The Material World and Satan's Machinations

This seems like an awsomely big subject but I am going to try my hand at explaining what has been swirling through my mind on this very thing.

Machinations is defined as an act of plotting or a conspiracy.

Material world is defined as all things not of the spiritual world or fleshly.

To understand why Satan's machinations exist I guess it would be good to reflect upon the character of Satan himself.

We can determine Satan's character from a few sources. The Bible, the Koran, and other less popular books of the time such as the book of Enoch.

The first notice of Satan in the bible is in the garden of Eden and the conversation he had with Eve. To paraphrase what occurred, we can say he offered Eve fruit that would make her "like God" knowing good and bad. This simple statement of Satan gives us incite into the creature and what makes him tick. Recognizing this will allow us simple humans to be aware of where this may be evident in our lives and avoiding the same line of reasoning.

Let us look a little deeper into the creature. It is good to also imagine Satan as a dangerous animal like a lion, shark, or alligator that we are discovering his reactionary tendencies.

Satan was born or created into an angel that was beautiful, full of light, and intelligence. Ezekiel 28:17 brings this out. The interesting thing is that God saw fit for Satan to be care taker of mud.

Think about it this way. You are given a fully paid for home, car, expense account, and education of the very best quality but you have the task of being a sheep herder. Surely you benefactor has gone off his rocker. "The old man has finally lost it", you would probably mutter to yourself.

In comparison we are like the mud that Satan was assigned to look after and teach God's ways. He resented the task as is always represented in his interactions with God in regards to us. Consider Job.

Satan was assigned as an expert on the material world. If humans were the amazing material creations of God then Satan was like the holder of the material world's knowledge that was supposed to be dispersed among mankind in an orderly God ordained fashion. Satan wanted different.

The book of Enoch discusses how the angels from above taught humans about various material world concepts such as math, science, agriculture, and astronomy. All of these things would have more than likely been apart of the human condition anyway. Unfortunately Satan perverted it with his first words to Eve, "You will be like God".

Satan has no choice but to do what he was designed to do. He has no choice but to follow God's original plan of dispersing material world knowledge BUT he omits that it is God ordained. He would rather humans focus on their own greatness as he does himself.

That simple statement of being like God gives him away. It is a comparative statement. Remember, Satan is a master of the material world. Comparisons are strictly used in a material world environment. Comparisons are also the root of human problems.

Think about the 10 commandments. 1) You must not have any other gods against my face, 2)You must not create an image of anything and bow to it. 3)Do not use God's name in vain. 4) Remember the sabbath. 5) Honor your mother and father 6) Don't murder 7) Don't commit adultery 8) Don't steal 9)Don't testify falsely against your brother 10) Don't desire things that don't belong to you.

At the root of these is our human tendency to compare ourselves, or what we have, against some ideal that has what we want to be or has what we want. This is the heart of sin. It is rooted in this material world which is being manipulated by the expert, Satan himself.

The most interesting part is that Satan is a spirit creature who can never truly be a part of this material world. This is where his jealousy lies. He is hysterically envious of humans but alas, he has never loved us. This is why in revelation we see an image of the beast, but not the beast itself.

Satan's machinations are a direct result of him being able to manipulate the material world but he cannot use holy spirit. We know that Jesus is able to pour holy spirit upon us and use holy spirit to influence things spiritually. Satan on the other hand cannot because he is locked in this material world. So how does he influence people?

I have a theory. Jesus is to holy spirit as Satan is to secrecy. Satan has to use the material world or humans to have an influence within the confines of this material world. It makes sense because talking snakes can only go so far. Humans are at the top of the food chain in this world so Satan is going to use the most influential in this material world. This being the case we have to point to all positions of power as being a possible haven for Satanic activity.

You are probably thinking, what the heck are you talking about Chris? Well I know it is a bit surprising but why on earth would Satan pick a no named, isolated dreamer as someone he would directly try to manipulate. The payoff is very little. Again we have to keep in mind that this is a material world and Satan is a material genius.

The places of leadership have the most effective locations for Satanic activity. Open discussion of possible Satanic or even unchristian activities are not well accepted by people so if someone is practicing anything like that, it is best to keep it on the hush. Thus secrets are kept. From this are born societies of secret keepers.

Secret societies such as the Freemasons or Rosecrucians are accepted as clubs to a degree. Some find that these clubs house more sinister plans. I fall into the latter group.

The members of the groups don't necessarily know what goes on in the higher echelons of the organization. I see these groups kind of like this. There are many parts of a car that make it a car. The exterior of a car hides the type of engine that runs it. The car may look innocent enough but the engine may make it a monster on the roads. You just won't know it till someone decides to rev the engine. I don't think these secret societies have decided to rev their engine yet.

If we were to look at just the leadership within the US presidency over the US history, we would discover that Freemsonry is represented over 80%. A deeper look into secret societies starts to reveal a network of people that regard esoteric and ancient teachings in high esteem. You don't have to look far to determine that it is definitely a machination of the devil. Remember the definition.

Within the structure of these many groups lies the key to how Satan manipulates the greater material world. On a personal level though we are manipulated because of our inherited sin. We often are persuaded by our eyes and our desires because we want this or that. That is our material tendency arising. Sadly Satan is ready for us to want to indulge in our material desires.

We must remember though that there is nothing we can build upon in this material world that will help us in our spiritual pursuits.

I strike a difference between simple materialism and the material world. Materialism has a monetary connotation. The material world is anything that holds a value within this material world. We can sometimes value things but we also value people, relationships, class distinctions, or family ties. God cares not about who your parents are but he cares about how you treat your parents. God does not care about how much money you have but he would rather you use your funds to help your fellow man.

The material world is not intrinsically valuable to God but conciencious humans are. Humans have the distinction of being able to utilize both the material world and the spiritual to an extent. This may be the unique and wonderful thing about us and why Jesus found us so precious.

We are not JUST mud as Satan thinks and considers. We were valued enough for God to give his only begotten Son on our behalf.

Satan continues to lie to us by having us focus on the material aspects of us and calling truth science, math, and calculable elements. This is not truth. It is a distraction from the real truth.

The real truth is God's love, ultimately. As long as God loves us, Satan will always be proved a liar.