It's Easy to Ignore the Fact that Satan Can Appear As an "Angel of Light"

2 Corinthians 11:14 warns that Satan can appear as an "angel of light". When you think about it, the name Lucifer means "Light Bearer". Although God had kicked Satan out of Heaven, he hasn't turned into a person with two horns and a long tail, holding a pitchfork. The idea of Satan having the form of a monster is more of a man's imagination. Yet the Bible has a different viewpoint than the "Satan" we see in the caricatures. Satan has many ways to deceive people and one of them is to appear good. Satanism is nothing more than a smokescreen of the Devil, while he can appear "pure and holy" before the world.

Ezekiel 28:14 calls Satan as that "anointed cherub". The proverb was taken to the King of Tyre. Isaiah 14:12-14 compares the King of Babylon to Lucifer. Lucifer is called the "son of the morning". Why did Satan get kicked out anyway? He wanted one thing only the Triune God had to... it was worship. Satan convinced a third of the angels to rebel. As a result, Satan's army was kicked out and they became known as "devils", "demons" and Satan's army would be known as "The Devil and his angels". Satan knows how to deal with people. He is a master craftsman of deceit and evil. He is the god of the world that leads people astray.

So what does Satan do? Remember Satan's power is limited but it's not that limited. Satan is still a crafty and demonic foe. I don't deny the fact that Satan can cast a limited amount of miracles. Although he cannot raise the dead, restore amputees but he can at least generate some illusions to fool people. He can disguise himself and look harmless. It always made me think about how often more or not that we imagine Satan as a red monster. Although the Bible calls Satan as a red dragon, maybe I imagine him as to how cartoonists sometimes draw him but remember Satan can always change his image. Even if he is really a monster but remember, he can still disguise himself.

Remember Satan is a master of double-crossing. He can create one religion that's obviously worshiping Satan and another that's not obvious to be worshiping Satan. Not all pagans are introduced to human sacrifice and drinking blood. Some of the world's polytheists may appear as morally good people. Not all pagan places of worship have a human sacrifice altar. Satan knows how to make everything look good and remember, as Lucifer he was the best angel that God ever created. He was that anointed cherub.

How do Satan's religious systems work? Satan does not restrict to just one religious system to mislead people. He can always redesign them to make them look appealing. For example, a group of pagans may abhor tribal religion because it practices cannibalism. Muhammad the founder of Islam was concerned about infanticide in his day. Buddha would have condemned human sacrifice. Some sects of Taoism reject the barbaric practices of other sects of Taoism. But that is the ugliness of Satan's plan as he gets people confused.

Satan's gospels also include the gospel of works. If it's not just easy believism where a man is supposedly converted without repentance, it's also a gospel of works. False conversion makes it easy. First, you have people believing they are saved then second, you have people falling back into the world. Satan's works salvation message is the message you are saved by your own effort and that God will accept you if you are good enough. Humanity hates the truth that their righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). People choose to take credit for their works rather than God. While the Christian performs good works and no longer live the way they want by God's grace, the unbeliever, however, performs works with a different motive. Theirs is trying to win their salvation, it's nothing more than legalism and bribery.

The Pharisees are among the worst offenders. I am not only referring to the Pharisees of the Days of Jesus but also to the modern-day Pharisees. During Jesus' ministry, the Pharisees set the deadly message of works salvation. So often did they condemn the Savior who came to preach repentance to tax collectors and harlots. Jesus became the guest of a house of a sinner. What they ignored is the repentance. People hated Jesus because He showed they weren't good enough. They all looked down at Him because He became the guest to Zaccheaus a hated sinner and that He said, "Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees, you cannot see the Kingdom of God." The Pharisees were hypocrites at best with their system of legalism. Yet the system did not die with Caiaphas but it continued itself to the Papacy.

The gospel of works is also responsible for the abomination on Christmas called Santa Claus. How often is it that even when Christmas is over, children still believe if they are good all year round, Santa Claus will reward them. How often has the lie of Santa Claus been published as "just a harmless white lie". Parents usually don't realize it's because Satan clouds their minds. Some people grow up and get over Santa Claus but Satan knows that keeps them away from the truth. It also shows how Satan gets what he wants. What makes Santa Claus wrong is not the Santa and Satan having the same letters but the deceit behind it. Satan makes his fictional character of Santa Claus appear jolly and friendly, but Santa Claus is also denying the grace of God. Jesus offers forgiveness, Santa Claus is quick to cross out the naughty. It makes people believe in the deadly gospel of works.

It has also created the dangerous gospel of Arminianism. Arminianism teaches that you can lose your salvation every time you sin. The deadly heresy of Arminianism also teaches conditional security. What is deadly about the gospel of conditional security is that it's a poison like Antinomianism. It teaches that your salvation is dependent on your efforts, it still works salvation. It teaches that the gospel of God's grace gives a license to sin and that the gospel of works leads to a holy life. But how often is it that I find the Arminian who teaches works salvation stumble into so much of horrible sin and show by their actions they are not saved? I condemn any claim of being saved from anyone who is an Antinomian. Yet Arminianism is its deadly opposite and just as fatal. Conditional security steals away the grace of God. It's by God's grace that Christians will endure to the end because part of form Christ, man can do nothing had has no power over sin. A Christian has power over sin only by God's grace, not by his or her own efforts.

Roman Catholicism was coined by many theologians as "Babylon the Great". Revelation 17-18 describes the apostate system. The whore of Revelation has the colors of scarlet and purple, both colors of the High Priest's robe. She imitates God's system. She has a golden cup with precious stones, a proof of her wealth. The Vatican is a city on seven hills, it carries the influence of the world. The Pope is the great Caiaphas in Rome. Caiaphas was a picture of the Antichrist as much as Judas Iscariot. Caiaphas was a perversion of the Old Testament priesthood. Judas Iscariot was a picture of the Inquisition. Caiaphas appeared to be a man of God but he usurped God's place in the religious life, likewise the Popes have done the same. No wonder many Reformed theologians in the past have referred to the Pope as Antichrist. Some even believe that the final Pope would become the Antichrist. In my case, I believe the Pope will be this False Prophet.

What the religions of the world do not realize is that they are passively worshiping the Devil and his minions. Behind every idol is a devil and that's what the average lost person does not know. For them, they are worshiping God. Today one of the greatest lies is to say, "We are all worshiping the same God whether Buddhist, Muslim or Christian." Today, we have the world accepting Satan's deadly gospels of ecumenism and tolerance of error. Yesterday, a Roman Catholic may condemn Buddhism and Taoism as worship of devils but later, he or she ends up embracing them as part of "God's happy family". Roman Catholics are unaware that while they have their devotion to Mary is that they are worshiping Mary. But Mary cannot receive worship because she is a human. Instead, they have passively worshiped the Devil as a result.

The system of Mary worship is a deceit so beautifully crafted by the Devil. The Queen of Heavenn idol appeared with many versions. Buddhists and Taoists worship Kuan Yin who holds a child in her arms. Satan had a system of a mother/child worship throughout Babylon. The goddess Semiramis and her son Tammuz were important symbols of paganism. Semiramis became the focus of most of the pagan world even until today. To talk to the child god, one must pass through his mother. Likewise, Satan has entered the perverted doctrine that before you can talk to Jesus, you must pass through Mary. The deceit is so great, it's very impossible to immediately discern it.

So how does the system of Mary work? Poor deceived Catholics have been lied to that to get to Jesus, they must pass through Mary. They have been lied to with a severe misinterpretation of the Wedding of Cana. More often than not, they have ignored Jesus called Mary as "woman". The Catholic translations have Jesus say, "Woman, do not tell me what to do. My time has not yet come." Mary said, "Do whatever He tells you." When Mary said those words, it is clear that she wanted people to know that she could not mediate between them and Jesus. Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus invite people unto Mary. So many lies about Mary were made. Mary had been elevated, Jesus has been demoted. Think of the Rosary or how often Catholic devotion is not Christian but Marian. They may get angry but it's the truth.

Also among the greatest agents of Satan's deceit are the Jesuits of the Roman Catholic system, an army of priests under the leadership of the Jesuit General who is nicknamed by some as the "Black Pope". The Jesuits were always described by Reformed Theologians as slick and deadly. The Jesuit Order was set to destroy the Reformation, hence that's why Catholics celebrate Ignatius of Loyola as a canonized "saint". The great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon quoted the Jesuits as serpents. The Jesuits appear to be decent, holy men in public. They appear to be saintly. Ignatius of Loyola appeared repentant in his outward show of works. However, he did not repent to God even after the cannonball hit his leg. The Jesuits have always appeared to be good people. They have set up spies and agents everywhere. Jesuit agents appear to be good and respectable people. So often you see a Jesuit agent or coadjutor who appears decent, refined, and a good person. Yet they have been responsible for murders and cover-ups. They have even been the reason why so many corrupt Roman Catholic officials hardly get condemned.

Satan's setting up of counterfeit Christianity is also another. Aside from Roman Catholicism, he has created the anti-Catholic cults which are the harlot daughters of the Great Harlot in Revelation 17-18. Just because someone is anti-Catholic is not proof they are saved. Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Iglesia ni Cristo, the "Orthodox" churches, Mary Eddy Baker's "Christian Science", Charismatics, Westboro Baptists, etc. to name a few seem Christian. But the Jehovah's Witness and the Iglesia ni Cristo deny the deity of Christ. Some of the anti-Catholic cults affirm the deity of Christ but deny His grace. They teach a wrong Jesus, they teach a gospel of works. They are in no better position than their mother, the Great Harlot of Revelation 17-18. He has created rival cults in the past, he can always do so to make sure his deception remains strong.

Ecumenism is Satan's latest counterfeit gospel. In the past, the Great Whore, Roman Catholicism, had declared she was the only way. She calls herself the Mother Church. Today, we have the Great Whore and her Caiaphas, the Pope go forward and introduce dialogue among people. Some Muslim countries have even had Muslims protect Catholic parishes who the media calls as "Christian". We have the Jesuits openly promote ecumenism. Even one Jesuit priest had admitted their interest in certain religions. Bob Bush who was a former slick Jesuit priest said, "There's only one person who took our sins away. My sins and your sins. There's only one person who did that, and that's Jesus. Buddha didn't do it. The Hindu religions didn't do it with Shiva. Confucius didn't do it. No one did it. The Moslem religion doesn't do it. They don't have a savior who takes away the sins of the world. They don't have that. That's why Scripture says there's only one way." They all worship one god, the god of this world but in the deadly passive way.

Remember Satan is a master counterfeiter as he can never create anything from scratch. He takes whatever God created and perverts it for his cause in a sin-driven world. God created the free trade system, Satan will pervert it into the New World Order's economic system. God ordained business but Satan creates businesses that promote immorality such as the slave trade. God created grapes but Satan perverts it into alcoholic beverages. God ordained hierarchies and figures of authority but Satan creates tyrannies and anarchies. God ordained the monetary system, Satan will pervert it into his own system of greed such as counterfeiting money and the eventual New World Order. God gave man free will to natural birth control but Satan introduces abortion, infanticide, and contraceptives. God ordained sex and marriage but Satan introduces adultery, incest, fornication, bestiality, homosexuality and pedophilia. Whatever God has given for the good of man, Satan seeks to corrupt.

What is deadly with all this passive Satan worship? What is deadly with people who worship Satan out of ignorance? A pagan prays to his gods without knowing he or she is already worshiping the Devil. A Catholic prays to Mary without knowing he or she is already worshiping the Devil. It is the blindness of man that Satan loves to inflict. Just as the child who has no idea that Santa Claus is a deceitful imagination of the Devil, these men are the blind following the blind... they all fall into the ditch. I could use passive smoking as an illustration. When you inhale the smoker's smoke, it has come from his or her body. The human body because of sin, is tainted with all forms of diseases. When you inhale the smoker's smoke, you inhale more than just cyanide but certain impurities mixed with what is impure. Likewise, Satan knows the harms of passive Satan worship and its doers. In this case, people do not even realize that they are worshiping Satan. It's a major shock indeed when these people die into a Christless eternity.

However fear not of the son of the morning, the counterfeit sun god because there is the Sun of Righteousness. Malachi 4:2 declares the Sun of Righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible indeed is sharper than any deception. It's a two-edged sword that cuts through any deception (Hebrews 4:12). Remember that Jesus indeed is the Light of the World. The Bible itself is the source of spiritual authority to discern the right from the wrong. Sad to say, people hate the Bible because of their altruistic tendencies. They only accept the truth when it's convenient and mix it with outrageous lies just to make them feel good.