Let it be known that many of the things God does, Satan does also, and make people believe that God is doing it. Remember Christ’s warning in John’s Gospel chapter 10 about false shepherds in the church who do not come in through the gate, but “climb up over the sheepfold (church) wall” and capture the hearts of many. He also warns true saints about this truth in Matthew 24:4,5 where He is asked when the world as we know it would end and what would be the signs of His soon return? Instead of answering the question directly, He first gave forth a warning, without which all other signs would have no relevance. He said: “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many will come in My name, saying that I am the Christ, and WILL DECEIVE MANY.” If church people are deceived, neither the sign(s) of His return nor his warning will have any meaning. Deceived people are not God’s people. The god of this world (1 Cor. 4:4) has deceived the whole world, including the church world (Rev. 12:9).

Jesus knew that Satan-deceived men would come on the religious scene, declare that He (Jesus of Nazareth) was indeed the Christ (anointed One) of God, and having gained the trust of the masses of salvation seekers, would deceive the vast majority of them (Mat. 7:13,24; 22:14). Part of that deception would involve healing the sick, casting out demons, predicting the future, etc. in Christ’s name, all the while telling their (the false prophets’) followers that God has lied to them about conditions that must be met in order to receive salvation. What salvation seekers hear repeatedly is that they need to satisfy only one condition (caveat) in order to go straight to heaven at the instant of death. Because God had done away with the Law, salvation seekers need only to “take Jesus as their Savior.” At that instant one is saved, born again and sanctified. In other words, THE FIX IS IN. Now the fixed one needs only to repent of his inevitable, Adam-caused sins. God, he is told, has an unending supply of grace that He is anxious to pour out upon them. As Jude tells us in verse 4, Satan’s false prophets have turned God’s grace into a license to sin. Only so-called Christianity offers its parishioners the right to sin and get away with it. Is it any wonder why Christendom is the most popular religion on earth? Which makes it also the most deadly.

Prime time television now features several world-famous preachers who tell people that to be saved one need only repeat certain words which they (the preachers) would feed them, following which they will be instantly saved and born again. I have personally dealt with people who believe and spout such religious heresy, two of which were seminary trained. One time I was told by a local preacher that moments earlier he had led two boys to salvation just down the street from where we were standing. Another seminary trained minister said that people had no choice but to sin, therefore Jesus died so that supposedly saved people would not have to bear the guilt of their numerous sins. Another ordained minister told me he sinned “thousands of time” each day without guilt because of Christ’s death. Such religious buffoonery is preached and practice wherever “the church” is in operation. So-called “soul winners” are pronouncing people saved throughout the churchized world after completing a prescribed ritual. The victims of such deadly deception are then told to “… join the church of your choice.” One woman explained why she joined a particular mainline church, “… because they do what I like to do.” She was speaking for the entirety of the world’s church system.

Recall Christ’s warning about men deceiving the masses. They draw in them in through what I call their bait and switch program. Satan’s apostles convince Biblically ignorant salvation seekers to get on his glory train supposedly headed toward heaven. Read Bait and Switch, key word Switch, to learn how he pulls off the religious slight-of-hand that has accomplished what Jesus warned about in Matthew 24:4,5. Since the Garden of Eden fiasco, Satan has used men to do his dirty work. These men know only what they have been taught by those who supposedly “led them to Christ,” taught them their sect’s false “truths” and ordained them into the ministry of that particular sect.

Satan’s false Gospel has been around since the Garden of Eden. Its creator and purveyor has been the same from the beginning–Satan–the Serpent of Genesis 3 and Revelation 12. He has not changed his method of deception. He has been supremely successful in CONVINCING SALVATION SEEKERS THAT GOD HAS LIED TO THEM. His success can be determined by counting the cars in church parking lots on the sun god’s sabbath–SUN DAY. Read the series on God’s Sabbath. Key word–Sabbath.

So far we have noted how Satan works through his false prophets. However, the subject of this series is how Satan uses his unwitting parishioners to spread his narrative and thereby help him take more and more captives. But before we delve into the subject, I would remind readers that God sometimes performs miracles in the lives of church members in spite of their rejection of His Truths. He does this in order to prompt them to delve ever deeper into His Word where in order to learn the Truth, recognize the errors of their ways, repent, leave Satan’s darkness, escape from Satan’s grasp and walk in God’s light. Unfortunately, that rarely happens. In almost every case those involved in the miracle refuse to seek more of God’s Truth. Instead, they simply sink deeper into Satan’s religious pit by attending church more often and reading the verses their leaders have chosen for them. These are His “headlines.” Those who experience the miracles are encouraged to read more of God’s “headlines,” but to not go beyond them. They are not to study His “fine print,” without which His “headlines” have no effect on the reader’s life. People are taught by their leaders to believe only the Lord’s “headlines” and to ignore the “fine print” connected to the “headline.” A good example of a “headline” is: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you and your household shall be saved” (Acts 16:31). Satan will not allow his people to read or hear God’s “fine print” which features the Bible’s most powerful word: “IF.” Read Isaiah 28:9-18; 59:2/ Matthew 12:46-50/ First John 3/ John 8:31; 14:15,23 and 15:10. The “IF” (“fine print”) passages tell the seeker how to receive the blessings God promises in His “headlines.”

The Lord warns that He will “try” (test) those who profess Him from time to time. In Deuteronomy 13 we find Him warning that if a prophet or a dreamer of dreams predicts that a particular sign or wonder will take place, and that sign or wonder does indeed take place, and if the miracle worker asks those concerned to go after other gods (join a church or become more involved in the one they are in), they must be aware that God is testing them to see if they “love the Lord your God with all your heart (mind) and with all your soul (body).” He is testing them to see if they will “walk after the Lord your God, fear Him, keep His commandments, obey His voice, serve Him and cling to Him” (vss 3,4). It is imperative that Truth seekers study His word diligently and with open hearts. As Isaiah 58:9-13 tells us, only those who study His Word in the correct way can be taught by Him. “Headline” hunters will receive nothing from the Lord for they do not search out and meet the “IF” caveat (conditions). Faith alone will not cause God to fulfill His promises to us. WE MUST ALSO OBEY HIS LAW FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION, WHICH HE HAS CONDENSE INTO TEN COMMANDMENTS.

One can be given a safe filled with gold (God’s promises). However, one cannot make use of the gold (receive the promises) without the correct combination (the Holy Scriptures). The safe represents the “headline.” The combination represents the “fine print.” However, having the safe and the combination are not enough. One must apply the combination perfectly in order to open the safe. Recall that the rich man refused to do only “ONE THING.” That one thing caused him to miss out on eternal life (Mk. 10:17-22). Read Exactness: The Key to Spiritual Success. Key word–Exactness.

Question: What if one of Satan’s captives happens to read or hear a forbidden “fine print” Scripture? I will answer the question using past experience. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the enlightened person, who knows he has heard God’s Word, will nevertheless reject God’s Word. Such is the power Satan maintains over professing Christendom. I have seen what happens when church people are confronted with the true Word of God which proves his/her error. I can virtually “see” the mental wheels turning as Satan whispers his lies to them. This phenomenon brings to mind the episode in which Peter rebuked Christ for making a statement about His immediate death, and what the Lord said, and to whom, as recorded in Matthew 16:21-23. Even Peter, the “rock,” was momentarily taken over by the devil and used as his messenger. Nothing has changed. The airwaves are filled with his messengers’ voices as they proclaim his perverted gospel to the world (Gal. 1:6-9). Satan not only speaks through his messengers, he also performs miracles through them. In the following segment we will examine some of the miracles experienced by church members and the outcome of those experiences. While we study them we will remember that all that glitters is not gold.

Satan himself performs miracles, signs and wonders by which he draws his people ever closer to himself and ever farther away from God by convincing them that what they are experiencing is of the Biblical God, and that He (God) is giving them the experience in order to prove that they are truly his people. Never underestimate the power of Satan. Recall how easily he convinced Adam and Eve that God had lied to them. Nothing has changed over the millenniums since then. Only the numbers have gotten larger. L.J.