“Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?” – Galatians 5:7

Last year, I saw an illusionist perform. During the performance, he kept saying, “Try to see past the illusion. Try not to be deceived.” As I sat and watched the show, I found it quite hard not to be deceived by his illusions. He would perform a trick, and I would have absolutely no idea how he did it.

Satan is an illusionist. He is trying to deceive us by causing bad and corrupt things to look good. For instance, alcohol commercials make drinking look like a lot of fun, but in reality, it ruins your health, life, and reputation. As girls, we can be tempted by numerous things, everything from sex before marriage to doing drugs. In the end, however, these are things that Satan uses to deceive us, and they will ruin our lives.

Satan has been trying to deceive mankind since the creation of Adam and Eve. He made eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which God clearly forbad (Genesis 2:16-17), look good to Eve (Genesis 3:4-5). This caused Eve to desire to know what was good and what was evil and to be (she thought) like God (Genesis 3:6). Eve gave in to Satan’s illusion and ate of the fruit. After it was too late, Eve realized that he had deceived her (Genesis 3:13). This caused multiple things to be cursed (Genesis 3:14-19).

Satan even tried to deceive Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11). He tried to deceive Jesus at a vulnerable point in time. He had just come out of the wilderness after fasting for forty days. He was extremely hungry, and Satan knew that He was. Satan told Jesus to turn the stones to bread. Jesus replied, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Jesus used scriptures to overcome the deceptions of Satan. We should be like Him and use the scriptures to our advantage.

Satan transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). He makes people believe that he isn’t as cruel or as frightening as he really is. He does this so people will sin and follow him instead of doing the right thing and following God. Satan makes a lot of people think that doing drugs and drinking is okay and that there will be no consequences in the future. In reality, there will always be consequences for everything that we do, whether good or bad.

We need to see past the illusions that Satan has set before us. Many times it will be rough, but all we have to do is pray to God and look into His word, and He will help us unveil the underlying truth of the deceptions. 1 Corinthians 10:13 makes it clear that there is no temptation known to man that we can’t endure. There will always be an escape route to any temptation, whether by saying no or literally running away. If we are faithful Christians, God will always be there for us.

Even when the Master Illusionist is the one on the other side.

By: Jennifer Odom
Jennifer is a writer for another website entitled: Tomorrow’s Church Today. She is a sophomore in highschool. She was baptized into Christ in October, 2011. She attends the Fairfield Church of Christ in Illinois, where her father is the Minister. Her favorite hobbies are reading, singing, and playing the piano.