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The Great Deception


The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy …” (John 10:10a)

I feel compelled to comment on the state of things in the world today and how they have impacted on us as Christians.It appears that morality, holiness, righteousness and integrity are under attack from all corners of the world. The devil, it appears, is waging a seemingly successful war against all that which is good and Godly. Christians the world over are under attack from the devil. Every area of our lives has come under suffocating attack as the enemy runs amok over us, destroying everything that we believe in. In a word, the devil is out to do one thing - KILL and DESTROY all those who profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. He is doing this in a systematic way.

As outlined in John 10:10, his battle strategy is simple: first STEAL Christians, then KILL them, and finally DESTROY them. In this warning sermon to all those that are called by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I will address the devil’s strategy and then show you how you can avoid being overrun by him.

STEAL: The thief cometh not, but for to steal…

Satan’s number one strategy is to STEAL those who profess Christianity. He is not interested in those who don’t believe; they are already in his hands! However, if you are a confessed Christian, you are under attack and the devil will stop at nothing to ensure that you land into his hands. You are even under more fierce attack if you are a servant of God. If you are a pastor, bishop, evangelist, etc, you will continue to come under increasing attack from the devil. The devil knows that a believer who wins souls for Christ is more dangerous than one hundred believers who have no zeal for soul-winning. Although the intensity of the attack varies from one believer to the other, every Christian is in the devil’s firing line.

Satan’s stealing process is a gradual one. He uses all manner of media to entice our senses of, sight, smell, touch, and taste. Just like in the days of Adam and Eve, the devil has not changed his deception strategy. Eve must have seen the delicious-looking fruit from a distance, then as she came to the tree, she thought it smelled good, then she touched it, plucked it off and ate (tasted) it. What appeared at first to be a harmless little fruit led to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the paradise that God had created for them; a land of delight, joy and abundance.

To destroy the spiritual man, the devil targets the physical man. It is our humanity that the devil is using to destroy our spirituality. He attacks the basest of man’s emotions. One of these emotions is our sexuality; our desire for sexual gratification. That which God ordained to be enjoyed within the precincts of marriage, the devil has perverted through pornography on the internet, on TV, etc. A walk down major city streets in the world will reveal merchandises and services that seek to peddle sex to anyone (children included) who have the time. This in-your-face blatant display of sex has sucked in many Christians. The devil’s spoils from this strategy have included servants of God who failed to resist the onslaught.

The unquenchable thirst for money and material possessions has left many Christians out in the cold. The cut-throat competition in the business world today has compelled many people to cut corners in a bid to make a quick buck. People continue to hold dangerous cards under the table - waiting for the right time to pounce! As a result, the line between profit and blatant theft has become very thin indeed. The result: we cannot talk against the ills ravaging society since we are ourselves partakers of those ills.

After effectively stealing Christians through sex and worldly possessions, the next strategy in the devil’s grand scheme is to KILL them.

KILL: The thief cometh … to kill

At this stage, the devil kills your conscience. You become a habitual sinner. The fear of God is no longer in you. A Christian at this stage has a common denominator with a non-believer; both are dead in their sins. The word Christian is only used by those who have always known you as such but are not privy to your wayward ways. But even this is short-lived as news of your backsliding ways spread with speed.

There are a lot of dead people in Church today. Any pastor will tell you of the many disciplinary cases he or she has dealt with in their ministries. There are people in Church today who continue to commit adultery with impunity in total disregard of the Holy Spirit. These sort of people are already dead in their sins and can only be redeemed if they repented their sins and come back to God.

What started with ’seeing’ a pornographic material ultimately leads to the sin of adultery. It may have looked harmless at first, but as you inch closer, the tangled web of sexual immorality finally gets hold of you; and once you are caught in this web, getting out of it becomes very difficult. Only the saving Blood of Jesus Christ can redeem you now.

But if you thought the devil is through with you, you are wrong! He wants to ensure that you are totally destroyed.

DESTROY: The thief cometh not, but … to destroy

If the devil succeeds in destroying you, then you are doomed! The devil’s ultimate aim is to make you miss heaven by engaging you in the cares and snares of this world such that you will have no time for God. He knows that there is life after death. Therefore he wants to ensure that you spend eternity in torment with him in Hades. He knows you will either spend eternity with God in heaven or with him in hell. Since his fate is already sealed (hell-bound), he will stop at nothing in making sure that you accompany him to hell. This is the final destruction that John was talking about (10:10). When you are spiritually destroyed, all hope for eternity with Christ vanishes into thin air. In a word, you are doomed to hell!

You will realize that I have concentrated a lot on the aspect of stealing than the other two strategies. This is because the battle is most intense at the stealing stage. The devil knows that if he can steal your attention away from God and direct it to the things of this world, then he’s got you. The senses of sight, touch and taste are the most compelling in the world today. Most of the TV programmes and advertisements today are aimed at appealing to these senses. Advertisers know that if they can whet your appetite for a particular product or service, it will be just a matter of time before you come knocking at their shops. Likewise, the devil knows that through subtle, and then more aggressive, display of sexuality in the media, most people will fall into sin very easily. My advice to you is simple: beware of what you look at!

How to avoid the onslaught: … that you may have abundant life!

John 10:10 is not complete without the second part: ‘I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly’. Whereas the devil’s ultimate goal is to destroy us, God’s aim is to give us life; eternal life with Christ!

The only way to avoid being annihilated by the devil is to rededicate your life to Jesus Christ today. After doing that, keep away from all unrighteousness. You must continually dwell ‘IN’ the presence of God. Outside of His presence you will fall without a doubt. Everything you do and everything you say must proceed from the presence of God. To dwell outside the presence of God, even by a second, could mean destruction for you. If you are called by His Name, live by His Name. If you are called to be in His presence, stay in His presence. If you are called to be holy, avoid unclean acts. If you are called to righteousness, by all means live a righteous life. If you step outside the boundaries of what God has called you into, the devil will have a field day all over you!

Yes, the devil may have stolen you. In fact, he may even have killed you! But wait a minute, JESUS is the resurrection. He is ready to resurrect you into life; abundant life, life without end.

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