99Relapses Podcast Episode #10 Part I- Show Transcripts

 

 

Hi, I’m James Egidio. Welcome to the 99 relapses podcast. The podcast that moves you from recovery to discovery. Through the grace and mercy of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. This is episode number 10, part one titled Satan does not want you sober. In this episode I will discuss. Who is Satan and how he plays a role in your addiction.

I devoted for two part episodes. Episodes number 10 and 11 Satan Does Not Want You Sober! and episodes number 12 and 13. Satan’s Worldly Strategies. I feel that this series of podcasts are important for two reasons. And that is number one to expose Satan as a real person or being, and how he plays a role in your addiction. And number two provide awareness about who Satan is through biblical principles when confronted with an out of control addiction. It’s important for you to know who Satan is and what his strategies are and to win a battle and ,addiction is a battle that is, spiritual battle, the best strategy is to know who your enemy is. And in this case, it is Satan.

Some facts about Satan is, Satan does not want you sober, he wants you addicted, he wants you lonely, angry, hopeless, homeless and at the bottom of the barrel and separated as far away as possible from God. Satan wants to be your God. Satan is real and Satan is a person. Satan is your foe and not your friend, and Satan is out to deceive through lies, he’s out to divide and he’s out to destroy you.

Satan instills fear. He instills doubt and worry in order to control you, and finally Satan works overtime 24 hours a day, seven days a week to attack you. So you’re probably asking yourself with all that being said, What’s the best way to deter Satan and keep him away from me, and one of the verses that comes to my mind about protecting me and placing the hedge of protection around me. And I loved the ones and all those out there from Satan comes from Ehpesians 6:10-18 and it’s written by the apostle Paul and he says a final word. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil for, we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies. But against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world. Against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore put on every piece of God’s armor. So you’ll be able to resist the enemy. In time of evil. Then after the battle, you will be standing firm. Stand your ground putting on the belt of truth. And the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes put on the peace that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet and take the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. Pray on the spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

When I read that verse the things that come to mind that are so important in that verse, is, the praying on the spirit at all times and staying alert. Those are two of the most important things when it comes to and it’s spiritual attack by Satan.

And the visualization I get of that is a warrior someone who is putting on this armor to protect themselves from these attacks because Satan is unpredictable and he’s deceptive and when I say is that predictable he’s unpredictable in the sense that a lot of people are not aware of his tactics at all and that’s why they’re deceived.

Another verse that I wanted to share with you comes from James 4:7-8 which reads. So humble yourselves before God and resist the devil and he will flee from you come close to God and God will come close to you.

And what we must always remember is that despite how deceptive Satan is, Jesus Christ is more powerful than Satan.

Some interesting facts about how Christians view Satan comes from a Barna poll found that four out of 10 Christians are 40%. Strongly agree that Satan is not a living being, but a symbol of evil and that’s interesting because you would think that Christians in churches would make people more aware of Satan being deceptive and deceiving. What’s even more interesting. Is it an additional 2 out of 10 Christians or 19% said they agree somewhat. The minority of Christians indicated they believe Satan is real by disagreeing with the statement. One quarter or 26% disagreed, strongly and 9% disagree somewhat and the remaining 8% were not sure what they believe about the existence of Satan.

So now the question is with all that being said, Who is Satan? And as I said, at the beginning of this podcast is. When you’re in a battle. And again, addiction is a spiritual battle. It’s always best to know who your enemy is. And then, like I said, in this case, it’s Satan. And as a Christian. Who’s involved with helping people get through addiction and especially an out of control addiction it’s important for you to know who Santan is and what his strategies are and it’s important to arm yourself against the enemy and take off your spiritual blinders and open up yourself to Jesus Christ and move closer to him.

But one of the most important attributes of Satan which makes him so cunning and sneaky is that. He doesn’t want to be identified or revealed. Most people who you talk to in the street would envision Satan as a creature with horns, fork tail and clove and feet with a Pitchfork. And of course, this is the mythological or Hollywood version of Satan. And there are many faces of Satan. And I’ll talk about that further in episodes number 12 and 13, I’ll actually cover in detail his worldly strategies and how he sneaks himself and wedges his way into your life and distracts you and divides you in deceives you and how he instills fear and doubt and worry and these strategies play an important role in your faith in God and in your sobriety when you’re struggling with an addiction. And of course ignorance of his motives and movement are Satan’s main weapons this is why he appears as a serpent in the garden of Eden. And this is also the reason why only one out of 10 people on the streets say that Saint is a reality the other nine, believed that he’s merely a myth.

And I would say that Satan has done an exceptional job of making you and me and everybody else, the average person on the street believe that he doesn’t exist, including Christians, such as ourselves, especially and Most people are unaware of Satan’s devices. And that pretty much sums up the whole world and this is actually illustrated in the Bible in Revelation 12:9 which reads. This great dragon, the ancient serpent called the devil or Satan. The one deceiving the whole world was throwing down to. The earth with all his angels. And sane is known as the great deceiver he’s in the business of deception.

So when the apostle Paul preaches, Timothy even warns him. 1 Timothy 3:13 verse 13, which reads. But even evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse. Deceiving and being deceived.

So you can see how this is happening in the times that we live in, especially now the world is You well know, especially in the last two years has been carrying on a racket of seeing who can deceive who, and who can take advantage of who and this is the Satanic system that exists today in this world and even in the beginning, and like I said, in episode number 11, which is the next episode I I’ll discuss in depth as to how Satan wedges his way into the world and obvious and not so obvious ways.

For now I’m going to take a short commercial break. And when I come back. I’ll talk a little bit more about. Who is Satan? 📍

Okay, welcome back to the 99 relapses podcast. This episode, number 10. Satan does not want you sober. This is part one. I spoke in the first half of this podcast episode about how one of the greatest attributes that Santan has is that he’s very deceptive and cunning and sneaky and has ways of coming into our lives, especially when we’re experiencing an out of control addiction of being able to wedge his way in without us even knowing that he even exists. And I was talking about who Satan is and some of his characteristics and how Christians, us as Christians view Satan, or actually don’t view Satan, or don’t perceive Satan to be a real person.

And I had mentioned that he is a real person and he doesn’t have your best interest in any part of your life at all whatsoever. So now I want to just continue and finish up this First episode of Satan Does Not Want You Sober, which is a two-part. Series and I want to talk a little bit about and I did talk a little bit about how you can see what has happening in the times that we live in now and as the world, as we know it. And especially in the last two years, Where Satan as carrying on his racket and seeing who can deceive who and who can take advantage of who and this is, of course, the Satanic system that exists today and even in the beginning.

And I wanted to share a verse that comes from 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 and it reads. If the good news we preach is hidden behind the veil it is hidden only from people who are perishing, Satan, who is the God of this world. Has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe they are now unable to see the glorious light of the good news. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

And, as you can see, in this world today, if you read between the lines and you use it, you’re discerning spirit, which I spoke about in previous podcast episodes. Satan has done and continues to blind the minds of people concerning the gospel and this is not just in the world itself, but this is he’s even infiltrating churches. Christian churches that is. With these feel-good prosperity messages and it and preaching and compromising and conforming to the world. A lot of these churches conforming the compromise to the worldly ways and they’re not preaching the gospel. They’re not preaching the good news they’re not preaching repentance not preaching, going to the cross and asking for forgiveness and they’re not preaching the fact that we’re sinners and I devoted to previous podcast episodes Is Addiction Sin? And addiction is sin. And this is where Satan makes his way into the church and he puts his foot in the door and he allows us to compromise, like I say, with the worldly ways. And we don’t. We take this half-hearted approach towards our faith. And it’s all about feeling and not faith. And that’s a very dangerous ground to get into and a very dangerous place to be in your faith. We have to be all in in our faith. And in fact the Church of Laodicea I’m not sure if I’m saying that correctly talks about that in Revelation. About compromising our faith. And it goes. Like this, it says In Revelation 3:14-21

Jesus says, write this letter to the angel of the church, Laodicea. This is the message from the one. Who was the amen. The faithful and true witness. The beginning of God’s new creation. I know all the things you do that you are neither hot or cold. I wish that you were one , or the other. But since you are Luke warm water, neither hot nor cold. I will spit you out of my mouth. You say, I am rich I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing. And you don’t realize that you’re wretched. And miserable and poor and blind and naked. So I advise you to buy gold from me. Gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness and ointment for your eyes. So you will be able to see. I correct. And discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. Look, I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will share a great meal together as friends. Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne. Just as I was victorious and sat with my father on his throne. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

What we have to realize after reading that is that we’re being deceived and we’re being drowned out by the good news with all the distractions and deception that Saint is throwing at us each and every day. Those fiery arrows that I read in the full armor of God. And what we have to do is we have to stay vigilant, we have to stay aware, we have to stay awake that Satan continues to blind our minds. Concerning this gospel and he’s in, like I said, he’s infiltrating these churches.

And what we have to realize that the God of this world is the name used for Satan, and he’s blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they will not believe the glorious gospel of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and like I said, at the beginning of this podcast, Satan is working overtime time. People don’t believe the Bible. You’ll be able to get past your addiction through your own efforts that’s what he’s always telling you he’s always saying you can do it. It’s self-reliance it’s your willpower, you could do it on your own. You don’t need anybody, but yourself. And let me tell you something. This is a lie straight out of hell. There’s no question about it. This is straight out of hell. And what a lot of people don’t realize even Christians alike is that in this world. There’s two classifications of angels. There’s angels obedient to God and there’s angels that belong to Satan.

And that was revealed in Revelations 12:7-9 which reads. Then there was, war in heaven, Michael and his agent angels fought against the dragon and his angels and the dragon lost the battle. And he. He and his angels were forced out of heaven. This great dragon, the ancient serpent called the devil or Satan. The one. Deceiving the whole world was thrown down to the earth with all his angels

Satan as a fallen angel. Who has 40 names in one verse alone Satan is described four different ways. In Revelation 12:9 it reads, so the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth. His angels were cast out with him.

And Satan is referred to in the Bible with several different names. In fact he’s referred to as the serpent in the garden of Eden. He’s re referred to as Satan, which means adversary. He’s referred to as the devil from the Greek word Diabolos which means slander or accuser. He’s referred to as Apolline and real Revelation 9:1, which means destroyer.

He’s referred as Belial in 2 Corinthians 6:15, which means worthless and lawless. And he’s referred to as Beelzebub in Mark 3:22. And in fact, in 1 Peter 5:8 reads be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil works like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

And Satan, of course is personally described by Jesus in John 8:44. And it reads you are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father. You want to do, he was a murderer from the beginning. And does not stand in truth. Because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources for he is a liar and the father of it.

When we think of Satan, As a frightful fearful being. Which most people do. Like I said, they envisioned him from a Hollywood perspective of the cloven feet and the, the Pitchfork and the horns and the tail. But that’s what most people envision him to be. But when it comes to Satan, he’s described in 2 Corinthians 11:14 is as, but I’m not surprised even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

If you could see him. You would agree that he is the most beautiful creature you’ve ever seen and that’s the reason why sin is so attractive is because Satan is deceptive and Satan is sin. Satan is in the midst of things today that are considered the best things in life, such as money and power and status.

So what we have to be cognizant of and aware of is the fact that. Satan and waves these shiny things at you and knows exactly how to push your buttons. And. The thing that keep in mind is you don’t have to go down to skid row to find him at work. He’s right there. Trying to destroy your 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

With. His worldly ways. And I’ll go into more depth in episodes number 11, 12, and 13. On this. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the 99 relapses podcast. And I’d like to close out this episode with a prayer.

Heavenly father. We just give you so much. Thanks and praise, Lord. We just thank you so much Lord for each and every day that you give us that you give us strength and courage. You place a hedge of protection around us each and every day. We thank you so much for your son. Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior, who you brought here in a physical body, and he’d be sacrificed at the cross.

And Lord, as I continue to pray. We just ask that you provide us with the discerning spirit and the strength and the courage. That the enemy is out there to attack us 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He’s deceptive and he’s cunning and he’s sneaky and he’s evil and he’s always attacking us. And we know that we have to continue to put on the full armor of God to protect us.

And come to the cross and repent, ask for forgiveness. But also ask for that. Like I say, that strength and that courage that the enemy is the air to attack us. And to want us addicted, but we know that the strength that comes from Jesus Christ alone is overcomes all that is more powerful than anything that Satan can throw at us and that we just have to continue to stay in your word Lord. Let’s continue to dig our heels into. The word and know that we get our strength and Courage only from your son Jesus Christ and again I thank you so much in your son’s name Jesus Christ Amen.

Again, I want to thank you so much for listening to this episode of the 99 relapses podcast. For current podcast episodes, episode show notes, episode memory verses as well as episode recovery, lessons and tools. Go to 99 relapses.org. That’s the number 99 relapses.org. Also, if you would like prayer requests for yourself, family or friends. Please do not hesitate to send me your prayer request. If you have an interesting story to share about how God changed your life through addiction and recovery. are an expert in the field of Christian addiction and recovery, have published a book, have a Christian addiction and recovery podcast or website and you would like to promote it on the 99 relapses podcast. Please email me any time by going to 99 relapses.org. That’s the number 99 relapses.org and go to the contact page to message me. I will respond within 24 to 48 hours. Finally. The 99 relapses podcast is nonprofit 501c3 ministry and a donation in any amount would be much appreciated in order to get God’s word out during these perilous times when confronted with an out of control addiction. All proceeds, go towards covering expenses for the production of the podcast, content creation, the podcast, as well as the maintenance of the website. Thank you so much again and God Bless