Some of the oldest tricks in the book: 8 lies I see the enemy still uses in trying to character-assassinate God…
Ever since Genesis 3:4-5, Satan, Lucifer, the enemy, has employed the very same tricks he used to rip Adam and Eve off of their perfect relationship with God…on us. Everyday, in varying situations, he confuses people about God’s character and what God says; in order to sever the only relationship which can eternally fulfill us. Because he doesn’t have it…because He threw it away. His misery loves company. And God in His infinite love and mercy for us, has spent the rest of Genesis to Revelation trying to remind us of who He really is…
Satan, the Father of lies, in a few statements to Eve, made claims & insinuations along these lines:
Lie 1. God lied – when Satan was the actual liar and deceiver. To that, God says “Am i a man that I should lie?”
Lie 2. God was selfish and doesn’t want you to have… – How could someone who just made an entire beautiful, self-sufficient, perfect home & garden-world and gave it to you guys, be selfish? To that, God replies, “the enemy comes to steal, kill & destroy but i have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly.”
Lie 3. God is incapable of doing some things – how could the God who created the tree, put it in the garden Himself, and walked with you not be able to give you what you wanted or needed without you having to disobey in order to get it cunningly? – to that, God reminds us “I am the Lord, is anything too hard for me?”
Lie 4. God can say what He doesn’t mean – How can the God who can say “no, don’t do that child”, really mean, “yes, do it?” So God suddenly has a communication problem? Sounds more like the infamous rape excuse to me: She said no, but actually meant yes! Suddenly, no means yes. Or No is the new Yes. How ridiculous and twisted is that?! Certainly not to the God who has no shadow of turning; the same yesterday, today, and forever. – to that, God says “I esteem my Word even above my name” and “I am the living Word”
Lie 5. God doesn’t want you to be like Him – seriously? The God who made you in His image and likeness, doesn’t want you to be like Him… Now tell me…does THAT make any sense? To that one God replies in His Word that we are no longer servants but brethren…we are joint heirs with Christ, in psalms, he says ye are gods… Mini me’s basically…
Lie 6. God doesn’t want you to know the difference between good and evil. Now this one blows my mind! – guys, God is good. Everything that is NOT of God is bad. Why would you even WANT bad? He already saw what was good and gave it all to you. Why didn’t you eat of the tree of life… You’d rather have futile knowledge than life?… To that, God says, you have not, because you ask not. In all the times God walked with them and they communed with Him, they could have asked to know but rather, they stole… OUR actions actually triggered the ages of battling good and evil because rather than taking the dominion God asked us to over it, we welcomed the opinion of evil and have gotten into bed with it ever since.
Lie 7. God doesn’t want to give you a choice – Satan made Adam and Eve foolishly believe that the same God who placed them in the garden, placed 2, TWO trees, and said this one does this, the other does that, and ALSO gave them an OPEN-BOOK test by saying, hey i recommend you don’t touch that one cos this is what will happen. But you’re free to have the other and ALL others,…THAT God didn’t want them to have a choice? No, there’s a difference in someone giving you a choice, and someone letting you know which choice will benefit you more. So they COULD have chosen the other tree of life…but they made the wrong choice.
Lie 8. God doesn’t want you to know what He knows. – Unbelievable! The same God whose answer to that is: call upon me and i’ll show you great & mighty things which you do not know…?! I find it hard to believe the enemy. By the way, what has our ill-gotten “knowing” brought us? I like to explain this concept i believe in of omniscience being nearly useless and quite painful without omnipotence. We wanted to become God so quickly, we didn’t allow the very person Himself who knows it and can do it actually take us through the process of acquiring what we desire. Something He himself wanted to share with us… Why else would He create a paradise, place us in it, and then relate with us consistently in love if not to share good things with us? And even after we’ve messed up, He still comes to do everything possible to help us restore that relationship as Jesus Christ.
What i’m trying to point out is that Satan has been lying to souls ever since; using many of the same old tricks. He says to folks today…hey God didn’t really mean you can’t covet your neighbor’s stuff… Do it! But then he’s not there to help when folks get their brains shot out by other folks for trespassing on their stuff…
Satan says well, a little lie here and there won’t hurt… Tell that to those who get their lives ruined by the fine print of contracts they sign, mess up their finances, and the rest of their lives spiral downward because of it.
Satan says, oh, come on, it’s the new millennium, of course you can sleep around, fornicate, commit adultery… But doesn’t tell you how many of those relationships end up in heartbreak, single-parenting, abuse, abortion, broken homes later in life, or even increases the need for adoptions… Oh yeah, let’s not forget sexually transmitted diseases too. This stuff hurts YOU people… Not Satan. And even though it breaks God’s heart to see you disobey and be broken, it is YOU who will bear the consequences of your actions in your bodies in spite of His mercy because even God has created a world set on principles and subjects His own self to them in order to respect your will.
I’m writing this today because even we Christians fall for this. Just recently, I myself went through a situation of needing to trust God. Faced with a choice, i had to pick whether i’d believe God and obey His leading, or go my own way… And to be honest, i heard those lies come my way… “God doesn’t want you to be happy Tomi.. He must not want you to have what’s good Tomi…He’s being selfish towards you Tomi…” Etc. But i thank God for a believing husband and spiritual shepherds who remind one of what God actually says. I’m grateful I chose to believe God. My choice may have seemed frustrating at the time, seemingly restrictive or even overwhelming, but the moment i chose to be obedient to God’s word, i saw immediate blessings and reward. If i had insisted on my own way, not only would i not have received the rewards of obedience, my choice would quickly have become evident as the failure it was, and my own integrity and character would have come into question.
All the lies the enemy tells can be wrapped up in ONE- God doesn’t love you… To THAT lie, God has responded in the most popular verse of His Word when Christ says: “For GOD SO loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” God DOES love you; His love wants you to be happy. Every choice he gives you, every directive, every plan, every work He asks you to do…is for YOUR benefit. It is because He wants you to succeed; not only here and now but later in the hereafter.
God is not out to get you or frustrate your existence. He brought you into existence and is fighting each day to remind you of His thoughts towards you which are good and not evil. God has set before you blessing and cursing…He says, choose life, that you may live. He says choose me… How can the almighty God even implore you to make the choice that’s better for your destiny and then get insults or misunderstanding in return? Think how that would make you feel… I encourage you:
Please DON’T character-assassinate God by believing and becoming a party to the enemy’s lies. Rather, open your heart to really understand someone whose intentions towards you have always been good.
