Here's a thought Rick, man (mankind) sins when "drawn away by his own lust" of the flesh, our own sinful carnal nature.
James 1:14 but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
v. 15 Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death. (ASV)
1John 2:16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
Now thinking of Satan, he's the adversary (1Pe 5:08) whose main purpose is to deceive the world about/against God.
Rev 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world...
So Satan is here to deceive and keep the world blind to the truths.
2Cor 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
v. 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.
Luke 8:11 "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
v. 12 Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
This is from the article 'The Myth of "Free Will" Exposed' - Part C.
http://bible-truths.com/lake15-C.html ----------------
The workings of Satan have deceived the whole world including the ones whom God would later call to be His elect:
“And then shall that Wicked [‘Lawless One’—the beast within all of us] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan [It is not Satan, but is ‘after the 0working of Satan] with all power and signs and lying wanders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God [yes, God Himself] shall send them strong dilusion, that they should believe a lie [Gk: ‘the lie’]…” (II Thes. 2:9-11).
And just how much of mankind and how much of this world has God given to that same Old Serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, to deceive?
“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which DECEIVES THE WHOLE WORLD” (Rev. 12:9).
“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect” (Matt. 24:24)
Once one becomes a member of God’s very elect, he can be deceived no more.
Don’t you be deceived. This verse does not say: “Satan, which deceives the whole world (except the two billion twenty-first century professing Christians of the world).” No, Satan deceives “the whole world,” including the two billion professing Christians. How many have escaped the deception of Satan by the use of their “free will?” Not one man possesses a will by which he can freely resist Satan. If we are to “resist the Devil so that he flees from us,” we will need the power of God’s Spirit in us.
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All that has been, and is, and will be, has been planned and choreographed down to the movement of the last atom, by the Designer and Operator of the Universe, without Whom everything would fall apart in oblivion:
“For by Him [Jesus] were ALL things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible [unseen powers], whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him. And He is before all things and by Him all things consist [‘has its cohesion,’ ]” (Col. 1:16-17).
Since “by Jesus all things consist and have their cohesion,” why is it that only man and his fabled “free-moral-agency-will” is the only truly “free radical” in the universe? Nonsense! Even “free radicals” operate under law—God operates all that exists, by law. Jesus did not create the universe and all that in it is, and then goes off on a trip to let the universe fend for itself. God presently is “working—operating” all that exists, and that includes the “will” of all mankind. Here’s some more Scriptural proof:
“…God which works [‘operates’] all in all ” (I Cor. 12:6). God works all that there is in all that there are. Pretty neat, huh? When we have a God this great, we can expect nothing but perfect assured success.
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But above all:
“We ought to obey GOD rather than MEN.”
And so we have read that God used Satan to try, and test Job, He used Satan to try, and test Jesus, He uses Satan to try, and test believers, and He also uses Satan to try, and test THE WHOLE WORLD:
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour [Gk: ‘swallow down’]: Whom RESIST stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished [‘experienced] in your brethren that are IN THE WORLD” (I Pet. 5:8-9).
As I have said before, God does not turn man’s lemons into His lemonade. No, God first creates the lemons and then turns them into lemonade.
God does not “allow” Satan to do ANYTHING. Satan was created by God to do exactly what God wants him to do—nothing more and nothing less.
Satan is an intricate and necessary creation of God to accomplish His awesome purpose and goal for the human race. When God desires something, HE CREATES IT. God desired an “adversary,” an “enemy,” but there is no natural adversary or enemy of God:
“I am the LORD, and there is NONE else, there is NO God beside me” (Isa. 45:6).
And so when God needed a “god” to rule ALL THE NATIONS of this world, HE CREATED ONE—one that would lie, deceive, accuse, tempt, and murder. A Devil who would “deceive the WHOLE WORLD.” But one who would appear as “An ANGEL of Light.” My how flawlessly he has performed his duty to God. And you thought he was a “free moral” renegade running amuck through heaven and earth destroying God’s handiwork!
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“Declaring the END from the BEGINNING…” (Isa. 46:10).
“For in Him we LIVE, and MOVE, and have our BEING [Gk: ‘we ARE’—we exist]…” (Acts 17:28).
All energy, all matter, all creation, and all humans are in God. We can only “live and move… IN HIM.” And this is why:
“O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walks to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23).
No man has a will that can choose contrary to what God already knows will be: “…and calls those things which be not [thoughts and deeds which have not yet been supposedly ‘freely’ thought of] as though they were [as though they already were thought of—how is that ‘freedom’ of the will?]” (Rom. 4:17).
I will repeat this until I am blue in the face, and perchance somebody out there will say, “Ah, yes, now I get it.” Once more: Since God says very plainly that He knows all things and that He knows all things before they happen, how is it then possible that anyone can think a thought which God didn’t know he would have to think? And if God already knows every thought that you must think: how are you free to not think those very foreknown thoughts and those foreknown thoughts only?
If any person in the history of the world can think one thought that God did not foreknow that he would think, then God cannot;
“call those things which be not as though they were.”
“Man’s goings [Heb: ‘steps’] are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way?” (Prov. 20:24).
“The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.” (Prov. 16:1).
No one can make one statement out of his mouth, unless it was first pre-ordained, foreknown, and approved of, by God!
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mercy, peace and love
Kat