By Pastor Greg
Screen Director George Lucas is an expert at tricking his audience. Consider his Star Wars movies for example. When it first came to the screen back in 1977 we were introduced to Darth Vader. In a later movie we meet Senator Palpatine.
One was dark and sinister; the other kind of looked like a college professor or even someone’s grandpa. Yet for those who know the movies, the one most wicked was not so obvious. In other words, we couldn’t tell who was the bad guy based upon external evidence. George Lucas kept us guessing.
Much to my surprise, George Lucas captured the very essence of evil when he portrayed the great adversary as a sweet, loving, and kind older man. This is the true presence of evil in this world. The Great Adversary that stands in opposition to God the Father and God the Son cannot be perceived by outward appearance.
The Satan, the accuser who stands in opposition to God, is trying to mess up what God is trying to straighten up. It is the Satan who constantly tries to take our eyes off of God. And I tell you the truth; Satan uses some underhanded trickery to accomplish that goal. Probably his greatest trick is that he doesn’t appear as the wicked one. You can’t pick him out simply because of the way he looks. Actually, since he is a master of deception, sometimes he even puts on his Sunday best and goes to church. There, He lies, slanders, and tears down what God is trying to build up. But the good news is that a Christian is not left to figure these things out alone.
John the Apostle says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error”. (1 John 4:1-6).
John the Apostle has called us to test the spirits and discern whether they are from God. His test was whether a person who claimed to speak for God would confess that Jesus has come in the flesh. The Apostle Paul echoed those thoughts as well. “So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit”. (1 Corinthians 12:3). But I believe there is also another way within us to discern what is of God and what is of Satan. From what the Bible says, the Holy Spirit within us will make us sensitive to the presence of Satan. And some Christians will actually be given a Spiritual Gift to discern when and where Satan is working.
The Apostle Paul warns us to “not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption”. (Ephesians 4:30). Paul speaks of an emotional bonding with God. And what grieves God the Father with grieve God the Spirit. And since the Spirit lives within each Christian, a Christian who is sensitive enough to the guiding of the Holy Spirit within them will begin to “feel” when something just isn’t right. This is what is commonly known as conviction. But Paul also mentions a special gifting by the Spirit to discern the spirits. “He (the Holy Spirit) gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit”. (1 Corinthians 12:10). In other words, God the spirit gifts certain individual Christians with the ability to perceive the works of Satan; whether it be lies, deceit, trickery, or even Satan’s presence.
Satan is real: he is not an imaginary figure created by the church in order to scare people into obedience. I tell you he is real because God has given Christians the ability to see his works of darkness in this world. And to some God has given the ability to feel the actual presence of Satan within a room or in certain places. These Christians feel darkness, and I want you to know that that ability is actually a gift from God to be used to warn the rest of the Church that Satan has tricked and lied and weaseled his way into the heart of a family of into the heart of Church.
Now maybe you’re wondering what the “feeling” is like. Christian author Karen Hancock describes it best (Legends of the Guardian King – page 41). What she described is not fiction. It is real. I’ve had a few individuals describe those very feelings to me. I’ve experienced it on 4 separate occasions. And Karen’s description is spot on. And before you try to tell me they were panic attacks, on three of those occasions the people with me felt the same things as well.
God has given us His Spirit so that we might know the Father and know the Son. But God has also given us His Holy Spirit so we might be able to perceive the lies, tricks, and destructive behaviors of the Satan. Sometimes Satan lies about God, sometimes he tricks us into believing something that is not true, sometimes he manipulates unsuspecting Christians to do things or say things that tear down the work of God. And sometimes Satan tricks us into believing things about ourselves that simply are not true.
I plan to talk about the lies, deception, and trickery of Satan next week, but today I need you to understand that Satan is indeed real, and that he desires to destroy anyone, and especially any work of God. You also need to understand that we are working in enemy territory. For the time being Satan is free to roam the earth looking for someone weak to devour (1 Peter 5:8). So to prepare His children for what they will face, God the Father sent God the Spirit into our lives so that we might be able to perceive (to know) light and darkness; good and evil. And even though evil walks among us, John the Apostle tells us DO NOT FEAR, for “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world”. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives that is greater than the Satan who is present in the world.
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