JESUS SAID, "YE ARE
OF YOUR FATHER, THE DEVIL"
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 IN HIS EXCHANGE of words with some unbelieving and hostile Jews in Jerusalem, Jesus said, "Ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth" (John 8:40). They had asserted that Abraham was their father and that God was their father. In response, the Lord went on to say, "Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it" (John 8:44).
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 Children look like, and many times act like, their father. Jesus said this spiritually was true in reference to these particular Jews, and the devil, who confronted him. Two things stand out about the devil here. He is called a murderer, and he is called a liar. Actually by lying and deception he murdered all of humanity through Adam and Eve. God is the source of all life, and He is immortal, indestructible. In his rebellion against heaven, the devil knows that he cannot prevail against the Almighty God. So he "picks" on a lower form of creation that is made in the image of God, man. He blatantly lied to Eve, saying, "Ye shall not surely die" (Genesis 3:4), fully knowing the outcome. Murder was his intent. Thus, the Jews seeking to kill Jesus were like the devil.
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 Throughout history the devil has used the same tactics. Truly he is "Apollyon." Right from the beginning we are told about "Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother" (1 John 3:12; Genesis 4). Those who accomplish the devil’s agenda are said to be of their "father, the devil." The devil is not content to have brought about death generally, he wants to continually expedite its occurrence. By the time of Noah the earth was filled with violence (Genesis 6:11). Wars and rumors of wars are the history of mankind. The 20th and 21st centuries have come up with some of the most massive ways of taking human life. The devil increasingly inspires criminal violence in our society. Abortion may be called "pro choice" and may supposedly have been made legitimate by the government, but that in no way changes who is behind such a barbaric practice (who really is the father of it all). Assisted suicide of older people, euthanasia, is more and more looked upon as a possible and an acceptable option, but we know who the father of this is.
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 The devil has taken his assault upon human life a step further. Could anything be more suitable for his purposes than to get right into the center of the process whereby life comes into being? He can really kick up his heels here. Immorality, sex outside of marriage, really is making a mockery of how life comes into being. If we don’t respect our sexuality, we will not respect what it produces, other human beings. Homosexual practices, totally against nature and God’s plan of procreation, are taunted as optional "lifestyles" (but in many cases are no more than "death styles" in the transmission of fatal diseases, as well as bringing spiritual death). Efforts at trying to clone life really is flagrant arrogance in the face of God, and the cutting off of developing human life in experimentation with embryos, no doubt, really please the devil.
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 Along with this in these modern times, the devil has extended his assault even more extensively in the breakup of homes and the family unit. Making homosexuality acceptable comes at the expense of destroying the family as God set it up. Strong families make strong nations, and the nations that no longer value the family endanger their very existence. Divorce enters into the destruction of our present day society (broken homes and broken lives). Along with this, as already named, are loose sexual morals. It seems that much of television is simply anti-family in its stance. We could go on. We mention these things, to stir our minds, lest the devil by his lies deceive us.
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 Aside from human weakness, much of this is no accident. Many have hidden agendas. But behind it all, regardless of the many faces that may masquerade before us, is that diabolical, supernatural spirit, the devil. Jesus said that he was a murderer from the beginning and he accused the Jews who desired to kill him of being of "your father, the devil." The devil has a decided agenda (and many fall in line to advance his cause).
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