A: Satan has always had a bad rep in the bible:"He was a murderer from the beginning and has always hated the truth. There is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44, NLT).
Even in Genesis, we first saw the detrimental effects he’s had on human beings... He was the originator of sin! Also, he’s the head of demons in the world. “Demons are evil angels who sinned against God and who now continually work evil in the world.” – Systematic Theology (Wayne Grudem). Demons are the ones who try to oppose and destroy every good work of God… but they are not all-powerful. They are limited by God’s control and have limited power. And the same goes with Satan (even if he is the head of them).
Now back to the question: Although it is clear that Satan and demons contribute to “bad things” and “bad times” we face in life, not ALL sin and bad times are caused by them.
Wayne Grudem says it best:
“In the lives of Christians… the emphasis of the New Testament is not on the influence of demons but on the sin that remains in the believer’s life. Nevertheless, we should recognize that sinning (even by Christians) does give a foothold for some kind of demonic influence in our lives. Thus Paul could say, ‘Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” (Eph 4:26)
What that basically means is not all bad times that happen to us come from Satan, therefore, we need to reflect on whether or not he’s the one to blame during the “bad times”. Sometimes it may mean taking a hard look at ourselves and seeing if we’ve played a part in sin as well. In short, being “angry” at Satan can be justifiable in some cases, but we cannot make him the scapegoat of all the bad things that happen.
On a side note, come to the Agape MOBS on Oct 30th or the BASIC MOBS on November 6th where we will be talking about righteous anger and looking at how and when Jesus got angry.
[answered by Pastor Shu-Ling Lee of the English Congregation]
