The average Christian has no idea how Satan operates, what are his limitations and what are his abilities. Few suspect what his primary objective might be. Peter wrote, “Be sober, be vigilant, because YOUR adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may DEVOUR, whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. (I Peter 5:8-9). Yes, Satan’s primary target is YOU! And he is very, very good at what he does.
The apostle Paul, speaking of himself and his fellow apostles, said, “We are not ignorant of his (Satan’s) devices.” (See 2 Corinthians 2:11). It was the knowledge these apostles had of Satan’s operation that prompted Paul to make that declaration.
Our Lord cautions us “My thoughts are not your thoughts.” But Satan’s thoughts are quite often our thoughts as we many times mirror his thinking in decisions we make or in choosing a course of action. Instead of being led and guided by the Word of God, we use faulty human reasoning.
If you were experiencing problems with your heart and the nearest cardiologist was 20 miles away, yet there was a gynecologist less than a mile from your home, would you think it wise to go to the gynecologist? What if the cardiologist was a rather stern sort and the gynecologist was super friendly and exhibited a warm personality? Many Christians use the wrong criteria in deciding where to fellowship with fellow professing Christians.
Some years ago I lived in Houston, Texas for a time. I was a member of no local church, but I did have some super friendly Mormon missionaries visit my apartment again and again, eventually persuading me to accompany them to a Sunday service at a nearby Mormon church. In short order, I realized the Mormons embraced gross error in most of their beliefs. It mattered not that, as with the Mormon Tabernacle choir, these Mormons also sang beautifully, they believed and taught doctrines utterly contrary to God’s Word.
God’s Word warns, “If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). If God’s Word reveals and teaches the opposite doctrines believed and taught by some congregation then that differing body of believers are scattering the Lord’s sheep, not bringing them closer and closer to the Lord.
Concerning such God commands His faithful sons, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate” (2 Corinthians 6:17). And Paul asked, “What communion has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14).
The prophet Jeremiah said, “Your words were found, and I did eat them (allowing God’s Word to become fixed in his mind), and your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord God of hosts. I sat not in the assembly of the mockers (fellow Jews who rejected God’s truth)…I sat alone, because of your hand (guiding this faithful prophet into following the Lord in all matters, large and small), for you have filled me with indignation (toward those who rejected the Most High’s counsel to go their own way, do their own thing, and follow faulty human reasoning)… “Therefore, thus says the Lord (to Jeremiah), ‘If you return (to fellowshipping with those who walk in error), then will I bring you again (out of their company), and you shall stand before me (to answer for your rebellion). Let them return unto you, but don’t you return unto them'” (See Jeremiah 15:16-17, 19).
When given the choice to follow human reasoning and argumentation or follow the enlightenment of God’s Word I long ago decided to always and ever follow God’s Word. And for this I make no apology even if I stand alone.
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley