Cohoon/Gary Debate on Satan

 
 
 Proposition: 
 The Scriptures teach all power is from God and believing in a 
powerful fallen angel named "Satan" is having another god beside 
God.

AFFIRM: James Gary
DENY: Bobby Cohoon

I was born and raised in the Southern Baptist Church (SBC).  "The 
Devil" or "Satan" had been a spiritual "staple" with me for most 
of my nearly 58 years on this planet.  I was taught about "Satan" 
from the time I could remember and had visions of him living 
somewhere underground on the earth. I could see him amidst 
towering flames that were engulfing "bad" people who were never 
really burned up, but simply were tortured by the fire.

I can't remember who put this specific image of "Satan" in my 
mind, but I do know I never questioned it.  I remember sermons, 
Sunday School lessons and people talking about this "creature" 
called "the Devil."  I remember reading about "Satan" and "the 
Devil" in the Bible.  I remember hearing people speaking of this 
"creature" as prowling around looking for people to devour.  
Somehow the thought that "Satan" was out to "get" people for 
being "good" and God was out to punish people for being "bad" was 
ingrained in my belief.

I also remember hearing about one third of the angels of heaven 
being cast down to the earth with head angel "Satan" who was in 
rebellion to God.  These angels, who followed "Satan" became 
known as demons.  The idea that "Satan" and his "demons" loved 
"darkness" was planted in my mind and I feared the dark as a 
child and was never 100% comfortable in the dark as an adult as 
long as I believed this way.

After I left the SBC I became a member of a church that put much 
emphasis on "Satan" and his "demons" to the point members had 
their houses anointed against them.  In that church much was 
taught on demon possession.  I believed in these "creatures" as 
much as I believed in God.  They were real and were virtually 
everywhere.  I was always on the look out for signs of demons.

Then one day I heard someone speaking on the subject of "Satan" 
and "demons."  This man was telling me insane things.  Things 
like "Satan" was not a fallen angel.  Things like "demons" were 
not spiritual beings.  I will tell you now, I didn't want to 
believe this.  But for some reason I checked out the Scriptures 
this man was using and they made me think a bit.  But I wasn't 
quite ready to accept what the man had said.  I called a friend 
of mine discussing this issue and he, like me believed in the 
fallen angel theory that we had been taught for so long.  I told 
him, I know what the Bible says and it speaks of "Satan."

So I embarked upon a study to prove what I knew.  I studied many 
long hours on this subject and I came to the conclusion that 
there is, indeed a "satan", but not a fallen angel.  There are 
"daimons", but not fallen angels.  God's people do, indeed have 
enemies and adversaries, but they are not fallen spiritual beings.

As I studied this subject I began to see that there was a cause 
of evil in the world.  The Bible suddenly became very clear as to 
what that cause was.  Was it some fallen spiritual being?  No!  
It is what the Bible calls "the flesh" or "the heart" of man:

(Jer 17:9 NASB)  ""THE HEART is more deceitful than all else And 
is desperately sick; Who can understand it?"

(Jer 16:12 NASB)  "'You too have done evil, even more than your 
forefathers; for behold, you are each one walking according to 
the stubbornness of his own EVIL HEART, without listening to Me."

(Gen 6:5 NASB) "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was 
great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his 
HEART was only evil continually."

(Gen 8:21 NASB)  "And the LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and 
the LORD said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on 
account of man, for the intent of man's HEART is evil from his 
youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I 
have done."

(Eccl 9:3 NASB)  "This is an evil in all that is done under the 
sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the HEARTS 
OF THE SONS OF MEN ARE FULL OF EVIL, and INSANITY IS IN THEIR 
HEARTS throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead."

(Mark 7:21-23 KJV)  "FOR FROM WITHIN, OUT OF THE HEART OF MEN, 
PROCEED EVIL thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, {22} 
Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil 
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness {23} ALL THESE EVIL THINGS 
COME FROM WITHIN, AND DEFILE THE MAN."

(Heb 3:12 KJV)  "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you 
an EVIL HEART of unbelief, in departing from the living God."

(James 1:14-16 NASB)  "But each one is tempted when he is carried 
away and enticed by HIS OWN LUST. {15} Then when lust has 
conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, 
it brings forth death. {16} Do not be deceived, my beloved 
brethren."

(James 4:1 NASB)  "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts 
among you? Is not the source your PLEASURES THAT WAGE WAR IN YOUR 
MEMBERS?"

(Rom 7:14-25 NASB)  "...I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 
{15}...I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am 
doing the very thing I hate. {16} But if I do the very thing I do 
not wish to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good. 
{17} So now, NO LONGER AM I THE ONE DOING IT, BUT SIN WHICH 
INDWELLS ME...{20}...I am no longer the one doing it, but sin 
which dwells in me...{22} For I joyfully concur with the law of 
God in the inner man, {23} but I see a different law in the 
members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and 
making me a prisoner of THE LAW OF SIN WHICH IS IN MY MEMBERS. 
{24} Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body 
of this death? {25} Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our 
Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving 
the law of God, but on the other, with MY FLESH THE LAW OF SIN."

If, as the Bible says, the flesh or heart is more deceitful than 
anything else, what need does God have for a fallen spiritual 
being?  Especially when you consider that God becomes the enemy 
of His people when they rebel against Him.

God will send strong delusion to those who want to believe a lie 
(2 Thes 2:10-11).  For those that delight in going their way in 
lieu of God's, God said He would choose delusions for them (Isa 
66:3).  God sends lying spirits to deceive those who stray from 
His ways and He deceives their prophets (1 Kings 22:20-23; Ezek 
14:9).  God blinds eyes and closes minds (Isa 6:8-10).  He puts 
evil spirits in people (1 Sam 16:14-16: Judges 9:23).  He creates 
evil (Isa 45:7).  He says He is the cause of evil in the city 
(Amos 3:6). He causes people to think, act like, and live with 
beasts for years (Dan 4:24-25).

Events that many would accredit to "demons", such as hands 
writing on walls causing such fear that people's knees knock 
together and causing donkey's to talk (Num 22:28) are actually 
from God (Dan 5:5-6, 18-27).  All power is from God (Mat 28:18).  
God becomes an enemy to His people if they do not obey Him (Lam 
2:5).  But God became a "satan" to David. Read 2 Sam 24:1 in 
conjunction with 1 Chron 21:1.  If God becomes a "satan" to His 
people, who needs a fallen spiritual being?

After all, according to the Bible Who is it, because of 
disobedience to Him said He would bring plagues on His people 
seven times the amount of their sins?  Who is it, because of 
disobedience to Him said He would bring evil people on His people 
that would rob them of their children, destroy their possessions, 
make them few in number and their habitations desolate?  Who is 
it, because of disobedience to Him said He would bring terror, 
diseases, sorrow of the heart and enemies to eat what His people 
had sown?

Who is it, because of disobedience to Him said He would set His 
people's enemies against them to kill and reign over them?  Who 
is it, because of disobedience to Him said He would break the 
pride of His people's power and bring drought and pestilence upon 
them?  Who is it, because of disobedience to Him said He would 
walk contrary to His people and hate them?

It was none other than the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent 
eternal God (Lev 26).  You see God said if His people did not 
obey Him He, not some fallen angel would curse them (Mal 2:2;  
Hos 4:6-10).   He told what these curses would be in Deut 28 and 
Lev 26.

To see who it is that causes evil to God's people, one need only 
read Lamentations the 2nd chapter and that one will find: the 
Lord covers   His people with a cloud in His anger and casts from 
heaven to earth The glory of His people (v.1);  The Lord swallows 
up and does not spare the habitations of His people and in His 
wrath He throws their strongholds down to the ground and He 
profanes the kingdom and its princes (v.2);  He cuts off all the 
strength of His people and sets His right hand like an ADVERSARY 
to them and slays all that is pleasant to the eye in His people's 
land (v.3);  He becomes an ADVERSARY to His people and pours out 
His wrath on them like fire. (v.4);  the Lord becomes an ENEMY to 
His people and swallows them up and their palaces and destroys 
their strongholds and increases their sorrow (v.5);  He  
violently treats His tabernacle and destroys His appointed 
meeting place and  causes to be forgotten His Commandments to His 
people and despises their leaders, both king and priest  (v.6);  
The Lord rejects His altar, and abandons His sanctuary and 
delivers into the hand of the enemy the walls of His people's 
palaces (v.7);  The LORD will not restrain His hand from 
destroying His people, (v.8);  He destroys His people's security 
and causes her rulers to rule as the  heathen and removes His Law 
from His people and rejects their preachers (v.9).

God made a covenant with His people that if she obeyed Him, He 
would be her God and lift her above all other peoples (Ex 19:5-
8).  What happened when His people disobeyed God?  The first 
recorded incidence of His people playing the "harlot" is when 
they made a molten calf (Ex 32:1-4).  What did God do?  He had 
3000 Israelites killed (Ex 32:27-28).

When Korah led a rebellion against the priesthood God has 
installed (Num 16:1-3), what happened to him?  God opened the 
earth and  it swallowed up the ones who plotted this rebellion 
(Num 16:32-33) and the 250 confederates these men convinced to 
join them in their rebellion were consumed by fire from God (Num 
16:35).

God's people, that saw it fled in terror (Num 16:34).  Then they 
began to murmur amongst themselves about what God had done (Num 
17:41).  God became incensed with them and began to kill them all 
(Num 17:45-47).  Had it not been for Moses and Aaron running into 
the midst of the congregation to save them (Num 17:47-48), they 
would have all died.  But still 14,700 did die because of their 
rebelling against God (Num 17:49).

When the God's people played the harlot by serving the gods of 
the Maobites (Num 25:1-3) God had 1000 of them killed and their 
bodies impaled on stakes (Num 25:4) and then sent a plague into 
the camp that killed 23,000 more (Num 25:9).  Had it not been for 
Phineas God would have killed them all (Num 25:11).

Remember Achan?  He was the man who kept a spoil or the "accursed 
thing" of Jericho (Josh 7:1, 20-21).  God had forbidden it (Josh 
6:18).  What did God have His people do to this man who disobeyed 
Him?  They took him, his family and his belongings, including 
animals (Josh 7:24) and stoned him and some "scholars" say his 
family (Josh 7:24) and burned all that he had and covered them 
with stones (Josh 7:25-26).

When David rebelled against God and numbered Israel (1 Chron 
21:1), God sent a pestilence in on His people and killed 70,000 
of them (1 Chron 21:14).  God even started destroying the city of 
Jerusalem (1 Chron 21:15).  And He would have totally destroyed 
it had not David repented (1 Chron 21:16-17).

Remember Uzzah?  He's the guy that God killed for trying to keep 
the Ark of the Covenant from falling from an ox cart (2 Sam 6:1-
7).  Why?  First of all the ark was being conveyed in 
disobedience to God.  God had stated that the ark was to be 
conveyed by the Levites (Deut 10:8; 1 Cor 15:2)) by carrying it 
with its staves (1 Cor 15:12-15).  But they had placed it on a 
cart (2 Sam 6:3).  Secondly, no one was to touch the ark (Ex 
25:14-16; Num 4:5-6).  Thirdly the sons of Kohath were to BEAR 
the Ark (Num 4:15).  They were to carry it on the staves designed 
for it.  Not place it on a cart and pull it with oxen.  They were 
not to touch the Ark (Num 4:15) or even look at the things in it 
(Num 4:20).  Unless Uzzah lived a sheltered life, he had to know 
of the slaughter of over 50,000 Philistinians that had recently 
taken place for simply looking into the Ark (1 Sam 6:19).

Now I suppose one could just "choose" to read the event as Uzzah 
being a "nice" guy and trying to keep the Ark from falling to the 
ground and being damaged.  But it seems to me, considering the 
context of the event, that Uzzah had a total disregard for God's 
Commands.  He didn't transport the Ark properly.  And when it had 
moved on the cart, he was just going to push it back in place 
without regard to the Law of God.  But God's Law is God's Law and 
Uzzah "chose" to ignore the example set with the Philistines and 
God's Command.  I would say he was either stupid or just didn't 
care what God said.  I believe his intentions depicted his 
disrespect for God.  Had he followed God's Commands on 
transporting the Ark, the Ark wouldn't have been shaken out of 
its place.  He died at the hand of God, not a fallen spiritual 
being, because of his disobedience to God.

Do you recall Nahab and Abihu?  They were the sons of Aaron who 
were devoured by fire (10:1-2) of God for disobeying Him (Ex 
30:9).

What about the number of times God sold His people into the hands 
of their enemy because of their disobeying Him (Judges 2:11-14; 
3:7-8; 4:1-2; 10:6-7)?  He even divorced His people because of 
their being harlots (Jer 3:8; Isa 50:1).  After they were gone He 
sold the un-divorced remnant of His people into Babylonian 
captivity (2 Kings 25:1-11).

Considering the above instances of God killing His own people due 
to disobedience, would you say He needs a fallen spiritual being 
to assist Him?  God's witnesses in the OT are corroborated by the 
NT Scriptures which say it's a fearful thing to fall into the 
hands of the living God (Heb 10:31) and that God is a consuming 
fire (Heb 12:29) and that He is to be feared because He can 
destroy both body and soul (Mat 10:28; Luke 12:5) and that He 
takes vengeance, in flaming fire on those who do not obey Him (2 
Thes 1:7-8) and that those who would not have Him rule over them 
will be killed in His presence (Luke 19:27).

Yes God is always God and He never changes (Psalms 102:27).  It 
is indeed a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living 
God.  No God needs no help from a fallen spiritual being to wreak 
havoc on His people.  It is His glory to do what He does with His 
people and He said He would not give His glory to another (Isa 
48:10-11).  If God is not going to give His glory to another, why 
should we give it to a fallen spiritual being that is not even 
mentioned in the Scriptures?

This concludes my first affirmative.

Thanks,
James Gary