Question: If you were Satan (who would want to be – it appears these days quite a few people would actually like this title), what would you do if and wanted to undermine and destroy the work of God and ultimately the people (us) he loves?
Whenever one asks a question; ‘what would so-and-so do?’ you must really get into the mindset of that person and imagine that you are actually them and trying to achieve the goals they are wanting achieve. Then we might just be in a position to see a little more clearly what they are likely to do according to their mindset, beliefs and desires.
So – if your complete goal in life was to destroy God’s people what would you do? Well, if you don’t want to imagine (Im not surprised) you are the devil then I will imagine for you. I would look at the things that underpin the Christian faith.
Interestingly I asked my Christian friend the other day what would be the one thing you would attack if you were the devil and he gave me every answer except the answer I believe is the correct one. He said he would cause dissension, strife, wars, famine, etc etc. All in my opinion the result of the devil having done something else, and right under our nose.
Now thinking about this later, I realised that Satan has done such a masterful job of doing the thing I am about to suggest he has done that the thing my friend missed – he missed as a direct result.
Did you notice my subliminal suggestion in the text above? Well let me come clean; if I were the devil I would seek to undermine the foundation of Christianity – The Bible. Unfortunately, I believe the Devil has done such a good job, that unfortunately The Bible IS no longer the foundation of Christianity and many (most?) Christians no longer read it or take it seriously – to the point where Christians – and my friend proved this – don’t even consider The Bible something worth targeting in order to undermine our faith.
No… if I were the devil Th Bible – God’s Word would be my number one target! As a result we are awash with what I call the ‘Mac-Sermon’ – hundreds of get rich quick watered down sermos-to-go from men who know their Bible and should know better, but prefer to turn the things of God into $$$ as The Bible says men did and will do. Junk food for churches and Christians!
So would I get rid of it? Well no, whoever it is worth noting that men under the devil’s influence tried very very – very hard for hundreds of years. Thanks to the likes of William Tyndale and many many others who gave their lives in the most dreadful way – burning alive, the established church realised there was no way they were going to be able to keep this thorn in their side out of the hands of the common man. So now, Satan takes a new more subtle and in some ways more dangerous approach.
We all know that a cup full of poison never kills the drinker, as he can smell the poison and so doesn’t drink. Not only that, as soon as it touched his toungue he would taste its bitterness and spit it straight out and very likely survive. No there is a much better – and cheaper way – and not only that, your victim will do it themselves! If you really want to poison someone you drop the tiniest amount of poison into something that tastes wonderful. Then the unsuspecting drinker has no idea that the tiny drop has poisoned the whole drink. “A little level leveneth the whole lump.”
So, I would change a few bits here and a few bits there. What… to change the meaning of each of those verses, not necessarily. If I can just make different parts of the Bible and introduce some subtle mis-matches, half-truths, then as Im reading my spirit will become confused, distrusting of this book. And that my friends is exactly what happened to me over time as I read the NIV for 15+ years. I nearly lost my faith because though I couldnt put my finger on many exact passsages or contaditcitons – I knew they were there because I had read them.
So in the end I prayed and I felt God telling me to STOP struggling with these things, man-made doctrines etc – and “now you are serious, I will teach you from scratch over the coming years.” “No man needs to be taught of any man.” “The Holy Sprirt with teach you ALL things!” Note it doesnt say some or most things… it says ALL THINGS! Wow!
It was then that i began to study from the beggiing where Christinity came from, how it started and exactly how the BIble came about and how it changed over the years and more importantly – who and why they changed it. Now don’t be alarmed when you hear the word chnaged – becaseuse although many men have attempted to change it – God HAS preserved his weord for us exactly as he said he would.
I love God, Christ, The Bible. art, painting, playing music, improvising music, guitar (first instrument), drumming (not very good at it:), and anything musical or art related. Quick note – my articles are usually spun off in minutes so forgive any errors – hopefully you get the essence of the article and I’ll pick up mistakes later. If you want to write of 101ChristianMagazine and inspire and edify Christians with articles on faith, general news, hobbies or anything that interests you email me at: epgb101@gmail.com:)
