Heil Satan, or How Many Christians Support Satan’s Army

Around 2,000 years ago, the Old Serpent made an offer to a hungry, weakened Nazarene — an offer that for many would have been irresistible.

I’m sure you’re familiar with the account, but just in case: “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; 9and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him'” (Matthew 4:8–10, NRSV).

The primary purpose of that brief passage is clear, and Jesus states it about as succinctly as anyone could: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” Keep that in mind.

One of the incidental details, though, may be easy to miss to someone reading quickly.

Satan offers Jesus all of the world’s kingdoms.

You cannot offer someone something if you do not have claim to what you’re offering. Well, while I may get away with selling you some oceanfront buffalo ranch property, that sort of scam would never work against one who is all-knowing.

So it’s notable that when Satan lays claim to all the world’s kingdoms, Jesus does not rebuke him. There is no correction of that matter. There is no, “And besides, you can’t make that offer anyway.”

Satan lays claim to the world’s kingdoms. From Babylon to the United States, the kingdoms belong to the Old Serpent.

And lest we make the claim that all this changed with the crucifixion, the resurrection, or even Pentecost, Paul makes sure we don’t forget that Satan is “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Now, given that, what sense does it make for Christians to support, join, or otherwise endorse the militaries of these kingdoms of flesh & blood? Are we not instead citizens of a kingdom not of this world (John 18:36)? Do we not boldly bow before another throne (Ricky Skaggs, “The Joshua Generation”)? Can you “serve only” God while serving a flesh & blood king, president, or parliament?

Why then would we as Christians voluntarily submit to the service of nations whose values & principles are contrary to our true kingdom’s?

Why serve in an army where weapons are used to kill? Your kingdom carries the promise that weapons of war would be recycled into instruments of agriculture.

Of sustainability.

Of peace.

Why serve for a kingdom where conflicts are resolved through war? Your kingdom promises blessing upon the peacemaker.

Upon those who would be willing to forgive seventy times seven times.

Upon those who would not bear grudges.

And who would turn the other cheek.

I contend that not only should a Christian not join the armed forces of this world’s kingdoms, but that to do so is an insult to your Christian heritage.

I am not so naive as to think I won’t catch some flak for this, but I had to put this out there. “Christian America” is held as sacred by some

6 thoughts on “Heil Satan, or How Many Christians Support Satan’s Army”

  1. Well, maybe you’re right and I’ve heard that logic before. But personally I think Satan is a liar and a deceiver. He just MIGHT tell Yahshua that he would give him all that if he would bow down and worship him, whether he had the right or not. As an illustration, think of all the things Obama promised the American people if they would just vote him in office. He has done not one of them that I know of. One was to bring our men home from the Middle East. So we voted for him and he is sending more over there. Kind of makes you wonder which side he is on, doesn’t it. I mean Yahshua said of some, You are of your father the devil and the deeds of your father you will do, he is a liar and the father of it. So on that authority we know who is the father of lies and is also a liar. So could he not have lied when he offered all those things? I think he could have.

  2. He could have, but there again, Jesus did not rebuke him for lying. Elsewhere, Satan’s described as the god of this world, the prince of the powers of the air, and so forth, so there’s little biblical reason to presume that Satan was lying in this instance.

    Satan is a lot of things, including cunning. He knew he could lie to Eve, and I’d be shocked if he thought a lie would work against Jesus also. After all, even the demons recognized His authority over them, so His identity would certainly be no secret to Satan himself.

  3. Except that he lies most of the time! Lying is his nature. But I’ll give you that one. You could be right. It’s just that I put absolutely no stock in anything that satan says. Zilch!

  4. quentin schultze

    Rick, I’d like to contact you about your virtue video but I am not sure how to do so. If you have time, please respond to to the email I used for this comment. Thanks. –qs

  5. I always wondered how this story made it into the bible.

    Was it, that Jesus came back to his “crew” and said: “Hey guys, you won`t believe what just happened to me. There I was in the dessert and then the devil came by….”

    Also, it was a really weak offer: “Here, you can have this world” if you keep in mind that there are probably about 1.700.000.000.000 galaxys in the universe with each consisting of 10.000.000 – 100.000.000.000.000 planets.

    So offering 1 planet isnt really a great deal.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Use your Gravatar-enabled email address while commenting to automatically enhance your comment with some of Gravatar's open profile data.

Comments must be made in accordance with the comment policy. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam; learn how your comment data is processed.

You may use Markdown to format your comments; additionally, these HTML tags and attributes may be used: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

the Rick Beckman archive
Scroll to Top