"And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." II Corinthians 11:14
The devil is no angel as you know. Neither are you and neither am I. Neither are people who have died. I just had to throw that in there because from time to time I hear that somebody thinks their departed relative is an angel now. No matter how wonderful they were, and deserving of whatever, the Bible is clear; only angels are angels and only the ones God has created especially for that purpose. Humans can't become angels. Actually, I have known enough of them to realize that is simply not possible.
In the early church there were deceivers masquerading as believers that led many astray. That is still happening today, by the way. We understand why too. After all, Satan has been masquerading since He rebelled and got kicked out of heaven. He is a former angel, but can't and won't be an angel ever again.
This verse says deception is common and Satan is the biggest deceiver. "The father of lies". After Halloween is over and the masquerade of pretending to be something we are not is done, who we are remains. Our fascination with pretense is deep and seductive. There is within the "old sin nature" a capacity to try to deceive, and even a desire to get away with it. We know our enemy, the devil, plays on our weaknesses. Are you pretending to be a Christian? Is the devil playing with your mind? Is he tempting you to believe you are pretending? Either way we are at risk of deception. Know for sure you are His and His alone. Reject the devil's seduction to pretend you are something you are not.
My guess is that a few of us are playing the part of believing, and still others are so caught up in their masquerade that they have lost touch with the objectivity about how phony they are. You have been hearing a lot about this subject lately. Maybe it is time for a gut-check or a head-check. Who are you really? Please, never let me fool you, I am a child of God and forgive me if and when I ever pretend to be anything else. I should be more conscientious of who I am and why. You can check yourself now. Who are you? Join me it making it way clearer.
Pastor Fred
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This devotional reminds me of a book I'm currently reading titled, The Invisible World: Understanding Angels, Demons, and the Spiritual Realities That Surround Us. Though I haven't finished reading it, I'm far enough into it that I feel secure in recommending it, and the story behind how I came to purchase this book is worth sharing.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as I finished typing my response to this devotional and tried to post it, I was halted by a large red box that forbid my posting. My comment consisted of about 4500 characters and it seems the max is 4096, so I've removed the actual story of how this Anthony DeStefano book came into my possession. If anyone is interested in hearing the story, feel free to email me because I have the whole story typed up now! However, the most important part is to share the book information (clearly something the enemy wants to prevent, so share on!) The link to the book at Amazon is below.
Thanks, Pastor Fred, for this devotional because it reminded me that I wanted to share the book with all of you!
BOOK LINK:
http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-World-Understanding-Spiritual-Realities/dp/0385522231
Okay, so I had a complete blonde moment because until now (I was laying in bed trying to go to sleep) it never occurred to me to just leave multiple comments to get the story out. So, here goes.
ReplyDeleteEarlier this year, Sam started talking about getting an iPad, but because we didn't need to spend the money he ultimately opted for going without - a decision that took months to make. It took months to make because Sam, a usually very selfless man, went into full battle with the desires and selfishness of his flesh. Ordinarily, he will never spend money or buy things for himself, especially at the expense of his family’s needs, but this time he was ready to make a purchase, even if it meant draining what little we had in savings, and because I’ve been witness to his countless selfless acts of denial, I wanted him to have it. More than once we decided to take the money out to get him the ipad, but at the last minute he always said "I don't want to WANT for something like this, and if God wants me to have it then one day I’ll have it," so we closed out discussions and moved on. After going back and forth like this for months, he came to the final decision of letting it go and moving on without the iPad. I said okay and we agreed to look into it again around Christmas.
Maybe a month later when he had genuinely forgotten about getting one, I came across an email in my inbox advertising this book in a sweepstakes. "Free iPad 2 with the purchase of Anthony DeStefano's book, 'The Invisible World'" yelled at me in bold letters across my screen. Though I've never won anything like this in the past, I decided to give it a try and go to Barnes and Noble to purchase the book. At the time we didn't even need to be spending money on a twenty dollar book, but I thought if by chance we won it would be worth it to see Sam's joy over getting a brand new iPad for free. I went that day to buy the book and came home to enter the receipt numbers in, and on my way home I prayed. "He never asks for anything or buys anything, Father, so please surprise him with this as a gift," was essentially what I said. At that moment, I somehow knew that we would win. And we did.
Less than two months later, Sam's brand new iPad2 was delivered and I was the happy recipient of a new book, but the good news surrounding this mysterious book doesn’t end here. During this time, my sister in Arkansas was currently at a crossroads in her life. Beaten down by her own bad decisions and suffering the consequences, she began talking to God in earnest for probably the first time in her life. I had sent her a few "getting started" in faith materials and looked forward to watching her grow. At this point, however, my awesome iPad winning book had nothing to do with her, so one cozy Saturday I began to read in what was starting out as a fascinating book. However, I never made it past the 20th page before I felt God telling me to send it to her. "Umm, God I kind of just started this, so I'll just finish it first and THEN send it," I informed Him. With every page I turned I felt an increasingly annoying pull to hand over the book I just started. "But, God, I want to read it!" I whined. "Send it to her today" is what I felt Him say in my spirit over and over again, so I muttered under my breath and headed to the UPS store. As much as I’d like to say I was “cheerfully” giving up my new and unexplored book, I can’t. I was completely and utterly bummed and annoyed. I even felt like God was telling me NOT to go out and buy myself a new copy, which only added to my frustration. (Story continued in next comment)
In the end, however, this book is what led her to choose a life with God. Nothing I had sent up to that time was the “right fit” for leading her into His arms. It was this book that I grumbled about giving up that God used to draw her in. And guess what? The book has since come back to me without me having to go buy another copy. After my sister read the book, my mom also read it, along with I don’t know how many other people. There’s something God is doing through this book, and whatever it is I know it’s good because He used it to help my sister make the decision to choose Him. How grateful I am for that! So, a long story I know, but I wanted to share it in hopes that you’ll all consider reading it. It certainly dives into the very issues about which you’ve written in this devotional, Pastor Fred, so thank you for sharing because it reminded me to share also
ReplyDeleteI’ve included the Amazon link to it below.
http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-World-Understanding-Spiritual-Realities/dp/0385522231