Saturday, May 27, 2023

How Can Satan Cast Out Satan?

"How can Satan cast out Satan?"

     This question which Jesus asked in response to being accused of casting out demons by means of Ba'alzebub, the prince of demons, has been running through my mind since yesterday. It was a rhetorical question to begin with, as the obvious answer is that he can't, or at least won't. It would be completely contrary and counterproductive to Satan's goals. As Jesus said, a kingdom divided against itself can't stand. Even Satan knows this.
     It's been on my mind after I heard something similar coming from the host of the "Next Level Soul Podcast." He was interviewing a "channel," that is, someone who claims to channel higher beings and deliver their messages. What he said that struck me was something along the lines that (paraphrasing for lack of a word for word memory), "just about every higher being that speaks through a channel has virtually the same message over and over again that God loves us, God wants us to love each other, and God is love and wants to draw all of us to Himself. If these are demons, they're really bad at their job; at least from what I understand demons to be and do." And when I heard that, Jesus' own words kept coming back to me, "How can Satan cast out Satan?" The same can be said for Near Death Experiencers, people who claim to be reincarnated and remember their pre-birth experience, and so on. Even those who claim aliens talked to them say nearly the exact same thing: God is love, God loves us unconditionally, God forgives, God wants us to love one another, and God wants to draw all of us back to Himself.
     Those brought up within the churches are taught to fear people like channels, New Agers, and so on. We are told from early on that these people are getting their messages from demons, if they aren't fully possessed by demons. We're taught to have nothing to do with them because they're messengers of Satan. And yet, like Jesus and His Apostles, they're saying the most important thing God wants us to understand is love for Him, for one another, for our enemies, and that He loves us unconditionally and infinitely. I have to come to the same conclusion that host did, if these are demons speaking and their goal is to push us away from God, then they're really bad at their job.
     "How can Satan cast out Satan?"
     It is true that John tells us in his first letter to not believe every spirit, but to test the spirits if they are from God or not. But this is also similar to what that podcast's guest or host was saying as well, that some people who are awakened to this ability get themselves into trouble because they attract the wrong kinds of spirits (again, paraphrasing from what I heard), and those which would try and get them into really bad, harmful stuff. It seems to me, from what I've heard, and even from what the Scriptures and Church Fathers say about the activities of demons that their bent is the person's pain, harm, and destruction and pushing them away from God, not teaching them that God loves them and He wants them to love one another. This latter thing would be counterproductive to their purposes.
     As Jesus taught, we need to be careful what we attribute to Satan, and what we call evil. If someone channeling some higher being is saying the exact same things Jesus Christ did, then what grounds do we actually have for calling the source of that message evil or demonic, even if it just plain scares us? Caution and discernment may always be warranted, but blaspheming what we don't understand just because we don't understand it is not.

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