Why do people, including church people, though having the Word of God readily at hand, refuse to believe it?  Note the Lord’s answer as declared through the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:3,4.  Here Paul, writing to the saints in the church at Corinth, states that the Gospel is hidden from those who are lost, who do not believe God’s Word because “the god of this world” (Satan) has blinded their MINDS (hearts).”  Does this make Satan the cause of the faithlessness of lost church people?  While on earth the Lord answered this question as recorded in Matthew 13.  Here we find Him speaking to “great multitudes” of people who had followed Him down to the beach on the Sea of Galilee where He has gotten into a boat and is speaking to them, but only in  parables (vs 2).  Later, His disciples asked Him why He spoke to the people in parables instead of plain language (vs 10).  His response answers the question posed above.  He said that they were not allowed to know what the disciples knew.  Why?  Because they had previously heard His Words, but had rejected them.  Why?  “For this people’s hearts (minds) have BECOME HARDENED, their ears and eyes THEY HAVE CLOSED.  Notice who has hardened their hearts and closed their eyes and ears–THE PEOPLE THEMSELVES (vss 11-15).  But as we will see, they had HELP in deciding to reject God’s Word.

The message is clear: Satan and his devils cannot force anyone to do anything.  They operate on the level of mental impulses with which they entice, tempt and suggest that people defy God’s will.  The devil cannot force anyone to do what he/she does not want to do.  He could not force Adam and Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit.  They yielded to his temptation, his voice of reason BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO EAT OF THE TREE.  It would not have been a problem if he had told them they could not eat a leaf from that tree.  They were tempted into sinning only because they wanted to.

Jesus was a man like all other men.  He was tempted by Satan like all other men (Heb. 2:18; 4:15).  He could have failed like all other men.  Satan tempted Him to refuse the cross.  He was human.  He dreaded the agony He was about to suffer.  Like any other human He wanted (willed) to avoid it.  However, He wanted to please His Father more than He wanted to avoid the pain.  Therefore, He subjected His will to the Father’s will.  MAN HAS A WILL, WHICH OFTEN CONFLICTS WITH GOD’S WILL.  Man decides whose will is obeyed.  In the vast majority of cases, God loses.

So why do the vast majority of people, including church people, choose to obey Satan.  Why does man choose his will over God’s will?  BECAUSE MAN, INCLUDING CHURCHMAN, DOES NOT HAVE GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT RESIDING WITHIN HIM.  Without His Holy Spirit –His power–abiding within, one cannot overcome the devil’s temptations which always seem like the intelligent thing to do.  “There is a way that seems right to a man, but that way leads to death” (Prov. 14:12).  Jesus said to those who truly sought Him, “Behold, I GIVE YOU POWER OVER ALL THE POWER OF THE ENEMY” (Lk. 10:19).  Notice that He was speaking to His 70 disciples (vs 1).  Notice also that He had warned them about those who would doubt His Words, which would mean that they despised both Him and His Father (vs 16).  Notice that the 70 returned from their mission filled with joy because of the miracles that had taken place.  However, all but 12 of them would later leave Him and go back into the world (Jn. 6:64,68).  Why?  Because the god of this world enticed them to go with the religious flow, to go along in order to get along with those who refused to pay the cost of true discipleship (Lk. 14:26-29).  As Jesus said in this passage, to be His disciple one must view all other people, including loved ones, as nothing relative to Him.  Why?  Because they will reject the Word of God as well as the one who speaks it.  Darkness hates the light.  Those in darkness hate those in the light.  For this reason Jesus warned that serving Him would place God’s “SWORD”–His Word (Eph. 6:17)–between fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, brothers and brothers, friends and neighbors (Mat. 10:34-39).  No one wants God to come between them and their loved ones.  But He will.  Obedience to His Word ignites a war–a war of the wills.  Only those who submit their will to God’s will until the end of their lives “will be saved” (vs 22).

Who is it that causes all of this trouble?  Satan–the “god of this world,” the “prince of the powers (demonic spirits) of the air,” the “angel of light,” the “enemy of God.”  He and his fallen angels operate thorough thoughts, reasonings, desires, etc.  Only those who have received the Holy Spirit–who have been converted–can understand this Truth.  Only through the power of the Holy Spirit can we “… overcome (Satan) even as I (Jesus) overcame (him)” and therefore “… sit with me in My throne” (in the Kingdom of God)–Rev. 3:21).  We either overcome Satan or we are overcome by Satan.  Church sinners, like the world they emulate, have been overcome by him.

Those who occupy the God-hating spiritual world greatly influence mankind.  The leader of that world has one thing in mind–giving man what he (man) wills.  Man’s will is for things to go his way.  This is okay as long as his will matches God’s will, which it rarely does.  God’s will is for man to submit to His will.  Man wills to obey his own will.  True conversion prompts man to willingly submit his will to God’s will which He makes known to man through His written word.  Until man believes and obeys that Word he is a spiritual Gentile (heathen) and is under the control of the god of this world.  Paul speaks to this Truth in Ephesians 2:2: “Whereas in time past you walked according to the course of this world, ACCORDING TO THE PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR.  THIS IS THE SPIRIT THAT NOW WORKS IN THE CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE” to God’s Law.  Satan works IN PEOPLE by influencing their thoughts, words and actions.  His demon spirits are continually on the attack, their “fiery darts” penetrating the mind of those who are unaware of their presence or do not have the spiritual power to ward them off.

Proof of the power and influence of Satan and his agents is found on the t.v. newscasts, in newspapers, on the radio, in magazines.  It is as if the world has gone insane.  Look at what is happening in “Christian nations”–destruction, killings, fires, theft, hate, wars, etc.  Why?  Because man wills it.  Satan controls man’s will.  Why?  Because man has submitted his will to the will of Satan.  This includes almost the whole of Christendom.  For proof of this Truth read the Introduction to this website.  Everything listed there is a heathen/Satanic belief or practice that the whole of Catholicism/Protestantism has embraced.  When shown in the Bible that God rejects every one of their “truths,” they reject His Word, and thereby reject Him.  L.J.