Romans 1:24-25 (NKJV) Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 (NKJV) The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Satan, as we discovered in our last post, has been perpetrating “the LIE” since the Garden of Eden. As we come closer and closer to the unfolding of the very end of days, prior to Christ’s return, we understand “the LIE” will become more pervasive and convincing.

*to read Part one of this series click here THE LIE #1

In summary, “the LIE”, purports that the one true God, is not benevolent or loving, but stingy and domineering; He is holding humanity back from realizing its potential. In “the LIE” Lucifer, the Devil and the accuser of the brethren, is the hero, who through his cohorts, reveals to man how to unlock their divine potential.

To write that, makes me ill, because it is a complete inversion of the truth of God’s word. It is for this reason we read in Romans 1:24-25 that after men fall into unthankful foolishness and lust, they “exchange the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator”.

One would think that we would have a head start on seeing “the LIE” for what it is, being that man bears the image of God. Although that is true, we must regard that our being born with Adam’s nature, not only mars the effectiveness of God’s personal stamp of Himself in our humanity, but it also means our lives begin quite contrary to God.

Romans 8:6-8 (NKJV) For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Every man and woman born into this world, except the Lord Jesus Christ (born of a virgin), has come into the world carnally minded. Romans 5:10 reveals this means that we are born enemies of God. The carnally minded are in search of their own wants, propagation, and protection. Essentially, we are led by desire and lust even, rather than God being born spiritually dead.

As those who are now alive in Christ, by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit and having received salvation through repentance and faith in Christ’s completed work in His cross and resurrection, we can see how the carnally minded seek to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. We can even admit that if it had not been for the Holy Spirit and His word, we would be fooled by this suppression of the truth in unrighteousness. The suppression of “the TRUTH” is by Satan’s age-old lie.

HOW SATAN SPREADS “THE LIE”

As I have considered “the LIE” and how Satan uses it to get humanity to look toward his false messiah, I believe there are four areas where he has attempted to suppress the truth. The fifth area deals with something God Himself does.

1. False Religion
2. Apostate (or false Christianity)
3. False Science
4. Popular Culture
5. “The Delusion”

FALSE RELIGION

We need only to read Romans 1:24-25 to understand that man fell away from the worship of God rapidly after the fall. By the time we get to 6 we find that the incursion of fallen angels “the sons of God” by copulating with human woman, created all kinds of havoc. Beyond the demented and abominable offspring, men who have already turned from dependence on the LORD, began in earnest to worship the fallen angels as gods.

The narrative, which would be picked up again in Babel, by the world’s first antichrist figure in Nimrod, would pit a multiplicity of gods in conflict with the LORD God Almighty, in the minds of humanity. Men would hold the Creator in contempt, as against them, and worship and serve the creatures, who were lying to them under Satan’s dominion. Interestingly this narrative continues to this day across the scope of paganism, with its animistic roots.

Christian and Missionary Alliance theologian and missionary to Native America tribes in North America described this in his excellent book “strange gods”. Baily described Native America spirit worship as those who acknowledge the one Creator, across all tribes, but see Him as hating humanity and abandoning them. Because of this abandonment, they were left to serve the whims and wishes of the lesser strange gods, who at least could be bargained with.

Interestingly, to study the Greek and Roman pantheon of gods, or that of the Hindu (India) and ancient Egypt, or that of the gods of Nordic paganism, or those of the Canaanite culture in the middle east, one would find they are the same strange gods by different names.

This is not a broad brush, my friends but a time-tested delivery system, that Satan has used to proclaim his “LIE” that salvation should not be looked for in the Creator, but in those He created. As sick as this “LIE” is, it is also repeated through false Christianity, which has been around from the early days of the church of Jesus Christ.

FALSE AND APOSTATE CHRISTIANITY

For many in our time, seeing the unholy union of paganism and Christianity in Catholicism is a constant reminder of Apostate Christianity, or falling way from the faith once delivered to the saints. Although Roman Catholicism is, at least in my opinion the head of the end times apostate faith, world over, we must regard that Satan was using the false systems of Roman Catholicism from the earliest assaults on the true faith.

*If you would like a deeper dive into Roman Catholicism and its apostate system please click this link to read a good overview of their false faith My Children, ESCAPE from Babylon! #4 [Rome/America? Part 1] | Return, Revive, Repair, Restore (4rs4thechurch.com)

The first incursion of “THE LIE” against the faith once delivered to the saints is found in Acts 8:9-24. In this passage we find a powerful sorcerer named Simon. He believes the gospel account, continues with the disciples and was baptized. The only problem was that he was unrepentant and when the opportunity came for him to have power over people again, he attempted to purchase the gift of the Spirit. This Simon is none other than Simon Mangus, who led the early heresy of Gnosticism.

Gnosticism attempted to marry the faith with parts of the occult and can be seen today in new age, wicca and yes sometimes Charismatic Christianity. Throughout the New Testament we are warned about apostasy and false faith. In Revelation 2 we hear of the Nicolaitans. These false Christians began an order of priests and said because we have grace sinning was not a big deal, so long as your priest forgave you. These Nicolaitans believed we had no responsibility to the word of God, but had to obey the priest, who was the only one who could understand spiritual things.

We see these forms of false faith arise in Jehovah’s Witness, Islam, Mormonism and the emergent church movement.

The Devil spreads “the LIE” through other forms of false Christianity, such as prosperity gospel, charismaniac Christianity, which takes the Holy Spirit beyond the boundaries of God’s word and seeks to erase other boundaries in place for order in Christ’s church.

Apostate/False Christianity seeks to divide over divisive issues… once saved always saved, the timing of the rapture, which Bible version one uses, the cessation of the sign gifts or abuse of the sign gifts, Calvinism vs. Arminianism and hundreds of others. Apostate Christianity seeks to highlight distinctive doctrine for the purpose of claiming elite status.

It is my belief that apostate Christianity based in America has done more to advance “the LIE” than even pagan religion in the last 100 years. I believe II Thessalonians 2:9-12 agrees with this belief. It is for this reason we must test the spirits, whether they be of Christ, founded in His word (appropriately divided) and tested.

1 John 4:1-3 (NKJV) ​ Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

To avoid being fooled it is important that we hold fast to the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3), which is contained in the apostle’s doctrine (Acts 2:42) and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. It is also paramount that we exist in fellowship with those who do not hold to the same distinctive doctrine we may. We must hold fast to Christ together.

In our next post we will continue to examine the remaining three ways Satan has impressed his “LIE over the conscience of the world.