Satan and Cyberspace

Even though this blog and website are participants of cyberspace, Christians need to fully understand the power and trap of Satan in cyberspace. There are obvious elements that all believers understand to be satanic strongholds, pornography is the most blatant. Online gambling is another trap of Satan in cyberspace. But the real strength of Satan is not in the obvious, but the subtle.

Identity theft is in between the obvious and subtle. Online transactions, even though secure, can be hacked. And before you even make a financial transaction, your personal computer has an ID number from which you can be tracked. Not to mention the cookies and malware that can be put upon your computer without your knowlege. However, these inroads for people to take advantage of you still is not what I am addressing.

The Bible says:

Eph 6:11
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (KJV)
Rev 20:2-3
2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. (KJV)

The power of Satan and his demonic hordes is deception. It is his desire to get us to believe all kinds of nonsense. Paul told the Corinthians that meat offered unto idols is nothing, but to him who believes that is sin, it is sin for:

Rom 14:23
And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. (KJV)

In other words, he who believes that eating meat offered to idols is sin, is granting Satan permission grounds for entrance into his life. This is the power of superstition. The superstitious belief is untrue, yet if you believe it, then Satan can work in your life.

Many believers argue that God permits Satan in your life, based upon Job. Surely, Satan had to have permission to assault Job. And in Job's story, this is true. However, there is an important difference between then and now. We are joint heirs with Christ and share in His power and authority. Please note that in the point I am making here, I am not disregarding the work of God in our lives as the Potter with the clay, in his transforming us into the image of Christ. Neither am I disregarding that Satan, as a theif, cares not for legal ground, and will also attack just because we are his enemies. But in the day to day general scheme this point is valid. That is, since we have equal authority with Jesus Christ as part of our covenant relationship to Him, it is we who give Satan permission into our own lives by believing lies.

This is why Paul told Timothy;

1 Tim 4:1
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; (KJV)

The church is rife with doctrines of devils, that undermine the believer's authority. We should not believe everything that we read in the internet. Scholastic scrutiny should test the source. We are to be critical thinkers - not in the negative sense of criticizing - but in the positive sense of critiquing what we read to what the Scriptures say. Paul said, "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." (Rom 14:5). These means thinking through and becoming convinced of the veracity of what has been said.

The trend on the internet is moving towards the interactive Web 2.0 format. This blog, for instance, is a Web 2.0 entry. Why? Because if you are moved to respond to my post, you can write your own comments and add them to the post (if I approve first, of course). Likewise, if you buy a book online you will be solicited to give your opinion of the book on the book seller's website. One very common reference website is Wikipedia, which is a Web 2.0 encyclopedia. The entries are written by people from all over the world. I don't know how they control the data, but it makes me skeptical in trusting what I read because of that reason.

Our mind is the portal to our faith. Our imagination is the channel of faith. Imagination is the power of the human mind. It is our imagination that Satan seeks to use against us. Remember that the world was destroyed by God with the Flood because "that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Gen 6:5 KJV). In other words, it was not just the deeds that men were doing before the Flood, but the thoughts of their hearts.

Pornography is based upon the imagination. Those who view pornography are imagining themselves as participants of the sex acts. Dungeons and Dragons video games are role playing games of imagination that leads gamers into occultic practice.

This morning I got one of the many SEO newsletters for webmasters discussing the advantage of advertising in the "Second Life" website, which is a virtual world where people can create their own imaginary "second lives" in cyberspace. There are many internet games where you can play with others online in cyberspace. Chat rooms are notorious for anonymous affairs, and sometimes by perverts seeking children online.

The Web 2.0 interaction is not wholly wrong, nor wholly the province of Satan. Open source is a computer programming approach that allows many programmers to participate in the creation of a program. This is similar to the Web 2.0 mentality. Mozilla Firefox, for example, has many plugins for their browser that other programmers have made. Open Office is a wonderfull office suite created by Java Sun Systems that is free to the public. There are Widgets that are shared online as well that make useful desktop utilities for your PC or Mac.

My concern is the gullibility of readers. Don't believe everything you read. Check the source. Compare it with Scriptures. The inroads of Satan into our lives is believing lies. The internet is a fountain of truth and lies mixed together. Role playing and imagination are the tools that Satan loves best for weaving his lies and deceptions.