Articles
Deceived
A friend recently told a very painful story. He is an accountant and thus familiar with numbers, financial transactions, etc. He is also middle-aged and experienced with internet communications. This friend was contacted via email by a “company” with which he normally does business. Everything looked official and legitimate.
The company was informing him of an outstanding bill, and he was making arrangements to pay it with the customer service representative. But my friend unwittingly shared some information with the rep, and suddenly his computer screen was filled with lines of numbers flashing by as if it was possessed. To his horror he immediately realized what was happening: the customer rep had accessed his bank account and the money was being drained. Before he could stop it, he lost $20,000.
My friend was devastated. He kept saying, “All the signs were there; I should have seen what was happening. But the rep said he would lose his job because he had made a mistake while dealing with my account. I didn’t want him to get in trouble, so I fell into his trap by trying to help him out.”
Many of us fear the very thing that happened to my friend: stolen identity, being hoodwinked by a con artist, ruined credit and/or compromised financial accounts. There are people out there who hunt for the vulnerable, who are masters of human psychology, who know how to manipulate, threaten, play on emotions and otherwise deceive people into voluntarily giving up confidential information. Sounds a lot like how Satan works.
Satan’s modus operandi is not outright demon possession; it’s not witches and warlocks; it’s not spells and incantations. He doesn’t need any of that. Satan’s best weapon against us is deceit. How does he do this?
Eve. Satan’s handiwork appears in the opening pages of Scripture. Paul, commenting on the interchange between Satan (in the form of a serpent) and Eve, says, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Tim 2:14). Through enticing words that played on Eve’s desires Satan beguiled her into thinking that God was unduly restrictive and did not have her best interests at heart. He tricked her into believing that disobedience to God would make her happy. Only after the fact did Eve recognize what had happened: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (Gn 3:13).
Deceit and lying come hand in hand. Jesus’ description of Satan: he “does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (Jn 8:44). It is Satan’s nature to lie. Never forget that.
Job. It appears that Satan even attempts to deceive God. When God points out Job’s faithfulness, Satan immediately lies about his loyalty: “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? … But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” (Job 1:9-11). The rest of the book reveals the lie Satan tells about Job, and it also reveals the power of the human spirit that places its trust in God. This Satan cannot understand.
Jesus. Another direct confrontation between Satan and God (this time with God in human form) occurs after Jesus’ forty-day fast in the wilderness (Mt 4:1-11). Satan didn’t do anything other than prey on Jesus’ physical needs, psychological insecurities and sense of mission in his attack against Him. Satan tried to undermine Jesus’ dependence on the Father (making stones into bread); dared Jesus to force God’s hand to prove His care (jumping off the pinnacle of the temple); and tempted Him to avoid God-appointed trials (receiving a kingdom without going to the cross). But Jesus saw through all of these lies and continued to trust in God and Scripture.
While we don’t have such direct confrontations with Satan today, he works to deceive us through his human minions; i.e., those who have drunk deeply of his spirit and who hate the light (Jn 3:20). In regard to these, Paul writes to the Corinthians: “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it” (2 Cor 11:3-4).
Baker defines this simplicity as “devotion to something or someone, uncomplicated by other ideas or notions” (cf. Curry, Truth Commentary – 2 Corinthians 345, footnote 11). Satan turned Eve’s mind away from obedience to God to her own self-will, to an alternate form of self-advancement apart from God. This kind of deception is always deadly. Paul’s warning to the Corinthians mirrors the ancient Israelites who were constantly susceptible to the deceptive allure of idols via the false promise: “I can make you happier than Jehovah can.”
This corruption of simplicity or single-mindedness toward Christ is always traceable to our own lusts: “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (Jas 1:14-15). The word “enticed” [deleazo] is “from delear, ‘a bait’; hence ‘to beguile, entice by blandishments’” (Vine). This same word is used by Peter: “For when they [false teachers, jj] speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure [deleazo] through the lusts of the flesh, through licentiousness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error” (2 Pet 2:18).
When we allow our own desires and lusts to dominate our thinking and choices, it is easy to be deceived by the devil. He tells us what we already want to hear, and he embellishes it so that it sounds pleasing, advantageous and sensible. The antidote for this is two-fold: knowledge in and adherence to God’s word, and a singular desire to please God above all else.
Epilog: My friend was devastated and embarrassed by his mistake, but it humbled him and led to a much needed restoration of relationship with his wife. If his being defrauded leads to a permanent healing of his marriage, then the lost $20,000 will be a priceless investment that can’t be stolen.
