Third Temptation

"The Bible says no one should judge, so who are you to tell me what's right for me?"

"Doesn't the Good Book say God helps those who help themselves?"

"The Bible says we're all God's children..."

Do those sound familiar?

Fallacies fly thick when the self-righteous start trying to quote from a book that wasn't written for them.

They sound spiritual and make the speaker feel Biblically literate. However, they are either outright lies or they are distortions of truth taken out of context. It's an old trick; Satan's been using it for centuries.

His most famous attempt was with Jesus. "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself off this peak. Doesn't your Bible say God won't let anything bad happen to you? Let's see if it's true. Prove it."

There he went again, jabbing at the identity of Christ because he knows if enough doubt is cast, some eventually believe it. Has he been throwing darts at your self-worth? Hinting that not even God could love and forgive you? Have you started to believe it?

When we approach Scripture with the intent of proving our point, we can twist it to say anything we want. You could find enough phrases to prove your point from Moby Dick if that's all you're interested in.

The scary part is that so few who call themselves Believers truly know what the Word of God says. Unless you know God, know what He says and what He doesn't say, you are an easy target for distortion.

Jesus was well-versed in the Book He inspired and knew how to confront error and distortion with Truth. He didn't even rely on His own wit or verbal genius to combat Evil Incarnate. He relied on the truth of God's Word and came back a third time:

"It is written..."

Do you know what God says and what He doesn't say? If the very Son of God had to rely on spoken Scripture to defeat temptation, then how much more do we need to do the same?

Don't wait until you're in the moment. Dig in now. Find out what God really says and what He doesn't say.

When Evil comes at you, will you be ready?


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