When someone is pretending to be on your side but is really out
to do you harm you could call him a "double-agent". In the Bible
God tells us of the greatest "double-agent" this world has ever
known. 1*.
God warns us that the Devil has armed himself with the ability to
appear as "an angel of light", and so he has always "deceived the
inhabitants of the earth." 2*. If we are not aware of how well he is armed to
do things like this then we will be easily deceived and defeated by
him! Jesus told us that the Devil will even go so far as to get his
followers to preach, drive out demons and do miracles "in
Jesus' name"! 3*.
Knowing that this happens how will you and I be able to know the
true from the false? Jesus said, "He who is not with Me is
against Me, and he who does not gather with Me, scatters."
4*.So, if we don't
want to be tricked by the Devil we will have to make sure we are
"with Jesus" in all we believe about God, Salvation, Christian
living and eternity. We must CAREFULLY CHECK UP IN THE HOLY BIBLE
TO MAKE SURE WHAT JESUS REALLY DID SAY! 5*. and not just believe everything
that people will tell you Jesus said! Religious leaders, who want
you to trust in them and obey them, sometimes claim that Jesus
taught things He certainly did not teach! For example, some people
teach that it is Jesus' wish for you to do penance or to make many
offerings for your sins, or that He wants you to pray to saints?
Jesus' own words contradict all such things! 6*.
But why would the Devil ever want to get any of his followers to
command demons to go out of a person's life? Wouldn't that be
working against himself? The Devil's no
fool and he knows a "miracle working" follower of his will
easily deceive great crowds of people - people who are not careful
to find out what Jesus really taught. 1*. Once he has their attention he will even
claim to quote Jesus and the Bible to them, while really teaching
many things that contradict Jesus' true message. And what about the
people who were healed by the deceiver? The Devil cannot put
anything better into a life to replace the demon he calls out!
Jesus explained what will happen. That evil spirit "will return…
and take seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go
in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse
than the first." 7*.
You see, the Devil's no fool! He
impresses the crowds by his miracles so as to get them to listen
to his lies,1*.
and even the people who were supposedly healed by the false
teachers will, in time, end up in a much worse state! 8*.
How very different it is when a person trusts Jesus Christ in
Heaven to put the evil out of his or her life. Jesus replaces the
evil with His Holy Spirit and the Kingdom of God rules in that life
giving victory over sin and evil. 9*.
Don't you be fooled by the Devil's deception! Read Jesus' warning
in Luke's Gospel chapter 11, verses 20-26.
Bye for now,
John Nixon, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland. P31HD98. Contact: jnixonj@gmail.com
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---------------oOo---------------
Bible quotations from N.I.V.
1 See 2nd
Thessalonians 2:9-12.
2 Revelation 13:14.
12:9.
3 See Matthew 7:21-23.
4 Luke 11:23.
5 See Acts 17:11. John
12:48.
6 See Acts 10:42-43. John
14:6.
7 Luke 11:24-26.
8 Revelation 19:20-21.
9 See Luke 11:20. John
14:15-21.
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