1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
One of the devil’s schemes is to fill people’s minds with confusion. Whoever controls a person’s mind can also influence their health and emotions and hold them captive spiritually. Gradually, the devil will establish a stronghold through deception to dominate and exploit the person’s self-image, emotional status, and thought life.
There is plenty of confusion in the world today, such as gender confusion. The devil is creating a playground in people’s minds, causing depression, self-harm, and suicide. Hope for them can only be found in Christ and the work of His redemption.
Satan will also use music to elevate himself to be a god to people. The influence can be subtle or obvious if you listen to the lyrics. Music affects our emotions, which dictates our moods. This is why there is a higher suicide rate among those who listen to music with explicit lyrics about death and suicide. There are also many social media influencers today. Words have power, whether the Word of God, written material, audio, or social media posts. They tell us what to believe, influence our thinking, rationale and values, and feed our wants and desires of the flesh. They weaken our defences against sin and temptation.
Satan will devour the ignorant and the weak who are unaware of his existence. We can only resist, stand firm, and take authority when we know his scheme, destructive ways, and intrusive thoughts. The devil will keep pounding us with his fiery darts—lies, suggestions, accusations, and allegations—until they wear us down mentally. He will move and take us captive when we are weak or let our guards down.
The devil is the father of lies. We are deceived when we believe his lies. It is dangerous to credit these lies as the truth and let them dominate our minds and control our emotions. He will also work in the minds of those with insecurity and rejection by putting suspicion in our minds that so-and-so are against us. We will then start reading into every conversation, text message, and action. Slowly, he will create a victim mentality in us. That’s why the Bible advocates for us to speak to the person directly to clarify and make reconciliation if possible. The devil destroys relationships, but God is a peacemaker.
Lastly, the devil causes us to doubt God’s love by making God the source of all forms of suffering and pointing out all natural disasters, calamities, and pandemics as acts of God. He will paint a picture where he is nonexistent and has no influence on people’s lives. He will inject questions like, “How can a loving God create hell?”, or “How can such a good person suffer?” He also wants us to believe that God inflicts sickness, illnesses, and pain to discipline us because we have sinned against Him.
Without a clear theological conviction, we are easily deceived. Therefore, we need to know God, His Word, and the work of redemption by Jesus Christ, and pull down the strongholds in our minds.
Sermon Series: The Weapon Of Our Spiritual Warfare (Part 1)
谎言和迷惑
彼得前书 5:8 务要谨守、警醒，因为你们的仇敌魔鬼如同吼叫的狮子，遍地游行，寻找可吞吃的人。
魔鬼的诡计之一就是混乱人们的心。谁控制了人的心，谁就能影响他们的健康和情感，并掳掠他们的灵。渐渐地，魔鬼会通过迷惑来建立坚固的营垒，从而支配和利用人的自我形象、情绪状态和思想生活。
当今的世界充满了困惑，比如性别困惑。魔鬼正在人们的心创造一个游乐场，致使沮丧、自残和自杀。他们的盼望只能在基督和祂救赎的工作中找到。
撒旦也会利用音乐将自己提升为人们心目中的神。如果你听歌词，这种影响可能是微妙的，也可能是明显的。音乐影响我们的情绪，而情绪支配我们的心情。这就是为什么那些听带有明确关于死亡和自杀歌词的人的自杀率更高。今天也有许多在社交媒体上很有影响力的人。言语带着能力，无论是上帝的话语、书中的文字、音频还是社交媒体上的帖子。它们告诉我们该相信什么，影响我们的思维、理性和价值观，并满足我们肉体的欲望和渴望。它们削弱了我们对罪和试探的防御。
撒旦要吞吃那些无知和软弱的人、就是不知其存在的人。只有当我们知道牠的诡计、邪淫的行为和侵入性的想法时，我们才能抵抗、站稳和拿起权柄。魔鬼会不断用牠的火箭攻击我们——谎言、建议、控告和指控——直到它们把我们的精神消耗殆尽。当我们软弱或放松警惕时，牠就会行动并俘虏我们。
魔鬼是谎言之父。当我们相信牠的谎言时，我们就受骗了。将这些谎言当作真理，并让它们主宰我们的心和控制我们的情感是危险的。牠还会在那些缺乏安全感和有被拒绝感的人心中动工，让我们的心怀疑某某人敌对我们。然后，我们就会开始解读每一个对话、短信和行动。慢慢地，牠会使我们产生受害者心态。这就是为什么圣经提倡我们直接与对方交谈，以澄清事实，并尽可能和解。魔鬼破坏关系，但上帝是那使人和睦的。
最后，魔鬼使我们怀疑上帝的爱，把上帝当作各种苦难的源头，并将所有自然灾害、灾难和流行病都归咎于上帝。祂会描绘出一幅自己不存在，并对人们的生活没有任何影响的画面。祂会提出这样的问题，如“一个慈爱的上帝怎么会创造地狱？”或“这么好的人怎么会受苦？”之类的问题。牠也希望我们相信上帝用生病、疾病和痛苦来惩罚我们，只因我们得罪了祂。
没有清晰的神学信念让我们很容易被迷惑。因此，我们需要认识上帝、祂的话语以及耶稣基督的救赎工作，并摧毁我们心中的坚固营垒。
讲道系列：我们属灵争战的武器（第一部分）
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