's address to Sapphire, who came in three hours after Ananias. Peter said unto her, "How is it that YE HAVE AGREED TOGETHER to tempt the spirit of the Lord?" (verse 9). The action of the adversary in this case was the voluntary agreement of husband and wife.

James defines the process of sin as follows: "Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth death" (James 1:14, 15). Hence, the action of lust in the mind is the action of the New Testament Satan, or adversary.

All sin proceeds from the desires of the flesh.

"OUT OF THE HEART proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness (this was the sin of Ananias), blasphemies," etc. (Matt. 15:19).
"The CARNAL MIND is enmity against God. IT is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom.8:7).
"For ALL that is in the world, the LUST of the FLESH, and the LUST of the EYES, and the PRIDE OF LIFE, is of the world" (I John 2:16).
If he surrender to the flesh, he walks in the way of death. "If ye live after the flesh ye shall die; but if ye, through the spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Rom. 8:13).

Jesus recognises this fact in the parable of the sower. The seed fell into different kinds of soil. One is styled "good ground." In this, the seed grew well, and brought forth much fruit. In his explanation of the parable, Jesus defines the good ground to be "honest and good heart" (Luke 8:15).
Sometimes "Satan" will be found a person, sometimes the authorities, sometimes the flesh; in fact, whatever acts the part of an adversary is, scripturally, "Satan."
"Satan" is never the superhuman power of popular belief
STAY TUNED?..More to Come! The DEVIL YOU SAY?

JAdmin · Moderator Joined: 26 Aug 2004 Posts: 279

Ironicaly some consciously avow: "the devil is in the details." And only because the adversary forces it's captives to do her/his dirty work; that doesn't make it's spiritual entity any less real, nor innocent.

Taking into account the spiritual aspect of the situation according to the passages, there must be a spiritual battle going on behind the physical.. yea let it be whomever being adressed in that sense. For ensample:

heman

PART IV ?THE DEVIL?
The orthodox believer, giving way to the Bible doctrine of Satanism herein set forth, is prone to cling to the word "devil" with the idea that here, at any rate, his darling theory is safe; that, under the broad shelter of this world-renowned term of theology, the personality of this arch-rebel of the universe is secure from the arrows of criticism.

We might summarily dispose of this illusion, by pointing to the fact that "devil," in many instances is used interchangeably and along with "Satan," and that therefore, the two stand or fall together.

"The original word diabolos comes from diabebola, the perfect tense, middle voice of diaballo, which is compounded of dia, through; and ballo, to cast; therefore meaning to dart or strike through; whence, in a figurative sense, it signifies to strike or stab with an accusation or evil report."

I Tim. 3:11 Paul tells the wives of deacons not to be devils. The words, as translated, are "Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers (diabolous)."; II Tim. 3:2,3 "For men shall be... without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers (diaboloi)"; Titus 2:3 "The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers (diabolous)."

In all of which, as the reader will perceive by reading the passages, it is applied to human beings. As Jesus applied "Satan" to Peter, so he applied "devil" to Judas: "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is A DEVIL?" (John 6:70).

Jesus applied the term to the persecuting authorities in "The devil shall cast some of you into prison" (Rev. 2:10).
In the same book, the power of the world, politically organized on the sin-basis (introduced under the symbol of a dragon,
having seven heads and ten horns), is styled "that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan.

In these instances, the popular construction of the word "devil" is entirely excluded, and its meaning and use as a general term are illustrated.
First, demonstrate the fact of this personification. The evidence of it makes a powerful beginning in Heb. 2:14, where we read as follows:--
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he (Jesus) also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might DESTROY him that had the power of death, THAT IS, THE DEVIL."

On the supposition that the devil here referred to is the orthodox devil, or a personal devil of any kind, there are four absurdities on the face of this passage.
First, to take on the weakness of flesh and blood was a strange way of preparing to fight a powerful devil or angel. Paul expressly says Jesus did not array himself in angelic powers; for he says, "He took not on him the nature of angels" (Heb.2:16).

It is stranger still that the process of destroying the devil should be submission to death himself if, the Bible devil had been the orthodox devil--a personal monster. The devil would now to be dead, or whatever else is imported by the word "destroyed."

How is it then, that the devil is clerically represented to be alive and busier than ever in the world today, hunting immortal souls? And the proposition that the popular devil has the "power of death!"

Who made Adam mortal?
Who punishes the infraction of divine law? It is He who says, "I kill, and I make alive" (Deut. 32:39).
God, and not the devil, reigns.

John says, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil" (I John 3:8).

The devil that Christ has come to destroy is sin.

If anyone doubts this, let him reconsider Paul's words quoted above.
What did Christ accomplish in his death? Let the following testimonies answer:--
"He put away SIN by the sacrifice of himself" (Heb. 9:26).

"Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (I Cor. 15:3).

"He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities" (Isa. 53:5).

"He was manifested to take away OUR SINS" (I John 3:5).

This is described as "God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3).

Sin in the flesh, then, is the devil destroyed by Jesus in his death.

This is the devil having the power of death, for it is sin, and nothing else but sin that causes death to men. Does anyone doubt this ? Let him read the following testimonies:

By one man sin entered into the world, and death BY sin" (Rom. 5:12)
"By man CAME DEATH (I Cor. 15:21).
"The wages of sin is DEATH" (Rom. 6:23).
"SIN hath reigned unto death" (Rom. 5:21).
"SIN... bringeth forth death" (James 1:15).
"The sting of death is SIN" (I Cor. 15:56).

But, the objector may say, True, sin is the cause of death; but who prompts the sin? Is it not here that the devil of popular belief has his work?

Nothing can be more directly met by a Bible answer:-- "Every man is tempted when he is drawn away OF HIS OWN LUST, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (James 1:14, 15).

"ALL that is in the world" John defines to be "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (I John 2:16).

STAY TUNED?..More to Come!

JAdmin · Moderator Joined: 26 Aug 2004 Posts: 279

You may be reading too much into the physical meaning, and leaving the spiritual behind.

To be more specific God is sovereign, and it is Christ who rules now. And there are many enemies standing in his way who he quickly overcometh with the sword of his mouth soon. We can't be ignorant of the fact that: