When we call the devil the great deceiver or the father of lies, it might seem like he tells tall tales. Would that this were the extent of it. The devil works to make you question truth and accept what is not true as truth. It does not matter what it is about, only that you believe what is false and hold false what is true. All his deception seems to work around these parameters. The devil works very well at crafting words which we are susceptible to believing. He knows us and plays to whatever bias or vulnerability lives in us. His lies are shape shifters and they are different from person to person while being the same in purpose and end. He tailors the lies or deceptions to us like a fine fitting suit of clothes.
He purposefully makes dense what is plain and plain what is dense. In this way we reject the obvious truths out of hand because of imagined complexity. Surely the whole gender fluid business is making more dense and complex what is really rather straightforward. Biology tells us what is the norm and what is the exception but the devil turns that upside down by making us think the exception is the norm and has been all along except for the conspiracy of power and control to corrupt the natural truth. Furthermore, he works very hard to make simple what is not. God must be a larger version of us -- complete with all our flaws -- so that you trust Him no more than you would trust any stranger you do not know. His mastery of Scripture makes us question what is clear and pursue with abandon what is not revealed to us.
The devil also works by carefully making his point with words that just seem to fit. Purgatory is a perfectly logical idea -- the final cleansing of the sinner before Paradise. Lord know, we think we need it. It is an absolutely reasonable idea but it did not come from the mouth of God and is alien to what God has said. An idea like this takes hold because the devil is really good at hammering home what should be and conveniently silent about what is according to God's own Word and promise. He can craft the argument and the words to shift us away from the sufficiency of Christ alone or from the need to live within the Church where His Word and Sacraments deliver to us His gifts of grace. So, having been artfully tutored in words that God never spoke with the plot line and skill of a master author, the devil leads to trust ourselves and doubt what God says. It certainly helps his cause when we are alienated from others and live alone with our screens and our truth.
He does not need to make us sex addicts or money lovers or mass murderers or drug dealers or athiests. All he wants or needs is for us to doubt and deny and learn to live without any god but especially the God who sent His Son to save and redeem us captive to sin and the power of death. He deceives with truth that has been turned into lies and lies that are paraded as truth along with the crafty discernment to know when to switch gears and what cracks make us vulnerable. God's Word is our only refuge and strength.
1 comment:
You presented an excellent description of the devil and his motivations, to separate people from the Lord, to deny God His divinity over our lives, and to substitute a counterfeit, deadly, and worldly point of view. I think all Christians should read the “Screwtape Letters,” by C. S. Lewis. Satan’s devices are custom made for each individual. He learns our weaknesses, capitalizes on the sins which ensnare us, and sets his demonic heart on our spiritual destruction. He can tempt us to forget prayers (too busy), to neglect church worship, (too many hypocrites), to rebel (Did God really say…?) or to think our tainted works merit our redemption. So what do we do, knowing that Satan is always hanging around, continually ready to whisper doubts about God into our spiritual ears. Answer: We must diligently strive to abide in Christ, putting on the spiritual armor of God, (Ephesians 6:10-11) “that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” We cannot win against Satan on our own feeble strength. Spiritual warfare in our lives is constant, unrelenting, but not without an ending, and eventual triumph and rest comes to each risen and redeemed believer saved through the blood of Our Lord. This thought should be grasped, because Christ promised that through Him we will pass through the fires, find grace to help in time of need, and overcome the world and Satan. Soli Deo Gloria.
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