Y |
E are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)
It will not likely come as a surprise to our readers the devil is head of a larger family than the Church itself – at least for the present moment. Every death upon earth is attributable to the Lie Satan told in the Garden at Eden. If we bear his likeness in lying and contributing to his evil works, then we are his children whom he covets. How many tv evangelists and mundane prophets who have had a dream or a vision that did not come from God will suffer the fate of their father the devil?
Several years ago, I had a Nigerian military student pilot who shared some comments about the deadly python snake of Africa. That snake is powerful and is almost all muscle. It can grow to a length of 25 feet and of greater diameter than any other snake. It is cunning and unmerciful to any prey that falls within its power.
The African python often drapes itself over a jungle trail so that any animal or person passing below is easily trapped as it falls from the overhead branches and encircles its prey. It winds its long body around its prey and tightens its grip at each exhalation of breath. It the stretches its prey in order to break its bones to facilitate being able to swallow it. It then takes its prey by the head and begins to swallow. There is no possibility of escape for the python has sharp teeth that are slanted back making it impossible for any creature to withdraw.
My Nigerian student said that it was illegal to kill such a snake in a village. When I asked why, he said “In its death throes, that snake thrashes about and would destroy most of the village.”
How like its progenitor of Eden is that snake. He lies in wait out of sight of his prey and suddenly entangles them in such horrible grip that they cannot escape. He slowly deprives them of the breath of life and breaks all their bones. His lies lead to the marshy bog where his victim has no way out. He takes from them the breath of life. At last, Satan swallows his victim whole – they die in his hateful grip.
But for those who are enlightened by the Word of God and His Holy spirit, that old serpent, Satan, has no power to destroy. Yes, he is a liar – yes, he is a murderer. But the penalty for our inherited sinful nature has been paid by our Lord Jesus Christ – the Dragon Slayer. Being the Way, the Truth and the Life, our Lord provides us with Light and Truth with which to navigate the swamps of life and the snares of the Serpent:
“7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 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. 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, which accused them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. (Revelations 12: 7-11) He and his angels (demons) are among us today. They are subtle and full of deceit. They seek to possess our children whose responsibility it is of parents to defend against such deceit.
I am not surprised that the symbol of the most treacherous dictatorship in our modern world is a Red Dragon (Red China). But the Serpent's powers are not limited to tyrannical dictatorships. He is constantly working to subvert nations and free people to his own nature and manners. He lied in Eden to Eve who believed she would be a god if she obeyed him. That Paradise was taken away and she and Adam lived on the harsh demands of the soil. Today, his greatest intent is to destroy families and the morals of children. Instead of the Biblical family instituted by God, Satan has a counterfeit of perversion from which no child can be born. This suits the old Serpent fully since his original goal was to destroy the man that God had made. He even stoops to the murder of innocents in their mother’s womb which also plays into his destructive will to eliminate the works of God. Instead of a true seven-arched Rainbow of Promise created by God (reflecting His creative model), Satan has promoted a six-arched counterfeit called the pride flag - six being the number of man, not of God. For every truth of God, Satan has imagined a counterfeit and is teaching our children to believe a lie. Will we sit idly by while he works his plans of deceit and death?
