The Devil Wears a Tie (Continued)

From the Animated Bible Series by Revelation Media.

James 4:7 states, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” It would be glorious if every believer could grasp hold of this truth and faithfully live it out, but most often this is not the case. Sadly, it has been stamped in people’s minds that the devil needs to be blinded by a metal crucifix and doused with water that has divine properties in order to ward off his wicked presence. As I wrote in the last article, there are often two extremes for how people view satan. They either see him as equally powerful to God or they simply think that he is just a symbol for evil and doesn’t exist. Though the apostle Peter warned Christians that the devil is a roaring lion viciously hunting for prey, such a dire command just doesn’t soak in. The church is almost comatose today being inundated with songs and sermonettes about of the love of God and the blessings of God that she can’t discern the deceptions and wicked stratagems infecting the globe! How many songs do we sing in church that actually heighten one’s understanding to the spiritual warfare we are facing? American Christians are too busy gooshing over the fact that they are children of God that they have forgotten they are also called to be good soldiers in Christ!

Thomas Watson once declared, "How soon are we broken on the soft pillow of ease! Adam in paradise was overcome, when Job on the dunghill was a conqueror." I grow tired of these petty praise songs that are laden with a message of how God coddles us in times of need and how His love is so overwhelming that obedience to His Word is more of a suggestion than a command! Where is holiness? Where is the reality that God is a consuming fire? (Hebrews 12:29) When will the church wake up? We are supposed to vigorously uphold the word of life in this crooked and perverse generation (Philippians 2:15-16), but we are either upholding our own trivial traditions and man made preferences, or we are buying into the world’s teaching of social justice and ecumenical ideology. Somehow we can’t just take the word of God for what it is! We have to have a new translation, a new spiritual fad, and a new catalyst for watered down, all inclusive teaching. The devil has crippled us with convenience.

Let’s go back to Eden for a moment. In this lush land of beauty, we are introduced to the world’s first farmer and alongside him is his beautiful helper, Eve. They often experienced the glorious presence of God and enjoyed the bountiful fruits of the earth, but placed directly in the middle of Eden was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They were not heavenly perfect, but they were purely innocent. They did not know such a thing as evil. They could’ve followed God forever, never partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But fallen Lucifer, who was the first created being to ever puff up in foolish pride, was fixed on the corruption of mankind. Once a bright beauty in the heavens, now a dark scourge on the earth. We could spend quite a long time on the postulations over how Lucifer could sin as an angel in heaven and why the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was within the garden, but maybe it is sufficient, for now, to simply know that there is such a thing as evil and free will. When it relates to obedience to God, choice is something that He has allowed. Of course, having the ability to choose does not mean we have power over consequences as well.

Let us look at what Genesis 3:1-5 states, “Now the serpent was more subtil 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? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But 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.  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 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.” There it is. The first step to climbing into the pit of unbelief and disobedience is questioning God’s revealed word. Did God really say that? Was that really His intention? Notice that the devil exaggerates God’s command to ask if He wanted them to not eat of ANY tree of the garden! Despite the overwhelming evidence of a worldwide flood found in archaeology, geology, and ancient writings, people still land-blast the book of Genesis as a fable of epic proportions. Most often, when I have heard people argue with others on the validity of the scriptures, they will say, “Do you believe Genesis is literal? Cause if you do, you are nuts! Who could believe in one man building an ark big enough for all those animals?! What kind of loving God would wipe out almost all of what He created?!”

It seems to be so easy for us to scorn the things that we can’t comprehend. Though similar in appearance, there is a difference in soberly exercising discernment and being emphatically critical due to our pride. The devil will always scrutinize God’s commands and twist His intents. Yea, hath God said (Doubt), Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden (Distortion)? It seems like such a simple truth, but we do well to heed to the Psalmist’s declaration found in Psalms 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” The Hebrews word for hid, tsaphan, bears the imagery of one who hoards and stores up for preservation and one who treasures and prizes a possession. You must hold the scriptures in high esteem, because satan would love nothing more than to cause God’s Word to be discredited in your eyes. He wants it to be dull to your understanding and distasteful to your heart. You don’t have to hate it; just be distrustful of its content.

Throughout this world, the devil is using many avenues to cause disparagement over the Bible. No matter if one is in elementary school or studying at a university, he is bombarded with many talking heads who strive to cause disillusionment over God’s truth. They are tools of satan aimed at picking apart ones faith. It frightens satan to think that you might assuredly declare in your heart, “...let God be true, but every man a liar...” (Romans 3:4). To stand against the devil, we do not need “holy water” and a small crucifix in our hands. We have been given a simple call to submit to God’s will (James 4:7) and cling to His truth (Psalms 119:11). The traveling Exorcists in Acts 19, thought that copying Paul’s methods would empower them over the demons, but in fact, they themselves would be the ones who were overcome! The name of Christ was on their lips, but not in their heart! We must realize the power a believer wields, when he can genuinely declare ‘Thy word have I hid in mine heart...” (Psalms 119:11a) and “...not my will, but Thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42)!