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Are Christians supposed to Rebuke Satan?
We see the Scripture that even Jesus himself did not rebuke Satan (Mt.4:1-11). It may be fashionable to learn all the ways one can rebuke him through spiritual warfare seminars but the Bible says nothing about this. Jesus answered the Devils temptations by quoting Scripture correctly against the Devils out of context quotations to him. It is not necessary for us to rebuke Satan for a number of reasons. First Satan is a specific fallen angel he cannot be in all places at once , not even two places at once. He is not the one who personally causes every persons temptations or trouble or sicknesses, many times it is our own flesh. Satan does have a kingdom and many other fallen spirits serve alongside him to deceive and tempt man, they are called demons. They harass believers, yet we are told greater is he who is in us than he who in the world. We cannot rebuke Satan anymore than we can bind Satan. If Satan is being "bound" by people say words out loud, their "binding" certainly does not last very long. God has given us His way to withstand the evil from his word, it is called the armor of go (Eph.6) . It is by resisting the Devil we do this by having the full armor of God, which is knowing the Scripture (Eph.6) it is all about Christ. James 5:7 tells us to submit to God, resist in the Holy Spirit and the devil will flee. Whatever we might be disobedient in, we are to correct ourselves, this is submit ting to God, resist any temptations, and the enemy will no longer have a foothold in our lives, no chink in our armor. 2 Cor.10:3-5 tells us that we do not fight with human weapons, plans or methods. “Our weapons are not carnal (of flesh) but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God”. Prayer and the word is our weapon when used correctly to what opposes the truth of Christ and the word. False ideologies and philosophies take people captive and do the same to us. In other words untruth, false patterns of thinking, vain imaginations that capture people. We resist and the Lord promises us that the Devil will flee. Why? Because he sees he cannot penetrate our protection, even our greatest weakness cannot be used against us if we submit to God. |
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