The devil has an easy go of it these days. He knows that all he has to do is deliver his lies through an accepted authority, and people will bow down and worship him. Because that’s what it is when you adhere to the devil’s lies – you’re worshiping the devil. Adherence is a form of worship. Nearly the whole world is now bowing down in worship of the devil.

Even Christians are an easy target for the devil’s lies, as most of them don’t know scripture. Three of the biggest lies that are held as sacred truths by the majority of Christians – that Jesus is God, that Jesus is coming back soon to set up an earthly kingdom, and that all you need is “belief” and “faith” to get into Heaven – can easily be refuted with even a passing knowledge of scripture. But most Christians would rather swallow what is spoon-fed to them by their respective authorities than to take the time to read the Bible and learn the Truth for themselves.

Most Christians take the easy way out because they’re spiritually lazy. The devil knows this and is using it to his advantage.

Before I was born-again from atheism 22 years ago, I knew very little scripture beyond that the Bible existed: What was in it was a mystery to me. Within half an hour of my rebirth, I started reading the New Testament. I read all four Gospels in one sitting, and then read the rest of the New Testament the next day. I couldn’t put the Bible down. It was like spiritual mother’s milk to me, and I was ravenous. I learned about Jesus and his teachings from Jesus’ recorded words in scripture, not from someone else’s misinterpretation or misquoting of them.

I’m grateful that I learned that way. I’m still learning. You never stop learning about the Word while you’re on Earth in human form. But you can’t learn if you don’t pick up the Bible and read. That’s how you gain knowledge. And then you take the knowledge that you’ve gained and apply it to your everyday life. That’s how you endure to the end. If you don’t read the Bible and learn from it, and don’t apply what you’ve learned to your everyday life, and then don’t endure to the end, the odds are not in your favour that you’ll make it home to Heaven.

Most Christians don’t know the meaning of spiritual rebirth and/or don’t know if in fact they’re actually reborn. This is a sad and sorry state. Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice to pay the sin debt we inherited from Adam, so that those who chose God’s Way could be cleansed of their sin and have the same relationship with God as Jesus did. This relationship is enabled through the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit in a born-again soul. God’s Spirit won’t live where sin lives; spiritual rebirth is like deep-cleaning of the soul. Without it, God’s Spirit won’t come and live with you. He might make cameo appearances, like he did with Balaam’s ass, but he doesn’t move in with you unless you’re genuinely reborn.

It’s critically important to be genuinely reborn and to have God’s Spirit living with you, because without God’s Spirit guiding you, you can’t understand scripture. You can read words without the help of God’s Spirit – you can memorize them verbatim and quote them backwards and forwards, if you want to – but you cannot understand them in the way they were meant to be understood. This is the core reason for the misinterpretation and misapplication of scripture, and the devil has had a field day with it for thousands of years.

In Old Testament times, God sent prophets to interpret his Word for the benefit of God’s people. The prophets weren’t born-again, but God’s Spirit was with them from time to time, some more often than others. During the times when the Spirit was with them, the prophets were able to perform miracles, hear directly from God, and interpret scripture.

As born-again followers of Jesus, we always have God’s Spirit with us. That is the definition of being born-again. The measure of God’s Spirit we have depends on how much we choose to submit to God. Jesus humbled himself entirely under God’s mighty hand, and so God was able to work powerfully through Jesus, through his Spirit. However, most born-agains have not made the same commitment to God that Jesus made. They’ve made a partial commitment, but not a full one. They’re holding a part of themselves back. And because of that, the miracles are few and far between with them, they rarely hear from God, and they have difficulty interpreting scripture.

When we give everything we are and everything we have to God, like Jesus did (and like he advised us to do), miracles follow. One of those miracles is being able to understand scripture as it was intended to be understood. This is important, because without understanding scripture, the devil will put his lies into your mouth, you’ll swallow them down, and then you’ll regurgitate them, thinking what’s coming out of you is God’s Truth.

Nearly all of what passes for Christianity today is devil spew. This would not be the case if Christians were actually born-again (which is the very definition of being a Christian) and had committed themselves fully to God. If they were born-again and fully committed to God, they would know scripture as God intended it to be known, that is, through the help and guidance of his Spirit.

The Bible is a holy book. It’s called the “Holy Bible” for that reason. As such, it contains elements that are holy. What is profane cannot understand what is holy. You can’t approach God’s Word through the eyes of the world and still be able to read scripture as it was intended to be read. You’ll see words, but you won’t see the Word. For instance, those who only see words believe that God’s Kingdom will be established by Jesus as an earthly kingdom at his second coming, whereas those who see the Word know that the Kingdom was already established when Jesus started his ministry nearly 2000 years ago, and that the Kingdom is a spiritual realm, not an earthly one, and will never be an earthly one. As Jesus said repeatedly: “My Kingdom is not of this world.”

It’s easy for the devil to fool people who don’t know the Truth. Scripture tells us of a time when there’ll be a famine not of food but of hearing God’s Word. Even though Christianity is supposed to be the prevailing religion today, there is in fact a famine of hearing God’s Word, because most Christians are spiritually lazy and are not genuinely born-again. This makes them prime receptacles for the devil’s lies. They think they’re hearing God’s Word, but what they’re actually hearing are words that have been twisted to mean something that God didn’t intend.

We have a profound responsibility as born-again believers to deliver the Gospel message as it was intended to be delivered. That means we have a profound responsibility to know scripture as it was intended to be known – not as words, but as the Word.

As the world descends deeper and deeper into tyranny, we need now more than ever to know God and his Word. If you haven’t yet committed everything to God, don’t wait another day to do it. You won’t endure to the end unless you’ve given everything you are and have to God, as a follower of Jesus. Once you give him everything, the devil will have no toehold in you. You’ll easily be able to discern the devil’s lies, just as you’ll easily be able to read and speak God’s Word as he intended.