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In the beginning God existed in His Glory, surrounded by
all the angels, pure spirits created as an emanation of His Presence. There
existed one who was adorned with outstanding attributes and who shone above
all the others, his name was Lucifer, which means full of light or light
bearer (Ezekiel 31:3-11) (Ezekiel 28:13-19)
God announced to his angels that he was going to create in the order of time
creatures who would also participate in his Kingdom, and that he was going to
share that human nature in the flesh, in order to become their Master and to
deliver them from evil.
Lucifer in his pride defied the Divine Will and together with one third of all
the angels disapproved the creation of man, refusing to give adoration to God
in human form (Jesus) and to the woman who would have the privilege of being exalted
above all the human race by becoming His Mother and the Queen of all creation.
(The Blessed Virgin Mary)
A great spiritual battle commenced between those angels faithful to God, who
were guided by the Archangel Michael. In humility they felt shame because of
the defiance of Lucifer and began to worship God saying "Who can be like
God"
Lucifer was cast out from Heaven as lighting (Ezekiel 28:17) (Luke 10:18), he
received his punishment becoming the monarch of darkness because he opposed
God who is Light. (Isaiah 14:12-15)
God permitted the human creation to coexist beside the fallen angels of
darkness in order to put us to the test and in a certain way to fill the
vacancies left in Heaven by the reprobate angels, with all the human beings
who obtain Eternal Salvation.
The name Satan known in the Hebrew as Abaddon or in Greek as Apollyon
means "destroyer". Other names given to Him are prince of darkness,
adversary, accuser, deceiver, dragon, liar, leviathan, murderer, serpent,
tormentor and god of this world.
In the final battle of the angels as revealed in the Apocalypse, St. Michael the Archangel will defeat Satan forever, who will be thrown in the lake of eternal fire with all his angels.
Being human beings, our fight with these evil spirits is
not very fair, because we fall easily into sin and automatically give
territory to the enemy. In order to fight with him, we must become people of
God, we must overcome him personally first, as Jesus did in the desert, and
then, together with the rest of the Church we have to fight spiritually
through our prayers to be delivered from this mortal enemy.
Saint Paul speaks about the spiritual battle in
Ephesians 6:12-18
12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.
13 Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice,
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace:
16 In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one.
17 And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God).
18 By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the
saints.
Saint Peter in his first letter 5:8-9
8 Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil,
as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour.
9 Resist him, strong in faith: knowing that the same
affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world.
We have been created in the image and likeness of God.
We are living temples of the Spirit of God. The life that runs through our
veins is not ours, it is a divine gift, a little breath of God that sustains
us.
Because of this, we must live our lives with great reverence before our
creator, because in Him we live, move and have our being. (Acts 17:28)
When we decide to live a life of disobedience, we despise the spirit of God
who lives within us, we don't listen to the voice of the conscience and we
choose to defy God with our sin.
At that moment, we authorize the enemy, who with subtlety makes us fall into
sin and little by little takes away our fear of God until we can even doubt
his existence. God loves us so much, that He has sent his only begotten Son to
forgive us our sins with his death on the cross, with the price of his
suffering and with his precious blood.
When we harden our hearts and resist the call of God, or
when we feel apathy for Him or for consecrated things or persons, we close the
door completely to the Holy Spirit and we open it totally to the enemy who
begins to influence our lives until we end up being governed by him.
At that stage, we can not call ourselves temples of the Holy Spirit but temples of
Satan. There begins the great spiritual problem, of which only few can leave
triumphantly.
Of course it is different in the case of innocent victims of influence or
possession, there is no guilt from their part, this is a case in which we can
act with mercy as children of God. This is the reason why we are
determined to pray for deliverance for those who suffer this spiritual
malady.
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The
Work of God
www.theworkofgod.org