Satan Will Not Go Away, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture:  Philippians 1:21-30
1:21  For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.
1:22  If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer.
1:23  I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better;
1:24  but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.
1:25  Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith,
1:26  so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.
1:27  Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel,
1:28  and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God's doing.
1:29  For He has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for Him as well--
1:30  since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

          The apostle Paul had a problem.  Actually, he had two problems, and we just don't know how much one problem had to do with another.  In 2nd Cor. 12:7-10, Paul talks about having a "thorn in the flesh," something he chose to deal with by turning it over to Christ so that he could say, "when I am weak, then I am strong."

          His other problem, and perhaps his first problem played into the second one, was that he desired to leave this life, to go home and be with Christ.  And yet, while his desire was is to depart and be with Christ, he knew that it was necessary "to remain in the flesh."

          If you have ever had a really bad day, been terribly embarrassed, or done something wrong and everybody knew about it, then you might have wished that God would just take you, right then.  But God didn't, and you had to suffer through it.

          The alternative might be, if God won't just take us on home, maybe Satan would just go away.  No more temptations, no more sin, no more teacher's dirty looks, no more condemnation.  Perhaps the worst condemnation is from that person who looks back at us from the mirror.  We know what we did.  Satan knows what we did, and he's not going to let us forget it.  We might wish Satan would go away, but until Jesus comes, he won't.  Instead, Satan will come at us from as many different directions, in as many manifestations as he can, wrapping us up in the sin of the moment.  And as we know, sin will take you further, keep you longer, and cost you more than you ever intended.

          All throughout our life we have had to contend with the issue of sin, in one form or another.  But right now, in this lifetime where we find ourselves at this moment, there is an insidious evil that confronts the church of Jesus Christ, the nation, and believers as individuals.  One reason this evil is so dangerous is because we know so little about it, misunderstand it on many levels, and are so easily guilted into supporting the enemies of Jesus Christ.  I'm talking, of course, about Islam.

          Islam is a cult of power and control that claims Abraham but knows none of the mercy, love and worship of Almighty God.  Islam sows confusion because it uses the ancient  Arabic word for "god", Allah, to worship a false god that began as an Arabic moon god in the Baal tradition.  Let there be no mistake, those who worship Islam are the enemy of Christ, the enemy of God  The first, most basic, and most important commandment of God reads: "You shall have no other gods before Me."

          False religions and false gods are not to be supported, tolerated, or lived with.  Christ's commandment to believers in Mark 16:15 and Matthew 28:19 is to go into the world and make disciples of all mankind.  Over time, Christians have missed quite a few people, because the followers of Islam have murdered more people each year than all 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition, combined; killed more people every day than the Ku Klux Klan has in the past 50 years; killed more Buddhists in Thailand since America's 9-11 tragedy than the Ku Klux Klan killed in the 100 years between 1865-1965; murdered more people in two hours on September 11, 2001 than were killed in the 36 years of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland; killed more innocents in those two hours than the number of American criminals executed in the past 65 years. 

          The Muslims who claim theirs is a religion of peace are responsible for the deaths of more than 270,000,000 non-Muslims world-wide.  This includes 120 million Africans through the wholesale slave trade they operated (Woman’s Presbyterian Board of Missions, David Livingstone, p. 62, 1888), 60 million Christians (David B. Barrett, Todd M. Johnson, World Christian Trends AD 30-AD 2200, William Carey Library, 2001, p. 230, table 4-10, and  Raphael Moore in History of Asia Minor), 80 million Hindus of India (Koenard Elst, Negationism in India, Voice of India, New Delhi, 2002, pg. 34), and 10 million Buddhists (David B. Barrett, Todd M. Johnson, World Christian Trends AD 30-AD 2200, William Carey Library, 2001, p. 230, table 4-1). 

          That's 270,000,000 people murdered, more than Stalin, Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, and all of the genocidal socialists of the 20th century.

          Courageous men and women in the uniform of their America have sacrificed, along with their chaplains, battle corpsmen, nurses and surgeons, sacrificed a great deal as part of this society to ensure men and women are equal, black and white are equal, the God-given rights delineated in the U.S. Constitution are still there for everyone.

          And yet, there exists a very real danger that if we who are free, if we do not confront the enemies of our God-given freedoms today, our enslaved grandchildren will not forgive us tomorrow.  And tomorrow is not that far away.

          For example, although both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee "due process" under American law, Sharia law has already been cited as an influence to decisions in several court cases this year.  It is Sharia law that sentences people to such things as stoning of women, cutting off limbs for theft, honor killing of daughters and wives.

          If the people of Christ knew and understood the inspired words of the Living God within their Bibles, the living of their very lives would be a testament to the will of God, negating the forces that would stand against us as Christians.  Romans 8:31 reminds us that if God is for us, no one could ever stand against us.

          Paul wrote in verses 27 and 28, "Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation.  And this is God's doing."

          There has been a great deal of fearful talk last year and this regarding the return of Jesus Christ, that it is closer than we believe, imminent, even.  But for those who believe in Jesus Christ, such concern is meaningless.  Our concern must be for where we are now, by the grace of God, in the world, and for the spiritual future of others.  Our place in the world is threatened by the enemies of God, as is the spiritual future of those with whom Christ has told us to share the gospel.

          In light of this, I am going to end a little differently this time, referring you to a recent speech by a man of Indian extraction, a man who grew up a Muslim, a man late in his years and in a wheelchair, suffering from cancer, Mr. Tarek Fatah.  This may be one of the most important exposures to information you have had lately, since he speaks plainly from a position of knowledge, naming names and sharing from his experiential wisdom.  Here is the link:

http://www.livestream.com/ideacity/video?clipId=flv_fd017d81-dc18-42cc-821a-18b86fdea840

          Let us say with Paul, "For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.  If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me..."  For we are here, and Satan will not go away.

          Amen.