HERMENEUTICS 101: GOD AND SATAN

George Offerman

To properly understand the real purpose of the Bible, it is imperative to understand the powers behind the stories and lessons that the Bible references. The Bible, after all is a chronology of the age of sin, man’s struggle with sin, and redemption. It is the struggle between good and evil, with good triumphing in the end, but a struggle whose outcome was predetermined before it even started. Unlike what the natural religions teach, as well as many of the mystery religions, good and evil are not complimentary forces, nor are they equal. This is the absolute baseline in hermeneutics in understanding and interpreting scriptures, and without this, the Bible cannot be properly understood or interpreted.

The nature of God

God, as referenced in the Bible is Trinitarian, and is three separate, but equal persons. God also has three characteristics that no other being in the universe has. God is omnipotent, meaning all powerful. God is omnipresent, meaning He is everywhere all the time, and God is omniscient, meaning all knowing. As David referenced in the Psalms “I go to the highest mountain, and you are there, lowest part of the sea, and you are there. God is watching what we do and what we think while simultaneously holding together the smallest particle of matter in the furthest part of the universe.

The Bible also describes God as all loving, benevolent, and all of His actions result in ultimate good and redemption of his children. God is very involved in the lives of those He created, and knows the beginning from the end. God sees all faults and sins, and still desires the best for us, and His desire for us is to spend eternity with Him.

God is unchanging, is just and merciful, and has a set order in the universe, as well as a set order of morality and law. God keeps perfect account of all thoughts and actions, and they are weighed based upon His law and dealt with either by mercy or justice, depending on how the created show mercy and justice to others.

God ultimately is the greatest purveyor of free will. God does not force any of his creation to worship him, or to obey his laws. God is longsuffering, willing to endure severe pain inflicted upon him by creation, in order to save them. God gives abundantly from his handiwork, and blesses those who choose to be in his will in ways they cannot even begin to imagine.

The nature of Satan

Satan as depicted in the Bible was the highest created being, and was only accountable to God. As a created being, Lucifer does not have the attributes of God and is not omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient, and thus, has to learn or speculate in order to advance his agenda. Unlike the trinity, Satan is by himself and as such, does not require unified thoughts and behaviors, and does as he pleases. Satan also has no creative powers, and thus, only has the ability to destroy, earning the moniker ‘the destroyer’ in scriptures.

Satan is filled with hatred, is all evil, selfish, deceptive, destructive, malevolent, jealous, possessive, backstabbing, double-crossing, accusatory and overall life taking. Satan is not capable of compassion, or any other experience the majority of mankind can relate to, and Satan is involved intimately with his people to do his will, but in a forced and calculated way, and then disposes of them once his purpose is completed. Satan’s goal is for man to be accountable and atone for his own sin, so that man ends up in hell with Satan being the master over him for eternity.

Satan has no sense of justice or mercy, and uses both injustices and unmerciful actions to create anger and discord among humans, and breed contempt for all that is good. Satan operates on a whim, and is only consistent in demanding total allegiance to his evil and twisted will. Satan is not capable of fairness, and will punish any and all harshly for the slightest of infractions. Satan uses lies to ‘con’ people into doing his will, then accuses them of horrendous crimes that can never be forgiven by the so called ‘Benevolent God’.

Satan is the ultimate enemy of free will, and desires to possess and control those under his influence. Unlike God, Satan offers little and demands much. Satan is the vilest of taskmasters, loading his slaves with more than they can bear, while constantly chastising with hate and conveying a sense of hopelessness. Satan demands instant gratification, and has no concern for the well being of those he demands it from. Satan is the ultimate taker, and has no chance of ever changing, and has no desire to do so. This is the basis of the hellish gospel of scarcity.

God versus Satan

Comparing Satan to God is like comparing the Sears Tower to a grain of sand. The problem is, that God is diminished in stature by being compared to the Sears Tower, and Satan is given too much credibility and esteem by giving him the stature of a grain of sand. Yet the world embraces and bought into the idea that good and evil are equal and necessary forces. There are plenty of religious systems that promote this concept, and the mystery religions take it a step further and promote the dark and forbidden knowledge over Biblical precepts, and the ‘supposed positive attributes’ of God.

The Bible spells out the reality that God is in control, and always has been, and always will be. The age of sin is time limited, and ultimately will end at the great white throne judgment after the millennial rest. Satan, as a created being, exists within the timeframe of history, while God exists in perpetuity in all times. Satan can only be in one place at a time, while God is in all places all of the time. Satan can only guess and postulate what God is up to, while God has written history before history began. Satan can only destroy, while God creates and renews. Satan can only possess by stealing God’s handiwork, while God gives freely of His creation to His creation.

There is no comparison between God and Satan other than both are spirits. Evil will be totally destroyed when history comes to a close, along with all of those who promoted it. All of the knowledge, sophistication, scarcity and other deceptions, lies and propaganda will be destroyed, and those that man had admired and seen as heroes while on earth will be seen in the true light of what they actually are. At the close of the age, all will clearly understand what occurred while on this sojourn through this life, and those destined for eternal bliss, will experience the joy that is deserved in being with the God of the universe, and those destined for eternal damnation, will experience the pain and suffering of paradise lost.

Those who give into evil, or join it, are on the wrong side of history. It is the inferior side, the side that represents death, destruction, poverty, scarcity, deception, iniquity, fear and isolation. The Bible is clear that siding with Satan will result in destruction. God has stated this clearly and consistently through the prophets and his son, Jesus. This is the clearest and most basic teaching of the Bible, and if it is untrue, or proven to be fraudulent, Christianity would collapse upon itself. By virtue it has survived and thrived, it again proves Jesus’ words that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church, and it will remain here on earth until the end of time.