The Bible reveals some of Satan’s methods in its opening pages. Remember the story of the Garden of Eden where Satan said to Eve, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). Satan then contradicted God, saying, “You will not surely die” (verse 4).
That was a lie. It could be cast as partially true in the sense that Adam and Eve weren’t going to immediately drop dead if they disobeyed God. Yet from the moment of succumbing to sin, their eventual death as its cost would be assured.
So the deception was on. They took from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It represented deciding good and evil for themselves under Satan’s influence, leading to a mixed-up morality of truth and lies. And through many half-truths, Satan throughout history has led people to misunderstand God’s words. He wants us to make decisions that lead us away from what’s right.
But you may think, I wouldn’t be misled; my church couldn’t be off track! Yet as we see here with Satan’s first interaction with humanity, he does not come across as all evil all the time. Satan has a scheme, a strategy, and in 1 Peter 5:8 we see another part of that strategy: “Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
You’ve probably seen nature shows presenting lions on the hunt. They hide, they’re camouflaged well, they’re opportunistic, and then they strike. In the same way, Satan is evil but not obviously so. He’s deceptive, subtle and cunning.
This is how he actually tried to undermine Jesus Christ as His earthly ministry began. You may be familiar with the story in Matthew 4. Christ was fasting for 40 days and nights, and Satan came to Jesus and tempted Him. He took Jesus from the wilderness to Jerusalem’s towering temple complex and then did something shocking.
He quoted Scripture. He told Christ to go ahead and jump off, and quoted Psalm 91:11-12: “‘He [God] shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”
That’s indeed what Scripture says. But did God the Father want Jesus to jump off a building just to prove a point? He did promise angelic protection, but it wasn’t for show.
So here we see Satan presenting the holy Word of God in a totally wrong and evil way, using that to try to trip up Jesus Christ. That’s Satan’s strategy. The devil purposely misrepresents the Word of God. He knows how to use Scripture, but he’ll distort it. He’ll take it out of context; he’ll change the meaning.
So it’s important to ask ourselves: How well do I know Scripture? Do I know it well enough to prove a point? Can I justify what I believe and speak the truth?
Make no mistake: The devil knows the Bible. But he uses it deceitfully.
He did that with Jesus, and he does it with churches. And we better know it and be able to apply it correctly or we will be tricked and misled.
Source Hebrews Pouyeli ll Volta Forum
