FBCD_FaithEssentials_June_FlipBook

Faith Essentials

down to the earth” (Isaiah 14:12) —along with a host of fallen angels who sided with him.

S ATAN’S PLOY

Left to rehash and, I believe, regret his decision, Lucifer, now Satan, waited until another devilish opportunity surfaced. The timing and method of his madness were critical. Unwilling to pass up an opportunity to inflict upon God’s prized creation the pain he had brought upon himself, the adversary resorted to deception . He could have obnoxiously accosted Eve, spewing fury, but that would have certainly tipped his hand. Instead, he inhabited the body of a serpent and implemented a cunning approach. Pre-Fall circumstances help explain why Eve remained with fascination rather than flee in fear. In addition, this was surely a beautiful creature, not the repulsive reptile that slithers along the ground. Satan’s strategy involves masking intentions, downplaying consequences, and masquerading himself as an “angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), not unlike the Jehovah’s Witness who came to my door a few years ago. Armed with slick color literature, a polite smile, and a sweet child by his side, he didn’t begin the conversation by asking, “Could I interest you in some false doctrine this afternoon?” Yet, a closer look at the Watchtower Society faith statement reveals a salvation based on works, a denial of the Deity of Jesus Christ, and the belief that no human soul exists after death. Paul warned the church at Corinth, “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough” (2 Corinthians 11:4). Satan peddles a gospel that provides temporal gratification instead of eternal regeneration—one that places the focus on creature

27