Christianity Oasis Forum

[vahn]

To me, satan , the only time he has power (if any at all) over me is when I let him have it , and my opinion of him is one of a coward and a whimp , (he only "gets" me when I'm not looking , stabs you in the back) . I respond to that matter as I respond to things like "guess what I heard so n so was saying about you " I say something like " If they're not man enough to say it to my face , they're simply not man enough " and "Sticks and stones may break my bones , but words mean diddly " . Hence I get more disturbed by the person telling about the "rumor" than the monger .

Getting back to the title question , how that ensued is Fri. one of the "brass" that was present at the study on Wed. asked me of how it came about for me NOT to believe in hell or satan ? , well my immediate answer was that of , " I said ANY LONGER , and not whether they existed or not , today they don't " so, we got into a lengthy discussion over the matter ( a friendly , inquisitive one) .
At the end of that discussion I thought isn't it a pity that 2 Christians, at a Christian based Spiritual retreat , would be , of all things they could talk of , were talking of satan !!! I started thinking , "That sucker got us BOTH !! " , I mean , when I'm alone I can shine him on with absolutely no effort ! But what really disturbed me was that me and this particular "brass" never saw eye to eye from the getgo , (something about him you know?) , and here we are , finally we put two sentences together back to back without shredding each other , and we are talking about satan ?

At first I decided to use that as the next subject for the study , and looking through indexes and so forth , again I went " What am I doing ? "
I'm looking up satan !! again !!.
So, immediately I go into "inventory" mode ,retrace , I got an answer of "we weren't talking ABOUT satan" , (at least I wasn't) but rather my disbelief , and that it was the fact that he DID that caused to ask the Q.
So I continue with "research" . Somewhere in Isiah: (didn't bring my notes) after he describes who satan is , Isiah tells us the conversation 'tween our Father and him , saying "And you will be no more !" . in Ephesians: Paul says according to the Psalmist Christ Descended before He Ascended , first He came down from Above to here and then went to the lowest parts of the earth , and Ascended from there ! and of course we all know what John said in Rev . (to me that reads in past tense) so He killed him , he bruised his head ! DONE ! OVER ! KAPUT !
Paul said in Romans ; We died with Christ and we get Resurrected with Christ , the very reason for His resurrection was for us to be reborn by seeing and believing that satan is no more, Our Lord KILLED him !!

Only my reflections , all comments appreciated before I go and present this at my next study.

In Brotherhood of Jesus .

[mlg]

Hey vahn First I want to share something with you, I heard this today...we shouldn't worry so much about when people are talking about us...it's when we stop talking about us we should worry....and in a way that is so true...see when people stop talking about us, we then cease to be a witness for the Lord within us. We want His light to be so bright that people see that Light in us, and discuss what makes us the way we are, and then want them to find that same Light.

Now, really quickly on this Satan mess. Satan does exist my friend and so does hell, and Satan runs to and fro looking to devour us, so don't start thinking that Satan can't touch you, and He doesn't exist to you...because remember even God gives Satan audience amongst the angels when He stands in line in the book of Job. Now that doesn't mean we have to accept Satan by any means, cuz we don't...but just don't forget the enemy is always out there my friend, lest you put your guard down.......and get caught....

luv ya

[vahn]

" lest you put your guard down....." Is exactly what I always meant , I mean as long as I'm not thinking of him and focusing on God continuously instead he has no audience with me , the min. I think of him in any manner , I'm thinking of him period ! does he exist ? sure , somewhere !
Is he doing all he can to disrupt God's work ? Constantly ! as long as he has an audience, no audience , no power , is what I mean .
And that is the issue I was trying to relate , it came about , that why would two Christians spending time (giving audience) talking about satan and his destructions , rather than talking 'bout Christ , God , Holy Spirit who overcame all that , and Their victories !!

I think we sin not as much because "the devil made me do it" , but rather its because of our sinful nature , not long ago I had to deal with the issue of "how can one not sin" in a world that is full of it , especially nowadays , where everywhere you look and everything you say , if ,compared to 2 or 3000 yrs ago , we're all doomed . But isnt that what God saw us do back then to this day ? and hence sent His Only to free us from all that ?
Just because we act as unruly children and sin here and there (because of our human nature) it doesn't necessarily mean that satan's hand's in it !
I think we should stop playing the blame game and pay more attention to what God had bestowed us with , rather than worry and fret about what some Idiot is doing .

[mlg]

Ok, I see what your saying...your not dismissing the idea that we have an enemy so much as dismissing the idea that the enemy can rule your thoughts away from God...good deal. I wanted to say the blame game is something that many of us try and play at one time or another, because we are looking for an out. We should be looking inside instead, to the Holy Spirit within to bring us peace and calmness instead of that worry and fretting.

Hope your doing well my friend.

luv ya