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Some evangelical leaders have
been joyfully announcing there is a great spiritual revival
taking place in our country. However, a closer and more discern¬ing
look reveals there is a countless mfiltra¬tion of deceivers
masquerading as messen¬gers of Christ who are counterfeiting
the Christian faith. “And no wonder, for even Satan
disguises himself as an angel of light.” (2 Cor. 11:14).
These legions of liars are all part of Satan’s insidious
assault on the only true faith. Satan’s ultimate goal
is to thwart God’s harvest of lost souls by holding
them captive with his fatal lies. His relentless attacks
are strategically aimed at six targets.
- The Supremacy of
God’s Word
- The Sufficiency of God’s Son
- The Singularity of God’s Gospel
- The Sovereignty of God’s Grace
- The Security of God’s Children
- The Sanctity of God’s Church
The Supremacy of God’s
Word
Satan’s all out assault on the Word of God began in
the Garden of Eden. Disguised as a charming serpent, he persuaded
Eve to dis¬miss God’s word and believe his lie.
First he created doubt by asking: “Has God indeed said,
‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?”
(Gen. 3:1). Then Satan convinced Eve that God’s word
was not true and could not be trusted. He said: “You
surely shall not die!” (Gen. 3:4).
Now the Father of Lies uses
this same strat¬egy to deceive the world through all of
his religions. He uses religious leaders to ask: “Has
God indeed said, ‘The wages of sin is death”?
(Rom. 6:23). Then speaking through the Roman Catholic Church,
he says: “You surely shall not die - venial sins do
not bring (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], para. 1863).
Satan's attack on the word
of God is understandable because it is the supreme authority
for the Christian faith and it brings forth eternal life to
those who believe it (1 Pet. 1:23). Nothing else possesses
its divine character. Scripture is absolutely trustworthy
because it is true and given by the inspiration of God (2.
Tim. 3:16; John 17:17). The Bible is also the only book that
foretells the future and it does so with great precision and
detail. It is sacred and never to be altered (Prov. 30:6).
In fact, God gave a strong rebuke to those who would pervert
the Word of God with the words of men (Jer. 23:36).
Yet Roman Catholic bishops
have chosen to do just that. They dare to say their traditions,
which they have foolishly added to Scripture, make up one
single deposit of the World of God (CCC, 97). By doing this
the bishops have elevated their tradition to the same authority
as Scripture and, to their advantage, have become the supreme
authority for the Catholic faith (CCC, 85). When ever the
supreme authority of God is replaced by the authority of men,
the perversion of biblical doctrines runs rampant.
The Sufficiency of
God's Son
The adversary's attack on God's Son is skillful because Jesus
is Author and Perfecter of the Christian faith. He alone is
able and sufficient to save sinners completely from sin (Heb.
7:25). His one offering for sin makes believers perfect forever
(Heb. 10:14). His blood is sufficient to purify every believer
from ever sin (1 John 1:7). His death was sufficient to cancel
the eternal sin debt of every believer (Col. 2:14). Paul described
the sufficiency of Jesus when he wrote: "In Him you have
been made complete" (Col 2:10). Every spiritual blessing
that anyone could ever desire or need is found in Christ Jesus.
For these reasons Satan attacks
the sufficiency of Christ with a vengeance. The prince of
this world has convinced many that they need Christ plus psychology,
or Christ plus rituals and sacraments, or Christ plus purgatory
and indulgences, or Christ plus law-keeping and good works.
His agents deny Christ's work of redemption is finished. They
foolishly believe they have the power to call the Lord Jesus
back down from heaven to offer Him again and again on their
altars. These slanderous assaults on the sufficiency of Christ
not only rob the truth Jesus of His glory but point the lost
to another Jesus who is unable to save them without help from
others (2 Cor. 11:4). Satan offers other mediators but God
has given us only One (1 Tim 2:5). Satan offers other saviors
but God has given only one Name (Acts 4:12). Ministers of
the devil who deny the sufficiency of God's Son must preach
another gospel to instruct people what they must do
to be saved. Another Jesus always produces another gospel.
The Singularity of
God's Gospel
You would think Paul's undisputed condemnation of the Judaizers
for perverting the Gospel would keep the Gospel pure within
the professing church. However, the Gospel of Rome is a much
greater distortion. It requires Catholics to receive sacraments,
keep the law, attend weekly sacrifices and do works of mercy
for their salvation (CCC, para. 815; 1032; 1129; 2068). Satan's
relentless assaults against the Gospel continues to come from
two distinct enemies - legalism, which is most prominent in
Roman Catholicism, and antinomianism, which is most noticeable
throughout liberal Protestantism. Those who teach antinomianism
distort the Gospel by declaring any person who has been justified
by faith in Christ is no longer obligated to obey the moral
law. The apostle Paul corrected this ungodly doctrine in 1
Cor. 5-6.
Whenever the "Father of
Lies" enters the pulpit, he does not deny the Gospel
but perverts it with additions or subtractions. Any perversion
of the Gospel is ultimately the Devil's delusion which keeps
his captives in bondage. With so many perversions in the church
today, there is a desperate need for the preaching of the
pure Gospel of God. It alone has the power to save sinners
from the punishment, power and ultimately, the presence of
sin (Rom. 1:16).
The Sovereignty of
God's Grace
One of the strongest expressions of God's sovereign grace
is given by Paul: "He chose us in Him before the foundation
of the world... In love He predestined us to adoption as sons
through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention
of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which
He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:4-6).
Clearly it is the will of God, not man's will that determines
who will be graciously adopted into The Father's eternal family
(John 1:12-13). Yet the Roman Catholic Church rejects God's
sovereignty and teaches it is the will of man that determines
who becomes a child of God. Consider the teachings of Rome:
"Baptism... makes the neophyte a new creature, an adopted
son of God ... and co-heir with Him" (CCC, 1265). "The
church and the parents, would deny a child the priceless grace
of becoming a child of God, were they not to confer Baptism
shortly after birth" (CCC, 1250).
Sovereign grace is the only
means by which our merciful God saves sinners (Eph. 2:8-9).
Satan, being fully aware of this, created a false way of salvation
which nullifies or suspends God's saving grace. His system
of works-righteousness is found in all the religions of the
world. From Buddhism to Zoroastrianism, the devil's influence
is found in teachings that say you must do good works to merit
God's favor or appease His justice.
The Security of God's
Children
The Prince of Darkness knows he can never kidnap the children
of God who have been delivered into the glorious light of
the Son, but he can make their walk ineffective. His most
effective tool is deception. He uses false teachers to lie
about the power and promises of God which are explicitly revealed
in the Gospel of grace. The very promise of the Gospel is
eternal life backed up by the power of Almighty God to keep
those He has saved. This divine gift of everlasting life can
never be lost, revoked or rejected once received (John 10:28;
Rom. 11:29). Christians who are uncertain about the eternal
duration of their salvation are often paralyzed in their walk
with Christ. They stumble in doubt and feel defenseless against
the attacks of Satan.
The Sanctity of God's
Church
As the master counterfeiter, Satan depreciates the sanctity
of the church by planting tares among the wheat (Mat. 13:25-40).
These tares may never realize they are pawns of the devil,
but they infect the church and bring much shame to the name
of Jesus Christ. No assembly is immune from these demonic
infiltrators who cause turmoil, division with their doctrinal
error and habitual sin. Paul wrote: "I know that after
my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing
the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after
them" (Acts 20:29-30). We know the primary commission
of the church is to equip and encourage believers to go into
the world and make disciples for the Lord Jesus Christ. In
order to counter this objective, Satan brings the world into
the church to distract it from its purpose. Rather than feeding
the sheep, the church starts entertaining the goats.
How Must Believers
Respond
As spiritual darkness overcomes the diminishing light of the
Gospel, believers must be of sober spirit and be on the alert
(1 Peter 5:1). Those who belong to the Lord Jesus must put
on the full armor of God each day and be prepared for spiritual
warfare (Eph. 6:10-18). Satan will continue taking advantage
of those who are ignorant of his schemes (2 Cor. 2:11). His
sustained attacks on the Christian faith will become more
and more fierce as we approach the day when Jesus Christ returns
triumphantly to the earth. Until that glorious appearing of
our Savior, deceiving spirits will continue to influence the
great apostasy from the faith. "The falling away"
is taking place everywhere as apostates turn from the truth
to follow doctrines of demons (1 Tim. 4:1).
How can believers brace for
the storm that we know will cause shipwreck to the faith of
apostates? Paul exhorts us: "Be strong in the Lord and
in the power of His might" (Eph. 6:10). "Be steadfast,
immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord"
(1 Cor. 15:58). In the epistle of Jude, which is often called
the Acts of the Apostates, we are exhorted "to contend
earnestly for the faith which was once and for all delivered
to the saints" (Jude 3).
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