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Satan didn’t stop there, however. Seeing Jesus’ defense, he took him to the top of the temple in Jerusalem and offered to place him as overseer for the religious life of Israel. Note how often our human attempts at mastery of our religions and religious institutions can get in the way of our faith in God. Surely, Satan will quote scripture to us and misuse words and try to trap us into responding in a manner that condemns us. This is called “eisogesis”… reading into scripture what we want the words to say just to make ourselves look good. In this case, Satan stated the Messiah’s claims to power according to scripture. He suggested that to obtain that deserved position, all Jesus had to do was listen to obey satanic ideas, thus agreeing with the evil interpretations. Again, Jesus deflected the challenge simply by rightly quoting scripture. We find his rebuttal in Deuteronomy 6:16. Finally.., not one to give up easily… the adversary took Jesus up to a high mountain… and offered him the kingdoms of the world. The trouble was Jesus knew his mission. He intended to be killed for our sake and raised again… and be seated at the right hand of God the Father. Jesus knew that Satan was tempting him... offering him an easy path. And Jesus, wanting to save those who would believe in him… declined the evil offer. So even that detour failed. Satan was opposed easily by the power found in the Word of God. Jesus then ordered Satan to leave and we read of this account realizing that all these devilish attacks were cast off by our Lord, simply by stating scripture. Now… if we can take this as an example placed before us in our modern times, we see from the Gospel of Saint Matthew that not once, not twice… but three times… Jesus cast away evil by adhering to the scriptures. Scripture rightly |
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interpreted by the power of the Holy Spirit and used as a guide can ward off any hellish attack popping up before us. In racing mechanic terms, scripture is the bell housing safety shield covering a flywheel from hell. As you consider this story, know that each of us suffers temptations from the demonic in this world. And, if you are anything like me, you’ve sometimes turned the wrong corner when the |
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Driving Dry Places! |
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traffic light flashed yellow. This route is what we know as Sin. But sin can be forgiven and faith given to us in Christ Jesus. We are called to repent… and that means turn toward God... and confess our sinfulness. Consider this! To ward off our hunger for secure lives, too often we wrongly take advantage of opportunities to fill |
