Do you believe in Satan?

That is a simple question but not everyone actually will admit to believing in Satan. We will do something wrong and then claim 'the devil made me do it.' all the while knowing that it was our own carnal nature that was to blame....or was  it?
Think back to what we call the original fall of man. When Eve took and ate the apple and then she gave it to Adam. We all blame Eve for her actions and rightly so for we each have a choice. Yet who was there with her, deceiving her during this moment of weakness? It was the father of lies. It was his twisting of the words of our Father that brought about Eve's eventual capitulation to sin, and God cursed him for it. So fast forward in time and then we see Jesus who is grown. His ministry is about to begin yet he must first experience the fires of Satan's temptations and lies just as Eve and Adam experienced so many years before. Truly, men had been failing the fires of Satan's temptations up to that time. Yet Jesus would overcome all temptations and twisted words that Satan could throw at him.
Now fast forward again, we today face a world who does not truly believe in 'the devil' or hell. A large part of our own nation no longer believes in God. Yet, those who do are challenged with believing in God but some do not want to also believe that there is another force at work as well. I must submit to you that if you believe in the Bible as the inspired Word of God, then you MUST also accept that there is a hell and Satan is real. Our Father warns us over and over in His inspired Word that Satan is as a roaring lion roaming around looking for those whom he can devour. He wants to ensure that each and every Christian is LOST. That we all accept the lie that there is no Satan and no Hell. That no matter what we do in this life our Father will always love us and we can never be lost once we are saved. If that were true, then why would Jesus need to tell us a story of the Prodigal Son? Why would Peter warn his fellow christians in 2 Peter 3:17 to be on guard so that they would not be carried away by the errors of the wicked? In Revelations John is given prophesy about the seven churchs and God's intent to leave them. No, we can lose our souls even though we were once saved by listening to Satan's siren calls. He is not called the great deceiver and father of lies for nothing. Yet, today we want our Pastors, Ministers, Preachers, teachers, and any other man of God to tell us how wonderful heaven is and will be but we do NOT want to hear about that other place.
Please listen, our Father is a Father of mercy and grace,YES. He loves us dearly. Anyone who claims otherwise has only to look toward the cross and understand the true measure of sacrifice that was given to begin to measure that love. Yet our Father is also a God of Justice and Vengence. He continually warned the Israelites of their coming retribution for their prostitution to other gods. Yet they refused to listen. Will we do likewise? Have we listened so long to Satan that all we want to hear is words of comfort and soothing lullabies? Truly, I believe that soon our time of warning will have past as Israel's did and we will awaken to the dawn of our own distruction. Too long have we pushed aside those who begged and pleaded for us to listen to words of hell fire and damnation only to be attuned to the sweetness of everything is okay.
I will leave you with this thought, if you believe in God, how can you deny that there is also a Satan? God threw down Satan and has promised a time of final retribution for him and all who follow him, willingly or not....each of us must look inside ourselves and ensure that we have continually cleansed the blackness that he leaves when he comes calling. His attacks are insidious and we do not always recognize them but that is why our Father gave us the Spirit.