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How Satan Uses Faith to Deceive

How Satan Uses Faith to Deceive

When you hear the word faith, what do you understand it to mean?

Dictionary.com offers multiple meanings for this word; here are a few:

  1. confidence or trust in a person or thing
  2. belief that is not based on proof
  3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion
  4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.
  5. a system of religious belief

Does your understanding of faith incorporate all of these definitions? Do you understand faith to be confidence and trust in God, the doctrines and teachings of the Bible, God’s law, His code of conduct that results in certain religious beliefs and duties, all of which are to be believed in without proof—taken “on faith,” without evidence, because God in the Bible said so?

Sadly, this way of understanding faith is exactly how Satan deceives people with faith. Faith, many think, is believing what is contrary to evidence, what one’s better judgment says shouldn’t be believed, what we do not have evidence or proof of—often called blind faith, believing with a mind closed to evidence, facts, and truth.

I remember reading in a Bible study guide many years ago a description of faith that went like this: “We don’t need faith to believe the sky is over our head because we can look up and see the sky; we need faith to believe in the God who lives beyond the sky because we can’t see Him.”

I immediately thought, “Well, if that is an accurate description of faith, then does that mean when Jesus comes again and we meet Him face to face, we will say to Him, ‘Jesus, before you came back, I used to have faith in you, but now that I have seen you with my own eyes, I no longer have faith in you’?” Of course not! When we meet Jesus in person, our faith will explode exponentially as we get to know Him even better than we do now.

Genuine faith is based upon reality, upon truth, upon evidence, upon facts, and upon experience. It is the only way to have actual confidence, trust, faith. Any concepts of faith that are not based in reality are tricks that deceive.

Recently, I read the following in another Bible study guide:

An unusual characteristic of the opening scene of the Gospel of Mark is that Jesus is presented as a character with both divinity and humanity. On the side of divinity: He is the Christ, the Messiah (Mark 1:1), the Lord announced by a messenger (Mark 1:2, 3), mightier than John (Mark 1:7), the beloved Son on whom the Spirit descends (Mark 1:10, 11). But on the side of humanity, we see the following: He is baptized by John (not the other way around, Mark 1:9), He is driven by the Spirit (Mark 1:12), tempted by Satan (Mark 1:13), with wild animals (Mark 1:13), and ministered to by angels (Mark 1:13).

Why these contrasts? This points to the amazing reality of Christ, our Lord and Savior, our God, and yet also a human being, our brother and our example. How do we fully wrap our minds around this idea? We can’t. But we accept it on faith and marvel at what this truth reveals to us about God’s love for humanity (SDA Adult SS Guide, 3rd Q 2024, The Book of Mark p. 10, emphasis mine).

What do you understand this to be saying? What is the message? Is it, “While God is infinite and we can never fully comprehend Him, we are still expected to think, reason, and understand to the fullest extent possible, and our comprehension of and appreciation for God will grow through all eternity”? Or did you hear, “God’s ways are beyond our ability to comprehend, so we don’t think about them—we just accept them on faith without seeking to understand”?

I really dislike the merger of a truth with an action that is against God’s desire for us, against God’s methods and principles, as is done in the quoted paragraphs above.

The truth is that we cannot fully wrap our minds around Jesus’ incarnation—we cannot fully comprehend God. That is true. But that does not mean we cannot comprehend and understand many things about God, His character, methods, nature, motives, design laws, and aspects of His sacrifice, and grow in our understanding through time.

In fact, Jesus said He wants us to understand, that He wants us to be His friends who do understand and not be unthinking servants who simply obey because the master said so (John 15:15).

This argument that faith is belief without thinking, without understanding, without evidence, really bothers me because it presents itself as virtuous, as righteous, as a good thing, as pious, holy, saintly, meek, and humble—but it is actually none of those things. It is a deception that keeps people from knowing the truth for themselves; it prevents people from understanding and being set free by the truth.

Satan has no truth on his side, so he must get people to accept and believe things based on “faith” without understanding, without comprehension, to believe things that are not supported by evidence, things that are irrational and unreasonable—which is why they cannot be thought about—because if thought about, one would see the lie. So people are taught, “Don’t question, don’t think; that would be a lack of faith—just believe.”

But while we cannot fully comprehend the things of God, we can understand much about why this contrast between Jesus’ humanity and divinity is recorded in Scripture. This contrast is there, inspired by God and written by Mark, because our salvation requires both to be true. Our salvation requires that Jesus be fully human in order to save the species God created in Eden. (See Salvation and the Cleansing of Our Spirits Part 1 and Part 2.) But Jesus also had to be fully God in order to address the lies Satan told about God that started the war in heaven, deceived angels, and then deceived Adam and Eve. Both must be fully true in order to save humanity and also bring an end to the cosmic war over God’s trustworthiness.

So, it is quite understandable why both are presented and necessary. Jesus is God who became fully human. In His humanity was the merger of two lives, or life-forces, or spirits—the breath of life, or spirit, breathed into Adam, which Adam corrupted with sin, and the Holy Spirit, who was the Father of Jesus’ humanity. In Jesus, the spirit of fear inherited from Adam was opposed, overcome, eradicated, and replaced with the spirit of love, truth, and holiness, becoming the new life source for humanity—connecting humanity back to God, the source of all life. And when we are converted, won to trust, we surrender our old life, our old spirit of fear and selfishness, and receive the indwelling Holy Spirit, who imparts in us a new spirit of love and trust that comes from Jesus (2 Timothy 1:7). We are reborn with new motives and desires and become part of the family of heaven (John 1:12, 13; Romans 8:14–17; Galatians 3:26).

But we are able to grow in the knowledge of God only when we have a living faith, a faith that is built upon the truth, a faith that requires us to think, reason, comprehend, a faith that is evidence-based—a reality-based, enlightened faith—and we reject the lie that faith is believing blindly, believing without evidence, suspending our thinking and believing based on claims, proclamations, and statements from voices of authority.

I invite you to a life of genuine faith, trust, confidence in God, which is based upon the truth, the evidence, the reality of who God is as revealed in Christ—the God who calls you to come and reason with Him and to be cleansed of sin (Isaiah 1:18), who wants every person to be fully persuaded in their own mind (Romans 14:5), which requires we think and reason and choose the truth for ourselves. Then we can grow up to be mature friends of Jesus (John 15:15) who are able to discern the right from the wrong (Hebrews 5:14) because we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).

Don’t be fooled! Genuine faith enlightens the mind; it never shuts down thinking.

 

 

 

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Ok, so last night I listened to “The Law of Liberty” and “How to Achieve Victory: Freedom, Truth and Spirtual Warfare.” These are both MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITES so far! The logic is just soooooo beautiful. I had to re-listen to them a couple of times. I just want to EXPLODE! (<< we assume with joy and happiness)

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I have been tuning into your weekly study classes for a while now and wanted express my appreciation for the teachings that ha been a huge blessing in opening up the true message of the word. Viewing scripture under an imposed law theory always, without fail, raised more questions, concerns, and conflicting scripture interpretations that were discouraging at the very least. Looking at scripture through the design law lens has brought more truth to light for me personally and an understanding of our Heavenly Father that places Him “above all others,” where I am now more than thrilled to witness and serve Him.  I “stumbled” across this ministry a year or so ago and would only watch a few minutes at a time. But the more I listened and the longer I paid attention, the more my spiritual eyes were opened to the ever present truths of scripture. The comprehension of the great controversy and it’s origin by the lies perpetrated and perpetuated throughout the Bible on the attack of God’s character and government is truly priceless. Keep up the Good Work! Your servanthood is desperately needed in such a time as this!

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I got the book “Could It Be This Simple?” a few months ago and the reading was wonderful and I was fascinated. I lent the book to a friend at work. She is having a difficult time and the book is helping her to find Jesus and I found this very exciting. She has asked me questions and I can see her life changing.

H. S., Australia

 

Testimony 54

I had a lot of pressure, as a pastor’s kid, to conform and be “good.” I was good at being “good.” I thought my life was going along well until it all started falling apart and I could not figure out why! In my search for “why is this happening to me, God?” I came across your book, “Could it be this Simple,” and God started revealing to me the many distortions I held about His character, His principles, and how He has designed His universe to operate. I remember thinking, “Wow, I have had this all backwards.” I was happy and angry all at the same time. Happy to have the light of truth break through the darkness, revealing a wonderful, beautiful way of understanding God and His plan for His children, and angry, because I felt deceived and cheated by the church, my family, and myself!

My heart thrills when I listen to your bible study lessons. Literally I have gone from death to life. It is a journey I look forward to every day, as God reveals areas this distortion affects. Praise GOD! I will ever be grateful to God for this ministry and your cooperation with the Spirit!

Karen S., Portal, AZ, USA

 

Testimony 62

I would like to express my thanks to the C&R team for creating a platform from which people can learn to trust in God and grow. My life is a witness to the effectiveness of this ministry. Without believing the truth about God as you have shown, I don’t know what my life would be like. I had given up on God helping me with certain sins – it was all useless. Given that the scripture is clear and God is so good, how could I have betrayed him so many times? I was a yo-yo christian; spinning up and down. My faith and enthusiasm was driven by discoveries/threats that prophecy is about to be fulfilled. But when I watched your “Healing the Mind” seminar, it was like a light finally went on. I could see God had no plan to hurt me, the danger came from sin, and that He is working to protect me and strengthen me. Thank you for allowing God to use you. The message God gave C&R saved my life!

Antony N. – Hobart, Australia

 

Testimony 17

The blessings of clarity and understanding you and your class inspire me to take from the word of God have impressed upon me so greatly the true, loving character of our Creator. I have found amazing freedom and joy through building a stronger, more intentional relationship with Him. What is new is that this is now a relationship built on love, reverence and respect rather than fear and obligation, and as such my eyes have been slammed OPEN as I am continually impressed by the manifestations of God’s true character in His provisions for fallen man.

T.E.H., Salt Lake City, UT, USA

 

Testimony 13

I borrowed “Healing The Mind” DVDs from a friend and showed them at my home for a small gathering of women friends. Neither of my friends are Adventist, but they both enjoyed and embraced the messages you taught. In fact, one of the ladies prayed out loud in our group and that was the first time she had ever had public prayer.

J.B. ,Dalles, OR, USA

 

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I have been really blessed reading your response to the various questions on your site.

K.C., OH, USA

 

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I’m a youth leader in South Africa. We as a youth group are currently using a lot of the material on the Come and Reason site. Since we’ve started using the material, our youth group has grown.

R. V. N., South Africa

 

Testimony 66

I am incredibly grateful for the transformative impact you’ve had on my life, and words cannot fully express my appreciation. Over the years, I have been an avid listener and follower of C&R and extend my heartfelt thanks for creating the C&R mobile app. It has allowed me to immerse myself in your lessons repeatedly, enabling me to grasp the profound significance about the Character of God, Design Law, the protocols for life, the reasons behind the current chaos, and Christ’s mission to restore everything. They have deeply touched me. Having studied with various churches, I came away with the perception that God is no different from the deities of ancient Greek or Roman mythology—demanding sacrifices and taking pleasure in bloodshed. Thanks to your transformative teachings, I have experienced a profound awakening to the true nature of God and the immense power of His love. It is truly a remarkable and liberating sensation to finally grasp the truth and embrace the empowering nature of God’s laws. My self-perception has become brighter and more infused with love. My journey of growth continues on a daily basis.

Chris P., Lake Mary, FL, USA

 

Testimony 19

I truly believe that to know who God really is the first step to understand ourselves in a balanced and kind way, so the healing can take place. Your approach really makes sense – Thank you for your ministry!

A.M., Pittsburg, PA, USA

Testimony 59

I’m a native Ghanan, but am currently in France for my master’s degree. Prior to this, during my final years at undergraduate studies in Ghana, I was introduced to your ministry and I’ve been immensely blessed by what you share, especially about the Design and Imposed Laws. God richly bless you for that.

One of the first things I did when I arrived in France was to buy all four of your books. They not only helped me, but those I shared them with. I shared the message with an atheist student and I marveled at how God worked mightily in his life. Today this person shares the Love of God with others and debunks theories of who God is not. I want to share what you present in your “Heavenly Sanctuary and Investigative Judgment” pamphlet, because the message brought rest to my soul and I live today as a healthy person.

God bless you so much and your ministry.

Michael A., Ghana

 

Testimony 60

Just watched watched lesson 10 in the 1st quarter 2021 bible study classs on Isaiah. I want to thank you for your intellectual spirituality; it’s not an oxymoron! From the point of view of a teacher I also enjoy seeing how much personal pleasure you clearly take in not just tasting, but feasting on God’s word – it reminds me of Jeremiah not being able to hold it in! It makes me smile that your cup is so full and overflowing that you make it to Tuesday’s lesson (on a good day). It just goes to show the richness of God’s Word.

God bless the Come and Reason Team from our church here in Great Britain.

Andrew H., Great Britain