Hi John:
I have a question. 2Corinthians 4, it states “In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto them”
Since I believe the god of this world is Satan, did he blind the minds of them which believe not? Or did God?
I was having a discussion with my sister who is a Jehovah’s Witness and I was telling her that God is in charge of all that goes on in the world not Satan and she brought up this. Can you help me please? Thanks.
Margaret
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Hi Margaret:
If we read 1Chronicles 21:1, and that alone, we would know for sure that Satan had power over David and made him sin. Fortunately, we have another account of that event in 2Samuel 24. There, as Paul Harvey would say it, we learn “the rest of the story”, which is that Israel had somehow provoked God’s wrath and so, He moved David to number Israel. Both stories, taken together, reveal that God used Satan to provoke David. But that detail of the story was completely irrelevant to David (as it had been to Job when he suffered). David knew he had to seek God and please Him, not the devil, in order to make things right in Israel again. And that is how it always is. And really, that is all there is to it.
Peter said that the devil is wandering around on earth, “seeking whom he MAY” devour, not “whom he CAN devour.” Satan CAN devour no one, for he is not God. Without God turning someone over to him, Satan is powerless to do anything to anyone in God’s creation. The problem with much Christian doctrine is that it teaches people to hate the devil for what he does but not to hate and confess their own evil deeds which provoke God to send the devil, or someone or something else, to correct them. Many Christian teachers are more comfortable in exalting the devil as lord over all earth’s misfortunes than in confessing that Jesus really is “Lord of all”, both the good things and the bad things that may happen to us.
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jdc