Someone once said that if you keep telling a lie long enough, people would begin to believe it. One of the Adversary's keys to deceive humanity is his ability to lie. He will speak truth one moment and in the next breath add a lie to destroy, kill, and steal from mankind.
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for the steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
No matter how you read the verse, the outcome is the same. The Devil does not have your best interest in mind. Any time he gets into the mix, you can bet the bottom line will produce one or a combination of these three characteristics. What make him so hard to keep track of is his ability to adapt to culture.
He constantly improvises, changes, and develops new lies for man to consider. Once these lies are accepted, he is able to latch on to a person's thinking. It is there, in the mind of humanity that he begins to build strongholds from which he then attacks from within.
He does this through literature, television, media, and sometimes well-meaning preachers. When words and concepts are experienced, they are then stored in your mind for future reference. These experiences now become a memory.
The power of deception lies with the belief of the lie the Devil was able to implant in your interpretation of these memories. The memory is not the problem; the false interpretation of the memory is, if it's based on a lie. I'd like to show you what I believe is one of the Adversary's greatest weapons against mankind. For this we go to Genesis chapter three.
Genesis 3:1-7 1Now the serpent was more subtle 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? 2And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit, of the trees of the garden: 3But of the fruit, of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.4And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:, 5For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit, thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Here, in the beginning chapters of the Bible we see the Adversary tempting mankind to believe a lie. He was able to do this through words. Once he got Eve to consider what he was shoveling, he was able to implant a lie in Eve, and later, Adam - a lie that has plagued mankind since the fall. Look at verse 5 once again.
Genesis 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
One of the lies he told Eve was that she would be like God. Before I go any further, I'd like you to note that he first got rid of the consequences of disobedience in verse 4 when he told her, "Ye shall not surely die."
Once she believed this lie, the stage was set for more to follow. Ye shall not surely die became a Guardian Lie for the adversary to use against Eve. It was the belief of this lie Ye shall not surely die that disarmed her spiritually. Then she was easily deceived into believing that she could be like God.
However, did you ever consider what she thought? What is so appealing to mankind that they would be willing to throw everything away to be like God? If Eve could be like God, she could know everything, for surely God knows everything. She could do whatever she wanted. She no longer needed to depend on God.
I believe the lie that Eve bought was self-enlightenment apart from God. In other words, if she could do it herself, why would there be any need for God? Independence from God meant new exciting adventures, and the secrets of the universe revealed. I believe this Guardian Lie (self-enlightenment apart from God) has troubled man ever since.
Sometimes the smarter we get, the further away from God we grow. Eve was deceived under the guise of spiritual enlightenment. Many Christians today are repeating her mistake. Enlightened Christianity today is powerless. We face a problem that has plagued man since Pentecost, and that is one of Enlightened Christianity.
In our western culture we are taught from the cradle that in order to succeed in this world, education is the key. This statement, like many others we are taught has a certain amount of truth to it. I am very thankful for my teachers and schools I have been exposed to. We learned such things as reading, writing, and arithmetic, etcetera. There are technical, legal, professional, and medical schooling available also.
Most of middle-class America enjoys the benefits of this learning. We have for the most part been trained to then depend on our abilities to accomplish our desires and goals in life. Most Christians go to church on Sunday, or some other day, and hear of the wonderful stories of Jesus, how he healed, blessed, ministered, and performed great miracles in a far away land, long ago.
He died for our sins, was resurrected, and now it's available for anyone who wills to receive eternal life through believing in his name. We then pledge our allegiance to him as our lord and savior.
We learn of a God who is all love and powerful, who gave His only begotten son to save humanity. A god who parted the Red Sea and created the universe. A God who talked with man and healed him.
However, for many, God no longer heals or speaks to man. The miracles in the Bible and the power the early church operated are long gone with the passing of the apostles. What we have been taught about Christianity and what the Bible teaches are sometimes worlds apart.
If someone gets sick, we turn to medicine and doctors, coupled with our fervent prayers that God would heal us through these means to get His will done. For we have been taught that the Bible and church have their place in life, but when it comes to healing, the place to go is the doctor's.
The result is that we are practicing a form of Christianity so strongly influenced by our western world that we know little else but to turn to enlightened human methods for solving problems. For many Christians, we experience no spiritual power in our lives to resolve problems, and so we turn to our socially approved source of power.
This power lies in secular medicine and knowledge. For many, God is like a clock maker. He wound up the clock at the beginning of creation and now just sits back without further involvement until it unwinds through the annals of time. We have explained away the supernatural miracles through our western enlightenment. We laugh at anyone who speaks of biblical healing or demons, etcetera.
When we get sick, the first thing we should do is seek God and pray for our recovery.
Proverbs 3:5-6 5Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
We must learn to trust in the Lord at all times and in all situations. This includes or health. If after we have prayed, we don't see results within a period of time [this will vary with each circumstance], the next thing we should be doing is calling a believer or two to have them pray with and for you. This may include being ministered to.
James 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up;, and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.Mark 16:17-18 17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
After you have done this, you have acknowledged God. At least you have given Him a chance to work in the situation. If you need to seek treatment from a doctor, by all means do. The point is getting your need met. When we seek God first, we show Him we trust Him. If He works through the doctor, He still gets the glory. Don't let the Devil rob you from seeing God work first hand in your life; ask Him first.ÿ