Self-Worship Is Satan Worship
Satan is a personal being that completely captivates sinners. As the deceiver, he blinds people to their true problem—sin. He makes everyone love and worship their diseased self, preventing them from confronting their sinful nature, which must be reconciled through death on the cross of Jesus Christ.
One of humanity’s deadliest problems is trying to diagnose and fix things based only on what we see and feel. Illness shows various symptoms, but without addressing the root cause, complete recovery is impossible. If pneumonia is treated only symptomatically, the patient worsens. Likewise, if we only treat symptoms in life and ignore the root cause, we waste our lives fighting meaningless battles.
The Church is God’s only channel of salvation in this world. How tragic would it be if the Church became exhausted fighting surface issues without addressing the root cause of spiritual reality? To stay awake and save lives, the Church must return to the true source of problems faced by humanity.
Only the Church, the body of Christ, can discern spirits and engage in spiritual warfare. Scripture describes Satan as the “ancient serpent,” “murderer,” “father of lies,” “devil,” “Beelzebul,” “Belial,” “evil one,” “prince of this world,” and “god of this age.” The people of the world cannot perceive Satan’s work behind rulers, authorities, and spiritual forces of evil. But the Church must know and fight against his deceptions and sins.
Satan was originally a perfect, wise, and beautiful anointed archangel. Yet, he became a traitor, desiring God’s throne for himself (Ezekiel 28:12-15, Isaiah 14:13-14). He claimed he deserved more worship than God and led all creation into worshiping him through impurity, lust, and greed.
Self-Worship = Satan worship. This is the work of Satan.
Satan’s identity is fully revealed in humanity. Jesus said that after Adam’s fall, all human beings are “born of the devil” (John 8:44a). The father of lies planted deep within sinners the desire to worship and exalt themselves. This cleverly disguised self-love and self-worship have become the highest values and idols for sinners.
This is Satan’s deadly conspiracy: turning the love and worship that belong to God toward the idol of self. A sinner’s old self is entirely bound by self-love, and is a complete rebel—incapable of loving God, denying self, or repenting on its own.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. (Colossians 3:5–6,NIV)
All self-centered greed is idolatry. A sinner’s desire infuriates God: recognition, reputation, honor, power, possessions, wealth, sex, and pleasure. It gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death (James 1:15).
The Bible firmly declares that self-worship is Satan worship. Sin is his perfect tool and clearly reflects him. The more one sins by following selfish desires, the more they become like Satan, who rebelled against God. Their life itself proves that they belong to Satan (1 John 3:8).
Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of Satan. To save sinners who had rebelled against God, Jesus died on the cross and rose again, breaking the power of sin and death. He destroyed all the works of Satan. Praise the Lord! (Romans 6:23, 1 John 3:8)
Even today, Satan pushes us to idolize ourselves—laughing and crying for ourselves. He twists even the power of godliness meant for God into tools of self-worship, corrupting God’s glory, worship, and even the gospel of the cross into means for selfish desires. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you! (James 4:7) As the end times approach, this battle will only grow fiercer.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. (Ephesians 6:10–11,NIV)
》Prayer Point
1. Let us pray that the true identity of Satan and sin will be revealed more clearly, and that the reality of myself who lived as a servant to them will also be exposed. Let us pray earnestly that we may clearly know and trust the truth of the gospel that the Son of God destroyed Satan through His death on the cross and united with our sinful selves.
The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. (1 John 3:8,NIV)
》Scripture Prayer
(Isaiah 14:12–15,NIV) 12 How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.
(Ezekiel 28:15–17,NIV) 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.
16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.
(Matthew 12:29,NIV) Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.
(Ephesians 2:1–3,NIV) 1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
》Pray that the Word may become the Conclusion.
1. One of Satan’s core attributes is pride that seeks to exalt himself above God. From his heart he rebelled against the Creator aiming to take God’s place and stole away what God had made. Since sin originated from Satan it naturally reveals the same spirit of rebellion. Therefore we sinners “were dead in [our] transgressions and sins,” (Ephesians 2:1) and are called sons of disobedience and by nature children of wrath before God. Let us pray that God would reveal to us and our church through the truth of His Word the true identity of Satan. Let us also pray that sinners though made in the image of God but now dead in their sins would clearly see the pride and disobedience they are committing.
2. Jesus Christ came into this world and first bound Satan, achieving victory through the cross and rescued sinners who had been enslaved under Satan’s power. Let us confess that we were self-worshipers loving ourselves according to the patterns of this world living with pride to exalt ourselves and following the desires of our flesh and minds. Let us pray that even miserable sinners like us who once followed the ruler of the kingdom of the air would be given the mercy of God to hear the gospel of the cross and receive the grace to believe it.
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