Satan and His Influence

May 20, 2015 | By Chuck

"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."(II Pet.5:8) The devil is on the prowl and doing all he can to destroy the faith of God's people. It seems the attacks come when you least expect it. We never know when the next attack will occur or in what form it will come. At times it feels as though we're walking through a minefield full of different attacks and temptations from Satan and his angels. The attacks tell us that we do have an enemy and our enemy, Satan, wants to lead us away from God. Earlier this week I checked my Facebook page to find that an unfamiliar source had shared or tagged a nasty post to my page. Of course, I immediately deleted the inappropriate post and was extremely frustrated that this happened. We can argue whether or not Satan was actually behind that specific incident or not but we can't argue the fact that Satan's influence is seen even on social media today. In fact we can see Satan's influence in just about every aspect of our society today. From the Hollywood film industry to the mainstream music industry, we can see and hear Satan's influence. From the business world to the world of professional sports, Satan has managed to slip his influence in. Satan's influence is seemingly everywhere which certainly makes it difficult for those of us who are striving to be faithful to God. It's no wonder why Peter encouraged his readers to "be self-controlled and alert." If one isn't 'self-controlled and alert" he or she could easily fall under the influence of Satan and quickly be led astray from the Lord. Satan knows what he's doing and we Christians need to know what's going on around us so that we can stand firm against the attacks of the enemy. "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes."(Eph.6:10-11)