The Deceiver in Chief
“How you are fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations. For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation. On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High” Isaiah 14:12-14).
Sleight of hand – a cleverly executed trick or deception.
Sleight of hand is used by magicians in their performances. They divert our attention from what they are actually doing to perform their trick. Satan does the same thing to divert our attention from what’s important to our soul. He is a master at this and will cause many, if not most, to end up in Hell.
The Lord told Adam and Eve that they were not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Lord told them that “in the day you eat thereof you shall surely die.” Spiritual death would come, not from the fruit itself, but from Adam and Eve not obeying the Word of God. From this, we see that disobedience to the Word of God, which is sin, always results in death. They were allowed to eat of all the other trees in the Garden including The Tree of Life which contained fruit that could renew their bodies and allow them to live forever. Satan came to Eve and said the following regarding God’s command not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Lord’s warning that eating of it would bring death:
“And the serpent (Satan speaking the serpent) said unto the woman, you shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4).
Satan lies to Eve denying the Word of God. Satan is a liar and he, by this, seeks to plant doubt in her mind regarding the Word God spoke to them. Satan does the same thing today and has been successful at causing millions to doubt the Word of God which can only lead to death. Satan then says regarding eating of the forbidden tree:
“For God does knows that in the day that you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).
So now we have Satan not only planting doubt in Eve’s mind regarding the validity of God’s Word, but telling Eve that by eating the fruit of that tree she will become like God. Pride was the sin of Satan as we saw from our introductory verse, and pride is the sin that will keep many from coming to the Lord in repentance and faith.
Satan, using these two lies, is doing the very same thing today and has deceived millions down through the years. It is Satan’s sleight of hand – a cleverly executed trick or deception. He knows that if he can cause people to doubt God’s Word, then it is a short step to cause them to believe that they do not need God and are in fact like God and able to go their own way. Again, this has resulted in millions not finding salvation and losing their souls.
Due to Adam and Eve’s fall in the Garden, Satan had the legal right to hold humanity in captivity due to sin entering the world. Their sin resulted in all those that came after them to have a fallen, our sin, nature. The Lord defeated Satan at the cross paying the debt owed to God for our sins and we can be free from Satan’s sleight of hand. We do this by coming to the Lord in repentance and faith in His great work at Calvary.
However, Satan, even though he was defeated at the cross, did not change his strategy because it has worked for him down through the years. Doubt God’s Word and become gods yourself is his constant lie. Just look around and see the results his wares have wrought. Most doubt the Word of God evidenced by the few that actually read it, and believe it. And many have become their own gods going about their lives doing what seems best to them. Jesus addressed this in the following verse”
“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14).
What Satan has done by his sleight of hand is to divert attention from the Tree of Life which represents Christ and the life He offers to all by His sacrificial death on the cross for our sins, to the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil which represents us going our own way in disobedience to the Lord which always ends in death.
For those of us who have eaten of the Tree of Life having placed our faith in Christ and His great sacrifice at the cross for salvation; Satan comes with his sleight of hand regarding our progressive sanctification (how we live for the Lord on a daily basis). He points us to Law and works as the way to have victory over the sin in our lives. This is partaking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and will not bring us victory. He has convinced many that once we are saved we can avoid sin in our lives by whatever it is we decide to do in our own strength to bring victory. Whether it’s fasting, prayer, reading the Bible, or any other Christian discipline, we will be blessed by doing these but they will not bring us victory. The following verse says it succinctly and best:
“For therein (through the cross) is the righteousness of God (right with God) from faith to faith (God provides and men receive). The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17 ESB notes).
We must partake of the “Tree of Life” daily to have victory in our lives and to walk pleasing to the Lord. Our salvation is completely of the Lord from first to last. Satan wants us in bondage either by being lost and without God in this world, or being miserably saved by trying to live a life pleasing to the Lord by our own efforts. Paul said this to the Galatians who were considering the latter:
“Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free (we are free by our faith in Christ and Him Crucified), and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage (coming up with our own to walk out this Christian Life through law or works” (Galatians 5:1).
Satan is a liar and has sought to have all those in the world from the time of Adam and Eve on down doubt God’s Word and go their own way – “You shall not surely die” and “you shall be as gods.” His tactics do not change because many, or most, have bought into his lies. The Bible says “That the whole world is under the power of the evil one (Satan).” But through the grace of God, we can be free from the bondage of the sin nature and free from Satan’s sleight of hand. I’ll close with the following Words of Jesus:
“If the Son, therefore, shall make you free (by the cross), you shall be free indeed (free to live in the liberty the cross provides)” ( John 8:36).
Always Remember,
God Loves You!
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Here I Am, Lord – Tom Quinn Ministries – tqministries.com 2022
Here I Am, Lord - - tqministries.com 
Blood is life! Even in this day and age we have blood donation drives because blood saves lives. How precious is it then that the Lord our God from the Old Testament (”But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life” Deut. 12:23) to the New, would use blood first as a symbol first thereafter offer us His own life-giving blood as a new covenant. The sprinkling of blood on His people enjoining the Lord our God with His people in a new God-given life.
Today we arise to new life in Him each time we receive Holy Eucharist, body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ Jesus our Lord! For He said to Martha and all of us,”I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
Save us Saviour of the world, for by Your Cross and Resurrection You have set us free. Amen
Saint Martha pray for us…
________
First reading
Exodus 24:3-8 ·
This is the blood of the Covenant that the Lord has made with you
Moses went and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. In answer, all the people said with one voice, ‘We will observe all the commands that the Lord has decreed.’ Moses put all the commands of the Lord into writing, and early next morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain, with twelve standing-stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he directed certain young Israelites to offer holocausts and to immolate bullocks to the Lord as communion sacrifices. Half of the blood Moses took up and put into basins, the other half he cast on the altar. And taking the Book of the Covenant he read it to the listening people, and they said, ‘We will observe all that the Lord has decreed; we will obey.’ Then Moses took the blood and cast it towards the people. This’ he said ‘is the blood of the Covenant that the Lord has made with you, containing all these rules.’
________
Gospel
John 11:19-27
I am the resurrection and the life
Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to sympathise with them over their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus had come she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, ‘If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you.’ ‘Your brother’ said Jesus to her ‘will rise again.’ Martha said, ‘I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said:
‘I am the resurrection and the life.
If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live,
and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?’
‘Yes, Lord,’ she said ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.’
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.Jesus, min vän i Kafarnaum”När Jesus hörde att Johannes hade arresterats drog han sig tillbaka till Galiléen … och gick för att bo i Kafarnaum vid havet.”
Matteus 4:12
Jag såg ofta min vän Jesus när han först återvände till oss i Kafarnaum efter det att Johannes hade arresterats. Närhelst han var hemma i Kafarnaum älskade han naturligtvis havet och dess stränder, men nu sade jag till min hustru Johanna att det var något annorlunda med hans tidiga morgonpromenader. Vi kände honom väl och såg hur han rörde sig långsamt och tog sig fram längs den steniga stranden. Han tittade söderut över vattnet på ett distraherat sätt. Han verkade se över till Tiberius men egentligen stirrade han bortom den – nästan som om han kunde se Jerusalem från kanten av havet. Som om vattnet hade svaret på någon oställd fråga.Hur kunde han undgå att känna Johannes arrestering djupt i sitt hjärta? Vi kände alla hans kusin, John, med sitt rufsiga hår och udda kläder. Johannes hade alltid gjort Kafarnaum till ett regelbundet uppehåll under sina vandringar och hade blivit älskad av alla. När vi samlades runt någons bord vid middagen, brukade Jesus och Johannes skämta och skratta och berätta familjehistorier. Vi var alla med i omfattande diskussioner med god mat och vin, och Jesus – vilka historier han kunde berätta!Nyheten om Johns arrestering hade snabbt kommit till oss och vi var ledsna över det. I vår sorg höll Joanna och jag om varandra och kände åter det romerska rikets otyglade makt som gjorde sig gällande i vårt land och vårt folk. Vi hatade alla de romerska soldaterna och efter att ha hört talas om Johannes var det ett tjockt moln av mörker som täckte oss alla. Jag tror att Jesus gick med oss i den sorgen eller kanske vi gick med i hans.Sedan var det morgonen efter att han hade varit hemma i några veckor. Han var på marknaden med en korg med fisk och spannmål när han fick syn på mig och hälsade mig varmt. Jesus hade varit hemma hos oss för att äta bara veckan innan, men ingen hade sett honom på flera dagar. Hans ansikte såg annorlunda ut idag och han verkade stark men ändå fridfull. Han talade med mig och ett antal av oss i byn den morgonen. Senare talade han i synagogan. Han undervisade ofta där men nu hade det en annan känsla. Han var djärvare och det påminde mig om det djärva sätt som John hade talat offentligt. Han lät inte som Johannes Döparen – han lät bara som Jesus – men för Johanna verkade det som om Jesus ville ta Johannes plats. Sedan började jag oroa mig för hans säkerhet, soldaterna och vad som skulle hända med denna nya djärvhet så jag varnade Jesus för det. Han log bara lätt och omfamnade mig och sa att han hade sin fars arbete att göra.Något förändrades efter det. Jesus var upptagen, mycket upptagen. Han började predika runt Kafarnaum på ett sätt som fick var och en av oss att känna det som om han talade direkt till våra hjärtan. Vi visste att hans budskap var menat för oss. Han talade om hopp, om hur mycket Fadern älskade oss – och sa till oss att när vi ber kan vi tala direkt till Fadern! Och han uppmanade oss att omvända oss. Ingen hade lärt oss så här tidigare. Vår egen Jesus bad på ett nytt sätt, talade på ett nytt sätt och när han rörde vid dem bland oss som var sjuka, blev de helade!Joanna och jag var ledsna när han lämnade byn men vi visste att han skulle återvända som han alltid gjorde. Efter att han lämnat hörde vi historier om honom när han reste längre bort, ofta följt från stad till stad av massor av människor som bara ville lyssna på honom. Han botade deras sjukdomar, lindrade deras smärta och drev ut demoner. De som bars hjälplöst till honom, talade till honom, stod upp och gick bort.Väl hemma oroade Joanna och jag oss för honom och för honom. Jag började be på det sätt han föreslog och jag använde mina egna ord för att tala till vår Fader om min oro för Jesu säkerhet och vår frustration med dem som förtryckte oss. Och jag vände mig, som alltid, till skriften. Det var där som Fadern besvarade mina böner när jag läste de välbekanta orden och insåg att Jesus gjorde vad han var tvungen att göra – för oss.De människor som sitter i mörker
har sett ett stort ljus,
på dem som bor i ett land överskuggat av döden
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