What Kind of Influence Do Satan and Demons Have on Society?

This new episode of Core Christianity was prerecorded.

What kind of influence do Satan and demons have on society? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Well, hi, I'm Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can always post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts. And of course, you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com.

First up today, let's go to Jennifer who's calling in from Texas. Jennifer, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hey, I am reading in the Old Testament about Moses speaking to Pharaoh, and he gets pretty clear specific instructions. And I'm just wondering, how did God communicate to him? Did they talk?

I don't know. I think the bottom line is, I'm struggling to hear God, and I want to know how to hear him. And it seems like he spoke very clear to Moses in the Old Testament.

I love this question, Jennifer. Yeah, I mean, as we're reading through the Old Testament, and even looking at places like in the book of Acts, you see how God speaks so clearly in certain instances. I'm just talking to people, it seems. And so we wonder, is there something defective about my relationship with God? I have not heard God speak to me like he spoke with Moses. First, with regard to the first part of your question, it does seem to me, and I think that this is made clear throughout the book of Exodus and also in the book of Deuteronomy, that God is speaking to Moses audibly. I mean, even going back to Exodus chapter 3, the vision that he has of the burning bush, Moses said, I will turn aside to see this great sight.

Why? The bush is not burned. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, Moses, Moses. He heard the voice of the Lord. And in fact, in Exodus chapter 33, with regard to the tent of meeting in verse 11, it says, thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend. Wow.

I mean, can you imagine that? There's something very intimate here, something very special, but also something unique. This is not how, I mean, Moses is the mediator of the old covenant, if you will. He has this very specific role in the history of redemption.

So you've got this sort of unique relationship to the Lord, this special relationship to the Lord is this prophet, if you will. And one thing that's oftentimes emphasized in these scenes is that the people of God didn't see the Lord, not with their eyes. They couldn't, but they did hear his voice speaking from the mountain. We read this in Deuteronomy chapter 4 as well. This picture of the fact that God was a God who could not be seen, but he actually spoke to his people, which was the opposite of what you had in the pagan nations. You know, they would make these idols, these graven images. You could see them, you could carry them around, set them up on your nightstand, but they never spoke.

They were silent. And so the true God of the Bible is the God who speaks. But your question is, why isn't he speaking to me? Or is he speaking to me if he isn't speaking to me as he spoke to Moses?

And the answer is, Jennifer, God is speaking to you. He's speaking to us first and foremost through his word and through his son Jesus. And this is what we should expect, and it's exactly what the author to the Hebrews said at the very beginning of the book of Hebrews.

If you have a Bible, maybe you could even open up there. In Hebrews chapter 1, I think that this is really helpful, and it really gets to that second part of your question, thinking about how God spoke to Moses and the prophets in the Old Testament versus how he speaks to you and me today. Hebrews 1 verse 1, Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he also created the world. In other words, right now, today, God is speaking to humanity, to mankind, primarily through his son Jesus, and the proclamation of the gospel and the proclamation of the Bible, what the word of God teaches.

It's our job to listen. I think so often for so many people, and I'm not saying this about you, Jennifer, but I think for so many people, they say, God just isn't speaking, doesn't care about me. The problem is not that God is not speaking.

The problem is that we don't really know where to listen. God speaks to us first in creation, just the world around us, revealing his glory. And you look at the stars at night, and you just overwhelm with this sense of, man, I'm small. There's something greater than me out there. It's what the psalmist said in Psalm 19. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork.

Day unto day utters speech. In other words, the whole world around you, through the whole world around you, Jennifer, God is speaking to you. But God is speaking an even more clear word through his son Jesus, through his special revelation in scripture. That's what we're called to go and to pray and to say, Lord, open my mind, my heart, my ears, by the grace of your Holy Spirit, to hear your voice speaking to me in the scriptures.

And in fact, this is exactly what we see in the book of Hebrews even later. In Hebrews chapter 3, writing to this group of Christians, the author of the Hebrews says, Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. And the author of the Hebrews imagines, as he's writing them this exhortation, this sermon, if you will, as they're hearing it, that God is speaking to them through it. Jesus says, today if you hear his voice.

And so we should have that expectation. Every time we open the Bible, every time we sit in church to hear the word of God faithfully proclaimed, God is speaking to us. He's speaking to you through his word, through the world around you, through the providential circumstances of your life.

We just need to listen. And so may God bless you and fill you with his Spirit and make you attune to his voice as he guides you in his word. God bless. Jennifer, thanks so much for calling and digging into God's word and for being a regular listener to CORE Christianity.

We really do appreciate you. This is CORE Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we'd love to tell you about a special group of people that we call our inner CORE. This is an opportunity for you, if you believe in what this ministry does, to support us on a regular basis. And the fact is, we don't get money from a church or denomination. We count on people just like you to keep this show on the air.

Yeah. I just want to say thank you to those of you who are a part of the inner CORE. It's a monthly donation of $25 or more. And it really, I mean, we feel that we are partnering together with you to get the word out and that you're partnering with us. And so we're working side by side for the faith of the gospel. And that's something that I just, fills my heart with joy.

It's humbling, really, when I think about it. And so if you've been blessed by this broadcast, encouraged in your walk with the Lord, and you want to partner with us, consider joining the inner CORE. As I said, it's a $25 monthly donation, and we'll send you as a thank you for joining the book CORE Christianity, which is just a really helpful introduction to the CORE doctrines of the Christian faith. And so once again, thank you for your support and for your encouragement. We love being able to work side by side with you to get the word out. You can learn more about joining the inner CORE by going to our website corechristianity.com forward slash inner CORE. And we'd love to send you that book by Dr. Michael Horton, CORE Christianity, which is great for personal study or maybe going through as a group or even in a Sunday school class.

So check that out. corechristianity.com forward slash inner CORE. Let's go to Terry calling in from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Terry, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

How you doing today? I enjoy the program every day, and I thank God for you guys. You have answered a lot of questions for me. My question today is about women preachers and women pastors. I know 1 Corinthians the 14th chapter talks about it, and we have had many discussions over it, and I'm still not clear on it.

And if you can answer that for me, I really would appreciate it. God bless you, and thank you. Hey, Terry, thank you for your encouragement, brother. I am grateful for your words and that you're a frequent listener.

So a couple of things. One, my view as a pastor myself, as a minister of the gospel, and as someone who teaches the Bible, is that the office of elder pastor is reserved in the New Testament specifically for men, for men who are called to that office, who are qualified, who are men of character, who have a degree of competency. Obviously, in the scriptures, 1 Timothy 3 says they need to be able to teach.

And so if the question is could, according to scripture, or should, according to scripture, a woman hold that office specifically, I would say my view is no, and again, I would go to places like 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, where it talks about the qualifications for elders, and other statements from the apostle Paul, in particular, in the pastoral epistles. Now, does that mean that this is one of those issues that strikes at the core of the Christian faith? That is, if somebody differed from me on this, would that mean that they're not a Christian, that they're not a believer?

No, certainly not. I think that there are a number of churches where people take a different view, and I wouldn't say that they are deniers of the gospel, that they don't truly have a relationship with Jesus, that kind of thing, but that's not what I read in the scriptures, that's not how I understand them. And so that's my take, brother, and I appreciate your question. May the Lord bless you. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can always email us. Here's our email address. It's questions at corechristianity.com, and you can leave us a voicemail 24 hours a day at 833-843-2673.

That's 833-the-core. Let's go to Chuck calling in from Missouri. Chuck, what's your question for Adriel? Yeah, my question is, I've talked to a number of people, and I personally don't see that angels have wings stated in the scriptures. Now, seraphim and cherubim had wings, but they were also heavenly creatures, but they weren't necessarily considered angels, because angel means messenger, if I understand correctly. So, appreciate if you'd answer that.

Hey Chuck, thank you for that question. Yeah, I don't think they look like the angels that you see in medieval art, you know, the little babies with the wings, that kind of a thing. No. Now, I would say that those beings that are described in places like Isaiah chapter 6, the seraphim there, that those are angelic beings, a part of the angelic host, and that those angels do indeed have wings. We read in Isaiah 6.1, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. And the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to the other and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.

And so, I mean, that's the one text that I would go to. I do think, you know, it's really easy to get sort of caught up in, you know, what these creatures look like, what these angels look like. Really, we should focus on what the Bible says that they do. And of course, the word angel does mean messenger. They are sent out on behalf really first and foremost of the people of God. This is what the author of the Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 14. Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? And so, in other places in the scriptures, you know, angels are sometimes depicted as these guardians of the people of God.

You see this throughout the book of Genesis. You think of the angels who basically rescued Lot out of Sodom. You think of what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 18 verse 10 about the little ones whose angels always see the face of the Father in heaven. And so, these created beings, these spiritual beings that minister to, care for the people of God, help to protect, help to guard the people of God. And insofar as they do that, we give thanks to the Lord for them. I mean, the kingdom of God includes angels. A lot of times people don't think about this, but when we think about the kingdom of God, ultimately it's the new creation. And when we're in the new creation worshiping the Lord, we're going to be doing that together with all the angels of heaven who belong to the Lord.

And so, thank you for your question, Chuck. I appreciate that, and may the Lord bless you. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to hear from you if you've got some questions about the Bible, the Christian life, theology, or doctrine. Here's an email question that came in, Adriel.

This is from one of our listeners named Carolyn. She says, Why does Jesus curse the fig tree in Mark 11 verses 12 to 14? While reading, it appeared out of character for Jesus. Yeah.

Really, really a good question. And so, yeah, when you're looking at Mark 11, you have first the triumphal entry, Jesus coming into Jerusalem, people greeting him, blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David, Hosanna in the highest. He entered Jerusalem, went into the temple, and when he had looked around at everything as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the 12. And then, you have this scene of the cursing of the fig tree. On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry, and seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it.

And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, May no one ever eat fruit from you again, and his disciples heard it. Now, the way we understand this is just immediately right after this, and this helps us to make sense of the cursing of the fig tree, you have the cleansing of the temple, where Jesus goes in and he basically cleans house.

He's overturning the tables with the money changers and driving people out. They made the temple into this den of robbers. And then the lesson from the fig tree is touched on again in verse 20. As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots, and Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered. And Jesus answered them, Have faith in God.

Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and be thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Now, again, what's interesting here is that you have this sort of cursing of the fig tree that's happening in the context of the cleansing of the temple, and this judgment that's threatened against really Israel in their unrepentance, in their unbelief, in their rejection of the Messiah, the religious leaders. So that sort of discussion about the fig tree bookends the cleansing of the temple, which helps us make sense of the fig tree. In fact, the fig tree sometimes is thought of as a symbol, if you will, for the nation itself. And here you see this just this sort of fruitlessness.

There's no fruit on the tree. And you remember what John the Baptist said at the very beginning of his ministry. Right now the ax is laid to the root of the tree, bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And so it's this picture of judgment coming against the nation for their rejection of the Messiah, for their rejection of Christ. And so that's, I think, the best way to understand this, certainly in the context of Mark 11. It wasn't just this sort of random, Jesus is hungry, he's not happy that there's no fruit on the tree, so he curses it, and he's having a bad day. No, there's something deeper here, and it has to do with Israel's rejection of the Messiah. Thank you.

Great question. This is Core Christianity, and if you've got a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can always call our voicemail. We do our best to go through our voicemails once a day and use many of them on the air. Here's the phone number to call, 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Yasmine. Hi, my name is Yasmine, and my question is, which one of all the Gospels describes Jesus as who he is the most? Thank you, God bless.

Bye-bye. Yeah, Yasmine, thank you for that question. I don't know that I would say that one of them describes Jesus as who he is more accurately than another. I mean, what you have in the Gospels are these different vantage points, if you will, on the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, and what they communicate to us about Jesus is true. Now, the Gospel writers do have the purpose behind their writing.

They're maybe trying to set Jesus up as the true King of Israel, as the one who came in fulfillment of all the prophecies of the Old Testament, as the Lord himself, as God. You think of John 1-1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So they're each of them giving us this different perspective, if you will, or vantage point on the ministry of Christ, but what they say and reveal to us about Christ is true. And so insofar as they reveal him to us as the Son of Man, prophesied way back in the book of Daniel, in Daniel 7, or as the true I Am.

You think of the words of Jesus in John 8, verse 58, Before Abraham was, I Am. They're recording for us accurately things about Jesus, about his identity, and so I would say if you want to know Jesus, read all the Gospels. I happen to really love the Gospel of John, and I love the perspective that's given there, and there's something I just think so sweet about John's Gospel, in that it's really written with this apologetic focus, wanting to get you to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, believing you might have life in his name. But really all the Gospels are giving us this wonderful image of our Lord, our Savior, Christ. And so I would say read all of them, and meditate upon them, and receive them as God's truth for you, as you think about Jesus and growing in your relationship with him. And so yeah, that's what I would say about which of the Gospels I think best depicts Jesus for us. They all do, so yeah.

They all do in great ways, and it's so interesting to read some of the differences based on their backgrounds and their purpose in writing those books. So thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Just a reminder, you can join our Inner Core, that special group of people who support this ministry on a regular basis, by going to corechristianity.com forward slash inner core, and we'd love to send you a copy of the book, Core Christianity, by Dr. Michael Horton, our founder. So check that out on our website, corechristianity.com.

Let's go to a voicemail that came in from one of our listeners. This is Joseph. My question is on the devil a little bit, and really just demons in general, like how much of an impact does the devil have on our society as we live throughout it today? You know, it's very easy to look at things from a sinful perspective, that it's just the daily sin that we struggle with. How do we determine what the difference is between an act of Satan or just our sinful nature? Thank you, love, Michelle. Hope I'm hearing your thoughts.

Bye. Yeah, I mean it really is easy, Joseph, isn't it, just to blame the devil for anything that we do wrong, and to say, oh man, I was just tempted by the evil one. When in reality, so often, we're just tempted by our own sinful desires.

This is what James talks about. With regard to the influence that the devil has on society today, I think about what John says in 1 John 5, verse 19. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. There's a sense in which the world in which we currently live right now is under this sway of the evil one, the power of the evil one. And this is the reality while at the same time Christ has definitively defeated Satan and his evil ones, his minions on the cross.

I think about what we read in Colossians, in Colossians chapter 2, in particular verse 13. And you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of death that stood against us with its legal demands.

This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. And so when we think of the evil one, even though there's this deception that's taking place right now, when we think of the evil one, we have to think of him as a defeated foe, as a foe that is disarmed, as a monster that doesn't have any teeth.

Why? Because God removed them through the crucifixion of his Son and the resurrection from the dead. Jesus has conquered death, sin, and Satan. So we know where the victory lies, and that should give us a great degree of confidence, I think, as Christians living in the world where the evil one is still at work, going about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour some, as Peter said. We know that the evil one cannot touch us, and that's what John says again in 1 John chapter 5. And so with regard to how do you differentiate between something that is just a temptation that rises up from within you or a genuine temptation from the evil one, spiritual warfare, that kind of a thing, sometimes it's impossible to tell, I think. We're called always to be vigilant and to be prayerful, to put on the armor of God, as Paul says in Ephesians 6, and praying at all times with supplication in the Spirit. This is what we're called to because the fact of the matter is that there are enemies without, and there's the enemy within, our own sinful inclinations that oftentimes lead us astray.

And so I would just say rather than trying to figure out, well, was that the evil one? Was that just my own lustful desires, that kind of a thing, fixing our eyes on Christ and staying vigilant, watchful in the face of temptation. We know that temptations are real, and they're going to come to all of us.

It's not our job to try to focus on them. We're focusing on Christ, who delivers us from temptation, even as he taught us to pray. And so pray like Jesus taught you, Father in Heaven, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from the evil one. God bless. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at CoreChristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.