The Devils Deception

I Peter 5: ⁸ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:


Nowadays you don’t hear a lot of sermons about the devil or what he is up to.  I don’t really hear a lot of discussion about him either.  I think it is important to be reminded sometimes that we have an enemy out there; an enemy who wants to destroy us.  Many of us are not even engaged in the battle, unaware of what is going on.  Let’s take a look at what he is up to.


In Isaiah 14 it is written of the devil, ¹³ For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: ¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.  That closing phrase holds the key to most of what the devil is up to.  He wants to be like the Most High.  He is a counterfeiter, a knock off brand, trying to duplicate the original.


He has two intentions, either to take you with him into the pit, or if you are saved, to make you as ineffectual as possible.  It is the latter that I intend to deal with.  The Devil want to strip you of your power, your authority, and your protection.  He wants you to not believe what is true, and fall for a lie.  He wants to keep you off your knees, out of the word, and in denial of what God has promised for us.


The most likely place you would find the devil and his demons is probably not where you would expect.  They don’t need to spend time down at the local tavern, or brothel.  He already has those people and they are no threat to him.  The most likely place to find him is at the church.  He might be behind the pulpit or in the leadership of the church making sure the message is all gobbledygook.  He’ll take what god has said and promised and pervert it.  In doing so He knows that not only will he fool those who fall for the perversion, but also get those who are not to then reject what God offers because they think it is perversion.


For example, the devil has taken a perfectly legitimate gift of tongues and perverted it into a bunch of over-emotional diarrhea of the mouth gibberish that looks to the outsider like a scene from a loony bin. The real gift of tongues is found in Acts 2:6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.  This is quite different than the crazy babbling we hear in some circles today.  Yes, I know I am stepping on some toes here.  This topic often gets into heated discussions.  But the devil likes that too when he can get Christians acting hateful toward one another instead of loving as Christ said.  Some people, because of the perversion, deny the gift of tongues even operates today. 


And this is how the devil operates; a point by point copycat perversion of everything God has set in place.  Healings is another.  We see ministers slapping people around on stage and people falling out and flopping around like a fish out of water.  This isn’t healing.  This is perversion.  Because of this perversion, many don’t even believe in divine healing.  Another tool stolen away from us.  More arguments and divisions among Christians. 


Dreams, prophecies, prosperity, and other doctrines that have been twisted and perverted by the evil angels of light sent only to deceive and divide the family of God.  Any more you get attacked by other Christians if you say you believe even the true biblical gifts.  It is even to the point where people don’t even think God communicates to us any longer.  How ineffectual can we get when we even deny the voice of the Father?  Satan has his people out there doing evil deeds claiming “God told them” it was ok.  It has become so common and widespread that when someone does really hear from God, they are not believed.  They might not even believe it if it happened to themselves, they have become so gunshy because of the perversion.


And of course there is the word.  If the devil can pervert and distort the word, he can destroy the standard by which we measure all things.  If he can get us to doubt its authenticity, or authority; question what it says or just plain not believe what it says, he can manipulate us into perversion.  Every year there seems to be some new translation coming out, each one more removed from the original text and meaning.  Some of the newer translations have verses that use words that change the meaning of the verse 180 degrees.  If he can make us think the word is unreliable, than anything goes after that.


If we can be made to believe that God no longer communicates with us, what is the point of prayer?  Disrupting the communication between God and man, getting them to believe a lie, dividing the body, isolating the individual, then going in to devour them as a ravenous and roaring lion; this is the plan of the devil.