Satan's attack country by country

All four sound pretty universal to me.

 

If God calls one to salvation not even Satan can stop that.

 

"If God calls one to salvation not even Satan can stop that."

So, why bother with what Satan does or does not do? Why bother witnessing? Why bother praying that people will be saved? Your assessment is a little too simple and neatly boxed up with a pretty little bow tied on top. How nice.

 

1 John 2:15, 16, "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world."

 

There will be satanic opposition to the gospel.
We shouldn't be surprised. In fact Jesus told us this ahead of time in Matthew 13.

In the parable of the soils upon which the seed falls:

Matthew 13

18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.​

In the parable of the wheat and the tares:​

38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.​

And other places...​

Why pray if God is omni-everything? Because He said to do so.​

My advice FWIW, put down the Systematic Theology books when you pray.
Plead, intercede, make petition and PRAY as if God is going to change unchangeable things. ​

I think the Triune God understands the concept of changing the "unchangeable" from our point of view​

2 Timothy 1:26
25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,
26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.​

HankD​

 

Temptation is contagious and birds of a feather flock together. People desire the company of those with similar interests. Sinners are in no way exempt from that desire. I could see how a specific sin could spread and grow thoughout communities until it becomes an evident trait of a nation.

Temptations come and there is nothing we can do about that. The only way to stop the sin is to resist it through the power of Gods Word. In most cases there is not a large-scale resistance by the church and the unregenerate community has little reason to resist. A specific sin can run its course from one household to the next especially if there are widespread ideals that encourage citizens to take part in ungodly activites.

Olivencia mentions Money for the Unitied States. That's a proper assessment. We have taken Gods blessing on our nation and turned it into a curse. The love of money is prevalent here in the US, IN FACT, it has helped the American Dream evolve into the American Nightmare!

I agree that sin is universal and each nation will display examples from all camps, but it is evident that some sin just prospers better in certain corners of the world.

Interesting thought, but very depressing.....

 

There are many barriers to the Gospel in this Gospel-resistant country, but this is one thing Japanese people say. They are very nationalistic, so the average Japanese does not want to accept what he thinks of as a "foreign religion"--though he'll eat at MacDonald's, use items invented in America (TV, telephone, car, etc.), watch American movies and TV shows with pleasure, take trips to Disneyland either in Tokyo or the US, read American books either in translation or in English, etc.

The aversion to a "foreign religion" goes back to the Tokugawa Shogunate in the late 16th to early 17th centuries. At that time not only Christianity, but all foreigners were barred except a few Dutch on the island of Tanegashima. Furthermore, all Japanese were forbidden to leave the country on pain of death.

At that time, many tens of thousands of Catholics were executed in a terrible holocaust. Most other Catholics died in the Shimabara Rebellion, during which the Christian daimyo lords fought for freedom of religion and lost. A few concealed their religion and become "hidden Christians," who eventually lost all of their Christianity except worshipping Mary and the baby Jesus through an idol of a feminine looking Buddha holding a baby.

A system was installed at that time by the government by which people watched their neighbors to identify Christians, who were then executed if they did not recant. That system exists to this day in the form of neighborhood organizations, though Christians are not informed on nowadays. However, the Buddhists still strongly pressure people not to become Christians, as we have found out over and over again.

From this history you can see that the entire Japanese society is headed 180 degrees away from Christ and His love. And this is why it is labeled a Gospel-resistant country. But we praise the Lord for each precious soul saved, though they be few.

 

I really enjoyed that historical context for Christianity. Thanks. In my travels it seems that there are areas of people population that indeed have sins that are specifically at issue for them. Other nations have different but just a problematic sinful predispositions.

 

Glad you enjoyed it.

I think you are right that different cultures influence people to have different sinful predispositions. The Japanese, for example, have an extreme respect for family that starts out being good, but ends up as ancestor worship.

Having said that, I think there is one sin in particular that is common to and pervasive in all non-Christian cultures, and that is idolatry. Whether it is a jungle tribe in the Amazon with their appeasement of the spirits, the sophisticated Japanese with their ancestor worship, or a formerly Christian European culture with it's man-worship (humanism, evolution, etc.), idolatry leads the way to depravity.

 

Excellent point! :thumbsup:

This is very true all sin ends up being idolatry no matter how it starts. And Idolatry really, when you get to the bottom of it is the worship of yourself. Lifting yourself to God's place. Whether its through ancestor worship or egocentrism.

 

I think it best not to dwell on Satan. No, we are not ignorant of his devices, but we don't focus on them. Instead we focus on the love and grace of Almighty God. The power of that is far superior!