Jesus called him the ‘father of all lies’ (John 8:44).

He was around back in the early days of creation and first lied to Adam and Eve… contradicting what God had made clear to them about what would happen if they ate fruit from that one tree. God told them they would ‘surely die'; and cloaked as a serpent…he told them: “You shall surely not die.” (Gen. 2:17; 3:4). ‘He’…being Satan, or the ‘Devil’, of course.

Paul also refers to him as a master deceiver, using the incident in the garden with Eve as an example of what can happen to us today (2 Cor. 11:3-4), indicating that he (Satan) can even appear as an ‘angel of light’ (14).

John writes in Revelation of how war broke out in heaven long ago when Michael the archangel and his forces battled against the ‘dragon and his angels’…casting them to the earth’ (Rev. 12:7-9). John even identifies who this ‘dragon’ was/is- the ‘serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan…who deceives the whole world.”

In fact, Jesus even shares the memory of witnessing that incident with those 70 disciples, telling them: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:17-18)

And while we know that we humans, and ‘believers’ can indeed -‘give place to the devil’ (Eph. 4:27) who ‘comes to steal, kill, and destroy’ (John 10:10)…until we do give him place into our lives…the only power he has over us is the power of the ‘lie’. Satan hates the truth and does all he knows to do to twist it, pervert it, dilute it, and can even turn it around to say just the opposite. He tried that with Jesus in the wilderness while quoting scripture, only to be refuted with the ‘word’… by the ‘Word’ Himself. (John 1:1,14; Luke 4:9-12)

How else do you think this ‘wicked one’ can successfully ‘control the whole world’, or at least those who are not walking in the light as Jesus is in the light’? (1 John 1:7; 1 John 5:19) He makes use of the power of the lie, and the most common and well used lie that gains him much mileage…it convincing folks that God is not that 'hung up on sin' anymore - “God is not like that! He’s a good God and would never allow such bad things to happen to His people.”

Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel, renowned prophets of old…spoke of those other ‘prophets’ who were ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’. Jeremiah cautioned the people of God to turn a deaf ear to what many of the prophets in their day were teaching... speaking ‘worthless words from their own hearts’ (Jer. 23:16). And look at the next verse where he quotes them as they lie to God’s people saying: “You shall have peace…no evil will come upon you even if you walk according to the dictates of your own hearts” (17).

Now look where Ezekiel accuses these ‘prophets’ of ‘seducing God’s people…saying ‘peace when there is no peace’ (13:10). He points out how the priest had ‘violated His law’ and did not ‘distinguish between the holy and the unholy, nor differentiated between the ‘clean and the unclean’ (Ezek. 22:26). In other words, they failed to call out the sins of the people; and Ezekiel had reminded them that ‘the soul that sins shall surely die’ ( Ezek. 18:20).

Friends…again I ask: “When did God change?” (Rom. 6:23; 8:13; Gal. 5:21; John 5:14; Mal. 3:6; Hebrews 10:26-27). I would also encourage you to read these three chapters in Ezekiel and go through them, 7,13, & 22; and as you do, make note that this is God warning His people, the nation of Israel as to what is coming their way because of their rebellion and sinful ways. It wasn’t the ‘sinners of the world’ He was warning…it was His own people who knew better!

Why is this relevant to us today, you ask? Good question, and Peter answers it for us by reminding us that “the time has come for judgment to begin first… at the house of God (the church); and if it begins first with us, what will be the end of those who do not OBEY the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17). And that same message of ‘peace and safety’ that the prophets back then were pedaling…’you can do bad and God won’t bring evil upon you’…will still be popular today, as Paul mentions in 1 Thess. 5:1-3. Jeremiah even said that we would “understand it perfectly in the latter days”. (Jer. 23:19-20)

Do you remember our messages from the past few days about how Satan ‘takes people captive’? Flip back to that short book nestled in between Jeremiah and Ezekiel, called ‘The Book of Lamentations’. It’s only 5 chapters long and describes the fallout after Babylon had come in and destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple, before taking the survivors into exile, which is known as the Babylonian Captivity. In chapter one, we read how the enemy came in and prevailed over the people of God. Would you please underline Lamentations 1:5 where it says: “The Lord has afflicted her because of the multitude of her transgressions (sins). Her children have gone into ____________ before the enemy.” (You can fill in the blank).

Now go underline 1:16 where it is acknowledged how the ‘enemy prevailed’ and the ‘children are desolate’. And in 2:5, how is the Lord described as? Does your Bible say ‘like an enemy’? (Do you have time to look at Rev. 3:3; 16:15; John 10:10 and 1 Thess. 5:2?) You might want to pull out your bright highlighter for this next one now, because it tells us why God’s children were taken captive: “Your teachers/prophets gave you false and deceptive visions; they did not expose or uncover your sins in order to free you from captivity. They gave you false hope with delusions.” (Lam. 3:14) Could that possibly happen today???

And what is the great falsehood being taught today in many of our ‘churches’? It’s the damnable lie that convinces ‘born again children of God who were born of incorruptible seed’… that they will remain as ‘wretched sinners who will always continue to sin’’.

Let God be true and every man a liar…for the word of the Lord has declared that ‘whoever is born of God no longer sins’….and is a ‘new creation’ who ‘cannot sin because he has been born of God and God’s seed is in him’. (2 Cor. 5:17; 1 John 5:18; 3:6,9). I sure hope you are looking up these passages and marking them in your Bible. What you do… when it comes to actually ‘believing’ them is between you and God. I just know I’ve been compelled to keep pointing them out to any and all who happen to read here.

Now please hear me when I tell you that as sobering and as serious as these words and passages I shared here with you today are…please know that I am in no way attempting to paint a distorted view of some angry Deity in the heavens who ‘has it out for you’. I share these words with you with the hopes that you will come to know His love for you, and that it is ‘His kindness that leads us to repentance’ (Rom. 2:4). It is not His will that ‘any perish, but that all come to repentance’ (2 Pet. 3:9), and for this one reason alone: If we fail or refuse to repent…we will all likewise…perish. (Luke 13:1-5)

"Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent..."(Acts 17:30)

Someone once asked me if I was trying to suggest that Jesus was 'coming back as the Devil'; which I can see where they got that idea from....especially if you try 'connecting' the two passages I used on my graphic today.  But take a quick look at Exodus 12:12-13 and 22-23.  God first said that 'He would strike the firstborn of Egypt'... then clarifies it's not Him, per-say who is doing the 'destroying' (23). He was simply 'allowing' the 'destroyer to do his work...but those who were 'under the blood' would see no harm. 

It's not like God has not given us warning nor made a way of escape and protection.