What are the schemes of Satan...

[razzelflabben]

The new study I am working on is the schemes of Satan and how to protect ourselves from them.

Now that being said, I am looking for biblical truths not just life experiences. IOW's a life experience to illustrate a biblical truth is awesome but please make sure it is a biblical truth.

To get us started, I offer up the temptations of Christ. Satan is a tempter and staying in the word of God is a great counter that protects us.

Thanks for your contributions in advance.

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

I suppose making the sign of the cross would be of no interest to you then.

Forgive me...

 

[razzelflabben]

I suppose making the sign of the cross would be of no interest to you then.

Forgive me...

I don't mind talking about it it's just that my study is strictly what scripture says without adding to or taking from which is why I specified from scripture.

In fact, if you would indulge me, where does making the sign of the cross come from and how does it help, etc.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

So in my opinion and experience the biggest scheme of the Devil is distorting truth.

The first temptation in scripture way back in Eden, Satan twisted God's word to tempt Eve... "Did God really say?" Is something we all deal with. Even Jesus was tempted with "Throw yourself off the Temple for God will protect you".

We must know the word so that when we get a seemingly scriptural temptation, we know how to use scripture in context. The sword of the Spirit as Paul calls it, the Word of God.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

I think another very prominent scheme of Satan is to cause God's children to doubt.

Doubt themselves
Doubt God
Doubt truth
Etc

Having done all to stand... Make your stand! Ephesians 6

I know I have had a tendency in the past to humanize God and when I messed up I would beat myself mercilessly and say god could never forgive me because of what I have done. His love for me may not be good enough because of who I am. Etc.

That is all rubbish. If God loved me so much while I was his enemy that he would die for me. Then surely now that I am his child his love far exceeds anything I could even imagine.

That is where faith steps in and says no matter what I will believe even when reality says otherwise. That is the only way to overcome the schemes of the devil

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

Great question. Nobody knows for sure where it comes from.
I can tell you that Saint Basil wrote about it in 375 AD.


954 [27, 66] "Of the dogmas and kerygmas [preaching or proclaiming the Good News] preserved in the Church, some we possess from written teaching and others we receive from the tradition of the Apostles [2 Thes 2: 15; 2 Tim 2: 2; 1 Jn 2: 24] handed on to us in mystery. In respect to piety both our of the same force. No one will contradict any of these, no one, at any rate, who is even moderately versed in matter ecclesiastical. Indeed, were we to try to reject unwritten customs as having no great authority, we would unwittingly injure the Gospel in its vitals; or rather we would reduce kerygma to a mere term. For instance, to take the first and most general example, who taught us in writing to sign with the sign of the cross those who have trusted in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ? What writing has taught us to turn to the East in prayer? Which of the saints left us in writing the words of the epiclesis at the consecration [prayer the priest prays at every Mass that the Holy Spirit will change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ] of the Bread of the Eucharist and of the cup of Benediction? For we are not content with those words the Apostle or the gospel has recorded, but we say other things also, both before and after; and we regard these other words, which we have received from unwritten teaching, as being of great importance to the mystery."

"Where is it written that we are to bless the baptismal water, the oil of anointing, and even the one who is being baptized? Is it not from silent and mystical tradition? Indeed, in what written word is even the anointing with oil taught? Where does it say that in baptizing there is to be a triple immersion? And the rest of the things done in baptism,--where is it written that we are to renounce Satan and his angels? Does this not come from that secret and arcane teaching which are Fathers guarded in a silence not too curiously meddled with and not idly investigated, when they had learned well that reverence for the mysteries is best preserved by silence . . . . In the same way the Apostles and Fathers who, in the beginning, prescribed the Church's rites, guarded in secrecy and silence the dignity of the mysteries; for that which is blabbed at random and in the public ear is no mystery at all. This is the reason for our handing on of unwritten precepts and practices: that the knowledge of our dogmas may not be neglected and held in contempt by the multitude through too great a familiarity. Dogma and kerygma are two distinct things. Dogma is observed in silence; kerygma is proclaimed to all the world."

 

[JohnRabbit]

The new study I am working on is the schemes of Satan and how to protect ourselves from them.

Now that being said, I am looking for biblical truths not just life experiences. IOW's a life experience to illustrate a biblical truth is awesome but please make sure it is a biblical truth.

To get us started, I offer up the temptations of Christ. Satan is a tempter and staying in the word of God is a great counter that protects us.

Thanks for your contributions in advance.

paul gives us great insight on the devil's schemes and how it works!

Ephesians 2:1-2(NKJV)
1And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

paul refers to satan as the "the prince of the power of the air"! now what does that mean?

the invention of radio, i think, will help to understand that. when we listen to radio we want to find our favorite station and so we will search the dial until we find the station we like and we tune it in.

satan works similarly, in that, he broadcasts in attitudes and thoughts! we are bombarded daily with this assualt, nevertheless, we tune in on those attitudes and thoughts just like we do with our favorite radio station.

we act on these attitudes and thoughts which makes us the sons of disobedience! paul explains theses actions in galatians 5:19-21!

remember:

Ephesians 6:12(NKJV)
12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

now, how to combat this onslaught?

in the same chapter 6 of ephesians, paul says to put on the whole armour of God - verse 11.

and paul tells you how to do that:

Ephesians 6:14-18(NKJV)
14Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
18praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—

i hope i have stayed within your parameters.

 

[razzelflabben]

So in my opinion and experience the biggest scheme of the Devil is distorting truth.

The first temptation in scripture way back in Eden, Satan twisted God's word to tempt Eve... "Did God really say?" Is something we all deal with. Even Jesus was tempted with "Throw yourself off the Temple for God will protect you".

We must know the word so that when we get a seemingly scriptural temptation, we know how to use scripture in context. The sword of the Spirit as Paul calls it, the Word of God.

Interesting enough one of the passages I am studying is the parable of the sower and one of the things Satan does in that parable is separate us from the word of God that was planted.

We are currently teaching SS (Saturday night "school") at church we were memorizing scripture for awhile, we are now taking a break to encourage students to really study not just read scripture. WE will combine it all eventually and adding meditating on the word as well. awesome, thanks

 

[razzelflabben]

I think another very prominent scheme of Satan is to cause God's children to doubt.

Doubt themselves
Doubt God
Doubt truth
Etc

Having done all to stand... Make your stand! Ephesians 6

I know I have had a tendency in the past to humanize God and when I messed up I would beat myself mercilessly and say god could never forgive me because of what I have done. His love for me may not be good enough because of who I am. Etc.

That is all rubbish. If God loved me so much while I was his enemy that he would die for me. Then surely now that I am his child his love far exceeds anything I could even imagine.

That is where faith steps in and says no matter what I will believe even when reality says otherwise. That is the only way to overcome the schemes of the devil

again amen...as the accuser Satan often causes us to doubt.

I have a friend who is going through something very rough...what we figured out is that when I text her every morning with a word and scripture about who she is in God's eyes and heart it helps her to deal with things. The difference is noticeable. I think some of us forget all tooo easy who we are in Christ.

 

[razzelflabben]

Great question. Nobody knows for sure where it comes from.
I can tell you that Saint Basil wrote about it in 375 AD.


954 [27, 66] "Of the dogmas and kerygmas [preaching or proclaiming the Good News] preserved in the Church, some we possess from written teaching and others we receive from the tradition of the Apostles [2 Thes 2: 15; 2 Tim 2: 2; 1 Jn 2: 24] handed on to us in mystery. In respect to piety both our of the same force. No one will contradict any of these, no one, at any rate, who is even moderately versed in matter ecclesiastical. Indeed, were we to try to reject unwritten customs as having no great authority, we would unwittingly injure the Gospel in its vitals; or rather we would reduce kerygma to a mere term. For instance, to take the first and most general example, who taught us in writing to sign with the sign of the cross those who have trusted in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ? What writing has taught us to turn to the East in prayer? Which of the saints left us in writing the words of the epiclesis at the consecration [prayer the priest prays at every Mass that the Holy Spirit will change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ] of the Bread of the Eucharist and of the cup of Benediction? For we are not content with those words the Apostle or the gospel has recorded, but we say other things also, both before and after; and we regard these other words, which we have received from unwritten teaching, as being of great importance to the mystery."

"Where is it written that we are to bless the baptismal water, the oil of anointing, and even the one who is being baptized? Is it not from silent and mystical tradition? Indeed, in what written word is even the anointing with oil taught? Where does it say that in baptizing there is to be a triple immersion? And the rest of the things done in baptism,--where is it written that we are to renounce Satan and his angels? Does this not come from that secret and arcane teaching which are Fathers guarded in a silence not too curiously meddled with and not idly investigated, when they had learned well that reverence for the mysteries is best preserved by silence . . . . In the same way the Apostles and Fathers who, in the beginning, prescribed the Church's rites, guarded in secrecy and silence the dignity of the mysteries; for that which is blabbed at random and in the public ear is no mystery at all. This is the reason for our handing on of unwritten precepts and practices: that the knowledge of our dogmas may not be neglected and held in contempt by the multitude through too great a familiarity. Dogma and kerygma are two distinct things. Dogma is observed in silence; kerygma is proclaimed to all the world."

There are several things I want to say and not sure how to say them.

1. I have no real problem with making the cross sign or other such things, my only issue is that when I study something like this, I base the conclusions solely on what God said through His word, so please do not think that I am disagreeing with you, I'm just saying this is how I study the word.

2. Some of what you present in this post has a scriptural based some is not but one of the saddest things I have ever heard about the denomination we currently associate with is a church split over which direction to baptize, that is forward or backwards. My position on this is that if it mattered scripture would have specified and since it doesn't it falls under "disputable" matter. Fighting over disputable matters is as I understand scripture sinful and does us more harm than good. But then again this is why I don't have an issue with making the sign of the cross per say just not part of the study I am doing.

3. We just studied in SS, through a previous study I did the mystery revealed. Now interesting enough, the mystery revealed in scripture is Christ but within that are 7 (Interesting number) separate mystery revelations about Christ's coming that are revealed. Personally, I could spend a lifetime studying those 7 mysteries revealed and not get bored which once again brings me back to the idea of only what scripture tells us.

All of this is to say...your post seems to assume I disagree which I do not. It's just that my study is limited to scripture. I appreciate your answer and found it interesting and worthy of the time to consider it but being that it is not scriptural based that is where it has to stop in this discussion at least from me. I thank you for your time and response and respect it more than my words here will express. I would love to have you continue to participate in the discussion as well. I just need to explain where I am coming from so you can understand what I am asking and why.

 

[razzelflabben]

paul gives us great insight on the devil's schemes and how it works!

Ephesians 2:1-2(NKJV)
1And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

paul refers to satan as the "the prince of the power of the air"! now what does that mean?

the invention of radio, i think, will help to understand that. when we listen to radio we want to find our favorite station and so we will search the dial until we find the station we like and we tune it in.

satan works similarly, in that, he broadcasts in attitudes and thoughts! we are bombarded daily with this assualt, nevertheless, we tune in on those attitudes and thoughts just like we do with our favorite radio station.

we act on these attitudes and thoughts which makes us the sons of disobedience! paul explains theses actions in galatians 5:19-21!

remember:

Ephesians 6:12(NKJV)
12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

now, how to combat this onslaught?

in the same chapter 6 of ephesians, paul says to put on the whole armour of God - verse 11.

and paul tells you how to do that:

Ephesians 6:14-18(NKJV)
14Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
18praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—

i hope i have stayed within your parameters.

lol you did great...they are somewhat loose parimeters really.

I have a friend who once said, If you stop and think about it, the only way Satan can attack the believer is through their thoughts.

To be sure, attitudes and thoughts are a huge problem for believers and amen to the whole armor of Christ (another I found today as I started my study) but also don't forget that we are to renew our minds, take our thoughts captive and think about whatsoever is good....(passage upon request)

 

[JohnRabbit]

lol you did great...they are somewhat loose parimeters really.

I have a friend who once said, If you stop and think about it, the only way Satan can attack the believer is through their thoughts.

To be sure, attitudes and thoughts are a huge problem for believers and amen to the whole armor of Christ (another I found today as I started my study) but also don't forget that we are to renew our minds, take our thoughts captive and think about whatsoever is good....(passage upon request)

amen!

 

[razzelflabben]

One I found interesting is that Satan entices us and plays on our lack of self control...1 Corinthians 7:5

It seems to me that the HS that is yielding to the indwelling HS is the solution since one of the fruit of that Spirit is self control. Galatians 5...I did a whole study on self control...very interesting topic to go into depth with.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

You know, I think another scheme of Satan could be religion! Yeah, hear me out:

So in Acts a demonized girl followed Paul around yelling "These men proclaim the way to salvation" and only when Paul turned and called the spirit out did she stop.

Simon Magus seemed like he genuinely wanted the Holy Spirit but when questioned by Peter and John it was revealed his heart was not right, a religious spirit.

Even in Philippians Paul testified that people were preaching Jesus not sincerely but thinking he would take offense at it and be upset.

Even Jesus had a rich man approach him and ask him "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" And when Jesus told him sell all you have he left upset.

A religious spirit can easily disable someone's faith and render them paralyzed until an antedote is found. Religious people can sound nice and pious but inside they are full of dead man's bones. Religious schemes can make even sincere saints stumble from time to time if they are not careful.

 

[razzelflabben]

You know, I think another scheme of Satan could be religion! Yeah, hear me out:

So in Acts a demonized girl followed Paul around yelling "These men proclaim the way to salvation" and only when Paul turned and called the spirit out did she stop.

Simon Magus seemed like he genuinely wanted the Holy Spirit but when questioned by Peter and John it was revealed his heart was not right, a religious spirit.

Even in Philippians Paul testified that people were preaching Jesus not sincerely but thinking he would take offense at it and be upset.

Even Jesus had a rich man approach him and ask him "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" And when Jesus told him sell all you have he left upset.

A religious spirit can easily disable someone's faith and render them paralyzed until an antedote is found. Religious people can sound nice and pious but inside they are full of dead man's bones. Religious schemes can make even sincere saints stumble from time to time if they are not careful.

Interesting...I haven't yet ventured into "demons" or "spirits" but it is well within the study to get there eventually...thanks and yes I agree

 

[razzelflabben]

Today I am working on 1 Chronicles 21:1 where David was incited by Satan to take a census.

I'm still working on it but right now I can say this..
1. God allowed it to happen.
2. David confessed but it wasn't until he took ownership and repented did God accept his "pleas"
3. God had to "punish" David to tear down his pride enough to cause him to not only confess but repent in obedience. IOWs obedience was the mark of true repentance.

Interesting, still working on it...love all you guys comments...thanks so much and looking forward to more.

 

[razzelflabben]

So today I am studying how Satan attacked Job by taking from him his wealth, his children, and his health. Satan was using the things closest to Job to try to draw him away into sin. The solution was that Job remained faithful to God without blaming God and allowed himself to be teachable.

 

[razzelflabben]

As we continue to talk about the schemes of Satan we must look at Job. Satan took (by Gods permission) his wealth, his children, and his health for the purpose of trying to force Job to turn from God. Job's response was to remain faithful and true to the God he loved with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. What he learned is that God's wisdom is greater than all the wealth in the world, all the children that bless our lives, and all the health that we enjoy. God is greater! Remain faithful no matter the attacks that come your way! Amen.

 

[razzelflabben]

Since no one seems to want to continue this discussion I guess this will be my last or one of my last posts, I thought the topic was worth deep study and discussion.

Today we look into Zechariah 3 where Satan accuses Joshua before God. Two things struck me about this account of the Accuser of the Brethren...1. it wasn't Joshua's job to defend himself or rebuke Satan. It seems the church has forgotten that Jesus is the advocate and that God rebukes Satan not we ourselves. 2. The solution was cleansing, iow's the clean robes of righteousness. This too seems to be a forgotten message in the modern church. We are to live righteous lives before God and man.