Mock the devil.

Xalith said:

Yes, because profanity is surely the mark of a good Christian, right?

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What is a "good" Christian? None are good, except the Father in Heaven.

Mikhael Disciple of Christ said:

What is a "good" Christian? None are good, except the Father in Heaven.

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1 Peter 1:15-16 comes to mind.

Free at Calvary said:

Maybe the devil has never attacked you, tormented you, afflicted you, deceived you, buffeted you....maybe the devil is something you perceive in theory...the reality is you have to fight for peace, to believe the truth against the lies, fight by faith to see victory in Christ. It takes God's strength to do it, but we do it to silence him. If in the face of such adversity you laughed at it as being powerless, I would call you courageous and praise God for your faith.

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Or maybe you're wrong about all this, and it still doesn't change the belief.

The fallacy in this is similar to saying maybe you agree with me or maybe you beat children. Many other options.

Michael the Arch Angel didn't even do so and he is a high ranking angel! Who are we to do such a thing? That's a real good way to get attacked. It is best to focus on praying to and worshiping God Almighty than to mock the enemy. I understand the frustration the enemy caused but to mock him would be dangerous.It took Jesus Christ to lay his life down willingly on the cross to defeat sin, death and thus the devil.He(Jesus) is humble and we are to follow His example and walk as he walked.
Picture this,would a lamb fight the wolf on it's own? No the Shepherd is the one who goes after the wolf.If the lamb did so it would be killed!

I would rather humble myself before the Lord, hoping in His mercy.

In Christ
Daniel

Instead of engaging in conversation with Satan I would rather start praying the Jesus prayer.

"Lord Jesus have mercy on me a sinner.
Amen"

Did you know that when performing exorcism the priest NEVER EVER speak to the demon, but regardless of what it says he continues the rite.
He dosent stop praying and reciting scripture despite being mocked for things in the past, his doubt or whatsoever that the demon turns to to get the priest of track.

I think we should follow the example of the priests on this.

Maybe people should stop blaming Satan for their sins and realize it's not Satan who has been the problem be the church guilting Christians that maybe they haven't been good enough or they don't have enough good works. Threads have been started before asking if salvation is by just faith alone and works are not required for salvation. Inevitably, Christians start bringing up James as some proof text we need to show good works to prove our salvation. But that is a lie. I agree with the OPs that we are justified by the blood of God the Son. No works required. What may condemn a person is their sins, not their good works.

mikedsjr said:

Maybe people should stop blaming Satan for their sins and realize it's not Satan who has been the problem be the church guilting Christians that maybe they haven't been good enough or they don't have enough good works. Threads have been started before asking if salvation is by just faith alone and works are not required for salvation. Inevitably, Christians start bringing up James as some proof text we need to show good works to prove our salvation. But that is a lie. I agree with the OPs that we are justified by the blood of God the Son. No works required. What may condemn a person is their sins, not their good works.

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Satan is the accuser of the brethren and he is constantly trying to get you to sin. Satan can't condemn you, nor can he drag you down into hell (unless you allow him to, I'm not going to get into OSAS in this thread so I'll leave it at that), but yet at the same time...

Whenever sin is committed, it is ultimately the sinner who is at fault. No, you can't merely blame Satan (though he does have a hand in it a lot of times). No, you definitely cannot blame God. When you become a Saved, Born-Again Christian, you are given the power to resist the devil and his wiles, and God has promised to never allow you to become tempted beyond what you're able to resist.

Therefore, if you fail to resist a temptation, it is your fault. God knows what you can truly handle, and if you fail to resist, it isn't that God mis-judged you (He is always a just, true and righteous judge), it is the simple fact that you didn't resist with all of your strength. However, if you're a Saved Christian, you can repent, and ask for His forgiveness, and it will be given to you.

One is not to use this as an excuse to sin brazenly and openly, though, obviously. However, He knows that we are not perfect, He knows that we will fail occasionally, and He designed His Redemption Program with those failures in mind.

As for Good Works... Good Works are works done for God and Christ out of our Love for Them. When we become Born-Again, we should be filled with Love for Christ and our Father, and it is due to this Love that we should yearn to do good works. We don't do these good works to "ensure" our salvation (which is utterly ridiculous, because it is flat out impossible to earn salvation), we do these good works because we Love Them (or at least that should be the reason).

So if you see Good Works in the life of a Christian, you can tell that they have this Love in them, and that is a good clue that they are a saved Christian. Jesus has said that "you will know them by their fruits". If they show good fruit, then they are of a good tree, for an evil tree cannot bear good fruit.

IMO, what James was talking about in that passage everybody loves to quote about Faith being dead without works, is that if you claim you have faith in Jesus and you claim you're saved, but you make no effort to do any good works whatsoever, and you're still solely living for your own ends, and still working for Earthly things, then are you truly saved? I think James is trying to warn "Christians" that you should always take a look back on your life to make sure you're still in the faith. What are your motivations for everything you do? Are your motivations centered around God and Christ? Or are your motivations centered around yourself?

A Saved Christian knows what their motivations are -- we want to see God's will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. We live our lives hoping that He would use us for His purposes. Even when we cook a meal, or go to sleep, we do so to meet necessary needs our fleshly bodies have so that we can continue to do His work on Earth. If we partake of entertainment, we do so because there are times when there is no work to be done (and God understands we can't work 100% of our available time). However, when you do things like seeking a new job... do you want more money so that you can live a more comfortable life? Or are you looking at how much more money you can donate to worthy Christian causes? Or perhaps you're thinking of a job move that puts you in a position where God might use you for His purposes?

These are just some examples of what I think James is talking about in that often-misquoted verse.

Blah blah blah good works. Blah blah blah. Thanks for proving my point that you guilt people like the Op into guilt for sins. I hit the nail where it hurt.

mikedsjr said:

Blah blah blah good works. Blah blah blah. Thanks for proving my point that you guilt people like the Op into guilt for sins. I hit the nail where it hurt.

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......wha?

Could you please copy and paste any part of my last post where I "guilt people" for sins?

In my last post, I took ridiculous lengths to say that we all sin, and that we will be forgiven of those sins (as long as we aren't purposefully and callously sinning without repentance).

I also took ridiculous lengths to explain that salvation has absolutely nothing to do with good works.

So could you please tell me how you got that out of my last post?

The battle is the Lords..we put on the armor of God and take a stand, using the word of God as our weapon against the lies of the evil one. We cannot directly challenge the enemy in our own strength. We need to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and fight the battle using spiritual weapons and not carnal ones:

2 Corinthians 10:4

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds

1watchman said:

Yes, it is not wise to try to fight the master of evil. God says to "...resist the Devil and he will flee from you"; and that means to resist him by turning to the Lord for strength and safety and new direction. The Lord is strong and we are not as strong as we might think. Eve tried to oppose Satan and by even listening to him she was defeated.

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This ^^

Xalith said:

Even Michael the Archangel called upon the Lord to rebuke Satan.

Are we greater than Michael that we should do what he would not?

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This too ^^

kidwboro said:

Whenever you do something wrong, and the devil starts accusing you, say:

"Oh nooo! I've sinned! I'm in biiiiiig trouble NOW! God's going to throw me in hell right now! Oh my! Oh my!"
"I'm a bad baaad baaaaaaad person. I'm just a terrible terrible person, oh my!"
"Ohhh! I just -- I just -- I just feel so terrible for what I've done! Oh my. Oh my. I am such a bad bad bad bad bad person!"

Mock that blankety blank! Foil that son of a you-know-what.

Folks we were called to FREEDOM! Not BONDAGE.
You have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear, but a Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry abba, Father.

Jesus Christ paid for all our sins on the cross, so that through him, we have everlasting freedom.
Who is he that accuses you? It is God who justifies.
God justified us freely by the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ.

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You might read Job. That may be an interesting read for you.

kidwboro said:

Whenever you do something wrong, and the devil starts accusing you, say:

"Oh nooo! I've sinned! I'm in biiiiiig trouble NOW! God's going to throw me in hell right now! Oh my! Oh my!"
"I'm a bad baaad baaaaaaad person. I'm just a terrible terrible person, oh my!"
"Ohhh! I just -- I just -- I just feel so terrible for what I've done! Oh my. Oh my. I am such a bad bad bad bad bad person!"

Mock that blankety blank! Foil that son of a you-know-what.

Folks we were called to FREEDOM! Not BONDAGE.
You have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear, but a Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry abba, Father.

Jesus Christ paid for all our sins on the cross, so that through him, we have everlasting freedom.
Who is he that accuses you? It is God who justifies.
God justified us freely by the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ.

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iF YOU DONT REPENT FOR THE SIN PREVIOUSLY COMMITTED YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO MOCK THE DEVIL BECAUSE YOU ARE IN THE WRONG. DO YOU AGREE WITH THE ABOVE STATEMENT????

Mikhael Disciple of Christ said:

I just tell him f you or f off.

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i WOULDNT RECOMEND THAT COURSE OF ACTION BECAUSE THE POWER OF LIFE AND DEATH IS IN THE TONGUE AND THOSE WORDS ARE NOT CHRISTIAN.

aChildOfMary said:

Instead of engaging in conversation with Satan I would rather start praying the Jesus prayer.

"Lord Jesus have mercy on me a sinner.
Amen"

Did you know that when performing exorcism the priest NEVER EVER speak to the demon, but regardless of what it says he continues the rite.
He dosent stop praying and reciting scripture despite being mocked for things in the past, his doubt or whatsoever that the demon turns to to get the priest of track.

I think we should follow the example of the priests on this.

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Do you know the Bible says it's not priests that do exorcisms but Christians? I think we should follow the example of the Bible.

This is kind of why we're not catholic.

Svt4Him said:

Do you know the Bible says it's not priests that do exorcisms but Christians? I think we should follow the example of the Bible.

This is kind of why we're not catholic.

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To be honest, IMO, Christ made it a point to dissolve any notion of rank within His apostles during the Last Supper when He washed the apostles' feet. I think a lot of readers don't really understand what He was "saying" when He did that.

He humbled Himself clear down to washing the feet of his disciples which He also said "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all the things I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." (John 15:15)

To me, the whole Last Supper deal was Him explaining in quite clear terms that we should not consider one man greater than another, for we have all sinned, none of us are worthy of the gifts He gives (that's why we require Mercy and Grace; the former is not getting what we deserve and the latter is getting what we don't deserve).

Therefore, if one person in Christ is a priest, then that means we are all priests. If you study Revelation, the 24 elders who are sitting in Heaven in Chapter 4+ appear to be representatives of the Church and John makes a comment that they are "Kings and Priests". That would surely mean that the entire church is considered such to the rest of the world by God and Jesus.

So if you take that reasoning... then yes, priests can do exorcisms because we're all priests. The only measure of who is "better" at doing exorcisms is simply how much Faith they have in Jesus and the power that we are given by Him. A 16 year old who has incredibly strong faith and filled with the Holy Spirit would make a far better exorcist than some 60 year old preacher who is just going through the motions that he's been taught his whole life because that's what he was taught to do.

Anybody can ask Jesus to exorcise and heal; I've once heard it said that the recipe for a miracle is very simple: Believer + Sick Person = Miracle. I've heard testimonies of healings done by ordinary people who are not ordained ministers who simply have the Faith to pray and ask Jesus to heal someone. We need to remember that a Preacher is simply someone who has studied enough of the Bible to know it front and back, enough to teach on what it says. Any power a Preacher has beyond that is given by Christ, and Christ can/will give that sort of power to anybody who is a faithful believer.

Xalith said:

Satan can't condemn you, nor can he drag you down into hell (unless you allow him to.....

We don't do these good works to "ensure" our salvation (which is utterly ridiculous, because it is flat out impossible to earn salvation).....

So if you see Good Works in the life of a Christian, you can tell that they have this Love in them, and that is a good clue that they are a saved Christian.....,

Jesus has said that "you will know them by their fruits"......

If they show good fruit, then they are of a good tree, for an evil tree cannot bear good fruit......

IMO, what James was talking about in that passage everybody loves to quote about Faith being dead without works, is that if you claim you have faith in Jesus and you claim you're saved, but you make no effort to do any good works whatsoever, and you're still solely living for your own ends, and still working for Earthly things, then are you truly saved?



I think James is trying to warn "Christians" that you should always take a look back on your life to make sure you're still in the faith.

A Saved Christian knows what their motivations are.....

we want to see God's will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.....

We live our lives hoping that He would use us for His purposes.....

However, when you do things like seeking a new job.....

do you want more money so that you can live a more comfortable life?

Or are you looking at how much more money you can donate to worthy Christian causes?

Or perhaps you're thinking of a job move that puts you in a position where God might use you for His purposes?

These are just some examples of what I think James is talking about in that often-misquoted verse.

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There are the examples. However your response was perfectly suitable for an evangelical revivalist.

Works are not for God. They are for the neighbor. I don't witness to people at work, yet they all know my strong faith. I'm kind. I don't judge. I'm peaceful.

I don't trust most Christian causes. I donate where I feel comfortable. I don't consider changing jobs as if God will use me more. He uses people where they are. I would never guilt someone by saying, "are you sure God's putting you there?" "Are you sure your following God's lead?" "Are you sure God wants you to donate to a non-Christian cause that celebrates another religion?"

James is a book that has nothing to do with genuine salvation. It read more like a church leadership book than an all encompassing moral book for all Christians to apply to their lives. Romans has more weight for all. Good works don't prove nothing. But evil deed certainly could. In this day and age in America, many non-Christian act just as good as Christians who, by your standards, are clearly Christian. Non-Christians doing many charities, but their dead to God. So it might be difficult for you to see if they are who you think they are.

It's clear you don't hold to OSAS, but you play it off as if you do. Or you play the game "Were they really saved?". I believe in OSAS but also people can be truly saved and leave the faith only to travel to Hell in their death. It has nothing to do with works in all of this.

Our good works are to give non-Christians no excuse in this life.

To go back to the topic....somehow.....Satan is definitely powerful, but a Christian is perfect before the eyes of God because of the blood of Christ. Our sins need to be acknowledge but with the Cross in mind that they were already paid for and we are free. Our sins don't hold guilt on us.

Xalith said:

......wha?

Could you please copy and paste any part of my last post where I "guilt people" for sins?

In my last post, I took ridiculous lengths to say that we all sin, and that we will be forgiven of those sins (as long as we aren't purposefully and callously sinning without repentance).

I also took ridiculous lengths to explain that salvation has absolutely nothing to do with good works.

So could you please tell me how you got that out of my last post?

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And I apologize. Very rude of me