The Accuser's Role

The dusty idea we want to examine on this post is the role Satan plays in the scheme of things.

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man: but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death. 
(Jas 1:12-15)

Temptation is a subject that has been sometimes misunderstood.


And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.  (Gen 22:1 KJV)

Do these two readings from James and Genesis contradict each other? 

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.  (1Co 10:13 KJV)

Isn't it great that God knows how much you can take when it comes to temptation. He knows us better than we know ourselves, or are willing to admit to. I know I feel that way 99% of the time, give or take 1%. He knows how much we can carry around, or lift. He knows our capacity. Went to my doctors office this week and they've built a brand new building. I noticed they had an elevator there with a sign on it, "Capacity 1500 lbs." How did the manufacturer know that elevator could only safely lift 1500 lbs. At some point the elevator had to be tested. At some time during the proving of this elevator someone had to put 1500 lbs on it to see if it would handle it when it received that much weight. You don't really know how much temptation you can handle for sure until you are tested or proved by God. Some of us probably can't take very much, way below our capacity. God expects you to at least carry your own capacity. Using this illustration of the elevator, would you expect the elevator to perform 100% of the time when it is within it's capacity of 1500 lbs.? Of course you would and God expects us to be able to carry our capacity of temptation. God may allow 1500 lbs of temptation to get on you and stay on you, but you see that's within your limit. According to 1 Cor. 10:13 he will make a way for us to bear the temptations if we look for the way out. You see even in the most righteous people we may know of, or heard of, an internal civil war is going on. We don't need to get temptation confused. There are two kinds of temptations, the tempting like Abraham endured at God's hands and the tempting that Satan, our accuser uses on us.

When God tests us, He's trying to see if we will let the good things he has put in us come out. He never tempts us with evil. When Satan tempts us he's not trying to get us to do evil for evil's sake, he's trying to prove you have evil in you and you're willing to let it out. Satan is the accuser of mankind. His name in Hebrew "ha-satan" literally means the opposer or the accuser.  He likes nothing better than pointing to us and accusing us of the sin that does so easily beset us. Jesus is our advocate on one side and the accuser points to us from the other side.

So we see the readings at the first of this post from James and Genesis do not contradict each other. The crown of life we are seen receiving in James 1:12 is exemplified in Genesis 22 when Abraham is tested of God. So we see what the accuser's role is, just as men and women, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit all have their roles.

How does Satan play out his role?

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.  (2Co 11:3 KJV)

Two words we need to focus on in this verse. Those words are "any means". What are the "any means"? Well the any means for you and I and everyone else is probably different. Whatever your desires are, that's Satan's means to tempt the evil out of you.


For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.  (1Th 3:5 KJV)

Almost identical two words here in this passage. Paul writes that the tempter uses "some means" to tempt us.  Using our greatest desires as bait to entrap us.


But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.  (Jas 1:14 KJV)

We're going to take this from a fisherman's point of view. Does it make any difference what kind of fish you want to catch as to what kind of bait you want to use? Of course it can make a difference. Satan has a hook with your name on it and he knows what kind of bait it takes to entice you. The worm that is on the hook may not be bait all the time. In fact the worm off of the hook and out there for the fish to eat is a blessing from God. For an example, last December 25th was a Sunday and we saw groups of people proclaiming Christianity cancel services because of Christmas. People wanted to open presents, travel, be with families and just generally enjoy the day without having to go to church. Were these things inherently wrong in themselves? No, it's not wrong to open presents, travel and be with families, but when Satan puts that worm on his hook and dangles it in front of you, it entices you and brings about sin. We need to know the difference between blessings from God and bait on a hook.

Desire is amoral, it comes with this body. The desire itself is neither right or wrong. You see if you are led by desire you become a creature of instinct. A dog for instance, if it has a notion to do something people would consider private, a dog doesn't care who's watching no matter what he's doing. The dog is acting on instinct. If you get to acting on instinct alone (If it feels good do it) you will have no discretion at that point. Have you ever seen and heard people get loud and curse and make movements with their bodies as if no one was around, (watched any TV lately) or at least they didn't care who was around. These people have started acting on instinct alone, as brute beasts (Jude 1:10).

 The acting upon a desire is where Satan dangles his bait and hooks you and sin results and if left unchecked spiritual death results.

Satan is patient, he doesn't care so much if he gets your fast, as long as he gets you good. If you break the line or break a hook, Satan has plenty more.

II Timothy 2:15

Dusty idea is that we have to study to gain knowledge of God's Word.

In my lifetime I've noticed a trend. It's possible that it's been there longer than that but I wouldn't know. I hear people saying that they feel like the scriptures in the Bible mean this or that. Like the Holy Spirit is moving through them in some physical way to help them understand or even give new meaning to the Word of God. It's like these people are saying the Word of God is too hard to understand. I need divine help in reading and understanding the Bible.

There is a chain of authority in life. We understand it in our earthly lives. In a business setting there are several types of positions. First there are the owners. The owners wouldn't be characterized as laborers, they own the business and if you want to receive the pay or rewards you have to follow the rules and work hard. The owners are in a class all by themselves by shear virtue of being the owners, creators of the business the workers are engaged in. Then next in the chain of authority are the workers. This includes everybody else from managers to laborers. Then the unemployed. The unemployed aren't working for the company, so there is no reward or payment coming to them.

We should also understand in our spiritual lives there is a chain of authority found in the Old and New Testament. Genesis 1:1, in the beginning God created... There you have the owner, all authority naturally goes to the owner of anything. We're the managers (Christians, Overseers, Elders), and laborers (Christians). People that aren't working for God are unemployed, no reward.

In finding our spiritual authorities we find God giving his Son Jesus all authority in heaven and earth Matthew 28:18, Phil 2:9-11, 1 Peter 3:22. So the authority was passed over to Christ. Christ gave authority to the apostles John 17: 6, 18, Matthew 28:18-20. They were inspired through the Holy Spirit. What they wrote was authorized by God. No authority has ever been given to anyone else as a chain of authority, Matthew 19:28, 1 Corinthians 4:9.

So the gold standard remains the Bible. Written by the apostles and inspired men. No matter what vision or revelation someone is claiming to have. No matter if you have a pastor that tells you God was speaking to him or the Holy Spirit is speaking to him in a certain way, outside the Bible. The Bible is the final authority. The apostles aren't here anymore. That's why the apostle Paul wrote in  2 Timothy 2:15 to STUDY to show thyself approve a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. If the Holy Spirit is going to come and give you what the Bible says miraculously why did all the authors of the Bible waste their time? There is no miraculous revealing to people of what the scriptures say. We have to study to gain that knowledge. We can pray for wisdom, but if we never crack open a Bible we'll never have the knowledge.

1. Know who wrote the Epistle/Book/Letter.
2. Know who it was written to.
3. Know why it was written to them.
4. Put scriptures and doctrine in its proper context.
5. Read all scripture in the proper context of all these things. This point CANNOT be over stressed.

Someone might say, "Do you really mean that God would allow me to be taught by a false teacher?" Yes, God will allow you to be taught by a false teacher. Cherry picking verses from the Bible to prove a point is a major flaw in Bible interpretation.  An open mind and a closed Bible at the same time can be a dangerous thing. Revelation 2:2, Jesus was writing through John to the church at Ephesus. They had tried teachers in their midst and found him to be a liars. Did God allow the church at Ephesus to have false teachers come and teach a false doctrine? Yes, He did and expected them to check what these teachers said with what had been taught by the apostles, the golden standard.

THE Mistake

There's a big event coming up.

What did you think of when you read that?

Well, if you're a big sports fan you might have thought of any number of things that might be coming up. The Super-Bowl, World Series, World Cup Soccer, maybe a big concert event like Bonnaroo. Maybe you're getting married soon, or have a child on the way.

The big event that no one will miss is the Judgment Day.

Dusty idea is that the judgement day is the greatest event of your existence and what takes place there is everlasting. (2 Peter 3:7-12) (Matt. 25:31-46)(I Thessalonians 4:13-18)

If you ask people what event they are looking forward to within the next year you'll get a lot of answers. If you think for one minute we're not an event driven society, look around you. We also strive for what we term Higher Education so we can attend an event called graduation. Do we have the wrong focus on what event is the most important? How would you decide what the most important focus should be on?

Something that is going to last forever should probably take center stage over something that isn't.

While I understand we need some focus on education, I would still maintain that it shouldn't be our main focus. If education gets in the way of serving God or doing his will, the education focus just needs to suffer.

Sports is something of a temporary nature even for the avid watcher. You name the sport it doesn't matter. When you leave this life or the end comes, sports is over. Music is the same way, no matter how much music you listen to or concerts you attend when time ends, its over.

Marriage is temporary and is only for this world Luke 20:35 says that the people that obtain heaven "neither marry, nor are given in marriage." Marriage ends at the end of this world or at death. There are a lot of things we could talk about being temporary and are just here while the earth stands. I don't have the time or the space to list them all. I list these so you can get the tone of what I'm trying to say.

Not having the end of time as the main event you are preparing for is THE eternal mistake. If you've ever wondered what the mistake is you just can't afford to make, this is it.

Colossians 3:2, "Set your minds on things that are above, and not on things that are on earth." (ESV)

How Fossils Form

Science News January 28, 2006

New science for dating fossils. Dusty idea is over 200 years old, that fossils don't have to be millions of years old. The link above goes to a report quoting the article from Science News magazine. Direct quote from Science News, "That information may lead to more-accurate interpretations of the fossil record and reveal new views of ancient creatures and their environments." Article written by Do-While Jones, link goes to a page on his website.

Becoming sensitive to sin

Dusty idea today is we should seek sensitivity to sin.  Dusty ideas took a break while I was gathering information for a Bible class I was trying to teach during the winter quarter. I'll try to get back on track with a post from time to time now.


Have we allowed this culture and society to soften our responses to the sins we encounter? The prevailing problem I see around me in today's society and culture is the lack of a "sin allergy". People just don't have that allergic reaction to sin that was once prevalent in the American Society. It's hard for me to express how important I think this topic is right now. Immorality is rampant. We are bombarded with immorality, nudity, premarital sex, adultery, casual sex, lewd dancing, drinking alcohol in excess, and people in general just going pleasure mad. There is also vile language, lack of respect for elders, and parents. All this from a box we brought into our house and most of us pay money to watch, TV. 


The movie industry has sought to desensitize us to sin. I have encountered people on occasion that will tell me that this movie or that movie is OK to go see because it's rated PG, or PG13. Let me say that these movies aren't rated by God or the Bible. This is a man made rating, from the people that are trying to desensitize you to the likes of harlotry and homosexuality. I've been told that just merely knowing  what you're going to be going to see and deciding that it isn't going to affect you is sufficient to combat this kind of desensitizing. This doesn't fit well with something I call the "Two Ways".

"Two Ways"

There are two directions to look at with any situation. There's the way God's wants us to take then there's something else. You pick the something else. If it's not going toward God it's the wrong way. The longer we look down the wrong path and the longer you look in that direction the more its going to become the "norm". Example of this would be as follows. Someone has made us mad in some way. Instead of deciding to handle this God's way we decide to sit and stew and think about how we didn't like that. We keep thinking about this and looking at it from the revenge perspective. Soon the longer we look at it from the revenge point of view, the more that seems the normal thing. Same way with watching evil being played out, vile language and the like. The more we put ourselves in the same area, on purpose, with this type of behavior the more it will desensitize us to sin.


If you are trying to be like God you need to love what he loves and hate what he hates. If God hates it you don't need to be around it.

Satanic Lie #2 - Victim

It's a dusty idea that I'm responsible for myself and no other person or group of people can make you do the things you do.

Satanic lie # 2 - You are and will always be a victim. To be pitied and accommodated by everyone you come in contact with. You're the wounded one and everyone needs to cater to you. Your every whim needs to be accommodated, and if its not everybody is going to know it. 

In John 5, the man at the pool of Bethesda, was asked if he wanted to be made well. I've often wondered about that question. Some people might consider that a silly or rhetorical question. Of course I want to be healed! Is that what the man would say? He didn't just say "yes", he started with reason or excuses why he hasn't been healed yet. Some people don't want to be healed, that would stop the pity party, so Jesus asked him if he wanted to stop the pity party, stop getting the attention and follow him and serve others. Some people are in need of being healed by Jesus in a spiritual way. And a lot of us have been healed from sin and are still laying at the gate. As long as we can lay at the gate and be a victim of whatever it is we've been healed of spiritually, we don't have to get up and walk and take our share of the load. If we stop being a victim what would we be? Some of us don't understand what we'd be, because its never occurred to us that we might not be a victim any more.

Satanic Lie #1 - Repentance

It's a dusty idea that that little voice in the back of your head that you call common sense sometimes is really just the devil talking to you.

Satanic lie #1: You can't change. There's no use in you repenting of the things you want to stop doing. You're just going to do them again and you've said over and over again, "This is the last time I'm ever going to do this." You just wound up doing it again. Don't go up there and try to say you can stop, then you'll just be lying to God.

This is a lie, you can change and God can change you. Even while you are doing the things you do and think you have your closest friends and dearest relative tricked. They know you need a change in your life.

II Corinthians 7:10 - For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. (ESV)

True repentance has to be motivated by how you offended God. Not by how you were found out or who found you out. If you repent based on who found you out and how you offended other people, you will more than likely just find a more clever way of doing it so as not to be found out the next time. If you repent because you have offended God, then you'll understand that God is everywhere and sees everything. There's no where to hide or no way to cleverly stop God from noticing what you're doing.

What works repentance is "I have offended God and I need to change of my own free will and stop doing what offends God, because I want to." It can't be because my wife, my children or my parents want me to stop and I don't really want to. That isn't repentance, that is trying to stop doing something that I really want to do and I don't want to get caught by my family again.

Luke 13:3 - Unless you repent you will all likewise perish......