Is the Devil Real ?

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 If he's not, nothing makes sense. Why Would a God so Loving and Forgiving send His only Son to die to forgive us for our sins?  If there were no sin what would have to be forgiven?  

Satan was created by God and was God's most beautiful angel. Lucifer was the prince of angels, the bearer of light, God's favorite (Isaiah 14:12, Ezekiel 28:12-19).

He placed his own beauty and perfection above his love for God. This sin of pride caused his fall to the darkest domain where, known as Satan, he struggles as God's rival.

 Where did sin originate and by whom?  

 The Scriptures answer those questions. 

 Sin originated in heaven by Satan who became envious of the Son of God. 

His heart became proud on account of his beauty and corrupted his wisdom because of his splendor. (Ezekiel 28:17)

Sin, on this earth, started in the Garden of Eden when Eve doubted God and was deceived by the serpent. (Genesis 3:1-7)

"He that commits sin is of the devil for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil."(1 John 3:8) 

 Revelation 12:7- 9  

There was war in heaven: Michael (reference to Jesus) and his angels fought against the dragon (reference to Satan) and the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not: neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. (he doesn't work alone)

***Isaiah 14:12- How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer (Satan), son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground... for thou hast said in thine heart," I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my  throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: will be like the Most High." ( 10th commandment: covet) 

 Isaiah 14;15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.  

Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now is come salvation, and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down he who accused them before our God - day and night.

  Revelation 12:12 Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea for the devil is come down to you  having great wrath...  ...and so the devil continued his rebellion on earth. 

  ***Genesis 3: 1-3 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman(Eve), "hath God said "Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (1st  lie) And the woman said to the serpent," We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the  fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said "Ye shall not eat of it, nether shall ye  touch (lie) it, lest ye die". (9th commandment: bear false witness) 

 (Genesis 3:4) And the serpent said unto the woman: "Ye shall not surely die: (die): For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil".  Eve had to make a choice now. Who did she believe? She knew good. She lived in a perfect world.  Plus, God had warned Adam and her not to eat off the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for if they did (disbelief), they would die.

"(Satan) He was a murderer  from the beginning and did not tell the truth because there is no truth in him...Satan is the father of lies.  (John 8:44)

She made the wrong choice by not trusting God and thinking she could be like God. Adam, not deceived, sinned also. Adam and Eve knew that something had changed right away. 

They made themselves aprons with fig leaves and hid when they heard God , walking in the garden, call them. (Genesis 3:9) Adam, where are you?  and Adam answered "  I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself."

(Genesis 3:11)  and He said:" WHO TOLD YOU THAT YOU WERE NAKED?" 

We know it was satan.

Now sin  introduced them to fear, worry, shame, hiding and blaming :

Adam said:"the woman you gave to be with me gave me of the tree and I did eat."

Eve said: "The serpent beguiled me and I did eat."

That very day they were doomed to death. Immortality had been promised to them on condition of obedience: but by sinning they would forfeit eternal life. God evicted Adam and Eve from their garden home. (Genesis 3:24) If they were allowed to stay in the perfect garden having sinned and ate off the tree of life sin would never end.

  ***Matthew 4:8-11     Again, the devil taketh him (Jesus) up into an exceeding high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and said unto him :"All these things will I give thee if you wilt fall down and worship me". Then Jesus said to him: "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written "Thou Shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him ONLY shalt thou serve. (1st commandment:No other Gods) 

 --So, from reading the scriptures, we can see that Satan rebelled in Heaven initiating war against God in heaven and now on earth..He tempts everyone -even Jesus hoping to keep humanity away from God and to be worshipped .

 What's the devil like?  He is the exact opposite of God, the Father and Jesus, the Son.
 Scripture describes him as:
  God of this world, Liar, Murderer, Prince of devils, Prince of power of air, Prince of this world, Ruler of darkness, Tempter, Wicked one, Accuser, Adversary, Enemy Father of lies, BeliaI, Beelzebub, Devil, Dragon, serpent, evil one.

  (Rev 12;10, 1 Peter 5:8, 2 Cor 6:15, Matt. 12:24, Matt 4:1,Rev. 20:2,Matt 13;39, John 8:44, 2 Cor 4:4, Eze  28:12, lsa14;12, Rev 12:9, Matt 9:44, Eph 2:2, 1 Chron 21:1, Matt 4:3, 1 John 3:12)
 His purpose:
  John 10:10 The devil cometh but to steal, to kill and to destroy: I am come that they might have life and that they may have it more abundantly. -Jesus 

 Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. He intends to ensnare or deceive humanity.

 Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  

Satan is the ruler of  this world so, therefore controls the governments and elites who rule and control humanity.

   Mathew 4:8 "Again the devil taketh him up into a high mountain and showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world  and said to Him :"I, Satan, will give all of these things to you  if you will fall down and worship me."

To tempt humanity to sin: 

If you sin and don't repent to God..... 

 1 Peter 5:8   Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.  

 He is the god of this world. (2 Corinthians 4:4) This is proven when he told Jesus that if HE bowed down and worship him (devil) he would give Him (Jesus) all the kingdoms of the world.  That means he had the world as his to give.

Let no man say when he is tempted , "I am tempted by God" for God cannot be tempted by evil nor can He tempt anyone. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. (1 James 1: 13-15)

To accuse God and His followers

 "Now salvation, strength and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.(Revelation 12:10) 

Satan tempts you to sin (he cannot make you sin) and then accuses you of sinning.

(Job) There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said to Satan," Where did you come from?" Then Satan answered the Lord: "from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it" (Job 1:6-7).

and the Lord said to Satan "Have you considered my servant Job, there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one who fears God, and abstains from evil?"   Then Satan answered the Lord: "Haven't you made a hedge around him, his house, and everything he has and blessed his work and increased his flocks? But put out your hand and strike everything he has and he will curse you to your face."  And the Lord said to Satan:  "All that he has is in your power: only do not take his life". (Job 8-12)

Satan accused God of having Job's loyalty due to His blessings. Yet, Satan took everything from Job and attacked him physically and emotionally, but Job still stood true to God.....

There is a famous rock song in which the devil takes credit for all the evil done in the world throughout history. Yet, humanity blames God for not stopping wars, political confrontations, murders, chaos, lust, crimes of all sorts, death, sickness, etc. How often have we heard "IF there is a God, why....?" The answer: Because, like Eve, we are seeing evil and have to choose .  Life or death? Love or hate? Peace or chaos? Truth or lies? Good or evil?  We live in a wicked world and will see evil. It is not God who causes it. God is giving everyone time to decide because He is not willing that any should be lost.    2 Peter 3:9

A Christian song writer wrote:  "I, Satan, used to have to sneak around, but now they just open their doors. No one's looking for my tricks because no one believes in me anymore".

In the spiritual realm there is a battle going on regardless of our opinion. 

Battles involve combat between two persons, armies, or powers.  They consist of any type of extended contest, struggle or controversy (Webster-Meriam). As Christians, we are in a spiritual battle of some sort on a daily basis.  In warfare, battles are fought on different fronts, for different reasons, and with varying degrees of intensity . The same is true in spiritual warfare even though we cannot physically see the attacker.

However, if we choose to ignore or not believe in the spiritual realm, we will find ourselves confused, frustrated and without peace as God has promised in Psalms 85:8.

Warning:

The Sciptures are very plain. ANY dealings with Satan opens a doorway in the person's life for inflow of satanic infestation.  Whether the person is a Christian or a non-Christian makes no difference.  Leviticus 19:31 states: "Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God."

There are many held in bondage by involvement in the occult and other sins which have opened up their lives to Satan's power in their lives.

Christians are not protected because the opening of these doorways involves their conscious participation in sin and /or ignorance.  Romans 6:15-16..." Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves to obey , his servants you are, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"

Every person needs to be aware of these areas of influence in his own life because 

any dealings with the occult, no matter how lightly or briefly, is a doorway. This  refers to such things as playing with horoscopes,  the curiosity visit to a fortune teller, the leaf reader, palm reader, tarot cards, ouiji board, astral projection, etc.  NONE of these are harmless!!!!

Other doorways are: abuse of street drugs, repeated drunkenness, sexual intercourse*, rape, physical abuse, hypnosis, yoga, transcendental mediitation, etc.

* Sexual intercourse is a big doorway. Demons are passed from one person to another through this method because the two people involved become "one flesh".

"What? know ye not that he which is joined to a harlot is one body? for two, saith He shall be one flesh...flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is out of his body, but  he that commiteth fornication sins against his own body."  1 Corinthians 6:16, 18

 What did Jesus come to save us from? 

 Sin: Transgression of the law. (1 John 3:4)   "For I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come to fulfill. For verily I say to you: Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, until all is fulfilled"-Jesus (Matt 5:17.18)

  For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). 

Deception:  to show God the Father's character in a world guided by hypocricy, unbelief, cruelty, ignorance and oppression.

"I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  If you had known me, you you should have known my Father also: and from now on you know Him, and have seen Him."   John 14:6

It is written in the prophets, and they shall be taught of God . Therefore everyone who has heard from the Father and has learned comes to Me." John 6:45

"I have come to set the captives free."  Luke 4:18
 Eternal Death:  

  "For the wage of sin is death" ( Romans 6:23) He who sins is of the devil. (1 John 3:8) 

" God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but, that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned but, he who does not believe is condemned." John 3:17

How?

By dying for our sins.

  Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life, being tempted in all ways, but not sinning . Jesus humbled himself even though He was sinless unto death on the cross. The devil could not succeed by his methods to have Jesus sin. ( Hebrews 4:14, John 14:30, Philippians 2:8)  ,God, made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (Jesus). 2 Corinthians 5:21 

 Why? 

  To show God's Love. "Father. that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast  loved them as thou hast loved me." (John 17:23)  

To show the depth of God's loving sacrifice for a lost world. Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)  

 For you know that it was not with things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him and so your faith and hope are in God. (1 Peter 1:18-21)