Satan Answers Prayers

When we pray to God, it is said that He answers with a "yes", a "no", or "not now". But what if He doesn't answer at all, and Satan does? Can he do that?
I don't see why not. As we saw in the post 'Satanic Miracles', Satan does have power here on earth. I do believe he can answer a prayer. He can intercept them, too. Look at Daniel 10:13. The angel Gabriel tells Daniel he was delayed for 21 days by the Prince of Persia, which evidently was a powerful evil spirit.  Daniel had to wait 3 weeks for an answer to prayer because of demonic intervention! If Satan and his angels can delay a prayer, surely they can answer one.

Especially if you set yourself up for it. I once prayed that God would show me if He wanted me to go to school and get a new job, or stay where I was at. I already believed that He wanted me to stay, but I wanted to leave. So I prayed, and within a minute, a friend called and told me that AT&T was looking for people.
An answer to prayer!

(Oh look, a normal picture. No fangs or scales on this guy.) But this answer didn't feel right. It contradicted what I already believed. I didn't feel it was time to leave my job, but see, I wanted to. And because I wanted my own will, it gave Satan permission to answer my prayer.

I tried to get a job at AT&T, but it didn't happen. I guess I wasn't supposed to get it, despite that prayer! I just interpreted that quick answer as a message from God. I mean, who else would answer? This is one reason there is so much flakiness in the church today. People thinking they heard from God when in fact He said nothing at all.



(Atheists are shaking their heads right now, especially after seeing GC up there. I've got more fodder for you, hold on. . .)
So does Satan answer prayers all the time? I don't know. It would be interesting to hear what a Satanist has to say. One time, though, is enough to set you on the wrong path. Satan enjoys deceiving; it's what he does. He will try his hardest to keep us from God. He hates us, and hates God. He invented every form of lie known to man. He can and will answer prayers and make you think it was God.
This is what he does best.

Read 1 Kings 22. This doesn't specifically say that Satan answers prayers, but it does say God will send lying spirits to deceive those who are rebelling against Him! Israel was an apostate nation at that time, and God asked a group of spirits if any of them would "go forth and persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead". (Go to war and be killed.) One spirit stepped forward. God asked him how he would do it, and he said he would be "a lying spirit in the mouths of the prophets". God agreed and told him to go. Well, Ahab believed the lie, and died. The king and the people had opened themselves up to deception, and this is what they got:

The Bible says that God will give people over to deception because they would not believe the truth. They will want the lie, and He will give it to them. Read 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 for yourself. This goes hand in hand with Satan's miracle-working.
Here is the point: Satan will answer prayers, perform miracles, give signs, anything to move us away from God. Be alert, then, and listen to His Holy Spirit. Be humble, and desire Christ more than your own ways. Cultivate that relationship with God like Moses and the prophets of old did. When you know the voice of the Shepherd, you won't believe the lies of The Enemy.
It's only going to get worse.

The Mark of The Beast!

Ah, the Mark of The Beast! What is it? That is a good question. And the answer is- I don't know! You could be walking around with that thing on you right now and not even know it. Hell's open maw is waiting to receive your sorry carcass because you've sold your soul to Satan, basically for a sandwich.
How do you like that?

Take a seat, bubba. I just wanted to get your attention. But it is a question that people want to know, usually around Halloween when the Omen movies are shown or when a 'prophecy expert' has a new book. There are only a few verses in Revelation about this subject, and people aren't sure if it already happened or if it will happen later. It ties in with 'The Beast', and whoever takes his mark will be in deep trouble, like Pit-deep. So figure out who The Beast is, and you can determine what the mark is.
But nobody knows who The Beast is.

Historically The Beast was considered a government, usually identified as the Roman Empire. It truly was a beast to the Christians at the time. Most scholars still identify it as a government, but they argue if it was in the past or yet to come. Or both. Either way, the mark is government ordered. At one time Roman coins were thought to be the mark, since they bore Caesar's head on it and you obviously could not buy or sell without it. And Nero's name adds up to 666, so. . .
He was the Beast, as was his empire.
Problem solved!

However, if you haven't noticed, Jesus has not yet returned. So maybe history will return with a sequel. Supposedly, the Pope's Latin title, Vicarius Filii Dei adds up to 666. Remember, the mark is the number of his name. Perhaps he is The Beast.
Yow!
Now I'm picking on Catholics. Just to make it fair, I'd like to suggest Joel Osteen as a candidate for Beast-hood. He has a big smile, all the more to woo those Protestants.
But back to the mark. How do you avoid it if you don't know what it is? And to make matters worse, there is a whole slew of potential 'marks' to watch out for:

• a bar code
• tattoo
• the gay rainbow
• microchips
• Sunday worship
• social security number
• Google

A lot of ambiguity there. Sunday worship? C'mon. The social security number is a little worrisome, seeing as how important it is now.

 That's a cool tattoo. And it's on his right hand! He's doomed. In the Bible, it sounds as if the mark will put on the right hand or forehead. But Revelation is symbolic, and the right hand is symbolic of a man's strength or his work, and the forehead is symbolic of thought. Basically, your whole life is marked, or given over to The Beast. You are a slave.

There will always be someone who wants to enslave others. This is nothing new. Giving your soul away to get something you want is dangerous, though. Which I think is the whole point. I personally think there will indeed be a future mark. As our government seeks to intrude in our lives more and more, strip away religious freedom, and enslave us any way it can, I can see them using a mark of some kind. Other countries will follow. But I'm not worried about it. Jesus told His followers not to be afraid, so I won't be.

"Fear not, for I am with you, even to the end of the age."

I can deal with that.

 

Was Ezekiel on Crack?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe that UFOs are mentioned in the Bible. Their prime example is the book of Ezekiel, chapters 1 and 10. The ones that talk about four-faced beings and flying wheels. They read into the text the beliefs they already have, which is called eisegesis. Exegesis is where you take something out of the text, which is the proper way to study. Let it tell you what it's trying to say. Otherwise, you can make any text say anything you want.

So- are UFOs in the Bible? If Ezekiel wasn't writing about aliens, what was he writing about? Was he on ancient crack? PCP? Smokin' some Hebrew weed? I doubt it. He was recording a vision that God gave him, a vision concerning judgment and God's faithfulness even when they were deported to Babylon. That's it. Just a vision.

Let me reiterate: a vision. He did not see real wheels, or cherubim, or the Lord. He saw symbols in strange forms. Much like John did in Revelation. I don't think real angelic beings look like that guy up above, or like this:

They were symbols, not aliens! Context, context, context. Ezekiel's vision had a purpose, and it was not to alert us to an extraterrestrial presence.
What was the purpose, then?

Admittedly, this vision is a difficult one. The four-faced cherubim seem to convey God's mastery over creation. The eagle is the ruler of birds, the ox is master of domesticated animals, the lion is king over wild creatures, and man is king over all of it. The Lord sits above all of them, hence His throne being above the cherubim. The wheels, though, are what this post is all about. What are they?

Again, they are a symbol. They face both directions, meaning God can travel anywhere. The eyes all over mean that God can see everything. Basically, these wheels speak of God's omnipresence and omniscience.
Notice they didn't take Ezekiel anywhere. No abductions. Instead, God reveals His magnificence through this vision, letting Ezekiel know that He would be with Israel even though He would have to judge them. That's what this whole book is about: Israel's sin, punishment, and restoration.
No aliens here, folks.
As far as ancient people having contact with alien beings, that's another story. But Ezekiel had nothing to do with that, and shouldn't be interpreted that way. After all, the Bible is about God and how He deals with man. Let's not make it say anything more.