Chapter 8: Understanding God’s Word

Page 13

The goal of Satan is to be discrete and subtle. At the beginning of the

deception, the con should be so slight that the majority, if not all, of God’s people will not catch it. That is what happens when you’ve got a “good” con going down. People don’t get it and are along for the ride so to speak. In the above graphic illustration, the start of the con is not so obvious that

you can tell you are off target. Indeed, the beginning of the journey looks like you are going exactly where you are suppose to. The con’s message to you looks like the graphic below. You still think you are on target, even though your gut might tell you something is amiss. Even if something is

weird and odd in your gut, you reason that you have to give the pastor the benefit of the doubt. After all, he or she is the Bible Exegete. You don’t express it that way, but you do believe he or she is the expert don’t you?

2% Off at Start Goal Path

As time progresses along the journey towards your goal, the gap

between where you are and where you want to be keeps growing wider and wider. However, very soon you are no longer concerned. You’ve decided that the pastor must know what he or she is doing and all will be well with your soul. You and some friends may have even talked about some oddity

of the pastor’s message or teaching. Yet since none of you know Hebrew or Greek and don’t have the time to learn, you all let it go. That’s why many in church lay back to enjoy the ride, never realizing that they are off course and headed for eternal damnation. That is the nature of a good con and it is

Satan’s strategy. Movies like Pinocchio illustrate this simple misdirection.