Our World: adversary

Showing posts with label adversary. Show all posts

Thursday, 28 January 2021

Internal or external devil

On our ecclesial contact form Anthony Buzzard wrote:

Can you please explain how the Devil can be internal when in Matthew 4 he is said to approach Jesus from the outside? How can the tempter there mean a temptation from within when he is expressly said to come from the outside? Thanks for your answer.

It seems this questioning person has, like several others, a misunderstanding of our understanding or sight on satan, devil, seduction or temptation.

The Satan is according us and the Bible not a figure from a place underneath the earth where people are terrorised or tortured for ever (in hell).

Jesus called at a certain point the apostle Peter "Satan". Peter is a living being and as such the other satans are also real existing beings. Any adversary, but in particular the adversary of God is called a Satan.

When we are confronted with a satan we are confronted by a figure outside us. For us Christadelphians, it is not like for Catholics and Muslims that a good angel would be seating at our right shoulder and a bad angel on our left shoulder. The temptations come from outside, brought to us by circumstance outside us and by people outside us. But how we react onto the temptation is something which comes from inside us. It is our own will which shall either go in or go against the temptation which comes over us. It is our own decision which shall allow the evil to go deeper into us or to weapon us against the evil around us.

The Satan can be any adversary of God, being a woman or a man. But we, too, can be a satan or adversary of God. That is stated by our attitude against God. The stipulation of our attitude to God is determinating if we can be a lover and follower of god, but at the same time it also can determine that we are going against God's Laws. When we allow our thoughts go astray and away from God it is possible that temptation can come from within when we follow our wrong thoughts. That is what is meant by "coming from within".

Do you not think that we ourselves can have different thoughts and have to choose from those thoughts which ones to follow? The right half from the brain, which designates our emotions, whilst left activates the action we undertake, and it is the relation or the strength of the bridge between those two. When you want to come closer to someone it is the right half of the brain which can put on the brakes. Emotion and behaviour have to be balanced. The behaviour is greatly designated by the function of our brain and as such is it something from within us. When the Bible speaks about demons in people it is the disease or the impossibility of the human being to control oneself. In ancient times it was a way to describe ill or mentally sick people.

Those demons and devils naturally can be people around us, and as such are being outside us and have nothing to do with something inside us, except that we shall have to react to them when we are meeting them. That interaction shall demand reactions from us, and those reactions shall be triggered by the brain function in us; It shall be us ourselves who shall have to make decisions and choices how to react.

Remember:

There was a lovely harmony in the Garden of Eden. Man was free to walk around and live nicely. He also was free to think and to make choices. There it went wrong. The woman let her mind wander and got tempted by her thoughts, willing to know more.
We have seen that the yielding to the tempter or man’s mind doubting God‘s honesty is treated allegorically in the Edenic covenant as the serpent in the flesh. First man was full of life but now death had come to him. Temptation had taken over and evil had entered his mind. This evil is the “devil” or diabolos of the New Testament, which term is defined as “that which has the power of death” (Hebrews 2:14), elsewhere described as “the law of sin and death”, “sin that dwelleth in me”, “sin in the flesh” (Romans 7:20; Romans 8:2-3).

Please find also to read:

Friday, 25 August 2017

Sometimes we face trials

In life we encounter many difficulties. Even as an organisation we can have to face trials or having to look at people who tell lies about us and have people defending the false accuser.

Sometimes we lack this necessary wisdom to face trials and persevere faithfully. These are the times when our suffering is so overwhelming that we are tempted to question whether God is either sovereign or good or to come to question if the organisation we are with might be the right one.

In such circumstances we may not forget that the adversary of God may be everywhere and in all sorts of disguises. There are enough people who shall try to get you away from your church or from your faith group. Their aim shall be to discourage you and to destroy your faith in that group you where doing so much for.

Though when we look at the matter, take distance form it we shall see some good things in it as well. It shall give us an opportunity to check if we are connected with the right persons. Also it shall remind us that if we lack the wisdom needed to face such trials with faith and steadfastness, we can ask God.
We should ask God.

We must ask God.

In the very first chapter of his letter, James reminds us that the God we are to ask is not only sovereign, He is also faithful.

Many people may try to annoy us and get us so far that we start doing the wrong things; They may tempt us or want us to lure in saying things which can harm us more.

Many may use many ways to tempt us or to get us so far that we might react in the way they would love us to see, bringing damage to us. God does not tempt us to sin; He is good. He doesn’t make fun of us when we ask for wisdom; He is the God who gives generously.

James 1:5 The Scriptures 1998+ (5) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of Elohim, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it shall be given to him.

When tempted by evil doers, we should not be afraid to ask God for advice. At moments we may feel left abandoned. We may feel as if so many are turning against us. We also may feel like we once more failed.

When daring to talk to God and asking His advice, He shall come to us and by our guide. Our good and sovereign God will grant to us the very thing we are lacking, the very thing we need to face suffering well.

So, let us ask God for wisdom, believing that He is sovereign, faithful, and good, and that God uses our suffering to make us look more like Jesus.

James 1:4 The Scriptures 1998+ (4) And let endurance have a perfect work, so that you be perfect and complete, lacking in naught.

Life might not always be easy and may demand a lot of us. Often we have to show a lot of patience.

When believing in God, trusting Him, we might find out that everything comes all right in due time.

Do you believe? Ask Him! He is a generous God who delights in giving good gifts to His children in order that we may patiently and faithfully endure to the end.

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Additional reading

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Friday, 19 December 2008

Satan the evil within

In Dutch / Nederlands > Satan het kwaad in ons & Satan of the duivel

Every human has the possibility to make choices. All creatures have an instinct, which direct them to do or not to do things. Human beings have the inner feeling of what they can do and of what can be right or wrong to do.

Satan is described as “going to and fro in the earth”. There is no implication that he was doing anything sinful. Zechariah 1:11 implies that this is a Hebraism for observing. This being is not a special person or anything. It is the evil in our selves. Our bad thinking.

Satan means adversary or accuser. (a noun or adjective, not a proper name) (sa’-tan) (saTan), adversary, from the verb saTan, to lie in wait (as adversary); Satan, Satanas, adversary, diabolos, Devil, adversary or accuser.

It is very easy for us, as we read Bible verses, to give to the terms devil and Satan the meaning which we prefer. And if that meaning is not the same as the Bible writer intended, then we are changing the true sense! In several denominations they gave the devil or Satan a real figure not a representational thing. When Bible passages are read, devil and Satan are being understood by different readers in different senses.

To find the vital key it is important to begin with the Old Testament, and not with the New. To modern ears this may sound strange, but remember that the Old Testament was written first, many centuries before the New. And since they both really form one revelation from God, the New Testament writers knew the Old Testament very well indeed. They quoted from it and they used its terms; and among the terms they used is Satan. (In fact the term “devil” occurs rarely in the Old Testament and is used differently there from the way it is used in the New.)

So we begin with Satan, the Old Testament term. What does the word “Satan” mean? It is not hard to find out. Take the case of Balaam who lived in the days when the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness. He was a prophet who had been told by God not to go on a certain hired mission to curse the Israelites. But he wanted the money offered him as a reward, so he went. Riding upon an ass, he soon found his way blocked by an angel: “The angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary” (or enemy) (Numbers 22:22, RSV).

The word for “adversary” is Satan (from which we get our “Satan”) and that is just what it means. Notice two things: Satan here is an ordinary word meaning adversary or enemy, and not the name of a person. The word occurs again only 10 verses later: the angel said to Balaam, “Behold, I am come forth to withstand you” (verse 32), literally “to be an adversary to you”.

This is the first time the word Satan appears in the Hebrew record. Notice that this Satan is a good angel, “the angel of the Lord”, who is doing what God wants, and not an evil one! If we look up in a Bible concordance the way the word Satan is used in the Old Testament, we shall find that it means an adversary and an enemy. For example: “Why,” cried David, “should you (Joab and his brothers) be adversaries (satans) unto me?” (2 Samuel 19:22). And so in half a dozen other cases, where the allusion is usually to men.

Here we have one of the most frequently quoted cases in all the Bible. The first few verses of chapter one describe Job as living in the land of Uz, a God-fearing man who had many possessions. Then, verse 6:

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.”

“There you are”, some people say, “Satan was in heaven among the angels! He must be a supernatural being!” But let us remember our vital rule: we must understand Bible terms in a Bible sense. “Sons of God”, for instance: it is true that once in Job (38:7) this term is used of the angels; but in the Bible as a whole it is often used of men and women who really worship God as contrasted with those who do not. God used it of Israel through the prophet Isaiah:

“Bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by my name . . .” (Isaiah 43:6-7)

So in the New Testament the apostle John, referring to believers in Christ, wrote: “Beloved, we are God’s children now” (1 John 3:2). So the “sons of God” among whom “Satan” came (in Job chapter 1) need not be angels in heaven; they could be people on the earth.

But how could they “present themselves before the Lord” if they were not in heaven? Again the Bible itself gives us the answer. Moses and Joshua were once told to “present themselves” in the “tent of meeting”, where God would appoint Joshua as the next leader of Israel (Deuteronomy 31:14-1 5). Many years later Joshua called together all the elders of the tribes of Israel to Shechem, where “they presented themselves before God” (Joshua 24:1). Later still, Samuel in his turn told Israel: “Present yourselves before the LORD . . .” (1 Samuel 10:19).

In the New Testament it is said that Mary, the mother of Jesus, shortly after the birth of her son, came to the temple in Jerusalem “to present him to the Lord . . . and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord” (Luke 2:22-24). The “sons of God” in Job, then, who came to “present themselves before the Lord”, had come together to worship God in the appointed place, and, of course, in the presence of the appointed priest at that time. This is a scene of worship upon the earth, not in heaven.

But what of “Satan” who came among them? Here the English translators have not really played fair with us, for all the Hebrew says is “the adversary”. The capital S in Satan is the translators’ own invention, for Hebrew makes no distinction between capital letters and others. Even in the margin the Authorized and Revised Version translators have printed “the Adversary”, suggesting by their capital A (for which they have no evidence) that this is that special Adversary, Satan. All that the Hebrew justifies us in saying is “the adversary came among them”.

But who could this adversary be? If this was a group come together to worship, he would be one of them; in other words he was a man; and he was an enemy to Job, because he was jealous of him and wished him harm. But how then could there follow a conversation between the Lord and the adversary? Again the Bible itself supplies the answer, for in Old Testament times men often received messages from God through the appointed priest at the time. David, for instance, more than once consulted the priest when he wanted to know what God’s will for him was, and the priest spoke to him on behalf of God. So this jealous enemy of Job-perhaps one who posed as his friend-said to God through the priest, “Job only serves you for what he can get. Just try bringing some trouble on him and then you will see.” And God, because He had a great purpose with Job and desired to see him perfected, allowed the adversary to carry out his envious desire upon Job. But as the book clearly tells us, the power was God’s and not the adversary’s (Job 2:4-6).

So there is in this episode no need for a supernatural satan and no proof of one. All the expressions are commonly used of men. The Old Testament word Satan means an adversary; but as the example of Job shows us, there develops a natural tendency to use it of an evil adversary.

With this valuable background understanding we now look at an example of the use of “satan” in the New Testament. Peter had just made his great declaration of belief in Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God” and Jesus had pronounced a blessing upon him as a result. But Jesus then went on to speak of his own fate; he would have to go to Jerusalem and there the leaders of the Jews would seize him and he would be killed, but he would rise again the third day (Matthew 16:21). Peter could neither understand nor accept this and began to rebuke Jesus: “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” In other words, “You must not think of such a thing.” But Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan: you are a hindrance to me.”

Why was Peter a “satan”? Because he was being “an adversary” to Jesus; he was trying to persuade the Lord not to do what he knew had to be done in his obedience to the will of God. If Peter had had his way, Jesus would have rejected his Father’s will and his great sacrifice for sin upon the cross would never have taken place. So Jesus had to tell this “adversary” (satan) to “get behind me”. And then he adds a comment which is most important for our understanding: You are an adversary and a stumbling block to me, says Jesus in effect to Peter, for your mind is not on the “things of God, but the things of men” (verse 23, R.V.).

So this most important New Testament example teaches us some valuable lessons. First, this “satan” was a man; second, he rejected the will of God; third, what marked him out was that he desired to do the will of man instead-a most important clue, as we shall see later.

Let us remind ourselves what we have learned so far: a “satan” is an adversary, and nearly always an evil adversary.

If we go against something or oppose a good thing we become an adversary. If we go against the will of God, we become an evil adversary or a Satan.

The Bible uses personification: that is, something is spoken of as if it were a person when in fact it is not. We do find that when there is spoken about Satan or Lucifer in both instances sin is personified; and in both clearly it is sin that "has the power of death".

And so the Bible is telling us that the real devil is sin. And sin is the wrongdoing, or the evil actions we are able to do by our own choice.

There is no doubt then where we must look for the great enemy of God: it is in our own hearts and minds. So James tells us where we must look for the source of our temptations to do wrong. Are we led astray by some supernatural spirit whispering in our ear? Not at all; for, he says,

"Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire".

So our own "desire" is the origin of our temptations; and James tells us what is the result:

"Then the desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown brings forth death" (1:14-15).

The long history of mankind in the Bible shows how true this teaching is. The first pair of human beings preferred their own desire to obedience to God, and sinned. The human race fell away into "corruption and violence" and God had to judge it at the Flood. Israel, rescued by God from slavery in the land of Egypt and given a special opportunity to be God's people, turned away and preferred to worship idols and to behave in immoral ways like the godless peoples around them. Jesus, the Son of God, demonstrated His Father's truth and grace among men; they rejected and crucified him. And in the centuries following, men have abandoned God's teaching and perverted His ways. Yes, the great enemy of God is men and women rejecting His authority and fulfilling their own natural desires.

With textfragments from Marcus Ampe, Mark Mattison and Duncan Heaster

Welcome

Welcome at this zone created by Marcus Ampe for the Belgian Free Christadelphians, where previous articles from the MSN Groups and Multiply are brought together and made available again to the general public. On 2012 October 26 this site came into development and new articles shall be added next to our main site and to the Christadelphian Ecclesia site: Christadelphian Ecclesia.
You are welcome at that site to find more articles.

All who want to follow Jesus/Jeshua (Yeshua/Yahsua) from Nazareth, the Christ, the Messiah and wants to be united with people who sincerely want to keep to those teachings of this masterteacher are welcome to share their love for Christ and their hope for the coming Kingdom.

The names "Christadelphia" and 'Christadelphian' is compounded of two Greek words: 'christos' and 'adelphoi' and means 'brethren in Christ'.

This site is created by a Free Christadelphian only bounded to Jesus Christ. We are open to anybody who wants to share the brotherly love of Christ. Coming together by a common belief in 'the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ' (Acts 8:12).

In the older Multiply messages links to Multiply shall not always work from 2012 December 1, but you shall be able to find them by copying and pasting the title in the search machine. I have worked on re-editing those links from 2005 onwards, so that they could work in the future, but it became a to much time consuming job, so I stopped doing it after a while. (My apologies for certain links not working any more.)

Thanks for visiting us and hope to see you again.

Welkom

Wij wensen allen welkom die hier op deze pagina's terecht komen en hopen dat zij geïnspireerd mogen geraken om verder de Bijbel ter hand te nemen en zelf op onderzoek te gaan wat er in de Heilige Schrift werkelijk staat.

De namen "Christadelphia" en "Christadelphian" is een samentelling van twee Griekse woorden : "Christos" en "adelphoi" en betekent 'broer in Christus'. De Christadelphians zijn een groep van mensen die samen verbonden zijn door hun gemeenschappelijk geloof betreffende de dingen aangaande het Koninkrijk van God en de naam van Jezus Christus (Jeshua, de Messias) (Handelingen van de Apostelen 8v12).
Christadelphian mensen zouden tot een wereldwijde gemeenschap moeten behoren, wiens doel is zo trouw als mogelijke de leerstelling en voorbeeld van Jezus/Jehsua Christus te volgen, zoals het geregistreerd staat in de Bijbel.
In een wereld die vol is van onzekerheden genieten wij van een eenvoudig, rechtstreeks en logisch geloof, dat nu al vrede en voldoening aanbiedt en de belofte van het nog te komen eeuwigdurende vreugderijk: het Koninkijk van God.

Op deze site, gecreëerd door Marcus Ampe voor de Vrije Belgische Christadelphians, of Broeders in Christus, zijn in oktober 2012 de vroegere berichten uit de MSN Groepen en Multiply samen gebracht en terug zichtbaar gemaakt voor het algemeen publiek.

Meerdere linken in de vroegere artikelen zullen vermoedelijk niet werken, maar u kan de titel dan kopiëren en plakken in het "Zoek" venster om zo bij het juiste artikel te komen. Ik maakte er werk van om de artikelen vanaf 2005 terug te editen en daarin de linken te vernieuwen, zodat zij terug zouden werken. Maar dit vroeg zo veel tijd dat ik het heb opgegeven. Daarom verzoek ik mij te verontschuldigen indien u een link tegen komt die niet meer werkt.

Vanaf 26 oktober 2012 is deze website opengesteld naar het publiek en zullen er in de toekomst nog enkele artikelen bij komen. Maar de meerderheid van de teksten zullen nu geplaatst worden op de site van de Vlaamse Broeders in Christus of Christadelphians en op de kerkgemeenschapssite
Christadelphian Ecclesia.

Graag ontmoeten wij u daar voor meerdere artikelen.

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