Satan Uses Religion

HoHum:

Does Satan go to church? I know he does. Yes, the spiritual forces of evil are here but mostly they work through people. Imagine Simon Peter’s surprise when this happened: “Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”” Matthew 16:23, NIV.

WBTU:

Using a word today that I really do not like: religion. Merriam Webster Dictionary has one definition of religion as “a personal set or institutionalized system of attitudes, beliefs and practices.” Talking about rules and regulations, do this and don’t do that. Instead of religion I like to emphasize relationship with God and Jesus Christ. Love our slogan- Loving people and leading them to a relationship with Jesus Christ. Christianity is more than a religion. Even with my hesitation, there is a component of Christianity that is religious. James talks about godly religion but today I am talking about ungodly religion. Satanic forces use religion effectively in their battle against the forces of God. Their best work is done at church.

Thesis: Satan uses hypocrisy, fratricide, and self-righteousness to misdirect and misfocus the Christian

For instances:

Hypocrisy

Simply put hypocrisy is failing to practice what we preach. The word in Greek literally means an actor playing a part. Hypocrites aren’t real. They pretend to be something they aren’t. This is why nobody likes being called a hypocrite. Jesus often used this term to describe the Pharisees. “On the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” Matthew 23:28, NIV. He didn’t speak to other sinners as harshly as He spoke to the hypocrites. Thieves and prostitutes received His compassion; hypocrites received His scorn. Jesus had little tolerance for people who pretended to be what they weren’t.

For example, when Jesus taught in a synagogue one Saturday, He saw a women bent over, unable to straighten up because she had been crippled by a spirit for 18 years. He immediately called her forward and healed her. The religious leaders were indignant. How dare Jesus heal on the Sabbath Day? If He wanted to heal this woman, He should have waited until Sunday. “The Lord answered, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”” Luke 13:15, 16, NIV.

Some years ago, the actor Anthony Hopkins convincingly played a depraved, cannibalistic killer in the movie The Silence of the Lambs, earning an Oscar for his performance. A while later, he played C.S. Lewis, the Christian writer and apologist. The two characters have nothing in common, but Hopkins’ skillful acting made each character real and believable. No one mistakes Hopkins for either the killer or the writer. He’s an actor, making himself seem to be the person he plays. We admire such talent, amazed that anyone can hide so effectively behind an assumed role. Without realizing it, many of us witness a greater level of acting talent each Sunday. Many preachers, elders, deacons, teachers, worship leaders and others make Anthony Hopkins look like an amateur. He plays his role on the screen; they play theirs in real life. They play their parts so convincingly that we believe they are whom they pretend to be.

Maybe I’ve become cynical through my years of Christian service, but I believe that one reason so many churches don’t grow, reaching the lost, is that hypocrites in well placed positions stop them. They use their acting skills to gain responsibility in the church, then use that power to keep the church from operating by faith. They control the church, making it their own domain. They are just like the brother (Apostle) John faced. “I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church. Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.” 3 John 1:9-11, NIV.

Sometimes these people bring constricting rules (well beyond the intent of Bible), telling people they can’t have or do certain things. “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.” 1 Timothy 4:1-3. More concerned about rule keeping than helping people like the crippled woman in Luke 13. By the way, no one could keep these hundreds of rules that the Pharisees tried to promote