The gospel of Satan

“Next the devil took Him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ‘I will give it all to You,’ he said, ‘if You will kneel down and worship me.’” (Matthew 4:8-9 NLT)

Satan’s strategy is simple and very straightforward – he will give us what we want, he just won’t tell us what it’s going to cost us.

Jesus understood, as we must, that to accept his “gifts” is to accept his terms – to worship him! What does it mean to “worship” Satan? While there are those who actually worship and pay homage to Satan, most of those who are not walking with the Lord are “worshipping” Satan by ignoring Jesus. There’s a sense in which to not intentionally and purposefully give our allegiance to Jesus and worship Him is to open our lives to the influence and infiltration of Satan and his devilish influences.

Too many, even professing believers in Jesus, want to walk with one foot in the world and one foot in following Jesus. The only problem with that is it never works. Jesus clearly said in Mark 8:34-38: “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways (the ways of the world), take up your cross, and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life (the things of this world), you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.”  

Jesus goes on to make very clear that there’s nothing that Satan can offer, though he offer us, as he did Jesus, the whole world, nothing is worth more than our soul, our security in Jesus. Arthur Pink gives us insight when he writes: “The gospel of Satan aims to make this world such a comfortable and congenial habitat that Christ’s absence from it will not be felt and God will not be needed.” 

Most lost people never give Jesus a thought because they have no felt need they perceive He can meet. Why is that? Largely because they’ve never had a meaningful relationship with anyone who loves Jesus and if they have, it’s had little, if any, impact on them. When the world is meeting all my needs, of what use do I have of Jesus.

When the world and the things of this world are my whole frame of reference; when I have no apparent need of anything beyond this world, I have no desire to change or make any decisions that would upset my perceived security. Like in the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16, he had no need of God until his “secure” life on earth ended. Then he had a very vivid awakening, but it was too late.

It’s interesting that even in hell his first thought was himself: “Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.” But over time his thoughts shifted: “Then the rich man said, ‘Please Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.”  

Just as heaven is God’s plan for Jesus followers, hell is God’s plan for Satan and his followers. If we allow him, Satan will lull us to spiritual sleep as surely as he did the rich man in the Bible, resulting in our eternal punishment, the loss of our soul. We must be about our Father’s business of warning anyone who will allow us of what’s coming for those who ignore the claims of Christ.

We must not allow the gospel of Satan to prevail in the hearts and minds of those we know and love. As often as the Spirit prompts us, we must not only live Jesus before them but speak His eternal truth. Their eternal life may well depend on our witness to them.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊