Sunday, June 29, 2008

Binding Satan

I received a prayer request via email the other day that asked me to pray that Satan would be bound with reference to a particular situation. That brought to memory a former missionary to Brazil who used the expression "binding Satan" with some regularity when I knew her some years ago.

Where does the idea of binding Satan come from? Is it suggested by the Bible? Is it a normative Christian practice?

I have searched my Bible from cover to cover and find only one reference to binding Satan: "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years," Revelation 20:1-2. I found no reference, even obliquely, to such a practice in the book of the Acts of the Apostles — the place one would most expect to see it. So where did the notion come from?

It is most probable that some have believed in this false doctrine which is nothing more than a superstitious rite for many years. However, it gained some advance with the advent of the charismatic branch of Pentecostalism and the so-called word-faith movement. It spread to evangelical churches through the fantastical writings of Frank Peretti, gobbled up and imbibed by Christians bereft of good sense and sound teaching.

The notion that we can bind Satan who, according to our Lord Jesus Christ, is already bound (Mark 3:27) is pure superstition. Superstition enters when sound doctrinal teaching exits. Pastors, teachers, and evangelists need to put their noses to the grindstone and study the Word of God and then teach that to their hearers. Hearers must listen and read with holy skepticism and search the Scriptures to see if what they are being taught is truly true (Acts 17:11)