“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Genesis 3:1
When you think of Satan how do you see him in your
mind? A lot of people see Satan as an ugly cartoon type being, something evil
looking like a dragon of sort and with a pitchfork. However, that is wrong,
Satan is a spirit, a fallen angel, one that is pure evil. And He is a deceiver,
God calls him an evil spirit. But Satan can very well befriend us, he can
appear to us as a helper, one who cares, and one who wants to help, but he is
nothing less that a deceiver. God said of Satan, “Ye are of your father the
devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from
the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth
in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is
a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44 He is not our friend; he is
our archenemy who seeks to cause us to sin and fall out of fellowship with God.
His greatest desire is to cause churches to fall away from being the Pillar and
ground of Truth, to cause a church to fall just enough that Jesus removes our
candlestick. Satan appeared to Eve because he was after Adam, however since Eve
was a weaker vessel he betrayed her believing or even knowing that it would
cause Adam to fall from fellowship with God. Paul wrote about this account in 2
Corinthians 11:3 “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve
through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ.” Satan and all his angels are liars, nothing but pure
liars attempting to deceive everyone even Christians and churches. Paul said, “through his subtilty, so your minds should be
corrupted” meaning by
deception and trickery. Satan is a anti-God and everything godly and Christian,
he hates us all and seeks only to destroy all that God will allow. God said of
Satan, “And no marvel; for Satan
himself is transformed into an angel of light.” 2 Cor. 11:14 However, our
watchful eyes must go farther than that because, “Therefore it is no great
thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness;
whose end shall be according to their works.” 2 Cor. 11:15. These people
will come in as friend and betray you into following their thinking. These
satanic deceivers are everywhere appearing as loving, kind, and helpful, in
their attempt to deceive. The Lord warned us all that these people, “For
such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the
apostles of Christ.” 2 Cor. 11:13.
They can appear as Christians, Ministers of the gospel of Christ, Pastors of
churches, and even entire churches. This why God warned us, “Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because
many false prophets are gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1. Jesus warned
us in Matt. 24:4 - 25 “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that
no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and
shall deceive many.” Therefore, we must understand that the burden falls on
us to be watchful, to be sober minded, and to try the spirits that are around
us. This is because they are not far from any of us, in fact wherever you live
there are deceivers called churches full of lost people that call themselves
Christians. How do we know, we try their spirit, and we find them preaching and
believing lies about the bible. Paul said they preach another gospel, but there
is not another gospel, “Which is not another; but there be some that trouble
you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto
you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man
preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be
accursed.” Galatians 1:7 - 9 They to
are subtle, they have their PhD’s, they smile a lot, their very kind, they seem
to be loving, they preach to make your ears itchy, they test your fleshly mind
to deceive your spiritual heart. They teach works for salvation, also baptism
for salvation, as many other things for salvation, they even speak of the true
gospel but only weakly and just enough to deceive you. But the Lord warned us,
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” 1Pet. 5:8 We need to heed
the warning of Jesus, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation:
the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matt. 26:41 We must
remember how weak and frail we are because if we think to much of ourselves we
could fall prey to Satan just as Eve did.
