“Whatever a man threatens you with, reveals that man’s greatest fear.” – Terrence Hosang
Not long ago, I was out on a visit to one of the local malls, when I met a friend of mine whom I had not seen for some time. I gestured that I was going to be in the area for a while, taking care of some business but we should get together and catch up. The young man eventually met up with his sister and after my errands were complete, we all had the chance to sit down and catch up.
Eventually, the sister started opening up to me about some of her experiences in a church that she was involved in, and how over a period of time, and much spiritual abuse, she had now moved away from the church and she was hashing things out on her own in small groups. I asked a little about the possibility of misunderstandings and reconciliation with the church, but she was adamant that she was tired of being marginalized and treated as a second-class believer in the church.
The sister then proceeded to tell me about an encounter with an occult leader, who started professing all about the power of the demonic and how Satan was rallying human forces to join with the fallen angels to overthrow God. I chuckled. The leader then explained to her that everyone who was part of this supposed “revolt against God,” bore a mark on their skin, in a particular part of their body. I smiled and then stated, “let me guess, the leader said the mark was in the exact same place that you have some sort of mark on your own skin.”
“Yes,” she said, and went on to explain she apparently has a mark that was subtle but visible if someone took time to notice in that general area.
After explaining something about the tactics of the occult to hyper-spiritualize everything, and how this leader would probably go and find someone with purple shoes and say that was a sign that they too, were part of this God revolt also. She and her brother both realized the foolishness of this master of the obvious techniques employed by the occult leader, and joined me in a good laugh.
What I did not expect, was her candidness that for a while she actually thought a revolt would happen. She explained that in her church, people are always warning people about living right and paying their tithes otherwise deception can come in and we can get taken by false teachers, and devils. I told her that people who focus on those things don’t really understand how big the Cross really was, and they are only expressing their own internal fears and insecurities about learning they have been deceived, or may be wrong in their teachings or maybe even demonized. The louder they scream and shout, the more afraid and insecure they are. It was clear that this young lady had been taught unbelief in the protective power of the Cross, and the truth about Satan’s defeat, so I decided to tell her a story.
Not long ago, there was scientific experiment done at the CERN labs, seeking for something they called the Boson-Higgs particle, also known as “the God Particle.” Around the time of the experiment a fellow believer was tuned into the experiment on the internet. One day in the course of interviews of the scientist, the believer felt he heard the Lord say, while watching the broadcast, “They are looking for me.” I obviously can’t say if that story is true, but it does speak to a larger reality that I’ll explain later.
I went on to explain that not only is Satan defeated, but the word used to describe the absolute undoing of Satan was, apekduomai, literally means brought to less than nothing. I went on to explain, that at the Cross, not only was Satan humiliated, but he and his demons were actually left on the earth without any power, for the purposes of being tormented by the Saints of God that they had previously been tormenting (Daniel 7:11 -12).
Then I went on to drop the Ultimate kicker. To show her how unconcerned God is with the prospect of Satan and his angels, is the very fact that Jesus Christ is holding their very existence together in himself.
Colossians 1:16 – 17 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, AND BY HIM ALL THINGS CONSIST.
She was in shock and had never even considered the implications. The once mighty devil, as hyped up by Hollywood fiction and a paranoid, demon focused ministry, was reduced by the Clear Light of Scripture that revealed Jesus Christ was really that Big and Satan was really that defeated. No one, occultist or Christian can deceive this girl ever again in that area.
Her faith in the truth of Scripture has become her protection and her love for Jesus has suddenly exploded; As it should have, because seeing Jesus is so much more wonderful that seeing devils, that would life anyone’s countenance. I had little contact with both of them since, but the last I heard they are bolder and more empowered to share the Big Message of the Cross, to see people free from the lies of Satan.
John Crowder talking about Spiritual, not mapping, but Napping…ZzzzzZZZz…