Aleister Crowley, a deceased but still well-known satanist, founded a religion he named “Thelema,” which is the Greek word for “will”. His motto was, “Do what thou wilt.”
This is Satan’s most alluring lie: we are free to live without any limitations from God – no rules, no eternal consequences, and no regrets.
When God created Adam and Eve, he put them in a garden where they were free to do whatever they wished, except for one limitation. Satan convinced them to go beyond that limitation in a vain attempt to become like God, knowing good and evil for themselves. They chose independence from God, but it did not turn out well. They lost much of the freedom they had previously enjoyed in God’s garden, and God imposed new limitations on them. In the future, they would have to work harder for their food and livelihood in a less benevolent environment. Their physical lives received an age limit which would be followed by death. Their uninhibited fellowship with God was severely limited by the guilt and shame associated with their betrayal of God. Satan lied. The negative consequences of their sin still reverberate today, much to their and our regret. God will not be mocked. All sin carries a negative consequence. We reap what we sow. (Galatians 6:7)
Adam and Eve discovered that there is no such thing as happy and fulfilled life outside of the limitations imposed by God.
Cain chose to serve God as he saw fit, rather than as God wanted. His sacrifice was therefore inferior to his brother Abel’s, who did things God’s appointed way. This produced in Cain a sense of rejection, anger, which resulted in the murder of his brother. God imposed a new limitation on his life – exile. His sinful disregard for God’s limitations did not turn out well for him.
The tower of Babel was another attempt to break through a God-imposed limit. The firmament is a barrier between earth and heaven. The Bible says that God’s throne sits atop the firmament (Isaiah 40:22, Ezekiel 1:26, Revelation 4:2-3), a place that is off limits to mankind. Tradition says that Nimrod wanted to try to kill God with his arrows. That did not go well, either. God confused their language and scattered them over the face of the earth.
The way Satan convinces us to try to live outside of God-imposed limitations is by tricking us into questioning God’s character and doubting, changing, or casting aside his Word.
In the garden, the devil asked Eve, “Did God really say?” Then he flatly contradicted what God had said. Satan’s lie prevailed over God’s truth in her mind. Unhappily, countless millions still follow the same wicked path to destruction.
It is not surprising then that the most influential lies in the last 500 years attack Genesis Chapter One, the foundation of the Bible. Why mess around? Go for the jugular.
If the devil can convince us that Genesis is not a reliable account of creation, he can trick us into throwing out the whole Bible, which many have done. Others of us, not being fearless enough to reject the Bible outright, have chosen to mangle the scriptures through eisegesis to make them conform to an alien concept.
To change God’s Word through wrongly interpreting it is a deceptive way of rejecting it and is a favorite trick of religious people. (Mark 7:9)
Modern worshipers of science believe that Genesis Chapter One cannot be allowed to hold back progress. They have been duped into thinking that science must be freed from the limits imposed by the Bible. They have accepted the lie that the Bible was written by ignorant, pre-scientific people, which required God to lie to them about reality in order to conform truth to the limits of their understanding.
Is it not amazing that Satan has convinced Christians to believe that God has not told us the whole truth, but science has? Science never lies, but God does. Really? Isn’t this exactly what the serpent insinuated to Eve, that God was withholding the whole truth from her?
The world rejoices when God’s Word is apparently demonstrated to be false. That is because we do not want to be limited by anything God says. We believe that if we can catch the Bible in a lie, then we can safely reject the entire thing. Down deep, we think we are smarter than God.
Christians should be suspicious of anything the world loves and highly acclaims.
And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God. Luke 16:15 (NASB95)
The world has swallowed a great lie that now is pervasive – biological evolution, which casts aside the Genesis account of the creation of life and replaces it with a fantastical theory of self-generation. This lie not only contradicts the Bible, it does away with our dependence upon the Creator! If there is no God, there is no accountability or limitations.
The Big Bang theory, a child of Darwinism, says that not only did life spring from nothing, the entire cosmos created itself! This flatly contradicts Genesis and attempts to eradicate the need for God anywhere. In the Big Bang “universe” or “multiverse,” God cannot be found. Sadly, some Christians believe this God-defying, anti-biblical theory and think that this lie somehow glorifies God.
When we are awed or inspired by a lie, something is seriously wrong with us. A lie cannot glorify God because it misrepresents him. Nothing that negates the testimony of the Bible should ever be allowed to “wow” us.
If we accept Genesis Chapter One and the rest of the Bible as the truth, even about cosmology and the origin of life, our modern understanding of the heavens and earth will have to change in order to align with God’s revealed truth. If we choose instead to conform our thinking to the “truth” of science, are we not guilty of saying we think we are smarter than God? Would we not be elevating so-called science above the Bible? Jesus said that the scripture cannot be “broken” (John 10:35), meaning that every word in the Bible is true and reliable.
And what about other attempts to cast off God-imposed limitations? Modern society is in rebellion against the Creator in so many areas. Many are rebelling against their God-imposed gender assignment, believing they can choose for themselves. Society has largely rejected marriage as God’s ordained way to enjoy the pleasures of sexual union in order to have children and obey God’s command to be fruitful and multiply. Instead we are told that we must depopulate the earth. This is outright rebellion inspired by Satan, who hates God and everything the Creator loves.
Peter warned the Jews on that first New Covenant Pentecost to turn to Jesus and save themselves from a generation heading to destruction. His listeners recently had rejected and crucified their own Messiah. Mankind in general has rejected God and is shaking a rebellious fist at him, insisting that we can do whatever we please. But God has offered us a way to turn aside from our rebellious path.
Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” Acts 2:38–40 (NASB95)
We live in the last days. Jesus’ Second Coming is getting closer by the day. No one knows when God will roll back the firmament to reveal his glorious Son who will judge the living and the dead.
It is high time for us to affirm our allegiance to the Lord Jesus and to his Word.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, forgive me for believing that I could live without being accountable to you and without limitations. I now understand how foolish this is. I admit that human beings are not smarter than you. We are not able to figure things out on our own. We need the truth of your Word to guide us. Your commands are intended to minister life and peace to us. They are a blessing, not some restriction on our happiness. I ask you to forgive my sins. I acknowledge that you are lord of my life. I recognize that your Word is truth. I ask you to come into my life as my source and shepherd. Help me to align myself with your Word and the Holy Spirit. Help me to be a faithful disciple and a witness to others of your goodness and love. Amen.
