Lord Jesus Himself and also the Prophets have all warned us to be careful of those who deceive and mislead through their lies and by distorting the message of the Gospel. But what is it that we should be careful about to escape falling prey to their tricks? A betrayer never comes openly declaring his intentions but disguises himself as a friend and then first plants a seed of doubt and then slowly nurtures it to full growth by adding on to that.
Recognizing the tricks of a deceiver – Lord Jesus told us about the works of the devil, ‘to steal, and to kill and to destroy’ and this he does through various lies that he has been using since the early times of creation (John 10:10). The devil ‘does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it’ (John 8:44). Our enemy’s identity is clear, Satan, who was created by God perfect in his ways but then his ‘heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor’ (Ezekiel 28:15-17). God is perfect and complete in Himself and created everything out of His mercy, grace and compassion and not for any selfish reason.
Accordingly, in heaven or on earth God inspected and approved all that He had created as ‘good’ and finally ‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31). This perfection in creation is first seen in Lucifer, the worship leader in heaven, who was created perfect, beautiful and filled with wisdom. But these very traits caused him to be filled with pride, greed and a false sense of self exaltation over all else, including the ‘Most High God’ also. It is from then only that he has been involved in deceiving all of mankind to lead them astray. The devil’s strategy then and today is the same to use his cunning ways, first, doubt the Word of God, ‘has God indeed said’; second, dispute the Word ‘not eat of every tree of the garden’; third, deny, ‘you shall surely not die’; fourth, belittle the purpose of God for He does not want your growth and finally, God wants no one to be like Him (Genesis 3:1-5).
The devil’s role is to steal the very life giving Word of God from within us and replace it with his lies so that no one can receive the blessings that are decreed for us. King David faced the onslaught of the lies of the agents of darkness and evil throughout his life. He experienced that through their deceptive talk they lay traps and boast of perfect schemes that they devised to cause the downfall of the righteous. Lord Jesus warned of such ‘false christs and false prophets’ who will come with ‘great signs and wonders and deceive, if possible, even the elect’ (Matthew 24:24). Thus the deception will not be limited to outside the community of believers but also from within.
Apostle John received the revelation of such a mighty beast (agent of Satan) with ‘seven heads (great wisdom and knowledge) and ten horns (great power) and ‘on his horns ten crowns’ (great authority) (Revelation 13:1-2). To ensure his success in opposing the children of God ‘the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority’. Thus the one who ‘seeks whom to devour’ is not like the idiot depicted in various pictures of the devil. The first part of the devil’s plan is to create the myth of his non-existence and also about his false image of a weak and bumbling character.
The Saviour Redeemer revealed Himself to the world as ‘the way, the truth and the life’ where death is separation from God and life is restoration of that close relationship as His children (John 14:6). He is the living Word, logos or the written Word in the Scripture and the closer we get to Him, the more is our ability to identify the lie and be protected. The new leader of Israel, after Moses, was cautioned by God to meditate on the Scripture at all times to be successful in his work, for he was going to face the lies of the Canaanites and their idol gods (Joshua 1:8). We get our own real identity, that of the enemy and also of God and His love for us, through the truth of the Scripture and only that saves us and sets us free from the clutches of the devil.
A believer’s weapon of warfare – The great Apostle of the gentiles, Apostle Paul, faced many challenges from all types of groups accusing him of blaspheming God and misleading the people by creating divisions. He quoted what Moses had said (Deuteronomy 32:35) about God talking revenge over your enemies that ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay’ (Romans 12:19-21). He then goes even further, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink’ and to overcome evil with good. This is the most difficult part and to do this he teaches us the technique (Ephesians 6:10-18). The first part is to ‘be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might’. The power of God is manifested through His Holy Spirit ‘the Spirit of power, of love and of self control’ (2 Timothy 1:7). Lord Jesus Himself has assured us that the heavenly Father gives ‘the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him’ (Luke 11:13). To receive God’s power is to diligently ask Him and keep asking daily for a fresh fullness, to face the challenges of that day for only God knows what awaits us and what we need.
The next command for a believer is ‘to put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil’. To stand is to keep fighting and without this protection we cannot continue. King Saul gave David his own armor and he ‘tried to walk, but was unable, for he had not tested them’ and he discarded that saying, ‘I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them’ (1 Samuel 17:39). God has given us His armor and if we are not using that daily, we shall be unable to use it. A soldier daily undergoes training about the tactics of the enemy but also about use of his weapon and this continues throughout his service period.
A believer becomes a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20) and the devil and his forces of evil are opposed to the kingdom of heaven. We are permanently in a battlefield situation till we are here on earth and ‘rulers of darkness of this age’ are our enemy that we fight. We have been given weapons of defense mostly, for we are to stand in the victory of our Lord on the cross. He ‘disarmed principalities and powers’ that we wrestle with to remain standing and ‘made a public spectacle of them’ on the cross emerging triumphant from the grave on the third day (Colossians 2:15).
We put on the belt of truth, for all weapons are tied to the belt and must operate in truth only and second is the protection of the breastplate of righteousness. This righteousness is of our Lord for He took our sins and cleansed us and it protects our chest region and all the vital organs. But it also covers our hearts, the source of all desires, to help us control our desires and our souls to prevent any evil intent to control us. With desires under control, the soul is set to communicate with and be controlled by the spirit, who is directed by the indwelling Holy Spirit. The third is protection for our feet to help us walk right with God and in His ways through the sandals of Gospel preparation and peace. We move, then, to reach out to others with the message of love of God and salvation in and through His Son.
The fourth is the shield of faith, faith that He is my ‘strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped’ (Psalm 28:7). David could openly declare this for he had experienced protection of the Lord from Goliath, the giant, in battle and the bear and the lion in the wilderness while shepherding his father’s sheep. We can be assured of His help when we move in faith in obedience to His Word and the ‘fiery darts of the wicked one’ in the form of temptations, evil desires and lies are quenched before they can afflict us. The fifth is the helmet of salvation that protects our ears from the lies of the devil and helps us to use the ears instead for hearing the Word of God to grow strong in faith. It protects our minds from being distracted from truth, our eyes from lusts of the flesh, our noses from various incense offered to the devil on earth and the resultant sickness and disease of the mind, soul and body. Our mouths are also protected from uttering words that contravene the Word of God and cause someone else to stumble.
The sixth is the weapon of attack and defense both, the sword of the Spirit ‘which is the Word of God’. Twice Satan taunted Lord Jesus about being the Son of God, by pointing out His hunger and efforts to make others understand His message, urging Him to use supernatural means to fulfill His mission. Satan desired to ‘ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High’ God (Isaiah 14:14). He failed and was removed from heaven and then he tried another trick to deceive the Son of God and bring Him under his control, by offering Him all the ‘Kingdoms of the world and their glory’ if the Lord will exalt the devil to ‘fall down and worship’ him (Matthew 4:9). All three attempts of the devil were defeated by the Lord by whipping him with the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God from the Book of Deuteronomy.
The final weapon is ‘prayer in the Spirit’ that makes and keeps all weapons of war fully functional and effective and also equips us to handle them well in battle (Ephesians 6:18). The woman with ‘flow of blood for twelve years’ moved in faith to touch the ‘border of His garment’, the blue tassel of His prayer shawl, the Tallith, and was healed (Luke 8:43-46). Lord Jesus turned and said, ‘somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me’. He regularly prayed to God the Father and Apostle Paul informed the Colossian Church (Colossians 1:11) about his prayers to the LORD God for them that they be ‘strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power’.
Apostle Paul in his last letter from the prison in Rome told his ‘spiritual son’ Timothy, ‘the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith’ (2 Timothy 4:6-7). No one can claim to have fought well without being continually vigilant, prepared and being filled with might from above with a regular close fellowship with Him. Paul lived his life, even while persecuting the Christians, in faith of doing the work of God, and later lived in obedience to the Holy Spirit, despite facing tough situations frequently. This is the only way to receive, train and use the weapons of war given by God for our spiritual battles in life.
Link of our spiritual battles with the Material world – Man’s constitution is spirit-soul and body, where a believer’s spirit is submitted to the indwelling Holy Spirit and the soul being the link between the spiritual and the body or the worldly. The devil’s basic purpose is to deceive the soul with lies to turn it away from the spirit and fully turn towards the body and be under its desires and thus, be under control of the devil. Once this darkness fills the soul the body starts getting afflicted by various diseases due to indulgence in sinful living and its consequences. Lord Jesus called the hunchbacked woman to Him and ‘loosed her for her infirmity’ of eighteen years for she ‘bent over and could not raise herself up’ (Luke 13:11-16). She got healed and ‘glorified God’ and Lord Jesus identified her, ‘a daughter of Abraham, (a Jew) whom Satan has bound-think of it- for eighteen years’. There are many whose focus is only downward, towards worldly affairs and are hunchbacked and once freed of their affliction, they glorify God like her.
Lord Jesus warned about false prophets and false messiah’s performing great signs and wonders to deceive (Matthew 24:24). Apostle Paul also warned about agents of the devil as ‘false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light’ (2 Corinthians 11:13-14). These workers of iniquity are not outside but within the church, spreading falsehoods about various things. The most common is the absence of the Holy Spirit in a believer who does not have the gift of the tongues (1 Corinthians 12:9-10). Even the gift of faith is from the same Spirit and no one can believe and receive Lord Jesus as his/her Redeemer without the gift of faith.
The curses pronounced on the serpent, Eve and Adam were the result of their sin (Genesis 3:14-19). After listing out various curses for sinful living, Moses told the Israelites, ‘your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life’ (Deuteronomy 28:66). The battle is spiritual but effects of that flow in both directions- vertical in our relationship with God and horizontal on everything in our life. Apostle Paul’s advice to us to walk in victory is clear, first, ‘pray without ceasing’, and seeking the hand of God to face each and every situation, both good or bad (1 Thessalonians 5:17-21).
Second, ‘in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you’. How can we give thanks at losing a close friend or family member or such other calamity? When we look at it in our way we see only the problem but when we detach and see God’s perspective, we may be able to find the good in it. Mary and Martha sent a message to the Lord about the sickness of their brother Lazarus and He loved them but He came on the fourth day after Lazarus’ death (John 11:5; 21-22; 32). Martha said to Him, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died’ and sought His intervention. Mary said exactly the same words but ‘fell down at His feet’, surrendering to His will, causing deep anguish and groaning in His spirit and received the miraculous result of her submission. We are unable to fully understand the plan of God in our life and the best but difficult course is to submit to His will for He knows what is best for us. He has promised us never to leave us and His Word is true for He has filled us with His peace also.
Eve was deceived by the devil, in the form of the serpent, to eat and be like God, thus putting all of mankind under sin. Even today the agents of Satan tempt us through various falsehoods to fall away from truth and God and be subject to evil. Our protection is hidden in the Word of God and in close fellowship with Him to be filled continuously with His light to identify and escape evil that is presented to us under the facade of glittering beauty.
