Know Your Enemy Part 2: Satan’s Imitation Ministry
If you deny God’s Word about Satan, and you will deny it on salvation! My purpose in this series is to tell you what the Word says about Satan as the god of this world, because what we know about Satan is revealed in God’s eternal Word, the Holy Bible, which is the only true source of the revelation of SATAN HIMSELF. I had spent years in charismatic churches that developed a theology about Satan and how to fight him. All sorts of extra-biblical practices were developed, e.g., naming demon spirits not in the Bible, telling people that deliverance is found in giving offerings to pastors, etc. When we study our enemy, we want to focus on, “Thus saith the Lord.” Today, we will examine Satan's Imitation Ministry.
Introduction
We are living in a day when the personality of Satan is denied and laughed at. This is one of the ways of concealing himself in order to be able to carry out his work of destroying the souls of men. Satan is a living personality, and the Bible teaches this. We discussed this in detail in Part 1 of this series last week. The awakened sinner knows that Satan is a living personality. The awakened sinner has experienced the Holy Spirit’s showing him his lost ruined condition, ruined condition, and has given him a hunger after Christ. The very moment the Holy Spirit begins to draw the sinner out of Satan’s family, the devil will turn earth, sea and sky to hold onto the lost sinner. The Bible, God’s Word, is our only authentic source of information regarding Satan, the old devil, the old serpent, and the old dragon (the four names by which he is known throughout the Scriptures). We will learn today about Satan’s imitation ministry.
Section 1: Satan’s Roles
There are two roles under which Satan operates today in attacking and deceiving the hearts of men: the first is by INTIMATION, and the second is by IMITATION. 1 Peter 5: 8 reads: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (intimidate).
Intimidation is one of Satan’s old tactics of keeping individuals under his control. He will cause them to be afraid to make a stand for Christ, or to admit they are lost and undone. He will cause them to be afraid of what folks may say about them, or think about them. He will put a fear into their hearts that they might lose friends, business, and such like, all for one purpose: to keep individuals under direct control, so that they may never get saved. No sinner ever comes to know the Lord until he in his heart crowns Christ as Lord and seeks the honor that comes from God only. The trusting believer cares more for Christ than what his friends or family will think about him.
The second role is IMITATION. Satan likes to successfully deceive the hearts of men and women and we see this in II Corinthians 11: 13-15: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”
So Satan transforms himself into an “angel of light,” and his ministers transform themselves into “ministers of righteousness” to deceive the hearts of individuals, and blind the minds of sinners. In his role as imitator, Satan is at his best. NOTICE THAT SATAN HAS MINISTERS! He can imitate almost every experience that a believer can have , except life, Satan cannot impart spiritual life to a sinner. He can cause every unbeliever to believe that he is saved and that he will ultimately get to heaven. Let us look at Satan’s kingdom to understand how Satan imitates in the mind so as to keep the unbeliever blinded.
In Ezekiel 28, we see that Satan was the highest created being of all the celestial angelic hosts. He was known as Lucifer, the morning star, and anointed cherub. The word “anointed,” refers to the priesthood. This indicates that Satan was the priest that led the worship. The Scripture tells us that Satan was the most beautiful of all the angelic hosts, for he was clothed in a robe of precious gems that made him stand out as the leader, as the priest who walked in the presence of God.
Because of his beauty and his exalted position, pride entered into his heart. Rebellion was the result, and sin entered into the Universe. Therefore, God had to cast him out. One third of the angelic host followed him in rebellion (Revelation 12: 4). Satan set up his “kingdom of death.” In this kingdom, sin rules unto death, according to Romans 5: 21: “That as sin hath reigned unto death.”
Satan understands how fallen men think. He was full of pride and so is the unsaved unawakened sinner. Satan will play to a lost person’s pride to hold in his kingdom of death. Satan will give a person a bit of religion that falls short of true conversion to keep them ensnared. He will substitute a decision for Jesus, a profession of faith, joining the church, or in the old days, shaking the preacher’s hands, instead of a true conversion experience. Satan is a liar and a thief! We, as ministers of the Gospel, must be true to the gospel message. Satan must be exposed for the intimidator and imitator that he is. Now, we look at his kingdom.
Section 2: Satan’s Kingdom
Satan’s kingdom is a KINGDOM OF DEATH, and Satan with all his subjects live and move and have their being in the realm of Death. I want to review some expressions the Bible uses to describe this kingdom of death:
COURSE OF THIS WORLD: Ephesians 2: 2 reads: “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the COURSE OF THIS WORLD, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” The course of the world is the realm of Death, which is controlled by “the prince of the power of the air,” and it is inhabited by the children of disobedience. Ephesians 2: 3 says that they have their CONVERSATION IN THE LUSTS OF THE FLESH, and they FULFILL THE DESIRES of the flesh and of the mind, and by nature they are the CHILDREN OF WRATH, having the wrath of God resting or abiding over the whole kingdom of Satan, which is the KINGDOM OF DEATH. So, every person born into this world is born into this Kingdom of Death. The Bible makes this very clear in Psalm 51: 5 (conceived in sin, born in iniquity).
KINGDOM OF DARKNESS: There is no spiritual light in Satan’s kingdom. Not one spiritual truth–not one ray of spiritual light! This truth is further set forth in Ephesians 6: 12: “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.” So you see it is a kingdom of DARKNESS! Let me emphasize this fact: there is not one spiritual truth in Satan’s kingdom.
KINGDOM OF LIES: John 8: 44 says: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the LUSTS OF YOUR FATHER ye will do. He was a MURDERER from the beginning, and abode NOT IN THE TRUTH, because there is NO TRUTH IN HIM. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: FOR HE IS A LIAR, and the father of it.” So Satan’s kingdom is a kingdom of lies, a kingdom of falsehood. Satan’s kingdom is one of death, no spiritual light, and where there is nothing but darkness, where everything is a falsehood; therefore, this whole kingdom is filled with unbelievers who lie in the lap of Satan, according to 1 John 5: 19.
KINGDOM OF DECEPTION: Satan wants to deceive the entire world (Revelation 12: 9). Therefore, it is a kingdom of unreality, a realm where everything is make believe. Nothing is viewed in its REALITY, because everyone is deceived. Therefore, they are living under a delusion of first one thing or another. It is a kingdom where there is no peace, no harmony, no happiness, because everyone has gone his own way, and is going his own way. They are unhappy because they worship their own will and opinion.
A RELIGIOUS KINGDOM: Satan moves in the REALM OF RELIGION. The word, “religion” means one opinion, and everyone has his own opinion, and he worships his opinion, or his religion. The infidel is a member of Satan’s kingdom, and he has his own religion; he worships his infidelity. The atheist worships his atheism. The agnostic worships his skepticism. Then you have Buddhism, Confucianism, Mohammedanism, Judaism, and a false Christianity divided into many sub groups. They each worship their opinion. You never hear them say, “This saith the LORD!” Satan works in the realm of religion, which is one’s opinion, he does it by controlling the minds of individuals. The will of man is depraved and he is held in bondage by his old depraved nature. Satan working in and on the individual’s mind introduces religious ideas and concepts similar to (or even contrary to) the Scriptures, giving the individual an IMITATION GOSPEL. Satan doesn’t care how close you get to the truth as long as you don’t get there. He will try to satisfy the sinner with a little religion to make him feel better. That is one reason why we must proclaim the entire gospel truth without compromise.
Satan cannot pierce through into the spirit of man and unlock the hidden chamber of the sinner’s spirit, because the spirit of the unregenerate man is sealed in the tomb of death, dead in trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2: 1). Only the Holy Spirit can roll the stone away from the sinner’s heart and make alive a dead sinner who is a member of Satan’s kingdom, but get this fact: Satan can and does work in the realm of the MIND. He can give a sinner religious conviction, religious feelings, or religious impressions in the mind and lead the individual into the realm of religious emotions and experiences. He does this by throwing around that individual his presence which is real to that individual. The presence of Satan is just as real as the presence of Christ; the difference is that whereas Christ moves and lives in the realm of life, Satan moves and lives in the realm of death. When Adam sinned, he opened the door into the REALM OF DEATH, and thereby sold the entire human race into the slavery of sin. Praise the Lord that when the Lord Jesus Christ came, He opened the door into the REALM OF LIFE, and every individual who is saved is translated from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of LIFE.
Satan will take the kingdoms of DEATH, DARKNESS, LIES, DECEPTION, and RELIGION and work in the sinner’s mind to give them some religious experience to satisfy them with some good feelings and keep them bound in his kingdom. These will take several forms:
Creating man made extra-Biblical rules to evidence holiness and righteousness: These provide people with “proof” that they belong to God, but they also in turn cause the people to become critical of others that don’t obey the same rules, e.g. women dress codes, movies, television, bowling alleys, ball games, reading a newspaper on Sunday, etc. The theme is recurring. Satan wants to move people away from the truth of the Scripture to get them following man and man’s rules.
Using experience to trump Scripture truths, e.g. sexual sins aren’t sins if we know people that “love Jesus” but are LGBTQ+.
Focusing on the “presence of God” which is presented as a warm happy joyous feeling (notice the pleasing of the flesh), as opposed to the Bible truth that the Presence of God causes people to have a reverential fear of the LORD.
Substituting a false salvation, e.g., decision for Jesus, say the “sinner’s prayer,” make a profession of faith, getting baptized, joining the church. True salvation comes from the Holy Spirit regenerating the sinner and showing him his lost condition and bringing him to the foot of the cross and he understands the necessity that Christ died for him. Repentance and faith is made and the soul is born again.
Section 3: Satan’s Imitation of the Holy Spirit
Satan will imitate the Holy Spirit in the realm of religion to make the individual believe that he is worshiping God. In this present time, Satan is imitating the Holy Spirit as never before, leading people to believe that they are worshiping Christ when they are not. The following represent some areas of imitation:
PRESENCE: Satan will lead people to believe that they are in the presence of Christ when they are really in Satan’s presence. How can you know what is the imitation? One manifestation of this Satanic presence is that the individual is always talking about faith, or constantly praising “Jesus.” The person being deceived courts a feeling of “presence” and he looks to that presence. He is void without feeling presence. When the presence leaves, he feels empty. Personally, I know a “pastor” that actually said the following: “Reading your Bible is good but what you really need is to experience His presence.” This man never talks about Holy Spirit conviction, blood redemption or the need to repent. Satan will throw his presence around the one being deceived until the individual feels that he is so near to God or that God is so near to him.
PRAYER: Satan will give an individual a great LOVE FOR PRAYER. He will drive the individual until at times he will spend many hours in prayer. Frequently, the person will speak in an unknown tongue for hours thinking he is talking to God when in actuality he isn’t. Prayer is vastly different to a born-again believer. The believer knows he is not being heard because of the multitude of his words, but rather he is heard because of the blood sacrifice of Christ that paid for his sins. The believer will pray from a heart that is seeking after Christ. There will be a continual confession of sin, repentance and confession of his sin nature. To the born-again believer, prayer is thanking the Father for what Christ means to him. The believer is constantly going over and over in his heart and mind what Christ is to him in His life, in His death, in His resurrection, in His ascension, and what He is as his Surety, as his Mediator, and his Righteousness as his High Priest. Prayer to a believer is breathing forth the Word of God. Satan will desire to cause the one being deceived to focus on anything but Christ. Instead, Satan will deceive the unsaved to see prayer as a way to get what the individual wants in this life (pleasing the flesh). Think of the following: Osteen, Copeland, Hagin, Duplantis, Price, Wommack, etc. The unsaved person under the power of Satan believes he is heard because of his much speaking, because of his earnestness, or his sincerity, or because of his great need, or because he is loud and emotional. His prayer is never based upon the shed blood of the Son of God.
WORD OF GOD: In the Garden of Eden, Satan said, “Hath God said?” Satan is doing the same thing today. Satan wants people to use their experiences to trump the Bible. If Satan can get your eyes off the Word and onto your experiences Satan knows that he will make you your own “god.” Many of the cultural issues of today are easily dealt with when you apply the Word independently of your experience. The late Dr. R.C. Sproul said, “You have to reach what the Bible says, not what you want it to say.” Satan is replaying the Garden of Eve attack over and over again because it has been most successful for him over thousands of years. The imitation here is to supplant the Word of God with experiences and emotions and feelings.
SALVATION: Salvation is the result of Holy Spirit conviction leading the lost sinner to the foot of the cross to see the blood being shed by the Lord Jesus Christ. The seeking sinner (who is only seeking because the Holy Spirit has regenerated his heart and given him spiritual life) responds with faith and repentance. Satan has spent over 100 years getting people to say a “sinner’s prayer,” making a decision for Jesus, or a profession of faith, or seeking the Holy Spirit for gifts instead of repentance.
DON’T ALLOW SATAN TO DECEIVE YOU. GET IN THE WORD OF GOD AND STAY THERE. READ IT, STUDY IT, MEMORIZE IT, AND MEDITATE ON IT EVERY DAY!!!
Conclusion
May the Lord open your eyes to see the difference between Satan’s method of religion and God’s method of grace, which is the difference between true and false conviction and true and false repentance and faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment