Issued: 09/28/21  Revised: 12/23/23

PLEASE NOTE:  Because Bible versions sometimes differ from each other in crucial ways, the version quoted here will be the one that best clarifies the point being made.  For a quick comparison between versions, please go to: http://www.biblehub.com.

   All bracketed material may be authorial comments, attempts at proper syntax, or minimal rewordings of Scripture for the sake of clarity and continuity.  These emendations will not be italicized.

   The “/” will be used to signify “and/or.”  The symbol “↔” is used to connect verses corroborating each other and so establishing doctrinal truths (Matthew 18:16↔2Corinthians 13:1).

   In differentiating between Yahweh Son [Jesus] and Yahweh Father [the Most High God], lower case letters have been used when discussing the former; upper case letters are reserved for the Only and Most High God.  Since Jesus was at pains to differentiate himself from Father, we have followed his lead here.

   The term neo-Christians will be used to differentiate between false Christians and Jesus’ true followers.

Satan’s Ordnance: Ridicule, Disobedience, Disunity and Spins

 In 1995’s movie “The Usual Suspects,” the guileful Verbal states that the greatest trick Satan ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist, a bit of fiction that has become reality in today’s world partly because Christians have made him appear absurd.  Though the Bible portrays Lucifer as the “seal of perfection, beauty and wisdom” (Ezekiel 28:12), medieval Roman Catholic iconography/art sought to inculcate fear of Satan by portraying him as a man-lizard with bats’ wings writhing at Michael’s feet.  There is no evidence that following his fall from Heaven, Satan’s appearance became reptilian; and though symbolized as “serpent” and “dragon” in Scripture (Genesis 3:1; Ezekiel 29:3; Revelation 20:2), these are references to his shrewdness (Matthew 10:36) and the destructive powers he embodies and wields (Job 40:15-24, 41:1-34; Revelation 12:3-17, 13:1-11).  From then on, human fancy adapted Satan’s physiognomy to suit selective biases and to demonize classes of people.  Hollywood continues the tradition through ever more repugnant CGIs depicting the possessed.

   There have been ‘Christian exemplars’ who oftentimes ridiculed Satan.  One of these was Martin Luther, an early self-confessed contributor to greenhouse gases who claimed his flatulence repelled Satan, the kind of irreverence that made the wiser, older Peter irate (2Peter 2:10-11).  Jesus may have called Satan a liar and murderer (John 8:44), which is a statement of fact; but nowhere in Scripture, given Satan’s exalted role in the scheme of things and however much declared to be egregiously reprehensible, is he ridiculed or disrespected.  Such shenanigans are the rule of thumb for Satan’s human minions—be them secular or religious; but frowned upon in a Gospel where “whoever calls his brother an insulting name will answer for it in the highest court [on Judgment Day]; and whoever calls his brother a fool will answer for it in hellfire” (Matthew 5:22).  It does not sound like either Father or Jesus approve of name-calling or disrespecting anyone human or divine.

   If younger Peter could be given over to Satan for “sifting” to test his Christianity (Luke 22:31), so was probably irreverent Luther, the reputed father of Protestantism. Jesus warned about schisms bringing down his “house” [↔Mark 3:25; Ephesians 2:21-22, 5:23; Hebrews 3:6; 1Peter 2:5]; but Luther was not troubled. He was parting ways with papal “scoundrels, arch-thieves and robbers”; fighting opponents likened to idiots, swine, crass asses and filthy sows whose stupidity made Luther want to vomit. Regarding himself as an instrument channeling Father‘s wrath, Luther was a fan of Romans 1:18; but the “gentle instruction” advocated by Paul in 2Timothy 2:24-26 was not for him. Naturally, Father‘s explicit goal in 2Timothy, giving people knowledge of the truth to escape Satan’s snares, clashed with Luther’s desire to deploy the wrath that filled his heart [↔Luke 6:45; James 3:6-11] and rationalized as Father‘s own.

 Disobeying Jesus’ instructions, Luther felt qualified to explain Scripture to others, thus usurping the Holy Spirit‘s exclusive, teaching role (John 16:1; 1John 2:27). Worse still, Luther created a church to rival Rome’s, in effect chaining converts to new sets of secular and religious masters by contravening ‘libertarian’ tendencies Scripture warned against (Romans 6:16; 2Peter 2:19). In Jesus’ Christianity, the enemy was fought from within, since it was from within that the Enemy undermined Jesus; therefore Jesus went to Temple to confront his adversaries (Mark 11:27-33, 12:35-37) and did not encourage alternative places of worship. In terms of religion, Jesus was a minimalist (Matthew 18:20): Whether at home gatherings (Luke 19:5-9) or way out in the boondocks (Acts 8:26-39), buildings were not needed to preach the God Who had no use for them (Acts 7:48-49, 17:24). There may have been Christian enclaves in Corinth and Galatia; but despite their differences of opinions (1Corinthians 11:19) and doctrinal faux pas (Galatians 5:7-8), there was only Church in concept if not in reality ‘built’ of human-bricks (Ephesians 2:20-22; 1Peter 2:5). And the divine call was to preserve its integrity, not sledgehammering it to fragments.

 It follows, then, that schismatic Luther could not have been channeling the Holy Spirit, which is only given to whomever adheres strictly to Father‘s will (Job 35:13; Psalms 34:15; Proverbs 28:9; Luke 9:31; Acts 5:32); so he was unable/incapable of weeding out destructive dogmas which through him passed like unwholesome blood from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism. When Scripture identifies Babylon the Great as the “mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations” (Revelation 17:5), it is bearing witness to that fact. A couple of easy examples are Sunday observance and congregations beholden to religious leaders.

 We can compare Luther’s Christian ‘report card’ against Biblical stalwarts’. John the Baptist opposed Herod Antipas for marrying his sister-in-law (Matthew 14:3-5; Luke 3:19-20↔Leviticus 20:21) without resorting to name-calling or invectives. Corrupt or not, Herod was invested by Father to rule over men (Daniel 4:35, 5:21), as were Satan (Luke 4:6) and Pontius Pilate (John 19:11); so in the sense that Heaven ruled over the human realm (Daniel 4:26), authorities were to be respected and obeyed but only insofar as their policies did not clash with Father‘s (Romans 13:1-2)—as shown by Acts 5:27-29. The Baptist was entitled to speak truth to power but not to disparage it or seek to overthrow it.

 Jesus railed against the hypocrisy of Jewish priests but never ever encouraged disrespecting them, as he intimated in Matthew 23:3:  “So you must obey and follow everything they tell you to do; do not, however, imitate their actions, because they don’t practice what they preach.”  And Paul deferred to that protocol while unknowingly venting his rage against the high priest Ananias (Acts 23:2-5). Please note that Paul’s insult, “whitewashed wall,” had basis in Jesus’ teachings (Matthew 23:27); but even he recognized that however hypocritical, Ananias as high priest had to be given the due Father commanded Ananias should have (Exodus 22:28). 

 Although the Roman Catholic Church embodies everything Scripture hurls at her, never ever has any Judeo-Christian been instructed by Heaven to overthrow it or any form of government. According to this worldview, even Nazism or modern-day godless enclaves like China and North Korea came into being with Father’s permission (Daniel 4:17,35, 5:21); consequently, Judeo-Christians must walk the tightrope between righteous, civil disobedience and militancy/forcible resistance/outright revolution, the latter in opposition to Father‘s will: “Every person must be subject to the governing authorities, for no authority exists except by God’s permission. The existing authorities have been established by God, so that whoever resists the authorities opposes what God has established, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves” (Romans 13:1-2). Anybody beholden to the terms of Jesus’ covenant of faith cannot possibly believe that any overt violence against established institutions is divinely sanctioned.¹

 There are reasons for this laissez faire approach.  No matter how abominable some Roman Catholic practices and dogmas may be, this church relies on the Bible for spiritual guidance; and though it may be preaching corrupted doctrines, their congregants have means at their disposal to confirm their veracity or falsity (Deuteronomy 30:11-20). In this sense we find a parallel with instructions given by Jesus to the Apostles when they wanted to stop an exorcist not aligned with them:  “Don’t forbid him, for he who is not against us is for us” (Luke 9:49-50).  Though in word Roman Catholicism is pro-Jesus but in deeds it is not, congregants have to decide who they choose to obey; and that choice clinches the fate of their souls [↔Revelation 13:8]. That Father has people amongst Roman Catholic congregants is evinced by Revelation 18:4.

 It is true that the Roman Catholic Bible not only includes apocryphal books but is riddled with corrections and emendations to orthodox Scriptures.² This is why Father‘s truths are imparted by the Holy Spirit: Since Judeo-Christian religious leaders could not be trusted to preach as instructed (Zephaniah 3:4; Malachi 2:7-8), they were dismissed from their duties (Luke 16:16) in order that the faithful would have no need of them (John 16:13; 1John 2:27). Thus every Roman Catholic adherent is put in the bind of having to choose between a clergy made obsolete by Jesus or to part company with them[↔Hebrews 13:12-14; Revelation 18:4].

 In the past the Roman Church resisted translations of the Bible into native tongues, put obstacles in its dissemination, and discouraged the one-on-one disclosures that were Father’s chosen MO (Deuteronomy 29:29; Jeremiah 33:3; John 16:13; 1Corinthians 2:10-13; 1John 2:27).  Repressive conformity became the operant modality, which has networked down the centuries into modern evangelism.  As is always the case, this goal was accomplished by enablers and abettors of every social class, nationality, and religious persuasion. Nevertheless passive resistance must be brought to bear, for keeping silent in the face of evil amounts to complicity [↔Ezekiel 3:18-21; Matthew 5:14-16].  At the risk of personal cost and safety, Jesus’ standards of non-violence and submission to authority must be upheld (Matthew 26:52; Hebrews 12:3; 1Peter 2:21-23) but never at the expense of overriding Father’s (Acts 5:29).

 However much men may think ‘just, moral’ causes work in Father’s favor, they do not, because social causes are driven by conflicting ideas, opinions, vested interests, and agendas of every stripe; all inimical to Christianity’s goal:  Unity in everything (Ephesians 4:3-6).  Scripture does not show Jesus or any Biblical stalwart involved in social causes.  Jesus went as far as avoiding political life like a bat out of hell (John 6:15) and drawing a line in the sand:  “Just say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’—anything else you say comes from the Evil One” (Matthew 5:37).  Furthermore, as current events still illustrate, Satan will embed moles and operatives into public demonstrations with the objective of initiating rioting, looting, and sundry charges of violence-prone bad actors.  Polarizing public opinion revitalizes Satan like electricity did the Frankenstein monster.

   Jesus’ words, therefore, are “stinging goads,” a metaphor Scripture seems to be fond of (Ecclesiastes 12:11; Acts 26:14); and naturally unpopular with people addicted to reinventing themselves into loftier avatars with no basis in fact.  Reprove a fool and he will hate you (Proverbs 9:8), a fact poor Stephen learned at the expense of his life (Acts 7:53-60); and so did Jesus for speaking truth to power.  The inability of men to own up to their shortcomings is the agar upon which Satan feeds and metastasizes in the hearts of men already “given fully to do evil” (Ecclesiastes 8:11)—the spiritual vacuum Jesus spoke of (Matthew 6:23).

   Twit a lie, repeat it ad nauseam, and it will become truth to minds unwilling or uncaring to draw informed conclusions based on established facts.  The perverse twitter knows what resonates with his/her base group—pun embedded; and his/her contempt for the intellectual acumen—or lack thereof—of his/her supporters is exemplified by the continued repetition of what he/she knows to be false.  Yet the base will not be deterred:  They will follow their pied-pipers like legions of lemmings seeking oblivion beneath the waves.  And this despite spot-on and timely assessments:  “A fool’s lips are self-destructive.  The beginning of his talking is foolishness and the end of his talk is wicked madness.  Yet the fool multiplies words” (Ecclesiastes 10:12-14).  And its corollary:  “A fool will believe anything; smart people watch their step” (Proverbs 14:15). In other words, fools rush in where angels fear tread.

Chips of the old Moloch

   All these things are very clear to Satan, whose consummate understanding of human nature tells him which buttons to press.  Scratch anyone’s back and he/she will butter up to God:  Why should Job not worship Yahweh if Yahweh rains blessings upon him (Job 1:9-10)?  As long as Yahweh delivers, let us praise Him; if for whatever reason He does not come through, let us get rid of Him (Job 2:9; Proverbs 19:3; Psalms 2:1-3).  If one is no longer of use, ditch the sucker (Matthew 27:3-4).  Make the powers that be look bad and send truth-tellers either scrambling for their lives (1Kings 19:2) or being trodden underfoot (Matthew 23:34-35; Acts 7:54-60).  Name-calling is de rigueur against perceived opponents (Matthew 11:18-19; John 10:20): The ridiculed or demonized are easily dismissed (Matthew 11:18).  Seed the crowd with operatives and sway public opinion (Mark 15:11).  Dress up for the part and accrue a following (Matthew 23:5-7).  Give the people what they want to keep them happy, even if betraying oaths of office (Exodus 32:22-25; Isaiah 30:10-11).  Rely on unprincipled men spouting spurious claims to make charges stick (Mark 13:56-59).  Start false claims to sow doubt (Matthew 27:62-64).  And buy the loyalty of the worst of the worse in order to consolidate and hold on to power (Judges 9:4; Proverbs 29:12)—the stuff of today’s social/political realities.

   John 8:44 is Jesus’ summary of men’s preference for Satan’s ruling style:  “You belong to your father the devil, and you want to carry out the desires of your father.”  Before setting foot in Canaan, Yahweh knew His people to be morally compromised, headstrong (Deuteronomy 9:4-6), and eventual defaulters of His covenant—not only Jews but Christians as well (Deuteronomy 9:4-6,16,20, 31:29).  He knew of their lip-service proclivities (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8-9); of their pretense at cherishing divine instruction they had no intention implementing in their lives (Ezekiel 33:31-32).  Still, since His gifts are irrevocable (Romans 11:29), and He had made a promise He could not go back on (Numbers 23:19; Hebrews 16:13-18), He devised a Gospel constraining the faithful to evolve morally and spiritually while requiring submission to disciplinary measures by way of atoning for past sins (Micah 7:9; Hebrews 12:5-8; 1Peter 1:6-7, 5:6).

   The undermining of that discipline is Satan’s paramount goal, since resisting or rejecting it nails down the coffins of human souls.  Nobody likes pain; self-sacrifices are costly and frustrating; self-denial is no ‘fun’; splitting funds to feed one’s child and others across the world—no way!; and paying the ultimate price for Jesus’ name (Matthew 10:39), could that not be re-negotiated? To quote Shakespeare, “Ay, there’s the rub.”  It cannot be (Matthew 16:15).

   Satan is relentless and so are his minions.  The ‘sinisters’ (sic) of propaganda keep harping on the same false narratives. The Adversary has pitched its tents amongst us and his minions in due time will overwhelm us all—the prophesied night when no one can work (John 9:4). Father figures that if men are content with lying on the bed Satan made for them, so be it.

The waiting timeframe

   We lack the power to sort things out and so must wait for Father to fix our mess as suits His timetable (2Peter 3:9).  The discouraging news is that between promise and deliverance, there are lots of trials and tribulations of unspecified duration that we must grin and bear.

   One hundred years passed between the birth of Noah’s children and their entering the Ark (Genesis 5:32, 7:6,11). Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran; Isaac’s birth was promised right before the Sodom and Gomorrah destruction (Genesis 18:10).  He was 86 years old when Ishmael was born (Genesis 12:4, 16:16); and both were circumcised when Abraham was 99 years old (Genesis 17:24-26).  Isaac was born a year later (Genesis 21:5).  Thus between promise and birth, Abraham had to wait a good 20+ years before cradling his legitimate heir in his arms.

   But people are always in a hurry to get their wish; and we have to hand it to Satan that he ceaselessly reinforces this human foible.  If our electronic gadgetry delivers one nanosecond later than expected, we vent in frustration.  We cannot postpone gratification even if lives hang in the balance:  Fun must be had at the risk of fanning pandemics; safety thrown out the window by flooring pedals even if plowing into reduced visibility.  Despite disturbing prophecies that hard times would ensue following the Messiah’s death (Daniel 9:26-27), some people jumped the gun believing the Kingdom of God was imminent even before Jesus set foot in Jerusalem (Luke 19:11).  Since then ‘people of faith’ have been obsessed with predicting world’s end, even when Jesus clearly stated no human or divine being could possibly know that (Mark 13:32; Acts 1:7).  Scripture even questions the wisdom of wishing for the Day of the Lord bringing darkness and not light (Amos 5:18).  Nevertheless men keep moping (sic) and overreaching.

   We are all so cocksure we are ahead of the game and so heaven-ready that we neglect to pay attention to what Jesus told us in Matthew 24:22:  If Father’s timeframe were not shortened during end times, no one would be saved, meaning that Satan would ultimately ensnare even the elect.  This does not sound like Judeo-Christians have the upper hand on everybody else; only that in comparison with non-believers, Father rates them less objectionable than the rest of humanity.  Let us remember that no one is good (Romans 3:10-12) and far behind Father’s curve. Before we slide down past the mean into greater probabilities of salvation, there is a tough climb ahead.

  This is the harsh truth behind Jesus’ seemingly innocuous comment that “in your patience you shall win your souls” (Luke 21:19).  Patience in what?  In enduring suffering and persecutions (Matthew 10:22; 2Timothy 3:12); possible betrayal by family members (Luke 21:16); in not keeping up with the Joneses or actively pursuing the goals of this world (Mark 4:19; Luke 17:26-29; 2Timothy 2:3-4). Jesus’ roadmap is simple:  Prioritize searching for Father’s Kingdom and if necessary die in the attempt (Matthew 6:31-33, 16:25).  Neither he nor Father is interested in half-hearted worshippers (Hebrews 10:38; James 1:6-9; Revelation 3:16).  It is all on our part or nothing on theirs.

   Accustomed as we all are not to forfeit gratification, one can understand why some of Jesus’ early followers, or even the rich young man “he loved” on sight, bailed out while the going was good (John 6:60,66; Mark 10:17-22).  We all want our cake and eat it too, the faster, the better; personal sacrifices threaten to spoil our party.  Nevertheless we like to think Father is tickled pink with us; and through our religious leaders, Satan cheerleads that it is so. According to their spins, the demanding Father Who has no favorites loves us unconditionally and wants us to be happy no matter how many others wallow in unremitting misery and suffering.  Marie Antoinette would have the starving classes eat cake instead of bread; but we would rather partake of both.

   Human souls are not impervious to the jabs of Satan’s “darts” (Ephesians 6:16).  Paul’s simile is very apt:  Envision the soul as a bull’s-eye being pierced by pointed lies and numbing deceptions.  The dart throwers are evangelical leaders inflicting spiritual wounds:  “From the least important to the most important, they’re all greedy for dishonest gain. From prophet to priest, they all act deceitfully.  They treated my people’s wound superficially, telling them, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace…They are like workers who think they can fix a shaky wall by covering it with paint” (Jeremiah 6:13-14; Ezekiel 13:10)—an approach that has become standardized and institutionalized. 

   It behooves us, then, to review Scriptures regarding Satan’s existence, his wiles, his role in human suffering, and what in this series we call the royal flush/poker hand he trumps humanity with.  In Matthew 24:22 Jesus intimated that Satan’s hand was unbeatable; and would win the game were not the Divine Croupier to stop further card dealing by cutting time short.

   Since time is of the essence, now is the time to take stock of our spiritual chips and cut further losses (2Corinthians 6:2).

¹ Yet that was the case during the January 6, 2021, attack on Congress, in which ‘people of faith’ knelt praising Father for having gotten them there.

² Technically additions/deletions to the Canon and so forbidden (Ecclesiastes 3:14; Revelation 22:18-19).