THE VERY IDEA OF Satan being historically bound (from the time of Christ up to
at least this point; (some say he has even been loosed!),
has a direct connection
with the FACT that Jesus cast out demons and the establishment of the Kingdom of God (KOG). One popular
but wrong approach offered in this matter is that God has not yet bound Satan but he will bind him sometime in the future—our near
future. This interpretation holds that the binding will occur only after Christ returns to earth. The problem is that
it overlooks the testimony of witnesses who wrote that Christ cast out demons and the fact that Christ likened the casting out of
demons to plundering Satan's house (Matt.12:28-29). Christ described a necessary binding of the strong man before he was able
to cast out those satanic demons (Matt.12:22-29; Mk.3:23-27; Lk.11:20-23). Do you believe that Christ actually did cast out
demons? If Christ did indeed plunder Satan's house by casting out demons, then it logically, reasonably, and scripturally follows,
that Christ bound Satan when Christ said he bound him—in the first century.
FACT: Christ did indeed cast out demons. Therefore,
Christ bound Satan--put him on a leash, restrained him, restricted him—long before the crucifixion. Because: If Christ did not
bind Satan in the first century, then (1) Jesus Christ either was deliberately evasive in the "Strong Man" parable or, (2) the parable
does not depict Satan at all. One obvious purpose of the parable, however, was tying the casting out of demons to the binding
of Satan—without binding, no casting out took place. But there is more.
The target passage: "But Jesus knew their thoughts, and
said to them: 'Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will
not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast
out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons
by the Spirit of God, [then] surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder
his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then [after binding] he will plunder his house" (Matt.12:25-29, NKJV). The casting out of demons by Jesus is equal to plundering Satan's house. This passage should prove without a shadow of doubt
to all but the most obstinate and stubborn of us that the Kingdom of God (KOG) did in fact come in the first century and that Satan
was bound. There is no intellectually honest way to defeat this scripture, especially when the Greek words used by Christ regarding
king and kingdom are considered. Redefining terms does not help. Critics cannot find scriptural support that this
passage means that only the king came and not the KOG, or that when Christ said "KOG," he really (without saying so) meant to say
himself as a representative of the KOG. Sorry. We have to believe that Christ said what he meant to say. Otherwise
our faith in Christ has no value.
The testimony of the three witnesses (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) is that Jesus Christ cast out demons
by the finger of God. In order to be intellectually honest, we must accept all of the words of Jesus Christ. Christ was
either honest or he was not. His words—all of them—are either truthful or they are not. Either we trust what he said,
or we do not. If we cannot trust his word on this, we cannot trust it anywhere. If we are unable to trust Christ here,
then salvation is a sham and a deceit, because the basis of salvation is trust. Without this necessary and essential element
of trust, we are all still in our sins. The Bible is either trustworthy or it is not—it is that simple.
FACT: Jesus Christ DID
cast out demons. CONCLUSION: Therefore, the KOG did indeed come upon those people at that time. The first sentence
of Lk.11:20 stands as a solid first-person testimony by Jesus Christ against all claims by men that the KOG was not established on
earth and that it will only be established on earth at Christ's Second Coming—in the future. Note: the ESTABLISHMENT of the
KOG is NOT the same as the INHERITANCE of the Kingdom of God
"But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, [then] surely the kingdom ofGod has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger
than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. He who
is not with me is against me and he who does not gather with me scatters" (Lk.11:20-23).
Jesus Christ spoke about a "strong man" and
the KOG within one message. If any part of the message he gave is false, then so is the rest of it. Conversely, if one
part is true, it is ALL true—the two parts stand or fall together. Could Christ have given a misleading message to his listeners—or
have we just accepted the prevailing view—one that is antithetical to his teaching? I think many have just accepted error. (Continued...)
