Smokescreen

Ever since the fall of man, the enmity between God and the forces of Satan has raged in this planet for a long time. With the promise of deliverance given, in  which the Savior shall crush the serpent’s head, the latter shall also bite his heel.

Since then, the warfare has not just been into what is CLEARCUT. In an analogy is made in a physical warfare, this spiritual warfare has just turned into a psychological one. Just as this warfare is not in flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers and rulers of the darkness and spiritual wickedness, it is much in the spiritual, invisible realm and in things that are clearly seen or understood.

When God sent His son Jesus to earth, His main purpose was to die, yet, Peter did not understand it. He thought he was on the Lord’s side when he said “be if far from thee, Lord”. He thought he was doing the Lord a favor. But he (or the one behind him) received one of the sternest rebuke in his life – “Get thee behind me, Satan” (Matt. 16:21-23).

Let us really be careful on alliances and allegiances. Our loyalty must be TO GOD AND GOD ALONE, never to man. This does not mean we do not pray and support our leaders, but our loyalty must be to God alone. He alone must be exalted and have the preeminence in our lives. Religions do not have this as they have installed leaders whom they believe are infallible and even deified them. Some say the mother is better than the son as the son can be unforgiving while mothers are more gentle. The doctrine of veneration of an image is a compromise, a rationalization. Divisions happen because of false loyalties. These are all evil.

How evil starts to seep into a group of believers is amazingly unclear. The devil is a master of subtle and cunning craft. He makes us see double, or covers certain gray areas in a smokescreen so we cannot see the entire picture and thus make decisions that are not wholly bible-based. It is important that we remain grounded in the true, pure and complete doctrines of the Word, not biased and partial. The later one – partial – is where the devil is very good on. An example is when he told Adam, thou shalt not die if you eat of the fruit. This is true, but only partially true. Yes, Adam will not die IMMEDIATELY. Yes, he will not die physically immediately. Two impartial truths were removed and hence rendering the entire truth untrue and very disastrously untrue for Adam and the whole human race.

When Jesus came to earth, his mission was to die. The Jews wanted to kill him because they rejected him. But God used their ignorance to God’s advantage. A great counterattack by God rendered the devil mortally wounded. Now that God has accomplished salvation for man, and as in a great chess checkmate, and with the shouting Jews and Pilate and the Romans actually aiding to accomplish his death and hence salvation for mankind, Satan is now kicking out his minions telling them to fight as hard as possible.

Let us therefore be careful in everything that we do in our lives as Christians. Smokescreens from the devil exist in many forms in our lives here on earth, and even in our churches. The wolves are already in, dressed in meekly sheep’s clothing. We do not know who, but praise be unto God there are always ways He has given us how to know them. Firstly, by their fruits you can tell a tree. But seems that is not hard for the devil to emulate so he also created wolves that can behave like sheep (Matt. 7:21-23). Secondly, DOCTRINE. The sound teaching of doctrine is the bottom line in any spiritual battle. The fiery darts of the devil are like small irritable errors which can be closed with one eye, but if one is not careful, these are ripples which will constantly sway the believer to and fro in his faith and just like a strong mighty fortress built on sand will eventually collapse.

May God lead us all. May God be the center of us all. May we be very diligent. May we be very careful. May we be silently moving on yet inside always praying, heeding to the pure teaching of God’s Word. There is no substitute for doctrine. The devil can never imitate it. Doctrine is the key. God’s Word, in its entirely, is DOCTRINE. Nothing more. Nothing else.