Did You Sell Your Soul to the Devil and Now Want it Back?

~~Lately within the entertainment industry we have heard from numerous entertainers that  have confessed to selling their souls to the Devil. The motivation has been to gain some sort of worldly advantage; success, fame and ultimate self glory.  Now such a practice is older than sin itself and has affected people through out all time. In fact Adam and Eve where the first to make such a deal.

When Adam and Eve sinned, their actions created a separation from God. As the glory of God left them, so too did the godly compass that once inspired them to make right choices. The absence of God’s goodness and holy character brought about self-awareness and as a result, self centered motives began to dominate man’s life style. Selfish reasoning and a distorted perspective became the barometer for what they would deem as “just the way life works”. This caused Adam and Eve to lose touch with reality and their pursuits, both natural and spiritual, suffered for it. It was the spiritual side of man that caused the most concern. Without a proper connection with the Spirit of God, he looked for another spiritual master. 

The First Substitute Savior

Prior to the fall and possibly before the earth was actually perfected, God was forced to bring judgment upon an angelic creature who sought to raise himself up as equal with God. This creature is known by many names, all of which reveal various aspects of his character. So let’s look at some of these traits that have been allowed to mold man’s perceptions of life but also seduced us along the way.
 
The Serpent’s Created Form

Originally the Serpent had been given attributes that described his potential as a heavenly being. These characteristics included the following:

• He is a spirit being who moves through spiritual and natural realms.

• He is an angel and displays angelic glory.

• He is great in power and intelligence.

• He does not reproduce so he remains genderless.

• He organizes by rank.

• He once reflected the glory of heaven and even had a capacity to worship God.
 
Mankind is often charmed by these angelic qualities and though the Serpent tempts us with his unique traits, these things become a destructive force which denies mankind true life and liberty.

One other characteristic not mentioned above; the Serpent has also been given freewill. If you have ever wondered how God could make a creature that became so evil, then please consider that it had to do with this universal attribute. Freewill permits us to make choices that move us towards God or allow us to walk away from Him. As this angelic creature walked away from God it left him spiritually dark and void; a dynamic that has also infected mankind.

The Serpent’s Fallen Qualities

The Serpent also has additional qualities which have influenced man in the negative. Even as the Bible reveals to us God’s qualities based on His many Names, a similar dynamic reveals the Serpent by his own titles. Lucifer, the Prince of the power of the Air, the Guardian cherub, the Father of lies, and the Accuser of the Brethren are all titles which reveal certain aspects of his fallen character. Mankind remains an easy target for many of these fallen attributes since we were all born under the influence of the world system.
 
Lucifer

“Lucifer” means “light-bearer” or “shining one” and this explains why scripture says he can manifest as an angel of light. In fact it is his intended purpose to hide many of his agendas in light. This can be described as initially creating a smoke screen of seemingly good and positive intentions. Yet what actually unfolds is a spiritual seduction, a manipulation of the senses, which offers man a fleshy way to be saved. This is what fueled Adam and Eve’s choice to rebel in the garden in the first place; it “felt right” or it “looked good” to them. As they surrendered to the light of the Serpent’s seduction, it was a powerful delusion, one that still remains captivating today.

Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

The Prince of the Power of the Air

The many references in scripture to heaven and heavenly realms, places the Serpent’s airy domain right in the middle. (For the purpose of our study we will refer to this realm as “second heaven”.) This spiritual zone resides between God’s throne in heaven; (third heaven, 2 Cor. 12:2) and Adam’s physical place of dominion which is subject to the earth and sky (first heaven Revelation 21:1).

Ephesians 3:10
His (God’s) intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,

Second heaven actually represents a place of convergence between Adam’s created order and the spiritual influences of the Serpent and his demons. There goes the neighborhood!

1 Peter 5:8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

The term “the Prince of the Power of the Air” is then a reference to his domain and a description of his second heaven reach. Because he is a spirit he has the ability to manipulate that which passes through both natural and spiritual air. Thus he seeks to influence the world by altering verbal or written communication, radio waves, frequency, circuitry, electricity, sight, sound, light, touch, temperature, and thought. Notice that these things are all common elements that serve in mankind’s domain; they are not evil in themselves. However as the Serpent rides along on the airwaves and interjects his opinion, his spiritual seduction usually has no problem finding converts.

Subsequently, as man begins to process life choices, while subject to this added interference, he tends to accept a world view that is in fellowship with spiritual error. Yet this is also the place that man’s mind becomes a stronghold; if a spirit can own the mind then it can turn a man anyway it wants.

Guardian Cherub

When given place, the Serpents unseen influence will also add a spiritual veil. A discourse found in Ezekiel provides us with some understanding.

Ezekiel 28:14-15 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.

This passage has multiple layers, beginning with a rebuke to the prince of Tyre, but it also explains how this prince was emulating the nature of the Serpent. Verse 14 explains the parallel.

Ezekiel 28:14 NAS
“You were the anointed cherub who covers,”

The amplified version says it this way:

“You were the anointed cherub that covers with overshadowing wings, and I set you so.”

The Serpent’s natural instinct is to “cover us.”

The word “Cover” in Hebrew means, “to shut in, to block, to screen, or to lay over.” Subjection to the Serpent and his system of control allows him to shut in, block, screen, or lay over a life. This issue is what actually motivates many to find comfort in the world system, if not in all systems offering muted glory. Lucifer’s long standing presence remains a familiar and comforting spiritual blanket.

Demons

Now apart from his direct intervention in a life, the Serpent carries out many of his plans through a regiment of fallen creatures. The Bible does not clearly explain what these spiritual creatures are; it simply acknowledges that they have been present throughout the history of mankind. Yet there are two schools of thought on the subject.

The first is founded upon an event where the Serpent pulled down a third of the stars (Angels) from heaven:
 
Revelation 12:4a His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth…

This is reinforced by another verse;
Matthew 25:41 “Then he (God) will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

The second is in reference to the book of Genesis explaining how the sons of God came down and had relations with earthly women. Their offspring where called the “Nephilim”.

Genesis 6:4
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

It is believed that this hybrid race eventually died out and their disembodied spirits now roam the earth, looking for others to inhabit.

There is a strong possibility that both of these scenarios can be spiritually active. Ephesians implies that there are a number of other powers that seek to interrupt our lives.

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

This variety of fallen powers has many destructive agendas, but we usually attribute all their activities to being the work of but one Devil. He is actually a singular creature, but he is the head and driving force of a dark kingdom that now spiritually dominates. Knowing the true origin of demons doesn’t seem to be of great importance; however there are enough references to the effects of evil spirits, celestial beings and demons throughout Old and New Testaments that we should give the matter our attention.

Let’s look at how these powers can negatively affect our lives.

Territorial, Familiar and Generational Spirits

In order to manipulate our world demons often interact with men in the form of; territorial, familiar, and generational spirits. These powers are committed to denying us any of the benefits that life has to offer us in Jesus. As they apply pressure to our humanity they come with the intention of afflicting our physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual health. Here is how they commonly position themselves:

Territorial Spirits

There exists a network of demons in the world today that influence people, households, organizations, cities, states, governments, countries, nations, and continents, all of which reveal territorial rule. Through geographical positioning and oversight they seek to affect our world view. Daniel 10:20 refers to two examples of territorial powers; the prince of Persia and the prince of Greece.

Let’s consider how territorial powers came about.

Though the earth belongs to God and all there in, it was His intention that mankind should care for His property, based on an initial commission. However as Adam and Eve yielded to the Serpent they handed their stewardship over to the enemy. We can mark that this transference of authority took place in the following portion of scripture.

Luke 4:5-6 The devil led him (Jesus) up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.

It is interesting to note that Jesus did not refute the Serpent’s claim. Who gave this authority to him?
Adam and Eve did.

Ever since then the Serpent has manipulated the physical world with the intention of bringing mankind into spiritual bondage. The question that is now on the table is; did you personally make a deal with the dark side, has your family made a deal, or what about your ancestors? Any one of these sources could have invited an evil influence into your life. Riches, fame and power are just a part of what we seek, but a more subtle motivation remains all about gaining “control”; we want to control life, relationships, and circumstances all for selfish reasons and Devil backs up many of those desires.

In truth every one of us has handed over a part of our soul to the Devil. If we fell in love with the world and its many perks then we fell for a surrogate savior. It is for this very reason that Jesus had to come. He knew that mankind was doomed forever unless He could provide us a way back to God. Let me show you how we get free of the world and anyone of our past soulish contracts.

The Bible tells us that a contract of marriage is enforce as long as the parties are alive. After death the contract gets broken.  Now this reference to marriage is just an analogy for seeing something of greater value. If you sold your soul to the Devil then the way of escape his clutches is also a matter of passing through death. All contracts are nullified at the time of death. Now please don’t stop reading at this point. I’m not suggesting that you have to go kill yourself in order to be free. Instead our freedom from unwanted contracts is based on trusting Jesus with the journey. You see the whole basis of the gospel message rests on Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. In one instance His death paid the penalty for our sins. You see just as through one man sin entered the world sin spread to all men for all have sinned. So those that come to trust Jesus as their way out of eternal punishment are able to find a new way to live.

Secondly Jesus’ death on the Cross put an end to the Devils ownership of the human race. Hence those that accept Jesus as Savior are also being freed of a terrible task master.

Thirdly those that trust Jesus (Yeshua) with salvation are also participating in Jesus’ to gain His life. To put this in simple terms once you accept Jesus as Savior He is putting to death your old life with all its bad contracts and He is then making you a new creation. Here, check out these verses as proof;

2 Corinthians 5:14-15
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

Romans 7:5-6 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
 
Once we let the Cross separate us from our former way of life, the resurrection power of God begins to move in our hearts, minds and actions. Jesus raises us up into a new and living way which is empowered by His Spirit.
 
Colossians 2:12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Getting your soul back is really about handing your soul over to Jesus and letting Him make these changes within you. He offers us supernatural change which frees us from sin, frees us from our past, and breaks all those bad contracts we made with the Devil. What a wonderful gift! Our present and future lives can now be free of all sorts of added clutter and the things that have lied to us about life with God.

Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

The miracle of the Gospel (the good news) has offered us a way out from the trappings of our old man and entrance into abundant life with Jesus. If you are interested in getting the Devil off your back then ask for a better salvation in Christ Jesus. Say this out loud;

Application
Jesus (Yeshua) I repent of my many sins and ask that you would be my Savior. I ask that you wash me clean of the evil I have done, take away my old sin nature and  break the many bad contracts that I once made with the Devil.  Jesus I sold my soul to the Devil and I now want it back. Come into my heart and be my new Lord. I want to be able to live with you forever.

This moment in time can be a turning point. Keep in mind that you did nothing to save yourself but simply believed that Jesus was powerful enough to set you free. He is the one that saves you and He is the one that unravels the hold that the Devil has had on you. So call upon Him regularly and from this day forward and if the Devil gives you any trouble then tell him to go away because you now belong to Jesus.  

For anyone needing more insight on the subject check out the book “The Shadow of the Spiritual”. Available free in PDF version at ( http://www.shadow-free.com/  ).