The Tricks of Satan

Last episode, we saw that when Satan quotes the Bible, he often twists the meaning, or leaves out bits.

This should not surprise us, as Peter says:

"they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as [they do] also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction." (2 Peter 3:16b)

The Greek word translated "wrest" is στρεβλουσιν (strebloo). It has the notion of "turning" or "twisting", as of one being tortured on a rack.

This is an incredible metaphor! It says that people will "torture" God's Word until it gives the false confession they are seeking. We see this today, in the modern prosperity Gospel, among others.

The end of the verse tells us what to make of this. The end result of twisting Scripture is destruction.

The Tricks of Satan

In the last entry, I started on the theme of "twisting Scripture" (in that case, I stressed the importance of word-for-word exegesis).

Probably the most powerful case of this is in the temptation of Jesus in the desert. There are accounts of this in Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13. Luke uses a different order for the last two events, not sure why. Matthew has a subset of the portion corresponding to Psalm 91:11, I will use Luke for completeness.

The first challenge is (Matthew 4:3, c.f. Luke 4:3):

"And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread."

This seems a simple one, putting physical needs before spiritual needs (the need to do God's will).

The second challenge is the one I wish to focus on (Matthew 4:6, c.f. Luke 4:10-11):

"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."

Here we can see Satan quoting from Psalm 91:11-12. The original Psalm is in Hebrew, while the New Testament is in Greek, so an exact comparison is difficult. However, the NT writers often quote the LXX, which is Greek.

Psalm 91:11 (LXX):

ὅτι τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ ἐντελεῖται περὶ σοῦ τοῦ διαφυλάξαι σε ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς σου·

(verse 12 matches Luke 4:11 [after the first two words], and Matthew 4:6c)

Luke 4:10 (and first two words of 4:11):

οτι τοις αγγελοις αυτου εντελειται περι σου του διαφυλαξαι σε και οτι

while Matthew 4:6b is:

οτι τοις αγγελοις αυτου εντελειται περι σου και

The change is at the end:

ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς σου· ("in all your ways")

becomes:

σε και οτι ("you and that")

The original Psalm is saying "Because angels themselves are commanded to protect you in all of your ways". Satan has left off the portion "in all your ways". We should remember that we are told to make God's Way our way. Clearly, Satan didn't want any part of that...

The Tricks of Satan

In previous entries, I have touched on Satan's twisting of Scripture (leading us to doubt God's Word). I touched on Genesis 3, where Eve was deceived about the nature of death. Let us roll back a little, and look at the Serpent's opening remarks:

תאכלו מכל עץ הגן

Literally, "eat all trees garden" (that is, has God not said "Eat from all trees in the garden" - note that Satan here refers to God as Elohim, where the original text [Genesis 2:16] refers to God as Jehovah Elohim)


Here is the Hebrew of the what God actually said:

מכל עץ הגן אכל תאכל

Literally, "all trees garden eat eat" (Of every tree in the garden thou mayest freely eat).


Here we can see the importance of word for word analysis, and observation of the original languages. God placed eat last in the sentence, and emphasized it. While Satan places it first, and does not.



2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."

The Tricks of Satan

So far, I have covered "doubting God's Word", and "God doesn't want you to enjoy life".

Today's trick is covered by the same verse as the last one (Genesis 3:5, "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 believe this is probably the second most common trick -- "You will be as god".

This is the key behind so much bad theology/philosophy. Atheism has aspects of this: kill God, and man can ascend the throne.

What more is there to say? Satan uses it because it works. "Find the divine in you", "have faith in you", "believe in yourself", "your divine spark", "live your life as you please".

The Tricks of Satan

In the last episode, I addressed Satan's main line of attack -- doubting God's Word.

It's hard to rate the second most (this may be the third most, for example). In the same account (Genesis 3), we see another common trick.

"God doesn't want you to enjoy life."

We see this in Genesis 3:5 "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."

See! That mean, old God, He doesn't want you to have good stuff!

Of course, Satan is again with the half-truths and double talk. Adam and Eve already knew good and evil. Good is to do what God has said. Evil is to not do it. Eating from the tree is evil.

It's interesting that the Hebrew word for "know" (yada) is also used for the relations between a husband and wife ("And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain").


After eating from the tree, Adam and Eve (and all humanity) come to "know" evil very intimately indeed.


The truth is that God knows good and evil. He knows what will harm us, and what is for the best. To follow God's law is not salvation, but it is a good idea. It's not keeping you from "the good life", it's keeping you from evil.

The Tricks of Satan

My previous post talked some about who Satan is. And I commented some on an excellent "He Lives" post on Satan.

How does Satan do what he does? Fortunately, he has a remarkably small bag of tricks. Unfortunately, we don't seem to be evolving very good defenses against them.

Satan's main attack is to question God's Word (for us, the Bible). This may be an outright contradiction, but is often more subtle.

In Genesis 3, we are given a close up view of one of Satan's most effective tacts (it worked on Eve).

Now in Genesis 2:17, God had said מות ת מות. That is, eat the forbidden fruit and "dying, you will die".

Now in Genesis 3, the serpent is trying to trick Eve. And Eve is not fleeing from sin (James 4:7, 2 Timothy 2:22, 1 Timothy 6:11). Here we see that pride comes before sin. Eve is showing off before the crafty serpent. She expands on God's Word, and says, ת מתון. That is, do not eat of it or touch it "lest you die".

Now we see how crafty Satan is. Look at a package of rat poison. It will say something like tetra-hexa-mega-death-o-caine 1%, inert 99%. That is, about one percent poison, ninety-nine percent food. How much poison does it take to kill you? How many lies make you a liar? How much deviation from God's Word brings death?

Satan gives back an interesting mix of what God actually said, and what Eve said: מותת מתון. That is, "dying, you will not surely die".


And that day, Adam and Eve died. And some 900 years later, their bodies died. And Satan told a half-truth. Neither Enoch nor Elijah died, but were taken directly to Heaven (they "did not surely die").


Beware of half-truths, and just a little Scripture. Look to all of God's Word. Flee from sin.