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Do you know who is the master of dirty tricks?
The devil!
The devil uses some mean and dirty tricks to keep you away from God. It is worthwhile to familiarize yourself with his methods.
The devil according to the Bible:
- Seducer
- He is a seducer of individuals, like he seduced Jesus in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11). He tries to find your weak spot, encourages your desires. Like in the temptation of Jesus, when he became hungry after having fasted forthy days, the devil tries to seduce Jesus to use His power as son of God to turn stones into bread.
A common trick working very well in our rich part of the world: the devil mixes up biblical truths with dirty lies: he tries to persuade you that you are doing quite well going to church every Sunday... "By the way, since you're saved by Jesus Christ, it does not matter so much if you keep on doing sins: these are all forgiven anyway..."
How to withstand this threat: try not to get used to the thingsof this world; try not to get involved with the desires offered to you by this world.
- Accuser
- The devil accuses us before God, not just once but day and night (Revelations 12:10). At the same time, he accuses us by using our conscience: he tries to persuade us we are bad to the bone, and redemption is not possible for us.
How to withstand this threat: be aware that whatever we are accused of before God, His Son Jesus has suffered for us and paid for our sins, not just a few sins, but for all of our sins.
- Deceiver
- The devil deceives us whenever he can. For instance, he deceives mankind by proclaiming Jesus has never been real (2 John 1:7). The Bible speaks about many antichrists, opponents of Christ, the ones who deny that Jesus really is God's Son (1 John 2:18,22-23). Clearly those are enrolled by the devil himself, preferably from inside the christian communities!
He tries to tell us God does not exist by using phrases like: "if God exists, why is there so much misery..."
If he does not succeed using the previous trick, he tells you God does exist alright, but meanwhile he tries to give you a wrong picture of God: "God is everywhere", "God is you yourself, your conscience", "God can be found in mystic meditations and Oriental religions"
How to withstand this threat: test all things by looking at God's word of truth, the Bible.
- Roaring lion
- Sometimes the devil is like a roaring lion, ready to tear us apart (1 Peter 5:8). Remember that a lion approaches stealthily, and only roars in his final and decisive jump! It is the direct attack on christians: it is the persecution and torture of christians in many varieties, in many countries all over the world. It is estimated that presently 200 million christians are persecuted worldwide!
How to withstand this threat: impossible by our own strength; just pray to God and Jesus for help. He is the only one left at this stage who can fight the devil successfully.
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