The Devices of Satan (Part 5)

Hopefully we have learned many things about our adversary and how to not fall prey to him over the last four weeks. In this fifth and final installment of the series we will look at how Satan seeks to use religion as a way to cause people to fall.

Yes, that's right. Satan can use religious tendencies to sometimes cause good meaning folks to go astray. Certainly our study of pride from the last issue comes into play. Many a preacher has fallen prey to feelings of superiority as they have made a name for themselves. Perhaps they have been featured at some well known lectureship attended by many from across the country. Or perhaps they are featured in a "brotherhood" paper. Sometimes, such feel the need to "regulate the brotherhood" or interfere with the local autonomy of churches by seeking to impose their will where it should not be imposed. Remember Diotrephes? (3 John 9.)

One of Satan's greatest weapons is compromise. The result of the compromise of spiritual principles has led to a mess in the religious world and there is no shortage of examples. We hear the invitation to go to "the church of your choice" rather than to the church Jesus built and died for (Acts 20:28.) Salvation by "faith only" seeks to nullify what Jesus said in Mark 16: 16, "He who believes AND is baptized shall be saved." The bottom line is that spiritual compromise offers religion through honesty and sincerity rather than through faithful obedience to the word of God.

James reminds us, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7.) We must beware of how Satan operates in order to resist him but he will flee from us. At least until he discovers another weakness in us he can exploit. And so the battle goes on ...