The devil is a liar! - This
phrase has turn to a kind of a daily or normal confession we normally say to
ourselves and all others who cares to listen. The devil as we all know has been
an enemy of God even before time began.
What exactly is this writer thinking,
what is on his mind? how can the devil tell the truth? So very much Impossible!
(it seems am reading somebody’s mind already). Shall we set the ball rolling!
The first appearance of the devil
in the bible was in Gen.3 (We all know this story), fast forward to verse 5-6:
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know
that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be
as gods, knowing good and evil. Let us ponder on this my dear friend: And the
serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die... these are the exact
words of the devil/serpent to the woman. He said Ye shall not SURELY die, of
course that was the truth, they did not surely die (at least as at that
moment), Adam still lived 930 years before eventually dying.
Furthermore, he said to them For
God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened,
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. I want us to ponder on the
benefits the devil highlighted: then your eyes shall be opened, this was the
first benefit of eating this fruit, and that was the first thing that happened
to them after eating the fruit: And the eyes of them both were opened (Vs. 7).
Secondly He told her, ...ye shall be as
gods, knowing good and evil... this truth was established by God himself And
the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and
evil (Gen. 3:22a). The devil is definitely sure of what he is saying here, all
his predictions were actually true. Hmmmn! the truth-telling devil.
With the above analysis, we can
indeed see that the devil is not always a liar. There are usually some if not
most times when the devil tells the truth.
Fast forward to the new
testament: And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward
an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of
God, command that these stones be made bread. (Matt. 4:2-3). I believe we all
know this story, Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights and he was
hungry which is usual. The devil came around, and he said:...If thou be the Son
of God, command that these stones be made bread. What a great idea, Jesus was
hungry but He was in the wilderness and there was no food store anywhere near.
So, turning stone to bread was not entirely a bad idea or what is the
difference between turning stones to bread and turning water to wine, ponder!
Not only did he suggest food to
Jesus, he even asked Him to prove if He was indeed the Son of God. Jesus could
have turned those stones to bread without even blinking His eyes. But
surprisingly He refused!
Again He continued: Then the
devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the
temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for
it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in [their]
hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a
stone. (Matt.4:5-6). Here we are again, the devil was even quoting a scripture
(Ps. 91:11) which is so true!
From these few examples, we can
see that the devil can indeed tell the truth. But one thing I have come to
notice is that no matter how truthful what the devil is saying might be, it
always have one motive - DECEIT! He deceived Adam and Eve with the truth, and
this made them loose their place in the plans of God. He tried the same with
Jesus but He failed woefully.
Friend, there are indeed some
things that seem true but are indeed full of deceit and all these so called
truths only take us farther away from God. Apostle Paul said: We are allowed to
do anything," so they say. That is true, but not everything is good.
"We are allowed to do anything"---but not everything is helpful.
1Cor. 10:23 (GNB).
There are some advices we get
from people which are true but are wrong. It is true you might pass an exam by
cheating or sleeping with the lecturer, you might get rich if you get involved
in fraud or even money rituals, but all these so called truths are meant to
make us loose our place with God.
Sometimes, the devil pushes us to
a tight corner by blackmailing us into trying to prove a point. He told Jesus
to prove if He was the Son of God, what a provoking thing to do. Jesus had a
better understanding of the fact that He has no point to prove, most especially
for the devil. Rather He used the word of God to reply every of his tempting
words. This is just showing us that for us to combat the devil and his so
called deceitful truths; we need to be an embodiment of the word of God.
We can now see that the devil
might not be a liar all the time, as we have seen a few instances which he
actually was telling the truth. Don’t be fooled my friend, that buddy of yours
that is always advising you might just be a devil telling the truth. Know this,
no matter how true something might be, in as much as it is against the will and
word of God, avoid and rebuke it!
Be wary of deceitful truths, they
kill. They make sense when you hear them, but they destroy. Remember, we are
here now because our mother (Eve) decided to believe the devil’s truth. Beware!
