In The Story we read of Paul’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd missionary journeys. Everywhere he went he experienced hardships. He recalls to the Corinthians that he was a servant of Jesus Christ. He reminds them he had been in prison frequently; been flogged most severely; had been exposed to death again and again. Five times he’d received from the Jews, 40 lashes, minus one; three times he’d been beaten with rods; stoned once; three time shipwrecked and spent a night and day in the open sea; has had to be constantly on the move in danger from his own countrymen. He had been in danger from rivers, bandits; danger in the country and at sea and danger from false brethren. He had labored and toiled and gone without sleep, was hungry and thirsty, cold and naked. Besides all these things, he had the worry and concern for all the churches. Even with Satan on his heals with every step he took, he did not feel weak because Christ was with him.
Satan and his demons were busy trying to defeat and discourage Paul. These difficulties bring to light the fact that if Satan was that busy with Paul, we can be assured that he is still alive and well today trying to defeat and discourage us in our daily Christian walk.
In Joe Beam’s book “Seeing the Unseen”, the role of Satan in our lives today is explored using scripture. Eph. 4:18-19 reveals Satan’s strategy for destruction (1) Darkening of the Understanding (2) Hardening of the heart (3) Loss of Sensitivity (4) Immersion in Sensuality and (5) Spiritual Destruction.
Angels, both good and bad, are active and often present. Most of the time those who see angel, don’t know what they’ve seen. They are not like people. The Hebrew writer emphasizes that Jesus, as the son of God, is superior to angels and that we humans are made a little lower than the angels. Col 1:16 and Psalms 148 that angels were created to be angels. We don’t become angels when we die. Some examples: (1) Satan appeared to Eve as a serpent – Gen. 3 (2) Angles appeared as men to Abraham and Lot – Gen 18-19 (3) They appeared to Moses in a burning bush- Acts 7:30 (4) They appeared as wind or flames of fire –Heb. 1:7 (5) They remain invisible until they decide to reveal themselves to humans -Numbers 22:21-34. (6) Angels can be terrifying in appearance – Daniel 10: 7-11
Survey of 47 % of those considering themselves evangelical Christians, 69 % of Catholics and 65 % of mainline Protestants believe there is no such thing as a real devil. These think that Satan is just a symbol of the evil that exists. God Himself tells us in the Bible that Satan exists, warning against his deceit. Paul’s 2 Cor. 2:11 regarding our putting on the whole armor of God would not be necessary if we didn’t have to stand against the devil’s schemes (Eph. 6:11).
Our huge problem is that Satan rules this world. There is a frightening statement in 1 John 5:19, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” Satan doesn’t own the world but he is in control of it.
Jesus is reigning now, having been declared the Son of God with power at His resurrection (Rom. 1:4), but according to what the Holy Spirit tells us in I Cor. 15 and Heb. 2, there are still dominions, authorities and powers that are not yet under Jesus’ feet. They will be conquered and totally subjected to Him when he hands everything over to the Father.
This is an important subject for us to study about. I believe you’ll find Joe Beam’s book a great eye opener. He discusses subjects that we so often shy away from. He addresses the fact that we are constantly at battle with evil while trying to live the Christian life. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the generals of our army. There is no way of winning this without their help.
