The Gospel of Satan
Satan is the arch-counterfeiter. As we have seen, the
Devil is now busy at work in the same field in which the Lord sowed the good
seed. He is seeking to prevent the growth of the wheat by another plant, the
tares, which closely resembles the wheat in appearance. In a word, by a process
of imitation he is aiming to neutralize the Word of Christ. Therefore, as
Christ has a Gospel, Satan has a gospel too; the latter being a clever
counterfeit of the former. So closely does the gospel of Satan resemble that
which it parodies, multitudes of the unsaved are deceived by it.
It is to this
gospel of Satan the apostle refers when he says to the Galatians “I marvel that
ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto
another gospel: which is not another, but there be some that trouble you, and
would pervert the Gospel of Christ” (1:6, 7). This false gospel was being
heralded even in the days of the apostle, and a most awful curse was called
down upon those who preached it. The apostle continues, “But though we, or an
angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed.” By the help of God we shall now
endeavor to expound, or rather, expose, false gospel.
The gospel of
Satan is not a system of revolutionary principles, nor yet a program of
anarchy. It does not promote strife and war, but aims at peace and unity. It
seeks not to set the mother against her daughter nor the father against his
son, but fosters the fraternal, spirit whereby the human race is regarded as
one great “brotherhood.” It does not seek to drag down the natural man, but to
improve and uplift him. It advocates education and cultivation and appeals to
“the best that is within us.” It aims to make this world such a congenial and
comfortable habitat that Christ’s absence from it will not be felt and God will
not be needed. It endeavors to occupy man so much with this world that he has
no time or inclination to think of the world to come. It propagates the
principles of self-sacrifice, charity and benevolence, and teaches us to live
for the good of others, and to be kind to all. It appeals strongly to the
carnal mind and is popular with the masses, because it ignores the solemn facts
that by nature man is a fallen creature, alienated from the life of God, and
dead in trespasses and sins, and that his only hope lies in being born again.
In
contradistinction to the Gospel of Christ, the gospel of Satan teaches
salvation by works. It inculcates justification before God on the ground of
human merits. Its sacramental phrase is “Be good and do good;” but it fails to
recognize that in the flesh there dwelleth no good thing. It announces
salvation by character, which reverses the order of God’s Word-character by, as
the fruit of, salvation. Its various ramifications and organizations are
manifold. Temperance, Reform movements, “Christian Socialist Leagues,” ethical
culture societies, “Peace Congresses” are all employed (perhaps unconsciously)
in proclaiming this gospel of Satan—salvation by works. The pledge-card is
substituted for Christ; social purity for individual regeneration, and politics
and philosophy for doctrine and godliness. The cultivation of the old man is
considered more “practical” than the creation of a new man in Christ Jesus;
whilst universal peace is looked for apart from the interposition and return of
the Prince of Peace.
The apostles of
Satan are not saloon-keepers and white slave traffickers, but are or the most
part ordained ministers. Thousands of those who occupy our modern pulpits are
no longer engaged in presenting the fundamentals of the Christian Faith, but
have turned aside from the Truth and have given heed unto fables. Instead of
magnifying the enormity of sin and setting forth its eternal consequences, they
minimize it by declaring that sin is merely ignorance or the absence of good.
Instead of warning their hearers to “flee from the wrath to come” they make God
a liar by declaring that He is too loving and merciful to send any of His own
creatures to eternal torment.
Instead of
declaring that “without shedding of blood is no remission,” they merely hold up
Christ as the great Examplar and exhort their followers to “follow in His
step.” Of them it must be said, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness
and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:3). Their message may
sound very plausible and their appear very praiseworthy, yet we read of them, “for
such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves (imitating)
into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light. Therefore It is no great thing (not to be wondered at)
if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose
end shall be according to their works” (2 Cor. 11:13–15).
In addition to
the fact that today hundreds of churches are without a leader who faithfully
declares the whole counsel of God and presents His way of salvation, we also
have to face the additional fact that the majority of people in these churches
are very unlikely to learn the Truth for themselves. The family altar, where a
portion of God’s Word was wont to be read daily is now, even in the homes of
nominal Christians, largely a thing of the past. The Bible is not expounded in
the pulpit and it is not read in the pew. The demands of this rushing age are
so numerous that the multitudes have little time and still less inclination to
make preparation for their meeting with God. Hence the majority who are too
indolent to search for themselves are left at the mercy of those whom they pay
to search for them; many of which betray their trust by studying and expounding
economic and social problems rather than the Oracles of God.
And now, my
reader, where do you stand? Are you in the way which “seemeth right,” but which
ends in death? Or are you in the Narrow Way which leadeth unto life? Have you
truly forsaken the Broad Road that leadeth to death? Has the love of Christ
created in your heart a hatred and horror of all that is displeasing to Him?
Are, you desirous that He should “reign over” (Luke 19:14) you? Are you
relying wholly on His righteousness and blood for your acceptance with God?
A yet more
specious form of Satan’s gospel is to move preachers to present the atoning
sacrifice of Christ and then tell their hearers that all God requires from them
is to “believe” In His Son. Thereby thousands of impenitent souls are deluded
into thinking that they have been saved. But Christ said, “Except ye repent, ye
shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). To “repent” is to hate sin, to
sorrow over, to turn from it. It is the result of the Spirit’s making the heart
contrite before God. None except a broken heart can savingly believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Again; thousands
are deceived Into supposing that they have “accepted Christ” as their “personal
Saviour,” who have not first received Him as their LORD. The Son of God did not
come here to save people in their sins, but “from their sins”
(Matt. 1:21). To be saved from sins, is to be saved from ignoring and
despising the authority of God, it is to abandon the course of self-will and
self-pleasing, It is to “forsake our way” (Isa. 55:7). It is to surrender
to God’s authority, to yield to His dominion, to give ourselves over to be
ruled by Him. The one who has never taken Christ’s “yoke” upon him, who is not
truly and diligently seeking to please Him in all the details of his life, and
yet supposes that he is “resting on the Finished Work of Christ” is deluded by
the Devil.
In the seventh
chapter of Matthew there are two scriptures which give us approximate results
of Christ’s Gospel and Satan’s counterfeit. First, in verses 13 and 14,
“Enter ye In at the strait gate. For, wide is the gate and broad is the way,
that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereby. Because
strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there
be that find it.” Second, in verses 22 and 23, “Many will say to Me In that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
(preached) in Thy name? And in Thy name have cast out demons, and in Thy name
have done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew
you, depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” Yes, my reader, it is possible to
work in the name of Christ, and even to preach in His name, and though the
world knows us, and the Church knows us, yet to be unknown to the Lord! How
necessary it is then to find out where we really are; to examine ourselves to
see whether we be in the faith; to measure ourselves by the Word of God and see
if we are being deceived by our subtle Enemy; to find out whether we are
building our house upon the sand, or whether it is erected on the Rock which is
Christ Jesus. May the Holy Spirit search our hearts, break our wills, slay our
enmity against God, work in us a deep and true repentance, and direct our gaze
to the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.[1]
[1]
Arthur Walkington Pink, The Arthur Pink Anthology
(Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2005).
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