Episode => An Enemy of Everlasting
Life
Happiness on
earth—nearly everyone wants it. Then why are so many unhappy? What is wrong?
Since almost everybody wants peace, why do nations go to war and why do people hate
one another? Is there some guiding force that moves them to do bad things?
Could it be that a common invisible power controls the nations?
Many have wondered about this when they
have considered the terrible cruelty of mankind—the fearful gases used in
warfare to choke and burn persons to death, as well as the napalm bombs and the
atomic bombs. Also, consider the flamethrower, the concentration camps, the
mass murder of millions of helpless people, such as in Cambodia in recent
years. Do you think that all these evils simply happened by chance? While man
is capable on his own of committing terrible deeds, when you consider the
wickedness of his acts, does it not seem that he has been influenced by an
evil, invisible power?
There is no need to guess at the
matter. The Bible clearly shows that an intelligent unseen person has been
controlling both men and nations to do bad deeds. In the Bible, Jesus Christ
calls this powerful one “the ruler of this world.”
To help us to find out who he is,
think about what happened at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry here on earth.
The Bible tells us that after Jesus was baptized he went into the wilderness
where he was tempted by an unseen creature called Satan the Devil. Part of that
tempting is described this way: “Again the Devil took him along to an unusually
high mountain, and showed him all the kingdom of the world and their glory, and
he said to him: ‘all these things I will give you if you fall down and do an
act of worship to me.’ “—Matthew 4:8, 9.
Think about what the Devil offered
Jesus Christ. It was “all the kingdom of
the world.” Did all these world government really belong to the Devil? Yes,
for how else could he have offered them to Jesus? Jesus did not deny that they
were Satan’s world government, which he would have done if Satan did not own
them. Satan is really the unseen ruler of all nations of the world! The Bible
plainly says: “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked ones.” (1
John 5:19) God’s Word, in fact, calls Satan “the god of this system of
things.”—2 Corinthians 4:4
This information helps us to
understand why Jesus said: “my kingdom is no part of this world.” (John 18:36)
it also helps us to understand why nations hate and try to destroy one another
when it is the desire of all normal persons to live at peace. Yes, “Satan . . .
is misleading the entire inhabited earth.” (Revelation 12:9) He would like
mislead us too. He does not want us to receive God’s gift of everlasting life.
So we have to fight to keep from being influenced by Satan to do what is bad.
(Ephesians 6:12) We need to know about Satan and how he works in order to
resist his efforts to mislead us.
Pls, watch out for “Episode 2” titled
“Who the Devil is”
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