11/14/2022 Monday
When you consider the word…the devil…what comes to mind? This creepy red creature with horns and a tail? After you read this ask yourself this question again.
The Bible tells us that the devil is a liar, a thief, and a murderer, so why does anyone listen to him? It’s frequently been said that one of the devil’s ultimate techniques is to persuade people that he doesn’t really exist.
Satan does exist—we exist, and God exists. We all think (some not so good) and we all have a personality and make decisions. God’s intentions and ways are perfect, ours we need to work on, but the devil is a liar and wants to destroy us and everything we care about. The difference is that everything the devil does is evil because he is completely opposed to God. There is not one good quality in the devil. He deceives millions and millions of people every day.
What are the devil’s desires? Satan is a formidable, spiritual being whose goal is to turn us away from God. He is very good at his job too. He thought he could overthrow the God of creation once, and God kicked him out of heaven. There are things this side of glory we just don’t fully understand and we can’t see it, but there is a battle going on in the spiritual world between good and evil…God and heaven, and the devil and his co-horts.
We can’t take the devil lightly either. Who is the devil? He is our enemy and he is out to destroy us. The Bible says, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against… the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). We might not fully understand that battle…but it is surely going on.
The thing is…the devil has been defeated. If you read your Bible then you know you are on the winning team if you are on “Team Jesus”. Jesus, the son of God came to this earth to defeat the devil, and give us a chance to be saved. Through the death and resurrection Jesus Christ overcame all the powers of death and evil, and some day His victory will be complete. God knows the timing of His return and the day of judgment on the evil ones of this world. The devil has lost the final battle and he knows it, he just wants to destroy as many people as he can before that happens.
The devil is an incredible liar! The devil is, in fact, great beyond our imagination at lying. So much so that he conned many of God’s magnificent angels to go against God and follow him. He wanted to be God…but he failed miserably and got kicked out of heaven along with all those that rebelled against God. He can’t be, and no one can be God but God. These angels didn’t even detect his lies or schemes because satan was considered a great angel at the time. The devil is smart and you better give him credit in that department. I conclude the devil deceived “a minimum of 200 hundred million angels” because the Bible indicates his demon’s number 200 million. Revelation 9:16.)
The devil infiltrated even the first churches. He brought a little of this and that and crept in and some believed his lies and deceptions…and they are even more believing his lies in some of the churches today. Many of those early churches, and today also…know they are doing wrong, but they don’t want to offend anyone. They like their status and want to keep it, but what they are doing is destroying people’s lives and telling them lies. There are ministers in positions in this world that hand out the lies of satan and promote his lies like they are truth. In doing so they honor the devil and not God.
When people in positions of responsibility and regard promote his lies as truth, they honor Lucifer. Because Satan’s subtle lies (and some out-and-out lies as well) gained the stature of truth in some of the seven churches of Revelation, Jesus told us about each of those seven churches so we would not make the same mistakes they did. Yet, if you look around at churches today you will see (if you want the truth) how many are out and out lying to their congregations. They lie on same-sex marriage, living together, transgenders, and abortions, and tell their congregations that God has changed, and everyone will go to heaven. They tell them that there are many ways to heaven. Well, I know how to read, and I know that is 100% against what God did say. They just go on believing these ministers instead of listening to God. Why? Because to listen to God and claim you are a Christian you will have to stop doing whatever it is that you do that God says is wrong.
Lucifer was the first liar and with his lies, he misled, dupped, and conned one-third of Heaven’s angels. (Revelation 12:4) This was incredible. But know this: The dullest angel is brighter than the smartest human being and yet, Lucifer was able to deceive a minimum of 200 million angels while living in God’s house! So don’t think ever that he can’t mislead you, dupe you, or con you to do wrong. He is very good at his job. The devil dupped the angels to wage a war in heaven against God (Revelation 12:7-9) It took a very convincing liar (the devil) to induce smart angels to rebel against Almighty God! If you think this was an incredible accomplishment, the Bible reveals the devil will again persuade created beings – ordinary humans this time – to wage war against Jesus at the Second Coming. (Revelation 17:14) So if you think you can’t be conned to do things you need to rethink that one. The devil is good at his job, knows how to lie, steal, cheat, is corrupt, and knows how to persuade people into doing things. Before people know they are in the wrong that hook is in them. You need to know the truth, live the truth, believe the truth, and hold onto Jesus for He is the only way you can make it. Superglue yourself to the Lord in mind…and hang on no matter what you see or hear. Test what people say to see if it is truth. Pick up that Bible and read it, do it, live it, and ingest it into your very being for that is the power over the devil.
Now may God bless you, keep you, provide for you, heal you, protect you and your family, and give you His peace. May He also give you strength to endure this world until His return for His bride/the church. God bless you.