William Peter Blatty, who wrote the book The Exorcist and the screenplay for the film The Exorcist, said this: ‘As far as God goes, I’m a non-believer. But when it comes to the devil, well, that’s something else! The devil keeps advertising. The devil does lots of commercials.’
We can have a false image of God…sat on a cloud somewhere with a big beard. Consequently, we can have a false image of the devil too. A red character with horns on his head, a tail, and a pitchfork.
Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire was part of the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda, and he watched the genocide there in 1994. And because he had only a small number of officers, he was unable to stop it. After it, he wrote a book called Shake Hands with the Devil. He wrote this: ‘I know that there is a God because in Rwanda I shook hands with the devil. I’ve seen him. I’ve smelled him. I’ve touched him. I know the devil exists. And therefore I know that there’s a God.’
There are two equal and opposite dangers in this area.
An affair doesn’t happen instantly. It starts with a look, then with a lingering glance, followed by a thought, followed by a conversation...one thing leads to another until Wham! You're having an affair. You didn't mean to. It didn’t' start out that way. It's a journey that starts in a seemingly insignificant way but gather's it's own momentum, like a snowball rolling down a hill.
It’s the same with drugs. You have to work at becoming addicted.
It doesn’t destroy you instantly. It takes time, and during that process - everything looks feels and sounds great and attractive.
In the movie, the Devil's Advocate, Al Pacino who is playing John Milton (aka the devil) makes this incredible statement...
You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desire; you build egos the size of cathedrals; fiber-optically connect the world to every eager impulse; grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green, gold-plated fantasies, until every human becomes an aspiring emperor, becomes his own God... and where can you go from there?
One of his tactics is to get you to doubt what God says. This is exactly what He did with Jesus - He tried to get Jesus to doubt what God had said. If you start doubting God, if you start doubting that you are a Child of God and that Jesus really does love you and want the best for you - you find that temptation comes.
It’s the start of the process to areas you don’t want to go to.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with temptation. Everyone is tempted. Jesus was tempted. The bible tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way yet was without sin.
And it’s the temptation that leads to sin that is the problem. It’s not wrong to talk to someone of the opposite sex when you are married. But it’s the conversations that lead to temptation which lead to sin…that’s the problem.
Thoughts are not sin. Just don’t dwell on them.
In the book of Genesis, right at the start of the Bible, we get to see a conversation that happens between man and the devil. The devil contradicts something that God had said and says, in effect, you won’t die like God said you would. It won’t do you any harm…
He hasn’t really got any new tactics. They are still the same. He still tells us that the temptation that is in front of us won’t do us any harm. Remember that Jesus has come to give you the fullness of life. If He tells you not to do something, it is for your benefit. It is to do you good. Not harm.
One of the titles of the devil in the Bible is _the accuser_ He accuses you. He condemns you. He wants you to feel bad and ashamed and guilty. God convicts you. Conviction leads you to make changes and receive forgiveness. Condemnation tramples you down. It destroys you. And that’s evil.
The Bible tells us that we are in a battle - and that we have to stand up and resist the devil and his schemes. Before you were a Christian, whether you knew it or not - the Bible tells us that you were living in the dominion of darkness - where, in a sense, the devil was in control. We were addicted to stuff (not just drugs, money maybe, power, fame, sex, our career, and so on). But through the cross, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus you move from the kingdom of darkness into His kingdom - where Jesus is in control, and where there is fullness of life! (Sounds like a good deal to me!!).
If this is the case, then why do I still struggle with stuff? Why do I still struggle with temptation?
Good question.
In WWII, a decisive moment was D Day - the 6th of June 1944. This was when the war was essentially won. But just because it was won, it doesn’t mean it was over. During the following months, the victory needed to be enforced and work through until VE Day (Victory in Europe) on 8th May 1945.
And in a sense we live between D Day (the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus) and VE Day - we need to enforce the victory until Jesus returns when we meet him.
So yes, there are things that we still struggle with, but the good news is - Jesus helps us with that.
There’s a wonderful analogy in the New Testament that is very visual. The Apostle Paul, one of the writers, talks about putting on the whole armour of God and being strong in the Lord…effectively - get rid of your old habits and replaced them with new ones.
Put on truth as a belt to strengthen you to stand in triumph. Put on holiness as the protective armor that covers your heart. Stand on your feet alert, then you’ll always be ready to share the blessings of peace. In every battle, take faith as your wrap-around shield, for it is able to extinguish the blazing arrows coming at you from the Evil One! Embrace the power of salvation’s full deliverance, like a helmet to protect your thoughts from lies. And take the mighty razor-sharp Spirit-sword of the spoken Word of God. Pray passionately in the Spirit, as you constantly intercede with every form of prayer at all times. Pray the blessings of God upon all his believers
Battles are never won when you just do defense. You have to get on the offensive. There’s no piece of armour for the back. We’re most vulnerable when we’re running away. How do we attack? Well, one way is to defeat evil with good. Of course, putting that into practice is a whole other thing! That’s not so easy.
In the video - there is a story about a chap called Gram Seed. Gram Seed is a giant of a man. He is – six foot five, and he weighs eighteen stone (250 lbs / 115 kg). And he said: ‘I spent most of my life in jail. I was a skinhead, I was a football hooligan, I was on the rave scene, I was charged with murder. I was searching for love all my life, and I couldn’t find it. My mother gave up on me when I was twenty-one. She said, “You are the son of Satan!”’ This was a guy totally in the dominion of darkness.
‘She said I was evil like my father, who I’d never seen. He used to rape and beat my mum up, and he went to prison. She said, “You’re more evil than your dad, and I don’t want nought to do with you. You’re dead as far as I’m concerned.”
I grew up with my nana and my granddad. My nana was drinking and taking drugs all the time. I lived in the roughest part of Teesside. I didn’t have hope. I didn’t know what it was, but I was always trying to fill this hole inside me’ – like so many people – ‘this hole inside me with things: drugs, alcohol, sex and violence. Drugs, alcohol, sex and violence went round and round and round, a vicious cycle. Prison and outside. Prison and outside.’
And he ended up, for several years, living on a bench outside on the streets. And then eventually he fell into a coma, a six-day coma, and it looked as if his life was over. His mother was summoned to the hospital by the authorities to sign the papers to switch the ventilating machine off that was keeping him breathing. His kidneys had failed. He was critically ill: he had septicaemia, hypothermia, and liver damage.
And there were these guys who had been speaking to him on the streets when he was living on the bench, and they heard about the fact that he was dying, and they came to the hospital and they asked whether they could pray. And before the mother switched the machine off to allow him to die, they prayed for him in the name of Jesus. And as they prayed he woke up and started breathing. And he was told that they’d prayed to Jesus, and he said: ‘What does Jesus want to know a scumbag like me for?’
But they invited him to an Alpha course at their church. He attended, and he went on the Holy Spirit Day that they had. And during that time he said, ‘Jesus if you’re real, come into my life.’ And he held out his hands like this, and the Holy Spirit filled him. And he fell backward, and he started just weeping. He said he cried more than he’d ever cried in his life.
He said: ‘That day I was totally transformed, and I had a desire to tell people about Jesus.’ And he went out on the streets – he was very well-known on the streets – and he took with him every day eight copies of Why Jesus? and he didn’t return until he’d got eight people to pray the prayer at the back inviting Jesus into their lives!
And then he started to be invited back into the prisons. He said, ‘I spent ten years trying to get out of prison, and now I was trying to get back in!’ And he went back into the prisons and he started running Alpha courses in the prisons. He’s now run 112 Alpha courses in prisons around the north-east of England. And he met a lovely young person called Natasha. He described her as ‘a dream come true’. And their first son was born eleven pounds and two ounces, two-foot-long! The consultant held him up and said, ‘Do you know, Gram, this isn’t a baby – it’s a toddler!’
He’s written this book about his life called One Step Beyond. He’s started a ministry. His name is Gram Seed, and he started a ministry called Sowing Seeds. And it’s had such an impact on thousands of people.You see, Gram overcame evil, with the help of Jesus, by doing good. If you are a child of God, you have the Holy Spirit living in you…
The one who lives in you (the Holy Spirit) is great than the one who is in the world (the enemy).
And that’s the joy and certainty of being a Christ-follower. We can trust him for guidance but also to help us face the battles that we face in everyday life, and we can be assured that the greater one lives in us and we can overcome.
