Satan’s City?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the one with the sharp two-edged sword: “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan’s city.” Revelation‬ ‭2‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Satan has a city? Well, not exactly. Where is Pergamum? Today it’s in Turkey, and it’s just tourist ruins now. But back in the first century it was the height of Rome’s idol worship with massive statues and temples. The “seat of Satan” was a reference to the center of idolatry, as Pergamos practiced sun worship, which originated from Babylonian idolatry. It is a symbolic way of describing the city’s spiritual atmosphere and the strong influence of paganism and emperor worship, which made it a place where Satan’s power was particularly evident.

Who would want to be known as Satan’s city? It’s not exactly what you’d put on the city’s welcome brochure. We think of our own cities and wonder what idols, what kind of worship takes place there. Cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York or New Jersey, maybe even Portlandia remind us of pockets of power, money, lawlessness or even anarchy! It seems as if Satan has plenty of thrones scattered around the Divided States of America. There are plenty of religious statues in the U.S., and some of them are touch points back to ancient idols – the Hindu goddess, Kali, Baal, Athena, and Saraswati.

There are far more human behaviors that are unashamedly displayed proudly in parades and festivals all across the county – most of which are sexual, occult, or just pure demonic. There are plenty of Americans that are quite proud of their wayward “sinful” ways. John records that the evil IN the city wasn’t God’s only concern. There were assistant deceivers like Balaam – using women (daughters of Moab) to entice the Israelite men to knowingly eat meat sacrificed to idols combined with some manner of sexual infidelity. These men had proactively corrupted others, encouraging them to sin, relishing in the fact that they were destroying human souls, their families and their relationship with God!

People tend to make light of playing with evil, experimenting and exploiting others. It is no laughing matter when one opens a door to sin, only later finding out it can never be closed! The very real Satan, the liar, deceiver and accuser will continue to take advantage of that small, maybe even innocent opening to our soul. His aim is to drag all of us away from the Father and down to the pit of despair where he will exist forever. Jesus, in the final book – the end of all things says, ”Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” Revelation‬ ‭2‬:‭16‬. Repent before God cuts us off and out of his presence for good!

So, it’s not so much LIVING in Satan’s city, which many of us probably do. It’s deciding that we will not be conned or enticed to join in the revelry of self-serving sin or play on the fences of evil. We should however run, like Joseph did or repent like King David did.

Prayer

​Dad,
It seems that so many cities come with so many opportunities to seduce our soul! I know now that temptations are customized for each individual. There are commonalities, but each lure, each decoy, is nuanced, fitting to our own desires. Each offer comes with its own impatience, its own unique promise to fulfill what only you can satisfy perfectly. You give us grace, but you have also given us the power to resist, and the strength to run. With each temptation you will show us the way of escape – if we would only take it. Help us O Lord. Forgive us for our willingness to be ensnared and fulfill our desires with sin.

Does God have a sense of humor?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

….So Balak, king of Moab, sent messengers to call Balaam son of Beor, who was living in his native land of Pethor near the Euphrates River. His message said: “Look, a vast horde of people has arrived from Egypt. They cover the face of the earth and are threatening me. Please come and curse these people for me because they are too powerful for me. Then perhaps I will be able to conquer them and drive them from the land. I know that blessings fall on any people you bless, and curses fall on people you curse. ‭‭Numbers‬ ‭22‬:‭4‬-‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

These feudal, tribal, clan-clashing are all throughout the Old Testament. Yet, at each inflection point there is always a person, or persons (in this case) that God uses to tell His story. Here we have the major characters, Balak, king of Moab, Balaam, a wicked prophet (Balaam was a pagan prophet who practiced divination and other magic arts, led Israel into apostasy, and was identified as a greedy, unscrupulous man by Peter and Jude ( 2 Peter 2:15 -16; Jude 1:11)) – oh and a donkey, Balaam’s ride.

Oh Moab, the nation that came out of Lot’s grandson via an incestuous relationship with Lot’s daughter, who remained unnamed. Moab’s king, Balak, thought it would be helpful to get a prophet, known for being a spokesperson for God, to CURSE Israel because he thought they were a threat to his kingdom. Balaam’s reputation must have been well known. Balaam turns down the offer to be paid to “basically” make up a curse from God. Balaam knew God would not curse his own people and told Balak it wouldn’t work.

Balaam seeks God and God answers, “don’t curse my people.” But king Balak is persistent and keeps upping the bribe money. God finally releases Balaam to go with the entourage from Balak, but forbid him to actually curse Israel. Balaam leaves for his journey but in-route an angel of the Lord blocks the path of the donkey. Balaam can’t see the angel, but his donkey can. God told Balaam he could go with the Moabite men, but God must have known that Balaam was toying with the idea of pronouncing this curse. This happens three times and each time, Balaam beats the animal for stopping and for embarrassing him.

After the third time God grants the donkey the ability to speak! The donkey talks! Come on – this is hilarious. The donkey and Balaam have a brief conversation on the trail! The donkey says, “What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?” it asked Balaam. “You have made me look like a fool!” Balaam shouted. “If I had a sword with me, I would kill you!” “But I am the same donkey you have ridden all your life,” the donkey answered. “Have I ever done anything like this before?” “No,” Balaam admitted.”

This donkey-talk scene has captured so much attention as one of the most unusual but humorous parts of the Bible. Every kid going to Sunday School in the past would have heard about Balaam’s donkey! Feel free to insert your own donkey/ass jokes here. God commits three whole chapters in the book of Numbers to tell this story. And in this story, you’ll find a Messiah reference, an “easter egg” discovery of a mysterious mention of the future Messiah – Jesus (Num 24:17).

Sadly, even though Balaam does not curse Israel, in fact, he blesses them three times – Balaam does figure out how to trap Israel with their own lust and desires. Balaam advised the Moabites on how to entice the people MEN of Israel with prostitutes and idolatry. And, it worked. See it in Numbers 25:1-3. The men of Israel took the bait, believed the lie and gave into to their disordered desires. The results – God judge them and 24,000 people died from a plague.

The talking donkey was funny, but our sin and desires, causing us to disobey God is no joke. As a youth hearing this story, I was so focused on the donkey that I completely missed the fact that there is more than one way to curse people. The direct curse is one way, but the subtle manipulation of luring us away from God and towards the shiny object of desire is the other. The last one seems enormously more effective.

Prayer

Dad,
I really do appreciate the humor in this story. I even like the fact that the villain is forced to do what is right, for the short term. Oh, but I hate seeing a mirror reflection of our own desires, imagination and dark thoughts eventually wearing us down and winning far too often. That’s embarrassing to know that we can falter from our own curse within. I am still in awe and wonder your grace and mercy offered to us! Thank you once again. Amen.