“Who Report Will You Believe…?”

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

God says, “Don’t do that or you will go to Hell!” But then Satan whispers, “It ain’t true… God loves you too much to send you to Hell. It’s alright, go ahead and do what you want; besides you can always ask for forgiveness later.” Listen; don’t let Satan deceive you…. God will not be mocked!  Anyone who disobeys God’s Word has crossed the line over which the Lord says if a man goes, he has sinned. And we know that Sin equal Death! Now you wouldn’t be so foolish as to put a bullet in the chamber of a hand gun and put it to your head and pull the trigger, would you? Yet, in reality that is what you do every time you choose to willfully disobey the Word of God, leaving no sacrifice for sin [Hebrew 10:26]. Don’t let Satan’s lies deceive you into compromising your obedience to God.

You know God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and warned of the dire consequences if they choose to disobey His Word, [Genesis 2:15, 16]. But afterwards, Satan strutted into the Garden and deceived Eve into believing that God was all talk; “He’s bluffing, He just wants to be God. He just wants to be a dictator. Don’t worry about Him; eat, drink and be merry…..” I tell you Satan is a liar! Disobedience to God is very consequential by nature. In many cases, it may end up costing you far more than you’ve ever thought. The consequences of disobedience are plain all throughout Scripture from the book of Genesis to Revelation. Oh, I say and I say it again, if you believe the lies of Satan, “Ya been had! Ya been took! Ya been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok” [Malcom X]. This is what Satan does. Satan purpose is to kill, steal and destroy. He doesn’t care about you. He’s mad that God loves you so. You mean nothing to [Satan] He wants to chew you up and spit you out! You better know that you know!

Now the apostle Paul, in [2 Corin 2: 11], says that we are not to be ignorant of the schemes, or the plans, or the stratagems, or the tricks of Satan.  We need to know how he works.  We need to know something of his character, something of his person, something of his approach.  And since we have the Word of God, which unmasks Satan’s disguises, and which reveals his schemes, there’s really no reason to be ignorant.  Satan is a con artist and he will con you straight to Hell. Believe that! I tell you to be forewarned of Satan’s strategy is to be forearmed. His pattern for tempting Eve is essentially the same approach he uses today. But by studying and learning to recognize that pattern, you will not be ignorant of his schemes [2 Cor. 2:11]. Satan is crafty and deceptive, not straightforward. His methods involve deceit, schemes, lies, and trickery [John 8:44; 2 Cor. 11:3, 14, 15; 1 Tim. 2:14] His number one weapon against you is a lie, and if you believe that lie, your onward progress will stop with God.

I tell you, our adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone whom he may devour.” He is not to be joked about; he is not to be made fun of. He is a serious, formidable foe. The Bible describes him as the prince of this world who opposes God and lies to you, to appeal to the appetites of your flesh. The truth is this – obedience is costly! And I’m not going to tell you it’s not hard. Obedience is costly, but here’s the reality—it is not as costly as compromise! Disobedience is devastating. It stops your progress with God! That’s why some of you are not moving onward with God, because you’re playing around with things that are designed to defeat you. God’s Word is the only word that can be trusted. If you try to live your life by any other counsel, you will be defeated and the consequences are not going to be well with you; because disobedience brings a wide variety of consequences; spiritual, physical, emotional, and mental. With spiritual being the worst form of consequence that can ever fall upon an individual since it determines where people will spend their eternity. Careful in your choosing, because your eternity is at stake! Now “Who report will you believe?”

Author: Lou Coleman