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Revelation 12:9 9 So that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world – was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him. Context (NET)

I have two questions:

1.- How did satan get to seduce 1/3 of the angels which were in heaven?

2.- If angels were seduced, how are we to protect ourselves from satan's seductions?

please share with me

First, as to the subject heading, I'm assuming you didn't word it as you really meant it? I mean, i would think we would all be for satan's demise, right? Rather than trying to learn how to defeat his demise? Just checking...

As to #1 - I don't know, but here is a fairly lengthy encyclopedia entry on "devil" if you're interested - link inappropriate for this area of the site I don't know if he so much as "seduced" the angels, or if they willfully just agreed to follow him. I think there are some (fairly obscure) bible passages, but my guess is that much of what we know about the devil is based more on church teaching than scripture alone.

As to #2 - Be filled with the Holy Spirit! Of course, that is easier said than "done", and yes i know, it is not so much a willful act on our part as it is grace on His part...but we do have a call and a responsibility in this arena. We are not robots, and we have free will each and every day of our lives. If we are picking up our cross and following Him, always seeking His will rather than our own, we will not be "seduced" neither by satan nor by our own evil desires. The good news is that even if we do stumble or fall while carrying that cross, there is reconciliation through confession and repentance. That is grace at work.

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in Christ,

bp

You're right, I don't know why I chose that word!

What I basically meant to pose is : How to defeat satan's plan to distract us in our worship to God

What I believe is that that a seduction doesn't eliminate one's ability to choose.

from the little of information that we have concerning what happened in heaven and of who satan is, I belive that he presented the angels with his case, arranged his plea to favor him in every way; the fallen angels than chose to go along or not with what he said. Obviously those that were cast out with him chose to believe him.

Most probably one of his arguments was that God was not a good ruler and that he was forcing everyone to do whatever they were doing and certainly with such an accusation there woukd have been examples.

that's what I think anyways.

I want to understand how you handle you walk with the Lord so if the following questions could be answered in a practical way so we can all profit from it:

What does it mean to be filled with Holy Spirit?
What does it mean to pick up our cross and follow Jesus?
What does it mean to following the will of God?
How do we know what his will is?

please share you views

resleger

practically ....


What does it mean to be filled with Holy Spirit? .... to quote Jesus in John 3 ...

"I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit" (Jn.3:5-6 NIV)


What does it mean to pick up our cross and follow Jesus? .... basically, it means to give ourselves completely to Jesus Christ, as much as if we had died to our old life. From now on, we belong completely, body and soul, to Jesus Christ

What does it mean to following the will of God? .... and How do we know what his will is?

These two go together .... firstly, God has chosen to speak to us in a written format, which outlines the history of the world from God's perspective in the OT, and the story of God's Redemption and the way of salvation in the New Testament.

So, to know the will of God, we have to know what God is like, and what God has said, and how God has interacted with people .... all of which we learn as we read and study the Bible.

Then, how do we follow that will? .... by obedience, there is no other way. The good news is that those who have given themselves to Jesus Christ are now indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and it is the Spirit who both makes the Bible come to life for us, so that we begin to understand what we are reading, and also, the Spirit helps us to obey God and so to follow that will.

This is a growing thing, we begin as baby Christians, and as we feed on the Word we grow both in understanding and obedience ... and blessedly in relationship with God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Blessed be He.

Dinah

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