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Continued from the document "Satan's Tactics - Part 3"
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i) |
Tactics of Satan
with Biblical examples: |
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13. |
Because the next few tactics are connected with Eve, it is to be
noted the type of tactic Satan used: |
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(a) |
It is often said that he questioned what God said in his first
statement: “Ye shall not eat of every tree” (Gen. 3:1),
prefacing his remarks by the word “Yea” (Heb. ‘aph). This is
the word used indicating the certainty of God’s love for His
people (Deut. 33:3). It is also translated “although” (Job
35:14). That which he is doing is either
agreeing with God when he said: “Yea hath God said”, or at the
least, questioning it. The Darby translation has it as: “Is it
even so that God has said”; the NKJV translates it as: “Has God
indeed said”; the Webster translation translates it as: “Has God
really said”; the Young’s Literal translates it as: “Is it true
that God hath said”. It was enough for to put a doubt in the
mind of Eve. Her spiritual defenses were broken. |
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(b) |
Then he told a lie: “Ye shall not surely die” (Gen. 3:4) and
this was followed up with a truth: “Ye shall be as Gods” (Gen.
3:5). It was a brilliant move, question the word God had said,
then a lie, and then follow it with a truth. In that way the
lie is missed. The tactic used was “Appeal to the ego”. This
was the tactic used on Eve: “Ye shall be as gods”. |
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(c) |
How often this is seen by making an individual think they are so
vital to a gathering of believers that they think they
cannot be done without. |
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(d) |
Furthermore, there are those in ultra charismatic circles who
have claimed and preached that they as individuals are gods.
Mormonism teaches the same thing. Ofttimes I have seen men of
leadership who set aside the scriptures to rule the saints,
displacing the truth and Person of God. |
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14. |
Don’t take God literally, he does not really mean what He says. |
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(a) |
This was stated by Satan to Eve. God had said: “But of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it . .
. in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”
(Gen. 2:16-17). Satan said to Eve: “Ye shall not surely die”
(Gen. 3:4). |
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(b) |
Thus when the scriptures are read, especially parts that have to
do with the judgment of God on sinners, it is lightly brushed
off, or rationalized “that a God of love would not do that”. |
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15. |
You have nothing to be afraid of in disobeying God. |
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(a) |
This was his tactic on Eve, telling her “ye shall not die”. He
was blatantly calling God a liar and denying Him His rightful
place as supreme judge. |
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(b) |
Disobedience to God has repercussions as Adam and Eve both found
out, Israel's history demonstrated it (Jud. 2:24; 3:8; 4:2), and
the New Testament reinforces it (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28; Rev. 16:4-7) |
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16. |
Encourage them to keep their dignity, i.e. pride: “What did I do
wrong?” |
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(a) |
This was the attitude of the Jews in Malachi’s day when God
accused them of doing wrong(Mal. 1:6, 7; 2:7; 3:8). |
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(b) |
What strife has been cause by this attitude among saints because
an individual cannot say: “I was wrong”. The only one who never
needs to apologize is God, for He is always perfect in all that
He does. |
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17. |
God can never really satisfy look at all the things you can do
without his companionship. |
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(a) |
When Adam sinned he and Eve knew they were naked. I believe it
was
more than being without clothes. They had lost the glory they
had known. It was a major blow and one that would be
devastating and naturally cause them to resent, and possibly
hate, Satan for his deceitfulness. Something had to be done to
prevent them from concentrating on this and have them on his
side. |
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(b) |
Satan fills man’s life with abilities and things. Satisfy the
flesh with establishing your progenitors (Gen. 4:17); sex (Gen.
4:19); business (Gen. 4:20); music (Gen. 4:21); making beautiful
and useful things (Gen. 4:22), and the boasting of
accomplishments (Gen. 4:22). |
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18. |
Keep
them in a defeatist mindset. |
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(a) |
This was used on Israel when they entered the land, on the
children of Israel in failing to build the Temple, and today on
people who teach that we are living in the Laodicean age and
therefore cannot expect much in the blessing from God in
salvation and spiritual maturing. |
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(b) |
For the Israelites, they had seen God destroy the chariots of
Egypt (Ex. 14:18-28), but they failed to defeat the Canaanites
because “they had chariots of iron” (Jud. 1:19). |
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(c) |
With this tactic, people accept as normal the non-activity of
God. |
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19. |
Do
not let them understand that an idea they have is from me
(Satan). |
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(a) |
Man is flesh and loves to think that all good ideas are from
himself (whither they are good or not is irrelevant, and in this
case they were not good). |
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(b) |
However, behind the thinking of David was Satan with a
deeper purpose of instead of depending on God in a conflict, as
he had done against Goliath (1 Sam. 17), he wanted to know how
big his army was (1 Chron. 21:5). Poor David had lost sight of
the ability of God, and despite the remonstrations of Joab (1
Chron. 21:3), he failed to see that since this was not from God,
it had to be from Satan. |
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20. |
Blame
others but never themselves for personal wrongs. |
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(a) |
Adam and Eve fell under this tactic. It has been said that Adam
was not with Eve when she took of
the fruit and ate it, but the scriptures say: “He was with her”
(Gen. 3:6). Adam had failed in his responsibility, and then the
Lord comes to each of them. Instead of taking personal
responsibility, Adam basically blamed God: “The woman whom Thou
gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree” ( Gen. 3:12).
Eve said paraphrase: “It was not my fault, the serpent beguiled
me and I did eat” (Gen. 3:13). She at least was a bit more
honest than Adam! |
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(b) |
What damage has been done to friendships, relationships, and
indeed our justice system, because people refuse to take
responsibility for their own actions. We live in a world where
our deficiencies are because mum or dad spoke too bluntly to me
and it scared me, or in love chastised me and so I hurt people.
All excuses, and all coming from Satan. |
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21. |
Sow
in their minds that there is nothing wrong with compromise.
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(a) |
God had told the children of Israel not to give their daughters
and sons to the people of the nations (Deut. 7:3), but they
compromised. The result was that very soon their sons and
daughters were going to pagan temples (Num. 25:1-2); then the
idols came into their homes; and then they began to worship
idols and the worship of the true God was let go (1 Kgs. 11:2;
Ezra 9:2). Compromise brought ruination. |
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22. |
Cause
them to confuse outward appearances with inward spirituality. |
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(a) |
The Lord told Samuel when he (Samuel) was swaying toward Eliab
to be king: “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord
looketh on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). |
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(b) |
In our Lord’s day the religious rulers were those who “knew” the
law, the “spiritual intelligentsia”. They made long prayers
(Mk. 12:40), prayed in the synagogues and corners of the street
(Matt. 6:5), and had the appearance of deep spirituality to all
who saw them. Then the Lord gave His evaluation: “Whited
sepulchers . . . full of dead men’s bones, and of all
uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27). |
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(c) |
One of their sins was “hypocrisy” and that is a tool of Satan (Lk.
12:1). |
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(d) |
We are all guilty of being judgmental in this way. If a person
carries the “right Bible”; uses the “right hymnbook”; prays in
the “right praying voice”; “says the right things”; then we deem
them to be spiritual. It is a judging by outward appearances. |
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23. |
Twisting
the scriptures. |
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(a) |
The Pharisees, in their judgments, were guilty of this, suiting
themselves or holding fast to
their handed down traditions (Mk. 7:9-13). How vital it is to
look introspectively, checking what we are doing and where we
are, so that we can align ourselves with the Word of God. It is
so easy to adjust it to suit our traditions by misinterpreting a
verse, as in 1 Cor. 14:16. Make no mistake, something can be a
good idea, but unless the Scripture is being properly
interpreted to support it, they cannot be used. |
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24. |
Give
them a distorted view so that they side with error, being bias
against the truth. (Lk. 20:27; 1 Cor. 15:12; 1 Cor. 5:1) |
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25. |
Deceive
them by making them believe the best about all speakers and
unquestioningly accept a “Gospel” project, not understanding
that Satan is the master at deception by counterfeit. |
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Falsehoods |
Reference |
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False
resurrection |
Rev. 13:3, 12,
14 |
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False apostles |
Rev. 2:2 |
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False brethren |
Gal. 2:4 |
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False
evangelists |
Gal. 1:8 |
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False elders |
Acts 20:29-30 |
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False wheat
(tares) |
Matt. 13:25-30 |
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False Christ’s |
Matt. 24:24 |
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False spirit |
1 Jn. 4:1 |
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False God |
2 Thess. 2:4 |
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False prophets |
2 Pet. 2:1; 1
Jn. 4:1 |
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False teachers |
2 Pet. 2:1 |
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26. |
Any
disobedience to God can bring advanced enlightenment. (Gen.
3:5) |
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27. |
Be
content with nominal of divine truth, while neglecting the
outliving of it. This was the spiritual condition of
Israel in the days of Isaiah and to them God said: “Bring no
more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new
moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away
with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting (Isa. 1:13); Again
in Malachi’s day: “I have no pleasure in you. . . neither will I
accept an offering at your hand” (Mal. 1:10). |
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28. |
Help
them to live in denial of whatever could happen to them.
It is this that Paul warned the Corinthian believers about when
he wrote: “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he
fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). |
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29. |
Split
the saints. What a carnal assembly Corinth was for it was
split into segments according to the preacher they liked best.
Some said: “ I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas;
and I of Christ”. Is Christ divided?” (1 Cor. 1:12).
This attitude and behavior was totally contrary to the purpose
of Spirit baptism (1 Cor. 12:13) and the prayer of the Lord (Jn.
17:21). |
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ii) |
The following are some of the tactics I have found Satan to use,
although I do not have a biblical example of them: |
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1. |
Keep them concentrating on the difficulties of the material
world so that they fail to see that which God is doing to them
spiritually. |
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2. |
Show yourself to be more concerned about the unsaved than God,
for He is so restrictive. |
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3. |
Assist them in making judgements about others, and then when
they learn that they have judged wrongly, encourage them to
shrug it off without proper acknowledgment. |
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Encourage them to live on the edge. |
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5. |
Split families. |
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6. |
Let them speak of the Lord’s coming and the plight of the
unsaved, but not really be concerned. |
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7. |
Help them to apply the message to someone other than themselves. |
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8. |
Keep them mentally and emotionally occupied with the hurts and
wrongs which others have done. |
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9. |
Make them feel that they must feel they need God to be really
sincere. |
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10. |
Make them feel that they need to feel they are “getting through”
when they pray. |
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11. |
Get them to read the Bible and pray as a mere formality. |
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12. |
Get the individual distracted by something that needs done right
now when they are beginning to read the Bible or begin to pray. |
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13. |
Get them to feel tired after a few moments of reading. |
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14. |
Confusion through the distorting of that which God has made
clear. For instance, baptism or the Lord’s Supper. |
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Is Christ Divided?
SAINTS IN CHRIST!
why thus divided?
Christ is not divided so;
Surely all should be together,
Who the same Redeemer know.
By
the same blood-shedding purchased,
Destined to the same bright Home--
Why on earth divided? Jesus
Bids you all together come.
SAINTS IN CHRIST! break down the barriers
Man has reared on every side,
Make a living Christ the Center--
Gather to the Crucified;
Let
not sects and parties longer
Separate the "flock of God"--
Jesus died in one to gather
All the scattered ones abroad.
SAINTS IN CHRIST! a living union
Flows but from the Living Head;
Saints, alas, are ever making
Union in the flesh instead.
Such
a union Scripture knows not,
Such, its pages must disown;
God the Spirit draws to Jesus,
Him exalts and Him alone.
SAINTS IN CHRIST! O, what a witness
For the Saviour we should be
Were we all around Him gathered
In the "Spirit's unity."
What
a sight for men to look on!
What a truth it would proclaim!
What a glory it would gather
To our blessed Saviour's name!
SAINTS IN CHRIST! soon, soon our Master
Whom we love, from heaven will come;
And with happy shouts of triumph,
Bear us to our blissful home!
Then
the Cross exchanged for Glory--
Service, for the bright reward;
Then--oh! blessed hope we shall be
ONE, "forever
with the Lord!"
--T.D.W.M.
May God grant us good understanding as He, by His
Holy Spirit, deigns to guide us into all truth.
John 16:13
Rowan Jennings, Abbotsford,
British Columbia
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