Know Thy Enemy

A beautiful and wise high ranking angelic being was once given a position of power and influence, but due to his pride he wanted to take over the position of God. For his rebellion he was cast down out of heaven along with a third of all the angels in heaven. Since then the enemy has been in a state of perpetual warfare against God. Through the old testament times his plan was to destroy the messianic line, and once the Messiah (Jesus) came the enemy's plan was to divert Him from fulfilling His mission: dying on the cross. Having failed that the enemy has fixed his focus firmly on us who were created in God's image to steal (our joy in God), destroy (our relationship and trust in God), and kill every single Christian on earth if possible.

This being of course is Satan and the fallen angels are his minions, the demons. One of the greatest things ever written about the enemy was written by CS Lewis in the Screwtape Letters;

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or magician with the same delight”

This statement about devils (demons) is so true. How many Christians do you know profess a disbelief in Satan, demons, demonic influence, demonic possession or demonic oppression? All of that is right there in the bible, the Gospel of Mark is literally crawling with demons, but these folks are walking around the battlefield with blinders on. Then again there's the folks that ignore their own sinful nature and blame everything they do on demons. It's like they're saying "I couldn't possibly sin! Satan did it!" - and these are Christians, folks who supposedly study the word of God and know about our enemy. Just imagine how messed up the view of Satan that those that have never opened a bible have. 

Satan's character is defined by his complete and total separation from God, he's the 'anti' of God. He's the liar, the deceiver, the one that can make himself look like anything he wants

¹⁴ No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ¹⁵ Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. (2 Corinthians 11:14-15)

No matter how brilliantly light he can make himself look, Satan's character is dark, eternally dark. I'm not talking about skin color, but character color. The lack of light in his character is due to his separation from God. He's deceptive, everything he says is a lie, but each lie is hidden inside a truth to make it more palatable. And he's divisive, he tries to get between you and your fellow Christians, and between you and Jesus.

Remember that the first time we met Satan in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were unconcerned with death. They had free access to the Tree of Life for only the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was denied them. Then Satan drove a wedge between Eve and God seducing her with his words and tempting her with the knowledge of good and evil. This forced Adam to choose between God and Eve, and he chose Eve, and for that they both did die - spiritually. You can say that when they were following the word of God they were pro-life, but following Satan's temptation they became pro-choice. No, this is not a pun, nor a play on words, this is an observation. If you have problems with it I suggest you pray on it for a while.

The mission of Satan and his demons is to dethrone God:

¹³ “But you said in your heart,‘I will ascend to heaven;I will raise my throne above the stars of God,And I will sit on the mount of assemblyIn the recesses of the north.¹⁴ ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;I will make myself like the Most High.’ (Isaiah 14:13-14)

and destroy all creation, 

⁷ When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, ⁸ and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. (Revelation 20:7-8)

deceive the world including the Elect, 

²² for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect. (Mark 13:22)

and divide the world, especially the church. All of this we can see happening day to day. If you don't see it happening in the secular world then you haven't been paying attention to the news. And if you haven't seen it happening in the church, then you haven't been paying to the rise of the Emergent church, the rise of liberal heresy, the word-faith heresy, and worst of all, the modern day "Anti-Bible Movement". I'm not talking  just about the ban on God's word in public schools but churches that stress a relationship with Jesus without the guidance of the bible. Rick Warren, so called "America's Pastor", actually said that Jesus told his disciples to ignore prophesy, in his book Purpose Driven Life he wrote:

When the disciples wanted to talk about prophecy, Jesus quickly switched the conversation to evangelism. He wanted them to concentrate on their mission in the world. He said in essence, “The details of my return are none of your business. What is your business is the mission I have given you. Focus on that!” (PDL, p. 285)

He went on to claim that Jesus said: “Anyone who lets himself be distracted [by studying Bible prophecy] from the work I plan for him is not fit for the kingdom of God” Nothing could be further than the truth. Jesus never, ever told his disciples to ignore any scrap of scripture, in fact he commanded his disciples to study prophesy:

³⁵ “Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit. ³⁶ Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. (Luke 12:35-36)

Beware of ANYONE that tells you to ignore any bit or piece of the Bible, the Bible is your primary defense against demonic oppression, it's your link to God, your primary source for the love and wisdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Anyone that tells you to ignore a single jot or tittle of God's holy word is unworthy of your time or care. Simply thank them for their time, shake the dust off your feet and move on saying a prayer asking for God's mercy on their souls.