@bbyrd009 @pia
The two above posts on another thread brought this thing of satan to my mind. While I have seen and heard many arguments in favor of the existence of the external entity called by that name, I have long discounted his existence as a separate being. Perhaps someone could give me reason to believe that such this external or separate entity exists.
In school many years ago I was taught that darkness is simply the absence of light. Why would this not be so in the case of the Light? Does not Jesus say that He is the light of the world?
"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." John 9:5
With regard to this supposed creation named satan, when was he created or born?
Where was satan’s beginning?
“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” I John 3:8
Even as Judas and Peter were devils was not Adam also a devil, the first devil? Was he not the first man that committed a sin. He sinned from the beginning.
“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Gen 1:31
Before Adam sinned everything God created was “very good”.
Even Adam was “very good”. But…God had given Adam something He had not given the rest of His creation: the ability to make informed choices.
Those choices included the ability to move into darkness, a place without the Light of God. Both Adam and Eve moved in that direction away from the Light and into the satanic darkness.
The serpent spoke to Eve or... was it the dark yearnings within her that spoke to her since it involved disobeying God and His Way of Light...
Mark 8:33 [33] But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for
thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
I don't believe for a second Peter was ever Satan. His behavior was against God's will and plan and Jesus rebuked that behavior, which was behavior of the flesh. Maybe you will say that proves your point. I have even experienced a rebuke from the Spirit when something I do is against God's will and plan. It is obvious. Jesus handled Peter differently than Judas (a son of perdition).John 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I
kept them in thy name:
those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost,
but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Jesus kept each of the disciples(all those that are His), except Judas, so that scripture might be fulfilled.
Zechariah 3:1-2
[1] And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord , and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. [2] And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee:
is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
What I believe Jesus was saying concerning Peter was:
is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? This one is mine. With Judas, it was different. Judas was turned over to Satan: a vessel fitted for destruction. John 13:27 And after the sop
Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. (I won't get sidetracked on what that means for Judas.)
How can Satan enter Judas if Satan is not outside of Judas? I will say, Amadeus. I have thought the same thing as what you suggest in the thread. The flesh is ugly and the deeds of the flesh are all attributes of Satan. There, are times, I feel very much like there is a devil on my back. They are interconnected though, are they not? Satan and the flesh.
As when Christ enters us; He steers and guides us in the path of righteousness. Without Christ, the flesh goes the way of Balaam. And who knows, there may be some truth to what you have shared, although I will say the closer I become to God, the more I notice the Spiritual, rather than the physical. Rather than say the Spiritual are common man behavior(good or bad)...I can not help but see it as so much more: the unseen more real than that which is only temporary and fading away. To see there
is something outside of man.
2 Kings 6:16-17 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. [17] And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord , I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and
he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
No. I don't believe he saw actual horses and chariots of fire around Elisha. But I fully believe what He saw was the power of God surrounding Elisha: a power that was outside of Elisha; not in Elisha.
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
But what do I know? It changes daily as He reveals more.
Ecclesiastes 10:2 A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left.