The Lies of Satan

It started in the garden. In a peaceful place, a perfect world. Utopia. Evil slithered up to man and woman and planted a seed of doubt that led to deception that led to depravity. We've all been hearing Satan's lies ever since, and we've accepted more of them than we dare realize.

Satan is the father of lies.

Christians are children of God.

So why do Christians buy Satan's lies? Because they don't look like lies. Satan is evil, but not stupid. He is crafty. He does not jump up and down and say, “I'm Satan, follow me!” He is subversive, sneaky, a supernatural CIA-agent with wrong motives. Satan's operation is covert. He won't tell you that red is green, but it is looking a little pink, isn't it? And down the road of deception we go.

“He's insidious in the way he does things,” says Frank Catanzaro, professor of counseling at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest , N.C. “His main thing is to get man to focus on himself , or on anything that he will put before God. He figures out ways to keep people from focusing on the one true God and to focus on these little things.”

Satan wants to distract non-Christians so that they fulfill their desires without encountering God -- thus seeing no need for him – or he simply seeks to keep non-Christians so occupied with other concerns that they never seriously consider the claims of Christ.

But Satan doesn't just work on non-Christians. He can't win the souls of Christians, but Satan will settle for a partial victory. That is, he will happily distract Christians from unabashed, focused surrender and service to Christ, thereby hindering their effectiveness and keeping others out of the heaven.

The bible, in John 8:44, says Satan is “a murderer from the beginning, and 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.”

What is a murderer? One who destroys life. That is Satan's goal, to destroy the life of non-believers by having them join him in eternal hell, and to minimize the abundant life promised believers and keep them from spreading eternal hope through Jesus Christ.

Pretty bad dude, huh? He should be easy to recognize, we might think. But he is not. He is handsome, smart, enticing. He'll suck us right in if we don't know the truth, hide the truth in our heart, and wield the Word of God as a sword.

The Deceptions of Satan

Satan's deceptions are wide and varied, but generally fall under three categories: those about God, those about man, and those about how the Christian life is lived. Yet, there is one over-arching deception that opens many people to all the others.

Lie: Satan does't even exist .

George Barna's research reveals that three of five adults say that the devil, or Satan, is not a living being but is a symbol of evil; 45 percent of born-again Christians deny Satan's exisitence ; 43 percent of Baptists believe Satan is only a symbol of evil.

Truth: The Bible speaks of Satan often, specifically, explicitly and in detail. He is identified as a real person, an evil being, the antithesis of God. He once served God in heaven but revolted, seeking the status of God.

There is no biblical indication that he is a conceptual representation of evil. Just as ‘God' is not a mere revision and representation of ‘good,' ‘devil' is not a mere revision and representation of ‘evil.'

Satan's Deceptions About God

Lie: God is a cosmic killjoy who will not let us have any fun.

Some people think of God as the Big Guy With A Big Stick who is peering over everyone's shoulder, ready to swat them when they mess up. They see him as a control freak who must be heavy-handed in order to maintain power.

Truth: God is a loving Father who desires to “give good gifts . . . . to those who ask Him.” (Matthew 7:11) Jesus came that we might have “abundant life.” It is true that God disciplines us, and that some things we think of as ‘fun' in our sinful nature are not good for us and must not be engaged in, but His discipline is always as that of a loving Father, and is full of mercy. Satan has cast aspersions on God's character so that we might not see the tenderness of our God the Father.

Lie: We are on our own.

Many people don't know what to call it, but they, in effect, believe the theory of deism. Deism means that God is a personal God and the Creator, but that He is not really involved in the world anymore. In other words, He wound the clock and just let it go. It will tick as it will tick and stop when it runs out of energy, without interference from Him. God is sitting in heaven watching His world on a big-screen TV, enjoying the contest, all the while knowing His team wins in the end.

Such a belief leads people to desperately seek to meet their own needs, rather than to rely on God.

Truth: God is intimately and personally involved in each person's life. He has a will and purpose for each person. He works all things together “for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son . . . “ ( Romans 8:28-29).

Does this sound like a detached God? How could a detached God take our mistakes and the tragedies that touch our lives and work them for good? He could not. He must be personally and intimately involved.

Satan's Deceptions About Man

Lie (to the non-believer, but occasionally regressed into by the believer): We are sufficient to find and fulfill our purpose in life.

Satan wants man to be confident, strong, self-assured and to embark on a journey of self-fulfillment. No ‘crutch' is necessary. There is nothing to be saved from. Common sense rules. The desires of the heart, mind and body lead. Go boldly forward and get all you can get!

Truth: Apart from God we are nothing. Any success of man alone is only by the deception of Satan, so that indeed the man may not sense the need to seek God. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.' “ ( Psalm 14:1)

Lie (to the believer): We are insufficient to be used by God.

Satan wants the believer to focus on his shortcomings and to believe that God could never use him. Sin is to be the focus, guilt the resulting weight that keeps the Christian from being of any use to God, and that keeps him from the abundant life Jesus came to give.

Truth: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” By surrendering to God daily, we can walk in His power to accomplish His purposes. We are daily cleansed from our sins, which are forgotten as soon as they are confessed. Guilt is totally of Satan. Freedom and power are totally of Christ.

Do you see the two-faced nature of Satan in the above lie? To him, whether we are sufficient or insufficient depends on who he is dealing with. He is a two-faced liar, who will say whatever he needs to say to make us believe a lie.

Lie: We are identified by our failures.

We all have a long list of them. Even Paul did. See Romans 7 (but see Romans 8, too!).

Truth: We are identified by our Father.

Read 1 Peter 2:9-10 to see who you are, if you know Christ. We are given our identity by our heavenly Father, who pours His power through us for His purposes.

Satan's Deceptions About How the Christian Life is Lived

Lie: We must do our best to be like Jesus.

A noble thought, isn't it? We hear someone say, “I'm trying to be like Jesus!” They are probably well intentioned. But they are surely failing and surely fooled by Satan. Their power is minimized.

Truth: We must surrender ourselves and allow Jesus power to transform us and flow through us by the Holy Spirit. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me . I am the vine, you are the branches. . . for without Me you can do nothing.”

The effort that Christians must put forth is to stay in fellowship with God, to read His Word, pray, listen, worship. It is not effort to do good for Jesus , but to be in fellowship with Jesus, so that He can do good through us.

Lie: You cannot stop ____________.

Lying. Having sexual fantasies. Doing drugs. Being angry at that person. We all have different things to put in the blank, repetitive sins that seem to ‘have us.' Satan wants us to believe that we cannot stop, that God is insufficient to help us and/or that we are too weak to surrender the sin to God.

Truth: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

The way of escape. That's what God provides. That's what God is – the way of escape from the penalty of sin – and more! He is the provider of abundant life, of a room in a mansion in heaven, of eternity with Him. Nothing is to great for Him, and our piddling sins – though important – serve as no challenge for Him to overcome in us – if we let Him.

The list of lies could go on and on, others being no more deceitful or dangerous than the ones above. But they all have one thing in common: they are countered by the Word of God. There is one, profound, simple, and powerful way to defeat the lies of Satan: hide the Word in your heart, then call it to mind when Satan tries to fool you . Know the truth.

“Abide in the Word,” Catanzaro says. “And abide in prayer. The key is the renewal of the mind by the Word of God. (Romans 12:1-2).”

Psalms 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You , because he trusts in You.”

Mere belief in and love for God it inadequate to live the victorious Christian life. We must know His Word and claim its truth as we face the lies that Satan puts before us daily. The bibles assures us that “greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.” “He who is in me” – Jesus by the Holy Spirit – has given me His truth, and He says in John 8:32, “If you abide My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Sidebar

Satan is a master strategist, customizing schemes for every situation. Single men and women certainly are not an exception. Some lies Satan would have singles accept:

Lie: I am incomplete. I must resolve my singleness as soon as possible.

Truth: God's timing is perfect, and His plan for you is not hindered in the least by your singleness. Trust Him, and go forward serving Him as He leads.

Lie: I am of no use to God until I find a mate.

Truth: In fact, single adults can serve God in many ways that are more difficult or sometimes impossible for some married adults. Look for those unique opportunities that fit your circumstance.

Lie: I cannot achieve intimacy apart from marriage because intimacy requires sexual expression.

Truth: Intimacy is achieved on an emotional and conversational level that is attainable by singles in close-knit friendships, both in same-sex and opposite-sex relationships. Singles do not have to ‘emotionally stuff it' because they are obeying God's commands to abstain from sex until marriage.

Lie: God has left me alone, so I can't trust Him.

Truth: God is teaching you to be His companion first, to trust Him first. He will meet all of your needs – whether or not He chooses to use a mate to do it.

Lie: Sexual variety is good: it satisfies me physically and emotionally. And besides, I might as well enjoy it before I'm limited to one person by marriage.

Truth: The satisfaction is temporary and hollow, in large part because it has come outside of God's standards. Sexual activity before marriage can create lack of trust of oneself and ones mate, and lead to emotional, spiritual and possibly physical ‘baggage' that could be cause struggles throughout life.