Maranatha Bible Church

For those who wisely reject his big lie #1 that "There is no God", Satan promotes his big lie #2-- "The Bible is not God’s Word." In other words, Satan would have us believe that God, who claims to have inspired every word of the Bible and to be its ultimate author, is, at best, incompetent and impotent or, worse, a liar himself. To believe this big lie requires us to believe that Almighty God, the Creator of everything, is powerless to competently and accurately communicate His word to us. Or we are to accept Satan’s proposition that God is the liar. This big lie was first told by Satan to Eve in the Garden of Eden; Now the serpent (who was indwelt and controlled by Satan) was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" The woman (Eve) said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:1-5)

Notice that Satan's lies always contain some element of truth. He had to acknowledge the fact that God exists and that He had indeed spoken to Eve. Eve would have never believed Big Lie #1. Satan's lies are always couched in some truth making his lies seem more reasonable and plausible. I know people who foolishly overlook some false doctrine because it is so beautifully wrapped in sound doctrine. If you were very thirsty, a fresh, cold glass of water that was 99% pure would be tempting. But would you still drink it if you knew it contained 1% arsenic? Of course not! Even a tiny amount of arsenic corrupts and renders harmful the once pure glass of water. In the same way, Satan corrupts and renders harmful, even deadly, the pure truth of God’s word with his lies.

We naturally and rightly question what someone tells us who has a bad reputation and is known to be a lair. So Satan, as he did with Eve, disguises his true nature and evil motives. He, and those who serve him, pretend to represent God; For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:13) The commonly presented image of Satan is that of an evil and ugly looking character with horns and a dragon’s tale. On the contrary, the bible tells us that Satan is one of God's most beautiful created beings. Disguised as a servant of God, he is a very skilled liar, concealing his true evil motives and deceiving those who will listen to his lies; No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14)

Satan, and those who follow him, must lie about the Bible claiming that it is incomplete, lacking credibility and full of errors. Why does he try so hard to discredit the Bible? Because the Bible is indeed God’s Word. It is God’s specific revelation about himself and especially about the second Person of the triune Godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ. Beyond God’s general or natural revelation in creation that can be observed, the Bible tells us about sin, judgment, hell, salvation, forgiveness of sin, righteousness, resurrection, heaven and so much more.

Satan tells his Big Lie #2 to try to discredit, if possible, the word of God and the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. A gospel message that completely crushes and condemns Satan and his lies, but provides forgiveness of sin and salvation for those who have faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. If Satan can somehow discredit at least some of the Bible, then God’s gospel truth will remain hidden from those who are blinded by Satan’s lies. Those deceived can conveniently pick and choose which parts of the Bible they wish to believe and which parts they choose not to  believe. The reader then becomes the final authority as to what is true and what is false. This then opens a wide door for Satan’s deceptions, his false doctrines and finally every kind of sin; And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parent, without understand, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32)          

The bible cannon is made up of 66 separate books inspired and authored by God and written by at least 40 different men over a period of more than 3,000 years. It is amazingly consistent and completely inerrant. Only Almighty God could have authored and perpetually sustained the bible. The bible claims to be and is complete, adequate and without error; “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16) Those who choose to reject the truth of God’s Word, have chosen to reject Him and will someday be judged by Him; He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has One who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. (John 12:48)  

By the way, contrary to what you may have been taught, there is no conflict between real science and the Bible; In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1) It is not my purpose here to be an apologist for the Bible vis-à-vis pop science and unfounded speculations. I’ll leave that to others who are much more qualified. Besides those who have been deceived, as we all once were, cannot be convinced by true science alone, logic or even common sense. The Bible calls those who reject God and His word fools; The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God” (Psalms 53:1a); The wisdom of the sensible is to understand his way, but the foolishness of fools is deceit. (Proverbs 14:8); The mind of the intelligent seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on folly. (Proverbs 15:14.)  There is an old saying, “Convince a fool against his will and he will be of the same opinion still!” God puts it this way; Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him. (Proverbs 26:4)

The Bible is God’s Word and is complete and without error. For those who believe that there is a God and that all Scripture is inspired by God, Satan tries to further discredit the Bible with his Big Lie #3—“People are basically good.”, which we will deal with next. Maranatha!