Satan and the Church

Verse: And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So, it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. 2 Corinthians 11:14-15

We saw in the last post that Satan wants to deceive man whether he is a follower of God or not. When someone is saved, Satan does not say, “Oh well I guess I’ll just focus on the unbelievers over here.” Satan knows as well as us that God has chosen those who He will save, but that does not mean He will not continue a full attack to bring down the elect and lead them in rejection to God.

In the military we have a term, “the enemy is in the wire”. This usually meant that there was a breach somewhere in the defense and due to that the perimeter was no longer safe. The enemy was now within the “safety” the perimeter provided.

That’s on a whole new meaning during “green on blue” which was common in the Global War on Terror. What this means is that a terrorist was disguised as an Afghan or Iraqi Army soldier and would turn on the NATO Forces training them. They would either have a suicide vest on or they would turn and shoot at the American forces.

This is a similar strategy to Satan. In 2 Corinthians 11, we see that Paul is confronting false teachers. In verse 14 he describes the Devil and how that is his mode of operation disguising himself as “an angel of light”. This is why false teachers do the same and lead Christians away from the Lord and service to him. They also lead unbelievers astray by giving them false confidence in the faith and twisting God’s word. They pull Satan’s age-old trick, “Did God really say?”

So how do we know if it is a true or false teacher? If Satan and his servants can disguise themselves as preachers and teachers of the light, we need to know how to identify them. How do we do this? We study the word ourselves. When we are steeped in the study of God’s word and what he has revealed to us, we can see what is of the world and what is of the word. That is our goal.

In today’s day and age, everyone can read. You have no excuse for not being in the word and understanding it yourself. If your pastor or teacher says, “I know it doesn’t seem like the passage is saying this but trust me”. Or forms a whole theology on scripture he or she takes out of context, you need to confront it. We cannot afford to just walk away if we are to be Christian leaders. Titus 1:9 when speaking of elders says, “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to instruct in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” If we do not confront it, we would be allowing others to be deceived.