Mike McKinley's latest book, Did The Devil Make Me Do It?, is from a series of books called Questions Christians Ask which is published by The Good Book Company. This book serves as an introduction to those who are unfamiliar with the works and person of the devil and his demons. The book begins McKinley's conversations with friends who have worked in other countries where they have been real demonic forces at work. What is sad is that many Christians in America, 60% to be exact, do not believe the devil is real, but a lot more Christians outside the U.S. do believe he is real.
The first chapter is about who is Satan and where does he come from. McKinley does a great job addressing Genesis 3 as Satan came in the form of a serpent and even addressed that Satan was not a self-sufficient being as God the Father. Satan was created by God an angel who worshiped God until one day he decided to be God, started a war with God, and was cast out of heaven. Satan is a also a real person and not a personification of evil as many people, including some Christians believe.
The second chapter addresses Satan's activities. The Bible tells us how God works, so does it tell us how Satan works. He is a liar, he promotes false worship, and even tries to prevent salvation. McKinley makes it clear that Satan is not like God. God does not need anyone's permission to do whatever He wants. Satan on the other hand is a limited creature that needs God permission to do what he needs to do such as the case in the book of Job.
Chapter 3 addresses a tough subject that many try to answer and that is on demon possession, which McKinley did a great job looking through the Bible and help the reader understand it. He even answered the question, can Christians be possessed by demons, which the answer is no. Once we are in Christ, we cannot be possessed by demons though they may tempted to cause to disobey God.
Chapter 4 deals with how Jesus defeated Satan which for most Christians, sad to say, know that answer. Jesus defeated Satan through His finished work on the cross taking our place for our sin to suffer the wrath of God. In this chapter, McKinley addressed that the ransom Jesus paid for, as mentioned in 1 Timothy 2:5-6 and Mark 10:45, was not a ransom from Satan, but from God Himself. All of us owe a debt to God that we could not pay for unless we lived a perfect life which none of us could.
Chapter 5 is about how Christians need to fight to Satan. The Bible says the devil roams like a lion (1 Peter 5:8), therefore Christians need to be ready and alert when he tries to come against us. McKinley tells us there are three things Satan cannot do: take away our salvation, make us do anything, nor read our minds. Remember Satan is not powerful as God though some Christians have made him look that way. McKinley even took the time to address if the devil makes us sin because there is that famous expression, "The devil made me do it" that people have used to excuse what they have done. McKinley says while Satan can tempt us to do evil, we are the ones who do the act.
This is a great little book that all Christians must have. This will be a great resource in using when talking about the devil and his demons. McKinley does his usual stuff with adding humor in teaching theology truth.
Thanks Good Book Company for allowing me to review this book.
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