Satan’s Scam
Bernard
Madoff, a past president of the NASDAQ stock exchange, will be sentenced at the
end of this month. Through his securities investment and consultancy firm, this
Wall Street financial tycoon was able to engineer a massive Ponzi Scheme that
lasted almost 20 years, using as bait attractive profit projections and the
cachet of being included in an exclusive group, and employing fabricated
numbers. Many of Madoff’s victims were global banking institutions, mutual fund
companies and the super-rich. The loss amounted to over 50 billion US. If the
financial tsunami had not induced some investors to ask for large cash
withdrawals, his scam might not even have been exposed.
Just like
Madoff, Satan is also artfully planning a monumental scam to lure people of the
world into his snare. He is not after money, but the souls of people. The devil
often impersonates an angel of light and uses the following methods to delude
and deceive those lying under his thumb:
1.
Satan makes people focus on material things and neglect the
spiritual. Many people only know the pursuit of materialistic and physical
satisfaction throughout their lives, and do not believe that man has a precious
soul. They believe that death is like the extinguishing of a candle when
everything simply vanishes. Satan
stimulates the desires of the eye and flesh so that people immerse into the
enjoyment of their senses and allow their passions free rein. They fall into
the snare of sin and neglect the real value of their inborn souls and the true
significance of life. They become disinterested in knowing the Lord that
created the heaven and earth and bestows all things to humankind, and despise
the God that controls man’s breath of life.
2.
Satan uses the temporary things of this life to deceive
people, so that they overlook the eternal things of the future. We know that a
human life is short and changeable. All wealth, reputation, authority and
knowledge are but transitory. The health and time that we now possess have been
entrusted to our management by the Lord who bestows life. Mankind only has a
temporary right to borrow and no permanent right to own. One day, when death
comes, we will not be able to bring along anything. At that time, the Lord of
heaven and earth will judge us. It is regrettable that man still does not know
he must seize the opportunity to understand the valuable and everlasting truth,
because he is blinded by Satan, the king of the world so that he does not see the
true light of God.
3.
Satan replaces the real with the false. Logically, there
must first be real things on earth before the false can be generated. The
sinfulness of man causes this world to be suffused with falsified things – brand
name knock-offs, counterfeit currency, fake identification, phony eggs etc.
They are too numerous to count. Before false things appeared, there was no need
to call real things real, because they uniquely existed. Satan likes to confuse
the real with the false. He exploits the ignorance and self-trust of people and
uses false gods and idols to deceive them. He misguides them with religions
that promote philanthropy, kindness and righteousness so that they are misled
into thinking that “all roads lead to
Dear
friends, do not be deceived by Satan. Seek understanding, and accept Jesus
Christ as your Saviour and the Lord of your life. “We know also that the Son of God has come and has
given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him
who is true—even in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John
5:20)
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