Season 1 Podcast 18 A New Voice of Freedom, “Satan.”

A New Voice of Freedom

Welcome to Season 1 Podcast 18 A New Voice of Freedom, “Satan.”

Christianity is defined by paradox. Satan is as necessary to agency as is God. Good and evil, right and wrong, moral and immoral, heaven and hell, God and Satan are necessary to law. Take away opposition and you have nothing. Even law couldn’t exist. We have its likeness in temporal law. What would happen if the law of gravity were suddenly rescinded? What would happen to agency if we were not enticed by both God and Satan? Without Satan, Christianity would be unbelievable. Agency wouldn’t even be possible. Without hell, heaven wouldn’t be possible. Without opposition law would not be possible. The great opposites are order and disorder, law and lawlessness, good and evil, light and darkness, God and Satan.

Christ represents light. Satan represents darkness. Christ said,

“7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” (Matthew 18:7)

When Christ said “woe to that man by whom the offence cometh” he is speaking of those who follow the enticements of Satan. They fall under the law of justice and justice exacts its penalty if they do not repent. It cannot be otherwise or there would be no order to the universe.

Freewill exists because opposition exists. In our world offences will come, but we have the choice whether we create the offence or whether we are offended by the offence. No one can offend you without your permission. Evil exists, but we do not have to do evil. Evil people exist; however, though justice must be enforced by law, we do not have to take justice into our own hands. Revenge is never justice. We may choose to follow Satan or to follow Christ. Freedom exists because we have choices. Agency exists because we can discern between good and evil. Freedom gives knowledge; agency gives wisdom. As with all mysteries, the answer lies within the nature of the law of opposition. One cannot comprehend good unless he comprehends evil. That is why both God and Satan are necessary in our world.

God represents order. Satan represents disorder. God represents creation. Satan represents destruction. God represents good. Satan represents evil.

However, only in the mortal state do we “wrestle” with Satan. Satan cannot enter heaven. Christ said that he saw Satan like lightning fall from heaven. Because of Christ we have a two-way ticket. Through Christ’s atonement we may, if we choose, go back to heaven. Satan and his angels have a one-way ticket. They may never again enter into heaven. Even on earth John says that Satan’s time is running out:

“12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” (Revelation 12:12)

When we left heaven to come to earth, a veil was placed over our mind so that we forgot our former home. Without the veil, faith in God could not be a choice. There is no veil over Satan’s eyes. He knows God exists. He is in open rebellion against God. That is why he is called a son of perdition. A son of perdition is one who denies God even in the face of God. For that reason, Satan is tormented by the tempestuous terror of taunting time.

In Christopher Marlowe’s play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Mephistopheles is asked why he isn’t in hell. He replies,

“Why this is hell, nor am I out of it.
Think’st thou that I, who saw the face of God,
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells
In being deprived of everlasting bliss?”<