The Original Ghostbuster
November 5, 2006
(Show Ghost-buster Video Clip)
In case you didn’t recognize it, that was a scene from “Ghost-busters”, a comedy that came out about 20 years ago, but it’s still amazingly well-known today! It’s a story about 3 odd ball scientists who after getting kicked out of their cushy University jobs, decide to start their own business trapping ghosts. Things pick up when their 1st real customer is possessed by demons and channels an ancient Sumerian God named “Gozer the Gozerian” who threatens to destroy the city. The Ghostbusters are called on to save N.Y. Dan Akkroyd plays one of the professors, wrote the script, and in real life is fascinated with the paranormal. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the movie, but it does bring up a lot of (what I think) are misconceptions about ‘ghosts, spirits and the paranormal”. I want to deal with a number of those misconceptions this morning, but 1st I was sent some cute cartoons I wanted to share with you … (Show cartoons).
According to Webster’s Dictionary, a “Ghost” is “the soul of a dead person believed to be an inhabitant of the unseen world or to appear to the living in bodily likeness.” Most people believe that ghosts are the spirits of the living dead, and over 40% of American adults claim to have been in contact with someone who’s died. Of these, 78% claim that they saw a ghost, 50% heard one, and 18% claim to have actually talked with them. No wonder we’re encouraged to “Call Ghost-busters!” But what are ghosts, really? That’s an important question, because their nature tells us how we should respond to them. If we identify them wrongly, we could be in a lot of trouble. For example, when you’re on the beach, and you see fins 20 ft. out
It’s important whether those fins are connected to a dolphin or a shark! If you wrongly identify the fin, could prove fatal. And the same is true with ghosts or spirits.
People who try and make contact with ‘ghosts’ and the ‘dearly departed’ are called ‘channelers’. These people willingly give their minds and bodies to spirit beings. When spirits use the mouth and speak out information, it’s called ‘channeling’. According to the spirits that speak through ‘channelers’ they tell us that, because they’re older, because they’re more evolved…they have information that will help us. Some spirits claim to be extraterrestrials from Mars or Venus, others claim to be gods from ancient cultures. Some say that they’re famous people from the past (kings, queens, warriors).
But according to the bible…they’re not any of those things! Ghosts aren’t the spirits of the living dead, and they’re not extra-terrestrials…in reality, they are… DEMONS! People say, “Why would God create the devil and demons?” The truth is, He didn’t! They didn’t start out that way… they BECAME that way! According to the bible, in Ezek.28:12 & Isa.14:12 before time began, Lucifer was an Arch-Angel. One of the few angels that have direct access to the throne of God. He was God’s anointed, model of perfection, the epitome of His creativity. He was beautiful beyond comprehension. Ezek.28:13 tells us that ‘every precious stone adorned him’… He was the original ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ (another 80’s movie)… He made ‘Liberace’ look like a bum! But then He got the ‘BIG HEAD’. He engineered a hostile take-over, trying to overthrow God.
In Isa.14:13,14 we find five ‘I Will’s’… of Satan’s downfall…
1. I WILL… “ascend to heaven”
2. I WILL… “raise my throne above God”
3. I WILL… “sit enthroned”
4. I WILL… “ascend above the tops of the clouds”
(And here’s the one that really got him in trouble…)
5. I WILL… “make myself like the Most High”.
Lucifer’s so-called ‘uprising’, never had a chance… The bible says that ‘pride goes before a fall’… and Satan found that out the hard way. He was smashed before He knew what hit him! Stripped of his title & position… he & 1/3 of his co-conspirator angels were cast out of heaven to earth. The bible calls them by different names… ‘demons, ‘demonic spirits’, ‘deceiving spirits’, ‘evil spirits’. If you think about it, it still works that way… Originally, man was created in God’s image, and ever since then, we’ve been trying to return the favor! We’ve been trying to make God in OUR image! We begin to think we’re in charge… and before long, we repeat the same fateful words to ourselves… “I WILL!”
· “I’m going to do this… or I’m going to achieve that!
· I’m going to have it MY way, who cares what God thinks! I’ll do as I please and become my own God!”
But it’s not long before our pride takes us down too! I’ve found that when I want people to notice me, God usually says, “Okay…be my guest!” But what they remember is usually something I wish they’d forget! So now the Devil, Satan has set up operations here on earth… In John 12:31 (and other places) Jesus calls him “the prince of this world” Believe me, DEMONS ARE REAL! I’ve had to deal with them a number of times and it’s not fun and it’s not exciting! (Story of Sabrina and the cats)
In I Timothy 4:1, we read… Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.” – I Tim.4:1 (NLT) We’re living in the last times, because that’s exactly what’s happening today. According to ‘channelers’… the spirits teach that…
· God is an impersonal force like electricity… but the bible teaches that God is personal, holy and loving.
· The spirits teach that Jesus is a man like us who evolved to a higher state of consciousness… but the bible teaches that Jesus is fully man and fully God in one person.
· The spirits teach that man in his true nature is perfect and one essence with God… the bible teaches that man is a created being who sinned by disobeying God. As a result, he has separated himself from His fellowship.
· The spirits say that salvation means that you realize you’re already your own god. But the bible teaches that salvation involves receiving the gift of forgiveness that Christ bought for us with His death on the cross.
· The spirits teach that there’s no devil and no hell. But the Bible teaches that when you die, you’re judged and you spend eternity either in heaven or hell, dependent on whether you accepted Christ’s gift of forgiveness or not.
Jesus told us in John 8:44 that by his very nature Satan is a murderer and a liar. In fact, that’s his native language. (READ). Like father like son, and so Satan’s angels are liars too! They’ll say or do anything to get you to walk away from the true God and end up in hell with them. As a result, they’ll appear in whatever form you want them to… if you believe in UFO’s, they’ll appear as aliens. If you believe that the dead can come back as ghosts… they’ll show up in séances as your great grandma Emma, or your Uncle Joe.
Paul tells us in I Cor.10:19,20 that people thinking that they were worshiping idols are actually worshipping demons in disguise! (READ) You have to understand something…demons have been dealing with humans for thousands of years and they’re master psychologists! They understand human nature better than we do! They know we’re easily impressed and attracted to the supernatural. That’s why we like to listen to ghost stories, that’s why kids have séances and mess around with Ouija boards. That’s why we’re curious about life after death and the occult. We’re like naïve kids in a porn shop, with no idea of the danger we’re setting ourselves up for. Listen… Satan is alive and well on planet earth!
7 books of O.T. and every writer in the N.T. made reference to Satan. And of the 29 specific ref. in N.T…. Jesus is speaking in 25 of them. Jesus believed in a personal being called the devil and dealt decisively with his demons. So…not to believe in Satan or demons is in effect calling Jesus a liar or a lunatic! The fact is, Satan and his demons DO exist, and we ignore him at our own risk. So, let’s take some time this morning to size up our opponent…
It would have been silly for Gen. Schwartskopf to go out and fight the Gulf War without having any idea of his enemies strength and position, and in the same way… if we’re going to beat our enemy… we need to know something about him. So, this morning, I want us to look at 4 aspects of the devil and his demons that will help us to defeat him. We’re going to look at…
1. His Purposes
2. His Power
3. His Procedures and…
4. His Punishment
So 1st lets talk about…
1. HIS PURPOSES
What is Satan and his angels up to? Well, to put it bluntly, they’re out for revenge! Satan’s ultimate purpose is to wreck God’s plan’s and plunge the whole earth into darkness and misery. He wants to rob God of his glory, and in that sense MASTER Him. The problem is… He can’t touch God. He tried that once and it backfired on him. So… what’s the best way to hurt somebody if you can’t get to them? (that’s right!)… Hurt they’re kids! Satan goes after us, because He knows that the best way to hurt God… is to hurt God’s children!
The bible states in I Peter 5:8 that “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking around for someone to devour.” In otherwords, whether you realize it or not… you are being stalked! Anybody here ever been pursued by a stalker? I hope not, but according to the bible, this ‘Evil Entity’ has you in his sights, …and he’s looking for a way to destroy your life! What’s worse is… He’s invisible! You can’t see him, but he can see YOU! Ever tried to fight an enemy you couldn’t see? How many seen Arnold Swartzenegar movie, “The Predator” ? The Predator is an alien that couldn’t be seen but was preying on Arnold’s commando’s and doing a pretty good job wiping them out! Well, Satan is the original ‘Predator’. Even Arnold Swartzeneger with all his guns and ammo is no match for him! No member of the human race escapes Satan’s attention, and to think you can overcome him in your own power is just plain stupid! So how do you fight an invisible enemy?…(Hmm?) With invisible weapons! You fight spiritual wars with spiritual weapons! We find those weapons in Eph. 6:10-18 (see message series) Paul gives a list of the spiritual equipment that you can put on to defend yourself against the devils spiritual attacks. Each piece of equipment is essential to your personal victory. And if you miss a piece, then you’re going to be vulnerable at that point.
I remember reading an article that was written by Paul Har~~~vey, entitled, “If I Were the Devil”… he wrote, “If I were the Prince of Darkness I would want to engulf the whole earth in darkness. I’d have a third of it’s real estate and 4/5ths of it’s population, but I would not be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree…THEE!
I would begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: “Do as you please” To the young I would whisper,” the bible is a myth”. I would convince them that man created God, instead of the other way around. I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I’d peddle narcotics, sell alcohol and tranquilize the rest with pills. With flattery and promises of power I would get the courts to vote against God and in favor of pornography. If I were the devil, I’d take from those who have, and give to those who wanted …until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. I’d make the symbol of Easter an egg, and the symbol of Christmas a bottle… In otherwords, if I were Satan, I’d just keep right on doing what he’s doing!” (hmmmm…)
Satan’s #1 purpose is to defeat God and destroy you! In fact, SATAN HATES YOU! (let me say that again!) He can’t stand you! And I’ll give you at least 5 reasons why… First of all…
1. You are loved By God.
In fact, you’re the apple of His eye! I don’t know why and I don’t deserved it, but I have to accept the fact that God loves me! And whoever God loves…Satan hates! (See Jer. ______)
2nd, Satan hates you because, if you’re a Christian this morning…
2. You switched teams
You were his, but you went to the other side! The bible tells us we were all born with a sin nature.. in otherwords… you and I were born on Satan’s team… but because we took God up on his forgiveness deal, we’ve been bought out by another team. To put it nicely… he’s not happy about all this! Some of you were some of his ‘star’ players! And he wants you back! And listen… he’ll stop at nothing to get you back!
3rdly, Satan hates you, because not only did you leave his team, but now…
3. You are recruiting others.
You wouldn’t leave well enough alone would you? NOOO! Now you’re actively and aggressively seeking to get others to switch teams too! You’re telling them, “Hey, you don’t have to play for a loser! You can play on the winning team! God loves you, and has a plan for your life.” You’re recruiting in his playground, and that REALLY ticks him off!
4thly, You are forgiven, (and he wasn’t!)
So… he’s jealous. According to Ezek.28:18… Satan was thrown down to earth, and then God says, “I made fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching.!” So, we got forgiveness and he got torched! He’s still hot under the collar about that one! (excuse the pun!)
Then lastly, according to
5. You will rule…
According to Eph.2:6, (and other vs.) the bible says that someday, we will be elevated to position beside Jesus Christ, and sit down at his throne. We will rule with Him. Now I don’t understand all of that, but this I DO understand…the one thing that Satan really wanted… was to rule! Trying to take it… he lost it forever… Instead God gave that to us. Not by anything that we did… but by God’s sheer love. So while we rule… Satan drools! Just the ‘thought’ of that makes him furious!
Now let’s look at…
2ndly…. HIS POWER
C.S. Lewis, the famous Christian writer helps us keep this whole ‘power’ thing in balance when he writes…. “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves (i.e. the demons) are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with equal delight”.
What he’s saying is that paying either too little or too much attention to the devil is dangerous. The person who says there’s no such thing as the devil is wrong. But so is the person who believes there’s a devil in every bush! Some people give way too much power and credit to the devil. I was reading of one cult who has named and categorized over 1700 specific demons! They’re called the “Alpha Omega Energies” Anyway, they claim that EVERYTHING is caused by demons (from alcohol to amnesia, and from arthritis to acne) and that everybody needs deliverance from some kind of demon.
When it comes to his power, all you need to know is that Satan is powerful… but He’s not ALL powerful. His powers are more than human… but less than divine. Contrary to popular thought… he can’t be everywhere at once. He’s limited to one place at a time. He uses his demonic angels to be where he can’t be. Also contrary to popular thought, Satan isn’t “all-knowledgeable” (like God). He’s not omniscient. But he IS pretty smart, and he’s been observing human nature for 1000’s of years.
He can’t read our minds, but when we act out of our sin nature, he can predict and influence our actions. For example… have you ever kept track of all the excuses that Satan gives you for not coming to church? He can fill our minds with all kinds of reasons why we shouldn’t go to church…. One of you gave me a little refrigerator magnet that I think kind of epitomizes his tactics & ultimate goal… it reads… ”The devil wants you to skip church when it rains, because he knows that ‘dry people’ burn better!” He knows more about us than we know about ourselves and is able to manipulate circumstances and inject thoughts into the human mind. That’s because, SATAN THINKS LIKE HUMANS THINK. (You might need to write that down, because it’s an imp. concept.) SATAN THINKS LIKE HUMANS THINK. In otherwords, Satan invented the human chess game, and he’s been playing it for thousands of years. Ever heard the term… “You can’t ‘con’ a ‘Con’?” When you try to use manipulation, or lies, or deceit, rationalization, or any other trick of human ingenuity… he’s always 10 moves ahead of you and will ‘checkmate’ you every time! Try to live life in your own wisdom… and he’ll lead you down the path of destruction. Proverbs says, “there is a way that seems right to a man, but ends in destruction!” The devil will make sure of that!
The ONLY way to outwit Satan is to think like GOD! According to Isa.55:8-9 (READ) God’s thoughts confuse Satan. He can’t understand them! That’s amazing when you remember that he was originally a throne angel of God! Personally I think that when the bible says Jesus ‘bruised the serpents head’, he inflicted some kind of brain damage on him! Once he was full of wisdom… now he doesn’t even know how to SPELL wisdom! Now here’s the great thing… when you come to Christ… you get a new mind! You discover a new way of thinking. You see life from a whole different perspective. What was once so important to you, isn’t anymore!
According to I Cor.2:14-16 (LB)…when you become a Christian, you’re given “the mind of Christ”. READ
Because Satan thinks like humans think, and humans think like Satan thinks… they share the same confusion about God. The whole Christian thing sounds foolish & silly to them. But when you become a Christian… all that changes! The ‘blinders’ come off your eyes and the H.S. in you helps you to understand what the H.S. is saying. You begin to understand how the Lord thinks!
See…Satan can handle human psychology, programs & propaganda, but the minute you begin to think, and plan, and act according to God’s Word… listening to His Holy Spirit… the arch-confuser becomes confused! B.C. (before Christ) in this spiritual warfare we’re involved in, Satan could read our mail… but when we begin to operate on God’s terms… he can’t break the code! It’s all gibberish to Him! Satan knows that, and so he’s got a plan… let’s talk about…
3. HIS PROCEDURES
I want you to read Eph.6:11 with me… (READ) Circle that word “scheme” there, because in the grk. it’s the same word that is used to describe a ‘con-artist’ or an ‘illusionist’. It’s the same thing that a magician like David Copperfield does. In an illusion, you take something that isn’t real and make it look real. He’s able to make it ‘look’ like a ‘Leer Jet’ disappears, or that he’s flying around the stage without a wire…ect. Well, our adversary is brilliant at the cunning arts, and he exploits two areas in our lives…
1. Our Ignorance
2. Our Weaknesses
To the extent that he can get us to believe a lie, (about ourselves, about others, or about our situation)… we will be led astray. Lies like…
a. “Happiness is found in pleasure, prestige and possessions”
b. “It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you’re sincere”
c. “The one who dies with the most toys wins!”
d. “God helps those who help themselves”
e. “All good people go to heaven”
f. “I’ll never get caught”
And those are just the simple ones! There are 1000’s of mis-belief statements that we tell ourselves that keep us depressed, angry, fearful and bitter. “I’m helpless… I need… I can’t… I can’t go on without… I’m not responsible… It’s all their fault… If only…” When we are ignorant of the truth… Satan will take advantage of our ignorance and make life miserable. The truth becomes a lie and the lie becomes the truth. Satan loves to get us to err without knowing that what we’re thinking and doing isn’t right.
But when Satan isn’t playing on our ignorance… he plays on our weaknesses. Some of you know that I play R-ball (whenever I get a chance). Any racquetball player (or anyone who plays competitive sports for that matter), knows that the best way to beat your opponent is to find out what their weakness is! In Raquetball it’s usually their backhand! So whatever your weakness is… Satan will locate it and exploit it. He plays on our pride, our willfulness, our unrealism, our addictions, our needs, personality flaws, emotional hurts of the past… nothing is off limits to him… and he has no mercy!
He especially uses our desires… I’ll never forget something James Dobson said in his bk. “Straight Talk to Men and Their Wives”… He said, “Whatever a person hungers for, Satan will appear to offer it in exchange for a spiritual compromise”.
· If it’s money you want… he’ll offer it in exchange for your family.
· If it’s illicit sex you want… don’t be surprised when you find a willing partner…but you’ll lose your marriage.
· If your passion is for fame or power…the object of your lust will be promised (even if it is never delivered)… and you’ll lose the joy of life.
Jesus after 40 days of fasting in the desert was offered what? Bread! What do you think his desire was for? BREAD! His desire was for people to recognize Him as their Savior… what better way to show his power than to jump off the top of the temple and have the angels catch him? He was offered instant fame. My point is… Satan will use our keenest appetites to destroy us. Beware! The bible says in James 1:5 (READ)
Lastly… before you leave here today… you need to know about
4. HIS PUNISHMENT
Jesus is the original ghost-buster and Satan is a defeated foe. He was defeated at the cross! The bible says in Col.2:15 (READ)
That word ‘disarmed’ in the grk. means “to strip the hide from an animal, to completely annihilate a fallen foe, to render helpless”. So, this isn’t some kind of “STAR WARS” thing, where the ‘dark side’ and the ‘good side’ of the force are equal. It’s no contest! God’s got Satan on a long leash and he can yank his ‘choke chain’ anytime he wants too! The spiritual battle that we are involved in is more like a ‘guerrilla warfare’.
Anybody here watch “Saving Private Ryan”? It was a story of D-Day, during WWII. On D-DAY, the Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy. And when they successfully did that, everyone knew that it was just a matter of time before the Allied forces won the war. Sure, there was plenty of battles to be fought, and a lot of bloodshed… but from that pt. on, the Germans were in a slow retreat. That’s what’s going on here. God has won the war… but we’ve still got some battles to wage. In the end the bible assures us that Satan will be cast into the pit of hell for good! Make sure you’re not with HIM!
To make sure that you and your family aren’t listed as casualties, we need to do 3 things in order to ‘bust’ the devil and his angels… according to Eph.6:10,11 (READ)
1. Be STRONG
Notice Paul says, “Be strong, IN THE LORD”. Being strong has nothing to do with our own human ability, intell., or ingenuity. Only as we are walking with the Lord, listening to His voice, praying, & reading our bibles, can we hope to win against Satan’s schemes.
If we’re going experience victory in life, it comes as we ask him to give us HIS mighty power, His stamina, His endurance.
2. Be PREPARED.
What soldier would suit up for battle wearing nothing by his B.V.D’s? A stupid one! In the same way, there are what I would call a lot of ‘Christian Streakers’, who start every day without putting on their spiritual armor. You can tell who they are… they’re the ones who are depressed, discouraged, worn-out and cynical! The bible says, “Put on the full armor of God!” That’s not a suggestion… that’s a command!
I’ll guarantee you if…
· You’re not having any of your prayers answered…
· You’re having so many problems and things just seem to go from bad to worse.
· life has lost it’s excitement.
…it has something to do with a missing piece of the armor!
3rdly… Be FIRM…
Paul says, “Stand firm!” The word he’s using is a military term for ‘holding onto a strategic position”. Did you know that everyone of us is placed in a strategic position for maximum eternal impact? You say, “Why does God have me working here?” It’s a strategic position! “Why do I have these in-laws? Why do I have to be around these people? Why do I live where I live? Because you are strategically placed. You are ‘holding the line’ at some point and the victory is dependent on your faithfulness!
As end this morning, maybe you have sensed that you are under a spiritual attack… Area of weakness? Ignorance? Need mind of Christ? For some of you, the reason things not working out in life is that “The Predator” has you in his sights and you don’t have any protection!
