The Bible tells us that Satan is “the father of lies” (John 8:44). That means his very nature and mission are to deceive. He does not lie to his servants — they already belong to him. Instead, he trains his servants in deception so that they can deceive others. That is why the Lord Jesus called him “the father of lies.”
What makes Satan’s lies so dangerous is that they closely resemble the truth. For a counterfeit currency to deceive people, it must look almost identical to the real one. The closer the imitation, the more powerful the deception.
In the same way, Satan knows that the Word of God is the absolute truth. Therefore, to create a powerful lie, he designs it to closely resemble the truth of God’s Word. He manipulates Scripture — not by rejecting it, but by twisting it. That is why his deception is so subtle and difficult to detect.
This is the very lie of Satan warned about throughout the Bible — a lie that sounds biblical but is spiritually deadly.
When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he did not quote philosophy, science, or ancient proverbs. He used the Word of God itself.
Matthew 4:6 “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”
Satan quoted Scripture, but he misused it, twisting its meaning to lead Christ into disobedience. If Jesus had not been filled with the Holy Spirit and deeply grounded in the true meaning of Scripture, He could have fallen into that trap.
The same tactic continues today. The devil manipulates the Bible to support false teachings, false worship, and sinful practices — all disguised as truth.
In the Old Testament, God commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it up, so that anyone bitten by serpents could look at it and live.
Numbers 21:6–9 “Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.”
Now notice: God did not tell them to worship the bronze serpent, nor to bow before it, nor to consider it holy. It was meant only to remind them of their sin and God’s mercy — that their healing came from repentance and obedience, not from the object itself.
But centuries later, people forgot its meaning and began to worship it. The bronze serpent, which once pointed to repentance, became an idol in Israel.
Then a righteous king arose — King Hezekiah — and destroyed it completely.
2 Kings 18:1–6 “He removed the high places, broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image, and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.”
This shows us that even a symbol once used by God can become an idol when people begin to honor the object instead of the God who gave it.
Satan has used the same deception in the church today. Many are now worshiping statues, images, and crosses, thinking they are honoring God or saints. Some bow before images of Mary, Peter, or what is claimed to be Jesus Himself — not realizing that this is an abomination before God.
The Bible commands clearly:
Exodus 20:4–6 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
No matter how religious or sincere someone may be, worshiping or bowing to any image is sin. It is the same ancient lie — a falsehood that resembles truth.
Even the Ark of the Covenant, though holy, was never meant to be worshiped. When the Israelites tried to treat it as a magical object of power, it brought them defeat instead of blessing (see 1 Samuel 4:1–11).
This is why the Bible warns that idol worshipers, along with all liars and unbelievers, will face judgment in the lake of fire.
Revelation 21:7–8 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Dear reader, do not be deceived by Satan’s lies that resemble the truth. Avoid all forms of idolatry — whether it is an image, a cross, a statue, or any physical object. Worship God in spirit and truth, for that is what He seeks.
John 4:23–24 “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
The devil’s goal has always been to turn truth into error — to make falsehood look holy. But the children of God must discern through the Word and the Holy Spirit.
Stand firm in the truth. Let no one deceive you into serving or honoring anything created, for only the Creator deserves worship.
May the Lord bless you and keep you strong in His truth. Share this message with others so that they too may escape the deception of the enemy.
If you would like to receive more teachings through email or WhatsApp, please message us at +255 789 001 312 or +255 693 036 618. You can also join our WhatsApp channel here CLICK TO JOIN.
Print this post
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Δ