I want to encourage you today to have a pen/paper handy to take down some scripture references so you can look these up later in your bible…and even mark them. You are going to find this interesting…and helpful, I hope. 

 I have to admit I find it liberating to be free of the responsibility to ‘make anyone see or believe’ anything I share here. What I do feel the compelling to do though is to bring to your attention some verses in your bible that perhaps you have seen…but maybe have not Really seen.  What you do with it is simply between you and God. 

I want to begin today with looking at verse in the OT that I refer to regularly. And it’s for good reason that I do and would like to re-examine it again today. It’s found in Hosea 4:6: 

 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” 

Now in this passage … God is speaking through His prophet. 

 Whose people did He say were being ‘destroyed’? 

 His people. 

 And for what reason were they being destroyed? 

Yes…because of ‘lack of knowledge’. 

 One could safely assume they were missing out on some important information of sorts. Otherwise, perhaps they would not find themselves being…destroyed. 

 I doubt any of us would presume to have this whole bible/faith/God thing all figured out yet, correct? So, would you admit there may be some things you are unaware of or are ignorant of? (that is not an offensive word, btw). And if there is some information or knowledge that we are clueless on, would it be possible that we could be included in that assessment made by God through His prophet, Hosea? 

 Let’s discuss that word ‘destroyed’. 

 That sounds like a rather strong word. 

 He didn’t say His people were ‘sad’ or ‘lonely’ or ‘missing out on the abundant life’ due to a lack of knowledge; it said His people are being ‘destroyed’. 

 I don’t want to get bogged down in root words and various languages here (not that I’m an expert in that area) but I can say with confidence that being ‘destroyed’ is not a good thing. It’s a bad thing. 

 Suppose you worked with an organization that helps tribal groups in third world countries find access to clean drinking water. If you came upon a group who were deathly ill and people were dying which you traced to a contaminated drinking source, you might say something similar about these people who were dying or ill because of a …’lack of knowledge’. Hence, your presence there to bring an end to their needless suffering and dying. 

 But we are talking about something more serious today than bad drinking water. It is spiritual in nature. I simply wanted to use a natural illustration to drive home a spiritual truth. 

 God suggested in our passage above that His law had been …’forgotten’. Perhaps ignored; or they were simply unaware of it. Keep in mind, even if you have never been taught the ‘law of gravity’ or you say you don’t ‘believe’ in the law of gravity, that has little bearing on the fact that if you walk off a tall building, you will most likely be inured, if not killed…because of…the effect of the law of gravity. 

 So let’s examine just ‘how’ a person is ‘destroyed’, from God’s point of view and with scripture to support. 

 Destroy. It’s a word used frequently in the bible. Fifty times just in the Book of Deuteronomy alone to be exact. For example, this warning was given to God’s people early on in Deut. 28:45: 

 “Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.” 

 (IF you have an aversion to OT talk like this, go take a quick look at Acts 3:23 and the Prophet cited there is Jesus, Himself) 

 That whole chapter 28 is sobering and worth reading, but God was kind of serious when stressing to His people how important it was for them to listen and obey Him. Sort of like if you had to cross a dangerous minefield and your guide knew where all the mines were hidden (among other harmful things)…it might be a good thing to pay close attention to him so you could safely traverse that potentially dangerous field, yes? 

 Now it’s not actually God who does the ‘destroying’. It’s the ‘destroyer’ who does that. In fact, he was made by God Himself for reasons we’ll get into later. But Isaiah 54:16 will bear this out. 

 Jesus referred to him as a ‘thief’ in John 10:10. And do you know what He said a thief comes to do? 

 To ‘steal, kill, and …destroy’. 

Would you like to use your context clues and take a stab at who we are talking about here as being the ‘destroyer’ or ‘thief’? If you guessed Satan, you are correct. He goes by other names as well. But today we are wading in to the subject of the ‘devil’ and ‘demons’. 

This subject is very much a part of the gospel message. It is a topic that does not get near enough attention as it should since it plays such a significant role in what is happening in the world today, and to be quite honest with you…why so many people are suffering, ill, in torment and…are perishing. My advice would be for us to just first examine scripture before jumping to conclusions. 

 And believe me when I say some will be tempted to chuckle under your breath thinking such talk is foolishness. If that describes you, then consider yourself among the crowd of those who are perishing and being destroyed. (1 Cor 1:18) And I don’t say that flippantly. 

Jesus teaches us that we need not fear demons/devils, but rather God alone is to be feared. (Matt 10:28). So it’s not demons that we need to be preoccupied with. However, we are also taught we should ‘resist’ them, not ignore them. (James 4:7) 

 Also good to make note that while Hollywood likes to portray demons as all sinister and ugly and scary, scripture actually teaches that Satan can disguise himself as an ‘angel of light’ and his demons as ‘ministers of righteousness’. ( 2 Cor 11:14-15). 

When Jesus warned of ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ in Matt 7:15, he was speaking of false teachers and prophets. I hardly believe he was implying a four-legged wolf was inside these deceptive teachers. 

 So where did all these spiritual menaces come from? 

 Well, Revelation 12:7-12 answers that. We are taught that Lucifer, an angel created by God rebelled against God in heaven and proceeded to convince a third of all the angels to join him and they found themselves tossed out of heaven and… ended up in all places…on this sphere we call earth. 

 Yeah...I know. Pretty wild, is it not? But they are here in full force. 

And did you catch verse 9 in that 12th chapter of Revelation as to what the dragon/devil actually does? 

 Peter warns us to be alert to them and sober minded, as our enemy, the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking to devour. ( 1 Pet 5:8) 

 Paul admonishes us to ‘give no place to the devil’. (Eph 4:27). You do know Paul was a pretty smart guy and quite educated both in a worldly sense and taught by God on many spiritual matters and truths. Hence him being the author of nearly two-thirds of the NT. 

 He writes how we are not to be ignorant of Satan’s devices and schemes (2 Cor 2:11) He teaches us how to stand against the ‘wiles of the devil’ (Eph 6:11-12 & 2 Cor 10:3-5). 

And Paul even alludes in several places of possessing an authority to ‘hand certain individuals over to Satan’ for a visit to the proverbial woodshed if I can use such language. 

 Paul wrote to Timothy encouraging him to minister to others with a gentle attitude given the fact that he would be dealing with people who had ‘been taken captive by Satan to do his will’ (2 Tim 2:26) 

 John writes telling us that the whole world is under the influence or power of the devil. (1 John 5:19) 

 And of course we know that Jesus went about healing and delivering all who were oppressed by the devil. (Acts 10:38) 

 Make no mistake about it…fallen angels, demon spirits, devils, powers of darkness…whichever term you prefer to use…they are here. Whether you believe it or not. Just like bad germs that are unseen to the naked eye. 

 To ignore or pretend they do not exist is to your own peril…or…’destruction’. Paul mentions in 2 Cor 4 that: “if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe”. (care to read that one more time?) But in the preceding chapter in verse 16, Paul also tells us that when “anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.” 

 (Can’t wait to share a personal story with you tomorrow, perhaps)

Oh, one last thing.  If reading or hearing all this discussion made you feel a tad uncomfortable, or uneasy and nervous, if not downright afraid...it might be a good idea to just pause and examine ...why that is.

I believe that is enough for today. I’d be curious to know how many of you (who read to the end here) are a bit taken back as to how many verses I shared actually make mention of this ‘enemy’ of ours in such a context. 

 We have MUCH to discuss. 

 See you tomorrow.