“Have you ever wondered what has been the greatest disaster in the universe -- A disaster so great that it has caused the death of tens of thousands of billions of lives?”

 I’m Dennis Finnan, host and speaker on the World, the Word & You! Broadcast and in a moment we’ll talk about this great disaster revealed to us in of all places, the Bible…

…Today in our world of media “image” is everything! In fact, it’s not who or what you are that matters but how you are perceived is what counts. Hollywood and all the entertainment and news information media know all about that. Well there is another who knows it even better and in fact is the originator of building and presenting “image” as the most important thing in relationships with others. You see the Bible speaks about a being, a special being who in the beginning was created as the highest and greatest of all living creatures. At his inception of life and existence, there was no one who was more powerful, more beautiful, more like God that this immense being. In fact, he was created to rule the entire and vast world of angels God also created. However a disaster struck the Creation some time after that -- a disaster so great that nothing ever again can compare to its tragedy and immensity of ruin and heartache. In fact, the results of which has since claimed in death hundreds of thousands of billions more lives. Who is the great being involved and what exactly happened to bring this tragedy? The Bible tells us and after our second moment of music, I’ll tell you about it in my messaged entitled: SATAN IS NO JOKE! Stay tuned…

… Satan or the devil as he is often known has changed his public image. No longer does he allow us to see him as some fairytale comical character with pointed ears, a pitchfork and hooves. Satan has not been bothered by people laughing at him believing him to be a myth and not to be a real person. But nowadays, he has openly revealed himself, yet he still takes on many disguises. But, public opinion is changing.

A poll recently released by Harris Interactive showed that 68% of Americans believe in “the devil.” Another poll, the Gallup poll, based on surveys conducted in 2001, came up with the same 68% number, the highest figure they’ve recorded since they started asking the question in the 1950s.    Gallup also found that 34% of respondents believed in the devil as a "personal being who directs evil forces and influences people to do wrong." In the same poll, another 36% of people said they believed the devil was an "impersonal force that influences people to do wrong." Well, regardless of America ’s views,  one of the leading characters in successful films, and bestselling novels is Satan himself. However, what do you really know about him? Well I’ll tell you the only place you can find true information about this being is in the Bible. And, to the bible we will go to find out about this great disaster that befell the universe, and the cause of it all.

Now as one researches this subject in the Bible, throughout the Scriptures a real live being and person known as Satan is set forth as the greatest enemy of God and man. The Scriptures teach the undeniable existence of a personality of evil all humanity should come to know about.

How Satan came to be is not clearly revealed to us, but that he exists has! Scripture intimates that he was once an obedient angel. Scholarly and reliable interpreters of the Bible tell us that Satan’s fall is portrayed in the Old Testament books of Ezekiel 28:12-19 and Isa. 14:12-14. There the Bible tells us the first great sin that befell Satan was rebellious pride (1 Tim. 3:6; Ezek. 28:15, 17). In addition, Paul the apostle in the New Testament, tells us that Satan was once an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14 ).

Like the angels God created, Satan also is said to possess the traits of full personhood. He shows intelligence (2 Cor. 11:3); he exhibits emotions such as anger and desire (Rev. 12:17; Luke 22:31 ); and he demonstrates that he has a will, a most diabolical one at that (Isa. 14:12-14; 2 Tim. 2:26). In summation, Satan is also referred to as a real live person in both Old and New Testaments (Job 1; Matt. 4:1-12). Furthermore, this creature we are told in the Bible, is the cause of the greatest disaster that ever befell the universe! Let’s look at Scripture that tells us this. We read in,

Ezek 28:12-18 (NIV)  “… ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “’You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden , the garden of God ; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. 14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. 16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. 17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. 18 By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching.

Satan, or “Lucifer” as he is once was called walked with God in the heavens, but the sin of unrighteousness (pride, rebellion and self aggrandizement) entered into his mind and heart (Ezek 28:15,17). We are given further understanding of what took place in Heaven before God created His highest creatures, mankind. We further read in the Book of Isaiah of…

The Fall of Lucifer

Isa 14:12-15 (NIV)  How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” 15 But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.

The name “Lucifer,” only found in the King James translation, comes from the Hebrew word “heylel” which means in the sense of brightness, “the morning star.” The name “Satan” the actual Hebrew word pronounced “saw-tawn” is found over 52 times in the entire Bible with this meaning. However, in the New Testament this fallen and condemned creature is referred to as either Satan or the “Devil” where nineteen of the twenty-seven books mention him by this name in thirty-two verses. Even the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of him twenty-five times as a real malevolent person. So, for those who respect the authority of the Bible, the existence of Satan or the devil is a settled issue.

Mow, when Satan fell from His place of rulership of the angelic world under God Himself, what happened? The answer is his sin marred God’s perfect universe, and rebellion broke out not only in Satan’s heart, but he apparently was able to convince a third of the angel population to follow him. We read in,

Rev 12:3-4 (NLT)  “Suddenly, I [John the apostle] witnessed in heaven another significant event. I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, with seven crowns on his heads. 4 His tail dragged down one-third of the stars, which he threw to the earth…”

This strongly appears to refer to Satan's past rebellion against God (Ezek. 28:15) and suggests that a third of the angels joined Satan in his rebellion to God’s will, and all were condemned with him. Now since the fall of Lucifer, the morning star, who became the devil or Satan what has been his goal in the universe? Well obviously his goal was to reject God’s will for life and living, and establish his own in God’s place. In other words, he wanted to be God and rule on his own behalf ( Isa. 14:12 -15). Since that time of rebellion early in the creation, his first goal was to gain followers. We leanr in the Bible that after he seduced a third of the yet unfallen angels, which the Bible tells us is an immense number beyond human ability to count, Satan saw God complete His work of creation by fashioning His greatest creature of all – mankind. You see mankind was actually created to rule with God the universe He had made. All the angels, even the highest one created, Lucifer, was to serve God and man for all eternity, but such a though repulsed this angel. So when man was first created, his goal was to corrupt them and seduce them to join in his rebellion to God as Lord and Master of all.

We all know the story found in the first three chapters of Genesis. Satan appeared before the first two humans created, Adam and Eve and first seduced Eve to believe the lie  -- that the creature can be his own god (Gen. 3:5). Well Eve believed this and through this sinful thought, she acted upon it by eating the forbidden fruit, in the hopes she could be as god himself. Like Satan, Eve fell from the holy pristine place of her creation, and then went on to seduce Adam in like manner. When both fell like Satan, due to sin being found in them, God had to pass the same sentence upon the human race as He did upon the fallen angels. It was death! They could no longer live in God’s presence with sin marring their very life and being.

Yes, the greatest disaster that ever struck the universe is sin which was first found in Lucifer and since has infected the entire universe. In his deranged and diabolical state, Satan began the process of death that claimed that has claimed the lives of billions of billions of angels and mankind. Although the fallen angels are still living, as is sinful fallen mankind, the Bible promises us a day is coming when God will cast into the eternal Lake of Fire , all who followed Satan in his rebellion. The devil and his angels will cast in and destroyed (Mat. 25:41), and with them will go all human beings who have not be rescued from their sins and the fate of eternal death. Now herein is the GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS! First the “Bad News”…

Satan is no joke. He has been judged and the sentence upon him and all who followed in sin is death, eternal and everlasting. We read in,

Ezek 18:4 (NASB)  “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die.

Rom 6:23 (NASB)  For the wages of sin is death…”

When will Satan be judged and destroyed? Satan and his angels will be judged, evidently at the conclusion of the millennial kingdom. To be sure, Satan has had other sentences passed on him, but this will be his final one that confines him forever in the lake of fire (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20:10). But he will not be there alone. The angels who followed him in sin, will be judged at this same time and will experience the same fate (Jude 1:6-7). What’s frightening is the Bible tells us for the angels that sinned there is no redemption --  for God planned none! Indeed, there is no hope and no chance of being saved from the death that awaits them, a death that is eternal since they were created to live forever. But for mankind, the Bible tells us we have a different fate and opportunity. You see my friend, God in His love has planned a redemption for all fallen sinful humanity. Yes, we are born sinners under judgment, and by nature all of us, none excepted, have the sinful desire to be god in and of ourselves. We want no one to rule us, we want to serve none but ourselves. This is the cause of all wars, crime, disputes, and evil in the world – sin and self! But now the GOOD NEWS…

The “Good News” is God loves mankind so much that knowing in advance we would sin, God planned to redeem us. The greatest story of the Bible is God Himself being holy and just could not let sin go unpunished. So He planned to pay for sin Himself. To do this, He fashioned a special human being which He became, and lived a sinless perfect life so that He could offer up that perfect and infinite life. Now, being God Himself, He qualified to be our substitute payment for our sins. So in place of our death, and loss of life, God died for us in and by Jesus Christ.

Therefore the greatest and best news of all is, whoever will confess their sins and disobedience to loving and following God and His Word, and accept God’s offer of forgiveness in and through Jesus Christ, can have their sin account expunged, or paid in full, and be freed from this eternal death penalty. You see we also need to realize we too are created beings like the angels, and like them our soul and spirit which is the real you and me, well we are all created to live forever. The question is where will you spend eternity? Will it be in Hell suffering death and separation with the fallen angels, with Satan and all unsaved humanity? Or, will it be in the presence of God our the Lord Jesus Christ, enjoying His love and this wonderful universe He created for our joy and existence? You see it all depends upon what you do with Jesus Christ.

Will you give up your own corrupted crown of rulership, and give it back to God by surrendering your heart and life to Christ? Or, will you refuse and in anger and seething hatred foolishly hang on to that which will perish? Friend, the only time we have to make this decision is here and now. The Bible warns us,

Heb 9:27 (NASB) “… it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,

Satan is no joke. He because of his divine pre-sin position is the temporary god of this age (2 Cor. 4:4), and the ruler of this fallen world (Eph. 2:2); But, his time is coming to an end. In the same fashion, due to the created position of the human race, God is permitting you to choose to be your own god for now or for you to crown your Creator to be your rightful ruler. All who surrender to Jesus Christ, believe in Him and what He did on the cross to pay for our sins, will be saved.  All others will perish for all eternity and suffer eternal death in Hell. Meanwhile, Satan is active trying to get as many human beings as possible to join him in destruction. Will you continue to follow him there? What does Satan do to accomplish this? Here is a biblical basis:

I. Satan Works to fully Oppose everything God wants and does  - John 14:30; Acts 13:10; Acts 26:17–18; Rom. 16:20 ; 2 Cor. 6:15; 1 John 3:7–10; Rev. 12:12–13.

2. Satan WORKS TO Ruin Believers AND DESTROY THE BLESSINGS GOD INTENDS FOR THEM TO HAVE -  Luke 22:31–32; 1 Cor. 7:5; 1 John 3:12; 1 John 5:18; Rev. 12:17.
3. Satan WORKS TO Hinder True Faith IN HUMANITY AND KEEP THEM FROM BEING SAVED - Matt. 13:38 –39, 41; John 8:44 ; Acts 5:3; 1 Tim. 5:15 ; Rev. 12:9.

4. Satan IS WORKING to Establish His Own Kingdom APART FROM GOD’S - Isa. 14:13–14; Matt. 12:25–27; Luke 4:5–7; Luke 11:18; 2 Cor. 4:3–4; 2 Cor. 11:11–15; Eph. 2:2; Col. 1:13; 1 John 5:19.

Although Satan is not without restraint from God, his power and range of activity is still very great. He has convinced billions of human beings to reject God and His Word. He has deceived others to believe God doesn’t even exist. He has incited evil to rule in this world and in the hearts of those who follow his mindset and ways. Satan is most effective in blinding the eyes of the lost. The Bible tells us this in,

Mat 13:19 (NASB)  “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, the evil one [Satan]  comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart…”

Satan also draws many away from God with false religion, good works, and self appointed godhood. The New Age movement, and all pseudo-religions of the world, lead their followers to a Christless eternity in Hell. The question before you today is – where will you spend eternity? Will it be with the one true God in heaven found only in the Judeo-Christian Bible? Will it be with Jesus Christ, the Lord of the universe? Or will you join Satan and his fallen angels or demons in Hell for eternity lost and separated from the life and blessings of God? It’s your choice and choose you will. In fact, to do nothing is a choice already. Jesus said,

Mat 12:30 (NIV)  “He who is not with me is against me…”

John 3:18 (NIV)  Whoever believes in him [Jesus Christ] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

 In order for you and me to perish, all we have to do is “nothing!” We are all headed for eternal destruction. So the devil encourages us to stay comfortable in that state. In order to be saved, and rescued from the fate this great disaster in heaven began long ago, we need to be saved. Yes saved is not a dirty or silly word, it is a wonderful word that speaks of what God is doing to rescue some from perishing. The question is will you be one of the rescued? Will you be saved from your sins? Will you grab onto the life preserver of eternity which is Jesus Christ? Listen to the bible’s call,

John 3:16-17 (NIV)  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Acts 16:31 (NIV)  “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

 What a terrible thing it will be to perish for eternity when one could have been saved. It is my prayer here on the broadcast that you have or will reach out by a prayer of faith wherever you are and ask Jesus Christ to save you. Pray a prayer in your heart to God something like this,

“Dear Lord Jesus, I realize I am a sinner, and by your Word I am perishing. I also understand now that you loved me so much that you sent Your Son Jesus Christ to die for my sins. You offer me forgiveness and eternal life in place of death, if I will turn my life and heart over to you to rightly rule me. I accept this offer of pardon, and place my trust in Jesus Christ as my God and Savior. Come into my life and free me from my sins, and give me the promised gift of eternal life and the presence of the Spirit of God to live in me and help me live for You. This I pray in Jesus holy Name, Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer in your heart and believe it with your will, wherever you are and regardless of who you are, the Bible says God will in no wise cast you out (John 6:37). Furthermore, He will come to you, save you and make you His child for all eternity. Friend, Satan is no joke. If you scoffed at this prayer, and rejected it, you have been deceived by Satan and His fallen demons. Your heart will remain blackened by sin and under the same eternal judgment of death and Hell. One day when your body fades in death your spirit will come alive to your loss and your fate, and like the demons and Satan you will be sealed in death for all eternity. Too late will be your cry to change it. So I say again, now is the day of salvation, now is the accepted time. Hear and heed Him, Jesus Christ and believe God’s loving Word.

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