Friday, December 18, 2020

"they heard that he had done this miracle" - Satan is Here, There, and Everywhere like Corona-Viruses

 




A Shinto Shrine around Tokyo


Satan is Here, There, and Everywhere like Corona-Viruses

The devil does not exist in Jewish scriptures.  However, In mainstream Christianity, the devil is usually referred to as Satan. This is because Christian beliefs in Satan are inspired directly by the dominant view of Second Temple Judaism, as expressed/practiced by Jesus, and with some minor variations. Some modern Christians consider the devil to be an angel who, along with one-third of the angelic host (the demons), rebelled against God and has consequently been condemned to the Lake of Fire. He is described as hating all humanity (or more accurately creation), opposing God, spreading lies and wreaking havoc on their souls. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil#Christianity)

Put simply, the Christian Gospels are records or stories about the battle between Christ Jesus and Satan.  The main theme of the Bible is how Satan tried to influence or destroy the Jewish people and Christ Jesus along with followers of Him.  Or the Bible can be easily understood from the point of view of the battle between the God and Satan.

Since the God had decided to choose and help Abraham, Satan could not help but interfering with the God's intention and trying to destroy descendants of Abraham.

Satan tried to destroy Jewish people in Egypt, but the God helped Moses lead his people out of Egypt.  Satan further tried to destroy Jewish people by use of Babylonia, but the God sent many Jewish prophets, including Daniel, and finally released them from captivity in Babylon.  Yet, Satan used Alexander the Great to defeat Israel and give Greek influence on Judaism and contaminate the Jewish religion.  But Jewish people stuck to Judaism.  So, finally, Satan helped the Roman Empire occupy Jerusalem, resulting in ethnical and religious crises of Jewish people.  It looked inevitable that Jewish people would revolt against the Roman Empire and lost the war to be dispersed in the Empire and disappear in the history.  But, the God sent His Son to Jewish people to strengthen their faith in the God and renovate Judaism.

So, Satan tried to make full efforts to destroy the Son of the God, who was called Jesus or the son of man.  And this battle between the Son of the God (Jesus) and Satan was later described in the Gospels.

Therefore, the Bible should be read to see the real state of the battle between Christ Jesus and Satan.

Finally, followers of Christ Jesus succeeded in establishing a new religion, Christianity, although most of Jewish people did not join Christianity.  Then, Satan tried to make Jewish people hate Christians by infusing the idea that the God should not send His Son to the human world.  Satan also made Christians hate Jewish people by infusing the idea that Jewish people were following Satan.  Satan partly succeeded in coming between Christians and Jewish people.  

The God also gave holy words to Arabs so as to become followers of the God.  But Satan made Muslims hold disbelief in Christianity and built a sense of disbelief in Judaism among Muslims.  This state has continued to date. 

In this context, the relationships between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam can be clearly understood by taking Satan into consideration.  So, it it not only the God but also Satan that has affected Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.      

Christ Jesus came to this world rather to show how evil Satan was.  And, He taught about Satan as much as about the God.  We could even read the Gospels as books about Satan.

Indeed, Satan is here, there, and everywhere like corona-viruses.   

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John 12 King James Version
18 For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.
19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.
20 And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:
21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.