What is the devil's Authority?

[Erica Joseph Shepherd]

What Is the devil's Authority? The devil obviously had access to Adam and Eve in the garden ofEden. Scripture does not tell us why God allowed this. Onetheory that makes sense involves mankind being allowed to judgethe devil, possibly after the devil complained that God was notjust or fair in condemning him. First Corinthians 6:3 does saythat Christians will judge angels — and the devil is a fallenangel. If this theory is correct, God would have to allow thedevil access to influence mankind, or be seen as unfair by all. The devil gained a certain amount of control over mankind byAdam's disobedience, which plunged Adam and all his descendantsinto spiritual death. At the time of the temptation of Christ, recorded in Luke 4,the devil obviously had a great amount of authority in theworld system. LUKE 4:4-7 NKJ4 But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shallnot live by bread alone, but by every word of God.' "5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Himall the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.6 And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will giveYou, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and Igive it to whomever I wish.7 "Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will beYours." Through His death and resurrection, Jesus defeated the deviland stripped him of his authority (Colossians 2:15, Hebrews2:14-15). Because Jesus announced that He had all authority after Hisresurrection (Matthew 28:18), the devil evidently retained noauthority. However, in the Epistles, the devil is still called the god ofthis world, or age (2 Corinthians 4:4). This does not mean thatthe devil is the god of the earth, but of the ungodly worldsystem. He has this control through the yielding of ungodlypeople to speak his words and do his deeds. The devil gains a measure of authority through any human beingwho will yield to his ideas and speak them, or act on them.Even Christians can, like Peter in Matthew 16:23, fall intothis trap. A perverted use of this authority is exercised when people"curse" or "damn" things or people. We should use our authorityto bless — not curse. All authority the devil may be using now is illegitimate. Onlythrough deception and ignorance is he able to carry out hisevil plans in the earth. If the Church of Jesus Christ fails to exercise its God-givenauthority against the devil, he will operate virtuallyunhindered. This is because unsaved people are already underhis dominion, and find it hard to resist him (John 8:44, 1 John5:19). As members of the body of Christ, we have been delegated theuse of His authority on earth to see that God's will is carriedout (Matthew 16:19, Luke 10:19, Philippians 2:10). We mustexercise that authority. SAY THIS: My Lord Jesus defeated the devil, stripped him of hisauthority, and gave authority to me over all the power of theenemy as a member of the Body of Christ on earth. ----------------------------------------------------------------Please forward, or tell a friend. http://ChurchForAll.org/tell