All Sin Starts With Suggestion of Pleasure

“The foolishness of a man twists his way, and his heart FRETS AGAINST THE LORD.” Proverbs 19:3 God gets blamed for a lot of things that he doesn’t do. People do foolish things and then blame God when something goes wrong. The next time you find yourself blaming God for something, look at the issue more closely. Is it really God who caused it? Or was the trouble the result of something you or someone else did foolishly? There is yet another source of trouble, when something bad happens but it's unrelated to anything we did. And that is the enemy of our souls. Who is he? Where does he come from? What is his intent? Lucifer was created the most beautiful of all the angels in heaven. He held the highest seat, was in charge of the worship, and none could be compared to him. But instead of being thankful for his beauty and high position, his heart filled with pride and he decided he wanted to surpass God himself. He mustered a third of the angels to follow him in a rebellion to dethrone God. For this, he was cast out of heaven along with the angels who sinned with him. From then on he is called Satan, which means "the adversary." Satan lost his high place, his beauty, his position, and he absolutely hates God for it. And he hates all that God loves, including us. The defeat of a proud heart caused a terrible hatred toward the one who defeated him. In his raging anger, Satan hates all that God loves, and he especially hates mankind because mankind is going to replace him in heaven. Satan’s aim is to defile and attack all that is of God. He afflicts believers, he desecrates marriage, he seeks to pollute the souls of our youth, he cleverly fosters every manner of sin known to man. When God created the earth and put mankind on it, Satan the adversary immediately crafted a plan to destroy them. In the garden where Adam and Eve were placed, there was one tree that God forbade them from taking from it. Satan knew that if he could break the relationship between Adam and God, then he could gain Adam's authority over the earth through Adam’s sin. He came to Eve and lied to her about God, he told her that what God said wasn’t really true! She took the fruit and gave it to Adam. They both sinned - and the rest is history. Read it in Genesis 3:1-8 When Adam fell into sin BY BELIEVING THE LIE about God, he forfeited his authority over the earth and Satan took over. From that day the world lives under “the god of this world” (2nd Corinthians 4:4) - a fact that is oh so terribly obvious, isn’t it! "...the whole world lies in wickedness." 1 John 5:19 Now we have disease, wars, pain, suffering, death, and all manner of evil that Satan’s hatred brings about. He causes the wars, it is Satan behind the violence, and he delights in all the horror he can bring upon the earth …just by getting man TO DISBELIEVE GOD'S WORD. And this will go on until his allotted time is over, then Jesus Christ will come and end Satan’s career. So back to the first sentence above, “a man twists his way and his heart frets against the Lord.” Satan suggests pleasure to man in order to get him to sin, the man sins and twists his way, and then when evil comes - he blames God. Satan’s method is the same as it was from the beginning, because it works. He knows that if he can destroy the Word of God in the minds of people, then he has created a successful means of their destruction. All sin is the result of suggestion to the mind that pleasure will come of it. It’s deception. It causes all manner of suffering, then God is blamed. You might ask why God allows it to go on. Only he knows the whole answer to that, but one reason is that SHOWING a principle is more effective than just telling about it. If your child insists in wanting to touch the wood-stove after you’ve told him not to, and he has not believed your word, you’ll finally let him do it so that he will learn for himself not to touch it. Telling him didn't stop him. He had to learn it the hard way. God has given Satan a period of time to remain in control, so that mankind can learn for themselves that the one thing you do not do is refuse or pervert the Word of God. Look around today and see the results of denying the Word of God. The world is coming to ruin - under "the god of this world." Our journey in this lifetime is a learning experience, and the most important thing we can learn is to believe what God has said and to obey the principles he has established. This is how you defeat the enemy on this journey. Satan greatly tempted Jesus three times, promising him pleasure, and each time Jesus responded with “No! It is written…” The only way to victory on our journey is to respond to everything in life with “it is written…” Take the Bible, the Word of God, and read it, for it shows man the way, the truth, and all about life. Read it, then believe it and live by it. Then when the journey is over, we will be restored to a faultless world, a world wherein all is “good.” Satan's allotted time will be over. This is a sure promise …because it is written!