Posted on 04/13/2013 6:33:21 AM PDT by DouglasKC
If you were the devil and wanted to deceive the entire world, how would you approach such a challenge?
One brilliant strategy would be to convince people that you're not really there—that you don't even exist. And the best way to do that would be to get them to believe that the only source of information that reveals who you are, along with your motives and methods, is little more than a collection of fables that have nothing to do with their lives.
We have seen exactly that. Starting several centuries ago, and prompted by the theories of men such as Charles Darwin—who came up with a way to explain creation without the Creator—many people began directly challenging the authority and inspiration of the Bible. They began to ridicule, as mere myth and superstition, the existence of a spirit world, long accepted without question by those who believed the Bible.
In the world's leading universities skeptics challenged the validity and accuracy of the Bible, and materialist reasoning under the guise of science—rejecting anything that cannot be detected by the physical senses—became the order of the day. Generations of leaders were taught to discard anything that could not be measured by scientific methods.
Then came two world wars. Two successive generations saw their fathers, husbands and sons lost on bloody battlefields in far-flung corners of the world, with neither war resulting in a lasting peace. Civilian casualties, too, were appalling, with tens of millions of lives snuffed out. Numbed by such brutal mass destruction of lives and property, many lost their belief in God, thinking that an all-powerful Supreme Being would never allow such carnage and suffering.
Thus, in only a few generations, belief in an almighty, all-loving God and trust in the Bible as His revelation to mankind were shattered.
In our modern world, although many people still claim to believe in God, few take their stated belief seriously enough to let it guide their lives. The Bible is consistently one of the world's best-selling books, yet it is one of the least read and least understood. Most people think the Bible and the spirit world have nothing to do with them and their lives.
Although religion should provide an understanding of God and the spirit world, it is too often only yet another source of confusion and disagreement. For example, Christianity is the professed religion of approximately a third of the world's population and is the largest single religion. But it is splintered into thousands of sects and denominations, many of them claiming to represent the true teachings of the Bible and Jesus Christ.
Never in human history, of course, have professing Christians comprised a majority of the world's population. Most people during the last two millennia have followed a bewildering array of deities, gurus and religious teachers. Some have believed in God, others in various good and evil spirits or no God and spirit world at all.
Obviously these incompatible and often opposite beliefs cannot all be right. God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). The effect of so much religious confusion and division is exactly what one would expect from a being whose aim is to "deceive the whole world" (Revelation 12:9). Many people do not believe in the devil at all, and many of those who do aren't sure what they should believe, since so many religious teachings are confused and contradictory.
Most people are deeply sincere in their beliefs. But since the beliefs of so many professing Christians contradict the beliefs of other professing Christians, they cannot all be right. Many of them are sincere, but sincerely wrong. They, along with the rest of the world, have been deceived. So what are the implications to professing Christians of Satan's deception and its resulting confusion?
Christ challenged people in His day who were sincere yet deluded: "Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46).
He cautioned His followers to be aware of religious deception. "Take heed that no one deceives you," He warned (Matthew 24:4). He prophesied that religious leaders would arise who would claim to represent Him but in fact they would be impostors who would "deceive many" (verse 5).
Rather than a source of information and understanding about the great malevolent spirit that is the enemy of mankind, religion has actually been one of the major tools the devil has used to deceive people.
“Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur”
I had to look it up, but yep, it seems that way...:-)
“Let God be true and every man a liar.” Rom. 3:4
Another posting by the cult “United Church of God”
An excerpt:
Origins: The United Church of God is an offshoot of the Worldwide Church of God. They claim to trace their origins back to the “Church that Jesus founded in the early first century.”2 How this is done is not explained.
Practices: Worship on Saturday
Analysis: The United Church of God is a non-Christian cult that denies the Trinity, the true divinity of Christ, and requires both baptism and obedience to the commandments to be saved. It teaches that there is a “God family” of which we can become members through keeping the Law. Jesus is one of two divine beings, the Father being the other. The Holy Spirit is a force, a power, and is not the 3rd person of the Trinity, and it is received only through the laying on of hands by their church members. It also teaches that their members are obligated to keep the Sabbath and must observe seven festivals. They cannot eat unclean meat. This is a false religious system that teaches a false God, false Christ, and false gospel. Stay away from it.
Acts 16:30* And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31* And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Believe. Not believe+works. Simply believer.
Since you apparently disagree with article are you a supporter of Satan or just of Satanic deception? Because the bible is very clear that Satan deceives the whole world.
It’s the mind of man deceiving itself.
Why is evidence for God abundant in the universe where there is no evidence whatsoever for a Satan until man is capable of abstracting him through his own mind?
Trying to “guess the devil” will always be a resounding failure, for a simple reason: people are just not that capable.
St. Thomas Aquinas imagined Satan as a fallen Cherub.
Cherubim means “the fulness of knowledge, and these most sublime hosts are thus called, because they are filled with a knowledge which is the more perfect as they are allowed to behold the glory of God more closely”.
However, Lucifer’s big sin, by which we can have any understanding of Satan at all, is vanity, in the truest, Ten Commandments, sense. It is not just Satan’s sin, but that of mankind as well.
In this case, both Lucifer, and mankind, just cannot resist imagining themselves as the center of the universe. In the case of Lucifer, this ended with him cast out of Heaven. In the case of mankind, it resulted in the great flood, and the Tower of Babel being destroyed, among other things.
God finally gave the definitive philosophical basis for this when Moses asked His name, in that His response to this, while terse, has immense implications.
Philosophically, it gave people a tremendous paradox, if God is everything and does everything, how do people do anything? This paradox existed to modern times, until philosophers eventually decided that only through atheism could man continue to pretend that he ruled the universe.
That is, “I AM THAT I AM”, was countered with Descartes “I think, therefore I am”. Foolish, flawed and wrong, people didn’t care, because they could once again become vain in earnest.
Since that time, there has been a steady progression to mankind thinking it has the power of God, and this process is accelerating with the philosophy of socialism.
Importantly, it really doesn’t matter if this is a reflection of the hand of Satan, or that we are doing it ourselves, the effects, and the possible consequences of this arrogance are the same.
With nuclear weapons, many have convinced themselves that humans can annihilate the world. Now men are asserting that mankind can control the weather, by somehow manipulating our trace contribution to a trace gas. More and more, mankind seeks to make itself uniform, with the idea of eliminating the knowledge of good and evil among mankind, thus giving ourselves immortality in anonymity.
I am inclined to this man is responsible for his own sin, as were this the work of Satan, it would not be done in anonymity, but with braggadocio. Satan would want us to do so in his honor, not our own egotism.
And what did those who believed do when they became believers? How was that belief demonstrated?
Definitely that's part of it. On our own we don't like being told what to do. We're loathe to be under anyone's thumb.
Why is evidence for God abundant in the universe where there is no evidence whatsoever for a Satan until man is capable of abstracting him through his own mind?
You're correct in that there is tons of evidence of God and scripture agrees with you.
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
Rom 1:19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
Rom 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
But as clear as that may be to you and I there are some who can't or won't see it despite all evidence to the contrary. It requires a certain level of God bringing us to the truth.
It's the same way though with discernment of evil and Satan:
1Jn 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
1Jn 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
1Jn 3:9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
1Jn 3:10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
There's a certain level of spiritual growth, faith, needed to recognize this.
The author of Hebrews puts this growth this way:
Heb 5:13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
So coming to full maturity as a Christian will give one the ability to discern both good and evil.
That's the premise of the article. Satan has been effective because people have been stunted in their spiritual growth. They can't discern him or his works.
Good post that I agee with. However Satan is pretty devious and calculating. He knows that coming out of the closet too soon, while there is still salt on the earth, won't profit him. But he'll try to get that adoration and glory in the end times just before the return of Christ.
And what did those who believed do when they became believers? How was that belief demonstrated?
I know our friends nonsporting doesn't believe it but he is exactly describing the spirit of lawlessness spoken of by Christ:
Mat 7:22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
Mat 7:23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
Christians, when shown the mercy, greatness and love of our Saviors, want to and should respond in obedience:
Mat 7:24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
Mat 7:25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
Mat 7:26 "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
Mat 7:27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."
It strikes me as polytheism, regardless what one may call it.
I guess to have an adequate response I would have to know what you consider to polytheism and whether you're coming at this from in a biblical perspective or not.
I’m a Torah guy, though not Jewish.
I believe that references in the Old Testament, such as the serpent in the Garden, are of God Himself. Job is the real exception, but a preponderance of rabbinical opinion is that Job is a Good vs Evil fictional device.
I also subscribe to the scientific method, in that it tends to confirm Biblical Creation over some 14-15 billion years much more than deny it, and vice-versa.
I’d regard myself as an American Judeo-Christian, seeing Jesus more as mashiach in the Hebrew sense, though as non-divine. However, I believe the United States could not have been founded without his example.
“Christians, when shown the mercy, greatness and love of our Saviors, want to and should respond in obedience:”
This is a far different thing from thinking one can “earn” salvation, obviously we can’t do that, but we can show by what we do what we believe.
Doing what we choose as “good works” outside of Christ’s direction is “lawlessness”, it’s not a “ministry” Christ approves of or was ever recognized by him, “I never knew you” is a pretty clear condemnation.
That's one I haven't heard before. Are you saying that God disguised himself as the serpent in order to test or tempt Eve?
Job is the real exception, but a preponderance of rabbinical opinion is that Job is a Good vs Evil fictional device.
What do the rest of the rabbi's think?
I also subscribe to the scientific method, in that it tends to confirm Biblical Creation over some 14-15 billion years much more than deny it, and vice-versa.
I agree with that.
I’d regard myself as an American Judeo-Christian, seeing Jesus more as mashiach in the Hebrew sense, though as non-divine.
So as a false messiah as the Jews may see him?
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