Satan’s Man

For some months now during my early morning quiet time with the Lord, two new prayers are being brought before Him. One: that I be filled with the Holy Spirit for the hour of persecution. Two: that I be fully immersed or saturated in the Scriptures. I don’t know how bad things will get for us here in my neck of the woods, but I’m grateful to God for the chance to pray for these now, because if it comes suddenly, I will be that much more prepared. Although I’m not a prophet of God in the true sense, I am a servant in the true sense. Surely the LORD GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets Amos 3:7. I may not get all, but I’ll get some!

I have not suffered a lot of persecution in my Christian life, only lots of ostracism. But I do pray that if placed under any form of confinement that I would find the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures to be more than sufficient for my needs. Should I not be allowed access to the Scriptures I firmly believe my current prayer (to be immersed in them) would be answered. In other words, it’s possible for Satan’s man to take the Book from me, but not the living word within the Book. But what does it say? “The word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): Romans 10:8 cf. Deuteronomy 30:14. And glory of all glories, no one can take the Holy Spirit from me!

I like to think I could ask for pencils and paper. I would write down every Scripture that the Holy Spirit brought to mind. Assuming Satan’s man is not totally barbaric, the request might be granted. One of the grand benefits from writing these posts – lots of Scriptures come to mind. Without the aid of a Bible or a Concordance, chapters and verses wouldn’t come to mind, but the Word itself would and that’s all that matters. I often wonder about our fellow Christians suffering persecution in other lands. The only Scriptures some of them know are those they heard in sermons preached from a pulpit. But if their church was more reliant upon traditions than Bible, then they know next to no Scriptures. Nevertheless Deuteronomy 31:6 still stands; God is with them.

I think of those suffering for their faith in North Korea and China. Will their experience be ours? How could it be, given we’ve had access to every Bible translation available plus everything else needed in between to help us grow up in our faith? Maybe we are soon to find the answers to that question. God is lifting His hand of restraint from Satan’s man and he’s coming after Bible Christians at a rate of knots never known before in our region. Lots of Christians don’t believe this; they believe the Rapture will get us out of here before Satan’s man is unleashed. Others believe they’ll be protected from any harm he can bring to bear. Still others don’t know what they believe; they’re just hoping all will change for the better soon.

Multitudes of Christians in Hitler’s Germany thought things would get better soon. But when things got worse rather than better, only a few suffered persecution; the rest compromised themselves. Of the few who suffered, many were filled with the Holy Spirit and fully immersed in the Scriptures. God had been their Living Reality in times of peace, now in their times of crisis, even more so. I sought the LORD, and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears…… The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and He delivers them Psalm 34:4, 7. They were not delivered from their circumstances but they were delivered from fear of them. Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed…… Isaiah 41:10 was no mere religious platitude to them.

Were it not for was those few Christians, others not filled with the Holy Spirit and immersed in the Scriptures may have caved in to Satan’s man and crumbled like their compromising brothers and sisters. The same can be said for those who suffered under Satan’s man in the Soviet Union, an even more godless and brutal regime than that of the Nazis. By God’s grace, one holy man of God who suffered horrendously under that barbaric cruelty discovered a grand truth: “We are weak little Davids. But we are stronger than the Goliath of atheism because God is on our side. The truth belongs to us.” – Richard Wurmbrand. Praise God for him. The lesson he teaches is that of Paul the apostle. For when I am weak, then I am strong 2 Corinthians 12:10.

In a number of churches, leadership places greater emphasis on the Scriptures being written for the group rather than the individual, which is not unlike the mindset of Marxism and Communism in many ways. Collectivism is exalted, individualism is frowned upon. Whilst gathering together in truth and unity is called for, the downside of the Collectivist mentality in a church is that often people will rely on others to do the “heavy lifting” for them. Troubles come upon them, they ask others for prayer and help (which is a good thing to do) but reliance placed on others becomes greater than the reliance they ought to be placing on God Himself by way of their own praying. The result being they don’t grow in grace because they don’t grow in God.

The “luxury” of relying on others in the group explains one reason why the Western church is not the witness it ought to be. If everybody relies on everybody to do the heavy lifting, very little gets lifted! That’s not the church of Jesus Christ, that’s the “church” of the people; they’re running the show, not Jesus. That’s the opposite of being filled with the Holy Spirit and being fully immersed in the Scriptures. Imagine suffering persecution in such a spiritual condition. You couldn’t. You’ll compromise yourself the moment Satan’s man looks at you, let alone touches you. And, similar to standing before the judgment seat of Christ Romans 14:10, nobody from the group will be there to hold your hand and speak up for you; you’re on your own.

If persecution comes to the church, it will be the intention of Satan’s man to strip us of everything we’ve been relying upon. That’s not unlike God. If we have not been solely relying upon Him, He seeks to strip us of everything we’ve been relying upon too. Satan’s man wants to enslave us, God sees such a Christian as already enslaved; He wants to set him free! It is to the disciplined (true disciple), not the self-reliant or other-reliant that Jesus says, Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed John 8:36. Embracing truth sets us free; the Holy Spirit is the one and only capable of bringing that about – using no other Book but the Bible for the task. May we not wait until persecution comes before we acknowledge this reality.

Someone asks, “What about new Christians? They’ve repented, they’ve received the Lord Jesus, but they’re spiritual babies. How will they get on?” Answer: There’s a great difference between spiritual babies a few weeks or months old than there is those who have been sitting in churches for thirty or forty years. Like the Christians above who know next to no Scriptures, God’s grace will cover them. If they’ve been faithful to what little they know, God will be faithful to them in what they don’t know. However, that’s another important reason why it makes good sense for spiritually mature Christians to be filled with the Holy Spirit and be fully immersed in the Scriptures. If we have something to share, maybe there’ll be opportunities to do so, no matter how brief.

Many Christians believe the church will go into the great tribulation spoken of by Jesus, the prophet Daniel and the apostle John. I don’t believe it. That 7-year event speaks of a time when the wrath of God is poured out upon a sinful, rebellious world. The Scripture is clear; the church is not appointed to wrath. At one time we were under wrath but the gift of salvation we obtained through our Lord Jesus Christ has changed all that 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11. Grace is what we live under, not wrath. But that doesn’t mean we won’t suffer persecution for our stand in Christ. Persecution has always been the lot of Bible Christians, it’s just that in our region, we’ve been spared from it. The way Satan’s man is acting everywhere now, perhaps no more.

Satan’s man would have us believe he fears no man. Don’t believe it! Fear is his nature just as it is his father, Satan. Not so, Bible Christians. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind 2 Timothy 1:7. We may not feel this promise even after immersing ourselves in its truth daily. We may not feel we are filled with the Holy Spirit. But thank God for faith – God’s faith! God can be depended upon to give us all the faith we need at the time of needing. Our job is to get His word into us now so that He’s got something to work with at that hour. That’ll be the only difference between Christians who stand and those who compromise or cave in. Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand Isaiah 41:10.