Instead of living in the peace and rest of a sound mind controlled by the Holy Spirit, the soul is often devoured by satanic power.

Jesus said, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28).  Peter said,  “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Paul said, “And the God of peace shall bruise [to crush completely] Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom. 16:20). Finally, James stated, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble” (James 2:19). The New Testament writers knew the powerful potential for destruction the adversary possessed. They continually warned of the ever present temptation that could beset every person by satanic power.

The early followers of Jesus were not mythological is their belief of satanic power.

They did not make Satan into something it was not. They knew that the enemy of their souls would never come from a power without. The temptation to corruption that would destroy them would always come from within their own thinking. They knew the mind, when out from under the control of the Holy Spirit, was the satanic power that brings death and destruction to the soul of man.

The true satanic power revealed.

The teaching of Jesus illustrated exactly where this satanic power lies. When he told his followers that he would be killed (Matt. 16:13-28), Peter responded with “not so Lord, be it for from thee.” Jesus then said to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou art an offence unto me.” Peter’s expression, “Not so Lord,” placed him in an adversarial role (literal meaning of Satan) to the outworking of the will of God for the life of Jesus.

The reason why Peter now found himself in opposition to the Father’s will for Jesus’ life was he did not fully understand the plan of God. He knew Jesus was the Christ, but he did not know exactly how that was going to be worked out by the will of God. Jesus told him that his problem began when he had exercised his mind and came up with a faulty conclusion: “For thou savourest [translated from a word meaning, “to exercise the mind”] not the things that be of God, but those that be of man.”

Peter’s own imaginations had brought him to an erroneous belief. This faulty thinking put Peter in opposition to what Jesus said was going to occur. At this point of the conversation, Peter was an adversary to the purpose of God in the life of Jesus. His own mind was being controlled by satanic power.

Satanic power devours the soul of man.

Peter would eventually come to understand the basic struggle for man would be for the control of his mind. He would later write, “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober . . . .” Do not attempt to experience life in the thinking of the mind. Do not become entangled by the intoxicating fantasy of your own imaginations. Be sober. Let your mind be sustained by the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter closed his writings with the same warning: “Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary . . .” seeks to intoxicate you to destroy your soul. In other words, once the mind begins to escalate its worrisome thoughts of a current problem, the soul becomes intoxicated with its own created anxiety. The mind runs out of control and “sleep won’t come the whole night through.” Instead of living in the peace and rest of a sound mind controlled by the Holy Spirit, the soul is being devoured by the runaway imaginations of its own thinking, satanic power.

The religion of satanic power.

Paul also knew of the destructiveness of the mind. Standing among some people that were steeped in religious activities, he said, “. . . I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious” (Acts 17:22). Their zeal to be religious had led them into meaningless beliefs and practices that carried no godly significance. The imaginations of their mind had created all kinds of religious activities that were actually carrying them away from God. They were more in line with occult practices than the ways of God.

He would later admonish another group of highly religious people: “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every though to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). It is only the thinking of man’s mind that can create within the mind something that can be exalted above the knowledge of God. The mind can create its own world of fantasy. Although these vain imaginations have no validity other than to the mind which created them, they can become very powerful. To the degree the fantasy is believed to be true is the degree of power and of bondage the deluded person now find himself to his fantasy. This vain imagination stands in the life of that person as the adversary, satanic power, to the ways of God.

Satanic power of the mind cannot be controlled by man.

James gives perhaps the most descriptive explanation of the ultimate adversary to the ways of God. James, the voice of consistency among the early followers of Jesus, simply stated that belief means nothing unless it is manifested in one’s actions. Regardless of what one says or thinks, it is what one does that is the real test of who or what that person is. The deeds of a person, not just the deeds but also the thoughts behind the deeds, reveal the true essence of the person. James connects the outward deeds with the true essence of the inner self.

Thus, when James wrote that the tongue is the most unruly member of the body, he is not just talking about the tongue. He is also talking about that which controls the tongue–the mind. The tongue does not speak unless the thoughts of the mind put it into action. Just as James stated that the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead . . .” (2:26), he would also imply that the tongue without the mind is speechless.

James warned of the power and potential destructiveness of the thoughts of the mind with their subsequent manifestation by the tongue. He wrote, “But the tongue can no man tame; it is unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (3:8). He also stated, “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell” (3:6). The reason why the unruly tongue produces the fires of hell, which is always ultimately experienced in the mind, is simply that the words of the tongue are inseparably tied to the thoughts of the mind. Again, just as the body without the spirit is dead and faith without works is dead, the tongue without the mind is dead.

Finally, James proclaimed, “For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body” (3:2). Simply put, you can be a perfect man by not offending in word or you can burn in hell by the thoughts of your mind and their subsequent verbiage of satanic power. The tongue speaking in the heavenly language of the Holy Spirit gives no offence. The tongue speaking in the language of the carnal mind, satanic power, offends all. The ultimate adversary to the ways of God in every man’s life is always the carnal mind, the mind out from under the control of the Holy Spirit.

Satanic power is only in the make believe world of the mind of man.

Satanic power, the force of the adversary to God, always come from the inner working of the mind of man. As Paul warned the Philippians, “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things” (3:18,19). The glory of man (the intellectual power of the mind under control of the Holy Spirit) becomes the shame of man (the power of the carnal mind, satanic power, now taking man down and away from God with every thought).

In a world created by his fantasies and imaginations, man now believes he controls the events of his life. God still rules every action of the universe, but in the make believe world of his mind man thinks he controls his life. His own imagination is the great adversary to the ways of God in the life of a man.