Kazaa, burnt cd’s, and spiritual nostalgia

Kazaa, burnt cd’s, and spiritual nostalgia

Does anyone remember back in the day (1996-2000) when there were programs like napster, limewire, and my personal favorite Kazaa , where you could download music for free? Those were the days ! I mean seriously other than the fact, that we were stealing from millions of artists the entire idea was phenomenal.

So I was going through some of my burnt Kazaa cd’s and just taking a stroll down memory lane. You know a little nostalgia. So I decided I would throw in what I called my “Rage Mix” which was full of great songs by Rage Against the Machine. If you don’t know who Rage was; it will help to understand that the cd is chock-full of sweet guitar solos and rambling anti-government and anti-authority venom. (Perfect material for a High Schooler with an attitude.)

So I put this cd in my truck and was rocking it out for a few days; which is pretty typical for me. But it just so happens that I was listening to it on my way to church Sunday morning (what a way to prepare my heart for worship)(not!)

Anyways one of the tracks on the cd is a song titled “Know your Enemy”

That was ironic . . . because that was the title for the sermon that day, at Plainfield Christian Church.

Maybe God was trying to tell me something ?

I don’t want to go into the whole sermon, but there was some good stuff that I needed to be reminded of about Satan (and maybe you need reminding too)

1. Satan is a created being

Sometimes the devil is portrayed as the anti-god, like somehow he is the complete opposite of God. Many people view that he is equal to God, like he is yin to God’s yang, or whatever. But that is not true. Satan was a created being. (Job 38:4-7)(Isaiah14:12-15)

2. Satan is a limited adversary

This kind of ties in with the first point. But Satan only has limited power. We see in the book of Job that Satan has to ask permission before he does anything. And that if he was all powerful he would not have let Jesus die on the cross. (1 Cor. 2:8)(1 Cor. 10:13)

3. Satan is a defeated enemy

God has already won this battle. The Pastor used this illustration: “It is like Satan is the leader of a mob, and he is running things from inside his prison cell”. I really liked that mental picture. Satan is already defeated.

I don’t know about you, but these were helpful things to be reminded of.

And today I had another reminder as I was reading in Jeremiah 12. Verse 7 is God’s response to Jeremiah’s complaint and it says

“I will give the one I love into the hands of her enemies.”

In this passage “the one I love” and “her” are representative of Israel or God’s people. The “enemies” are the pagans, and also the devil.

If we put ourselves into the context, as followers of Christ we are the ones He loves.
But I found this interesting . . . God doesn’t give us over to His enemy . . . the enemy is ours

Satan is not God’s equal enemy . . . he is our enemy. He is plotting and scheming to wear us down and take us out. He can’t beat God, so he has chosen to try and take away the ones that God loves.

Because of this we need to keep these things in mind (the following are from the sermon, mentioned earlier)

1. Don’t be arrogant because Satan is strong – (1 peter 5:8)
2. Don’t fall asleep because Satan is subtle – (2 Cor. 11:14)
3. Don’t be afraid because Satan is subject (Hebrews 2:7-8)

It’s amazing how a song off of a cd I burned in 1oth grade could help me see the kingdom picture . . . but that is just how amazing and creative and dare I say “cool” God is.

Know YOUR Enemy

-dev