The Devil and the Details

     The Bible is absolutely true. However, the truth in the Bible is revealed to born again Christians, only to the extent, to which, we choose to listen to the revelation of that truth, through the voice of the Holy Spirit. Science works the other way around. In science, the more a fact is proved by our five senses, the more it can be believed. The devil understands the bible and science a lot better than most of us. He should, because he is more cunning, and he is a totally spiritual being, who has been around much longer, than we have, to better perfect his planned deceptions. You may have heard the statement, “The devil is in the details”. This statement is always true when we Christians apply our interpretation of Bible truth to situations we face, using only the resources of our natural intellect. When we do this, we are putting a hangman’s noose around our neck, and then trying to prevent Satan from kicking the crate out from under our feet. Guess what. He will kick that box out from under us every time.

     Never has the devil been in the details more than in the Church’s interpretation of the first chapter of Genesis. These scriptures are especially hard for most Christians to understand. This is true, in part, because we have a tendency to allow ourselves to be pressured into coming up with an intellectual understanding of scriptures and then using that understanding as a rebuttal to Satan’s cunningly devised fables, such as the one called evolution. The theory of evolution is a strategic lie, which is spun by Satan, through people like Darwin, not to discredit God, but to discredit and discourage His church. The Devil lost his battle to discredit God long ago, to a man named Jesus, who was also God. No, this fable was and is being spun to entrap the Church. You see, the Church represents God’s authority in the world, during this age. The only way Satan can gain power and control back, on earth, is to steal that power and authority from God's church.  If Satan can get the church to react in error, to his lies, like evolution, then he is well on his way to accomplishing his goal. This is really what the theory of evolution is all about. It is just another way for Satan to gain more power and control. Once Christians react to Satan's falsehoods with other falsehoods, then we loose creditability with God and man. This loss of credibility happens because we strive to take on Satan through the wisdom of our flesh (our five senses) instead of by the leading of The Holy Spirit. You see, God never reacts to anything. If he did, he wouldn't be God. God already knows everything that is going to happen beforehand and has already devised a plan to overcome such happenings long before they happen. In other words God is always proactive. We Christians are not capable of visualizing God's complete proactive plan. It's too big and too complex. However, The Holy Spirit can. Because He is God, he can also lead us in a way that is incomprehensible to our natural mind. However, many of us choose not to do that, and the ones who do, only do it part of the time. Thus we tend to defend the gospel truth through the leading of our five senses a lot more than we do through the leading of The Holy Spirit. This gives way to error and error does nothing but help propagate Satan's cunning lies even further, throughout the world. All those who are not born of the spirit are just pawns. What they believe or do not believe doesn’t matter, because they are enslaved to the prince of this world and will say and do anything he wants them to say or do. (1 John 5:19) As the accuser of the brethren, Satan’s main thrust here is designed to get Christian apologists to respond to one lie with another lie. Simply put, each time the Church misinterprets the written word of God, she gives up more and more of her power and authority on earth to Satan.

     Here are some examples of commonly excepted errors in Genesis 1, which help prove my point. Many bible teachers believe that the Sun and Moon where created on the fourth day of creation. However, the bible does not say that. The bible says God "made" the Sun and Moon on the fourth day. The word for "made" in the Hebrew is “asah”, which has many meanings, none of which has anything to do with creating. The word for "create" in the Hebrew is “bara”. Definitions of “asah” are: appoint, have charge of, maintain, provide, commit, govern, advance, accomplish and trim. These definitions are very much in context with the rest of the scripture in Genesis 1:14-17, which is describing the positioning of the sun and moon, for the bringing about of seasons and more even distribution of light. Again, by the very Hebrew definition of “made”, the Bible is not saying they were created on this particular day. This is just one of many places in scripture where false teaching runs ramped. Can’t you see Satan in your mind’s eye, sitting back, waiting to spring his trap on God’s teachers and pastors, discrediting their ministry more and more, each time they misquote the Bible? When we interpret God’s word in error, Satan’s trap is sprung, as he tricks us into exchanging one lie for another. A Christian's credibility is a function of how much truth he can walk in and it is impossible to walk in truth, while believing a lie. Satan knows this. He is a master chess player. Praise God, though, for the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth. Satan won’t get me to stick my neck into this particular noose, but what other nooses has he set for me?

     Here is another grand argument among Christians where “The devil is in the details”. It is the argument of “New Earth” versus “Old Earth”. Moses mentions the "relativity of time" in the fourth verse of the 90th psalm? If we can believe what the bible says there, concerning God's observation of His creation and time, it makes the argument of “new earth theory” versus “old earth theory” a very foolish argument among Christians, no matter which side you choose to support. Moses says a thousand years in the sight of God is like yesterday when it is past. Simply put, this is saying time is non-existent. How can there be an old or a new, when time does not exist? Moses goes on to say that in God’s sight, in the same instant, in which time is non-existent, it is also a watch in the night, which is a few hours. Unless time is relative, how can it be both? Obviously, Moses is saying time is relative. Therefore, if time is relative, the length of the days mentioned in Genesis, by that same Moses, could have been anything. They could have been days like the twenty four hour periods of time we perceive on earth or they could have been billions of our years. Time could have varied from one day to the next day in Genesis, depending on the density and velocity of matter as it expanded outward from the point of creation. This makes the argument of “New Earth” versus “Old Earth completely ridiculous. Can you see Satan Laughing all over the place, when he gets Christians to turn against each other as they engage in foolish disagreements like this?

     It's much better, in my opinion, for us to stay focused on our personal testimony in Christ rather than allowing ourselves to get caught up in foolish arguments. If, by the power of the Holy Spirit, an intellectual nugget falls our way, then so be it, but it is not wise to chase them. Rest assured The Holy Spirit will show us what He wants us to know. However, we will still only know in part. We will never know the complete details until we go to be with our "Lord". No Christian will be around on this earth long enough to be led into all truth. That will take an eternity. It’s not good to think more highly of ourselves than we should. It will take a face to face meeting with God for us to see, as we are seen. The further, from the perimeter of our personal testimony and The Holy Spirit, we stray, then the more misinterpreted details we are liable to give the devil opportunity to take advantage of. As we learn to obey the Holy Spirit's direction in the small things He will definitely expand our borders, but no matter how smart we think we are, we should always let Him lead, instead of trusting in our own abilities. If not, then the devil will be in the details every single time. (Revelation 12: 9-11)

 Wayne Wade