EXPLORING GOD’S WORD
The Devil Goes to Church The devil is much wilier and may be much closer than you think. The Bible reveals that he deceives the whole world—meaning he has even duped churches and religious figures. How is this possible? Could you be deceived too? by Steve Myers
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strike. In the same way, Satan is evil tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). elieve it or not, Satan plays but not obviously so. He’s deceptive, an enormous role in religion. Satan then contradicted God, saying, subtle and cunning. He is very interested in what “You will not surely die” (verse 4). This is how he actually tried to That was a lie. It could be cast as happens in churches. We partially true in the sense that Adam undermine Jesus Christ as His earthly often think of the devil as out there somewhere, maybe on the attack. But and Eve weren’t going to immediately ministry began. You may be familiar drop dead if they disobeyed God. Yet with the story in Matthew 4. Christ do you realize that he may be much was fasting for 40 days and nights, from the moment of succumbing to closer than you think? and Satan came to Jesus and tempted sin, their eventual death as its cost Have you ever considered that Him. He took Jesus from the wilderwould be assured. Satan goes to church? Is it possible So the deception was on. They took ness to Jerusalem’s towering temple that the devil has weaseled his way complex and then did something from the tree of the knowledge of into your church? shocking. God’s Word says in Revelation 12:9 good and evil. It represented decidHe quoted Scripture. He told Christ ing good and evil for themselves that “the great dragon was cast out to go ahead and jump off, and quoted [of heaven], that serpent of old, called under Satan’s influence, leading to a the Devil and Satan, who deceives the mixed-up morality of truth and lies. Psalm 91:11-12: “‘He [God] shall give whole world; he was cast to the earth, And through many half-truths, Satan His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest throughout history has led people and his angels were cast out with you dash your foot against a stone.’” him” (emphasis added throughout). to misunderstand God’s words. He That’s indeed what Scripture says. wants us to make decisions that lead How much of the world has the But did God the Father want Jesus devil misled and conned? Here God us away from what’s right. to jump off a building just to prove But you may think, I wouldn’t be says it’s the entire world. And that a point? He did promise angelic includes his deception in religion. So misled; my church couldn’t be off track! Yet as we see here with Satan’s protection, but it wasn’t for show. if you believe the Bible, you should So here we see Satan presenting the first interaction with humanity, he recognize that Satan has deceived does not come across as all evil all the holy Word of God in a totally wrong even churches! What are the signs time. Satan has a scheme, a strategy, and evil way, using that to try to trip to look for to find out if Satan has and in 1 Peter 5:8 we see another part up Jesus Christ. That’s Satan’s strategy. infiltrated your church? of that strategy: “Your adversary the The devil purposely misrepresents Blending truth with error devil walks about like a roaring lion, the Word of God. He knows how to use Scripture, but he’ll distort it. He’ll seeking whom he may devour.” The Bible reveals some of Satan’s You’ve probably seen nature shows take it out of context; he’ll change the methods in its opening pages. Rememmeaning. presenting lions on the hunt. They ber the story of the Garden of Eden So it’s important to ask yourself: hide, they’re camouflaged well, where Satan said to Eve, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every they’re opportunistic, and then they How well do I know Scripture? Do
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