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How many times has Satan fooled you over your lifetime?

Writer's picture: Arnie ColeArnie Cole
How many times has Satan fooled you over your lifetime?
Do we even realize to what extent Satan is fooling us? Can we see how it is damaging our effectiveness as Christ Followers and limiting our future?

Bottom line upfront: The question isn’t really how many times has Satan fooled you or me in the past. The real question is: Will you or I continue to let him fool us now? Maybe more importantly: Do we even realize to what extent Satan is fooling us? Can we see how it is damaging our effectiveness as Christ Followers and limiting our future?


Looking over my life I can see that before I knew Jesus, but while Jesus clearly knew me, Satan had me fooled every day believing that Christians did not care for or about me. No one ever reached out in a non-condemning way. Instead, it was always in this “throw the Bible at you” kind of way. Thus, their beliefs imposed on me were extremely destructive to my overall well-being. And in fact, if it hadn’t been for Jesus radically taking the wheel when I was in a wild storm on my boat headed to Alaska, I would most likely have remained fooled by Satan. Jesus literally saved my life that day.


What continues to amaze me is that even though I know as a Christ Follower that Jesus will never leave or forsake me, Satan still tries to fool me. As recently as yesterday, he was pounding me with doubt and fear about the future. Sometimes, it gets to the point that I want to react out of fear and desperation rather than stepping out in faith. I’m sure you could list where he pounds on you. Often for me, it relates to leading Back to the Bible in a way that helps motivate you to become a biblically engaged disciple maker.


Where Satan hits me in these times is: What if nobody cares or thinks they even need to be motivated as a Christ Follower? I mean really. How can our individual spiritual lives compare to the stories claimed by clever ministry-industry marketers where millions (getting close to billions by now) of lives get transformed by the Gospel. They are the stories we hear to garner your and my support. You know, “With your gift…we can save the world….”


Satan’s most effective repeated lies often sound reasonable and at first glance believable. Only when we stop and think or pray do we see the falsehood underneath it all. You may think or hear thoughts like I come across:


  • “It’s better for me to support someone else in their efforts.”

  • “I don’t need to share my faith; others are better at that.”

  • “I live a good life—that’s enough of a testimony.”

  • “What if I offend someone by bringing up Jesus?”


These whispers aren’t new. From the beginning, the enemy has sought to sow doubt and distraction. Just as he asked Eve, “Did God really say…?” (Genesis 3:1), he now asks us, “Is it really your job to help someone else find Jesus?” He clearly doesn’t want us to know that the Bible’s answer is a resounding YES!


This got me to thinking of that well-known saying, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." It immediately reminds me that while being deceived once may not be my fault, being fooled repeatedly is my failure to learn. We have got to wake up to the fact that one of Satan's most subtle and effective lies has been convincing generations of us that we are unworthy, unqualified, or unnecessary in God’s kingdom work.


Through four different surveys, we are starting to find significant proof. Most of us Christ Followers (over 50%), acknowledge that Satan, over a significant period of our lifetime, has tricked us into believing lies that hold us back from living the life God has called us to.


Here’s something else that is super surprising. Mature believers, who are the backbone of many of our churches, who read the Bible almost daily, who pray daily—they frequently claim that God directly speaks to them and claim a complete sensitivity to God's guidance in their daily lives. However, with all of this going for them, they still struggle to translate internal convictions into outward actions like mentoring or discipling others. This indicates a gap between knowing and doing, which also points to a lack of motivation or clarity in purpose.


In fact, the data being analyzed for this group indicates “…A diminished responsiveness to spiritual promptings and a pattern of ignoring convictions over time. It suggests a learned resistance to the Holy Spirit's urging to reach out and engage in discipling relationships. These individuals often prioritize worldly concerns over spiritual growth and exhibit hesitancy in responding to spiritual nudges, which likely impacts their spiritual effectiveness and growth.”


Imagine with me until next week what the implications would be if our findings are true. What if there is a phenomenon of Christ Followers who have developed a learned resistance to the Holy Spirit's urging to reach out and engage in discipling relationships? If that was true, wouldn’t things really be a mess today?


More to come. Thanks in advance for replying with your thoughts.


Send your comments to me here.


-Arnie

Dr. Arnie Cole, CEO Back to the Bible


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