276. AN ANGEL OF LIGHT?

(The Information & Edification Series – Batch 8)

In 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 and 13-15, the apostle Paul warned believers against being deceived or duped by the enemy of their soul, the devil. He wanted them to arm themselves against those who would join the Church membership and then, aim to deceive others through subtle means, intended to corrupt the Christian’s mind and turn them away from the simplicity that is in Christ. These people are not of Christ, do not have his spirit and are therefore none of his. They have aligned themselves to the Church, not to edify and build it up but to injure, hurt, pull and bring it down.

Such people are false, have not submitted to the Jesus of the scriptures and have no intention of doing so but instead, through what they say and their actions (which are rebellious), promote another Jesus, another gospel and another spirit, all of which come from satan.

Paul warns that if believers give in to such a person, receive or embrace the lie, that they “might as well bear with him”, suggesting, to my mind, that there will be detrimental consequences. He also seeks to prepare believers, telling them not to be surprised if some of these false people, who belong to the devil’s camp, seem to be on the Lord’s side. He tells them, that even Satan, the one behind their actions, has the capability to appear as an angel of light. He is that good at disguising himself and his workers and planting them in the midst of genuine believers.

Paul wrote:

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him…For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”

In 2 Peter 2:1-2, Peter later warned of these people and the influence that they would garner over many:

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.”

By the time Jude was writing his letter, the people of whom Paul feared would deceive God’s people at Corinth and who Peter warned would be among the Church membership, had already begun to enter and to join, resulting in a situation of tares among the wheat.

Jude 1:4 reads:

“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

These epistles having been written many years ago, since that time to now, there has undoubtedly been continued infiltration into Church memberships, by false people sent by the enemy to fulfil his destructive purposes. It is not maybe their are false professers among us but definitely, there are.

In Matthew 13:24-30, Jesus himself talked about them (tares) planted by the enemy (the devil) among the wheat (true believers). He informed his disciples that the tares will continue among the wheat, until the harvest, meaning, until the end.

The Bible does not therefore make a secret of the fact that there will be those planted by the devil, among God’s people in the Church congregation. They are not part of the Church, meaning the body of Christ because they are still unregenerate but they have attached themselves to Church assemblies, memberships and buildings.

Vance Havner once stated in referring to the mixed nature of the Church, “The temple of truth has never suffered so much from woodpeckers on the outside as from termites within.” He also stated, “Satan is not fighting churches, he is joining them. He does more harm by sowing tares, than by pulling up wheat. He accomplishes more by imitation, than by outright opposition.”

This brings me to an important point, which is this:

In this day and age, if as a Christian, you can’t recognize the enemy, you just might get taken out. You should note as well that he does not always come with capes, horns and open aggression but sometimes, as an angel of light.

The worst thing is to have someone commissioned by the enemy to take you out and to bring you down and you be welcoming to this person, as a friend, a confidante or even as a trusted significant other, in a relationship!

Samson learned this the hard way. He was sleeping with the enemy (Delilah) and did not even know it. He was blinded by love and devotion for her, thinking that she was for him and rooting for him, while in truth and in fact, she was about herself and had been commissioned by his enemies, to help to take him down.

True to her mission, once he fell for her, she used her influence over him to get him to reveal the source of his strength, then gave the information to his enemies, the Philistines, so that they could capture him and kill him. She betrayed his confidence, not caring one bit about him (although convincingly pretending that she did) and sold him out without remorse for at least eleven hundred pieces of silver.

Judges 16:4-6 states:

“And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee…”

The Philistines were after Samson’s strength. They wanted to remove the source so that he would be weakened and therefore, vulnerable to their capture. Similarly, the enemy of our souls today, the devil, wants to separate us from the source of our strength, the Lord Jesus Christ, to weaken us and move in for the kill. He wants to kill, steal and destroy our purpose, our testimony, our influence and the blessings that the Lord desires to give us. Although Samson thought Delilah was a supporting partner and rooting for his success, she was positioned, not to help, support and strengthen him in his faith walk but to separate him from the source of his strength, to weaken him, so that he could fall prey to the enemy’s hands.

Sadly, she succeeded and she did so by getting to Samson’s heart. Although Proverbs 4:23 warns, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life”, verses 15-20 states:

“And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.”

It would be naive to think that the devil no longer uses this strategy today. At times, he does. He still uses men and women to derail the child of God, men and women who pretend to belong to God’s company and then enter into friendships, relationships and marriage with God’s people, who mistakenly accept them as part of the fold, when they are really none of his. They may make false confessions of faith and love, for God first and then to the one that they are sent to target but what they are really after is the source of the Christian’s strength. They seek to separate the child of God from his or her Lord and to weaken or undermine his or her faith walk.

The Word of God tells us that as Christians, we are not ignorant of the devil’s devices and Samson’s story gives us insight into one of the techniques, strategies or devices that he uses. That is, he will not come up against us all the time directly, openly and aggressively, so that we know for a surety what is confronting us and that warfare is being waged against us but will sometimes seek to operate subtly through people, people who look like an angel of light, even as the Philistines did with Delilah. Notably, the Philistines did not confront Samson directly and openly but were subtle, opting to get to him through Delilah, his bosom buddy.

After seeking relentlessly on three occasions to find out the source of his strength but Samson continuing to guard it, Delilah put on her manipulative woman-wiles, to pull at Samson’s heart strings. She used the emotional attachment that she knew he had for her, to get the information. Samson failed to guard his heart with all diligence and this led to his demise.

As someone once stated, “Sometimes it’s the person giving you the medicine, that’s making you sick.” Sometimes it is the person that you most trust, your friend, your confidante, your signficant other, that is the cause of your problem because he or she is not fighting with you but subtly against you.

Sadly, when Samson finally came to his senses, it was too late. Delilah had collected the payment on her investment and he was captured, his eyes put out and paraded as the laughing stock before the ungodly, him serving as a spectacle for their entertainment.

Notably, Samson had developed a pattern of recklessness, of taking his calling for granted. One of the main reasons why he found himself in bonds in the enemy’s camp though was because he failed to recognize who Delilah was. He failed to spot the enemy of his soul and of his purpose. The very person his enemies used to help to take him down was the person he so trusted and loved, that at her persistent urging, he told her all his heart. He told her his secret.

Samson failed to realize that Delilah was not for him but for her self and the enemy’s cause and therefore, against him. She was willing to do the bidding of his enemies, once she could benefit and so their relationship, which Samson thought was real and genuine was a farce!

Imagine, this mighty man, predestined before he was even conceived, to a great purpose and who began with such a promising start, a man who had such God-given wisdom, that he judged Israel for twenty years, failed to exercise God-given discernment in his choice of who to affiliate himself with. In the name of love (although it wasn’t mutual), he entered into a romantic relationship with a woman that was not truly for him and this proved to be his demise.

What about you? The true accounts given in the Word of God of those who went before us, leave us examples of what to avoid and how to not make the same mistakes that some of them did.

Is everybody in your circle, really in your corner? Are they all truly rooting for your holistic success or are they subtly boring holes when you’re not looking? The worst thing is to embrace someone as a friend, a confidante, a boyfriend or a spouse, to have them smiling in your face as Delilah did to Samson, pretending to be on your side, when they’re not.

The worst thing is to trust a person explicitly and that person not truly be for you but of the devil’s camp. Even if that person looks like an angel of light and seemingly does and says all the right things, even if he is popular and does all sorts of ‘Ministry activities’, even if he is well-respected, well-accepted among Church folk and everyone thinks that he is a wonderful Christian and would therefore make an outstanding husband, this does not mean that he is God’s will for you. This does not mean that he is of the Lord. He could still be commissioned by the enemy, unregenerate and sent into your life to wreak havoc.

You must therefore use discernment. You need to ask the Lord to help you see what is really before you and to which camp that man truly belongs.

As Christians, there is too much at stake. We must be careful who we align ourselves with. For, if we don’t recognize the enemy, if we make the mistake, like Samson did, of embracing his minions (in whatever form they manifest themselves) and believe that they are people that we can trust and so we let our defences down and invite them in, then we will one day pay for it sorely.

The enemy is hell-bent on taking us down and those who he sends to do so (many times subtle) are completely within his control and therefore, focused on fulfilling their mission. If we are naive therefore and ignorant of the devil’s devices, it wil be to our detriment. For, we will be hit suddenly and wonder what hit us. We will be duped, deceived, derailed, distracted and find ourselves fallen down. We will be wondering, when it is too late, what in the world we have done, how we could have been so gullible and (like Samson, who found himself blind and stuck as a laughing stock between two pillars in the house of Dagon, a false god), how we ended up where we did. We will wish that we had sought the Lord earnestly and waited on his answer and that we had heeded the red flags, that, in his faithfulness, he definitely would have allowed us to see.

My advice to you dear friend, in these times that we live in, is to not just assume that every person who makes a lip profession of faith or says that he or she goes to Church and are even members there, in good standing and that seem to do a whole lot for the Lord are of the Lord. The devil is cunning. Sometimes, the last person that you would expect to be of his camp, belongs to him and is among you, mixing with the company and subtly wreaking havoc. Such a person will be doing his bidding.

Keep your head on and your eyes wide open therefore. Be alert and watchful, at all times. Put not your confidence in any man and do no be too quick to just assume that everyone in the Church membership belongs to the body of Christ. 1 John 4:1 warns against gullibility. It tells us, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

This is not a call to be paranoid or to be judgmental but to use spiritual discernment. John 7:24 tells us, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” Matthew 7:16 also tells us, “Ye shall know them by their fruits…”

Given that the Lord has perfect knowledge and knows all things, including the heart of every man, ask him to grant you discernment in these times, to help you to spot the enemy and his tactics, no matter who he may choose to operate through. Ask him as well, even as Jabez did (1 Chronicles 4:10), to keep you from evil. If someone in your camp or who you think is in your camp, really belongs to the enemy and you are in doubt or you simply don’t know who is who, ask the Lord to expose the enemy’s minions and to deliver you from any deception you may be under.

In addition to being prayerful, one of the best ways to spot the enemy at work, no matter how well he disguises himself is by sticking close to God’s Word. It is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path (Psalm 119:105). It has a way of sharpening your spiritual senses and exposing that which is not of the Lord.

This is exactly why the devil hates it so much and wants to keep you from reading, studying and meditating on it.

Let the Word of God therefore be your compass. It is a weapon but also a guide. It will guide you aright and keep you from falling into the enemy’s trap. In this lifetime, you will find, that like with Samson, the devil sets many traps for God’s people, especially those that God desires to use greatly. By God’s grace though, once you remain hidden in his Word, dependent on HIM and apply the wisdom contained therein, you will be able to overcome. Instead of falling for the enemy’s tricks, you will be able to stand. You will be able to spot what he is up to and through whom he is trying to operate and through your proper utilization of the weapons of spiritual warfare, stop whatever wicked work is afoot against you, in its tracks.

(Written on 27th January, 2023)

Dear Reader, if you found the above Article to be interesting, informative, beneficial or edifying, you may also be interested in reading the following under the ‘BROKEN Daughters’ page:

Note 34 – ‘Wisdom Is The Principal Thing’

Also, under the ‘BIBLE-BELIEVING Daughters’ page:

Note 246 – ‘Imposters Among Us’

Additionally, under the ‘SINGLE Daughters’ page:

Note 8 – ‘My Quick Ten Point Checklist – Is He The One?‘
Note 51 – ‘Characteristics Of A Counterfeit‘
Note 53 – ‘God-sent vs Devil-sent – The Difference’
Note 58 – ‘To Tell If He’s The One Put On Your Spiritual Glasses’
Note 134 – ‘The Manipulative Woman’
Note 137 – ‘Who To Marry?’
Note 144 – ‘Before You Say ‘I Do’
Note 145 – ‘Does He Love You Or Lust You?’
Note 258 – ‘The Man Of The World vs The Man Of God’
Note 260 – ‘Common Sense Tips For Choosing The Right One’
Note 268 – ‘Making The Wrong Decision Can Be Costly – When You Don’t Wait On God To Introduce You To Your Spouse’
Note 274 – ‘I Being In The Way, The Lord Led Me – A Match Made In Heaven’