138. The Truth About Satan—A Myth or a Real Enemy?

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The figure of Satan has been distorted by pop culture into a cartoonish villain with red horns and a pitchfork—a caricature that makes him easy to dismiss. But is this accurate? We cut through cultural misconceptions to reveal what Scripture actually teaches about our spiritual adversary.

Diving deep into biblical accounts from Genesis to Revelation, this Coffee Talk episode uncovers Satan's origin as a once-beautiful angelic being whose pride led to his fall. You'll discover the surprising truth about his continued access to heaven as an accuser until Christ's resurrection, and the connection between the mysterious "watchers" of Genesis 6, the Nephilim, and the origin of demonic spirits.

Most importantly, you'll learn why understanding Satan matters for your spiritual life. Far from appearing frightening, 2 Corinthians reveals he "masquerades as an angel of light," making his primary weapon deception rather than terror. From the Garden's subtle "Did God really say?" to today's false teachings and distractions, Satan's tactics haven't changed—but neither has their effectiveness when believers are unprepared.

The good news? We're not fighting for victory but from victory. Through Christ, Satan is already defeated. We unpack practical ways to stand firm through the armor of God, active resistance, and submission to God. You'll walk away with a sobering yet encouraging perspective: Satan is real and strategic, but in Christ, we have everything needed to stand against his schemes. This isn't about fear—it's about clarity, preparedness, and confidence in our victorious Savior. Share this episode with someone who needs this biblical perspective on spiritual warfare.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Welcome back to the Radiant Mission Podcast.
My name is Rebecca Toomey andtoday we are continuing in our
Coffee Talk series, which is ashort series of meaningful,
thought-provoking conversations,really designed to start your
morning with faith, truth andmaybe a warm cup of something
comforting.
So today's question it mightfeel like a heavy one, but it is

(00:55):
so important, especially withwhat we've been talking about on
here lately, and that is who isSatan?
Who is Satan?
Is he a real enemy or is hejust a myth, an idea that people
use to explain evil in theworld?
Some imagine a cartoonishfigure you know the red horns,

(01:16):
pitchfork tail and others thinkof him as nothing more than a
symbolic force.
Nothing more than a symbolicforce.
But the Bible tells ussomething entirely different and
much more sobering.
Satan is real, he is active, heis deceptive and he's
incredibly strategic in how heoperates.

(01:37):
And while we don't need to fearhim, we do need to understand
who he is and how he works.
So let's go ahead and diveright in.
First, we're going to talk aboutculture versus scripture and
how Satan is seen, so let'sstart with the cultural view.
We've all seen caricaturesSatan as red horned villain

(02:02):
sitting on someone's shoulder.
You know a scary voice inhorror movies, a Halloween
costume, or maybe the concept ofSatan is just completely
dismissed as superstitious andoutdated.
But in scripture Satan is nojoke.
He's not a metaphor, he's not acostume.
He is a created being, a fallenangel, who rebelled against God

(02:26):
and continues to opposeeverything good and holy.
And he doesn't usually lookevil honestly.
In 2 Corinthians 11, 14, itsays Satan himself masquerades
as an angel of light.
In other words, he's not tryingto frighten you, he's trying to
deceive you.
He will twist the truth, he'lloffer half lies, he will present

(02:49):
sin as good and rebellion asfreedom, and from the very
beginning this has been hismethod.
In Genesis 3, we see him in thegarden subtle, persuasive and
deceptive.
His very first line was did Godreally say that's all it took
to plant doubt.

(03:12):
Next, let's talk about who isSatan, origin, his fall and the
role in scripture.
The Bible shows us that Satanwasn't created evil.
He originally was a beautiful,powerful angelic being.
Some believe he may have been aworship leader in heaven or a

(03:33):
guardian cherub.
And, by the way, if you want tohear more on some of this and
dive a little bit deeper, goback to the beginning of the
radiant mission.
In our very, very first serieswe talked about spiritual
warfare and we dove quite a bitinto some of this, so feel free
to circle back there Again.
Today's episode is a short one,so I'm not going to get into all

(03:56):
the details.
So let's look at Ezekiel 28, 12through 17.
It describes this fall.
You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in
beauty.
You were blameless in your waysfrom the day you were created
till wickedness was found in you.
Isaiah 14, 12 through 15 addsyou said in your heart I will
ascend to the heavens, I willmake myself like.

(04:19):
The Most High Ride was Satan'sdownfall.
He wasn't content to justworship God, he wanted to be God
and because of that he was castout of heaven.
And a lot of people ask orthink and this is a very common
thing to think is okay well, howdid he go from the garden of

(04:41):
Eden to heaven?
And I myself have had to diginto this quite a bit,
especially after.
I don't know if you guyslistened to the episodes that I
did with Nathan Riley.
We talked a little bit aboutthat in the first episode.
I believe it was about theserpent and Satan being the same
person or different people.
I myself am not the source oftruth for anything.

(05:05):
So, please, the whole goal andthe whole point of this series
is to invoke questions, is toget you thinking, is to get you
in prayer and asking the Lord toguide you, and he has continued
to guide me since that initialconversation where we talked
about this.
So here is what I am presentingand talking about today, about

(05:28):
this, because what I havediscovered is that there is a
fascinating and potentiallymisunderstood part of Satan's
story.
By Genesis 3, we see him in thegarden as the serpent.
You know he's already inrebellion, but in later books
like Job and Zechariah, satanstill has access to heaven.
He appears before God to accuseand challenge his people.

(05:52):
Job 1.6 says one day the angelscame to present themselves
before the Lord and Satan alsocame with them.
Revelation 12.10 refers toSatan as the accuser of our
brothers and sisters, whoaccuses them before our God, day
and night.
So what does this mean?
It tells us that even after hisinitial fall, Satan still had

(06:16):
limited access to the heavenlyrealm, where he acted as a
prosecutor or accuser.
But there came a time when thataccess was cut off.
Revelation 12, 7 through 9describes a dramatic moment
likely after Christ's death andresurrection.
There was a war in heaven.
Death and resurrection.

(06:36):
There was a war in heaven.
Michael and his angels foughtagainst the dragon and the
dragon was hurled down, thatancient serpent called the devil
or Satan, who leads the wholeworld astray.
At that point, satan was castpermanently.
He no longer had access to thethrone.
He was confined to earth,raging because he knows his time
is short.
He was confined to earth,raging because he knows his time

(07:00):
is short.
Now let's talk about my favoritepart in all of this the
watchers and Genesis 6 and theNephilim.
This is lesser known HopefullyI mean, if you're listening to
this podcast, it's not now butit's incredibly important part
of this story the watchers andthe Nephilim.
Genesis 6, 1 through 4 tells usthe sons of God saw that the
daughters of humans werebeautiful and they married Any

(07:21):
of them they chose.
The Nephilim were on the earthin those days and after.
So who were these sons of God?
Most early Jewish scholars andmany Christian theologians
believe that they were fallenangels.
Ancient Jewish texts,especially the book of Enoch,
calls these beings watchers,angels assigned to observe and
protect humanity.

(07:42):
But instead they rebelled.
Jude 1.6 says the angels whodid not keep their proper domain
, and then also mentions he hasreserved in everlasting chains
under darkness.
These fallen angels took humanwives and had children with them
, and they produced the Nephilim, which is a race of hybrid

(08:05):
giants.
This wasn't just rebellion.
It was a spiritual assault onGod's creation and possibly even
attempt to corrupt thebloodline through which the
promised Messiah would come.
Genesis 6-5 tells us thatwickedness had become so
widespread that God sent theflood to destroy the earth.

(08:25):
Only Noah, a man described asblameless in his generation, and
his family were preserved.
So then, that leaves thequestion where did the spirits
go?
What happened to the Nephilimafter the flood, since we are
told that they existed then andafter their physical bodies were

(08:45):
destroyed, but many believe, asI do, that their spirits became
demons, the disembodied,unclean spirits that we see in
the New Testament.
You know all those demons thatJesus is casting out.
They are restless, they'recorrupt and they're constantly
seeking to dwell in physicalbodies or harass physical bodies

(09:10):
, as we might say Unlike fallenangels, who operate at a higher
level of power and hierarchy.
In Luke 11, 24 through 26 andMark 5, it gives examples of
demons seeking out places orpeople to inhabit.
So when we start to talk aboutspiritual warfare, we are

(09:30):
talking about the combinedefforts of Satan, fallen angels
and the demonic spirits bornfrom that ancient rebellion.
But these forces are real, youguys.
They're active and they'rehostile towards God's people,
which is why it's so importantto understand, so that you know

(09:50):
how to be on the defense, orreally not the defense, but how
to be proactive againstspiritual warfare.
Let's talk about what is Satandoing today.
What's he up to?
Jesus said it best in John 10,10, the thief comes only to
steal and kill and destroy.
That is Satan's mission.

(10:12):
He wants to steal your identityand peace.
He wants to kill your faith andhope and he wants to destroy
your relationship with God.
He doesn't always come withfear or violence.
He often comes with distraction, confusion, self-help
spirituality and seductive,false teaching.

(10:34):
1 Peter 5, 8.
Warns be alert and of sobermind.
Your enemy, the devil, prowlsaround like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour.
So how should believers respond?
We're not powerless, you guys.
We're not fighting for victory.
We're fighting from victory.
Fighting for victory.

(10:54):
We're fighting from victory.
James 4, 7,.
Submit yourselves to God,resist the devil, and he will
flee from you.
1 John 4, 4,.
Greater is he who is in youthan he who is in the world.
Ephesians 6 tells us to put onthe full armor of God, the belt
of truth, the breastplate ofrighteousness, the shield of

(11:14):
faith, the helmet of salvation,the belt of truth, the
breastplate of righteousness,the shield of faith, the helmet
of salvation, the sword of thespirit and prayer.
Colossians 2.15 says Jesusdisarmed the powers and
authorities and made a publicspectacle of them triumphing
over them by the cross.
The victory has already beenwon.

(11:36):
So is Satan real?
Yes, he is not a myth, not ametaphor and not a joke.
He's a fallen angel, a deceiverand an enemy of everything good
and holy.
But he's also defeated.
Jesus crushed him at the crossand one day Satan will be thrown

(11:58):
into the lake of fire forever.
Romans 16, 20,.
The God of peace will sooncrush Satan under your feet.
So don't fear him, but don'tignore him either.
Stay grounded in scripture,stay alert and stay close to
Jesus.
Grounded in scripture, stayalert and stay close to Jesus.
Thank you for joining me today.
If this episode encouraged orchallenged you, share it with a

(12:25):
friend and be sure to come backfor the next episode of Coffee
Talk.
I'm wishing you a radiant weekand I'll see you next time.
Bye, everyone.