Hi John.<\/p>\n
In a recent teaching , you happened to mention that Satan, the devil, does not bother most people, even though they say, “Ohhhh, I’ve been wrestling with the devil lately!” or similar complaint.\u00a0 I have observed that many Xns are accustomed to referring to the devil as “the enemy” and claim that he torments them on a daily basis by tempting them into sinful ways, or by challenging their faith with lies.\u00a0 As I understand it, you claim that is nonsense and that it is demons who challenge the faith of believers by tempting them with sin and disobedience.\u00a0 Only people who are close to God are capable of wrestling with the devil himself (such as Paul, David and Jesus Himself).<\/p>\n
Hearing you say that provoked this thought:
\nPlease explain to me, then, Matthew 13, in the parable of the sower, in verse 19, the Bible says “the wicked one” (the devil himself) catches the seed that is sown in the heart of a person, and steals the seed of belief from that person, so that they fail in their faith immediately after hearing the good word about the kingdom.\u00a0 Am I right so far?<\/p>\n
Then, in Matthew 13: verse 25, “the enemy came” and sowed tares among the wheat after the the farmers who had sown the good seed were sleeping.\u00a0 Isn’t that Satan. . . working after hours. . . in the dark?<\/p>\n
Doesn’t that indicate that the devil himself influences the lives of weak people, deceiving them and preventing them from being all that they can be in God?\u00a0 Matthew 13 doesn’t speak of demons, but of the enemy himself being very active.\u00a0 Am I not perceiving this properly?\u00a0 Can you clarify this issue more, please?<\/p>\n
Thanks in advance for you explanation.<\/p>\n
brad<\/p>\n
=============<\/p>\n
Hi Brad:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The answer to your question is a simple one.\u00a0 Let me give you an example.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n In the OT, we are told that Nebuchadnezzar came against Israel.\u00a0 But in reality, Nebuchadnezzar was a hundred miles away.\u00a0 None of those slain in Judah, and virtually none of those Jews who were taken captives ever laid eyes on the Babylonian king.\u00a0 Still, he got the credit because what was being done wsas being done by his will and command.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Or, for another example, we are told that when Solomon became king, he sacrificed thousands of animals to God.\u00a0 Actually, Solomon did not sacrifice a single animal.\u00a0 It would have been sin for Solomon himself to do such a thing.\u00a0 The priests offered them all, according to the law of God.\u00a0 I doubt that Solomon even bloodied his royal hands by even touching the animals, much less slaughtering them and cutting them up into pieces.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Yes, it is true that God pits no one in spiritual battle against Satan himself except His children who are very strong in faith.\u00a0 His children who are misled by false teachers wouldn’t stand much of a chance against the cunning prince of darkness.\u00a0 That is why the family of God on earth is in such a confused, divided condition.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Hope that helps.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n jdc<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hi John. In a recent teaching , you happened to mention that Satan, the devil, does not bother most people, even though they say, “Ohhhh, I’ve been wrestling with the devil lately!” or similar complaint.\u00a0 I have observed that many Xns are accustomed to referring to the devil as “the enemy” and claim that he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-qa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}