10 November 2024
Last year in early September, I offered a collection of Q&A posts, trying to pull together some loose ends of doctrine. You can find them by chasing the link on the index page that points to the 2023 archives (you need to learn how to navigate this blog). Based on those "bigger picture" posts, you should be able to develop a sort of logic, an expectation of how things run in this world.
Further, you can learn to recognize the signatures of certain influences. For example, the first signature of the Holy Spirit in a person is a sense of fear/awe and humility. The second is taking the Bible seriously (it's a placeholder for the Covenant). Third is a genuine warmth toward other believers; you really want to belong.
What is the signature of the Dark Alliance -- Satan, the elohim and the Nephilim (demons)? Their alliance is aimed at keeping the Elect from the Covenant. That's their primary mission. Their goal for humanity at large is a little more complex, but it is generally the same thing: keeping them from Covenant covering that the Elect can provide.
By that definition, a lot of stuff people label "satanic" isn't. It may well be derived by demonic/satanic influence, but it's not an immediate goal of our Enemy. Rather, it's any number of substitutes offered to keep people away from the Covenant. That was the crux of what Satan was doing in the Wilderness Temptations. He wanted Jesus to stay away from the actual Covenant and promote the Talmudic substitute.
Now you have a better idea of what it meant when Jesus told Peter, "Get behind me, Satan." It was a Hebrew expression with at least two basic meanings. Ostensibly it means roughly, "Get outta my face." The extended version is, "You have no business trying to get my attention." The other thing is that it warned Peter that he was advocating something that Satan wanted.
That thing Satan wanted? Peter was telling Jesus He shouldn't go to the Cross, but to seize the moment and become the Talmudic political Messiah, according to the false Jewish Expectations. In other words, it was prompting Jesus to offer everything Satan tried to get Jesus to do during the Wilderness Temptations. The Jews had long gotten wrapped up in a very worldly version of everything the Covenant had promised, and that was what the Talmud was all about. The False Messianic Expectations were part of the Talmudic lore, binding Jewish people to a worldly pursuit.
If there's anything that meets the definition of "satanic" in the world today, it must first match that effect. A of things that should be called "satanic" aren't called that. It must be something that fundamentally keeps people tied to this world and its concern, and away from the spiritual aims of the Covenant.
The Covenant is the glory of the Lord. The Hebrew concept of "worship" is obeisance. It's more than the ritual act -- it's the intrinsic loyalty and feudal submission. That's the one thing Satan, the elohim and Nephilim covet for themselves. They want what they consider their share of divine glory, and they'll do anything it takes to get our worship and adoration, even thought they hate us. And what Satan offered Jesus there in the wilderness is precisely what he offers to get people to give him obeisance.
Learn the signatures.
Comments
A Correspondent
NATIONAL REPRIEVE 11/5/24
Listen! We've gone on too long;
I'll not be swayed by prayer or song,
extended grim and quaint entreaty
offered by you mass banditti,
your bodies and your country wounded,
a dirge, retreating, blown and sounded.
Casualties in ghastly numbers
subsist in huts on waste cucumbers.
Corrupting the children,
their health ignored,
you'd have burned like Sodom,
but for your Lord.
You've forgotten to Whom
to turn for relief.
It's gratuitous tragedy,
this loss, this grief.
You've glimpsed deliverance,
so now do what's right.
Else, in decline,
succumb to the night.
(Isaiah 1)
This document is public domain except for the poem in the comment; spread the message.