Charles Baudelaire is generally credited with saying that Satan’s greatest trick was to convince the world that he does not exist. While this strategy goes pretty far, it does not work on those who accept that the Bible is true because Scripture is clear that Satan is real. Generally speaking, this group includes born-again Christians. Not one to give up easily, Satan developed a new approach specifically geared against them.
A New Approach? Now, before we start to describe this strategy it’s important to remember that Satan does not make small plans. Keep in mind that the original idea was to take over as God (Isaiah 14:14), so it should not be a surprise that anything coming from him would be done on a grand scale. His greatest trick certainly fits this description, as does his strategy of blinding unbelievers to the glory of God (2 Corinthians 4:4) so they won’t be saved. This second idea, blinding people, works pretty well and serves as a template for Satan’s strategy against Christians. Paul was concerned about how Satan could use this approach and trick followers of Jesus so that their “thoughts would be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3) Satan’s strategy is also a variation on the theme of unforgiveness that Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 2:12. Satan’s Scheme against Christians In a nutshell, he wrecks havoc on the lives of Christians and then gets them to blame God for it. While this may sound impossible, take a moment and think about how many Christians you know who have been angry with God because of some pain they have suffered. “Why is God doing this to me?” is a common lament and echoes the words of Job before he realized and admitted he didn’t know what he was talking about (Job 42:3). Getting Christians to blame God provides a variety of benefits for Satan. First of all, we don’t blame Satan for what’s going wrong and so we don’t resist him (James 4:7). This allows Satan to continue hurting us. We submit to Satan and allow ourselves to be blinded to the glory of God and from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. In other words, we behave in a manner directly contrary to Scripture. A More Insidious Benefit Of course, getting Christians to believe and behave contrary to Scripture is remarkable in and of itself, since we know the importance of relying on God’s word and His word alone. But there’s something even worse. When we blame God for the problems in our lives we and get angry at Him we are not about to turn to Him for solutions. We alienate ourselves from the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3). Getting Christians to forget how much God loves them, get angry at Him and give up a sincere devotion to Him, and even stop them from turning to Him to solve the problem is a perfect triple play by Satan. It is such an effective strategy that you almost have to admire how brilliant it is. Of course, nothing about Satan is admirable, and looking at this strategy with this in mind gets me pretty angry at Satan for hurting so many people in this way. How did Satan do this? It’s inconceivable that a strategy as effective as this could be based on a very simple misunderstanding of a single word. Please refer to the post “Inigo Montoyo, Theologian” to examine what it means that God is sovereign. The word may not mean what you think it does. The strategy is also based on misrepresentations of a particular passage that do not line up at all with the whole of the Bible. The entirety of Scripture points to the simple truth that God is good and that He does good things. Jesus could not have stated this any more clearly than He did in Matthew 7:11 when He said, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Hebrews 11:6 says just as clearly that God rewards those who seek Him. To Be Continued… There are interpretations of Scripture that run contrary to these clear statements about God and His character. Satan uses these to inflict pain and suffering upon His children and get them to blame God for it. Worse yet, there are those who would say that things we think of as bad such as pain, sickness and poverty are really blessings from God that we just don’t understand. Isaiah 5:20 very clearly warns us that this is a bad idea. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” An evaluation of the misinterpreted Scriptures is coming next, so check back shortly to read it. In the meantime, take a look at the deep theological insight provided by the Spanish swordsman.
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