The Bible Commands Us To Fear God, Not Satan

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

Matthew 10:28, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

I have met numerous Christians in my lifetime who were afraid of the Devil. This is especially true in superstitious cultures like Central America and South America, and in the islands (U.S. Territories like Puerto Rico, Guam and The Virgin Islands). Roman Catholics are infamously superstitious, in Hispanic cultures mostly. The Christian believer should only FEAR GOD!

I had a pastor many years ago, who taught us in church not to speak outloud what our plans were for the future, because Satan might hear us. He said that a demon might overhear our words and go back to tell the Devil. And then the Devil and his fallen angels might throw a monkey-wrench into our big plans, whatever they were.

Our church operated a Bus Ministry. Amen! I absolutely LOVE the Bus Ministry!!! Every Bible-believing church should have a Bus Ministry, providing free transportation for individuals and families alike, so they can come to church to hear the Word of God preached. Millions of people will testify that they were saved, and their life transformed through the Bus Ministry. Is it costly? Yes. Is it a bunch of headaches? You better believe it! But is it worth it? Ten thousand times... YES, YES, YES!!!

As I grew older and learned the Word of God for myself, I humbly realized that my sincere pastor had misinterpreted the Word of God. In fact, not one verse in the inspired King James Bible teaches us to fear the Devil. NOT ONE!!! But we read in literally hundreds of Scripture passages that we should FEAR GOD. Proverbs 3:7, “Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” Job 1:9, “Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?” Satan accused Job of only fearing God because things were going well in his life. So God made a gentleman's wager with old smut face, to test Job. And as we see, Job passed the test. If Job hadn't, I doubt if the Bible would have mentioned him at all. We must all FEAR GOD:

Psalms 66:16, “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.”

Ecclesiastes 8:12, “Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:”

Although God definitely desires for us to love Him, the Bible doesn't command us to love God. You cannot command someone to love anybody. Love is a choice. I cannot make you love me! But I can be nice to you, try to win over your heart, and hope that someday you will love me back. But God can and does command us to FEAR HIM! You don't have to love the police, but you still must obey the law!

Do you fear God? I do. Those who fear God obey Him, knowing that we must one day stand before God and give account for our deeds done in the flesh, whether they be good or bad (2nd Corinthians 5:9-11). I speak to believers, the redeemed, God's children. For the unsaved, they will also be judged according to their works, but as criminals instead of God's children (Revelation 20:11-15).

I do not fear Satan, not one bit. That is simply because God is greater in power and wisdom than the Devil. 1st John 4:4, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” Every child of God has the blessed Holy Spirit of God indwelling us. Literally, God the Father and God the Son, chose to live inside our body, soul and spirit in the form of God the Holy Spirit. There is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4), who exists in three distinct persons. Amen!

So when you pray, don't worry about the Devil, because God is greater in every way. Luke 4:6, “And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.” The Devil has LIMITED power, which has been given to Him by God!

We see this also in the life of Job, which I showed you earlier. The Devil was completely powerless to touch Job, or anything that Job owned, without God's express permission. This is true of every born-again believer. Ephesians 1:13-15 teaches that God seals us at the time of salvation, giving us the Holy Spirit as proof of His promise to redeem our body, soul and spirit.

Hollywood sensationalizes demons, Hell, the Devil, seances, ghosts, et cetera. The truth is that Hollywood script writers haven't a clue of what they're doing! The Devil and demons are NOT in Hell, nor will they ever be. Not in Hades (Greek for Hell) at least. God has prepared a special Hell just for the fallen angels, called in the Greek: Tartarus. If you are interested in the subject, Pastor Max D. Younce has authored a helpful and intriguing book called: “A BIBLICAL EXAMINATION OF HELL” (free to download in .pdf format). No Christian should ever fear demons or the Devil. Psalms 34:7, “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.”