Who is the God of this world???

sermonindex Feb 2, 2005

{2Cr 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.}Who is the God of this world? You and I have likely heard this mentioned more than 20 times lets say. In the context of the message being preached, it is always implied that satan is the god of this world. Is He? I have seen greek manuscripts in which the "theos" (god) in this verse is actually "Theos" with a capital "T". What about this verse:{Jhn 12:40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with [their] eyes, nor understand with [their] heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.}Is satan the "He" in this verse too?What about this verse:{Rom 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded }Is satan the one "blinding" here as well? Before you answer, you had better consider vs. 8{Rom 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. }I could go on and on with more verses. The fact is that no where in the Bible that I can find any reference to satan ever blinding anyone. Not so with Jehovah. He blinded the nation of Israel, who still walks in this spiritual blindness. This is what Paul is refereing too in 2 Cor 4:4 above.Let's back up a few verses, shall we?2Cr 3:13 And not as Moses, [which] put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: 2Cr 3:14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which [vail] is done away in Christ. 2Cr 3:15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 2Cr 3:16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. It was not the heathen that read Moses, but the Jew, Israel. They are the nation of blinded citizens who still have the vail.To take scripture and use it out of context is in this hour a real hinderence. To take what was written of Jehovah and proclaim it as being of satan borders on blasphemy..in my humble opinion. How do we get caught up in such? Failure to rightly divide the Word of Truth. We spend too much of our "church" experience listening to what someone else has to say about the Word, rather than reading and studying it for ourselves and letting the Holy Spirit lead us and guide us into all truth. We should by now be teachers ourselves, and yet we stil are in need of milk. These things should not be.Jehovah is the God of my world. I know He is yours too.

J

jeremyhulsey Feb 2, 2005

huh????

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alanrepent Feb 2, 2005

yes, satan is the god of this world. do not be deceived."We are certain that we are of God, but all the world is in the power of the Evil One." 1 John 5:19 (BBE)notice in matthew 4:8 satan tempts Jesus with the kingdoms of the world, because he has been given rule over them. Jesus did not claim ownership of these kingdoms, as he would have had his father not turned them over to satan.one is an enemy of God if he makes himself a friend to this world (Jm 4:4) because the world is satan's kingdom.satan was cast down to the earth in Rev. 12.do not think this means God will not still send delusion to people if they do not keep loving truth and being honest with themselves.2 THESS 210 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.if satan sends you delusion, there is still hope. if God is the one letting you believe a lie, you are damned. for this reason work out your salvation with fear and trembling, brethren.

R

RobertW Feb 3, 2005

Hi Lahry,2Cr 3:13 And not as Moses, [which] put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: 2Cr 3:14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which [vail] is done away in Christ. 2Cr 3:15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 2Cr 3:16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. In these passages we see the beginnings of a pattern that would eventually culminate at Jamnia (Yavneh) when the Pharisees started Rabbinic judaism. The Children of Israel did not want to see the glory. That is, they were content to accept all the terms of the Law of moses, but they did not want the 'glory.' they wanted the 'Word' but not the God of the Word. And when the 'Word' was made flesh, they turned him over to be crucified. They wanted the manipulatable written letter, but not the eternal unchanging God of the Word. There is a great difference here that we must not miss. Having a zeal for the word is not the same as having a zeal for God. You can have a zeal for the word and be blind spiritually. This was the case of saul of Tarsus. He had a zeal for truth, but not according to knowledge and the result was the murder of untold numbers of believers. The word of God is a powerful weapon in the hands of men. It can be used to bring life or death. It is the Sword of the Spirit- to be weilded by the Holy Ghost. In my hands the word of God is a dangerous thing- but in the hands of the Holy Ghost- it will do what it was meant to do. The Pharisees would use the word as a means to their own end. They could use it to deal with their enemies justifiably. They used the very word of God to try to justify the death of Christ and His followers. i am told that one had to be able to prove a false doctrine from scripture to be able to be a Pharisee. At the end of the day they wanted the Authority that comes with the Word of God and not that the God of the Word would have authority over them. They eventually would push God so far out of the picture that they denied an audible voice as being authoritative. I deal with this in IT IS NOT IN HEAVEN (bath kol). At the end of the day it is all just a struggle for AUTHORITY. They did not want the glory or the manifest presence of God in their midst. They wanted to control the people with word of God. This is that which they need to turn from and to Christ and when they turn that vail will be removed. When they finally decide that they want the glory there will be a move of God. not until then. God Bless,-Robert

S

StevenL Feb 3, 2005

I've wondered about that passage too Lahry and come to the same conclusion but then my church brain said "Nah, can't be.." so I didn't pursue it much further. God is very clearly shown to be the "blinder" though, all throughout the Word. The natural mind does NOT like that idea though.