2 Corinthians 11:14-15; Isaiah 14:12-15
You know satan isn’t some monster with red skin holding a pitch fork right? 👿 He works as an angel of light! If you saw him you would probably think he’s of God. Indeed even through the church, satan permeates with his deception, mixing truth with lies just like he’s always done since time immemorial.
If satan or his demons stood in the mall looking like a horrific being and invited you to come hang out, no-one would go. Therefore we should take heed because his deceptions look no way like what many might think or expect. But his tricks that could cause us to miss salvation are all well detailed in the Bible! At the core, satan’s primary aim is to counterfeit God’s commandments so that he deceives many into worshipping him.
The Bible is very clear that many, even children of God, will be deceived by satan’s tricks. Not because they don’t love God but because they couldn’t distinguish truth from error. Jesus spoke about the narrow way which only few will find. It logically follows that there are things about how the majority worship God that could be in error, breaking God’s commands.
We know this because THE PRIMARY THING SATAN WANTS IS WORSHIP! (Read Isaiah 14:12-15). His primary focus isn’t to make us steal some notes or to sleep around etc. but to divert our worship away from God to himself. This was his desire in heaven, ultimately deceiving a third of the angels, who all got kicked out to earth with him (Rev 12:7-9).
Therefore we must constantly keep striving to find and obey the truth because we know the devil is always working to deceive us. 1 Thess 5:20-21 says “Do not despise prophecies but test EVERYTHING; hold fast to what is good”. This would include popular beliefs, religious culture, how we pray, tongues, how we worship God, the day we worship God, how we keep the day holy etc. Do not be mistaken, this is satan’s number one area of focus in the great controversy with God.
God’s word is plain. When we approach it with a desire to find the truth and not to bias it with our thinking, we will ALWAYS find the truth. Jesus said the Holy Spirit will guide us into ALL truth (John 16:13). The truth is often not popular. There’s also no relative truth with God. If there was then we insult the power and unity in work of the holy spirit. Whenever we find confusion about what the Bible says or what we see is popular, even in our Church, we can always be sure that it’s not the Bible that is confusing but our understanding. It’s not God’s word that needs to change, it is us. The Bible must always be the standard, not our pastors or friends or culture. 🙏🏾
Source reference: SDA 1Q19 Quarterly
The Langford Files 