How Satan Really Works

Christians can get confused about Satan. Sometimes we picture him as a cartoon villain hiding behind every temptation. Other times we treat him like an evil version of God, everywhere at once, pulling every string. Neither picture matches the Bible’s description.

Satan is real. He is dangerous. He has a kingdom at work in the world. Scripture even calls him the god of this world. But he is not God’s equal. He is not omnipresent. He is not free to act apart from God’s leash.

So the real question is not Do you believe in Satan? The question is Do you understand how he actually works?

Not Cursed by Your Fathers

Ezekiel 18:2 records a proverb Israel loved to repeat: “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” What they meant was, “We’re suffering because of what our parents did. Their sins are the reason for our exile. We’re paying for their mistakes.”

It was basically a way of shifting blame. Instead of owning their rebellion, Israel claimed they were victims of their ancestors’ failures. But God would not let them hide behind that excuse.

He answers, “As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine… the soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:3–4). Later He says it again in verse 20: “The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”

In other words, the exile wasn’t about some generational curse. It was about their own sin. God was holding each person accountable for their own choices.

That ends it. You are not judged for your father’s sins. You stand before God for your own.

This is how Satan loves to twist truth. He convinces people they are bound by generational curses. Mini$trie$ make a living off this. But Scripture never says believers need deliverance from family curses. What it does say is that Christ bore the only curse that mattered: the curse of sin. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us”(Galatians 3:13).

If you are in Christ, you are free. Satan wants you in fear. Christ calls you to walk in truth.

Demons and the Powers

Categories can help here. Demons and the higher powers are not the same.

The book of Enoch describes demons as the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim, the offspring of the rebellious sons of God in Genesis 6. Enoch is not Scripture, but its background helps make sense of the inspired record. Jude says those angels are now chained (Jude 6). Peter says the same (2 Peter 2:4). When their offspring, the Nephilim, were wiped out in the flood, their spirits became restless and disembodied.

Jesus said, “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none” (Matthew 12:43). In Mark 5 they begged Jesus to let them enter pigs rather than be cast into the abyss. Demons crave embodiment. They are the foot soldiers of the kingdom of darkness.

The powers are different. Paul calls them rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, spiritual forces in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). He is not talking about the restless spirits of the Nephilim. Those demons harass people on the ground level. The “powers” are more like the rebellious gods of Psalm 82 and the princes in Daniel 10. These are spiritual rulers given authority over nations who led them into idolatry. They do not crave bodies. They crave dominion. They scheme over cultures, stir false worship, and fuel persecution.

So here’s the distinction: demons harass individuals. The powers oppose Christ’s church on a cultural and global scale. Demons are like the foot soldiers. The gods are the generals.

When Paul says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil”(Ephesians 6:11), he is talking about this larger war. Not necessarily low-level demons foaming at the mouth, but the strategies of the powers. And notice the armor: truth, righteousness, faith, salvation, the Word, prayer. These are not exorcism only tools. They are weapons to endure a world full of lies.

Oppression or Temptation?

This is where Christians like to shift the blame. We love to say, “I think I’m being oppressed,” as if that explains away our failures. But Scripture does not give us that escape.

James writes, “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:14–15).

That is temptation. The source is not always outside you. James says it starts in your own heart. In other words, the flesh, your sin nature, is the spark. The world or the enemy may fan the flame, but they are not the cause. The root problem is the desires inside us that want what God forbids.

Oppression is different. Job’s suffering came when Satan was permitted to afflict him. Paul’s thorn was “a messenger of Satan to harass me” (2 Corinthians 12:7). Jesus told the church in Smyrna, “The devil is about to throw some of you into prison” (Revelation 2:10). These are external pressures. They are real. They are painful. But they are not the same as sin rising from within.

Calling every failure oppression just dodges responsibility. And Satan loves that. He is happy if you stop fighting temptation by blaming him for it. But God calls you to resist the devil, to stand firm, to put to death the desires of the flesh by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16).

The Tongue Is a Fire

James uses some of the sharpest language in Scripture: “The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness… setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell” (James 3:6).

That does not mean Satan is whispering in your ear every time you gossip. It means your words can carry the imprint of hell. James goes on: “No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God” (James 3:8–9).

This is where Satan’s schemes show up most often. Not in Hollywood-style, pea soup spitting, heading spinning possessions, but in churches split by gossip, marriages torn apart by harsh words, friendships destroyed by bitterness with no hope of reconciliation.

And notice again: the answer is not a deliverance ritual. It is repentance. Paul says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up” (Ephesians 4:29).

Christians do not need demons cast out of them. They need the Spirit to harness their tongues.

The Gospel’s Deliverance

Here is the hope that ties it all together.

Paul writes, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son”(Colossians 1:13).

Notice the tense. Already done. The kingdom of darkness has lost its claim.

And Paul says again, “[Christ] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:15). Demons may harass. The powers may rage. But their defeat is sealed.

So how do you stand? With the armor of God. With truth. With righteousness. With faith. With salvation. With the Word. With prayer. Ordinary means of grace. That is how Christians resist the devil and walk in the light.

Generational sins may echo through families, but they end when Christ makes someone new. Demons may harass, but they cannot own you. The powers may rage, but their time is short. Their end is certain.

That is how Satan really works. And that is why you need the gospel.

The Israel Dilemma

Why Israel isn’t prophecy’s centerpiece

The Israel of the Bible isn’t the same as the Israel on today’s map. God’s covenant people weren’t defined by borders or armies. They were defined by His promises and His presence. Confusing the two has created one of the biggest distortions in the modern church.

Where the Confusion Began

Paul uses the word dispensation in Ephesians 1:10 and Colossians 1:25. It means God’s stewardship, His way of carrying out His plan. The Reformers used the same word, but for them it was simple: the one covenant of grace unfolding through history. First through the patriarchs, then under Moses, and finally in the gospel where Christ fulfills it all. Different administrations, but one covenant of grace.

In the 1800s a man named John Nelson Darby changed the meaning. In the 1830s he turned it into a system. He divided history into seven eras, split Israel and the church into two different peoples, and treated prophecy like a calendar of world events. From there came the pre-tribulation rapture. If Israel’s story was on pause, the church had to be removed before God could hit play again.

Darby wasn’t a politician. He was a man with a broken hermeneutic. But his system spread like wildfire when C. I. Scofield printed it into the margins of the Bible in 1909. Suddenly Darby’s framework looked like Scripture itself. By the time Israel became a state in 1948, a generation of Christians had already been primed to see it as fulfilled prophecy. Bad interpretation laid the tracks and politics rode the train. Governments saw the benefit of Christians buying into this idea, and they certainly did.

From Theology to Christian Zionism

This is where Christian Zionism took off. Dispensationalism had already built the system. Scofield had already printed it into the Bible. So when the state of Israel was founded in 1948, it was the perfect storm. It just had to be prophecy.

During the Cold War, America wanted a strong ally in the Middle East. Israel fit that role. But for dispensationalists, it wasn’t just political strategy. It was prophecy unfolding before their eyes. Every headline became a sign of the end. Every war was another line on God’s calendar.

By the 70s and 80s, it went mainstream. Jerry Falwell rallied Christians under the banner of “support Israel.” Pat Robertson turned it into a regular theme on television. Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth sold millions of copies and convinced a generation that Israel was the prophetic centerpiece of God’s plan. Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you” was turned from a covenant promise in Christ into a campaign slogan.

By the 2000s, Christian Zionism was baked into American evangelical identity. Every border conflict, every military strike, every peace treaty was treated as a direct move of God. Churches waved Israeli flags in worship (I remember this distinctly growing up in a charismatic/ dispensational church). Politicians caught on quickly: tie policy to God’s blessing, and people won’t just support it. They will bow to it.

The danger is obvious. Faith got tangled up in foreign policy. Many Christians started tying their spiritual identity to the survival of the modern nation-state of Israel. Prophecy blurred into politics and politics blurred into prophecy. The gospel was drowned out by Christian Zionism.

The Problem With “Bless Israel” Theology

Genesis 12:3 is always at the center: “I will bless those who bless you.” But God wasn’t speaking to a modern government. He was speaking to Abraham.

So who does the “you” point to? Not a modern state, but Abraham himself. His offspring. And Paul, a former Pharisee who knew the Torah inside and out, will not let us stop there. In Galatians 3:16 he says the true offspring is Christ. Through Him the blessing now flows to all nations.

Genesis 12:3 is not a foreign policy verse. It is a gospel promise. If you skip Christ, you have missed the point. When teachers jump from Abraham straight to modern Israel, they bypass Christ. They turn covenant promises into a political program. That is Christian Zionism, not faithfulness.

But What About the 70th Week of Daniel?

Daniel 9 gets used as the backbone of dispensational charts. They will tell you the first 69 weeks lead to Christ, then the clock just stops. The church age is a parenthesis. You have probably seen the guy on YouTube with the dry erase board charting this out. One day, they say, God will restart the countdown for a seven-year tribulation focused on Israel.

But the text never says the clock stops. The 70 weeks are a single unit. And look at what God promises to do in them: finish transgression, end sin, atone for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness. Sound familiar? That is Christ. That is the cross. That was not postponed. It was finished.

Even the cutting off of the anointed one points to His death. The destruction of Jerusalem fits AD 70. Daniel’s prophecy is not a waiting room for another countdown. It is covenant history fulfilled in Jesus.

But What About Jacob’s Trouble?

Jeremiah 30:7 gets quoted as the smoking gun for a future tribulation in Israel: “It is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it.”

But Jeremiah is speaking of the Babylonian exile. A time of distress, yes, but also a time of deliverance. God promises to break the grip of the oppressors. He promises to raise up David their king as fulfilled in Christ, the true Son of David. He promises to restore His people in covenant fellowship. Grace far beyond what they deserved after breaking the covenant.

Jacob’s Trouble was never code for a seven-year tribulation. It pointed forward to Christ who brings final salvation.

The Gospel Answer

Here is the truth: Israel and Palestine both need the same thing. Christ. Both stand guilty before God. Both need the gospel.

And in Christ, the dividing wall has already come down. Jew and Gentile are made into one new humanity. One covenant family. Not through bloodlines. Not through borders. Through the cross.

God’s kingdom does not rise or fall with governments. It does not hinge on armies or political deals. The hope of Jew and Gentile alike is not dirt in the Middle East. It is a risen Savior. In Him, every promise finds its yes and amen.

So let us not confuse earthly kingdoms with God’s kingdom. Let us grieve the violence on every side. Let us preach Christ where the world preaches power. And let us remember that the blessing promised to Abraham is already here in Jesus. We are not waiting on another week, another war, or another treaty.

What’s the Point If God Is Sovereign?

A question I hear often is, “If God is sovereign, then what’s the point of our lives as believers?”

If God has already chosen His people and His will cannot be stopped, then are we just robots? Why preach? Why pray? Why warn about false teachers if the elect cannot ultimately be lost?

That’s a valid question. If we don’t wrestle it out, God’s sovereignty can start to feel like that old Doris Day song, “Que Sera, Sera.” Whatever will be, will be. Nothing we do makes a difference. I’ve wrestled with this myself. But Scripture presents it very differently. God’s sovereignty never cancels human responsibility. We just have to step outside our own construct of time to see it.

God’s Decree Outside of Time

Romans 8:30 says, “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Notice every word is in the past tense. From God’s perspective, it has already been accomplished. Salvation is certain. His plan is eternal.

Most Christians nod along here, but this is where our human limitations take over. We process everything through the lens of time; past, present, and future. But God doesn’t. He has always been. He wasn’t created. He has no rivals and no equals. There was never a moment He came into being. His decree stands outside of time itself.

Which means this: the elect are as good as glorified in His plan before the foundations of the world (Eph. 1:4–5). And that leads us back to the question of, if that’s true, why bother preaching, praying, and warning others of false gospels?

God Ordains The Means, Not Just The End

Here’s the most straightforward answer: God’s sovereignty doesn’t only cover the outcome, it covers the process. He ordains not only who will be saved but how they will be saved.

And He has chosen the means. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). God could call His people directly, but in His wisdom He delights to use His church as His instrument. That’s why the church is non-negotiable in the life of a believer. Together as the body, we sit under the preached Word, we pray, share in fellowship, and are guarded by the truth. These aren’t boring practices. They are the very ways God carries out His eternal plan.

Paul says in Romans 10: “How will they believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how will they hear without someone preaching?” (v. 14). Sovereignty doesn’t erase the need for proclamation, rather, it guarantees that proclamation will accomplish what God intends. To believe in God’s sovereignty is not to lay down the call to proclaim the gospel. It’s to believe that when we proclaim it, God’s power is at work. We are the instruments.

Why Wolves Can’t Be Ignored

“But if God saves His people no matter what, does it really matter if wolves slip into the church?” Yes, it matters. Wolves can’t be ignored. A shepherd’s job is to guard the flock, fiercely if necessary.

It’s true that the elect cannot be lost forever, but they can be wounded. They can spend years under a false gospel, robbed of joy, assurance, growth, and rest until the Shepherd calls them out from it (John 10:27–28). Those years are real, and the scars they leave behind are real too.

These wolves hurt individuals, and they dishonor Christ. When lies are tolerated, the gospel is twisted and God’s glory is obscured. As Peter warns, false teachers “secretly bring in destructive heresies” and “in their greed exploit you with false words” (2 Pet. 2:1–3).

That old saying, “Chew the meat and spit out the bones,” doesn’t work here. Poison mixed with truth is still poison. Wolves will devour a flock if they aren’t guarded against.

Not About When but How

When we read that the Lord draws His people, we often reduce it to timing. As if God is sitting in heaven waiting for a certain date on the calendar to flip the switch. But His call is not mainly about when. It’s more about how.

Think of it as a process rather than a moment on the clock. God opens blind eyes through the preaching of the gospel. The Holy Spirit regenerates. And He preserves His people through the ordinary means of grace and the care of the church.

In His perfect wisdom, God weaves His eternal plan through ordinary means. That’s why what we do together as a church is never just routine. It’s the body being used by God to fulfill His will. It’s not about racing the clock. It’s about being instruments in His hands, as His eternal will breaks into time.

Why It Matters

This perspective changes everything. If God’s plan were uncertain, then preaching, prayer, and warnings would be nothing more than desperate attempts to change the outcome. But because His plan is certain, those very acts are filled with meaning and purpose. Preaching is never wasted. The gospel message is never wasted words. Warnings to the flock are never pointless.

So let’s reframe the question: What’s the point if God is sovereign? The point is this: because God is sovereign, everything matters more. Our faithfulness is not what makes salvation possible. God accomplishes His will through the faithfulness He supplies to His people.

And in the end, this isn’t “whatever will be, will be.” The weight is not on us to save souls. The glory belongs to Him who does. We can rest here: the Shepherd’s voice will reach His sheep, and He has chosen to use ours to carry it. Not bound by time, but carried out in time, as instruments in His hands.

Scripture References

Romans 8:30“And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Ephesians 1:4–5“Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”

Romans 10:14, 17“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (v. 14)“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (v. 17)

John 10:27–28“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

1 Timothy 3:15“…if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.”