Since the devil's holiday is in a few days, I will give him his due in this blog.
We have recorded on 3 possessions by Satan himself.
1. The Serpent in the Garden of Eden
2. The Betrayer in the Garden of Gethsemane
3. The Anti-Christ in the Garden of Babylon
We talk about being harassed by the devil. But he is much too busy with
the big fish to mess with you and me, so he dispatches his minions, emissaries,
demons to our front door.
It is generally a misnomer to witness a demon possession and say of that
person that they are possessed by the devil. A devil, maybe, but the devil,
probably not.
He is going to and fro on the earth, seeking whom he may devour. He does
wear out the saints. He is busy targeting nations, ministries, homes and
individuals for destruction. He is the father of liars, who has come to steal,
kill and destroy.
But he personally has much bigger fish to fry than you and me, so his
sends his little uglies, his flying monkeys, his fallen angels to do his
bidding to hassle us. I doubt he even knows my name. One, because he’s too
stupid, two, because I am of little consequence to him. So he employs his helpers for the likes of me.
And he has plenty of them! For every two angels, there is one fallen
angel. And just as God sends forth his angels as ministering spirits, Satan
sends his brats to wreak havoc.
He desired to have Peter, and no doubt, sift Peter as wheat and major
damage will have been done the Kingdom of God.
Even Paul was assailed by a messenger of Satan to afflict him with a
thorn in his flesh to distract him from his gospel mission. Praise God for the
grace that was given to overcome.
But there were and are at least three times when the job was/is so
important that he had to do it himself. These incidents portended the fall of
the human race, the assassination of the Lord of glory and the future
subjugation of the planet to himself.
However, what Satan means for evil, the Lord turns to good. Joseph said
something similar to his brothers when he assured them that the evil they meant
for him resulted in the preservation of the planet.
The Three Actual Possessions by the Devil Himself:
1. The Possession of the Serpent. Satan, through the creepy-crawly,
convinced Eve that God was holding out on her and her husband, so she ate the
tutti-fruity of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and plunged mankind
into sin. But God had a plan in place. In Genesis 3:15, he promised the devil,
"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed
and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
This spoke of the victory Christ would have over Satan at Calvary. Which
brings us to the next incident of satanic possession.
2. The Possession of Judas. Judas was an extremely flawed man. Though
rising to the rank of Disciple, he was still dabbling in thievery, greed and
sedition. He was an apt candidate to help bring about the end of the Messiah.
He was physically close to Jesus, but his heart was a million miles away. But
he was on the fence, all he needed was a nudge, a little filling of the prince
of darkness himself and the deed was done. Judas betrayed the Lord, resulting
in His death. Luke 22:3, "Then entered Satan into Judas..."
What God saw in advance and what we see in retrospect, neither the devil
(due to pride) nor Judas (because of spite) were able to grasp at the time.
Jesus is about to crush Satan's head in death...and resurrection.
3) The Possession of Anti-Christ. Satan, 2000 years down the road, give
or take a few years, will give it another try when he enters into the Beast,
squats on the ark in the temple, setting himself up as God and demanding
universal worship and subsequently pursuing the Jews into the wilderness to
destroy them.
Again, God will show up to guard and guide His own and destroy the works
of Satan once and for all.
May I ask you even now, whose side are you on in this age old battle
between God and Satan, good and evil, life and death? Choose today who you will
serve.
Personally, I've read the back of the Book and WE WIN!!!
