21 July 2022 Anno Domini, the Anglican Orthodox Communion Worldwide
“…Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. 42Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 45And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. 46Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?”
(John 8:41-46; all scripture quoted is from the King James Version)
This may be one of the most important devotions I have made to date, if not the MOST important! Our faith in God and His Holy Word must have a starting point, and that is the very first Word of Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning, God!” Regardless the prideful boasts of swaggering false social engineers and scientists, God’s Word is true as written. But the battle for truth is continuous and has grown more intense in our day. Our adversary, the Devil, has tried every trick in the book from direct confrontation and denial of God’s Word to infiltration of pulpits and churches by setting up false prophets and those willing to compromise for a dollar. The purpose of this devotion is not to reveal All that God has said concerning the Deceiver, but hopefully to stir and interest in the heart of the reader for further study on the subject.
Why did our Lord declare the Devil to be “a liar, and the father of it“? Who told the first recorded lie in the Bible? Was it not the Serpent? “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1) Note the subtle suggestion in twisting God’s Word. His first approach is to raise doubt, first of all concerning what God says; and, secondly, to flatly deny that Word. Satan is sizing the woman up for her reaction just as he does for you and I. How did Eve answer? “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” (Genesis 3:2-3)
Eve’s answer, though truthful to a point, misstates what God actually said. God did not say, “neither shall ye TOUCH it.” This seems a small point, but the lack of complete knowledge of Eve in God’s Word was revealed by her answer, and Satan is quite wise in his own deceit. How many sermons, and in how many corrupt Bible versions do we hear God’s Word stated, at first, only slightly different from its very meaning. Then will follow a complete denial of it as we have witnessed in the so-called Word-of-Faith movement whose adherents claim a new Word from God, or that the Holy Spirit has revealed something to them personally that He has not shared with us in Scripture.
Note the following response of the Serpent to Eve’s naiveté: “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.” (Genesis 3:4) The Father of Lies begins with a false attribution to God’s Word and ends by accusing the very Author of Truth itself of being a liar! He appeals to PRIDE! The Serpent tells Eve that God has lied to her for nefarious reasons which he declares in the following verse: “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5) He uses his false ministers today in the same way – and they are more numerous than those who refuse to be his tool. “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
America, and actually the whole world, faces a great challenge in the intensity of Satan’s deceptions, particularly among our youth. That which God declares righteous, the buggers (and I mean that in the old French case, bougre) of many pulpits and government propagandist label as wrong; and that which God declares sin, they declare good. Our children are being indoctrinated to prefer hedonism and nihilism over Godly order and character. Perversions in sex is sinful. Murder of innocents in their mother’s womb is murder. Self-gratification leads to great sin. Denial of God and His Word will destroy a man, a family, and a nation.
If Satan is the Father of Lies, then our Lord Jesus Christ is the King of Truth and Arbiter of Righteousness – “Hear ye HIM!” “While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” (Matthew 17:5)
