Prof Zebulon No E79
J) Doctrine (Satan)
Abaddon, Apollyon, the adversary, the
old serpent, the evil one, etc. are all Biblical names for Satan. A few non-Biblical names are Mephistopheles,
the archfiend, the god of the underworld; there are others, but who cares how
many there are? Satan is a created being
and therefore is limited is his power; his is not omnipresent nor is he
omniscient nor is he omnipotent. He is a
fierce foe and one thing he has going for him is that he has a good
memory. He remembers just how to make us
uncertain of various situations such as….…you fill in the blank. As Christians, we have power over Satan but
he is a deceiver and we fall for his deadly temptations sometimes but “…greater
is He that is in us than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Satan is no match for our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ. I would like to talk about
something else that Satan cannot do: he cannot tell the future. But you say, Dave I know of situations where
a tarot card reader said things that came true or a palm reader told of
futuristic events that happened exactly as was predicted. My answer? Satan and his demons can say something today
and make it happen just as they want because, don’t kid yourself, they have
power. There is a perfect example in
God’s word of how Satan cannot see into the future. Job was a man that God considered “perfect
and upright” (Job 1:8) and we have read how he lived up to his reputation;
here is my point. Do you think for a
moment had Satan known the outcome of Job’s experience that he would have
boldly said to God’s face “…touch all
that he hath and he will curse Thee to Thy face” or “touch
his bone and his flesh and he will curse Thee to Thy face” (Job 1:11 & 2:5)? Satan did not know that Job would remain
faithful to God and was therefore humiliated and beaten at his own game. We have that same power; all we have to do is
grab hold of it.
P) Men of the Bible
There was a man who was given a mission
to spy and seek out information concerning a portion of land that had been
promised to his people. He set off with eleven others into this strange new
land and had no idea what was facing him and his colleagues. As it turns out, they saw giants, high walls
and a land flowing with milk and honey; they even brought back samples of the
fruit that was growing wild in that land.
Upon their return, ten of the spies actually convinced the people that
the land was impenetrable and said that they were as “grasshoppers”
compared to the inhabitants of the land.
They basically said to forget the whole idea of going into this
land. One of the spies tried to calm the
people down and said to Moses “let us go up at once and possess it for we
are well able to overcome it” (Num 13:30).
I speak of course of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh of the tribe of