Hello! It's Tuesday! We better get started before you begin thinkin' we've gone off the deep end!!!
Welcome to Tuesday! There is no need to adjust your dial. This is the same Tuesday's Musical Notes that you've been enjoying for some time now and if you'll hang in there, I really think you'll find something intriguingly interesting about today's adventure. It's not our first venture down this rabbit hole, but promises to be equally thought provoking. (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Sympathy for the Devil") Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride...
Named the 9th greatest hard rock song of all time by by VH1, "Runnin' with the Devil" was the 2nd single from Van Halen's (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Right Now", Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Dreams") debut album. "Runnin' with the Devil" followed the cover of the Kinks "You Really Got Me" and found itself peaking at #84 on Billboard's Hot 100. It is said to be inspired by The Ohio Players song "Running from the Devil". The song immediately got the reputation for being a celebration of the satanic when in reality it is biographical description of the band in its infancy. The song bespeaks of finding the supposed freedom that success and excess would bring to the band as they launched their career.
Van Halen continues to tour in its current iteration of David Lee Roth (yep, Diamond Dave is back in the fold), Eddie Van Halen, Wolfgang Van Halen (Eddie's son with Valerie Bertinelli), and Alex Van Halen. The last studio album came in the form of 2012's A Different Kind of Truth.
Here at Tuesday's Musical Notes, we recommend that readers explore the only kind of Truth. We have found that in the marketplace of ideas that the Bible and its telling of history and His story continue to be compelling, reliable and trustworthy. This being said, we attempt to provide the following...
In the Art of War, Chinese military leader and philosopher Sun Tsu said: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” This is sage advice for today's believers. For if we do not understand who will be challenging our beliefs and ideas, we are ill equipped to succeed in the advancement of the kingdom. Before we can venture into the lies of Eden, the place of the enemy's first deception of man, we must first comprehend why he was on earth in the first place.
There isn't much of an origin story in the Bible regarding the enemy. We do know that the story begins in the presence of God.
He is a created being. Ezekiel 28:12-15 New American Standard Bible/The Message paraphrase of the Bible/King James Version of the Bible parallel describes the dual story of the King of Tyre and God's enemy. As a created being he will always be subservient to God. Regardless of what he may say or think.
He was the originator of sin. The above passage details his creation, his sin, and his expulsion from God's presence. Isaiah also describes in duality the fall of both the city of Babylon and the enemy: Isaiah 14:12-14 NASB/The Message/KJV While we do not get the chronology from these passages we see in them that pride is the true original sin. His sin resulted in his expulsion from heaven. Sin came to earth as a result of the enemy's rebellion against God. This removal from God's "senior angel" corps caused his existence to be predominantly on earth. ( 1 Peter 5:8-11 NASB/The Message/KJV The deceit he perpetuated on Eve and then Adam, would be the root of sin that encompasses the world until God sends Jesus as Judge.
He has access to God. In Job 1:6-12 NASB/The Message/KJV we see the enemy is allowed to come along with other angels to give report to God. This dismisses the idea that he is in hell. His dominion, according to this passage, is on earth for now. One only need look around our world to see the influence from the enemy's advances.
His power is limited. All throughout the Gospels of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) we see his efforts stymied by Jesus and His disciples. His cohorts are cast from folks whom they have possessed for years and cast into non existence. Later in Acts and Paul's writings we see time and again the limits on the enemy's power when confronted by Holy Spirit. He is thwarted at every turn and deemed powerless in the face of God's Spirit.
The enemy is not victorious. The prophesy of the enemies demise is early in scripture. In fact the curse, upon him and the animal in which he possessed, can be found in Genesis 3:14-15 NASB/The Message/KJV. This is the beginning of the end for the enemy. He has already been given the ultimate defeat by Jesus death, burial, and resurrection. His eternity is sealed in complete separation from God with those who chose to reject the pleading of Holy Spirit in a place that was never intended for any of mankind to exist. It is called Hell. He doesn't rule a demonic legion from there now. He won't rule anything when he is cast there as eternal punishment. He will be in torment alongside of those who do not choose Jesus. That is the enemy's future. But it doesn't have to be yours.
Know your enemy. Your best way to do this is to become more and more like the enemy's Creator. Taking on the nature of Jesus is the battle plan for defeating the enemy in our day to day skirmishes with him. The battles with the enemy will be numerous if we are attempting to be like Christ. We have an assortment of weapons that we can use to be prepared when those battles arise. Read God's Word. Fellowship and love God's people. Show that love in dramatic ways to the world. Hold sin and its creator in judgement not people. Love folks.
You see, in reality, the simple life ain't so simple. It is filled with the advances of the enemy. Believers are in a constant battle for the tomorrow's of others. We have The Captain at the head of our battle lines. There is only one love, a love you can call real. It is found in Jesus, Who has already won the victory over the enemy. We can defeat the enemy in our lives. When we choose to place our lives in the hands of Jesus we win the most important battle. And through Holy Spirit's power we can proclaim at the top of our hard rock lungs that we no longer are...runnin' with the devil!!!
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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