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.
Episode 2 => Who the Devil is
Satan the Devil is real person. He is not merely the evil in all mankind, as some person may believe. Of course, humans cannot see the Devil, for same reason they cannot see God. Both God and Devil are spirit persons, humans cannot see the Devil, for the same reason that they cannot see God. Both God and the Devil are spirit are spirit persons, forms of life higher than humans and unseen to our eyes.—John 4:24.
‘But if God is love,’ someone may ask, ‘why did he make the Devil?’ (1 John 4:8) The fact is, God did not create the Devil. ‘Yet if God created everyone,’ a person may say, ‘he must have created the Devil. Who else could have? Where did the Devil come from?’
The Bible explains that God created many, many spirit person similar to himself. In the Bible, these spirits are called angels. Also they are called “sons of God.” (Job 38:7; Psalm 104:3; Hebrews 1:7, 13, 14) God created them all perfect. Not one of them was a Devil, or a Satan. The word “devil” means slanderer and the word “Satan” means opposer.
The time came, however, when one of these spirit sons of God[angels] made himself Devil, that is, a hateful liar who speaks bad things about another. He also made himself Satan, that is, an opposer of God. He was not created that way, but later became that kind of person. To illustrate: a thief is not born a thief. He may have come from a good family, having honest parents and law-abiding brothers and sisters. But his own desire for what money can buy is what may caused him to become a thief, just as Devil was not created a “Devil”. How, then, did one of God’s spirit sons make himself Satan the Devil?
The angel that became the Devil was present when God created the earth and later the first human couple, Adam and Eve. (Job 38:4, 7) so he would have heard God tell them to have children. (Genesis 1:27, 28) He knew that after a while the whole earth would be filled with righteous people worshipping God. That was God purpose. However, this angel thought a great deal of his own beauty and intelligence and wanted to receive for himself the worship that would be given to God. (Ezekiel 28:13-15; Matthew 4:10) Instead of putting this wrong desire out of his mind, he kept thinking about it. This led to his taking action to obtain the honor and importance he desired. What did he do?—James 1:14, 15.
The rebellious angel used a lowly serpent to speak to the first woman, Eve. He did this much as a skilled person can make it seem as if a nearby animal or a dummy figure is talking. But it was really this rebellious angel, the one called in the “the original serpent,” who was speaking to Eve. (Revelation 12:9) He said that God was not telling her the truth, and was holding back from her knowledge that she should have. (Genesis 3:1-5) this was a hateful lie and it made him a Devil. He thus became an oppose of God, or a Satan. As you can see, it is wrong to think of the Devil as a creature with horns and a pitchfork who oversees some underground place of torment. He is really a very powerful, but wicked, angel.
Episode 3=> Source of World Trouble
The lie the devil told Eve just worked as he planned. She believed it and disobeyed God. And she was able to get her husband to break God’s law also. (Genesis 3:6) The Devil’s claim was that humans can get along without God. He argued that people can rule themselves successfully, without God’s help. The Devil also claimed that he could turn away from God’s help. The Devil also claimed that he could turn away from God all those who would be the offspring of Adam and Eve.
Of course, God could have destroyed Satan right away. But that would not have answered the question that Satan had raised, question that could stay in the minds of the angels who were watching. So God allowed time for Satan to try to prove his claims. With what results?
The passage of time has proved that humans cannot rule themselves successfully without God’s help. Their attempts have failed completely. The people have suffered terribly under the governments of men, which, as the scriptures shows, have been controlled from behind the scenes by Devil. Also, God’s allowing time has clearly shown that Satan has not been able to turn all persons away from worshiping God. There have always been some who have remained faithful to God’s rulership. You can read in the bible, for example, that Satan tried, without success, to stop Job from serving God.—Job 1:6-12.
Thus the claims of Devil have been proved false. He most certainly deserves destruction for having started a wicked rebellion against God. Happily, we have reached time for God to bring Satan’s rule to an End. Describing the first step in doing this, the bible tells of an important battle in heaven, which, of course, was not seen or heard by people on earth. Read carefully the following bible account:
“War broke out in heaven: Michael [who is resurrected Jesus Christ] and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled but it did not prevail, neither was a place found for them any longer in Heaven. So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called the Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth and his angel were hurled down with him. ‘On this account be glad, you heaven and you who reside in them! Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.’”—Revelation 12:7-9, 12.
Since Satan knows his “short period of time” is about up, he is trying harder than ever before to keep persons from serving God. He wants to take as many persons as he can down into destruction with him. With Good reason the Bible describes him as a roaring lion that is looking for someone to eat. (1 Peter 5:8, 9) if we do not want to be caught by Him we need to learn how he attacks and also the ways in which he mislead people.—2 Corinthians 2:11.
pls, watchout for another series
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