This is really embarrassing – we have a thief among us. He is not the kind of thief who just lifts our wallets. It is much worse than that. He has stolen some of our most important and precious beliefs. Now you know who the thief is. The Bible says of Satan, that he is a thief (Jn. 10:10). In fact, Satan is a pretty slick thief. We need to recount some of the things he has stolen from the church and even from us personally.
THE BIBLE
It is almost unbelievable, but Satan somehow stole the Bible from the church and kept it for several hundred years. Most church leaders and intellectuals still had access to the Bible, however, it was not available to the common people. The Decree of the Council of Toulouse (1229 A.D.) even forbade the laity to possess the books of the Old and New Testament in vernacular translations.
Oxford scholar, John Wyclif (c. 1330 –1384), was the first to venture a translation of the Bible into English. Such a translation from Latin into English was considered blasphemy by church leaders. Wyclif died a natural death just in time to escape persecution. However, forty years later his bones were dug up and burned by the church.
William Tyndale (c. 1490 – 1536) was the first to translate the New Testament into English from the ancient original sources in the year 1526. For that brave act, he was burned at the stake as a heretic by the church in 1536.
Surely, after these brave struggles, we would never let the devil steal the Bible from us again, or would we? We have more Bibles available to us today than at any other time in history. We have many individual copies in our homes. We have it on our computers and iPads. We even have it 24 hours a day on our smartphones. Yet, “Gallup and Barna have revealed, the level of Bible literacy in America is abysmal. Details of the poll’s findings have been widely reported: Only half of the Christians polled identified Jesus correctly as the person who delivered the Sermon on the Mount; barely three of five could recall the names of the first four books of the New Testament. When asked to quote a Bible verse, the most frequent response was ‘God helps those who help themselves’ – a line written by Benjamin Franklin.” (Holmes207)
Dear saints, we must not let the devil steal our Bible reading and meditation times. Also, we must not let him steal our deep study of the word.
FAITH
Can you believe that the devil even stole saving faith from the church and kept that for centuries? Faith had to be regained by some other very brave men in the Reformation. It took some real faith for the priest and theologian Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) to defy the entire Catholic Church and post the ninety-five theses on the church door at Wittenberg in 1517. That act began the Reformation. Eventually, along with Luther came John Calvin (1509–1564), Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531), John Knox (1513–1572), Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560), and others. Most of these brave men faced persecution in various degrees. Martin Luther had to hide out to save himself from martyrdom.
We need to see our faith as a precious thing and not allow it to be stolen from us. As the end days come upon us, our faith, like theirs, will be severely tested. We need to be strong in faith, that it “…may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Pet. 1:7).
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS
I suppose that many Christians, like me, have grown up in churches that were opposed to the Holy Spirit filling and to spiritual gifts. This is really strange when we consider that these things are taught many times in scripture. We even have this direct command to “…be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,” (Eph. 5:18-19). In 1 Corinthians, Paul takes the two chapters, 12 and 14, to deal specifically with the exercise of spiritual gifts. Unfortunately, it is common in recent times for protestant leaders and pastors to say that such gifts were limited to the first century. Satan not only stole all these things, but he also lied about it.
We only have to look at church history to see that signs, wonders and miracles were never removed. In AD 160, the church father and apologist Justin Martyr spoke of people receiving gifts of healing, understanding and foreknowledge. The church father Irenaeus (around 180 AD), spoke of devils being cast out, healings and the dead being raised and afterward remaining among the church people for years. The Latin father Tertullian (about 197) wrote of exorcising evil spirits and performing cures. The influential father Origen (around 248), mentioned expelling evil spirits, performing many cures and foreseeing certain events. (Roberts)
John Wimber, leader of the Vineyard Movement, in his book Power Evangelism, Signs and Wonders Today, recounts many later miracles and gifts of the Spirit all the way into the early seventh century. Thus, it is false and fallacious for church leaders today or at any other time to declare that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased with the first century.
Once more, some very brave men worked hard to bring the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts back into the modern church. In the early twentieth century, Charles Parham and William Seymour were leaders and their work resulted in the great Azusa Street spiritual awakening. Other early names were William Branham, Oral Roberts, and A. A. Allen. By the 1960s the Episcopal priest, Dennis Bennett became a powerful charismatic leader in the US. There was even a strong Catholic Charismatic movement at the time.
As the Holy Spirit swept over the church in the last half of the twentieth century many brave pastors and leaders had to pay the price of expulsion from their churches. Quite a number got the right foot of disfellowship from their leadership positions in the various denominations. Even to this day Holy Spirit gifts, especially tongues, are frowned upon in many churches. Surely, considering all this, we would not let Satan steal these Spirit manifestations from us, or would we? We might ask ourselves if we are speaking in tongues like we once did, or if we are seeing healings and other miracles like we once experienced.
We might also wonder what else the devil is stealing from us today.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
It is strange indeed that we Christians seldom talk about the thing Jesus talked about most. That, of course, is the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, as it is also called. John the Baptist announced this kingdom in Matthew 3:1-2. Jesus later came into Galilee proclaiming it (Mk. 1:15). Much of Jesus’ teaching dealt with the kingdom of God, and most all of his parables pictured it (Mk. 4:30-33). The message of the kingdom was still the message of Jesus after his resurrection (Acts 1:3). It was also the message of the early apostles (Acts 8:12; 19:8).
In Matthew 24:14, Jesus makes plain that the gospel of the kingdom will again be preached to the whole world in the days just preceding the end of the age. Apparently, we have lost this aspect of the gospel in our modern and postmodern churches. Could it be possible that the devil has also stolen this very important item from us? Is that why our Christian work is often so sluggish and why so many Christians are discouraged? We need to start praying right now for the kingdom to come and for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10).
We need to shape up and recover the kingdom. God created humanity to rule for him over everything on the earth (Gen. 1:28; Psa. 8:4-8; Heb. 2:8). Adam foolishly lost that mandate through his sin and rebellion. However, Jesus gained that rulership back for us with his crucifixion and resurrection. Satan, who took over Adam’s position, and has strutted around as the prince of this world is now being driven out (Jn. 12:31). In his place Jesus has made us kings and priests to serve him on this earth. We must remember not to strut but to serve God.
Yes, the Bible says we are now kings and priests with Jesus. The Apostle Peter says: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet. 2:9 NIV). If we are kings with Jesus, it is about time that we started living like it. It is time for us to recover godly rulership and overcome the world by our faith. So many people, even Christians, are overcome by the world and its lusts. I am particularly thinking of hallucinogenic drugs, porn and such things that put so many people back into chains and slavery.
One huge thing that Satan has stolen, and something very much part of the kingdom, is the new heaven and new earth, where we will live with Jesus forever (Isa. 65:17-18; 66:22-23; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1-3). The devil has replaced this with a Greek concept of heaven. The other huge thing is the truth that Christian overcomers will reign on the new earth with Jesus during the Millennium and forever thereafter (Dan. 7:18; 1 Cor. 6:2-3; Rev. 1:6; 2:26-27; 5:10). In the end, Jesus will reign triumphantly from Jerusalem. These truths, which have been stolen, would revolutionize our theology, our churches and our Christian lives.
It is time for us to take stock and see if some of our precious things given by God are missing. Through Jesus, let us keep a keen eye out for thieves.
-Jim Gerrish
Published 2023
Michael W. Holmes, The NIV Application Commentary 1 And 2 Thessalonians, p. 207.
Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson, eds, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 214, 409. Ibid., Vol. 3, p.
91; Vol. 4, p. 415.