{"id":4827,"date":"2006-04-22T20:42:05","date_gmt":"2006-04-23T01:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=4827"},"modified":"2019-07-21T14:20:49","modified_gmt":"2019-07-21T19:20:49","slug":"how-do-i-defend-against-satan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-defend-against-satan\/","title":{"rendered":"How do I defend against Satan?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Question:<\/h2>\n

I was reading the article of the seven-year married woman who committed adultery with a “Christian” man<\/a> and is now afraid of the possible consequences. I noticed a piece of advice that could be applied to almost anything. The advice is: “Implement plans to keep yourself pure by avoiding tempting situations.”<\/p>\n

I have an addiction problem with cigarettes. The temptations range from feeling irritable to having money standing at the checkout register, and from being around people who smoke to getting into heated conversations with my spouse.<\/p>\n

The closest thing I know that would be even close to working in these situations is to hide God’s word in my heart that I might not sin against Him (Psalms 119:11)<\/p>\n

Do you have any advice tips I can use for studying to find the highly effective verses in God’s Word to defend myself against these “schemes” and “missiles” of Satan?<\/p>\n

Also, my wife has a mother and some friends that commit adultery, fornication, sexual immorality, and impurity in their relationships which leads to lies, stealing, deceit, and other forms of evil. These same people are quick to inform me that my wife does not do such things.<\/p>\n

It’s hard to believe what these people are telling me because of their lifestyles. The guy that considers himself to be her stepdad cheats on his current significant other and has accused me of having sexual relations with his significant other and even tried causing trouble between me and my wife. He too is one that proclaims to me that my wife does no such thing.<\/p>\n

I keep resounding to myself the words, “evil communications corrupt good character” and “how can two walk together unless they are in agreement” and “what concord does light have with darkness” and “the same spout cannot bring forth salt water and fresh water.” Is there a way that I can test the vows and bonds of my relationship without testing my wife?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

Chemically induced addictions, such as cigarette smoking, are difficult to overcome. While society has turned against smoking tobacco, the product is readily available and promoted. The chemicals in cigarettes are known to produce two addictive effects: it stimulates the brains “feel good” center while simultaneously dampening the center that throttles the effect so that it only lasts a short while. The results are runaway good feelings that last about an hour. This is why in stressful times you turn to cigarettes to give you an artificial calm. Nothing is actually solved, but you feel better about it while puffing on a cigarette.<\/p>\n

The only people that I have known to successfully conquer cigarette addiction are those who became absolutely disgusted with themselves that some chemical is controlling their life. These people stopped cold-turkey and it was their resolution that carried them through the times of withdrawal. The verse often quoted is, “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any<\/em>” (I Corinthians 6:12). For some additional advice, see the answer to the question “What is wrong with smoking?<\/a>“<\/p>\n

In regards to your wife, by your argument, Jesus was a sinner because he ate with them. “Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”<\/em>” (Matthew 9:10-11). You are committing the same error as the Pharisees. They had already decided that there had to be something wrong with Jesus and they bolstered their pre-drawn conclusion by looking at the company he kept.<\/p>\n

Yes, the verses you quote indicate that evil can corrupt with exposure, but you are incorrect in assuming that it has already taken place with your wife. As I work harder in life to be like my Lord and Savior, I find it hard to hang around people of a worldly mind. I don’t share the same goals, I don’t look at life the same way, just the way they talk irks me, so while I work in the world, I rarely have close friends who are worldly.<\/p>\n

But while you are worried that your wife is being influenced by her family, though you have no proof, yet you are demonstrating that the world has influenced your thinking. Here is the woman you committed your life to before the Lord and you don’t trust her. “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails<\/em>” (I Corinthians 13:4-8). Is your lack of trust from God or from Satan? I would argue that it is from the Evil One. “So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church<\/em>” (Ephesians 5:28-29).<\/p>\n

Rather than questioning her every move, you should be supporting her as she must deal with corrupt relatives. You should be encouraging her to stand strong in the Lord. You can’t leave the world, but you can take steps to minimize the world’s influence on your thinking. “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner — not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”<\/em>” (I Corinthians 5:9-13).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: I was reading the article of the seven-year married woman who committed adultery with a “Christian” man and is now afraid of the possible consequences. I noticed a piece of advice that could be applied to almost anything. The advice is: “Implement plans to keep yourself pure by avoiding tempting situations.” I have an addiction…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[235,420,185,419],"class_list":["post-4827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-satan","tag-smoking","tag-temptation","tag-tobacco"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":94634,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/by-bread-alone\/","url_meta":{"origin":4827,"position":0},"title":"By Bread Alone","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong We all have our favorite scriptures and concepts that we 'religiously' follow. We also all have some aspects of Jesus' teaching that, because of our dispositions and\/or situations, we ignore or set aside. In such situations, most of us 'justify' our actions. Read this first temptation again\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15765,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-christians-to-rebuke-satan-or-resist-satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":4827,"position":1},"title":"Are Christians to rebuke Satan or resist Satan?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi.\u00a0I love your\u00a0exhaustive presentation of the literal days in Genesis!\u00a0 I am praying about how best to present this to our youth pastor, who is an old ager and teaches it privately to the youth.\u00a0 Thank you. My question involves prayer and whether we as God's children ought to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92621,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/satan-loses\/","url_meta":{"origin":4827,"position":2},"title":"Satan Loses","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong Chapter 12 of Revelation is like one of the old 'Up Close and Personal' segments on the sports show. We are given a historical overview of Satan as the adversary of God's people. Again, remember that this is written in symbolic language, so it is hard to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54545,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-should-i-say-when-i-hear-someone-give-bad-advice\/","url_meta":{"origin":4827,"position":3},"title":"What should I say when I hear someone give bad advice?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hey Jeffrey, What is the balance between expecting the world to just act like the world and take a stand? Like I know a guy who claims to be a Christian. He was giving advice about going through divorce to someone else and he said \"getting a rebound chick\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35246,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/safe-in-the-midst-of-counsel\/","url_meta":{"origin":4827,"position":4},"title":"Safe in the Midst of Counsel","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Charles N. Spence, Jr. Sentry Magazine, September 1999 The wise man said in Proverbs 11:14, \"Where there is no counsel the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.\" In an age in which people want to do their own thing and go their own way,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27462,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-we-respect-satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":4827,"position":5},"title":"Should we respect Satan?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Below I copy and pasted from a web site with their beliefs on Satan and I emphasized the part that disturbs me. I was wondering what your thoughts on it are. To respect Satan is to exalt him and evil and is woefully contrary to God's word, in my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}