Three strategies of Satan to take the word away

[Matthias]

“How does he try to take it from those who hear?

When Jesus interprets the parable of the soils in Mark 4:14-20, he only refers to Satan once. He says in verse 14 that the sower is sowing the Word, and then in verse 15 he says, ‘These are the ones along the path, where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them.’

But there are two other kinds of soil where the Word bears no fruit. There is the rocky ground in verse 16 and the thorny ground in verse 18. Jesus doesn’t mention Satan in connection with these. But we know from other teachings in the New Testament that Satan is very much at work in these soils to nullify the Word of God and make the hearers fruitless. So there are really three strategies (at least!) by which Satan takes away the Word. Let’s look at each briefly.”

(John Piper, “Satan Takes the Word Away”)

Satan Takes the Word Away

Without the Word of God abiding and taking root in our heart we cannot bear fruit, be disciples, or inherit eternal life.

www.desiringgod.org

 

[Matthias]

“1. Immediately - with Inattention, Ill-Will, or Ignorance

In verse 15 it says that he does it immediately. He does it before there is any sympathetic response at all. ‘Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them.’ I can think of at least three ways this happens. It happens through people’s inattention, ill-will, or ignorance.

Satan works overtime to keep people from giving serious attention to the Word of God. He may keep you up late on Saturday night so that you can’t stay awake during the Sermon or Sunday School. He may put a dozen different distractions around you in the service to take your mind away from the message. He may send thoughts into your mind about tomorrow’s meeting with your supervisor. If he can only distract you so that the sounds coming out of the preacher’s mouth go in one ear and out the other, he will have successfully taken away the Word of God and made it ineffectual for you. Inattention is his game.

He also uses ill-will. He causes these feelings of aversion to block the Word. These feelings might be against the preacher or against his language or simply against the truths of the gospel. People may hear and understand exactly what is being said, but despise it. Paul said the gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing. Satan works to maintain this worldly sense of values so that the value of the death of Christ is as nothing. Satan gives people such a high estimation of themselves that the evangelical message of brokenness before the cross for our sin is disgusting and threatening. So the Word of God gains no foothold. Satan takes it away.

Satan also uses ignorance. The work of Satan can be so thorough that his servants can actually lose the capacity to grasp what is being said well enough even to get angry about it. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, ‘Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God.‘ When the glory of God is described, Satan blinds the eyes of his people so that they wonder what in the world is on when spiritual people are deeply affected by this glory. Thus Satan takes away the Word of God.”

(John Piper, “Satan Takes the Word Away”)

 

[Matthias]

“2. Eventually - with Shallow Soil and Persecution

But Satan’s battleground against the Word is not just directed against that first hearing of the Word. Even after a person has heard the Word and received it with joy, Satan does his best to take it away and bring the person to fruitlessness and ruin. Verses 16-17 describe this attack. ‘And these in like manner are the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.’

The reason I feel confident in saying that this too is the work of Satan, even though Jesus doesn’t mention him here, is that persecution is mentioned and this is a key strategy of Satan elsewhere in the New Testament. For example, when Paul heard that the Thessalonian Christians were being persecuted, he chalked it up to the devil and said, ‘For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent that I might know your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and that our labor would be in vain.‘ It’s clear Paul saw persecution as the work of Satan that could destroy the gospel labor he had expended. In other words, the Word could be taken away.

Just because Satan is not able to keep everyone from responding joyfully to the Word of God, doesn’t mean he gives up on those people. He brings many of them to ruin by keeping their soil shallow and battering them with hard times so that they fall for the lie that the Word of God not worth the trouble it brings. And so Satan takes away the Word of God even after it has gained a little toehold.”

(John Piper, “Satan Takes the Word Away”)

 

[Matthias]

“3. Eventually - with Prosperity

If persecution doesn’t look like it will work, Satan will try prosperity. This is his third strategy for taking away the Word and making people fruitless. Verses 18-19 describe this strategy: ‘And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the deceit of riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.’

Ephesians 2:2-3 teaches that when people follow Satan they are not dragged along against their desires, but are giving in to their ungodly desires. Satan takes away the Word by making us feel that if we hold fast to the Word, we will have to give up something better. He is the great deceiver. And in America he majors not on soil 2 but on soil 3. He doesn't snatch the Word as much by the threat of persecution as by the deceptive promise that things will go better if you don’t get fanatical about the Word of God. And so thousands of people who had made a start with the Word of God give in to his lies and have the Word choked out of their lives.”

(John Piper, “Satan Takes the Word Away”)

 

[Muna]

Here is another picture in the one Satan and what can be seen in false prophets

Jesus said the thief cometh to steal, even as Satan is shown stealing the word from the heart

Mark 4:15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

And the same is shown in these prophets

Jeremiah 23:30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.

In this manner

Jeremiah 23:31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.

Same in the garden where the word was sown

Genesis 3:1 Yea, hath God said,

 

[Hiddenthings]

Mark 4:15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

Great verse Truly.

If you were to go to your Lord's teaching how would Jesus identify the adversary which takes away the Word that was sown in their hearts?

Jesus identifies Satan as being:

16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

What is the common adversary in each of the people?

Paul understood

"And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." Galatians 5:24

What is the adversary in Christ's & Paul's mind?

 

[Hiddenthings]

Mark 4:15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

After reading the previous reply.

Imagine for a moment that your idea of a fallen angel is true and that it really does the things you believe it does. In Mark 4, did Jesus give you any clear information about this being? Did he reveal its identity or speak of it directly? Where does Jesus actually place the source of the problem, is it with some external evil entity, or does he point to something within the person themselves?

If you read his explanation of the Sower what conclusion would you draw to?

Ideas like "falling away", "Cares of this world entering in" "having no root in themselves"

What is the problem Jesus is teaching and what are the characteristics of a good soil?

 

[pandaflower]

Here is another picture in the one Satan and what can be seen in false prophets

Jesus said the thief cometh to steal, even as Satan is shown stealing the word from the heart

Mark 4:15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

And the same is shown in these prophets

Jeremiah 23:30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.

In this manner

Jeremiah 23:31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.

Same in the garden where the word was sown

Genesis 3:1 Yea, hath God said,

Great thread.

It helps us to keep in mind in this community there are those who are trying to lead God's people to believe there are no fallen angels or Satan.

 

[Hiddenthings]

Great thread.

It helps us to keep in mind in this community there are those who are trying to lead God's people to believe there are no fallen angels or Satan.

The evidence is clear Panda

 

[Hiddenthings]

“How does he try to take it from those who hear?

When Jesus interprets the parable of the soils in Mark 4:14-20, he only refers to Satan once. He says in verse 14 that the sower is sowing the Word, and then in verse 15 he says, ‘These are the ones along the path, where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them.’

But there are two other kinds of soil where the Word bears no fruit. There is the rocky ground in verse 16 and the thorny ground in verse 18. Jesus doesn’t mention Satan in connection with these. But we know from other teachings in the New Testament that Satan is very much at work in these soils to nullify the Word of God and make the hearers fruitless. So there are really three strategies (at least!) by which Satan takes away the Word. Let’s look at each briefly.”

What Matthias needs to do is connect the Lord’s explanation for why certain people become unfruitful with the being he believes is responsible.

The teaching that follows from the Master directly contradicts what Matthias believes.

That’s a serious issue.

 

[Muna]

Great thread.

It helps us to keep in mind in this community there are those who are trying to lead God's people to believe there are no fallen angels or Satan.

On the worldwide web there are so many different doctrines, its hard to find like minds on all things.

 

[Muna]

If Satan is given permission to touch Job's bone and flesh

And this is also written that

Gen 2:23 This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman

When Satan makes one of his requests to touch just that saying

Job 2:5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.

How wouldn't the woman be fair game in that request? She actually could have been since we find Job's own wife (who is of his bone and flesh) encouraging Job to curse God (in and through her voicing the very desire of Satan) through the temptation to do so in his own flesh.

Job 2:9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.

Unlike Adam (who actually hearkened to the voice of his wife) whom the serpent was deceiving

Job does not

Job 2:10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

The scriptures give us a few examples of Satan working in the midst of husbands and wives, such as Satan filling the heart Ananias along with his wife Sapphira

Acts 5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

Seems to be a little bit of a common theme.

 

[Hiddenthings]

If Satan is given permission to touch Job's bone and flesh

And this is also written that

Gen 2:23 This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman

When Satan makes one of his requests to touch just that saying

Job 2:5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.

How wouldn't the woman be fair game in that request? She actually could have been since we find Job's own wife (who is of his bone and flesh) encouraging Job to curse God (in and through her voicing the very desire of Satan) through the temptation to do so in his own flesh.

Job 2:9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.

Unlike Adam (who actually hearkened to the voice of his wife) whom the serpent was deceiving

Job does not

Job 2:10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

The scriptures give us a few examples of Satan working in the midst of husbands and wives, such as Satan filling the heart Ananias along with his wife Sapphira

Acts 5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

Seems to be a little bit of a common theme.

We will unlock Job here Unlocking Job

 

[pandaflower]

On the worldwide web there are so many different doctrines, its hard to find like minds on all things.

That's a given.

However, we are talking about that what precedes the Internet. The Bible.

Those who insist on denying parts of Scripture that exist as God's word are not God's word are up to something far more than differing opinion.

 

[Hiddenthings]

Acts 5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

Since the identity of a single adversary cannot be consistently applied across every context, you're required to interpret each passage individually to determine who or what the adversary is.

For example:

Here verse 6 provides you the nature of this adversary

belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God!”

The sin came from the heart.

Precisely what your Lord taught you:

Matthew 15:19. "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander."

So in this instance the adversary was Ananias

 

[Hiddenthings]

@Truly

If, as you suggest, a literal evil fallen angel filled Ananias’ heart with this thought, how could Ananias be personally held accountable?

And further, why is this being not clearly mentioned at all?

 

[Muna]

That's a given.

However, we are talking about that what precedes the Internet. The Bible.

Those who insist on denying parts of Scripture that exist as God's word are not God's word are up to something far more than differing opinion.

Paul does say,

2 Cr 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

That's not just a few, but of the many which corrupt the word of God , even in his time.

Our time is far worse, I would agree

 

[Hiddenthings]

Paul does say,

2 Cr 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

That's not just a few, but of the many which corrupt the word of God , even in his time.

Our time is far worse, I would agree

Unfortunately Christianity has had almost 2000 years of corruption, and your fallen angel is just one of many doctrines that deceive.

 

[pandaflower]

Paul does say,

2 Cr 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

That's not just a few, but of the many which corrupt the word of God , even in his time.

Our time is far worse, I would agree

 

[Hiddenthings]

The context is unbelievers Panda! But you are right the god of this world does deceive as we just saw with Ananias.

" How have you thought up this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God!”