Satan never changes his old schemes because they are very effective.

Think about it: if something works for you, why do you want to change it? No need!

Satan’s number one goal is to convince us that God is not totally honest with us; that He is hiding something good from us. In short, Satan wants to persuade us that God is not good to us.

One best example of Satan’s old tricks and gimmicks is found in Genesis chapter three:

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”” Genesis 3:1-5

Phew!

Did you see that?

Satan flat-out lied to Eve saying: “If you disobey God, if you ignore Him and do what you feel and think is right, you will not certainly die!”

Effectively, he said to her: “God is a liar! He lied to you! He tricked you. He did not want you to be the best that you can be.”

And what happened next?

Eve believed Satan more than God and not only did she die, we all died with her. (Romans 5:12)

That is the exact trick Satan is using today. His timeless and most effective schemes still work.

“Who said sex before marriage is a sin? Show me a verse. After all, you are going to get married and you are not sleeping with anybody else but the person you eventually are going to marry. Those people who are telling you to stay away from sex are the ones who only say that after they have had sex. They had sex before marriage and look at their marriages today. They tell you to stay away from sex because they have absolutely nothing to do in life but to scare people away from good things like sex.”

Or,

“Watching porn is a sin???? Who said??? You are watching it with your husband. What else did you do? Watching porn actually revolutionized your marital dead sex and brought the forgotten sex back into your marriage, didn’t it? Then why do you worry? Forget Appeal for Purity and enjoy your life!”

Or,

“Your husband is a nasty man anyways. You are hungry for love and what you do with this other guy is nothing but love. God is love, is He not? You are hungry for God, for Love. That is why you are with this other guy who knows how to love you. The sex you’re having with this man is an expression of love, not hate. Your husband has to go anyways. You deserve better because you love and fear God.”

Death after death, pride on the top of tons of pride, wretchedness on the top of much wretchedness, blindness on the top of total blindness!

Listen to the words of Jesus Christ:

“These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.” Revelation 3:14b-19

Whom Jesus loves, He rebukes and disciplines.

May He rebuke and discipline us! ///