Truth Is Light
Posted By Michael, Darryl and Judy on September 3, 2010
Exposing the Truth in the Light of God’s Word
This five-part series exposes the truth of God’s Word as it relates to us today. This is a revelation on how we can obtain all the blessings that the Word provides.
The author, Sylvia Strain is a retired educator teaching through the years not only in the secular world but also in churches, group studies, and through her writings.
CONTENTS
THE EXPOSE’
Chapter 1 Our Adversary
Chapter 2 Our Battle
Chapter 3 Our Champion
Chapter 4 Our Ally
Chapter 5 Our Victor
Chapter 1
Our Adversary
Unlikely Adversary
Our adversary started out being an angel in heaven. That’s right. He was a beautiful angel and very powerful. But he got greedy and wanted to be like the Most High God. There was a war in heaven and this angel took his angels and fought against Michael. Michael is described as a great prince in the book of Daniel.
We find out this adversary angel had a name. The name Lucifer, is only used once in the Bible. In the book of Isaiah, Lucifer is called the son of the morning. He must have had a mighty position in heaven and had a big following of other angels.
Lucifer is Cast Out of Heaven
In the book of Isaiah, chapter 14, Lucifer who we know as Satan had great desires for himself.
13. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.
14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Because Lucifer wanted to be the most High God, there was a war in Heaven. This story is told in the book of Revelation, chapter 12.
7. And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the DRAGON; and the DRAGON fought and his angels,
8. And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9. And the great DRAGON was cast out, that old SERPENT, called the DEVIL, and SATAN, which deceived the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Why is Satan Our Adversary?
Today, Satan is at war with those that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12: 17.
We are God’s creation. We were created to have fellowship with God. Satan wants to spoil anything that God made and cause contamination. Even though we are God’s children, the devil wants us to turn against God and be powerless.
Satan Becomes Prince of the World
God’s perfect creation of man became corrupt as disobedience entered into the minds of Adam and Eve, who were the first fruits of God.
The great deceiver, Satan, also called the father of lies, appeared to Eve in the form of a serpent and caused Adam and Eve to doubt God’s Word.
With this disobedience, an opening was made for Satan to become the prince of this world. Sin entered into the world by one man, Adam.
All of Adam and Eve’s descendants also inherited sin in their lives and God’s fellowship with his creation was lost. So it seemed. But all was not lost, for God had a plan to defeat Satan.
One Great Deception
We, his descendants, are confronted by Satan daily as he attempts to make us doubt God’s Word. One great deception we face is thinking we are Christians when we are not.
This deception has been very successful in many. I was deceived this way myself.
As a child, I attended church faithfully with my family. I even joined the church and was baptized. I believed in Jesus with my head, but not with my heart.
I always sought to be morally good but it was almost impossible to do. This was a great deception from Satan. He wanted me to believe I was a Christian when in reality I was not.
Thankfully, through our helper, the Holy Spirit, I came to know the Lord Jesus as my Savior when I was eighteen years old.
Sadly, there are many today who are moral people and have the appearance of what a Christian should be, but in their heart they have never taken the Savior as Lord of their life and follow his commandments.
We need to be alert of the role our adversary plays in our own lives.
Jesus told parables or allegorical stories to his disciples so that they could understand better. One was the parable of a sower. Jesus shows the part the devil plays in deceiving us. We read about the sower in the book of Luke, chapter 8.
Verse 11. Now the parable is this: The seed sown is the Word of God.
12. Those by the way side are they that hear: then cometh the DEVIL, and taketh away the WORD out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
From this scripture we see that Satan’s first deception is to try to keep us from finding salvation.
One thing I desire is that people will come to know they are Christians without a doubt and not be “Christians” in name only.
If Satan can deceive people into believing they are Christians when they are not, he will have accomplished a great deal.
A Second Deception
The next deception is to deceive people into not believing God’s Word. Even when people do receive Jesus as Savior, they have no power in their lives. Jesus warns us about this deception again in the Parable of the Sower.
13. …when they hear, receive the WORD with Joy, and these have no root, which for a time believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
Adam and Eve were believers in God and had fellowship with HIM, but Satan deceived them by tempting them to disobey God and doubt HIS WORD.Their temptations led them to bring about the fall of man into sin. How did they see the tree of Good and Evil?
Fruit that was forbidden. Genesis 3 tells us of their temptation.
6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, (the lust of the flesh) and that it was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes) and a tree to be desired to make one wise, (the pride of life) she took of the fruit….
Satan is still using those three temptations to cause us to fall away into sin and away from obeying God’s commandments.
I hope this book will clarify what a Christian is and how to become one and expose Satan for the deceiver and liar he that he is and how we need to be aware of this adversary.
Questions:
How did we become sinners?
What three temptations does Satan use on us?
Where did Satan get the right to become the prince of this world?
Over whom does he exert this authority?
The next lesson will be Friday September 17th, 2010
