By Pastor Greg...
 |
| Blueberry glaze with Raspberry drizzle |
Attempting to
lose some weight, a man decides to give up donuts. He changed his commute to work so he would
not pass his favorite donut shop. But
one day, because of traffic, he needed to drive down that old familiar
road. As he approached the place with
the good donuts, the man prayed, “Lord, I don’t know why, but fate has brought
me down this street once again. If you
are telling me that its okay to eat a donut, then let there be a parking space
right in front of the store.” Well,
wouldn’t you know it; on the 8th trip around the block, there was an
empty space.
Life is all about
choices. We each make choices every day. Oh sure, the world is filled with
distractions; I know countless things in this
world compete for our time, attention and money. But still, we make the decisions; we
choose what can invade our lives. Some
of those choices bring us closer to God and some cause us to drift away.
In matters of God, we need to be aware that our adversary,
the Satan, is continually trying to lure
us away from the Father. Satan did this
with Adam and Eve. In Genesis 3 he gets
Eve to take her eyes off God and focus on herself. She followed Satan’s gaze as he looked at the
forbidden fruit. He distracted her for a
moment, and, “she saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious”[1]
(Genesis 3:6). Satan didn’t force her to take the fruit, but he did get her to look at it. And in the end, Eve and Adam both made a
choice to disobey God.
Satan
has been quite successful in luring
people away from God. In our Bible, we discover that not only were people
drawn away from the Lord but so were cities and entire nations. One of the first cities to defy God was
founded by a man named Nimrod. According
to Genesis 10, he built many of the cites found in modern-day Syria and
Iraq. In one particular city, the people
decided to create a massive tower that reached to the heavens. It would become a monument to Men in defiance
of God. But it was here God reached down
and confused their language. The city
became known as Babylon (Genesis 11:1-9).
This
city of Babylon was the birthplace of many false religions; most of the
religious cults found in the Old Testament trace their heritage back to Nimrod
and the cities he founded.[2] And its influence can be seen down through
the ages. In fact, every generation has seen a nation or a city whose
lifestyle "insulted" God, and whose influence lured the unsuspecting
away from God. Perhaps this would
explain why the Angels of Heaven refer to this satanic influence as “Babylon.”
This is
the false religion of Satan; it tempts us to lay down our faith and pick up our
lusts. The harlot whispers in our ear,
“Go ahead. It will make you happy. God wants you to be happy.”
As
humanity draws closer and closer to the End Times mentioned in Revelation, a
time will come when Satan will no longer merely influence the world but will actually control the world. While the
Church is still present on the earth, Satan has been seducing the world like some prostitute – a harlot – that
lures people away from God. But once the
Spirit is withdrawn, the true nature of the Devil will be revealed; his false religious system will control people,
kings and kingdoms, and the nations of this world. However, a day will come when Satan’s
counterfeit kingdom will be judged, and the first part of the kingdom to be condemned is his false religious
system (see Revelation 17).
John
uses some pretty wild metaphors here, but it basically describes Satan’s false
religious system… his distractions that lure humanity away from God. God views this as a harlot… a
prostitute. In the end times, this
influence will originate out of a city (or perhaps a nation) that had ceased to
exist but will miraculously reorganize and regain world domination. Scholars suggest this is a revival of the old
Roman empire. This religious system will
promote immorality – those behaviors and actions that God has declared as
sinful – and it will attack Christians who hold fast to God’s teachings. This “harlot” (Satan’s religious system) will
persecute and murder God’s holy people.
I
understand that a day is coming when Satan’s influence will be seen, but I believe it can be felt right now. I believe
Satan is working right now to distract unsuspecting Christians, causing them to
take their eyes off Jesus. Under Satan's
influence, there are cities or nations who entice us to give up our walk of
faith and give in to the pleasures of the world. In our world today, there is a “Babylon;” a
nation or city which promotes a way of life contrary to the Lord’s
teachings. Even today the harlot
whispers in our ear, “Go ahead. It will
make you happy. God wants you to be
happy.” This religious system tempts us
to look for things in the world that might fill the emptiness in our soul. It shows us the things we don’t have or the pleasures we have not experienced. It promises to make us happy if we work long
and hard to acquire “things.” In its
deceit, it tells us we are busy; that we have no spare time to give to God. Working through a city or a nation, the Satan
lures our eyes off God and points to the world.
The
same man who wrote these revelations from God also wrote, 15 “Do not love this world nor the things it
offers you. 16 The world offers only a
craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in
our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And
this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone
who does what pleases God will live forever” [3]
(1 John 2:15-17).
We must
be aware that Satan is attempting to lure us away from the Lord. He does the same to you and me as he did with
Adam and Eve; he points to the things of this earth; he has been doing this
since the very beginning. For this
reason, the Apostle Paul encourages us to, “keep
seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” [4]
(Colossians 3:1-2). Satan points to the
world and asks us to make a choice, but the choice
is up to us. We either choose to follow Jesus or the ways of the world.
[1] Tyndale House Publishers.
(2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation
(Ge 3:6). Carol Stream, IL.
[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary
(Vol. 2, p. 613). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[3] Tyndale House Publishers.
(2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation
(1 Jn 2:15–17). Carol Stream, IL.
[4] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update.
(1995). (Col 3:1–2). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
No comments:
Post a Comment