War Stories 2008/04/09 – Are there demons in cyberspace?
I viewed a YouTube video of someone reading from the Bible, and that person was reading it in a way that was not pleasant to hear. I think the person was an atheist, or maybe a satanist. I was told by an ex-satanist that atheists who are familiar with the Bible are likely to be satanists. When I viewed the video I felt very tense in my chest. I prayed to God for help, told Him that He is in control, and that whatever happens to me is up to Him. I felt slightly better and then I had an idea of reading from my Bible the same verses that the person on the video was reading. After I read those verses myself, I felt better. Looking back, I suspect that a satanist filmed himself, and used the video as a way of casting a spell on the viewer, and what God guided me to do broke the spell.
Another time I viewed a satanist group profile on Facebook. It was not scary, but I felt scared, which was really odd. Again, I prayed to God to help me through this fear, and I felt better. I joined the group to post a couple of my evangelistic video tracts. The next day, I got a message from the administrator asking me to take my video down. I replied that he can take it down himself. The next day it was taken down, and I left the group.
I think that there are demons in cyberspace.
There are positive feelings in cyberspace too. I like it when people post nice comments on my profile. Some profiles I visit in Facebook and Friendster make me feel happy. There are angels in cyberspace too.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the important thing to remember is that Jesus Christ defeated Satan by paying for our sins on the cross. If we have repented and believed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then we have been redeemed, and therefore are now adopted sons of God. For this reason we can boldly pray to our Heavenly Father. It is written:
John 1:12-13 “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Our Heavenly Father will always look after us. It is written:
Rom 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”
God bless,
George
Does the Bible say we are God?
Someone told me this week that the Bible says that we are God! I thought about whether I should even bother to respond to a statement that, frankly, is the craziest thing I have heard in some time! However, the Lord has placed a burden on my heart to respond. Let us look at the verse he used to support this. The meanings of the Hebrew words that I will show are those found in the Hebrew dictionary of Strong’s Concordance, which is a standard reference work for Biblical Hebrew.
Gen 1:26-27 “And God said, Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.”
The word “image” is used several times, and Hebrew word that is used is:
צלם (tseh’-lem)
From an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, that is, (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence a representative figure, especially an idol: – image, vain shew.
This word is used when describing something that looks like something else. For example, a life-like statue of a person resembles a person but is not an exact copy of that person. Another example is a picture of a person on TV, which is an illusion that looks like that person but is not the actual person. Likewise, in the context that is used in these verses, we look like God, but are not God.
The following verse warns against believing that we are God, or can become God.
Gen 3:4-5 “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
In Gen 3:5, the Hebrew word used for “gods” is the same Hebrew word used for “God”, which is “Elohim”, which refers to the Creator, as this is the same word used for God in Gen 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” Gen 3:4-5 are uttered by the serpent, who is Satan, who is a deceiver. It is written: Rev 12:9 “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.” It is therefore Satan who lies to us by saying that we can be God.
I say to those of you who believe in this lie of Satan: Repent! Turn away from your sin, reject sin, and choose to obey God! Believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Jesus Christ paid the price of our sins, so that we are saved from the punishment for our rebellion against God, which is everlasting torment in Hell!
John 3:16-19 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
The opportunity to do this is closing! You do not know when you will die, and after you die you will be judged, and then the opportunity to repent will have closed. It is written:
Heb 9:27-28 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
God bless,
George
