Do You Know The Devil's Schemes?...

Charlie Riggs says we should be aware of the wiles of the devil so we don't get entangled in his web. "We are not unaware of his schemes" (2 Cor. 2:11).  Even though the cartoon character Pogo said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us" we are our own worst enemy--part of the EVIL TRIUMVIRATE of the world, the flesh, and the devil--and Sun Tzu, in The Art of War, said to know your enemy, [Lord Nelson told his troops who were quarreling, "Gentlemen, the enemy is over there."] this is Satan's turf and we live in enemy-occupied territory. The devil is the "god of this world [age]" (2 Cor 4:4).

The battle has just begun, but the battle is the Lords! "If God be for us, who can be against us?" When we become saved, the battle is initiated. Remember the battle-cry of King David facing Goliath: "I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts!" Live in victory over the foe! The battle-cry of the Reformation was "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" by Martin Luther. who had quite a fight with the devil?

The devil is perfectly capable of putting evil thoughts into your mind, (recall what Jesus said to Peter when he rebuked him: "Get behind Me, Satan."), but don't blame the devil for your own evil, for Jesus said "for from within, out of man's heart proceeds evil thoughts..." (Mark 7:21) As examples, Satan "rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census" (2 Chron. 21:1), and Peter told Ananias that Satan had filled his heart to lie to the Holy Spirit.

Let's not think there is a devil around every corner and all our evil thoughts must be demonic. We are plenty of evil ourselves ("The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9). You may not be able to pinpoint which thoughts are yours and which are the devils, but remember Martin Luther said that you can't keep a sparrow from flying over your head, but you can keep him from making a nest in your hair. Satan wants you to believe a lie because he is the father of lies. He is deceptive and the accuser of the brethren before God day and night. The Holy Spirit convicts with an open and shut case, Satan accuses. The primary area of Satan attacks is our pride, which was the first sin of Satan. Even though Satan can instill evil, we are still responsible (Mea culpa) and we still decide to act on our thoughts or not to.

Satan uses psychological warfare or mind games (he messes with your thinking) and his number one strategy is to divide and conquer. But don't ever give the devil an opportunity: submit to God and he will flee from you. "Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). There is the story of a Civil War soldier who couldn't make up his mind what side to be on, so he wore half gray and half blue; he got shot at by both sides. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:12).

Don't be a sitting duck waiting for the devil to attack--be proactive and anticipate that he "prowls around like a roaring lion," as Peter says. He has subtle tactics and his multitudinous demons do his dirty work. One of his strategies is to accuse you and make you feel guilty but remember "there is, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," according to Rom. 8:1. There is a big difference between the open and shut case of the Holy Spirit's convicting ministry and the vague accusations to make you feel guilt and shame.

We must daily pray "Deliver us from evil." The M.O. of the devil is "to steal, to kill, and to destroy;" [his name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek Apollyon] he wants to ruin your life; whereas God has a beautiful plan for your life. We can be assured that the battle is the Lord's and again "greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Whatever Became of Sin?...

This is the title of a book by Dr. Karl Menninger, the eminent psychiatrist. For the most part, psychiatrists see all mental problems as a chemical imbalance  (because we do not have a soul, just a material body), so this book was revolutionary in thought. Billy Graham says sin is a disease. The only cure is the blood of Christ. [The solution to our three problems of sin, death, and Satan.] The three areas of sin are the pride of life, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes (cf. 1 John 2:15). The Greek word hamartia means to "miss the mark" or to fall short of a goal; it is an archery term and we sin when we miss achieving the norm or mark of God's law as the standard.

To label sin as human weakness, bad habits, mistakes, errors, or shortcomings merely makes the sin more dangerous--like mislabeling poison as the essence of peppermint! There are basically five names for sin: lawlessness (1 John 3:4); iniquity or deviating from right (Hos. 14:1); missing the mark (Rom. 3:23); trespassing or selfishness (Mark 8:34); and unbelief (1 John 5:10).

A renowned philosopher said that the "absurd is sin without God." Take God out of the equation and you can have no sin. When we violate our fellow man we sin against him; when we violate God's holiness we sin against Him. So what is sin? A succinct definition of sin is any want of conformity to, or transgression of, the Law of God, or the will of God.

Jesus mentioned sins of the heart--these have to do with our mental attitude. There are sins of commission (when God's Law is couched in negative terms, as R. C. Sproul says, such as "Thou shalt not..."), and sins of omission (not sins we haven't gotten around to committing yet, but where we fall short of the glory of God and fail to do what Jesus would do, or what is commanded). John Bunyan wrote a book Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners and Paul called himself the chief of sinners also, so we need not despair that our sins are too bad to be forgiven. Charlie Riggs sees sin as any thought, word, act, omission or desires contrary to the Law of God.

Of course, sin is universal and we are born sinners: "We are not sinners because we sin, rather we sin because we are sinners," as it has been said. The point to see our sin is not that we are "good enough to be saved, but bad enough to need salvation". "We can't escape our birthright," Billy Graham says.

Not all sins are equal though; there are some more heinous or egregious than others and are an abomination and special offense to God. There is no such thing as venial and mortal sins as Rome teaches. Venial being forgivable, and mortal being those the kill the justification of grace and require the sacrament of penance ("the second plank of salvation for those who have made shipwreck of their faith).

No sin can make you lose your salvation, and all your sins, as a believe, are forgivable and covered by the blood of Christ. But remember Christ is always making intercession for us when we sin (Heb. 7:25) and when we sin we only have to confess it and move on according to 1 John 1:9 ("If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness").  Soli Deo Gloria!