satan is the master of distorting the word of God. We saw this when satan tried to tempt Jesus. satan knew that Jesus was hungry and tempted Him by saying Luke 4:3 “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” The previous verse shows us why satan said this. Luke 4:1 “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.” That would have been a misuse of power because Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. The satan tempted Jesus with authority and power but Jesus said, “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” Then satan quotes scripture and says Luke 4:9 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” satan distorts scripture, makes it sound close to truth but in the end, it will lead to death.
You saw this distortion when the king of Assyria attacked king Hezekiah. Isaiah 36:16 “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, 17 until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.” Captivity and death are not the land of promise, but it sounded good. We also saw this in Job. satan’s goal was to get Job to curse God. Job 1:8 “Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. 9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” satan first used Job’s wife. After losing pretty much everything, Job’s wife said, Job 2:9 “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” Then his friends started in on him trying to get Job to admit he sinned against God. Their rebuke of Job sounded very spiritual. After his friends were unsuccessful, another young man stepped in named Elihu. Job 32:7 “I too will have my say; I too will tell what I know. 18 For I am full of words, and the spirit within me compels me.” Job 33:3 “My words come from an upright heart; my lips sincerely speak what I know. 4 The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. 6 I am the same as you in God’s sight. “Pay attention, Job, and listen to me; be silent, and I will speak. 32 If you have anything to say, answer me; speak up, for I want to vindicate you. 33 But if not, then listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.” Job 35:16 “So Job opens his mouth with empty talk without knowledge he multiplies words.” Job 36:2 “Bear with me a little longer and I will show you that there is more to be said in God’s behalf. 3 I get my knowledge from afar; I will ascribe justice to my Maker. 4 Be assured that my words are not false; one who has perfect knowledge is with you.”
And in his arrogance keeps talking, that is until God stops him. Job 38:1 “Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said: 2 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?” God spoke to Job, but He was referring to Elihu. Elihu was not included when God said to Job, Job 42:8 “My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.” Job did not listen to his wife or his friends and especially not the young and arrogant Elihu but remained faithful. Job did humble himself by accepting the words spoken to Elihu. Job 42:3 “You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ 5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” When God spoke, His words were as Jeremiah said Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? Job’s response, like Isaiah’s is how we are to humble ourselves before God. Isaiah 6:5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
Yes, the words spoken to Job sounded spiritual, but they were not. It was satan’s attempt to get Job to curse God and die. Those distorted and twisted words sounded spiritual on the surface, but they were not the words of God. The same is still happening in the church. Since the church has rebelled against the word of God, satan is in the church. (not the building but the people) Daniel 9:27 “And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4 “He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” Because of the rebellion of the church, God allowed the abomination that causes desolation to decimate the church, just as God allowed satan to take everything from Job, although in Job’s case, he did nothing wrong. Job 1:8 “Then the Lord said to satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” The church did not remain faithful and blameless like Job was. Today the church is desolate and powerless but that did not happen overnight.
Paul said our enemy is not flesh and blood but like we saw in Job, satan will use family members, friends, acquaintances and strangers to do his work, if they are willing. The problem is that most do not realize they are being used. satan also uses those who are supposed to be shepherding the church. This has left the church desolate because many in the church have listened to them. Jeremiah 12:10 “Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard and trample down my field; they will turn my pleasant field into a desolate wasteland. 11 It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no one who cares.” Jeremiah 2:8 “The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols. 17 Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking the Lord your God when he led you in the way? 19 Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.” Jeremiah 8:7 But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord. 8 “‘How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the Lord,” when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely? 9 The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have? Jeremiah 9:2 “Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross? 13 The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. 14 Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” 15 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water. 16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.” Jeremiah 23:1 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture! 13 Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. 36 But you must not mention ‘a message from the Lord’ again, because each one’s word becomes their own message. So you distort the words of the living God, the Lord Almighty, our God.” Micah 3:9 “Hear this, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right; 10 who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness. 11 Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they look for the Lord’s support and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.” 12 Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble.”
Paul warned the church and this warning still applies but the church still has not listened. Acts 20:29 “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” 2 Corinthians 11:3 “I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” Amos said Amos 2:4 “This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not relent. Because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the god their ancestors followed, 5 I will send fire on Judah that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem.” Paul also said, Galatians 1:6 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel (same as other gods) — 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!” When talking about Paul, Peter said, 2 Peter 3:16 “He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” Paul’s writings have been distorted by the church ever since. Instead of distorting, the disciples spoke truth. Paul said 2 Corinthians 4:2 “Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.”
Every week shepherds are leading sheep astray by distorting the word of God instead of speaking truth. Jeremiah 50:6 “My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place. 7 Whoever found them devoured them; their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they sinned against the Lord, their verdant pasture, the Lord, the hope of their ancestors.’” Jesus is the good shepherd, but instead the church followed shepherds that led them astray. It really is amazing that Isaiah prophecies about Jesus and then says Isaiah 9:13 “But the people have not returned to him who struck them, nor have they sought the Lord Almighty. 14 So the Lord will cut off from Israel both head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day; 15 the elders and dignitaries are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail. 16 Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray.” Jeremiah 5:30 “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: 31 The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?”
Test the spirits to make sure you are listening to the truth of God’s word and not the distorted words satan uses to deceive God’s people. We still have this promise. Zechariah 1:3 “Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
