There is no other god but God,
and you are not an unbeliever. You have no need to be concerned with what Satan does to the already sinfully dead and enslaved. Furthermore, the New Testament age is over. On top of that,
if the "
god of this age" were Satan then the only power he would have is what God gives him. The larger truth, however, is that Satan is not the god of that age. Pride is the god of the age. Hubris. Self.
Satan is just as much a victim of disobedience and sin as anyone else who disobeys God and NOTHING in scripture written about Satan should ever be read to contradict
Romans 6:23.
They can if and when God reveals it to them. God is almighty, not Satan. The whole Bible, not just the selected parts misread about Satan, teaches the sinful flesh is a much, much greater enemy than Satan. God si the Creator. Satan is a created creature. As I said before, he is dead and enslaved to his own sin. He is not, therefore "king" or "ruler" even over himself.
Scripture is misinterpreted when selected verses are read contrary to the whole of scripture. That's what your post do. There is only one God and that God is almighty and sovereign over EVERYTHING. He is mightier than Satan on Satan's strongest sin-filled lying day. He is sovereign over EVERYTHING, including sin. He is sovereign over every creature He has ever created, including Satan. Satan is not literally a god. He is a sin-enslaved minion whose only purpose is to serve his Creator.
God blinds the minds of unbelievers in many ways. Sometimes he uses the hardness of their own hearts. Sometimes He uses Satan. Sometimes He just strikes them deaf, dumb, and blind without any device.
You have the mind of Christ AND
the promise of God to work ALL things for good according to His purpose. The word "
all" means all. It does not mean "
all things but the machinations of Satan." That's not what scripture teaches.
If God sees fit to let Satan loose in your life then you can and should stand firm the promises and the might of the almighty, and trust that whatever the purpose for God sending Satan your way it will be for good and not evil because you are called by God and loved by Him. There's not a single verse about Satan that should ever be read contrary to whole scripture.
Re-read that. The word "
now," means the prince of the world was cast out in the first century way back when Jesus spoke those words. Jesus did NOT say, "
In the future the god of this world will be cast out." He said "
now." The prince of the world has already been cast out. He was cast out millennia ago. He is a created creature who's been stripped of his glory. The only power he has is that which his Creator gives him, and that power serves only the Creator's purposes, never the sinfully dead and enslaved creature who is a murderous liar.
Then Satan has no power over Jesus and bringing up the wilderness temptation was a waste of time.
Irrelevant.
I have not said Satan has no influence. The facts in evidence are that scripture has been used selectively and not one single selection has been rendered with the entirety of scripture. Verse X gets posted, but verse Y proves the empowering interpretation of verse X is incorrect. I post a pile of scripture proving Satan powerless and only one example was affirmed. The rest are ignored or treated with another selected verse treated as if it defines everything a Christian should know about Satan. Both the verse about the "
god of the air," and the verse about "
the prince of this world," should be understood in the context of Satan being a sinner and, therefore subject to all the effects of sin. Every single verse you might ever use about Satan having ANY kind of power, rule, dominion, etc. MUST be read in the context of the fact it is God and God alone who appoints rulers. The only rulers that have ever existed ruled solely as a consequence of divine providence and solely for God's purpose. Satan does not have his own kingdom.
I, on the other hand, do not deny Satan having power. I simply subordinate it to God. If Jesus is God, then there is not and never has been a single particle of an atom anywhere in creation where Jesus is not King. He cannot be God and not King. It's not only unscriptural to to believe otherwise; it is irrational.
We're not discussing what others do. We're discussing the proper knowledge and understanding of Satan.
Prove it. Provide one example in scripture where scripture actually states Satan devoured a person. Notice the verse states he roams. It never says he succeeds. It never says he is satiated in any way for even a minute
. What the Text does state is a warning to believers to be "sober" and resist him. What happens when the adversary is resisted? He flees. It is not appropriate to read 1 Peter 5:8 in any manner that contradicts James 4:7.To do so is to misuse scripture.
And when that happens ALL Satan's machinations are extinguished. Satan is powerless. He has no power over the armor of God. He is not the king of anything if he flees when resisted and can be defeated with faith. He was cast out long before you or I ever read Ephesians 6 and believed it.
We battle against them
victoriously. It's not an undecided battle. There are no powers, but those God appoints. Those powers serve only God's purposes. Every battle fought with Satan wearing God's armor and resisting Satan is one in which Satan's efforts are defeated and he runs away. Every verse about Satan that can be quoted occurs within the context of whole scripture which explicitly states Satan is a created creature who is a defeated slave of sin.
He is like you and I were
before we were brought to salvation and filled with God Spirit....
except you and I are made in God's image and he is not! He's not happy about that and there is NOTHING he can do about it.
Never happened. That's just an attempted ad hominem posted under the auspices of "
seems" because the facts of whole scripture aren't being addressed cohesively.
So too are Christians who give Satan more power than he actually has.
- Satan is a created creature who has no power over his Creator.
- Satan is a sinner and has no power over sin.
- Satan does not actually have the power to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. He was lying.
- Satan does not have the power to hurt any Christian in any way unless God endows him with that ability and on all such occasions that power works solely for good according to God purposes.
- Devouring the dead, blinding the already blinded, is not power.
- Ruling the air is nothing.
- He was cast out long ago.
1 Corinthians 5:5
I have decided to turn such a person over to Satan for the destruction of his body, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
Are the implications of that verse correctly understood? A congregant in the Corinthian Church was to be handed over to Satan
so that his spirit might be saved!!! In other words, being handed over to Satan might prove salvific!
Do you think Satan likes that? Do you think Satan, whose destiny is already decided, who has absolutely no prospect for being saved from his sin, do you think he likes the possibility he might be used as a device for the salvation of a sinner's spirit?
Do you think he has any power to stop God from using him as an agent for saving a sinner's spirit when he cannot save his own?
Stop giving Satan more power than whole scripture gives him. Acknowledge the correct amount of power the cast out sinful creature has, from whom it was given, and whose purposes that power serves.
And since we were discussing Dispensational Premillennialism when the digression about Satan and demonology started, you might give some consideration to how much of your understanding of Satan came from Dispensationalism and not whole scripture.
