In the Bible, Satan is referred to as “the ruler of this world,” (John 12:31, 14:30) and even “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). 1 John 5:19 says that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one.
How then can Jesus say that “all authority in Heaven and on Earth” has been given to him (Matthew 28:18)?
In this week’s Sermon Extra, Pastor Mike and I discuss the authority of Satan, and what the Bible has to say about it: Did Adam and Eve hand over “regency” of the Earth to Satan in the Garden of Eden? And how does this relate to the scroll that only Jesus can open in Revelation 5?
Furthermore, we discuss the claim of Richard Dawkins and others, who say that Jesus’ death on the cross was “divine child abuse,” since the innocent Son of God was sacrificed by the Father – and how the deity of Christ changes everything when it comes to understanding the meaning of the cross.
Check out the video of that Sermon Extra here:
Theology for the People 
“Did Adam and Eve hand over “regency” of the Earth to Satan in the Garden of Eden? And how does this relate to the scroll that only Jesus can open in Revelation 5?”
Well, let’s look at the story in Genesis, well the two stories. We have this god creating two humans which it intentionally kept ignorant of good and evil. Then it either allowed Satan in to the garden, or couldn’t keep it out. If it knew that Satan was there, this god didn’t warn Adam and Eve about it, which would have still given them a choice.
Then this god takes a tantrum and throws A&E out. It wasn’t forgiving or merciful. It could have explained to them, forgiven them and started again. It evidently chose not too.
So, it seems that this god itself gave everything to its supposed enemy. Then this god spends years trying to fix its failure. During this time, this god finds it has to show off to Satan, like a schoolgirl, allowing Satan to murder humans.
Then we get to the blood sacrifice this god needs, and that can’t happen without Satan either. No betrayal, no salvation.
The scroll with the seals is what releases horrors upon humans. this gets everyone but Christians killed. During this nonsense, we have this god forcing humans to work with Satan so its “plan” works out, Revelation 17.
Finally, we have this god working with Satan, being required to release the “beast” (by who? it isn’t said) so its archenemy can corrupt Christians for one last bloodbath, Revelation 19-21.
Quite a god you have there.
Wow, so much caricature and misrepresentation of what Christians believe and what the Biblical narrative is. The question in my mind is whether this misrepresentation is a result of ignorance or if it is willful. If it’s the latter, this might be my last time spending time responding to you. If it’s the former, I’d be happy to converse.
Addressing what you’ve written:
1) “intentionally kept them ignorant of good and evil” – the knowledge of good and evil referred to in Genesis 3 is experiential knowledge, not theoretical knowledge. This terminology of experiential knowledge is used throughout Genesis, e.g. when it says that a man “knew” his wife, it means that he knew her intimately, not that he learned who she was. In the same way, to know God refers to intimate, personal, experiential knowledge as opposed to theoretical.
2) Of course God gave Adam and Eve a choice – that’s the point of the whole story: in order for a relationship and genuine love to exist, there must be a choice to trust and follow or not follow.
3) The expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden was not punitive, it was an act of mercy. It says right there in the text that the purpose of it was to prevent them from eating of the Tree of Life, which would cause them to live forever in their now fallen state. Rather than living forever in a broken world, God is going to let them – as fallen beings – die, so that one day He can raise them up to eternal life in a redeemed, renewed world, free from sin and all its disastrous consequences.
4) The scroll and its seals are the temporal judgment for acts of evil, similar to other temporal judgments throughout time.
It also seems that you take a quite fatalistic view of God, which doesn’t account for human agency, or any area of human freedom or responsibility – which is a pretty big part of understanding the story.
Thanks, Nick for underlining that Christians don’t agree on much of anything with your attempts to claim that only your interpretation is the right one and everyone else is wrong. Alas, you can’t show yours any more right than they do.
I’ll be back to point out some details later.
All I did was point out that you are misrepresenting what Christians believe and what the biblical story portrays and teaches.