“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.” – Revelation 12:9
When I was eight years old, I discovered the Bobbsey Twin series of books. I loved the idea of two sets of twins involved in a mystery or exciting exploit. I enjoyed the thrill each story brought as I read the books from cover to cover. Recently, I purchased several first edition Bobbsey Twin books I had read as a child and reread them. Each book had so much warmth, love, and caring flowing from its pages that I felt sure the author, Laura Lee Hope, was a sweet grandmother who had loved and cared for many children in her lifetime. Curious to know more about this author, I looked her up on the Internet. What I found stunned me. There never had been a person called Laura Lee Hope. Edward Stratemeyer created this series in 1904. He wrote the first book in the series, and then hired ghostwriters to write the remaining seventy-one books. I puzzled over how I could have been so misled in my thinking. It seems the author believed the name Laura Lee Hope would sell more books, and he was probably right.
Often things in life appear to be a certain way, but when we research the situation, they really are very different. I once thought a good Christian friend did not like me anymore because she had not called as she had promised. I stewed and eventually became upset. Later, I found out she had become ill and was unable to call. I had deceived myself with Satan’s help.
In our Christian life, Satan brings many things into our pathway to try and deceive us. He would like to help us fill in missing details and make wrong assumptions. He will also try to make us believe that it is okay to do things the Lord tells us not to do. He even tries to make those things seem right to us; he is the deceiver of the world. His hope is that if we are deceived enough we will become discouraged and give up our walk with God, and become his servant instead.
To combat Satan’s tactics, we must be careful when we come to a situation where we do not know the whole truth, and pray about it before we say or do anything. We must seek the Lord through reading His Word and listening to His Voice, so we are not lured away from the truth. Satan will try to tell us lies, but Jesus has made the truth available to us. With His help, we will not be deceived!