The so-called Satanic Temple is on a mission to destroy the concept of America as a nation founded upon Judeo-Christian principles. They have been successful at demanding equal time for Satan in the public square. My blog of December 17 last year (to read click here) reported that the Temple legally forced the state of Illinois to display a symbol of Satan in the rotunda of the statehouse last Christmas, right next to baby Jesus in a crèche and a menorah. This group also sued Warner Bros. films for a hefty sum, because one of the movie company’s TV shows supposedly misappropriated the Temple’s object of devotion, a half-human, half-goat hermaphroditic image of Lucifer. They also unveiled a nine-foot statue of this so-called Baphomet image of the devil in Detroit. But here’s the crazy part. The photo above was taken at our recent Dallas seminar. Two Satanic Temple adherents walked in with a backpack full of several of my older books. The demonic duo, named Forest and Piper, have followed me since 1989 and are self-proclaimed “huge Bob Larson fans.” Forest even wore a T-shirt promoting a youth outreach organization that we started 30 years ago called The Compassion Connection. I don’t have one of those T-shirts from radio days, but Forest did. That evening, in front of a packed seminar room, we publicly went head-to-head debating Satanism v. Christianity. Two takeaways regarding this confrontation. First, beware this friendlier, “non-theistic” form of Satanism. Unlike Anton LaVey’s leering glare, thoroughly modern Satanists put on a smile and merely demand equal time in the name of religious pluralism. The stated intent of their archetypal, anthropomorphic Lucifer adoration certainly isn’t the heinous plan of the very real devil who uses these cultural shock-troopers as pawns. Second, they may pledge devotion to the devil, but they are watching our ministry as we cast out Satan’s demons in the name of Jesus. We’re reaching those that conventional churches and ministries never reach, and for that we praise God. If Satanists are keeping an eye on us, we’re doing something right!
An encouraging word: HOPE OF HEAVEN
Most Christians think that idea of meeting God face-to-face is a New Testament idea (“willing to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” – 2 Cor. 5:8). But David said in the last verse of Psalm 17, “I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness” (verse 15). The Psalmist anxiously awaited the satisfaction of living eternally in God’s presence. Before Calvary, David may not have totally understood all that heaven meant, such as the promise of “many mansions” personally prepared by the Lord himself. But spiritually he grasped the hope of heaven. Do you? What good is being a Christian without the anticipation of being awakened to eternal life in Christ?
