Category: Satan
Horns and a pitchfork?
The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.
The subtlety of the father of lies is rooted in his character as the master of a million faces. And these faces are beautifully bathed in light. The grotesque images of the evil one as a fiery red beast with horns, a pointy tail, and a pitchfork come to us, not from Scripture, but from Middle-Age caricatures.
The medieval church believed firmly in the reality of Satan. It understood that the evil one was a fallen angel whose head swelled with pride. So, the church proposed attacking Satan at his point of weakness – his arrogance – and he would flee. As R. C. Sproul puts it, “What better way to attack Satan’s pride than to depict him as a cloven-hoofed court jester in a red suit?” Unfortunately, later generations, including ours, maintain these distortions as if they are intended to be the real thing.
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Satan: Father of lies
The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.
What do Satan and Fletcher Reede have in common? Haven’t heard of Mr. Reede? He’s the fast-talking lawyer whose habitual untruths built a remarkably successful career for himself – and ruined just about everything else, including a relationship with his young son, Max. Actor Jim Carrey plays the strangely lovable louse in the 1997 film Liar Liar.
Reede undergoes a miraculous transformation when Max makes a wish. As he’s blowing out the candles on his birthday cake, Max wishes his dad would tell the truth – and nothing but the truth – for just twenty-four hours. Max’s wish comes true, and the ensuing scenes take Reede through an agonizing journey of self-discovery and, ultimately, a restored relationship with his son.
Redemption rarely looks this sweet, or funny. Throughout the story, Reede realizes he is incapable of telling the truth. His pathological behavior suits him, and benefits him, until he realizes it destroys nearly everything he loves. Reede lies because he is a liar. It is his nature to lie. And it takes a miracle to set him free.
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The devil and his details
The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.
Let’s close this part of our study on Satan with a short summary of his diabolical activities and his ultimate destiny as recorded in the New Testament. Specifically, note seven key contrasts between what Satan does and what eventually becomes of him.
First, Satan binds, then he is bound. After Jesus heals a woman that an evil spirit has disabled, he explains to the synagogue leader who objects to the Sabbath-day miracle, “Satan has bound this woman, a daughter of Abraham, for eighteen years – shouldn’t she be untied from this bondage on the Sabbath day?” (Luke 13:16). Other Scriptures speak of those in bondage to sin (John 8:34; Acts 8:23) or taken captive by Satan to do his will (2 Tim. 2:26).
Ultimately, however, the evil one finds himself bound in the abyss. Revelation 20 records an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He seizes “the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan,” and binds him for a thousand years (vv. 1-2). Then, Satan is “released from his prison” for a time, only to be cast into the lake of fire forever (vv. 7, 10).
Continue reading Satan: three curious cases of slander
The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.
Let’s briefly examine three biblical events that illustrate Satan’s slanderous nature.
Case No. 1: Job 1:6 – 2:10
Satan (literally the satan) appears with the sons of God before the Lord. The sons of God are members of the divine council, an assembly of created spirit beings to whom the Lord has endowed authority for governing of the universe. The satan shows up as well, although it seems he may not be a member of the divine council. Rather than consult with God, as council members do, he reports to God he has been “roaming through the earth … and walking around on it” (Job 1:7). You might say he relishes the role of divine ambulance chaser.
“Have you considered my servant Job?” says the Lord. “No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil” (1:8).
“Does Job fear God for nothing?” asks the accuser. “Haven’t you placed a hedge around him, his household, and everything he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he owns, and he will surely curse you to your face” (1:9-11).
Continue reading The names “Satan” and “Devil”
The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.
Social-media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram have made slander a quick and easy blood sport for anyone with a smart phone or an Internet connection. American singer-songwriter Lizzo found herself on the receiving end of a defamation suit after tweeting the name, workplace, and photo of a food delivery person she claimed stole her food.
Billionaire Elon Musk engaged in an online spat with a British diver who helped rescue twelve boys and their coach from a cave in Thailand. Musk called the hero a “pedo guy” and allegedly referred to him as a “child rapist” in an off-the-record email to a journalist. The result of Musk’s accusations? You guessed it: a lawsuit.
And hip-hop star The Game chose to rant about his children’s former nanny to the rapper’s one million Instagram followers. In reply, the babysitter sued for an unspecified amount of money, claiming loss of employment, inability to work in her chosen field, and depression.
And so it goes. Despite ramped-up filtering efforts by social-media platforms, a subscriber’s flash of anger, or a simmering grudge, becomes public fodder in a matter of seconds. Equally troubling, the consequences of these viral accusations may be difficult, if not impossible, to arrest until they’ve run their course.
How did people become so adept at slander? Practice. And a supernatural role model.
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