Often things are not as they appear. When it comes to Satan’s temptation of the saints, he endeavors to make sin look good. He hides the ugly consequences and tries to make us think it’s no big deal and we can handle it. No matter how attractive sin may seem or how we may try to rationalize it, we must remember sin leads to death (Romans 6:23; James 1:14-16). As Christians, our responsibility is to, “exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). Like he did with Eve, the devil does with many today—he influences them to think that sin is really for their best through the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). Genesis 3:6 reveals that Eve became convinced that the forbidden fruit was “good,” “pleasant,” and “to be desired.” 2 Corinthians 11:3 says that “the serpent beguiled Eve.” This means he deceived her. A few verses later in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 we read of the deception the devil was working among the saints at Corinth through false apostles, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” Satan does not come to us in a red suit with a pitchfork so that we can plainly see who he is. He uses tricks—or as Ephesians 6:11 says, “wiles,”—and deceives us to sin.
The devil’s tactics still work today. We appreciate public figures who stand up for values we hold dear. In a mixed-up world (Isaiah 5:20), they make sense. Some of them seem sophisticated and intellectually adept. They can dismantle the lies our society feeds us, so we respect them. They say they are followers of God; however, they might use some foul language, tell dirty jokes, advocate the use of alcohol, or mention something they watched that, it turns out, has very explicit sexual content in it. We want a champion so badly that we may overlook these things as no big deal, but the Bible says they are (Ephesians 5:3-5; 1 Peter 4:3). These are lusts of the flesh and lusts of the eyes.
They may mention the evolutionary timescale in passing as something they believe. Some of these public figures are obviously intelligent and well-studied, yet they believe the universe is billions of years old. Certainly, they would not make any assumptions, would they? Since they can unravel the false assumptions of our culture, then certainly their conclusions must be grounded in solid, observable evidence. Right? We are tempted to think that if we want to be intelligent and honest with the evidence, we must agree with them. Some of them claim to be Christians and suggest that perhaps God used evolution to create the world over millions of years and eventually man was brought on the scene. They want to hold to the timescale of evolution, so they have tried to reinterpret the Bible to fit this theory of man. This is simply the pride of life. Theistic evolution treats the Bible like a ball of clay that can be molded to fit popular theories of men rather than what we ought to do—mold our thinking to fit the word of God (Romans 12:1-2).
No, things are not always as they appear. Be careful of blindly following any teacher, no matter how intelligent they seem. You shall know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-20). If we are not cautious, we just might start thinking like the world. We might become convinced that a little bit of language, liquor, and lust is something we can handle. We may give in to the lie of evolution. Remember: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Make sure you are on guard and attentive to the deceitfulness of Satan.
