CHRIST-APP by philtierneyblog

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Now, I’d like to turn to the Christian Scriptures.  The story of the so-called “Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness” also describes the dynamics, the modus operandi, of Satan.  All three synoptic gospels tell the tale. I’ll quote Matthew’s version.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”  Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”  Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.        (Matthew 4: 1 – 11)

Once again, I want to call your attention to Satan’s tactics and the dynamics of its interactions.  There are three vignettes, in the story. One had to do with human need, in this case hunger.  The next had to do with methodology.  And the last had to do with means to achieving goals. 

Jesus was in the Judean wasteland.  He’d been compelled to go into the Judean wilderness after the profound experience he had during his baptism in the Jordan River. You may recall that a voice came to him, saying, “You are my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.”  Right away, Jesus went off to be alone in order to pray and gain guidance from God on how to proceed with his life.  Naturally, after a while, he got hungry.  Incidentally, many people in Galilee and Judea didn’t have enough to eat, back then. Satan approached Jesus with an idea. It wasn’t a bad idea, possibly a good one.  You’re hungry, and you need to eat.  And so, by the way, do many people.  Food remedies hunger.  Meeting basic needs is a good thing.  Just do it.  But there was a catch.  Satan interjected a conditional clause.  It said, “If you are the Son of God” (as the voice you heard said you are)surely you can perform a miracle and transform stones into loaves of bread.  There are plenty of stones, enough to feed yourself and everyone else, for that matter.  Notice the insinuation, the goading – “If you (really) are the Son of God.”

Now, let’s not get bogged down in whether Jesus was/is the only Son of God or in what way or to what degree or when and how he knew it.  That’s not the purpose of this exercise. Satan was trying to gain power by insinuating self-doubt more than by enticing Jesus to break a fast.  How did it operate?  Satan initiated the engagement, as it did in the Garden.  It insinuated doubt, as it did in the Garden.  It tried to entice Jesus to prove who he was with miracles.  It even tried to coax Jesus with a good cause (as in the Garden), food to remove hunger.  It posed as a helper — to serve the cause of God’s mission.  But embedded in that offer was an attempt to gain power over Jesus by influencing his mission and thereby driving a wedge between him and God.   

Now let’s turn to the second vignette.  Set in context, again, Jesus was praying about and pondering how to accomplish his mission.  How could he call attention to the message he was compelled to proclaim?  How could he get people to listen to him?  Satan had a suggestion, rather a bizarre one.  Just go to the highest point in the most populace place.  Use the focal point, and a religious one at that, the Temple in Jerusalem, as your stage. Just jump off the top of it.  If you really are the Son of God, then God won’t let you get hurt.  Satan cherry picked a verse or two from Sacred Scripture.  God’s angels will protect you. There’s that insinuation, again.  Prove who you are, to yourself, to the people and to me.  Satan was offering Jesus a strategy for his mission.  That strategy was for Jesus to draw attention to himself by making a spectacle of himself.  It might have sounded strategically intriguing, but somehow it seemed to be off message. Make a spectacle of myself?  Was Jesus’ mission to call attention to himself or to God’s message?  And would it be appropriate to test God to protect him?  Jesus thought not. 

Notice the telltale implications about Satan in this vignette.  Satan, an antichrist, wants to gain personal attention and so presumes to think that Jesus did, too.  Satan, an antichrist, doesn’t shy away from using religious symbols as staging to serve its own purposes.  Satan, an antichrist, doesn’t avoid quoting God, in this story and the story of the Garden of Eden.  Satan, an antichrist, doesn’t neglect using cherry picked verses from Bible to justify its approach.  Satan, an antichrist, uses faith to try to mislead the application of faith and thereby undermine faith.

Then, again, in the third vignette, Satan insinuated that it would grant Jesus all the power he would need to accomplish God’s mission.  Satan presented itself as a formidable ally for God’s goals.  Jesus would later refer to Satan as “the prince of this world.”  That was meant to indicate the extent of its influence on the human stage.  Satan offered a quid pro quo deal in this vignette.  Satan would give Jesus authority and dominion over all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for Jesus giving Satan the credit for it, the honor for it.  Satan told Jesus that it would give him control over all the governments of the world. Jesus would have all the political power he’d need to institute God’s will and impose God’s ways.  Jesus would be able to make everybody believe and behave the way God wanted. That was a trap, though.  If God created humans to choose, why would God rule by force of government?  It was the same temptation that Christians have been seduced by from the time of Constantine to here and now in America — quid pro quo — giving power to gain power, giving control to gain control in order to make everyone obey God.  If you give me what I want I’ll give you what you want.  Jesus refused the deal, though. 

I’d like to call your attention to the facts about Satan in the story of Jesus in the wilderness.  In this story, Satan believed that God existed.  Satan believed that God had amazing power.  Satan quoted God.  Satan quoted the Hebrew Scriptures to prove advance its case. Those were useful, one might even say, pious ploys, though.  Satan tries to fool religious people into believing that it, an antichrist or false prophet, doesn’t believe in God and can’t use the Bible or religious devotion to deceive.  As I’ve mentioned, Satan and antichrists or false prophets will use anything to accomplish their purposes, even faith or what seems to serve Godly mission. In fact, these three stories indicate that Satan takes special pleasure in targeting good people, religious people, faithful people, and specializes in using religious or godly motives to misdirect them.

Notice the religious dynamics in the story of Jesus in the wilderness.  Satan offered tools to Jesus for accomplishing God’s mission – food for the hungry, dazzling miracles and the acquisition of governmental power.  The motive appeared to be good, but was actually in service of other goals. The means seemed to be good — to meet human needs, call attention to God and gain control so as to make people do what God wants.  But Satan’s real motive was its own influence, its power and control over Jesus. Satan wanted to gain influence at the expense of God’s influence over Jesus by posing as an ally of God’s purposes.  Satan wanted to divide Jesus from God in ways that would seem godly. 

Time doesn’t allow me to do a comprehensive examine many other verses that might relate to this subject.  But there are two additional verses that I’d like to call to your attention.  

When Jesus warned his disciples about false prophets and antichrists and how to recognize, he told them that their fruit would reveal the truth.  Jesus said,

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.By their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matthew 7: 15-16) 

Jesus’ point was to examine the fruit – the collateral by-products – of those who claim to be sent or appointed by God.

Later, St. Paul described the telltale fruit (the observable by-products) of God’s Spirit in the lives of those claiming to be God’s people.  Paul wrote this in his letter to the Galatians:

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”  (Galatians 5: 22)

This describes the affects upon humans of the presence of the Spirit of God within them.  It stands to reason that the opposite characteristics indicate the influence of a spirit of the Antagonist within Homo sapiens. What’s the opposite of love?  Hate and the inspiration of hatred in others indicate the presence of a spirit opposite from the Spirit of God.  What is opposite of joy?  Angry despair takes pleasure in other people’s misfortunes rather than rejoicing in their wellbeing.  What is the opposite of peace?  Agitation within and animosity toward others are opposed to peace.  What is the opposite of forbearance?  Intolerance of others and malice are opposed to forbearance.  What is the opposite of kindness?  Meanness fills the bill.  The opposite of goodness is corruption.  Fearfulness and the incitement of it in others are opposite to faithfulness.  Harshness is opposite to gentleness.  And the opposite of self-control is impulsive self-indulgence.

Jesus used an analogy to amplify his point.  He said that bad trees can’t produce good fruit.  The fruit, the quality of the by-products, are what indicate the sort of spirit inspires a person.