The Deceiver’s Quiver

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

The Book of Revelation identifies Satan as “the deceiver,” or “the one who leads astray” (ho planon; see Rev. 12:9; 20:10; cf. 20:3, 8). The idea behind this term is to entice someone to wander, like the sheep in Jesus’ parable (Matt. 18:12-13) or the saints of old forced to wander through a world not worthy of them (Heb. 11:38). As Peter Bolt writes, “The title ‘deceiver’ reflects Satan’s endeavors to lead people away from the love and security of our holy God.

Satan’s role as deceiver is grounded in his character as the father of lies (John 8:44; see Chapter 5). His nature – his every tendency – is to distort the truth so that people made as God’s imagers miss the very purpose for which God designed them. But how, exactly, does the evil one accomplish this? He sports a quiver of fiery darts and launches them strategically. Let’s briefly examine eight arrows the evil one hurls to deceive us.

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Peter and the return of Christ

This is the eighth in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com.

Peter employs many terms to describe the return of Jesus, among them: “the time of restoration of all things,” the appearing of the “Chief Shepherd,” and “the day of the Lord.”

Acts 3:19-21 – Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah. Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning.

The Lord has just used Peter to heal a lame man on the steps of the temple – a miracle that attracts a crowd and gives Peter an opportunity to preach about the Jesus in whose name the miracle occurred. 

Having suffered for our sins, Jesus is now at the Father’s right hand, an exalted position from which he rules with all authority and even heals lame men on earth. However, “the time of the restoration of all things” is on the horizon. 

The world is not as God created it, nor as he intends it to be. The whole creation groans beneath the weight of sin (Rom. 8:22), waiting for the return of Jesus, the creator and redeemer, to set things right. God has revealed all this through the Old Testament prophets, and Peter encourages his listeners to see how the Suffering Servant is also the soon-returning King.

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Satan the Deceiver

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

He was known as The Great Impostor and inspired a 1961 film by the same name. Ferdinand Waldo Demara began his nefarious career during World War II. He borrowed  an Army buddy’s name, went AWOL, and then faked his own suicide. A string of pseudo careers followed in which Demara portrayed a sheriff’s deputy, a doctor of applied psychology, and a child-care expert.

But Demara reached the pinnacle of his quest for fame during the Korean War, when he masqueraded as a surgeon aboard a Canadian Navy destroyer. There, he successfully completed a string of major surgeries before it was discovered that he was no more qualified to gut a fish than to cut open a human. Drummed out of the military but undeterred, Demara moved on to other mock roles. His final gig: a Baptist minister.

Demara’s life is a fascinating tale of one man’s hunt for genuine status in a make-believe world of his own creation. His success as a deceiver also exposes the soft underbelly of a society whose people are easily duped by one who talks smoothly and claims to serve the greater good.

For Christians, Demara’s story is a teachable moment. We are to guard against those who disguise themselves as “servants of righteousness” and infiltrate the church (2 Cor. 11:15). Even more important, we are to be ever vigilant concerning the greatest impostor of all: Satan.

 

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The writer of Hebrews and Christ’s return

This is the seventh in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com.

In previous columns, we briefly surveyed some of Paul’s writings regarding the return of Jesus. Here, we see what the writer of Hebrews has to say about Christ’s glorious appearing.

The writer of Hebrews implores Jewish Christians to stay faithful, despite mounting pressure to return to Judaism. The same Jesus who died once for our sins will appear a second time to complete the work of salvation he began in all Christians. 

Meanwhile, we are to keep the Christian community intact, meet regularly, and remind ourselves that “in a very little while, the Coming One will come and not delay” (Heb. 10:37).

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Temptation, Testing, Trial

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

What’s the difference between a temptation, a test, and a trial? It may help to briefly examine these English words as they appear in Scripture. New Testament writers use the Greek verb peirazo and the noun peirasmos nearly sixty times in a variety of ways. English translators render these words “tempt / temptation,” “test / testing,” or “try / trial,” based on the context. 

For example, peirazo may refer to a temptation to think or do something contrary to God’s will (Gal. 6:1; Jas. 1:13). Both times Satan is called the tempter in the New Testament, that’s the meaning we should take away (Matt. 4:3; 1 Thess. 3:5). Because he is the father of lies, a murderer from the beginning, and the unbowed enemy of God, Satan always tempts people to sin. However, God has armed us with everything we need for life and godliness, as Peter writes:

His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. By these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.

2 Pet. 1:3-4; cf. 2 Tim. 3:16-17
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