How did that happen, rumi?

Here's the simplistic long version:

Satan is the god of this world (2Cor 4:4, John 12:31, Eph 2:2). He showed what he owns while tempting Jesus saying, “I’ll give you all the kingdoms of the world if you will bow down and worship me” (Matt 4:8-9).

Psalms 24:1 says that the earth is God’s because He created it, but God is no longer the god of the man made systems of the nations and empires of this world; during this age there is a conflict between God and Satan for the souls of men.

How did the kingdoms of the world become Satan’s? God created the world (Gen 1:1). At that time, the world was in God’s dominion. After He made man, He gave dominion to Man (Gen 1:26). It does not say that He shared dominion with man, but gave it to him. When He gave it to man, it belonged to man and not to God anymore. God couldn’t take dominion back from the man because “...the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable." (Rom 11:29), which means that when God gives a gift, He either can’t or won’t take it back. When Adam received this dominion, he became, very briefly, in charge of this world.

God said, “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen 2:17). Romans 6:16 says, “Don’t you know that you become a slave to whoever you obey? If you obey sin, you’re a slave to sin and you’ll die. If you obey God, then you gain righteousness.” Whoever commits sin is a slave to sin (John 8:34). Satan is the father of lusts, theft, murder, lying (John 8:44) and therefore sin. He is the father of every disobedient person (Eph 2:2), disobedience is lawlessness, and all lawlessness is sin (1Jn 3:4).

Because Satan is the father of sin, and whoever sins is a slave to sin, it is accurate to say that whoever sins is a slave of Satan. Hence, Man became a slave to Satan when he obeyed the snake in the garden, and the dominion that man had was transferred to Satan.

Whatever a slave owns is given to his master, which in this case is dominion over the earth. Jesus said, “A servant is not greater than his master” (John 13:16). Here’s what the Law of Moses says in Exodus 22:3, “…he (a thief) should make full restitution (for what he steals); if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.”

When a man owes another man something that he can’t pay back, he must first start by giving what he has to his debtor like possessions, lands, titles, etc. Then because that isn’t enough, the only other way to pay him back is by becoming his slave and giving time and service.

The debt was so big that it affected all of Adam’s descendants. Adam couldn’t pay back the debt in his lifetime, nor could his children, or his children’s children. It would have carried on from generation to generation for all eternity until someone could pay in full the debt for sinning against God.

The only way for humanity to be bought back was by God sending His Son to pay in full our debt and redeem us (Titus 2:14). Who was Jesus freeing people from? The dominion of Satan. Romans 5:19 says, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”

Satan is a thief and a liar. He gained dominion through deceit. First he tricked the snake, then he used the snake to trick the woman (1Tim 2:14), and then Adam was persuaded to go along with it. Satan was not the snake; for if so, why did God curse all snakes (Gen 3:14)? Satan tricked the snake, and used it to convince man to disobey God by eating from the fruit of the forbidden tree.

In doing so, Satan tricked the woman and the man into thinking that they would be greater or equal to God. Satan rose above the man and received His dominion. The snake, who wanted to be above the man, was cursed to be lower than any living thing by crawling on its belly (Gen 3:14). The woman was put under the man's authority (Gen 3:16), and the man, who wanted to be equal to or greater than God would die and return back into the earth that was cursed from that moment (Gen 3:17-19).

Until God takes back the earth, He has empowered His children so that they can “stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph 6:11). The reason God hasn’t yet taken back dominion is for the sake of those who have not yet repented and accepted His grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
2Peter 3:9 – “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us- ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

So glad to hear your arm is better. Now my favorite sheriff can run the black hats out of the territory again. Too many have been drifting into town. Cattle are missing. And citizens are being accosted on the streets. Town folk were getting a vigilante committee together.

It is my belief, Rose42, that there is an evil spirit watching each of us, waiting to catch us in a vulnerable moment.

None of us have walked in each other's shoes.

There are enough evil spirits to go around.

I don't meet people who are "like people." Each of us is an individual.


1 Peter 5:8-9 Amplified Bible (AMP)

8 "Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.
9 But resist him, be firm in your faith [against his attack—rooted, established, immovable], knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being experienced by your brothers and sisters throughout the world. [You do not suffer alone."]

Yes Satan is always prowling around and we have to have our armor on at all times. And we all fail at times. I also believe than satan’s minions are always trying to poke at us.

We are all individuals but we also all have the same temptations and tendencies. I know what I’m seeing because I’ve seen it many times and I’ve done it. I was not raised a Christian and came to the Lord later in life after much rebellion.

Everyone has trials and everyone has serious struggles in life. How we handle them reveals who we are. It is no minor thing to mock God.

I’m glad to hear you’re doing better. And with a bionic arm. Its amazing what they can do these days.