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Either way, James's admonition, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (4:7), explodes any idea of Satan's omnipresence by promising moments when he will not be with us. Jesus knew such moments (Luke 4:13)—and so may we.J. I. Packer is a CT senior editor and professor emeritus of theology at Regent College in Vancouver. His latest book, with Carolyn Nystrom, is Never Beyond Hope: How God Touches and Uses Imperfect People (InterVarsity).

Take the Satan Quiz from our sister publication Christian Reader. Is your concept of the devil based on biblical knowledge?

In August, sixty academics and practitioners met in Nairobi for a spiritual warfare conference sponsored by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization and the Association of Evangelicals in Africa. The " Deliver Us From Evil " discussions meetings focused on such hotly debated issues as territorial spirits, the role of psychology and medicine in spiritual warfare, and theological contextualization. Most of the papers delivered are available online at the Lausanne Web site.

More " Satanology " is available in an article by the Biblical Studies Foundation's J. Hampton Keathley III

Read an excerpt from Alistair McGrath's J. I. Packer, A Biography, that originally appeared in our sister publication Books and Culture [print only].

Read Christianity Today's " Knowing Packer: The lonely journey of a passionate Puritan " by Wendy Murray Zoba or " The Last Puritan " by Mark Noll.

Other Christianity Today articles by Packer include:

Still Surprised by Lewis | Why this nonevangelical Oxford don has become our patron saint. (Sept. 7, 1998)

Thank God for Our Bibles | While Scripture comes in many flavors today, we can still trust these translations to give us God's Word. (Oct. 27, 1997)

Our Lifeline | The Bible is the rope God throws us in order to ensure that we stay connected while the rescue is in progress. (Oct. 28, 1996)

Earlier Good Question columns include:

• Is Suicide Unforgivable?
• Was Slavery God's Will?
• A Little Wine for the Soul?
• Should We All Speak in Tongues?
• Did Jesus Really Descend to Hell?
• Take, Eat—But How Often?
• Is Christmas Pagan?
• Are Christians Required to Tithe?
• Is Revelation Prophecy or History?
• You're Divorced—Can You Remarry?
• If Grace Is Irresistible, Why Evangelize?
• If I'm an Evangelical, What Am I?
• A Cracked Code
• Committing the Unforgivable Sin
• What Bible Version Did Jesus Read?
• Did God Die on the Cross?
• You Must Be Born Again—But at What Age?
• Was the Revolutionary War Justified?
• Can the Dead Be Converted?
• Cloaked in Mystery
• Is Hell Forever?
• Denominations: Divided We Stand
• Did Paul Baptize for the Dead?
• Do Demons Have Zip Codes?
• Doubting Thomas's Gospel

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September 4 2000, Vol. 44, No. 10