Deception - Satan at his best

Thought

Anyone who truly wants to serve YHWH should be aware that they are volunteering in the war between war good and evil. Sometimes this is also referred to as a war between YHWH and Satan; but, that is actually giving Satan credit for a standing he does not have. Satan is not a contender to replace YHWH. There is only one self-existent Creator God. Have you ever heard of an anti-God? Probably not but you probably have heard the term anti-Christ. Satan is the adversary of Jesus the Christ of YHWH and as such Satan could be said to be the general of the army of evil. I believe Satan knows he cannot defeat YHWH; but, Satan covets the honor, power, and glory YHWH chose to bestow upon Jesus and so became “the adversary”.

          Any general worth his salt knows the value of deception. History is full of examples that prove this, whether legend or fact, from the Trojan horse to Patton’s inflatable army. Satan, as a general, is no exception and he is often referred to as the father of lies (John 8:44).

Satan is so experienced at deception that he employs every trick in the book and then some - disinformation, straw men, honey traps, camouflage, cover and concealment, etc. A prime example: Jesus is, was, and always will be the head of His church; but, Satan got man to focus instead on the first, titular, earthly, “head of the church” or “father of the church”. Debate has raged for millennia - Peter or Paul! Yet in reality it was neither Peter nor Paul. It was James who was selected as an earthly “leader” after Jesus returned to Heaven. Even then we see that the decision to replace Judas was done by committee and the casting of lots and was not at the discretion or direction of any one man. Hence James was more a “senior elder” who acted as spokesman for the group and whose counsel may have been deferred to on divided issues. Yet for centuries a point of contention between Catholics and Protestants has been who has the final say here on Earth. Catholics claim Peter and hence rely on the words of a pope as “the authority”. Protestants refute this claim and instead rely on the words of Paul. Both sides ignore the facts and have spent centuries arguing over a moot point. (Watch any debate between a “Catholic scholar” and a “Protestant scholar” and it will be “the pope says” versus “Paul said” - YHWH and Jesus are rarely if ever mentioned!)

Satan’s deception has worked so well that few follow the teachings of Jesus and instead follow the teachings of either a pope or Paul. It is said Satan’s greatest trick is convincing people he does not exist. If so then his second greatest trick is deceiving those who refuse to serve him into withholding that same service to his opponent Jesus - this by getting them to give allegiance instead to a pope or Paul.

          It is essentially a fact of life that every war will have “collateral damage” among so-called non-combatants. In the war between good and evil Satan has many who serve on his side - even if unknowingly. YHWH, as Jesus told us (Matthew 22:14), has few on Earth who serve Him. Many who thought they were serving YHWH will find they were not (Matthew 7:23). How can that be? Perhaps because most so called “Christians” follow the teachings of a pope or Paul instead of following the teachings of Jesus. Most will be little more than cannon fodder for Satan or collateral damage.

          So how can one know if they are truly with YHWH? The answer is as easy as: Who do you follow? Who do you love and obey? Consider the key to the kingdom as two sided - one side is love and the other is obedience - like a pair of scissors the one half only works when employed with the other.

QUOTE

That is the devil getting at us. He always sends errors into the world in pairs—pairs of opposites. And he always encourages us to spend a lot of time thinking which is the worse. You see why, of course? He relies on your extra dislike of the one error to draw you gradually into the opposite one. But do not let us be fooled. We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight through between both errors. We have no other concern than that with either of them. -- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Comment: Satan loves to deceive through distraction. Consider the debate of faith versus works. Again we find two halves of a whole which, like the scissors, requires both. No matter what a pope or Paul said Jesus taught it is not faith or works - it is faith and works. Who do you follow?

Did You Know

Satan can do miracles.

Satan can make you prosperous.

Satan can heal you.

straw man (n.) -  a person whose function is only to cover another's activities, a front, a conveniently weak or innocuous person, object, or issue used as a seeming adversary or argument.

Satan is an adversary:

Be sensible, watch, because your adversary the Devil walks about as a roaring lion seeking someone he may devour.

(1 Peter 5:8)

          To those obeying YHWH:

Blessed are the ones doing His commands, that their authority will be on the Tree of Life and by the gates they may enter into the city.

(Revelation 22:14)

And, Satan is here on Earth and he has always deceived the world:

And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent being called devil, and, Satan; he deceiving* the whole habitable world was cast out onto the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

(Revelation 12:9)

How can you tell who side a person is really on:

By this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone not practicing righteousness is not of God; also the one not loving his brother.

(1 John 3:10)

*The word translated as deceiving is planaō: Strong’s number G4105 - from G4106 - to (properly cause to) roam (from safety, truth, or virtue), go astray, deceive, err, seduce, wander, be out of the way.