MANIFESTATIONS OF SATAN - PART 1

"And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." (2 Corinthians 11:14 NIV)

If you will sustain your victorious life in Christ, you have to decode Satan's appearances in the world. Bible says, he masquerades as an angel of light, for what purpose? To deceive people to buy into his agenda. To masquerade means to show up in a mask, or to appear under the pretense of someone that you are not. Satan knows that if he appears in his real image, nobody will buy into his agenda, so he makes a pretentious show of being an angel of light. Nothing of his is original, authentic, genuine or true. 

Our primary source of the knowledge of Satan is the Bible. In it, we know Satan's three major identifies. First, as serpent, meaning trickster or deceiver; as devil, meaning accuser or slanderer; and as Satan, meaning opposer or adversary. 

Opposer is different from competitor, in that, competitor initiates different inventions that perform the same or similar functions and achieve same or similar purposes as yours but opposer does not initiate different inventions but rather, spends his time and energy thwarting your own so as not to achieve the intended purpose. Satan does not initiate his own inventions but wrestles against God's inventions so as not to achieve their intended purposes. Therefore, he is an opposer. 

Bible's usage of serpent for Satan does not mean that he appears physically as serpent or snake. It means that he appears in a cunning or deceptive manner as that of a serpent or snake. Even in their corrupt state, snakes are very vigilant and tactful animals. They steal their way towards their preys to pounce on them. Satan also steals his way towards people to pounce on them. As the serpent did to Eve in the garden, Satan shows up in a mask. To Eve he appeared as harmless but deep within him, his intention was evil. This is the pretentious nature of Satan. Nothing of his is original or authentic. 

In the world today, there are two main ways in which Satan shows himself. They are; Mammon and Babylon. This week, our focus is on Mammon. 

Mammon

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Mat 6:24 KJV)

Mammon is of Aramaic origin. Literally it means treasure, wealth or riches. When deified, it becomes the god of avarice, not necessarily of money. 

In the text above, Jesus uses Mammon in a deified sense, and places it on the same level as God. This implies that on earth, money is to ungodly people as God is to godly people. In other words, money rules as a god in the hearts of human beings. Money rules supreme in the affairs of humans. Money gives the order and people obey because their very existence depends on it. You require money to get access to the things that you need to survive on earth. In human, fleshly understanding, money is like blood or like water without which nobody can exist on earth. Money, then, is exalted to the degree of being the lord of human life. Satan is enthroned on this conceptualisation of money by the name, Mammon. 

What is Mammon?

Mammon is the spirit that influences people to amass wealth by evil means. 

Money itself is not evil but avarice is. Inordinate desire for money, or excessive desire for more money than is needed or deserved, or the lust for money which does not belong to you, constitutes avarice or greed. Bible says, "The person who gets money dishonestly is like a bird that hatches eggs it didn't lay. In the prime of life he will lose his riches, and in the end he is nothing but a fool." (Jer 17:11 GNT). 

Money itself is not evil but greed is. Greed is what the eminent Apostle Paul cautions against in the following Scripture: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." (1 Tim 6:10 NIV). The phrase 'love of money' [philarguria pronounced fil-ar-goo-ree'-ah] means avarice.

While the Bible teaches that the Lord gives us power, ideas to produce wealth, and encourages us to work hard so as to earn more money to be able to support ourselves and the needy ones, and promises that our future will be more prosperous than our beginning, it discourages us from having inordinate desire for wealth, that is, avarice.

Beware, that your desire to be a financier of gospel outreaches and church projects does not plunge you into inordinate desire for wealth. When this happens, you may be operating under the influences of Mammon who is a manifestation of Satan. 

#Verity Haven