Is Satan a real person?
"(Revelation 12:9) "And the great dragon was cast down, which is called the devil and Satan, who deceiveth all the inhabited earth.
Some believe that Satan, the devil, is not a person, but something abstract - the evil in man.
Satan is a real existing person. He is an evil angel, a spirit being that has rebelled against God. The Bible calls him the "ruler of this world" (John 12:31). He works with "lying signs" and "deceit" to achieve his goals (2 Thessalonians 2:9, 1.
The Bible records a conversation that God in heaven had with Satan. If Satan were only a symbol of evil in a person, God, who is morally pure and perfect through and through, would have been talking to something evil in himself. (Deuteronomy 32:4; Job 2:1-6) This cannot be. Consequently, the devil is a real person and not just the personified evil.
Satan wants us to think that he is a figment of our imagination, so that he can do his mischief undisturbed, like a criminal acting in secret. To protect oneself from him, one must first accept that he exists.

Where does Satan "dwell"?
"Woe to the earth . . . because the devil has come down to you" (Revelation 12:12)
Many believe that the devil lives deep in the earth in a hell of fire. Others are of the opinion that he lives in evil people.
Since Satan is a spirit being, he lives in an invisible realm. He could move freely for a certain time where God and the faithful angels are (Job 1:6). However, he has since been banished from the presence of God along with other evil spirits, and his sphere of activity is limited to the earth's surroundings (Revelation 12:12).
Is Satan limited to a specific place on earth? For example, the Bible says of the ancient city of Pergamum that "Satan dwells there" (Revelation 2:13). This expression was actually an allusion to the fact that satanic cults were strongly represented there. The devil does not "dwell" in a particular literal place. According to the Bible, "all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth" are in his hands (Luke 4:5, 6).
Can the devil harm people or dominate them?
"(1 John 5:19) "The whole world is in the power of him who is evil.
Most people have been misled by Satan and thus have come under his control (2 Corinthians 11:14). This is one reason why people have not succeeded in improving the conditions in the world.
(Matthew 12:22; 17:15-18; Mark 5:2-5) The Bible speaks of even more extreme cases where Satan or other apostate angels have taken possession of people and inflicted physical harm on them.
Satan is powerful, but you need not fear him. In order not to fall into his clutches, one must know "his attacks," that is, know how he manipulates people (2 Corinthians 2:11). By reading the Bible, you can get important information about his tactics and thus avoid falling victim to him.
(Acts 19:19) It is important to separate yourself from everything that has to do with demons. This includes, for example, amulets, literature, videos, music and computer programs that promote spiritism or fortune telling.
The Bible gives the wise advice: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7) This is a good protection against the evil machinations of the devil (Ephesians 6:11-18)

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2 yrs - Facebook

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#leastofthese part two on the way as well

Sola Scriptura from the earliest days of the Christian faith.

Proclaiming Sola Scriptura is not an uncommon thing for us to say, that is the total trust that the sufficiency of Scripture as our supreme authority in all spiritual matters. Most evangelicals would affirm this without any problem but some will not without further discussion in clarification of what the term means, and that is ok. It is good to define what is meant by the term and how it applies to us today. However, there are some groups, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Coptics, etc., who do not hold to this and would claim that it is a late invention of the “rebellious” reformation movement. Is Sola Scriptura a new idea, new being relative to the overall length of the existence of the Christian church?
Looking back at church history is an excellent way to see how our predecessors dealt with issues, how they tried to define and explain scripture and scriptural principles to those around them. I happen to love reading church history with special attention given to the era that ranged from A.D. 200 to around A.D 400-500 or what is commonly recognized as the Patristic era. There are a great number of things that can be learned from and myths to be discarded about the Patristic era. The issue of the supremacy of scripture or a nascent form of Sola Scriptura is evident among the Patristic writers as the rule of faith, and it was often directly referred to as an essential aspect of proper faith.
Clement of Alexandria who lived from around 150 to 215 had some remarkable things to say during his life of faith and ministry. Particularly important is his statement on how scripture is the basis for our knowledge. He focused on the Word of God being revealed and proclaimed in scripture. He had the following to say about scripture;
"The Lord is the source of our teaching – we have him by the prophets, the Gospel and the blessed apostles, speaking “in different ways and at many times.”
Here, of course, he paraphrases Hebrews 1:1 as he emphasizes that the message we have is of divine origin, it comes from God to us by way of his chosen messengers.
He then goes on to the real emphasis of faith;
"Whoever believes the scriptures and the voice of the Lord is being faithful. The Bible is the criterion of our knowledge. What is subjected to scrutiny is not believed until it is subjected to this test, so that whatever needs to be examined in this way cannot be regarded as our first principle."
Clement emphasizes the essential nature of scripture in our ability to have true faith. He declares without hesitation that it is the scripture alone by which we have the criterion of what we know. Criterion means a principle or standard by which something may be judged or decided. He establishes scripture as the first principle of our faith and from that comes everything that we are to believe under the scrutiny of scripture.
Consequently Clement continues this line of thought,
"Therefore, as is only reasonable, we grasp the undemonstrable first principle by faith, and then we receive abundant proof of the truth of the first principle from the first principle itself. In this way, we are trained up by the voice of the Lord to a knowledge of the truth."
Without saying it the way we might today, Clement of Alexandria is telling us that it is by scripture that we can hear the voice of the Lord, and that scripture is the first principle of our faith while affirming that scripture interprets scripture.
Sola Scriptura from Clement of Alexandria, an early church leader writing in the very early 3rd century paved the way for how we should think about scripture and how to engage in hermeneutics.


This is a discussion group about Christian theology in the vein of the Reformation.
We are Trinitarian evangelicals.