My wife and I were looking for a place to eat dinner in an unfamiliar city when we stumbled on the local entertainment district. It had a wide variety of restaurants and cleverly named shops lining a pedestrian-friendly street abuzz with activity. As we were taking it all in, she pointed to a church building nestled among the businesses. With its bright white wooden siding, sharply pitched roof and well-manicured lawn, it looked like the centerpiece of a small, midwestern town had been dropped into a suburban plaza.
As we admired the oasis in the city, something caught my eye. It had the customary steeple above the front entrance, but it lacked a cross. At its point was an empty metal port where a cross apparently had been. I was disappointed that a building so emblematic of Christianity in America would not publicly identify with the cross. On closer examination I saw a “pride flag” on display not far from the welcome sign, making the absence of the cross immediately clear.
This singular image embodies one of the devil’s primary tactics. At his core he is an imposter, a pretender, a charlatan. He trades in counterfeit. Jesus told the church, “False christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect” (Mt. 24:24). In Revelation the beast is “like a lamb” and “deceives those who dwell on earth.” Paul told the church that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:14-15).
It takes little skill to identify blatant forms of evil, but it requires maturity to spot the Deceiver’s more clandestine schemes. It’s easy to see the biblical holes in an argument that denies the existence of God, but what about one that suggests that nice people go to heaven? Like the little church, it advertises a spiritual sentiment, but delivers judgment. It’s just one example of the devil’s sleight of hand, and this is how it works. When Christians obey God’s commands it results in kindness to others. The Evil One reverse engineers that to manufacture religions that associate kindness with hope, but without Christ. Millions of people, including unthinking Christians, are fooled by exactly this kind of deceitfulness, a kind of “gospel of encouragement” that lacks repentance and faith.
Christians that cannot exercise discernment in spiritual matters are sitting ducks for false teachers. Paul refers to them as “infants in Christ.” Swindlers know how to pick out the patsies and many have figured out how to fill large church buildings with them. They find people willing to commit hundreds of hours to catchy, feel-good songs yet refuse to spend 30 minutes discussing doctrine. They attract Christians that repost a “you’re good enough” verse-of-the-day taken out of context that neglect consistent, serious study of Scripture. Milk is for babies, the kind that lack discernment. Design your habits around consistently, predictably consuming the solid food of bible study, prayer and submission to godly, doctrinally significant preaching.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Heb. 5:12-14)
Knowing that Satan goes to great lengths to deceive even Christians, is it possible that your habits make you a prime target? First, ask God to help you increase in biblical wisdom. Second, establish lifelong, biblical habits that will hone your senses so you can hear, see, taste, touch or smell evil when it is camouflaged as good, and so train your powers of discernment by constant practice.
You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Pet. 3:17–18)