Satan: Murderer by proxy

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

As a general observation, Satan does not appear to murder directly, although he could – with God’s permission. Rather, the evil one carries out his murderous pursuits through various agents. We might say the evil one commits murder by proxy. 

A few examples: When God permits Satan to test Job, the evil one uses the Sabeans and Chaldeans to kill Job’s stock, as well as some of Job’s servants (Job 1:15, 17). Satan then employs fire from heaven and a great whirlwind to kill more of Job’s servants and all of his children (Job 1:16, 18-19). He incites David to take a census of Israel, resulting in the deaths of many people (2 Sam. 24; 1 Chron. 21). He uses Roman and Jewish authorities, along with a back-stabbing apostle, to bring about the death of Jesus (Luke 22:3; John 13:2, 27). And he fills the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira to lie against the Holy Spirit, resulting in their deaths (Acts 5:1-11). 

And there’s more.

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What have we done with the Christmas story?

Christians love to hear and tell the traditional Christmas story. The birth of Jesus includes Mary and Joseph seeking shelter on a winter night, no room in the inn, a baby born in a stable, and angels visiting lowly shepherds nearby.

But our modern telling of the account in Luke 2:1-20 embraces critical flaws, according to Kenneth E. Bailey, who spent 40 years teaching the New Testament in the Middle East and who authored Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels.

According to Bailey, a careful reading of the text, along with an understanding of Jewish culture, illuminate five biblical truths that challenge our Westernized version of the Christmas story:
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Timothy, Titus, and Christ’s return

This is the sixth in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com.

In previous columns, we briefly surveyed Paul’s letters to the Philippians and Thessalonians, with an emphasis on passages previewing the return of Christ. Here, we see what the apostle writes to Timothy and Titus about the second coming.

1 Timothy 6:13-16 – In the presence of God, who gives life to all, and of Christ Jesus, who gave a good confession before Pontius Pilate, I charge you to keep this command without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. God will bring this about in his own time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.

Paul draws a contrast between Timothy and the false teachers who “imagine that godliness is a way to material gain” (1 Tim. 6:5). The young pastor is to flee from false doctrine and pursue “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness” (v. 11). Further, Timothy is to persevere in faithfulness until “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,” which God will bring about “in his own time” (vv. 14-15). 

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Three kinds of death

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

God warned Adam that if he disobeyed, he would die “on the day” he ate from the forbidden tree (Gen. 2:17). Yet Adam lived at least another eight hundred years, breathing his last at the age of 930 (Gen. 5:5). So, in what sense did Adam die on the day he sinned? A little background may prove helpful.

When the Bible says we are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), it means, at least in some respects, we are a trinity – not that we exist as three co-equal divine persons, but that we each possess a body, soul, and spirit. This means we also die in three stages as a consequence of sin.

The Fall affects each part of human beings’ threefold nature. As James Boice explains, “Specifically, his [man’s] spirit died, for the fellowship that he had with God was broken; his soul began to die, for he began to lie and cheat and kill; his body died eventually, for as God said, ‘Dust you are and to dust you will return’” (Gen. 3:19).

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Satan the murderer

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

James Fairweather was only fifteen years old when he stabbed a drunken and helpless man 102 times during an encounter in Colchester, England. Three months later, Fairweather stabbed a second victim in both eyes as she walked along a nature trail in the same Essex community, resulting in her death. He was stalking a third victim when police arrested him. What made his capture particularly chilling was his admission that he wanted to kill at least fifteen more people.

When the judge handed down the teenager’s sentence, Fairweather turned toward his parents and mouthed, “I don’t give a s—.” 

Fairweather is one of the world’s youngest serial killers. He’s also one of the few who showed absolutely no remorse for his crimes. His mother branded him a “monster.” His teachers heard him express a desire to be a murderer but didn’t believe him, thinking him to be merely an “edgy teenager.” He idolized Peter Sutcliffe, the “Yorkshire Ripper,” and regarded American serial killer Ted Bundy as his favorite murderer. He claimed possession by the devil and said he heard voices in his head that compelled him to kill. Both killings showed elements of planning and sadism.

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