A trick of the devil

Some years ago I heard one pastor describe Islam as “Satan’s masterpiece.” That may sound good on the surface, especially if you’re anti-Muslim, but I would disagree with that wholeheartedly.

The real problem here is not Islam but the so-called religious right.

I say this because of one truth that often escapes us: The Enemy knows the Scripture better than any of us and would thus twist it ever so subtly to try to sabotage the Kingdom of God. After all, that’s what he did while tempting Jesus in the wilderness, recorded in Matthew 4:6. (Of course, He wasn’t having it.)

The thinking has long gone that giving more cultural and political power to Christians, most notably at the expense of their perceived enemies — primarily but not exclusively on the American political left — would result in a more prosperous society. Many have convinced themselves that with the right people in high political office spiritual revival would break out, so they contributed large sums of money to lobby groups and media “ministries” to bring that to fruition.

But over the last several decades — I first became aware of the “religious right” in 1980 — there has been zero movement in that direction; indeed, the TV evangelist scandals of 1978-88 put a serious crimp in that quest for hegemony. I can’t help but think that God Himself engineered that unmasking of corruption among His people due to the belief among some Christian “leaders” that they were the forerunners of renewal without understanding what that really took — humility in allowing God simply to use them in the way that He saw fit. That’s one thing the devil knows that he can’t duplicate because he hates the very attributes of God.

Sadly, many still haven’t learned that lesson, so they’ve gone back to the old playbook that never really worked in the first place, giving credence to the old definition of insanity as doing the same things and expecting different results. And if anything, they’ve redoubled their efforts to take power, which is why many support for president a scofflaw, failed businessman and serial adulterer who thumbs his nose at the commands of God. It’s no wonder why many of the millennial generation are leaving evangelical churches — their elders’ being distracted and seduced.

That’s just what the devil does — divide and conquer — and weakening the enterprise in the process.

At some point we’ll have to recognize that we’ve been hoodwinked with politics, encouraged to put our trust in it rather than God. I don’t pretend to know just what that will entail, only that our present path has already led to dead ends. And that doesn’t glorify God.