THE DOOM OF SATAN’S LIE

A strange and mysterious struggle is going on within our world. It affects
our whole Society, not for Good but Evil. 

What is happening? A struggle is going on between God and satan, Between the
Holy Spirit and evil spirits, between Christ and anti-christ.  The battle is
for the total man — Spirit, Soul and Body.  The conflict revolves around two
sets of opposites set out in the Bible, the Truth and the lie. 

We know that Jesus Christ is the truth personified.  He said “I am…the
truth”(john 14:6).  We know further that Satan is the lie personified. Jesus
said “When he speaketh the lie he speaketh of his own [self]”(John 8:44). 

Stated in simple terms, the lie is the denial of God the Creator and the
self-deification of the creature.  Whenever a created being abandons his
Creator, he is controlled by the Lie. 

At no time in man’s earliest history was he without a witness of God (Acts
14:17). The psalmist wrote “The heavens declare the glory of God; the
firmament showeth His handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto
night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is
not heard” (Ps. 19:1-3).  But man denied his Creator and deified the created
being; he dared to believe he didn’t need God (Rom 1:21-23).  The true and
biblical concept of God as the eternal, self-existant, omnipotent Creator was
exchanged for the false concept that man could become his own god. 

This is the BIG LIE.  But where did it come from ? The lie was conceived in
the mind of Lucifer, an angel in the spirit world.  He was not the devil when
the thought first came to him. He was an unfallen angel, one of God’s created
beings. 

Lucifer was a creature of rare beauty(Eze. 28:17). He became self-occupied
and proud. “I will be like the most High,” he said(Isa.  14:14). As far as we
know, he was the first created being to reject God and deify himself.  In his
imagination he did not need God.  Satan advanced his new religion by
enlisting other angels (jude 6;2 Peter 2:4). The lie began to spread.  But
satan was not content with conquests in the spirit world, so he invaded the
world of man. The Genesis account of satan’s assault on earth with the lie is
amazing.  He began by asking a question which made Eve doubt God’s goodness. 

“Yes, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden,” he
probed(Gen 3:1). In substance he was asking, “Has God really put restrictions
on you? Won’t He allow you to have what you want?” He was making God appear
severe, unfair.  This was his softening-up process in preparation for the
lie. 

And then it came. “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”
(Gen 3:5). 

This is the lie … “You don’t need God. He’ll only tell you what you can and
cannot do.  Deny Him. Eat the fruit and you will become like God yourself.” 
Satans lie led Eve to believe that partaking of what God had forbidden would
be rewarding. But was it? 

Liberty is freedom to do right, not wrong.  Our society is under Satanic
delusion. The person who rejects God’s truth and accepts Satan’s lie becomes
the slave of Sin (John 8:34).  The final form of satan’s lie will appear in a
man called “that man of sin … the son of perdition” (I thess. 2:3). That
devil-man is described as one “who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the
temple of God, shewing himself that he is God”(verse 4). 

If my understanding is correct, the lie will not reach it’s peak on earth
until after the church has been caught up in heaven.  Before Satan’s man can
dominate, the One restraining him will be removed from earth. This is the
Holy Spirit (v. 7), who presently indwells the Christian individually and the
church as a whole. Once the Holy Spirit is removed, the Lie will do it’s
worst.  That period is in the future when the lie dominates the earth, when
satan’s man occupies the rebuilt temple in Jersusalem, claiming to be God, is
called in the scripture the Tribulation (Matt. 24:21,29; Rev. 7:14). 

Today it appears that the stage is being set for the coming of Satan’s man. 
Millions are professed worshippers of the Devil.  The apostle John writes
that in that day of Satan’s domination “all that dwell on the earth shall
worship him.” (Rev 13:8)  Refusal to worship him will bring the penalty of
death. Satan will have reached the zenith of his earthly power. 

We have a foretaste in America and elsewhere of these things to come.  Many
have accepted Satan’s lie. They defend indecent and immoral behavior as an
acceptable way of Life.  And conditions will become increasingly worse. 
Before the climax the world will see a time when the lie will be surpressed.
Speaking through the apostle John the Holy Spirit reveals that Satan will one
day be imprisioned for a thousand years.  This is the period referred to as
the Millennium.  During this wonderful era Christ will reign in person from
Jerusalem. The moral and social ills which now plague society will be unknown
because, for the time, the lie will be held in check and the truth will
reign.  All men will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the lie has been
responsible for all social and moral evil.       

At the close of the Millennium, Satan will be loosed (Rev. 12:7). His
thousand years of incarceration will not have changed him, nor will the
thousand years of Christ’s reign have changed the heart of man.  Thus satan
will “go out to deceive the nations which are in the earth”(Rev 20:8), and
many will follow him. 

Here is the final rebellion of satan and man against God.  It will
demonstrate that, even under the most favorable of conditions, some men will
follow the lie and not the truth if left to their own choice.  But satan’s
freedom will be short-lived. John writes “And the devil that deceived them
was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false
prophet are, and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever”
(rev 20:10). 

The lake of fire has been prepared for the devil and His angels (Matt 25:41).
He will not be annihilated, but will remain alive and conscious for all
eternity. What a tragic end for the one who was once “the annointed cherub!”
Hell is both a place and a state of fire and brimstone, of Conscious torment.
It is the place where all must go who reject the truth. “and whosoever was
not found written in the book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev
20:15)

Christ, the truth, is also the life. Satan, the lie, is the destroyer of
life, a murderer.  God’s desire for man is that he possess eternal life;
satans design for man is that he suffer eternal death.  It is a life and
death struggle – the truth verses the lie. 

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. (acts 16:31)