Cults
Believe in devil
Survey from pastor to pastor
Beliefs of "Christians" Vary Widely
A new survey conducted by The Barna Group reveals that a majority of those Americans who call themselves Christians believe that Satan "is not a living being, but a symbol of evil." Four out of ten (40%) said they "strongly agree" with the statement and 19 percent said they "agree somewhat." In addition, 58 percent of Americans who call themselves Christians said they either "strongly agree" or "agree somewhat" that the Holy Spirit is "a symbol of God's power or presence, but not a living entity."
Barna also pointed out that American Christians who can be described as "born again" have a variety of different beliefs about Satan and the Holy Spirit. For the purpose of the study, Christians were seen as "born again" if they understood that salvation is solely the result of confession of sin and a belief in God's grace received through Jesus Christ. Among this group, only about 30 percent believe that Satan is just a symbol of evil or that the Holy Spirit is not a living entity.
The study also revealed that:
• Twenty-two percent of self-described Christians believe either somewhat or strongly that Jesus sinned while on earth.
• Seventy-three percent of self-described Christians believe either somewhat or strongly that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches.
• Sixty-four percent of self-described Christians believe either somewhat or strongly that a person can be under the influence of spiritual forces, such as demons or evil spirits.
The research was based on 1,871 phone interviews conducted in 2008. To view the complete report, go to www.barna.org.
The Devil is real.
I am going to do something very different I am going to ask you to pray for yourself for a hedge of protection before you read this article and ask you to pray for me for protection before you read this article. I have sat down several times to write this article, and always something comes up and I cannot finish. I have saved a paragraph or two and they were not there when I came back and I am very diligent about saving before I leave the computer. This is one more proof that Satan is alive and well and does not want you to read the truth about him.
I just read a very disturbing article. The Barna group did a survey on Christians only. They defined Christian as believing only in Jesus Christ for salvation. The survey found that 40% of Christians strongly believe that "Satan is not a living being, but a symbol of evil." and another 19% believe this somewhat. To get this in perspective, next week in church look to the right and then look to the left of you, of three people, two have doubts about Satan.
I have a little over two hundred people on the blog list, if I do the math that means that 120 people on this blog list do not believe in the Devil. That just floors me. I feel very responsible to help you understand that Satan is alive, well, and trying to pull you down. In fact, this lie that the devil is not real is one way he is trying to pull you down. The reason being is that if you do not think he is real, and then you believe that all the bad things are just happenstance, but Satan has a hand in them to pull off his evil schemes and his big goal is to keep people from believing in Christ.
In the book “The Screwtape Letters,” C. S. Lewis is prophetic because he talks about this as one of goals of the demons to plant in the mind of their victims. Focus on the Family is coming out with an audio version this summer and I highly encourage you to listen. It is going to have Andy Crucus who played Gollum in “Lord of the Ring.” This will show you that Satan is real.
I am here to tell you right now that Satan is alive and well in the world. Jesus himself believed in the devil and told us a lot about him. Therefore, I want to concentrate on what Jesus said about the devil because you believe in Jesus for His salvation therefore you should believe in his words. Luke 10:18
18And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Jesus shows here that he believes in the devil and even saw him kicked out heaven. If this is not proof of Satan, I do not know what is.
Matt 4 has the story where Jesus is tempted by the devil.
1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
You can see here that the devil is doing his job. He is trying to trick, lie, cheat, and steal Jesus from doing his job of saving our souls. He is doing the same thing to us today. If Jesus was not exempted for this, why do we think we are? You see how Jesus beat him with the word of God. This is why the devil does not want you to read your Bible, it gives you a way to fight him, and it shows that he is real.
This is the only way to get people to believe that the devil is real. You must read your Bible and believe what is says. So many people want to pick and chose what they want to take from the Bible. It is all God’s word and we need to believe in it fully. This is the only way we can defeat the devil. I will be praying for all of the people that receive this blog and pray that you start believing in the devil and start fighting him by reading God’s word and prayer.
I will leave you with Ephesians 6
16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, 10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; which is the word of God:
18Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
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