Spiritual direction: part 2 of post about Satan

Here’s one more important point regarding the previous posting about Satan and demons.

I mentioned how demons recognize Jesus for who he truly is, before he even spoke to them.

Matthew 8:28-29

And when He arrived at the other side in the country of the Gadarenes, two men under the control of demons went to meet Him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce and savage that no one was able to pass that way.
And behold, they shrieked and screamed, What have You to do with us, Jesus, Son of God? Have You come to torment us before the appointed time? (Amplified Bible).

Notice three things: 1) They recognize Jesus as he is walking toward them, before he even speaks, 2) They know that Jesus is the Son of God, and 3) They fear him and know he has total power over them.

So the point I want to make is to help you to distinguish between evil deeds done by humans on their own volition (the vastly most common event), demonic influence or possession (extremely rare) and dialogue or possession by Satan himself (unheard of except momentarily with Judas).

Notice that a demon would never have been “enough” to possess Judas. You can see that demons freak totally out at the very approach of Jesus, and are in dread and fear because they must obey Jesus in all things. Further, demons know they will be punished by Jesus, in the name of God, for what they have done among humans, so at the very approach of Jesus, they are already dreading their punishment. Thus, one or more demons could never have been able to tempt and force Judas to betray Jesus. Demons would not be able to abide being in the body of anyone near to Jesus at all. So Satan himself had to “press the button,” in the sense of daring to enter the body of Judas (who Satan had prepared via ongoing temptations) in the very presence of Jesus, in order to stimulate Judas to perform the betrayal. But notice two things. One is that even Satan himself stayed “in” Judas for the “bare minimum” of time; he was there just enough to get Judas to make the decision to betray, to get up from the table, leave the room, seek out the authorities, and make the betrayal. Satan immediately abandoned Judas at that point. So Satan himself is unable to spend any length of time in defiance of Jesus.

Second point is that Satan too is subject to Jesus. Thus Jesus had to tell Judas to “get on with it” basically, and if you are going to betray, then do it now. Only after Jesus indicates his awareness and acceptance of Judas’ free will decision does Satan dare to enter Judas. Satan would have viewed what Jesus said as “permission to tempt.” Demons and Satan would never dare or abide to be in the very presence of Jesus without the permission of Jesus to speak with him.

Thus you have to understand that humans cannot continually blame Satan and demons for their own evil. Satan and demons did not possess the guards who seized Jesus, the judges who condemned him, the friends who fled from him, the priests who backstabbed him, and the centurions who flogged, mocked and crucified him. These were people being people, and doing evil all on their own.

I’m so annoyed with modern people who diminish the reality of God, yet inflate the influence of “demons” or spirits or Satan in “causing bad things to happen.” All Satan does is display a false banquet of temptation in front of humans. That is literally all that Satan does on earth. As I explained in the previous post of this subject, many people are totally immune through their humility and belief of even seeing the banquet of false temptations. My deceased stepfather is an example of such a person. He would not see a temptation by Satan if it jumped up and down in front of him. It’s like being color blind. Many people are color blind to Satanic temptation; they just don’t see it and it would not even occur to them to accept a given temptation offer even if it was patiently explained to them.

Other people cultivate their taste for satanic temptations. They not only respond to the false promises and temptations by Satan but they go into the business of offering more temptations and leading others to them. At that point it is all human weakness and evil doing. Satan does not guide any human hands at all. Satan just offers the false banquet of inflated beliefs that some humans sup from. In the most extreme case, as I mentioned, Hitler, acceptance becomes so overwhelming and continual in some area of temptation that a demon resides within him as a continual connection to that temptation.

Satan is a mail order catalog of false offerings that some people leaf through, while others toss it into the garbage bin unopened and unviewed as soon as they see it in the mailbox. That is why Satan is not to be feared, and that is what Jesus meant when he said so in the Gospel. Satan is not to be feared; Satan is to be ignored. And Satan certainly can not be used as the excuse when someone opens Satan’s catalog, selects an item and then, worse, copies it so that others will be sucked in. That is the vast majority of what humans today are doing. Satan does not enter into people except to send a “new catalog available” notice that, as I said, many do not even hear or perceive, as they are immune through their faith and humility.

Internet porn is an example of technology making a “new catalog available” by Satan. Satan tempted through lust and money those who sought to be sexually gratified in an unnatural way AND those who seek to profit from that “industry.” But Satan is not pushing the buttons in any individual, nor following a “temptation plan” or “destiny.” Humans do that all by themselves. Satan grooms humans for internet porn through his usual catalog offering of “Who needs rules? I’m free to be me and do whatever I want. I’m not hurting anyone. Anything goes!” This is his standard offering. Those who “buy in” to that satanic catalog offering then proceed to use their human skills, motivations and weaknesses to construct the industry and perform the criminal deeds that enable the Internet porn industry. Thus, Satan’s only role was his usual, which is to offer that combination “I have a need for personal freedom, yet I can’t resist this sexual urge (and by the way, I can make money and have power over others)” and see who accepts. This is Satan’s same old offer and the only thing that changes is how many humans, through weakened faith and societal/family infrastructure, accept the temptation and then go about constructing some evil for themselves and others. Also the inability to wisely evolve with technology offers more overwhelming ways to flood everyone with temptations away from what is good. An example of that is children who use cell phones to film beat downs of other children. That is a crime and a sin that just was not available prior to the technology. So Satan is not building the cell phone, or entering into a child to make him or her beat another and film it, and Satan’s not in the Internet providing the media to post it: That is all human’s “work.” However, Satan infected the mindset of entire communities, businesses, agencies, governments and so forth by luring them to accept the “Free to do whatever we please and we are not really hurting anyone anyway and there are no consequences from God, who may or may not exist” temptation that initiates the chain of terror and sin.