Satan is a Deceiver and Father of Lies

DEVOTION
12 / 09 / 05
(Comments in parentheses and emphasis are mine)

FIRST THOUGHTS:

One of the most used sayings I have heard as I have gone through my life as a child of God is: “We have the victory, we know the outcome.” Although this is true for those truly in Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus), the war is far but over, my friends. Even for His true children. I keep saying, “true children”, because we are losing potential fellow-heirs all the time. Satan is a deceiver and a liar. (“… for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44b))

As I see Satan’s army, they are divided into two fronts. The purpose of the first front, are the obvious ones. This group seems to show the world “what evil is”. This group makes Satan’s second group look mighty holy and good. You know, “Wow, that person sure is evil, eh? I mean, straight from the lineage of Satan.” All the while, an elderly lady may be gently preaching a lie about the kingdom of God to them. The later is Satan’s elite, his undercover soldiers, if you will. Their aim? To convince people that they are from God and that they hold the truth. Remember when Satan tested our Savior in the desert? Satan used Scripture … straight from the Word of God!! Our Savior used the truth to combat “twisted truth”. Satan is working overtime to win those who have heard the truth! “Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.” (Luke 8:12)

Wow!! There will be, and are, people who THINK that they are saved children of the living God, yet are perishing! They have been deceived and thus, have lost the battle. They heard that the war is over and have given in to the enemy. All the while, they still THINK that they are saved, yet helping the advancement of Satan. “The coming of the lawless one (the one who hates the law) will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they REFUSED to love the TRUTH and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful DELUSION so that they will believe the LIE.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11) (Satan can use a well loved leader of a growing church or a homeless man on the street … do NOT be deceived, my friends! We know that the world will LOVE the lie in the end … for they will THINK the lie is God’s truth, this is why they worship the anti-Christ and his followers! “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast – all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. He who has an ear, let him hear.” (Revelation 13:8) (Keep asking yourself, why don’t those who truly love God recognize these false teachings?)

HINT: Satan knows that God desires obedience!

1.) In the garden (He made Adam and Eve disobey)
2.) In the desert (He made Israel disobey)
3.) Today (He makes many disobey as well)

The only One who did not disobey was Yeshua (Jesus). But that is what Satan used … disobey God! Have you fallen for the lie that the Law is no longer valid for today?

Let us read how Yeshua (Jesus) told his followers to beware and know the truth so that they are not deceived by the father of lies, Satan. The time is coming when even those who have given their life over to serve the Lord (the elect) will have a hard time distinguishing the truth from a lie (I testify today, the lie looks like the truth!):

- “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time.” (Matthew 24:24-25)

How close are we to the end? Look who the masses are flocking to:

- Some denominations teach that we are to rebuke Satan and bind him (there is only One who can bind … we are to flee!) “This is especially true of those who follow the CORRUPT DESIRE of the sinful nature and despise authority. BOLD and ARROGANT, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings; yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord. But these men BLASPHEME in matters they do NOT understand.” (2 Peter 2:10-12a) and “But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Yet these men speak ABUSIVELY against whatever they do NOT understand … Woe to them!” (Jude 9a)

- There are colossal churches performing great and miraculous signs and wonders as if performing a show on stage or at a theater (when did the Messiah do His miracles like this?)

- The most loved false doctrine is, because of the desires of their flesh, God is a big money tree or piggy bank … “who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.” (1 Timothy 6:5b) and “They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit…” (Jude 9b)

Can you see that we must combat Scripture with Scripture (Just like Yeshua (Jesus) did)? Satan’s job is clearly to get us to believe the lie and turn us away from the truth. My friend, are you seeking the truth with all that you are? Are you too busy with life and its gain to search? Would you rather follow man’s wisdom, than the wisdom given by His Spirit? Whose voice are you hearing?

- “When He (Yeshua (Jesus)) has brought out all His own, He goes on ahead of them, and His sheep follow Him because they know His voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” (John 10:4-5)

This is not a slumber party, my brothers and sisters! The war has increased in intensity now that the Messiah has come! If you are not feeling the heat … the love of the world, instead of the love of God, might just be in you. “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” (John 15:19) (The world seems to hate what I, and many others in these end days, are preaching. Come to think of it, they hated what the Messiah and His followers were preaching too!)

Many who have been deceived, because they did not love the truth, will stand before the Lord waiting to be embraced by the Master. Instead, they will get the following answer and it is then that they will realize their negligence! “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. MANY will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. AWAY FROM ME, you evildoers!” (Matthew 7:21-23)

Just so you know: The above people “thought” that they were saved. These are NOT Muslims, Atheists, or any other foreign religion but “Christian”. They are calling Yeshua (Jesus) Master thinking that they gave their life over to Him. The scary part? Is WHY Yeshua (Jesus) sent them away: They were transgressing His Laws / commands that HE gave to us in the Old Testament. Some translations have it “You who practice lawlessness” (NASB) or “You who work iniquity (sin)” (KJV).

Have you fallen for the lie (deception) that the Law is not for us?