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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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I Love This Ministry!!!!!!! I see first hand how this message is desperately needed, how erroneous beliefs about God and His Character negatively affect humanity at every level. I thank God for your ministry, as I was searching on my own and was discovering some of your same beliefs and was blown away when I found your ministry. I know you hear it all the time, but it is truly life changing. May God continue to reveal His Will to you and Bless you!

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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.

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Testimony 71

When I was 9 years old, I remember setting at our devotional table with a hunger and thirst for God that wanted more, deeper, BETTER. I can remember literally crying and pounding on the table, “I know these teachers didn’t mean to give us error. They taught what THEY had been TAUGHT, but didn’t ANYBODY READ THE BOOK?!?!?” It mattered to me then. It mattered to me as a teenager. It matters now as I teach bible classes. It didn’t have to be so hard as I watched so many give up and lay God’s great plan and gift of salvation aside as being “impossible.” Then, a friend sent me a link to Come And Reason’s website. I grew excited. YES! FINALLY! Then another friend told me to stay away, saying her son had just broken up with a girl because she was involved with Come And Reason and that “Tim Jennings preaches a false gospel.” But, AFTER many years of developing an authentic and, dare I say FUN relationship with Jesus, through the Holy Spirit I see this message has been around a LONG time, since the apostle Paul, Ellen White, Graham Maxwell, Ray Foucher, and yourself (though I admit, you’ve made me back up, rewind and replay the clips, and get out my well-worn Bible on a few things.) I’m so thankful I have found LIGHT during these DARK days. I am not alone.

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I have been following your Bible study class for about a year now. I must say I am impressed with how your ministry has grown. I took it upon myself to listen to all your lesson podcasts from the past and they have both enriched me physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I have learnt a lot from this class. I have also noticed how the class has grown in spiritual strength. One of the things that benefited me is that now I am not afraid of God. I use to be, but now it has melted away. The second thing is that you helped me to have a real life relationship with God. Now He is my friend that was always there and I love having him with me all the time. Thirdly, because of this class, it inspired me to take over and lead a class. I have called it “Let Us Reason Together,” adapting your inquisitive style and creating a class of free thinkers.

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Your unique way in spreading the truth is what we all need today. Most of us don’t recognize the contamination coming from all the lies and selfishness in the world. Because of our fear of death, we forgot how to live. Lies left and right. I was losing hope and faith, because of so many ideas that are always contradicting each other – so many questions answered by other, more complicated, questions – until I found your channel on YouTube.

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Testimony 47

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I just wanted to personally thank you for your teachings and insight into scripture. I came across your website via my cousin who suggested I look into “Healing the Mind” information. My youngest daughter has been struggling over the last couple of years and it all came to a head this spring. When I started listening to the “Healing the Mind” lectures my own life began to be transformed. I began sharing with all my daughters the concepts you laid out so clearly. I ordered your book and soaked it up. I just want to say “Thank You!” My walk with the Lord has been refreshed and renewed. Your obedience to the Lord is a blessing to so many.

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Your teachings about our heavenly Father have changed my life. Thank you sooooooo very very much! I know He’s doing some serious healing in my heart and life and I look forward to each new day to learn something new about Him and to just hear you speak about Him. Thank you, forever.

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Testimony 55

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Testimony 56

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The Healing the Mind DVD set tarted me on a journey that has changed my relationship with our loving God more significantly than any other study, and brought me to your book and Bible study podcasts, which I now listen to daily, thanks to the availability of archived content on your site and on iTunes.

Anonymous