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Transcript 149E — Dealing with Sinfulness in Others
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Yes. I have a question about a girlfriend of mine. She says she's a Christian, and I've known her about four years. And her statement to me was that she had allowed Satan to get his way and she got drunk. And I said, "Well then, when did you go to God with your problem, to solve the problem that caused you to go ahead and get drunk?" And she said, "Well, Satan got his way, and that's how it was solved."
And so then we got together to talk about this idea. And we never ended up talking about Satan, but she said, as she was leaving our house, "Don't pray about Satan attacking me, but pray for my diet," which was one of her problem areas. And my question is: As a Christian believer, I really believe in Jesus Christ, but I'm uneasy about this girl allowing Satan to take over her life more than God taking over her life. And I'm wondering if I should really put myself even in her presence at this point, whether it's good for me, just what my position should be on that. I really found myself not wanting to even talk about it, because I felt uneasy.
HC: Why do you think that Satan is troubling her life?
CALLER: Well, she says that she's willed her life over to the Lord, and she's in a direction of going up. But every time I would talk about the Lord and what He's doing in my life, and so on, the conversation would change. And I guess that was part of my uneasiness. Every time that we would have a common ground, if we were one in Christ, it was diverted. And I'm not sure why.
HC: You see, the question you're really raising is: How far can we know about satanic activity in the life of someone else? Now this lady that you're talking with is suggesting that it is Satan who is making her do this or that. Now actually, that's a cop-out. I don't say that facetiously, but this is the nature of man. You know, Eve, when she fell into sin, said, "The serpent made me do it." Mankind has always done this. They want to put the blame some other place.
Now actually, an unsaved person is a slave of Satan, is in bondage to him. But he also is by his very nature rebellious against God, and he doesn't have to point the finger at Satan. All he's got to do is look at his own heart. In his own heart he wants to do bad. He wants to do evil. And so when we blame Satan for it, we are simply avoiding the bigger question, "What's wrong with me?"
Secondly, when we as Christians are concerned about satanic activity in the lives of others, we are giving Satan adulation. We are taking note of him far beyond what he deserves. Now we know that there's an occult world. We know that Satan is very active. But if we're going to talk about any personalities, we might as well be talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and making Him Number One all the time.
And so when you talk now, if she is unsaved, just from her very heart, from her own nature, she doesn't really want to talk about sin. She doesn't really want to get to the heart of the Gospel, because that's very uncomfortable
Any time anybody talks to an unsaved person it doesn't take at all long to get off the question when it starts getting uncomfortable, when you start talking about sin and the claims of the Gospel. This is just because of the rebellious nature of man.
And so when you visit with her, just simply bring the Gospel to her, and make no judgment about what's going on in her heart, or whatever. You try to bring the Gospel. If she listens, fine. If she doesn't listen, if she turns away, she may even mock or ridicule, then no, this is not the time or the place.
CALLER: It's more that, I mean, she's even written poetry about Christ, and the shedding of the blood and the forgiveness of our sins, and this sort of thing. So it's almost like I'll just have to accept that on faith. Okay, you know, she says she's there, but her actions do speak otherwise.
HC: Well, yes, but we're not to judge the other person. And you know, a person, we don't really know what struggle is going on in their life. Maybe they have a sin that's out near the surface, and they're really struggling with it. Actually, however, the full time job of judging is with me. I have to keep examining my life, to make sure that I am as faithful to the Word of God as possible.
CALLER: Okay. That really makes me at peace, and I thank you. Good night.
HC: Thank you for calling. Good night.