Hi to my Forum Friends,
In the discussion titled "Please respond, Bill Gray" begun by DHS -- Rram declares, "Satan does not exist. . . God on the other hand does exist."
And, Chick asks, "If Satan doesn't exist, why is he mentioned in the Bible? I wouldn't call myself an atheist...yet...I'm well confused by all of it."
Chick, Satan does indeed exist! We find in the Bible that when God created the angels, there were at least three archangels: Michael, the warrior angelic leader; Gabriel, the messenger; and Lucifer, the light bearer. And, I am led to believe that Lucifer was the highest in rank, for his name Lucifer, the Greek word heylel , means: light-bearer, shining one, morning star.
In Ezekiel 28:14-17, God, speaking through the prophet Ezekiel, tells Satan, "You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you. . . Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you."
Yet, the angels, like we humans, were created with the gift of "free will." And, we are told in Isaiah 14 that Lucifer used his God-given gift of "free will" to turn against God. Lucifer, like many mortals, became a slave to his desire to be his own god, to be equal or greater than God. Now, you would think that an archangel as intelligent as Lucifer would know better. But, obviously intelligence does not matter when one is controlled by desire; as was Lucifer.
Isaiah 14:12-15, "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit."
In Revelation 12:3-5, we are told more about Satan, "Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon (Satan) having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman (Israel) who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son (the Messiah, Jesus Christ), a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne."
We are told that when Satan rebelled against God, he lured one third of the angels in heaven into following him in his rebellion against God. So, these angels obviously had the gift of "free will" also. Their number had to be in the billions, the angelic beings lured from God and lured into following Satan -- through their own free will.
Lucifer/Satan, who personally stood at the throne of God, sort of reminds me of most non-believers, i.e., they know He is the preexisting God, the Almighty -- yet, they still want to be their own gods. And, to accomplish this, many will attempt to deny that God exists (atheists) or question if God exists (agnostics) -- and many, like Richard Dawkins, et al, will work hard to disprove God.
Yet, even Dawkins, when push comes to shove, says, in his many bus signs posted around the world: "GOD PROBABLY DOES NOT EXIST." Do you wonder why this devout atheist did not write on his bus signs: GOD DOES NOT EXIST -- isn't Dawkins "really" sure?
Lucifer/Satan, even though he personally stood beside God in heaven, did a similar thing -- for we are told in Revelation 12 that "And the dragon stood before the woman (Israel) who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child (Jesus Christ)."
Satan, who had been an archangel, who had stood beside the throne of God -- who knows that Jesus is God the Son, preexisting deity -- yet, in his arrogance and strong desire to be like God; he tries to destroy Jesus Christ. Who can destroy the preexisting, almighty God? But, that is the level of arrogance and self-inflicted delusion spiritual blindness will bring upon anyone who denies God.
This woman in this verse is the nation Israel who was about to give birth to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. And, Satan, using the evil King Herod, attempted to destroy the infant, Jesus. Satan is a great example of personal arrogance overwhelming intelligence and knowledge.
And, the highly intelligent, but extremely arrogant Satan even attempted to tempt the adult Jesus Christ, as we are told in Matthew 4:1, "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil."
In Revelation 12:5, we read, "And she (Israel) gave birth to a son (Jesus Christ), a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne."
In this one verse, we are given the full Gospel: Jesus Christ born a Jew, crucified, resurrected -- and "caught up to God and to His throne." By the way, the phrase "caught up" used here for the ascension of Jesus Christ after His resurrection is the same Greek word harpazo used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 which speaks of our ascension, or rapture, when Christ returns for us.
Many times the New Testament speaks of Satan.
Luke 10:18, "And He (Jesus) said to them, 'I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.'"
John 12:31, "Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world (Satan) will be cast out."
John 16:11, "And concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world (Satan) has been judged."
Revelation 9:1-3, "Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven (Lucifer/Satan) which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Revelation 12:7-9, "And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon (Satan). The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him."
So, yes, Rram and Chick, Satan is indeed real. He is taught throughout the Bible -- and he has billions of fallen angels, demonic spirits, working with him to lure as many people as possible away from God. And, one of their strategies is to convince people that Satan and hell are not real; but, only myths made up to scare people.
Another strategy Satan uses to lure people into his domain -- is to convince people that God does not exist. And, he has many, many mortals living on earth who are working with him in this pursuit. I would suggest the Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, et al, are part of his first current string team.
Yet, as long as one still has breath in this mortal body -- there is still time to switch teams and get on the Winning Team -- truly the ultimate Dream Team. God is the Team Owner, Jesus Christ is the General Manager, the Holy Spirit is the Coach -- and we have team members which will put Shaq, Kobe, and Lebron to shame. Why not join the Winning Team today? He is just waiting for YOU to open the door of your heart and invite Him to come in (Revelation 3:20).
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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