Our culture has been inundated with what has been labeled in recent years as “fake news.” We all know what it is. One would think that the journalism universe would take its claims of objectivity seriously and simply get the real news out. I won’t hold my breath.
We all suspect that the mouthpieces of information to the world are controlled by others outside our view. They are marionettes, a discerning voice tells us. They please the populace with their theatrics and drama, and their comedy. They could say virtually anything and people will believe it and quote it. Some will live and die by it if it makes them somehow feel better about themselves. If it makes them feel safer, more secure in an unsafe world. It’s like a child pulling the covers over their head and feeling safe from the monster in the dark.
The marionettes are certainly controlled by others, the powers outside of view—mostly political powers. But most of these political powers are also marionettes. They believe they call the shots, control the strings, yet they too are merely dancing to the bidding of their master.
Their master has a name.
Satan.
He has many other names, but this is his most recognizable. It’s interesting to me that the very people that scoff at the suggestion that Satan is a real being are usually the same people that scoff at the existence of a real, biblical God. I find it fascinating that they simply say “There is no God.”
Aside from the fact that we all learned in seventh grade life science in the scientific method that we cannot prove a universal negative, they insist on believing this unprovable universal negative as the basis of all they know and do. This is why the Psalmist has said “Fools say to themselves, ‘There is no God’” (14:1, 53:1 NET Bible). It follows that fools have also said there is no devil. And Satan is the biggest proponent of this position. How ironic that the very fact that someone denies the existence of Satan makes them one of his most devoted followers.
Everything Satan says is fake news. Christ tells us about Satan, "He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44, NET Bible)."
It follows that the evils of our society run rampant because the master puppeteer controls his followers. And his followers are defined by John, "The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8, NET)."
And it is the mission of Christ alluded to in this verse that the evil master puppeteer and his marionettes are seeking to destroy. The mission of Christ was fulfilled on the cross, yet the message of the cross is in the sights of Satan. In the work of Christ on the cross, he offers redemption through grace, the saving faith and repentance of the human heart.
This conversion of the human heart is not as simple as we often think. It is not merely an emotive event. It is a bloody, brutal, painful event. Satan with his darkest forces in the universe align themselves against you in a spiritual, mental, physical and emotional gauntlet to prevent you from reaching Christ—the bridge to heaven. The cross was a violent, torturous murder. Christ knew it would happen and voluntarily entered this gauntlet. It was the only way to rescue us. He was the only one that could deliver us from an eternal night of hell and he did.
That is the moment that Satan would like to delete. He would like to edit it. He would like to put another story up to give us false hope and false security.
A palatable message. A softer message. One that says we can save ourselves. One that ignores evil and sin. One that says we own ourselves and pulled ourselves out of the muck and mire of the primeval mud and made something of ourselves. One that says there is no God because we are god. It is the delusion of evolution that promises this, or some variation of it, for if we evict God from our heart, that is all we have left—a lie: "The serpent said to the woman, 'Surely you will not die, for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil' (Gen. 3:4–5, NET Bible).”
The promise of divinity by sinning.
The original lie.
The original liar.
The original fake news.
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We can come to know Christ through confession of our sins and repentance (turning away from sin). Let me encourage you to do this by talking to God through prayer. Here is an idea of how you might do that:
"Dear God, I believe your son Jesus Christ died in my place on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day following his death. I confess my sins, all of them, to you now with a humble heart. I repent of those sins and ask you to empower me with your Holy Spirit in overcoming further sin. Amen”
If you prayed this or a similar prayer committing your life to Christ and becoming one of his followers, let me encourage you to find a good, Bible-believing church. If you live in the Weslaco/Rio Grand Valley area of Texas, let me invite you to the church I attend, Mid-Valley Assembly (www.midvalleyassembly.com).
Begin talking to God in prayer and reading the Bible daily. A good way to begin to read the Bible is to start with the Book of John in the New Testament.
Feel very free in connecting with me if you need any further help in your walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. You can do this via the above email or facebook page or this web page.
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Mercy Road Ministries was founded and now led by Ben Bounds. Ben has pastored churches across Texas for over thirty years and is an ordained minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA). He holds a BA in Pastoral Ministry and Biblical Studies from Southwestern Assemblies of God College and did graduate theological studies at the BMA Theological Seminary.
Ben's first book, The Divine Chase: Responding to a Pursuing God, was released on 12.08.2017 through Westbow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson and Zondervan. It is available in paperback and hardback through your preferred bookseller (Mardels, Barnes and Noble, etc.) and paperback, hardback as well as ebook through online book retailers (www.christianbook.com, www.cokesbury.com, www.amazon.com, www.booksamillion.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, etc.).
Ben is the host of Staying in Bounds, an on-air Bible devotional broadcast multiple times daily on KWJV 103.7 FM Weslaco, TX which can also be heard worldwide online at www.kwjvthestar.com. Ben and his wife, Linda, together have four adult children and nine grandchildren. They live in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
Ben can be contacted for preaching engagements at benbounds695@gmail.com or 903.441.3279. Ben can also be contacted via his website @ www.benbounds.com, which is also his blog and contains more information about his ministry.
Follow Ben @ https://www.facebook.com/mercyroadministries/ and this website www.benbounds.com.
©2018 by Ben Bounds. All rights reserved.
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