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Chapter TwoJob's AdversaryFirst thing we should notice is the term “sons of god.”in scripture, these words refer to men. not angels. Wesee this in Romans 8:14-17, 1 John 3:1-3, and Genesis 6:4.Another thing we see is the phrase “before the lord.”The phrase “before the lord” simply means in god’s face.Whenever we see the phrase: “BEFORE THE LORD,” thatwe are talking about in god’s face- and not about a courtroomin Heaven where angels gather. In the writing of Job “beforethe lord” could simply be men gathering "before the Lord" atthe temple (or elsewhere ) So- it is very possible we are seeingthat human adversary who is jealous of Job and tells his friends,the sons of God, that Job only prospers because God has a wallaround him and therefore is favoring Job. This human adversaryis allowed, by God, to go afflict Job as a test that will prove toJob and all who are near, that Job is serving God out of love.In the story, Job never once blames his calamity on satan. JobKnows that good and evil come at the hand of Yahweh and hemakes this abundantly clear when he admonishes his wife forher part in encouraging Job to curse God and die Job 1:21"and job said, “Naked came I out of my mother’swomb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, andthe Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”Job claimed that the lord took away all he had- yet neverblamed god foolishly. Job 1:22 "In all this Job sinned not,nor charged God foolishly."

Suffering is not necessarily punishment: “You get what youdeserve” is a universal belief, but it does not stand the testof time. Job 7:20 "God, “why have you made me your target”?Job is told in the style of writing known as "wisdom writing."One of the purposes of this writing, called AGGADAH inHebrew, it to teach us that good and evil can happen toanyone.Job experiences a series of tragic hardships. Job is now aman who suffers terribly at the capriciousness of life. He loseshis wife, beloved children and fortune. He’s also afflicted withpainful skin ailments. Proving the Satan wrong, Job refuses toforsake his belief in God, and never once curses God. Bad thingscan happen to good people. We may get sick or go blind, butthat does not mean that god is punishing us for sin somepharisees believed sickness was punishment for sin:John 9:1-3 "As he (Yeshua) went along, he saw a man blindfrom birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, thisman or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this mannor his parents sinned,” said Yeshua, “but this happened sothat the works of God might be displayed in him.Some of the pharisees said, “This man is not of God, becausehe keepeth not the sabbath.” But others asked, “How can aman that is a sinner do such miracles?” Yeshua had not brokensabbath; what he broke was the Talmudic oral laws concerningthe sabbath. Some may say it was satan who afflicted job withailments. Again, that is saying satan has god-like powers. Thatmakes him “like god” and we know “none are like god.” Thereis only one god.9

Satan only exists as a construct of Greek minded theologianswho adopt the ideas of pagan mystics. Satan is not a literalbeing. We even see David pray for satan to put an accuseragainst his enemy: Psalms 109:6 "Set over him a wickedman; let an accuser stand at his right hand." In Zechariah 3,we're given a picture of restoration: Zechariah 3:1-2 "Thenhe showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angelof the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accusehim. The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan!Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Here, satan is a manacting as an accuser. This is a man who is judging Joshua by hisappearance. This prophecy brings tremendous reassurance tothe exiles, who were living under the rule of a foreign power.Someday, a messiah would come through David's lineage,and He would rule as the King of all kings. The position ofstanding at the right side was the place of accusation accordingto the law. Interestingly, Yeshua is sitting at the right side of thefather. the right side "is a special place of honor."Chapter ThreeThe Yetzer HaraIn Hebrew, the term Satan is usually translated as “opponent”or “adversary,” and is often understood to represent the sinfulimpulse (in Hebrew, Yetzer Hara), more generally, the naturethat prevents human beings from submitting to divine will.

Genesis 3 begins: "Now the serpent was more crafty thanany of the wild animals the Lord God had made." This meansthat God created the serpent. And everything He created wasgood. Since the serpent was more crafty or 'arum' than anyother creature, we know that it had the greatest imaginationto do evil. This creature is the evil inclination of the man andwoman.John 8:44 says that satan was a murderer from the beginning,But satan doesn't sound like something or someone who wasever good; nor does he sound like someone who started off asan angel in Heaven (unless he was a murderer in Heaven aswell). The obvious problem with the talking serpent is that wedon't really experience talking snakes in the world today.When god had cursed the serpent, he did not remove thepower of speech or intelligence. If the snake could speak andconvince Eve to sin, then in what unique in his 'divine image.'The usage of the metaphor of a snake alludes to maximumdamage with minimum visibility, for we often give something aname reminiscent of something familiar. For example: a kingmay be called a "lion" and one's enemies may be described as"snakes." Scripture is written in parables, metaphors, allegoriesand idioms. Adam and Eve had very powerful imaginativefaculties, more than any other creature, propelling them withimages of pleasure, to the seat of desire Thus the snake is theimagination of the woman, her evil inclination.11

Adam had a single command, but it was exactly of thatcommand that became the object of Eve's desire. She managedto convince herself that she was victimized, by God restrictingher so much that she managed to persuade herself that thecommands were simply God protecting Himself; and in theend, the forbidden became so enticing that no obstacleremained standing in the path of sin. Man, by eating from thetree, introduced a new dimension into his mortal thinking thathad not existed previously. Until then, all that existed wasGod's will. Then, man's will took center stage the snake, theYetzer Hara, became internalized and Adam's moral sensebecame relative.Genesis 3:1 says "And the serpent was (deceitful, void,naked) meaning naked, devoid, frivolous or deceitful fromamong the creatures of the field which was made by Elohim.Therefore, the serpent was not actually "cunning" or crafty,but was a deceitful farce, an empty, naked promise. Then, inGenesis 3:15, God curses the serpent and concludes bydescribing the eternal battle between humanity- and to thesnake (the evil inclination), he (man) will pound your head andyou (the snake) will bite his heel. In order for human beings tohave free will and truly fulfill their destiny of having beencreated in God's image, there must be a force within the fabricof creation to seduce, tempt, and try humans in order that theygrow and evolve through trial and error. This inner force is aman's yetzer. The serpent is our yetzer.12

Eve was led astray by her appetite, desires and will. Rebellionis as the sin of divination and presumption is as iniquity andidolatry. This is one reason why death was decreed on manafter sin. Human beings were no longer completely purecreatures.The root of the word "yetzer" is "to create" and refers to howa person's drive demands them to meet "needs" at anyparticular time. Since the evil inclination is within our verybeings, it is much harder for us to resist it. Man wouldhenceforeth have two voices within him- and with muchdifficulty, have to discern which is the voice of goodness andwhich is the voice of evil. This "evil inclination" is comparable tothe "heart of stone" idea we find in Ezekiel. The yetzer hara isnot a demonic force, but rather- man's misuse of things thephysical body needs to survive For example: the need for foodbecomes gluttony and the need for procreation becomes sexualabuse, and so on. Humans are born with a yetzer ra but humansdo not acquire a yetzer tov- or "a good inclination” until the ageof maturity.The Bible states that every person succumbs to his evilinclination: For there is not a righteous man upon earth, thatdoeth good, and sinneth not. (Ecclesiastes 7:20)We are created in god’s image because we are given a yetzerhara. God gave us a yetzer that enables us to recognize theCreator as an angel would, and Proverbs 27:20 states: God'scandle is the human soul 13

God created us in a body which is like unto a beast, to eat anddrink and sleep. As a result, great battles wage within us all ourdays. Man was created for the purpose of drawing close toGod. When we give in to our evil inclinations, we fall away fromgod. How do we explain the cursing of the serpent if theserpent is not a fallen angel called “satan” but rather an evilinclination? Genesis 3:14 "So the Lord cursed the serpent:because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestockand every beast of the field! On your belly you will go, and dustyou will eat, all the days of your life."Chapter FourCursing the YetzerWhen the serpent was told to go, he was told to go on hisbelly meaning to seek out his own gratification and to indulgein his carnal appetite. other verses shed light of this phrase“crawling on the belly.” Romans 16:18 "For such people are notserving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talkand flattery they deceive the minds of naive people."Philippians 3:19 "Their destiny is destruction, their god is theirstomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set onearthly things." We see in these two verses that when one goeson their belly, they are gratifying and indulging their carnalappetites. So what does "eating dust" mean?14

Those who lick up the dust are the ones who fight againstYahweh. These are the ones who have rebellion in their hearts.To eat dust means to be in rebellion to Yah. Isaiah 49:23 "Kingswill be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursingmothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to theground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will knowthat I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not bedisappointed.” When the serpent was told that he would eatthe dust- and go forth on his belly, it meant he was going forthseeking his own pleasure in rebellion to God. The Yetzer Haraor the evil in man is rebellion and he seeks his own pleasure.man's nature became one of rebellion and sin. God cursedman's inclinations and pleasures. He cursed man's yetzer, andman's nature became one of sin. A literal, supernatural satancannot be connected to the serpent in Genesis.The Yetzer Hara is constantly ready to entrap a person intodoing wrong and then goes to prosecute him in the spiritualworld. This is the meaning of the verse "Sin [in Hebrew,'chatat'] crouches at the door, ready to pounce." (Genesis4:7) What is it that crouches, waiting to pounce, as soon as aperson emerges from his mother into this world? It is the YetzerHara. King David also refers to the Yetzer Hara as "Chatat", ashe says, "And my sins [chatati] are always before me" (Psalms51:5). The Yetzer Hara is constantly ready, every day, to cause aperson to do wrong in the eyes of God, and he doesn't leave aperson from the time he is born.15

If one decides to purify himself and return to his spiritualroots, then the Yetzer Hara submits to the Yetzer Tov, and theinclination to do good rules over the inclination to do bad. Bothof them join together by mutual agreement to guard theperson from doing bad wherever he goes. This is why the versesays, "He will give command of His angels to you, to look afteryou wherever you will go." The angels referred to are the twoinclinations and when a person decides to strengthen his goodinclination over his bad inclination then the bad inclination,even against its will, says "Amen."We might picture a devil dressed in red, complete with hornsand tail, sitting above our left shoulder and whispering badadvice in our ear. But in real life, it is our passions and desiresthat we are hearing, and our heart is the one doing thewhispering.1 Samuel 29:4 " He must not go down with us into battleonly to become our adversary (satan) during the war."Here,satan is a man called Achish. The Philistines were angry withhim and did not trust him in battle. Again- this satan is a man,and not a cosmic being or fallen angel.Chapter FiveDemons, Demoniacs & Ailments (Oh My)In scripture, demons were seen as illnesses, ailments, diseaseand even false Beliefs. They were never meant to be seen assupernatural beings. Those who were possessed by these“demons” were called ‘demoniacs.’

We are now about to move into the New Testament writings,keeping in mind that no supernatural being called Satan wasestablished in the Tanakh or Old Testament- the foundation ofall scripture.The first mention of 'Satan' in the New Testament is inMatthew: Matthew 4:1 "Then was Yeshua led up of the Spiritinto the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." Matthew 4:5"Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and settethhim on a pinnacle of the temple." Matthew 4:8 "Again, thedevil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, andsheweth him all the kingdoms of the world." Matthew 4:10"Then saith Yeshua unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it iswritten, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him onlyshalt thou serve."The word for devil is diablos which means a slanderer; aFalse accuser, or one who unjustly critics someone. In Luke,It was after the 40 days of fasting when this tempting came toYeshua. Then we see the temper come to him Did you know that the scribes and pharisees liked to test mento see if they were a worthy candidate for messiah? And didyou know that 9 times in the Gospels, we find the religiousleaders "tempting" the messiah. There was actually a group ofpharisees who tested candidates claiming to be the messiah.One of these Rabbidic tests was the messiah turning stone intobread. These tempters take Yeshua up to the pinnacle of theHoly City. They said if you are the Son of God, cast yourselfdown this was another Rabbidic test for the messiah.17

Next,Yeshua was shown all the kingdoms of the world thepharisees had a great empire and he could be part of theirmovement if he (Yeshua) would join them, he could thenbecome great also.They asked Yeshua to come on board with their ideas andphilosophies to join them and to become a great leader intheir empire. Yeshua then says 'get behind me satan.'Remember, he also called Peter a satan. Peter was acting forthe things of man rather than the things of God this is whatan adversary is. Satan is a man who is for the things of man.That is what a satan is. Matthew 9:33 "And when the devil wascast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled,saying, It was never so seen in Israel.Did demons cause men to be blind and mute? Exodus 4:11"The Lord said to him, 'Who gave human beings their mouths?Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight ormakes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" Demons are physicalailments. they are not evil spirits. The Greek word for "demon"has taken a very different meaning today than it had in Christ'stime. As importantly, the Greek word for "demon" seems tohave had a different meaning in the NT than it had generally inGreek history. The Greek word daimonion does not mean"demon" as an "evil spirit,"much less the "devil" in Greek. TheGreek word daimonion means: divinity, divine power, a lowerdivine being. It is not a negative term. Quite the opposite. As anadjective, it meant: miraculous, and marvelous, not "demonic."On the spiritual side, it refers to "visitations of heaven" andthe "ways of the gods."

If the Christ story was being written today, it would be filledwith stories referring to people with "addictions", "troubledminds", "schizophrenia", "mental disorders," and, especially,"delusions." To the Jews, the Greek "gods" were false, falseideas, delusions. Being possessed by them was to be deluded.From that small step, the term became a general term formental disorders. Remember, they didn't have our ownvocabulary for these idea. The pharisees believed that theseailments were demon possessions (or possessed by greekgods). Today, we talk about people fighting against theirinternal demons and we do this in the context of discussingmental disorders. Yeshua uses the Greek terms "spirit","demon," and "devil, to respond to people who used thesesame terms to describe the afflictions that they saw.In other words, Christ is using their own terms to talk topeople about how the world as they described it. In using theirterms, he wasn't endorsing those terms or their world-view asmuch as he communicating in the language of the people.Mental disorders and this self-medication has been going onthroughout human history. Indeed, to the degree that it isimpossible to separate the disease from the treatment.Much of alcoholism and illegal drug use today, while seen as"demons" in themselves, are also thought to be self-medicationfor undiagnosed mental disorders. in less enlightened times,would have been described as being possessed by demons.19

Matthew 25:41 "Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Departfrom Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire preparedfor the devil and his angels." Here, Yeshua is speaking aboutfeeding the hungry, clothing the naked and giving drink to thethirsty.He then, says that those who did not help others were theones who did not help him either saying "Inasmuch as ye didit not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me."The expression "into everlasting fire" is a translation of theGreek text "eis to pur to aionion." It means something like "intothe age-lasting fire." This is a verse about the fate of certainpeople; it is not a verse about the fate of Satan. And ‘for thedevil and his angels’ in Matthew 25:41 refers to the falseteachers, false beliefs and those who follow them.Chapter SixSatan FallingLuke 10:18 "So He (Yeshua) said to them, “I saw satan falllike lightning from heaven.” Does the context of Luke 10 reallysupport Yeshua talking about how he saw satan fall fromHeaven? Yeshua knew that when the disciples went out, thatfalse teachers would receive the truth, and false doctrineswould fall in the face of true doctrines. Luke 10 starts outssaying: 'And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the Heavens?No, you will go down to Hades." Look at Capernaum why is itin Heaven and is it being thrust to hell? Because it is talkingabout Capernaum's kingdom. It was going to fall.

Yeshua is telling the disciples they will encounter people whowill like what they teach or despise them when he says:'Whoever listens to you, listens to me; whoever rejects you,rejects Him who sent me."When Yeshua said the adversary fell like lightning, he wasusing a metaphor. Satan falling like lightning was a metaphorfor the fall of Capernaum. we also see other metaphors for thewords: snakes, scorpions a

In Islam, the devil is known as Shaytan and, like the Devil in Christianity, is also thought to have rebelled against God. In Buddhism, Maara is the demon that tempted Buddha away from his path of enlightenment. Like Christianity [s Jesus resisted the Devil