by DJ Martin (SingleFocus Ministry®)
Now, after God had created man from the dust and given him authority and then fashioned Eve to be a helpmate to Adam, which means that she also had authority, the sly snake (the devil in disguise) challenged the word of God and promised Adam and Eve that not only would they have authority, but if they followed his word rather than the word of their Creator God, they would be gods (Gen 3:1-5). Now, the Creator, by the word of His mouth, provided them a place to stay, abundant food to eat and water to drink. God appointed a mist to come over the garden to nourish the plants (God’s supernatural sprinkler system). All they had to do was name the animals and smell the flowers, have leisurely walks and talks with God, and admire the beauty of Gods handy work; and have as many babies as possible and enjoy the process as much as they wanted. After they ate the forbidden fruit, at the swaying of the devil, their life took a decidedly disconcerting turn. They no longer had authority. If they wanted a nice place to stay, they had to build it themselves by the toil of their hands, because the only true God, their Creator, evicted them from the garden. If they wanted flowers to smell or food to eat, they had to plant the gardens themselves by the sweat of their brow and the toil of their hands. If they wanted to water their garden or water to drink they had to find water and figure out a way to get the water to the garden. They could have as many babies as they wanted, but the process would not always be pleasant and the love for one another would not always be a pleasant experience. Adam and Eve… some “gods”! Needless to say, listening to the devil was a horribly bad move (Genesis 3:16-19).
Undeniably their cunning advisor, the sly snake (a.k.a. the devil), did not merely misspeak; he knew all too well what the result would be, if one of God’s creation decided that he would be god (Isaiah 14:12). He suffered a similar fate, but on a grander scale and awaits an even more ghastly fate. The results of his rebellion has yet to reach its final outcome (Isaiah 14:16, Revelation 20:10). Maybe he is the author of pride and arrogance. I don’t know, but I know that he is the first recorded con on earth. He is the master of great hoaxes’ and cons. I’m sure that he is proud, but it has placed gullible men and women in position of devastating eviction and spiritual bankruptcy with eternal grievous consequences. Cons tell you a story sprinkled with truth and overloaded with an appeal to your preferences: those things that look, sound and smell good to you. They appeal to your self-adoration, selfishness and your lust for power, position and wealth. Take the “Prosperity Preachers” as an example. They meet in a church and sprinkle a few words directly from the bible and tell you that you are supposed to be wealthy. Take a survey. What percentage of their church membership is wealthy? Regardless of the percentage, I am sure that no one in that church is wealthier than that pastor.
Assuredly demonic proud and arrogant cons are in the world always spinning a great hoax; however, it used to be that the notable ones were countable on our hands. There was Hitler who said all the right things when running for office, but carried out a decidedly demonic agenda when he assumed power and position. The word of God declared that the children of Israel are his chosen people and He has a covenant with His people. Hitler convinced the people that the Jews were the cause of their problem (real or imaginary). Though the word of God says that He made man and woman and said it was good, Hitler said that there was a better race of people: everybody that looked like himself. There was Karl Marx who taught that wealth should be equally distributed, though God has said that He gives power to make wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18) and the poor will be with us always (Mark 14:7). You see, the common thread among deceptive cons is that they always challenge the word of God.
I could go on, but I never thought that I would see the gregarious level of people buying into a con like I’m seeing in the last of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. I’ve seen the removing of God from the schools which were established so that young kids could read the bible for themselves. I’ve seen the judicial system challenged to remove the display of the Ten Commandments which our laws are based upon. I’ve seen school systems and its teachers bully and degrade young students, if they bow their heads to say grace or make any reference to God in their school paper. I’ve worked in the same office with people who say there is no God when even the demons tremble at His name. How foolish, if there was no God, why would the devil challenge His word? But just the other day, at the Democratic convention, as they announced their platform, there was no acknowledgement of God at all. There was a lot of mention of the government which is now become an idol. It was when they recognized their error that I was most grieved. I was shocked and troubled when I watched them bring to their delegates the opportunity to acknowledge God, at least once, in their platform by a voice vote. They had to take the vote three times and when it was declared that the ‘Yes’ had the vote, the Almighty, Creator of the heaven and earth, the true and living God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ was ‘booed’ by His created (“God is no joke (Galatians 6:7)”). To make things worse, in the days thereafter, the feeble attempt to explain their position on why God should be left out was foolish regurgitation of the words fed to them by the great con, the devil. I can’t say that we were not warned, because Paul told us that a day like this would come (2 Timothy 3:4); but I never thought that I would ever actually see a group of people in this country where there is a church or two on almost every corner, stand up and ‘boo’ the name of God. I just thought that this would never happen in my life time!
After I read their platform, decidedly they might as well have left God out, because the platform tremendously challenges the word of God. Their platform challenges God’s definition of marriage, His value on life from the womb to the grave, His intolerance of immorality, His provision, His appointed role for Government and His ability to keep and preserve all that He has created (Nehemiah 9:6). I mean this is a master con being played on people of a nation which God established to be a vision of hope for those who are oppressed all over the earth. But to cap it off, I was tremendously sadden to hear the national leader infer that he could harness the sun and the winds and the soil; (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/us/politics/28text-obama.html); roll back the specter of a warming planet and slow the rise of (www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/03/obamas-nomination-victory_n_105028.html) the oceans and heal our planet. And then he reiterated, just the other night, saying that global warming was something he could prevent. It was then that I saw a man who has fallen for the same con Adam and Eve fell for: “you can become as gods”. And we know what happened to them…
It’s not so much that he and others have fallen for a great hoax. As noted; it’s the same old con. I dare say that we all fall for some kind of con, but this con and hoax is on such a grand scale that it could break a great nation which has been shaped with purpose and tremendously benefited from the grace and mercy of God. It’s about the individuals who, because of pride and arrogance, refuse to admit that they have been conned by the devil. Because of their pride and arrogance, they won’t reach out and take the nail scarred hand of the one who can save and deliver us from the depths of our sin, because they are blinded by their selfish desires and cannot see His stretched out hand nor the quicksand that they are standing on. It is He who can give us a redeemed life and wash us from our sins in His own blood and make us kings and priests unto God and His Father (Revelation 1:5-6). So, I pray for them and I pray for all men and women who have fallen for the con of that “sly snake”. I pray for this nation and the church, because in that auditorium at the convention were preachers and evangelist, deacons and deaconesses, and lay men and women of God. Have you noticed who the devil started working his con on? It was Adam and Eve, a man and woman who before the fall were close to God, second only to Christ. Think about it. It’s the Theistic ones who are called by His name who have to be conned, because the ungodly world is already narcissistic.
I don’t know about you, but when I realize that I’ve been conned by the devil, I get upset with myself, for falling for it. But thanks to the grace of God, I fall to my knees and beg His forgiveness, and I declare that God’s word is true: if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)! Consequentially, somehow, my relationship with Him grows closer and stronger. This is my prayer for each person.
Oh how He loves us and gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to be crucified, buried and resurrected for such a time as this; so that, if we confess our sins and turn from our wicked ways, God will hear our prayers, and forgive us of our sins, and He will heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14)!
Alleluia, Salvation and glory; honor and power to the Lord our God, the only true and living God! The omnipotent Lord God Reigns (Revelation 19:6)… And that’s no con!
“…For thou [art] great, and doest wondrous things: thou [art] God alone.” Psalm 86:10
That’s Todays’ Single Focus…
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