Question: Can Believers still be deceived by Satan?

Answer: Yes! In fact, when His disciples asked, “And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” Jesus begins His answer to them by saying, “Take heed that no one deceives you.” (Matthew 24:4 NKJV) Jesus does not want us to be deceived by Satan!

    Since the time of Adam and Eve, Satan has worked to deceive God’s people. Satan wants us to disobey God and serve him instead. For example, when he presented himself in the form of a serpent to deceive Eve, he started by challenging what God said. Satan said to Eve, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'” (Genesis 3:1)

    “And the woman (Eve) said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'” (Genesis 3:2-3) Note here that Eve, like many Believers, knows God’s words. We, like Eve, know what God says is the right way to live. Also, like Eve, we sometimes choose to do the opposite of what we know is right.

    We go on to read that the serpent then said to Eve, “You shall not surely die. For God knows in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil,” (Genesis 3-4-5). Eve chooses to disobey God and do what Satan wants her to do instead. She eats the fruit since she “saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise…” (Genesis 3: 6)

   Being deceived by Satan, not only does Eve eat the forbidden fruit, but she also gives it to her husband Adam. He eats it too, so they both commit sin! Though they tried to hide their sin from God, God knew exactly what they had done. God always knows what we do as well!

   Like Eve, even Believers can make choices or support the actions of others that we know God calls sin! Like Eve, we may find ourselves attracted to going along with what “looks good!” For example, it may look good to us to fit in with those we admire for their popularity, wealth, or intellect. Even when these people push sinful behavior, we still give them our support. We allow Satan to deceive us in to rationalizing that our support of these people is fine since we aren’t personally committing the sins they promote. In actuality, Satan is using these people to deceive us!

   The Apostle Paul warns Timothy to be aware of such people saying that “…evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13). He tells Timothy to rely on the Scriptures to help him with this and all situations.

   In 1 John 4:1, we are reminded to “test the spirits” and make sure what we are doing or supporting is in agreement with the teachings of God’s word. If it doesn’t agree with God’s word, it is of Satan.

So Believers, make sure you’re not letting Satan deceive you. Don’t fall for the devil’s lies! Study the Scriptures and pray for God’s Holy Spirit to give you clarity and strength to make decisions and live to please God!

    

   

   

   

   

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