What is going on?! The 3 lies of Satan

In the 80s we heard many women saying, “we don’t need a man!” Then in the 2000s it progressed to, “we don’t want a man” and today the sons and grandsons of these women are saying “I don’t want to be a man!” The world around us has always been hostile to the truth and authority of the Word of God. There is no doubt about it that “stupid crazy” is a good description of what we are witnessing today. 

Although many believe this crazy senselessness is a new thing, it is not. The senselessness of women wanting to be men, men wanting to be women, sexual perversion openly being pushed and practiced in our schools, movies, sitcoms, TV shows and in the public square is the fruit of many godless societies before us. Since the beginning of human civilization, all societies that walked away from God and His principles have decayed into what we are witnessing today. Remember the state of mankind in Genesis when God flooded the earth – 

“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Gen 6:5)

God even warned us in Matthew that we would see this same wicked perversion prior to His return –

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark….” (Matt 24:36-38)

How long after the flood did it take people to once again walk away from God? In Gen 13:13 we see that ‘the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord’. And we know things did not end well for Sodom. 

Now I do want to say here that it was NOT the sin of homosexuality alone that caused God to be so grieved to destroy people by a flood or the fire and brimstone in Sodom. All sexual sin is wrong, and God hates it all equally. Sex is a gift from God for those who are married that are man and women, anything outside of that is sin! Homosexuality was only one of the many sinful behaviors that grieved God then and even now. 

We know God created man and women and He said it was good.

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Gen 1:26-31)

In our culture today, we see so much confusion and perversion of God’s perfect design for humanity. What we must understand is that these lies are not new – Satan is using the same three lies he used in the very beginning to deceive and confuse people. 

We see the first lie in In Genesis:

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’” (Gen 3:1)

The first lie or temptation from Satan was to ask “Did God say you shall not eat?”  In other words, ‘question the Word of God’. I am amazed how many Christians today after attending a church for more than a decade are ignorant of the basic foundational truths of our Christian faith. They may not be saying they disbelieve the bible, but they are unwilling to make the time to study it. A common philosophy practiced or believed by many Christians is that all that God expects from us is to do our best! They believe that if their motives are not evil and their intentions are good, then it doesn’t really matter how we tend to our relationship with Him, our spouse, our children, our finances or other people. When a Christian is unwilling to press into the Word of God to know His will for them, then they are giving in to this first lie of Satan.  Ignorance is NOT bliss, it is painful and consequential. Ignorance of the Scriptures is the cause of most of the sin and ineffectiveness of the church today. An important question for the church today is, where are the disciples who are able and willing to come alongside believers to teach and disciple them? 

The second lie is found in verse 4, “Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”  Or in other words, there are no consequences to disobeying God! How many Christians today believe this and are suffering because of the sins in their life that they have not confessed to or repented of. Many are completely ignorant of our Heavenly Father’s discipline so that we might become more like Christ and live to do His will (Heb 12:5-6). The fact is there are many negative and even painful consequences for walking in sin, yet many Christians are unable to see their own sinfulness and believe it is someone else’s fault. A sad statistic today is that 47% of Christian adults in the US are on antidepressants. We don’t want to accept the truth that peace, contentment, and a sound mind are the result of walking in the will of God. On the other hand, just ‘doing our best’ and walking in ignorance produces the opposite – anxiety, fear, depression, and discontent. God allows this state of suffering in order to give us the opportunity to repent, drawing unto Him as we examine our lives and seek to obey His Word and will. 

The third lie is found in Gen 3:5, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  In other words, you can choose to be your own god. You can be a boy, girl, non-binary or whatever you choose. You can also choose your reality and your own beliefs to live by. Anyone who questions you or rejects your godhood hates you and deserves to be judged and hated by you. 

2 Tim 3:1-5 sums up what we are seeing all around us today: 

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”  

We must remember that the world we live in has a prince that is not Jesus Christ (Eph 2:1-2).We are in a war against Satan and his dark forces (Eph 6:12). What we are witnessing should break our hearts and cause us to grieve. So many are in desperate need of Jesus and they need to be discipled and we need to be interceding in prayer for them.  Let me encourage you to not fall into one of Satan’s traps by being distracted by Satan’s work. Instead, be encouraged by the work of God that is also happening all around us.  Better yet, if you are not already, be part of this work of God – let us be praying for the lost and pressing into the Word of God so that our lives reflect Jesus as we walk in His will as His disciples. 

As followers of Christ, let us counter the lies of Satan by always speaking God’s truth – First, God’s Word is essential and has much practical bearing on our lives. Second, there are negative consequences for those walking in disobedience, be it through rebellion or ignorance. And finally, we cannot be our own God for there is only one true God – whether we like it or not!

Craig Caster