Satan and God in Conflict (subtitle)
Two Systems: satan has a purpose, a project and a program. His purpose is to "be like the Most High," his project is to set up a kingdom in opposition to the Kingdom of God, his program is to better the condition of the world and the circumstances of humanity so that men will be satisfied to remain his subjects and will have no desire for the Kingdom of God.
satan has been represented in much of the literature of the world as the fiend of hell. He has been caricatured as a heinous creature with horns and hoofs, revealing in all that was cruel, vicious and unclean. But he is the exact opposite of all this. He never wanted to be the god of hell but the God of Heaven. It was God's judgment upon his sin that made him king of the bottomless pit. He is the inspirer and instigator of the very highest standards of the God-less, self-made world of mankind. His purpose was and still is to be and to do without God what God is and does. Let us ever keep in mind that satan's purpose was to dethrone God in His universe and in the hearts of men and then to take His place. To succeed in his attempt satan must try not to be unlike God but like God. To incline the hearts of men to himself as a ruler and to draw out their hearts to him in worship he must imitate God. To annul the work of Christ satan must counterfeit it as far as possible.
His project was in line with his purpose. He would leave his position as a subordinate in God's kingdom and set up a kingdom of his own. The foundation of it would be self. Self-will, self-love, self-interest, self- sufficiency would constitute its corner stone. Lawlessness, a revolt against the rule of God, and irreverence, a refusal to worship God, would be its superstructure.
satan knew that such a project would have to be safeguarded by a cleverly planned program. Not even the natural man would submit knowingly to the sovereignty of satan or fall down and worship him. So satan's program from the beginning has been one of deception. satan has sought to keep the natural man satisfied with himself and with the world in which he lives. This is not an easy a task as it might seem. The spirit of man can never be satisfied save in God from whom it emanated and for whom it was created. Something in even the worst of men at certain times and under some circumstances cried out for God. man lives and toils in sweat, suffering and sorrow. His spirit, soul, and body cry out for release from the intolerable burden.
In the light of this knowledge satan framed a very cleaver program. It was to unite all his subjects into a huge federation for the reformation an betterment of the world. This would be accomplished through carefully worked out plans for the promotion of education, culture, morality and peace upon the earth. Human relationships, international, civic, social, family and personal are undeniably in a terrible tangle but through peace conferences, leagues of nations and world courts international maladjustments would be righted: through mass education movements and social service programs civic and social conditions would be bettered: through new thought processes which foster self-culture and self-constraint the civil war within man's own personality would be ended and so more amicable relations with those to whom he was bound by ties of blood and of friendship would be established. Thus satan would succeed in deceiving men into thinking the Kingdom of God had come to earth.
satan knows there is but one true God and that Jesus Christ is His Son whom He sent to be the Saviour (James 2:19; Matthew 8:29). But this truth he would keep men from knowing. He must even keep them from feeling any need for God. So his program must provide for the perfect satisfaction of man's soul and body that his spirit may be kept darkened and deadened. So satan's program includes every conceivable thing that could minister to self-enjoyment, self-ease, self-gain, and self-satisfaction in the realm of the physical, intellectual, affectional, aesthetic, moral, yea even in the religious nature of man.
Moreover his program must provide for man an outward environment that matches this inward need. The earth is cursed but satan must do what he can to remove the effects of that curse. man will never be satisfied unless the earth is a more comfortable, pleasant place in which to live. So satan's plan is to make this world very attractive and ten organize human society it it may be so engrossed with its pursuits and pleasures men will have no thought for God.
Earnest, serious minded men will see through this flimsy veil and will be concerned over the world's maladjustments. But satan will engage such men in the task of repairing the ruin he himself has wrought. They will give millions upon millions of dollars, some will even lay down their lives in the accomplishment of the task thinking they are engaged in God's service. satan will drug men with the tangible and transient and so detach them from the heavenly and eternal.
This huge federation of evil spirits and evil men is organized into a cunning system over which satan is the presiding genius. He determines its principles, directs its policies, decides upon its program and devises its propaganda. This satanic system is "the world." The Lord Jesus revealed both its name and its nature in His farewell message to His disciples and told them clearly what its attitude to Him would be. The attitude of this system to Jesus Christ, which is one of unmitigated hatred, brands it as satanic.
John 15;18-20, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."
John 17:14, 16, "I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."
~Ruth Paxson~
(continued with # 26)
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