Get behind me Satan!

 The Bible says the apostle Simon Peter was the devil. And I can prove it, beyond a doubt. 

It is clearly and obviously taught in the Bible. We know this, because Jesus calls Peter out as Satan, by name. 

Matthew 16:23

Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."

Clearly Jesus himself believed Peter to be Satan. Why else would He have called him by name? This is not in only one of the Gospels either, the same thing is recorded in Mark 8:33.

So this is not a mistake, nor was it added to the Bible later by those wishing to distort the meaning. We find further support for this idea in the fact that Peter denied Christ three times, in John 18 and in Luke 22. Did any of the other apostles deny Christ? No, Peter is the only one. The obvious reason for this is that he was Satan himself. 

If you are still not convinced, recall who it was who became very violent at the betrayal of Jesus. It was Peter. He took up a sword, and sliced off a poor servant's ear. 

    John 18:10

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.)

Every other one Christ's disciples managed to keep their cool, but this Peter was such a violent character, that he couldn't control himself. This is in keeping the devil's own nature. He is described in the Bible as a roaring lion, prowling and looking for someone for to devour. Sounds very like someone we know.

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Sound ridiculous? Of course it is. Everyone in their right mind knows the apostle Peter was not Satan, no matter what case is built for it. 

But the point I wish to make is that it is very easy to make the Bible say most anything you want it to. If you pick and chose your verses and lay them out in a convincing manner, it is possible to build a case for most anything you want it to say. However, you don't get to. Your responsibility, as the reader and believer, is to find what the author is trying to say.

The author owns the meaning. You have no right to decide for them what they are saying. But rather, you are to find out what they are attempting to communicate. When Jesus says "This is my body broken for you" and "This cup is my blood," does he mean literally his body and blood? When John says the word was with God in the beginning, is he talking about Jesus? In John 17:11, what does Jesus mean by "Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one."?

Sometimes discovering the author's meaning requires going to the Greek and exploring the culture of that time. For it was a very different culture and as with translating any ancient manuscripts, there is sometimes difficulty in translating exactly the meaning of words. Not to mention the fact that fallible humans were involved, humans sometimes swayed by their personal beliefs. We have an incredibly complete Bible, more so than any other ancient text, but it is sometimes necessary to delve deeper into the original texts and languages to understand what is taught there. 

The author owns the meaning. You don't. So I encourage you to do your best when reading the Bible to find that meaning. 

 Resistance