We Are Not Ignorant Of Satan’s Devices Or Schemes – Part 9 Series

WE ARE NOT IGNORANT OF SATAN’S DEVICES OR SCHEMES – PART 9

We continue researching the various schemes Satan uses to ensnare, deceive and ruin humanity. The bible says we are not ignorant of Satan’s schemes (devices). We need to recognise them in order to combat them. I have attempted to identify some, but they are only a drop in the bucket.

[29]. INDULGE IN SATANIC PLEASURE WHERE YOUR IDOLS ARE FOUND, RATHER THAN IN GOD

Here is a verse speaking of the last days of the Church age – {{2Timothy 3:1-2 “Realise this, that in the last days difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money . . . . . LOVERS OF PLEASURE RATHER THAN LOVERS OF GOD.”}} God is not a killjoy who bans all forms of pleasurable activity. Some like to go fishing, walking, play a sport, belong to a music society, etc. Eden was from the ancient leisure park.

The emphasis in the Timothy verse is on the words “RATHER THAN” or “MORE THAN” (AV). It is when God is put into second place. What comes first for you – being in God’s presence or being at your favourite sporting game; being with God’s people or having the day off to entertain yourself?

In the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon outlines a most active life of pursuits looking for fulfillment but he did not find it and the great conclusion was, “All is vanity.” Vanity of vanities. That is a life without God. Just one of those pursuits was pleasure – {{Ecclesiastes 2:1 I said to myself, “Come now, I WILL TEST YOU WITH PLEASURE, so enjoy yourself,” and behold, it too was futility.”}} However in the modern world so many are living just for pleasure – what the fallen heart desires – with God firmly locked away lest a man’s conscience be touched. In the end all is transient, all will fail and be worthless, but {{Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is:- fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person, for GOD WILL BRING EVERY ACT TO JUDGMENT, EVERYTHING WHICH IS HIDDEN, WHETHER IT IS GOOD OR EVIL.”}}

Pleasure is the huge soap bubbles of lightness that may glint of the colourful spectrum of light for a fleeting second of time, then burst into an emptiness, and be gone forever. Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Don’t you have a desire to be with God? Do you love that or do you have a light bubble of relationship?

The devil makes sure that a man’s program is full – no time for God; no time for church; no time to read the bible; no time to take the kids to Sunday School. Your love of a sporting fixture, being at the game, out racing cars, watching sport on media channels, and a thousand things, take precedence over any time you might give to God. Satan makes sure there is always some attraction he wants to place before you to dethrone God from first place. As the words of the gospel hymn say -

Have you any room for Jesus,

He who bore your load of sin?

As He knocks and asks admission,

Sinner, will you let Him in?

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Refrain:

Room for Jesus, King of glory!

Hasten now, His word obey;

Swing the heart’s door widely open,

Bid Him enter while you may.

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ROOM FOR PLEASURE, ROOM FOR BUSINESS,

But for Christ the Crucified,

Not a place that He can enter,

In the heart for which He died? (Refrain)

I played fixture sport, mainly cricket and tennis. I opened the batting in cricket. (Greetings to any from Australia, India and the UK). However I refused higher positions because those games were on Sundays. Should I have compromised? I did once and have not forgotten it. I felt uneasy. We either put Christ first or we don’t honour Christ at all! Satan has gathered so many opportunities for pleasure that sometimes we are awash in it all. He loves to crown Sundays as his unholy days! Take stock of yourself and determine that the Lord must come first – {{Joshua 24:15 “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, CHOOSE FOR YOURSELVES TODAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living, BUT AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.”}}

My grandfather used to cycle all over Brisbane to umpire cricket matches, up until about the age of 80. I vividly remember how angry he was when in the 1970s they introduced Sunday sport into cricket in test matches. He saw that as blasphemy. He was a great Christian man. That was the start of Sunday sport in Australia and now in 2023 Sunday is a pagan day with everything operating. This is a secular, pagan nation strongly in Satan’s hands, and doesn’t he know how to manipulate pleasure!